TEXT: Copyright © 2016 Michael Prescott — CC-BY-NC 3.0 — cbna  — More at http://blog.trilemma.com
  v1.0 pg. 1/2
  the Situation
  Deep in the sun-blasted desert 
  is a high, rocky plateau. A cen-
  tury ago, this arid land was the 
  realm of the reptilian Heelan.
  Now, an alchemist toils 
  here, turning the rocky desert 
  into a forest, inch by inch.
  She is aided by a strange, 
  underground power, a soil 
  mother.
  Slar occul, eyetower
  On a huge, stone pillar stands 
  a 60’ tower, terracotta red and 
  dotted with fist-sized, round 
  holes. It is now occupied by a 
  dozen ghost bats, gray furred 
  with a two-pace wingspan.
  They are hospitable toward 
  guests, even supplying them 
  with forest blackfruit or desert 
  hare, but grow resentful unless 
  regularly thanked.
  At night, they fly far in 
  search of insects.
  By day, they hang in the 
  tower, hiding from the heat 
  and purring softly of the many 
  Heelan ruins hidden in the 
  blasted sands. 
  the alchemiSt
  Toad-Eyed Antephna is barely 
  recognizable as human; many 
  transmuting  accidents have 
  distorted her body.
  She croaks her words, moves 
  by hopping, and licks her eyes 
  constantly.
  She has come to the plateau 
  to raid its many sand-buried 
  ruins for relics, with the aid of 
  the soil mother.
  She is furious at having had 
  to abandon the transmuter at 
  Slar Nilta, and is desperate to 
  secure it before  Byor’s proud-
  skulls do permanent damage.
  She 
  will 
  use 
  deception, 
  threats, or promise of silver to 
  draw the adventurers to Slar 
  Nilta, in the hopes they will 
  drive off the Heelan.
  the loud ParcelS
  Antephna knows a secret meth-
  od of making explosives from 
  bat guano, though it is time 
  consuming. She has prepared 
  three loud parcels during her 
  time with the ghost bats.
  the inveStor
  With her is the expedition 
  financier, Unguff Dunwattle.
  He is short, sweaty, and wears 
  tattered orange silks.
  Having witnessed the loss 
  of everyone and everything 
  he brought here, he distrusts 
  Antephna’s judgment and is 
  terrified of never seeing home.
  He has bankrupted him-
  self to get here, however, and 
  the instant he catches a whiff 
  that something of value might 
  yet be plucked from the sands, 
  he will attempt to take 
  control of the expe-
  dition.
  Desperate 
  though he may 
  be, he is a shrewd 
  bargainer.
  the BlaSted 
  SandS
  Beyond 
  the 
  cinder 
  cones lies a land so hot, 
  exhaustion 
  and 
  death 
  come within a day or two 
  to those without magical pro-
  tection.
  Only the Heelan tread freely 
  there.
  the Black lake
  Dark, viscous fluid seeps from 
  the sides of the cinder cones 
  and collects in a large, shim-
  mering lake.
  The fluid is somewhat flam-
  mable, and occasionally burn-
  ing cinders from the cones send 
  sheets of fire across the lake 
  surface.
  Those who watch the flames 
  might see the tentacles of the 
  devils within the lake reach 
  up, receiving the fire as an in-
  fernal sacrament.
  Slar nilta
  The ruin of a terracotta brick 
  palace stands here, squeezed 
  between the Black Lake and 
  the drop to the lower plateau.
  Wavy 
  patterns 
  are 
  pressed into each of its slimy, 
  smoke-blackened bricks.
  Antephna and her workers 
  rebuilt the gate house with 
  nearby rubble, and in place of 
  the gate built the transmuter.
  Byor’S 
  ProudSkullS
  Byor Scarbody leads a 
  group of 20 Heelan war-
  riors, their bony crests drilled 
  with dozens of silver bullets, 
  each marking a kill.
  They watch the transmut-
  er from hiding, a safe (and 
  dry) distance away, and may 
  ambush inferior parties to gain 
  information.
  the tranSmuter
  An ornate archway of silver 
  filigree purifies the stinking 
  water that passes beneath it. 
  Great plumes of fire and steam 
  burst out as the impurities are 
  destroyed; the heat, in turn, 
  energizes the transmuter.
  Byor has yet to decide wheth-
  er to destroy it, leave it alone, 
  or wrench it from its base and 
  haul it back across the blasted 
  sands to his masters.
  Pelaago
  A most likely route up onto 
  the plateau. See The Oracle’s 
  Decree for details, or treat it as 
  a six-room ruined hole.
  ruined holeS
  The blasted sands of the upper 
  plateau are a tapestry of ruins, 
  remnants of a glorious earlier 
  age of Heelan domination.
  Roll on the three ruin tables 
  (page 2) to determine the type, 
  occupants and treasure of each 
  ruin.
  devilS & monarchS
  Miles below the cinder cones 
  is a dark, hot sea of murk and 
  devils. Devils occasionally ven-
  ture to the surface realm and 
  fall into the lake.
  d6
  Plateau/Forest Finds
  1
  Relentless, deadly heat 
  / sudden, heavy rain
  2
  Tiny oasis, d8 beautiful 
  carnivorous harpoon 
  cactus / pond of oil
  3
  A Ruined Hole
  4
  Giant rock owl / A 
  Daughter of Elil
  5
  d6 Heelan scouts
  6
  Scabrous devil
  the Black 
  lake
  Slar occul
  the BlaSted SandS
  oPen 
     deSert
  Pelaago
  an Adventure Region by Michael Prescott
  THE ROOTS OF AMBITION
  
  Copyright © 2016 Michael Prescott — CC-BY-NC 3.0 — cbna  — More at http://blog.trilemma.com
  v1.0 pg. 2/2
  Recent arrivals resemble black, 
  monstrously sized squid. They 
  cherish fire, can squirt flaming 
  pitch at will, and devour any-
  thing that fails to entertain 
  them or indulge their perverse, 
  destructive bargains.
