Two Dozen Dangers: Haunts
Two Dozen Dangers: Haunts
Pathfinder 1e
Arcane Rift: An arcane rift is not a true Haunt, in that no death caused its existence. Rather, an arcane rift is a flaw in the underlying structure of the universe, a place where the laws of magic and causality twist and die. Arcane rifts occur in places where great battles occurred, where dozens of warrior-mages unleashed their spells, where artifacts were forged, and where gods incarnated.
Baron Culver's Balcony: Baron Archimedes Culver was a pathetic and lonely man towards the end of his long life. His vast fortune long since squandered, his political capital equally reduced, Baron Culver found himself banished from the royal court and the intrigue he so loved. The old Baron died, halfway senile, in a tattered silk bathrobe after falling from the balcony of his equally ragged country home.
Bigot's Spire: In life, the half-elven wizard Comas Delesas was defined by his bigotry. The arrogant mage despised regular humanity as barely civilized idiots, and openly called for the extinction of what he called the underfolk: Dwarves, Gnomes, Goblins and Kobolds among many other burrowing species. His adventuring days long past, and his fortune assured, Comas eventually murdered those who helped him gain his wealth and retired to a library-tower he built for himself on the edge of a major human freehold. The local folk saw his servants occasionally, when they went into town for provisions, but Comas himself refused to associate with the common herd.
When a blast of lightning as brilliant as the sun struck the tower one rainy night, most of the townsfolk said good riddance. The matter would of rested there, if not for the fact something of Comas Delesas’ hatred remains, and occasionally, the broken tower belches lethal black smoke.
Black Taskmaster: The Black Taskmaster is an old ironshod whip taken from an infamous slaver and displayed in the library of the Sandoval College of Necromancy.
Boartooth's Righteous Rampage: When Brom Boartooth’s sons died of a disease that 10 gp worth of medicine would of cured, he finally became the monster that his fully human neighbors feared all his life. Previously a simple rancher, the half-orc found depths of hatred and violence in himself he never knew existed. He slaughtered his home town’s hedge wizard and the alchemist who refused to treat his sons, the town’s sheriff and three of the settlement’s wealthiest merchants before an angry mob finally ended his rampage.
Butcher's Hill: The Butcher’s Hill had another name before the war between two neighboring fiefdoms ended there. By the time the day long battle was over, more than 3,000 men and women lie dead atop the hill, and the ground was literally stained red with their blood. Even though priests from a dozen temples sanctified the ground, that much anger and pain never truly goes away.
Camel's Graveyard: There is a point of no return in the Gronnel Desert, a place almost exactly between two oasis cities, where supplies are far more than half exhausted, and the only way to survive is to press forward. Over the years, hundreds of caravans have ended some where near this mythical point of no return, and the bleached and sandblasted bones of hundreds of camels are half buried by the dunes. Animals fear and hate this place, and often turn on their masters, leading to their death and the deaths of the men who depended on them for survival.
Cast Upon the Rocks: The merchant galleon Escarda Din went down in a sudden squall and its sunken frame now rests on an undersea plateau.
Devil's Anvil: This black iron anvil sits in a back corner of the ruined remnants of a smithy, half buried in rubble. According to local legend, the blacksmith, a fat and ignorant man named Hodge hammered swords for pit-fiends on his anvil. Eventually, doing hell’s work caught up with him, and Hodge and his three idiot sons died in an unexplainable blaze.
Donovan's Kiln: Ten years ago, this ruin was a busy potter’s shop. In better days, Bria Donovan was a fat and cheerful woman who, with her two nephews, ran a profitable business out of a small, neat cottage at the edge of town. The center of Bria’s business was the enormous wood burning kiln that took up most of the cottage, and which she kept stoked day and night. She died along with her youngest nephew Micah when the kiln exploded.
Fatfinger's Last Dance: Terkin Fatfinger, brigand, rapist, counterfeiter and cattle rustler, was the last thief to hang justly on the old oak gallows outside Fort Nails. When asked for last words, the bastard laid down curses so vile, so profane and so tarrying the garrison’s master at arms didn’t wait for him to finish, just kicked the stool out from under him.
Gremlin's Hovel: ?
Grigori Chair: The Grigori Chair is a massive oak throne once used by the nation’s royalty. The entirety of the chair was originally carved with scenes from a great battle- heroic knights battling back barbaric foreign armies. When the last rightful scion of the bloodline was murdered- on the chair itself- the crimson oak cracked and blackened. The heroic carvings became something horrible. The chair was locked away in a forgotten storeroom, and even after the dynasty was restored, the original throne was forgotten and left to darkness.
Gut's Revenge: When the ancient slime the tavern-folk called simply “Guts” was finally ended a fragment of the ooze’s simple hunger-based consciousness survived extermination. Guts’ ghostly presence still lingers along the treacherous and rocky shoreline where its vast amoeboid bulk eventually washed up.
