Blade of the Black Pyramid & Left Hand of Abaddon

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Within the libraries, vaults, and trophy rooms of Goatheart Castle, Prospero the sorcerer hoards many artifacts of singular magic and alien provenance. One of his most prized possessions is a large chunk of ancient amber the size of large man’s torso. Suspended within the milky orange stone the scaly red hand of a demon clutches a black sword of unknown metal. These are the Blade of the Black Pyramid and the Left Hand of Abaddon.

Blade of the Black Pyramid

The Blade of the Black Pyramid (also known as Khaturial-Xuuth, Sword of the Bleak and Inevitable Overlords, or the Gateway to Suffering) is a short-bladed sword with a downward curve, similar to a Greek kopis. It is made from a single piece of matte black metal, etched with adamic script that reads “By your soul are legions made.”

The Blade is a small weapon that normally inflicts 1d6 damage. In the hands of a chaotic character, the sword does 1d8 damage. Against lawful targets, the sword does 1d10 damage. Chaotic characters add their Charisma modifier to their attack rolls with the Black Blade, in addition to their Strength modifier. A chaotic spellcaster can also place one spell (of any level) into the sword to store for later use. You can cast spell from the Blade, even if you aren’t a spellcaster. 

If you try to use the Blade, and you aren’t chaotic, you must make a saving throw vs death or take 3d6 damage (half damage on a successful save). If this damage kills you, you are burned to ash and your soul is destroyed. 

If you are chaotic, you can handle the sword safely, but the hilt brands your hand with adamic script that praises the dark glories of the Bleak and Inevitable Overlords.

If you are so branded by the Blade (whether you still possess the sword or not) you will dream of the Black Pyramid every 1d4 weeks. Under a red sky, black stars weep tar across a desert of teeth while the Black Pyramid rises from a forest of alien bones. Reality bleeds where the pyramid’s point tears lose the scab of reality. The voices of the Bleak and Inevitable Overlords ooze like an infected wound, dripping poison in your ear. “You. Are. The. Gate.”

Then you wake up. Make a save vs polymorph. If you fail, an astral parasite attaches itself to your aura. Over the next 4d6 weeks, this invisible and etheric plasmoid will feed on your soul and grow. Your Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma modifiers instantly drop by 2 each. Your Strength modifier increases by 2. You must eat three times as much food during this period, but you do not dream of the Black Pyramid. A Dispel Evil spell has a 50% chance of removing the astral parasite. 

At the end of the 4d6 weeks, at a time the GM determines to be the least convenient for you, you vomit a fully formed demon out of your mouth. This process takes 1d6 rounds, during which time you are wracked with pain and cannot take any actions. This violent oral expulsion inflicts 1d4 damage upon you for each level you possess. Your Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and strength modifier instantly return to normal. 

Roll up the demon’s stats as if created by the Summon spell, with Hit Die equal to your level (minimum 1). It is unbound, but is not immediately hostile to you. Your companions and bystanders are a different matter. The demon will wreak havoc for 1 round per HD and then disappear in a cloud of opium and brimstone. If the demon is not slain before it returns to Hell (and you are not dead), you gain 100xp for each point of damage you suffered while vomiting it up. 

1d4 weeks later you dream of the Black Pyramid again.

Left Hand of Abaddon

This is the red and scaly left hand of a demon, along with half the forearm. It smells of vinegar and has glossy black nails and golden rings which cannot be removed. You can chop off your own hand and replace it with this. It will instantly stick to the stump, like Manglor but better.

Once so bonded, you can use the Left Hand of Abaddon to safely pick up items with curses triggered by alignment (like the Blade of the Black Pyramid) regardless of what your alignment might actually be. 

The Hand also lets you access several powers. Activating a power causes you 1d6 Charisma damage each time. The GM should roll and this damage in secret, so you never know how close you are to 0. How NPCs react to you should give you some clue, though. 

This Charisma damage can only be healed by killing humans. You regain 1d3 CHA point per human you kill (you must strike the deathblow) regardless of level or Hit Dice. The GM also keeps this total secret, but they will tell you when you’re back to your normal score. 

If using the Hand’s powers brings you to 0 Charisma, your soul is sent to Hell and your body is immediately transformed into the new body of Abaddon (a Pit Fiend). Abbadon will be happy to be returned to the mortal world. In his infernal mercy, he has a 4-in-6 chance of letting any of your present companions leave without a fight. Then he’ll get down to some important demon work. 

