Showing posts with label insects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insects. Show all posts

Poet's Grove


A poet's grove is a graveyard, serene and simple with no stones or markers. Instead of carving monuments to quietly erode over centuries the deceased are interred wrapped in linen with a beechnut embedded in their heart. After a month it sprouts, feeding on the body wrapped around its roots and absorbing the ghost left tethered within the bones, growing into a Verse Tree. Once the tree entirely devours the bones beneath it the magic takes hold and the tree's smooth gray bark begins to crack, etching itself with the deceased's unwritten work. The distinctive voice of each tree makes headstones unnecessary.

The groves are open to all who lived with words and are carefully tended by groundskeeper monks. They meticulously copy the writing from the trunks and branches of each Verse Tree, checking daily for new passages and collecting the ghost-written works into posthumous anthologies that support the perpetual maintenance of the groves. It's an endless duty as prolific ghosts regularly fill their original tree and spread to its saplings, creating entire stands and clearings etched with more works than they ever penned in life.

Note: There are several species of tree and arboreal parasites that mimic the look of a poet's grove but are unrelated. One such species is the carnivorous Glyphic Aspen which grows in large stands on calcium-poor soils. They produce marks on their bark that appear to be writing and often invitations to rest. Don't trust them. They lie. They only want your bones.

Another type of false grove is created by the Ruby Stanza Borer, a species of beetle that has an instinctive grasp of language and rudimentary psi abilities in its larval instar. They replicate the writing effect of true Verse Trees by burrowing through the host-tree's cambium layer in the shape of words, causing the script to appear in scars on the outer bark. This eventually kills the tree. They're generally not skilled writers, producing disjointed hackwork.

A true poet's grove will always have groundsmonks in attendance and a scriptorium situated somewhere on the grounds. Don't be fooled!

Infectious Bug Bite Rules

About a month ago I ran a session set in a swamp infested with biting, disease-carrying insects. If you stopped moving, bugs converged and you got bit. The more you got bit, the higher your chances of catching a disease.

The idea was to throw my players into a miserable, tense downward spiral towards fever and delirium with each bite yet still have them be able to keep moving. Here's how it worked:

- Bite roll: Every time the party stops moving (for an encounter, to rest, etc) have each player roll 1d6 to determine how many times they get bit. If they've failed a check/save or are being incautious and taking a long time have them roll 1d12 instead. Bites stick around and build up until they get some sort of treatment.

- Fever roll: After a player gets bit once, have them roll 1d20+(# of bites) at each encounter in addition to the bite roll. On a 16 or higher they contract a disease and start suffering from a fever and delirium. (-1 to saves, checks, and initiative rolls for each bite.)

- Players can decrease their chances of being bitten (give themselves a negative mod to their bite roll) by taking anti-bug precautions like:

  • Covering exposed flesh in mud (-1)
  • Using bug repellents (-3)
  • A physical barrier, like mosquito netting or a beekeeper's suit (-5, you can't completely escape mosquitoes)
  • Creatures with natural armor or protective traits (ex: flaming hair that acts like a bug zapper) get -2 or whatever feels right
  • Creatures without blood, a circulatory system, or flesh are immune to bug bites

- If you get bit 15 times you collapse into a feverish stupor. The rest of the party needs to cool you down quick or find some way to cure you. You might say something embarrassing in your delirious ravings. Or something useful. Or true prophecy. Mostly just nonsense tho.

Ravings (d100):
 1 - 60   Nonsense
61 - 70   Embarrassing (heartfelt)
71 - 80   Embarrassing
81 - 95   Useful epiphany
96 - 100  Prophecy