Bard's Gate (S&W)
Swords & Wizardry
Undead: The City of Ashes true masters are the members of the Cult of Orcus, who haunt the vicinity at night, digging up corpses for sale or use in foul rites, or performing their own dark rituals. As a result of these activities, the dead in the City of Ashes do not rest easy, and often rise from their graves as undead.
The cultists’ most notable act was a fearsome ritual called the March of Bones, in which hundreds of undead were raised from the cemetery and sent to wander the countryside.
Granette'rout, Undead Treant: Hel’s Forest is ruled by an intelligent, chaotic, and partially petrified stump of a treant, known now as Granette’rout, who was chopped down by the druids, and later given life by Hel herself.
Animated Claws in Chains: ?
Ghast: A creature killed by a mortuary cyclone’s whirlwind rises as an undead creature in 1d4 rounds. The type is based on the creature’s total HD.
Total HD
Opponent Rises as
Less than 3
Ghoul or ghast (50% chance for either)
4–7 HD
Wraith
8–11 HD
Spectre
12+ HD
Ghost
Salipus, Ghast: ?
Myrean, Ghost: She was murdered by the dark elf assassin, F’arin Du`n, whose affections she had arrogantly spurned. Myrean’s corpse is hidden in one of the theater’s many labyrinthine storage areas; finding her body and giving her a proper burial lets her spirit rest at last.
F’arin has an especially despicable fetish when it comes to women of pure elven descent. He cannot resist them, and the more powerful and alluring they are, the more desirous of them he becomes until he maddeningly stalks them as if they were his targets for assassination and finally murders them in a hideous fashion that is very pleasing to his god. In a fit of jealous rage and lust-filled passion he murdered Myrean Dyrin, the famous elven actress, and hid her body quite maliciously within a costume trunk at the Masque and Lute. Her ghost haunts the theater still, looking for a vessel to possess that is strong enough to withstand F’arin D’un and bring peace to her angry spirit.
Ghost: A creature killed by a mortuary cyclone’s whirlwind rises as an undead creature in 1d4 rounds. The type is based on the creature’s total HD.
Total HD
Opponent Rises as
Less than 3
Ghoul or ghast (50% chance for either)
4–7 HD
Wraith
8–11 HD
Spectre
12+ HD
Ghost
Ghoul: A creature killed by a mortuary cyclone’s whirlwind rises as an undead creature in 1d4 rounds. The type is based on the creature’s total HD.
Total HD
Opponent Rises as
Less than 3
Ghoul or ghast (50% chance for either)
4–7 HD
Wraith
8–11 HD
Spectre
12+ HD
Ghost
A cleric or necromancer of Orcus created these fiends from the corpses of criminals and set the beasts loose within the city.
Ratling Ghoul: This room is partially dry, and serves as a backflow when the whirlpool temporarily clogs. During one of its clogging moments, a hungry ghast named Salipus that had escaped into the sewers found itself here.
Salipus has since managed to ensnare a few ratlings who now dwell with him as ghouls in the darkness, snatching living things from the water of the backflow pool, and enticing ratlings and wererats to their doom.
Gremag, Phoromyceaen Sorcerer-King of Tharistra, Lich: ?
Trystecce, Lich-Queen: ?
Salvager of Death, Servant of Orcus, Lich: ?
Bill Nockt Nog: Consecrated beneath the upper shrine is the secret crypt of Bil Nockt Nog; a devout follower of Bowbe in life, his remains were granted burial beneath the dolman in death.
The corpse remains inanimate unless his treasures are disturbed, at which point he springs to life, attacking with the sword, and summoning the spirit grizzly to join him in combat.
Spirit Grizzly, Bear-Shaped Shadow: ?
High Lord of Death, Mummy Cleric 7: ?
Mummy: Canopic Urn of the Undead magic item.
Clopek, Mummy: A set of three alabaster canopic jars sits on an ornate bookshelf filled with scrolls and ecclesiastical texts about the worship of the cat goddess. If the contents of the canopic jars are poured together on the floor, a mummy can be raised from their contents if a cleric reads the scrolls. The mummy is a former priest of the Temple of Bast named Clopek. When raised from the canopic jars, Clopek serves a worshipper of Bast completely until it is destroyed.