Powers of the Hand (each use costs 1d6 Charisma)

• Blast a fan of flames 20’ long in a 90’ arc, doing 1d6 damage per Charisma point lost. Targets can save vs Breath for half. 
• Cast Charm Person. Target has a penalty to their save equal to the Charisma lost. 
• Your next attack has +1 to hit and damage for each point of Charisma lost. 

What's for Sale at the Ghoul Market?

Vacant Ritual Assembly is an OSR zine put out by Clint Krause and Red Moon Medicine Show. Issue #1 came out in 2014, and (among other things) describes the Ghoul Market. The Ghoul Market is an underground bazzar when denizens of the underworld ply their wares. 

As described in the zine: Beneath a defiled chapel, the scavengers of the dead emerge from their tunnels to barter with the living and the damned. Inhuman travelers peruse black-shrouded stalls and dine on artisanal cadavers.

I love the Ghoul Market, and I'm very excited that my players will be visiting it soon. According to the article, at any time 1d10 magic items can be found for sale at the Ghoul Market (I will drop that to 1d6). This gave me the flmsy excuse to come up with a bunch of interesting magic items of low-to-middle power that I canuse to seperate the PCs from their money. 

Below is my list of random magic items. Many of them are one-use, so they shouldn't throw off the pwer balance too much. I just kind of eye-balled the prices based on magic item construction costs in the LotFP book. I don't claim that the prices are mathematically perfect. The list includes 16 new magic items, along with a boring old healing potion, plus random scrolls, wands, and spellbooks. 

Most of these items are sold by Handsome Gamal, a strangely charismatic, partially mummified ghoul who wears dusty old silks and tarnished gold jewelry. He will absolutely not warn his customers about the negative aspects of any of his goods.

Use and enjoy!

Random Magic Items from the Ghoul Market

1) Dead Man’s Tobacco

• Sticky, foul-smelling, black tobacco in a skin pouch.
• Blow smoke into corpse’s mouth to speak with dead.
• Ask 3 questions. Corpse can be dead for any amount of time, but mouth, lips, and tongue must be intact.
• Price: 1000sp per dose

2) Bottled Undead Faerie

• Emaciated gray faerie with piranha teeth in a smoky glass bottle.
• Feed blood to make faerie glow with light only donor can see, illuminating like a lantern. 1 turn per hp of blood.
• One use only, then the faire turns to ash.
• Price: 1000sp

3) Hand of Glory

• Mummified left hand of a hanged man. Dipped in human tallow and wicks placed in each finger to make a macabre handle.
• Casts sleep on everyone in a house. Lasts 1 turn per finger
• Price: 7000sp

4) Zombie Wine

• Black bottle of think, glowing green liquor.
• Feed to a corpse to create 2HD zombie. Loyal to the person who fed it the wine, for now. (Loyalty starts at 12. Loyalty is reduced by 1 each night. Test loyalty every midnight.)
• Price: 1000sp

5) Burglar Worms

• 1d6 Finger-sized green maggots kept in a tin box of rotten soil.
• Automatically opens any key-based lock in 1d10 rounds, then turns into fat disgusting (but harmless) fly.
• Price: 500sp per worm.

6) Basilisk Powder

• One dose of course gray powder in a small silk pouch.  
• Mix with wine and drink. Save or turn to stone until dawn. The drinker can voluntarily fail the save.
• Price: 1000sp

7) Black Cherub Feather

• Large black feather with a razor-sharp quill.
• Jab it into your flesh to heal all damage, poison, or disease, but every prepubescent creature in a 1d6 mile radius suffers the damage and maladies you just cured.
• Price: 2000sp

8) Mummy Dust

• Fine, greasy powder like gray talc in a pocket-sized clay sarcophagus.
• Mix with water and drink. You become immune to normal weapons for 1d4 turns.
• You take triple damage from fire.
• You cannot benefit from cleric spells, and can be turned/destroyed as undead.
• You take 1d6 CON damage per turn of duration after effect ends (save vs posion for half).
• Price:  2000sp

9) Love Potion

• Blood-red syrup that smells of opium and rancid meat in a clay vessel with two spouts.  
• Someone drinks half, someone else drinks the other half. If both fail their saves vs. poison, the two fall madly in love until the spring equinox.
• Price: 500sp

10) Satyr Juice

• Milky, pearlescent potion in an obscene brass flask.
• The next time the drinker has sex, they will become pregnant regardless of sex, health, or biology.
• Price: 500sp