Judge Wargrave's Bench: Judge Agar Wargrave was a peevish old man, but had an uncanny knack for ferreting out the truth about defendants brought before him. He died of a stroke before passing sentence in the case of a man who murdered his family, and by virtue of a legal oversight the murderer went free.
Laughter Freezes: Nestled against the side of a forested mountain, the noble estate “Laughter and Gold” has been a hunting lodge of excellent reputation for generations. Owned by one of the kingdom’s most prominent families, the 23 room mansion is best known for its massive grand ball room, where the trophies of a hundred hunts or more are proudly displayed. The heads of great beasts, taxidermies recreation of impossible monsters and the captured arms of noble-born humanoid foes line the walls, and are lit by a chandelier made from the bones of a juvenile green dragon.
The newest trophy to be displayed though, is one the owners of the house wish would simply go away. On an expedition to the far north, one of the lodges’ greatest hunters brought back the dorsal ganglia of a polar worm. Since the dramatic trophy was hung on one wall, the temperature within Laughter and Gold has dropped by a few degrees each night. Already bitterly cold, occasionally the ballroom is sheathed in a carapace of killing ice, and the roaring of the great northern worms can be heard.
Mugglesant's Endless Anger: The goblin Mugglesant was a good thief but eventually her luck caught up with her. While burgling a mansion in the city of Ulstar, a spiderbite ended the tiny thief’s life. She choked to death in the space between the house’s walls, and all the inhabitants knew was that some vermin died in the walls. They hired a local hedge wizard to purify the air with a few cantrips, and forgot about the whole matter. That indignity, more than her accidental death enraged Mugglesant’s spirit.
Old Jonas' Critique: Old Jonas the woodcarver had a reputation as one of the finest craftsmen in his small village. He made tools, toys for the settlement’s wealthiest children, shelves, fence posts and a dozen other useful things and earned a tidy living. After his death, Jonas’ nephew took over the business, but his lack of skill angered the ghostly carpenter.
Purple Pig Tavern: The Purple Pig used to be a decent tavern, until a payment dispute between the barkeep and a wandering gnome troubadour ended in the little minstrel’s murder. The barkeep stuffed the gnome and his rat of a familiar feet first into a keg of rot gut and rolled it down into the cellar.
Rapist's Mile: This stretch of forest marks the place where a gang of brigands brought down a peasant girl, violated and eventually killed her. The girl’s bones still lie half buried under the leaf mould beneath one of the towering pine. Her angry spirit, coupled with the psychic echoes of her murderers’ lust have cursed this place: those venturing through this stretch of forest become as slow and exhausted as she was when the thugs finally ran her to ground.
Scribe Du Rayneil's Odd Bequest: The scribe Claudette Du Rayneil died in the library she had tended her entire adult life. Her death wasn’t murder or tragedy; she was simply found one early morning fallen amid the stacks, her 90 year old heart having finally given out. She was buried with minor honors, her private collection of more than 30 texts donated to the library she so loved and life went on. And a few months after her death, strange things began happening in the library.
Stores of Goodwatch Keep: Three summers ago, earthquake transformed a limestone quarry into tomb for a dozen human and Dwarven miners. Since then the mine has been reopened, the dead recovered and buried, and life in the mining town nearby slowly and painfully returned to normal. Limestone harvested from the quarry has been shipped across the realms to make mortar, but structures built mortar from the Winter Fall Mine have been plagued by bad luck. The mine’s current generation of workers hear the tales from travelers, and among themselves, whisper that the unquiet ghosts of their former colleagues are having their revenge.
Surbicah the Apostate's Stone Pyre: Long ago, the druidess Surbicah renowned her faith and
accepted the teachings of a passing cleric, even allowing some of her circle’s most sacred mysteries to be transcribed into the common tongue. The druid grove she betrayed took its vengeance on Surbicah, lashing her between the stones of their great stone menwhir, where she was cruelly tortured for a day and a night before a bolt of lightning ended her misery.
Thirsting Gorge: Years and years ago, a prospector and his mule fell into a desert gorge. Miles from any assistance, they died alone and unremembered from thirst and starvation.
Ghost: When a soul fouled by anger and fear leaves its broken corpse, if it is strong enough, that soul may return as a ghost, a wraith or some worse form of undead. If it is strong enough…..
Wraith: When a soul fouled by anger and fear leaves its broken corpse, if it is strong enough, that soul may return as a ghost, a wraith or some worse form of undead. If it is strong enough…..
Undead: When a soul fouled by anger and fear leaves its broken corpse, if it is strong enough, that soul may return as a ghost, a wraith or some worse form of undead. If it is strong enough…..
Haunt: When a soul fouled by anger and fear leaves its broken corpse, if it is strong enough, that soul may return as a ghost, a wraith or some worse form of undead. If it is strong enough…..
Souls lacking the metaphysical vigor to retain their own identity after death may also return… as something else, something lesser, a ghostly presence that blurs the line between a magical trap and a true undead.