  After a year of mad frolic in 
  the black lake, they are forced 
  to take to the sands to find 
  food.
  The 
  desert 
  environment 
  is not kind to them; the sand 
  flays their skin, and their ten-
  tacles wither and tear off.
  Mad with pain, they live as 
  unthinking predators, burrow-
  ing to avoid the heat and burst-
  ing from the sands to devour 
  prey.
  Sand monarchS
  A rare few devils survive long 
  enough to acclimatize and re-
  gain their hellish majesty.
  These will be attended by d6 
  enthralled giant camel spiders, 
  d3 giant geckos, and d12 en-
  slaved Heelan.
  the Soil mother
  The entire forest is permeated 
  by the fungal threads of a vast, 
  intelligent being: a soil mother.
  Her thoughts are slow and 
  deep, spread among thousands 
  of coconut-like ganglia buried 
  deep in the soil, and by touch 
  and taste she knows every-
  thing that 
  happens 
  within 
  her domain.
  Though imperceptibly 
  slow, she is immensely 
  powerful, able to reshape the 
  landscape entirely. Streams, 
  trees, and bushes flow and 
  grow only where she pleases.
  There are few animals in the 
  forest, but in other climes, soil 
  mothers use fruiting groves to 
  lure prey and predators togeth-
  er, for what she needs most are 
  the brains of intelligent ani-
  mals.
  Made poisonous by myco-
  toxins in the fruit, berries, and 
  plants of the forest, animal 
  brains are left uneaten, and 
  are claimed by the soil mother 
  so she can grow onddo.
  Soil mother ganglia are 
  sweet and nutritious, but eating 
  them 
  earns 
  the 
  eternal hatred of all 
  soil mothers.
  An 
  enraged 
  soil 
  mother is fearsome, and 
  may poison the waters 
  with hallucinogenic tox-
  ins (targeted at the offend-
  ing species), or send hunting 
  onddo as assassins.
  the onddo
  The quick-brained servants of 
  the soil mother are grown to 
  suit various purposes.
  Hunting onddo are human-
  oid, and wield wooden spears. 
  Tusked onddo are massive, 
  headless 
  quadrupeds, 
  used 
  to dig stream beds or to haul 
  boulders.
  Seed onddo are roughly dog-
  like, whose sharp beak injects 
  a spore-filled venom that that 
  causes  an irresistible wander-
  lust. When victims (eventually) 
  die, a new soil mother is born.
  All onddo have a tough, 
  woody exterior mottled like the 
  leaf litter of the forest floor. 
  When stationary, they are ex-
  tremely difficult to spot, often 
  mistaken for logs or stumps.
  They are speechless, but 
  constantly release and ex-
  change spores with the forest, 
  and so know the will of the  soil 
  mother instinctively.
  Unless hacked to bits or 
  burned, they regenerate fully 
  overnight.
  the daughterS 
  of elil
  The soil mother is also 
  served by an order of 
  human animists, her 
  heralds and translators 
  among speaking peoples.
  They came here with 
  the expedition, and their ven-
  erable leader, Elil Leafbringer, 
  died in a ruined tower to let the 
  soil-mother seed in her body 
  begin the forest.
  The daughters hear the soil 
  mother’s will in their dreams; 
  onddo and forest animals obey 
  their commands.
  When covered in soil, they 
  can travel ‘along the roots’ to 
  any point in the forest. Some 
  say they are immortal.
  The survival of the forest 
  depends entirely on the trans-
  muter, 
  but 
  relations 
  have 
  soured with impatient, irrev-
  erent Antephna, and her de-
  mands that the forest reveal 
  the plateau’s hoards.
  In fact, the order keeps se-
  cret a dozen forest ruins; they 
  hope to use the silver within to 
  pay traders to bring animals 
  to the forest—especially deer, 
  wolves and bear cubs.
  Failing this, the brains of 
  adventurers will have to do.
  Though only five ‘daughters’ 
  remain, 
  replacement 
  clones 
  sleep beneath the soil.
  Written & illustrated by
  Michael Prescott
  Edited by Andrew Young
  d6
  Ruin Occupants
  1
  d3 giant camel spiders
  2
  d6 Onddo
  3
  d12 Heelan scouts, d3 
  water shade mounts
  4
  d2 expedition survivors
  5
  d6 Heelan skeletons 
  and wight-prince
  6
  Sand Monarch and 
  attendants
  d6
  Ruined Hole Type
  1
  Wall fragments
  2
  Ruin, d6 rooms
  3
  Complex, d3-1 levels 
  above, d4 below ground
  4
  Well shaft drops 40’ to 
  d8 limestone caves
  5
  Hollow obelisk
  6
  Subsurface tomb, d12 
  rooms, no entrance
  d6
  Ruin Treasure
  1
  Pools of drinkable 
  water, 50% w/ fish
  2
  Cache of d8 weapons, 
  minor valuables
  3
  Preserved, rare oils (d6)
  4
  Graven map to d12 
  other ruined holes
  5
  d3 graven spell tablets
  6
  Funerary hoard
  the new foreSt
  Slar nilta
  Silver lake
  elil’S tomB
  the BlaSted SandS
  the cinder coneS
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Trilemma Adventures/Trilemma 27 Roots of Ambition.pdf