11) Memory Mirror

• Small silver hand mirror decorated with Greek goddesses.
• Reflects the image of the last person to look into it.
• Cost: 3000sp

12) Inquisitor Cobra

• Three-foot long cobra with a grey-and black hide and a yellow cross on its hood.
• Whisper a question to the cobra and point to another person. The cobra will ask that person the question. If they answer truthfully, the cobra bites them. (+4 to hit, 4d6 CON damage. Save vs poison for half.)
• After each question, roll 1d6. On a 1, cobra says “My work here is done!” and dies.
• Price: 2000sp

13) Brass Goat Statue

• Fist-sized sculpture of a shaggy goat with large horns and a curious expression on its face.
• Weights 15lbs, but somehow doesn’t take up an encumbrance slot.
• Through subtle space warpage, allows the character to carry 5 more items before gaining their first encumbrance point (using LotFP encumbrance rules).
• Once per day (at 1d24 o’clock), 1-in-6 chance of “eating” a random item the PC is carrying.
• This chance grows by 1 per day until the goat eats something, then resets to 1-in-6.
• Price: 2000sp

14) Ghost Shroud

• Old and dusty funeral shroud of stained gray linen.
• Wrap it around yourself and become ethereal, invisible, silent, and can fly for 1d6 turns.
• At the end of the duration, roll 2d6+CHA modifier.
• 10+: You return to normal, and assuming you weren’t in flight or inside a solid object, you’re fine.
• 7-9: You return to normal, as above, but you’ve lost something in the ethereal plane.
• 6 or less: You are forever lost in the ethereal, and something returns to the physical world in your place.
• Price: 6000sp

15) Wolf Heart Woad

• Thick purple paste in a small bone jar.
• Spend 1 round smearing on your face and eyes.
• At the start of the next round, before initiative is rolled, you turn into a wolfman.
• This transformation destroys your clothes and armor, and you drop the rest of your gear.
• While transformed you act on your own initiative roll. You have an AC of 14 (+DEX modifier). You are immune to fear and charm effects.
• You take double damage from silver weapons, and are burned by holy water (1d6 damage).
• Your movement speed is increased by 50% (180’ in LotFP).
• You have +2 to attack, and can make two claw attacks for 1d6 damage each.
• Every round you must attack the nearest living target, friend or foe, or move towards the nearest target.
• You can suppress this bloodlust for 1 round with a successful save vs magic (-2 at night, -4 if the moon is full).
• The transformation ends after 1d4 turns, or you’ve been unable to attack someone (successful or not) for 6 rounds.
• Price: 2000sp

16) Nice and  Pleasant Tea Kettle

• A small tin tea kettle painted with simple blue and yellow flowers.
• The kettle can make up to 4 cups of tea at a time, in the usual fashion.
• Once per day, you can brew an usually pleasant batch of tea. A wounded person drinking a cup of this unusually pleasant tea heals 1 hp.
• A person can only benefit from this unusually pleasant tea once per day, and the tea loses potency if it grows cold.
• You must provide your own water, heat, and tea leaves.
• This is one of the rare magic items with no horrible side effects.
• Price: 2000sp

17) Medical Potion 

• Bitter brew, thick and black, in a leather flask
• Drink to heal 1d6+1 damage.
• Price: 300sp each, 1d3 flasks available

18) Wand

• Random spell: level 1-3; 4d6 charges
• Price: spell level x charges x 600sp

19) Spell Scroll

• Roll 1d6: 1-4 wizard spell, 5-6 cleric scroll.
• Random spell and level.
• Price: 500sp per spell level

20) Spell Book

• Contains 1d6 random spells of random levels
• Price:  total spell levels x 1000sp

The Black Katana (Silent Legions)

The Black Katana is an eldritch artifact for Silent Legions. 

The Black Katana (also known as Hatsunetsu Yume, Fever Dream, or Thought Breaker) is an ancient sword made in the Japanese style. Its black metal blade incredibly sharp and never needs honing. Its hilt and guard are made of an unknown organic substance resembling yellow bone or coral. According to legend the sword was forged from the fang or claw of a demon by a traitorous samurai, who used it to kill his daimyo. The sword carves the mind as well as flesh. People wounded by the Black Katana are wracked by nightmarish visions of alien hellscapes from beyond the quicksilver grid of Reality. But the sword is also dangerous to its user. The wielder of the Black Katana will experience the dying thoughts of anyone they slay.