Shadow: Eventually, he acquired a fabulous jewel from a defeated vampire’s tomb that was subsequently identified as the fabled Glimmer Gem long ago stolen from the tower of the efreeti Grand Vizier himself in the legendary City of Brass. Upon its authentication, the gem was shown off to the rest of the guild at a great party held for all the various bosses and their henchmen.
It was on this night that the Vizier’s Curse was unleashed. The thieves in the hall were transformed into shades (called afya among the denizens of the City of Brass), and a dark fog filled the Slip-Gallows Abbey before spreading out across the river and into the city, consuming or carrying away the remainder of the Gray Deacons.
There are 1d6+2 shadows in this area, those lesser members who were not transformed into shades, but were instead murdered in the dark fog that enveloped the island after the curse was evoked.
Glimmer Gem magic item.
Shade, Undead Shade: Eventually, he acquired a fabulous jewel from a defeated vampire’s tomb that was subsequently identified as the fabled Glimmer Gem long ago stolen from the tower of the efreeti Grand Vizier himself in the legendary City of Brass. Upon its authentication, the gem was shown off to the rest of the guild at a great party held for all the various bosses and their henchmen.
It was on this night that the Vizier’s Curse was unleashed. The thieves in the hall were transformed into shades (called afya among the denizens of the City of Brass), and a dark fog filled the Slip-Gallows Abbey before spreading out across the river and into the city, consuming or carrying away the remainder of the Gray Deacons.
This chamber is still dimly lit, and the air seems to swirl with traces of fragrant smoke. Shadowy figures sit around a large table in mockery of their last moments. Some are half-standing; most have blades drawn. As the party watches, the figures begin to move, and shadowy claws reach out from beneath the table. The figures turn to shadow themselves as their essences are drawn into a small dark gem that appears in midair, slowly rotating above the table.
Now, a huge figure in purple robes, wreathed in flames appears at the head of the table.
“Be you all cursed,” it intones grimly. “Henceforth your shades shall be imprisoned within the walls of this Abbey, never again to feel the sunlight or taste the rain. This is my curse!”
A dark fog bursts forth from the creature’s mouth, enveloping all the writhing thieves, and rolling out into the corridors beyond. “This mist shall devour all the others who bear the mark of your cursed guild! Only you will linger now and see the ruin of all your works!”
In the middle of the table lies a fist-sized, multifaceted, reddish-orange stone, the Glimmer Gem. Any living creature that comes within 10ft of the gem must make a saving throw or instantly be drawn into the gem as if affected by a magic jar spell and replaced by a shade.
Glimmer Gem magic item.
Deacon Shade: ?
Deacon Shade Skirmisher: ?
Deacon Shade Guard: ?
Rawling Jawk, Shade: ?
Font Skeleton: Font skeletons are created by the Font of Bones, a corrupted artifact of great power, in the burial halls of Thyr and Muir in the Stoneheart Mountain Dungeon. These skeletons are covered in red stains from the blood within the font from which they are spawned. Their eyes glow with a fiendish light. They normally wield longswords and use shields, as these are the weapons of the goddess of paladins and these skeletons exist as mockeries of the followers of that deity.
Entering the halls, his small party found that the burial halls had been thoroughly desecrated by the followers of Orcus and in a central chamber a corrupted fountain produced wave after wave of undead skeletons.
Skeleton: As with the ghoul encounter, a cleric or necromancer of Orcus freed these animated corpses and set them loose within the city to watch the chaos.
Spectre: A creature killed by a mortuary cyclone’s whirlwind rises as an undead creature in 1d4 rounds. The type is based on the creature’s total HD.
Total HD
Opponent Rises as
Less than 3
Ghoul or ghast (50% chance for either)
4–7 HD
Wraith
8–11 HD
Spectre
12+ HD
Ghost
This encounter is with the spectre of a cruel old resident of the neighborhood or one of its victims. The original spectre is likely the mean old man from up the street, or the creepy cat lady.
Vampire, Bloodless Folk, Bloodless: Any vampire spawn [of Entrade's] that escape final destruction at the hands of the characters become full-fledged vampires if Entrade is killed and soon begin hunting the characters across the city at night to take their vengeance.
Vampire Spawn: Felicity created these unfortunate beings recently, so they have not matured fully yet.
If Tjorvi is not rescued and is transformed into a vampire by Entrade, then a whole other level of hell erupts for the citizens of Bard’s Gate as Tjorvi goes on a rage-fueled feeding frenzy in the city after turning his own crew into spawn.