The Black Katana is currently in the possession of the Blood Message of the Shadowed Brotherhood in Yakima, WA. It is wielded by Ajax, the half-ghoul Cursed Warrior, who is immune to the madness the sword inflicts.

Black Katana primitive weapon (Dex or Str)

Damage: 1d8+2              Slaughter: 1d10

• The sword proves a +2 to attack and damage rolls.
• A person damaged by the sword also takes 1d6 Madness (no Madness cap).
• If the sword is used to kill a terrestrial creature, the wielder takes 1d8 Madness (no Madness cap).
• The Black Katana is a magical weapon and can damage and slaughter eldritch creatures.
• If the blade is drawn and doesn't kill a sapient creature, before they resheath the sword, the wielder must make a Save vs Magic. If they fail the save, they must attack the nearest visible person, turning the sword on themselves if they are alone. 

Ajax (Half-Ghoul, Cursed Warrior asset)

AC: 14 ascending (tactical armor)

HD: 6 (30 hp)

Move: 40'

Skill: +2

Save: 13+

Morale: 9

Attacks

• Claws x2: +3 to hit, 1d4 damage, 1d6 slaughter
• AK-47: +4 to hit, 1d12 damage, 1d8 slaughter
• Black Katana: +5 to hit, 1d8+2 damage +1d6 Madness, 1d10 slaughter

Special: Regenerates 1d3 hp per round while not in sunlight. Cannot regen fire damage.

Arms of the Iron Bastard (DCC Magic Item)

Arms of the Iron Bastard

The legendary golemsmith, Vonkurk Eisenbluth, created the mighty automaton known as the Iron Bastard to aide in the Dwarf King's war against the Goat Men. The Iron Bastard was destroyed during the Siege of Eldervault 1000 years ago, and only its arms were recovered. The golemic limbs still retain a fraction of the Iron Bastard's power.

The Arms of the Iron Bastard are a pair of muscular dwarven arms crafted of dull black iron decorated with glowing runes. To access the power of the Arms, a user must remove his own arms and replace them with the magical iron limbs. The potential user must remove their own arms without help, or the magic fails. Removing the first arm is relatively easy; removing the second arm may require some inventiveness. Attaching the Arms of the Iron Bastard is a simple task, as barbed hooks and screws on the shoulders instantly bore into the user's bloody stumps. Once so attached, the Arms are permanently bonded to the user and grant them several boons and banes:

• A character bonded to the Arms of the Iron Bastard gains a Strength Modifier of +4.
• The massive iron hands allow the user to punch for 1d6 damage (plus Strength Modifier).
• The user may also wield two-handed weapons like greatswords with one hand.
• The massive iron arms are cumbersome, however. Any Skill checks that rely on Agility are penalized -1d on the dice chain.
• Tearing out one's own arms and replacing them with magical iron damages the soul and psyche. The user permanently loses one point of Personality and two points of Luck.
• An elf that tries to bond with the Arms of the Iron Bastard dies painfully in 1d6 rounds and explodes in a 20' radius fireball (10d6 damage to those caught in the blast, Reflex Save DC 13 for half damage).

Much more metal than mere gauntlets!

Grumchomp, The Hungry Blade [DCC Magical Weapon]

Grumchomp, The Hungry Blade

Grumchomp is an enchanted greataxe crafted 3000 years ago for the for the warlord Vorgo the Immense. The massive, double-beaked axe is made from tyrannosaurus bones and wrapped with troglodyte skin. The heavy bone blade is carved in the likeness of a demon or dragon.

This fearsome weapon is constantly hungry. It prefers the blood and flesh of its owner’s enemies, but is quite content to sit in a bowl of stew or plate of cutlets while it waits for a worthy foe.

Grumchomp possesses several magical properties:

• Intelligence: 6
• Alignment: Neutral
• Communicates through simple urges
• Desires to fight and/or eat greater and greater foes. Urges its own into gluttony.
• While in the hands of a warrior or dwarf who is at least 50 pounds overweight, the axe increases its wielder’s Deed Die by +1d (to a maximum of 1d10+6 at level 10).
• On a Critical Hit, in addition to the normal crit effects, Grumchomp feeds on the flesh, blood, and spirit of the target and shares this vitality with its wielder. The wielder of Grumchomp does not need to eat or drink for a number of days equal to the damage inflicted by the Critical Hit.
• Once per day, Grumchomp can tell it’s wielder where the best restaurant in town is.

Pratchett's Blade

Terry Pratchett was a man of wit and compassion, of anger and insight, of reason and whimsy. He was my hero. No other writer, save maybe Douglas Adams, had such an influence on my writing and narrative and dialog style. Every bickering goblin mob, every brash and bumbling cop, every sass-mouthed cosmic entity is a thank-you note to Terry Pratchett.

His sadly-not-unexpected death has broken my heart.

Did you know that after he was knighted, Sir Terry Pratchett forged his own sword out of meteoric iron? Did you know he hid it afterwards? I can only hope it's in a trap-filled dungeon under his home.

This is my best way to honor his memory.


Pratchett's Blade
Weapon (shortsword), Legendary (requires attunement by a good-aligned character)

This legendary weapon was brought to this plane from some distant and unknown world. Pratchett's Blade was the favored weapon of a much-loved adventuring bard from Times of Old, known for his biting wit and unwavering sense of justice. The blade has passed in and out of many hands ever since, always bringing a spark of light to a darker world.

Pratchett's blade is a simple, but well-made shortsword forged of star-metal that glows with a dim octarine light in the dark. The hilt is wrapped in worn black leather, similar to bookbinding.

When attuned, the shortsword grants its wielder a +3 bonus to attack and damage. The sword also grants its wielder immunity to fear. On his or her turn, the wielder can cast Vicious Mockery as a bonus action (save DC: 13). Lastly, once per day (recharging at dawn) the wielder can cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter as a bonus action with a save DC of 15.

"Aces" -- Legendary sword of Druuj the Slayer

I don't like giving out boring weapons in my D&D games. Even a "generic" Sword +1 in my games has a distinctive look and a bit of history to it. The newest Dungeon Master's Guide has some nice tables to help spark ideas, too, which I appreciate.

The players in my new D&D game recently found this sword in our "Lost Mines of Phandelver" game (replacing Talon in the Redbrand hideout).

Aces
This longsword grants its wielder +1 to hit and damage rolls and does not require attunement. The hilt bears a large spade symbol (as in a deck of cards) and the crossguards are made of horn. The heavy, serrated blade is made of dark, meteoric iron. The grip is wrapped in strange black leather, and the pommel ends in a wicked spike.

The mighty warrior Druuj the Slayer wielded Aces in Times of Old. Druuj came out of the North from unknown lands. Neither wholly good or wholly evil, Druuj worshiped strange, foreign gods and slew both men and monsters. According to legend, Aces sings alien war hymns in the heat of battle.

Aces was inspired by another magic sword I saw on some Tunnels & Trolls website years ago. I wish I could remember which one. 

Wight Breath Whiskey

Brewed by the dwarves of Redlodge. Also available, I'm sure, in Narcosa...

Wight Breath Whiskey

This dark, red-hued whiskey burns with cold but causes euphoric feelings of foolish bravery. Wight Breath Whiskey is brewed by dwarves in complete darkness and kept in ceramic or black glass bottles. It loses potency in seconds if exposed to direct sunlight.

Drinking a shot of Wight Breath Whiskey inflicts 1d4+1 necrotic damage with no save. The drinker must make a CON save (DC 13) or have his hit point maximum reduced reduced by an amount equal to the damage inflicted. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies(!) if this effect reduces his hit point maximum to 0.

Each time the drinker's hit point maximum is reduced, the drinker gains advantage on saving throws to avoid the “frightened” condition for an hour. This effect ends prematurely if the drinker's hit point maximum is returned to normal.

Cast Down the Beautiful Demon

Over on G+ I posted a "showin' off the goods" pic of my new copy of Red and Pleasant Land. This is my Joeskytax/Noahtax payment for such a self-indulgent post.

Trach-Nauch-Kokkourgonugh
Weapon (greatsword) , legendary (requires attunement by a non-elf)

This iron greatsword is of dwarven make and is inscribed with hobgoblin runes. A skilled smith can tell that the runes were added at least a hundred years after the sword's original creation. The runes spell the hobgoblin phrase Trach-Nauch-Kokkourgonugh which translates (roughly) to "Cast Down the Beautiful Demon."

You gain +1 to hit and damage while using this sword. The sword inflicts an extra 2d6 psychic damage to elves of all breeds. Additionally, while holding this sword, you gain Advantage on any saving throw made to resist a spell cast by an elf.