Nosferatu: ?
Penanggalen: ?
Felicity Bigh, Vampire: In the battle, Alecia and her subordinate vampires fought the heroes to a standstill, and while the party was able to escape, the results were devastating. The group had sustained terrible wounds in the fight, and before they were able to disengage from the horrific battle Felicity herself had perished. Blinded in their loss at Felicity’s death, the party said their heartfelt goodbyes and buried Felicity in a beautiful and quiet meadow. Little did the companions realize that Felicity had been turned, and when Alecia came to her grave that night she brought Felicity out of the ground as her latest spawn and tool of destruction.
Entrade, Vampire: ?
Alecia, Vampire: Spawn of Hethel.
Hethel, Vampire: ?
Tjorvi, Vampire: If Tjorvi is not rescued and is transformed into a vampire by Entrade, then a whole other level of hell erupts for the citizens of Bard’s Gate as Tjorvi goes on a rage-fueled feeding frenzy in the city after turning his own crew into spawn.
Wight: ?
Loomin, Inn-Wight: Krants is being haunted by Loomin, an inn wight, the spirit of a little boy who died from neglect here many years ago.
Balcoth, Wraith-Mage: ?
Wraith: A creature killed by a mortuary cyclone’s whirlwind rises as an undead creature in 1d4 rounds. The type is based on the creature’s total HD.
Total HD
Opponent Rises as
Less than 3
Ghoul or ghast (50% chance for either)
4–7 HD
Wraith
8–11 HD
Spectre
12+ HD
Ghost
The wraith is the unkind spirit of a convicted murderer now out to get revenge upon the sheriffs who caught him in the act of his crime.
Zombie: Mawrr uses his scroll of animate dead to raise any fallen gnolls as zombies if the need should arise.
Allip: ?
Banshee: ?
Mohrg: ?
Silent Knight: ?
Leper Zombie: ?
Gloom Haunt: ?
Bloody Bones: ?
Cinder Ghoul: ?
Devouring Mist: ?
Ghoul Wolf: ?
Mortuary Cyclone: ?
Cadaver: ?
Shadow Rat Swarm: Fredo’s room has become home to a nest of shadow rats, being several huge rat swarms that were transformed by the shadows in Area 11.
Canopic Urn of the Undead
Crafted by placing both a humanoid corpse’s dissected heart and the cremated ashes of the body within the urn, and then treating the remains with a dark alchemical mixture, the necromancer fashions a portable undead servant. When the urn is opened and a command word spoken, the corpse’s body rises up out of the urn to serve whoever possesses the vessel as a mummy.
The mummy serves until it or its clay urn is destroyed. If the mummy is destroyed, the necromancer may craft a new mummy for the empty urn using dark rituals at the height of the Blood Moon. If the urn is destroyed while the mummy is active, the mummy becomes uncontrolled.
Glimmer Gem
The glimmer gem is the cursed magical jewel that caused the entire Grey Deacons Thieves’ Guild to vanish from Bard’s Gate. This rare jacinth was first crafted by a magic-user for use in his magic jar spell, yet when the fatal crack appeared, it caused the spell to go awry. The stone now draws the body and soul into it, projecting the soul to the astral plane. The body appears as a small sparkling speck within the gem and is reflected as a shade or shadow creature of its former self. Prior to its theft by Rowling Jenks, the glimmer gem was in the possession of the Grand Vizier of Efreet, who used its powers to manipulate shadow, teaching him the method to enslave other spellcasters and steal their magical energies. The glimmer gem has 40 facets, and each facet is capable of capturing the spirit of another victim and turning them into a shade or shadow.
Any living being that comes within 10ft of the glimmer gem must make a successful save at –2 or be drawn into the gem. Victims of 4th level and below are instantly transformed into a shadow. Victims of level 4 and above must make an additional save. If this save succeeds they are instead transformed into a shade. Those failing the second save become shadows. Beings so transformed are trapped within a 500ft spherical proximity to the glimmer gem. Destroyed shades or shadows reform in 24 hours.
The glimmer gem may only be destroyed by a magic weapon, or by means of magic spells such as disintegrate. It has an AC of 0[19] and 25hp.
If destroyed, any beings trapped within the glimmer gem cease to exist, their spirits simply twinkling out. Beings turned to shade or shadow by the glimmer gem, and those destroyed when the gem is destroyed, may only be raised by means of resurrection or wish.
