GHOST ORCS (Orc Dungeon Preview Snippet)

Back in January, NBateman of Press the Beast  raised a challenge to the server: The Orc Dungeon, a return to PURITY and STRENGTH in dungeon design. A dungeon where the only enemy is orcs, the only traps are spike traps and the only treasure is gold. The full post is forthcoming; this draft preview is my attempt on ghosts following the Goblinpunch tradition.

GHOST ORCS

The Valley of the Dead was sacrosanct—an escape from a life of hardship and strife, where the dead could finally rest beyond the world of blood. And yet now rings with the shout of war, the thunder of hooves, and the stench of unclean death. Every moment of this indignity drives more of the dead to wakefulness. 

The Dead cannot be harmed or slain by the living, only escaped, appeased, or momentarily repelled. They move at the speed of a walking man, and are easily outpaced on open ground—but they can move through stone and over pits with ease, and escaping them may require a dangerous pace in this trap-strewn landscape. 

They will never harm members of the mortuary cult, a protection they extend to accompanied allies. Coalition orcs are not safe, but are well-versed in the taboos and traditions of these shades, and have better than even odds of avoiding or propitiating them. They will always attack Dynasty orcs to the exclusion of others when the choice is there, and cannot be propitiated by them so long as the PRIESTESS lives.

Ghosts may only appear on the surface when the sun is below the horizon. They may only appear on the first level of the dungeon when the sun has left the sky (when it’s gone below the mountains, aka dawn and dusk). Deeper than that and they may appear at any time. Ghosts are easily seen at a distance in dark places by their spectral, luminescent forms, but are nearly invisible in the light. They will not enter the light of campfires, but may skulk at their edges, waiting for the fire to fade, or a straggler to leave its protection.

Each week the PRIESTESS continues to focus their wrath, they will wax in strength and number until ultimately only the sun deters them. The Dynasts know this. If the PRIESTESS is slain or captured, the Dynast spiritualists will be able to propitiate them properly, laying them to rest.

GHOSTLY PROCEDURE

Ghosts can be propitiated through proper rites and offerings, as defined by their culture. Foreign sages or locals would be able to share pieces of the proper rights. Local sages might tell you all of it, but sages rarely part with their secrets lightly. Anyone who knows anything about steppe ghosts will tell you they love horses. 

Ghosts might also be repelled through proper rights and magics like Turn Undead, Consecrate, or the application of blessed wine or holy water. Ghosts so repelled will not continue to pursue you. 

Finally, in desperation, a ghost may be driven off with brute force using spells and magic weapons. Each time a ghost is struck by a magical attack, there is a 2-in-6 chance of the ghost being dispersed, +1 for: each +1 of the magic weapon, each MD invested in the spell, each previous brute-force attempt. Each attempt allows the ghost another attack on the assailant in turn. Ghosts banished by brute force cannot return until the sun next sets. Beware—such rough treatment will incur a personal grudge, and the spirit will return to haunt you again, often at the most inconvenient time. This is the only time you may see a spirit pursue someone beyond the valley.

Harm from a ghost attack can be cured, also through proper ritual. Knowledge of these is more widely available, and for the most part, can be intuited--a chilling weakness is cured through the warmth of the sun, etc.

ENCOUNTERING GHOSTS:

When you roll on the encounter table for your current layer and get a Ghost, check the time. If a ghost cannot manifest at the moment (see above), instead pick a player to experience its Omen (ideally, pick whoever it would be funniest for, but you can roll if you're a square). Then, d6:     1. WRATHFUL     2. SPITEFUL     3. DISCONSOLATE     4. ENVIOUS     5. HUNGRY     6. INQUISITIVE

WRATHFUL Ghost

OMEN: Sudden, instantaneous adrenal surge, fight-or-flight circuits redlining out of nowhere. Check morale, with fighters adding their templates to the roll (it's a battleshock test). On fail, Rage as Barbarian for 1d4 rounds or until you get slapped out of it.

MANIFESTATION: The furious, snarling shade of a dead warrior, wielding a weapon of flint that pulls through armor and shields and flesh without resistance. Its passage leaves a savage, biting cold that settles in the marrow. 1d6 damage to strength and constitution. Seeks the most warlike among you.

PROPITIATED BY: A wrestling match! Strip yourself to your skivvies and pose and shout! As per Wicked City rules; the shade is strong and skilled, but alone. Win, and the shade will nod and depart. Lose, and face a choice: accept 1d10 nonlethal damage and your loss like a proper Orc, or forfeit the match and flee. If you take your lumps with honor, the ghost has a 3-in-6 chance of being satisfied, or challenging your second in turn. If they win, or also lose with honor, the ghost is satisfied. If anyone breaks the sanctity of the wrestling match, the ghost will be enraged and you cannot attempt to wrestle again. ALTERNATIVE OFFERINGS: A fine bow and a quiver full of arrows. A horse.

CURED BY: Every 2 hours spent shivering next to a blazing fire, and every 1 hour spent stretched out sunbathing under warm sunlight, gives a save at +1 (cumulative) to heal the stat damage. Alternatively, when a creature has died within the last round, give up your full turn to desperately tear into them, anointing your body with the fleeting warmth of their vitality; heal 1d6 lost STR/CON per HD of creature you do this for. This is really gross, and highly taboo—people will judge you heavy. 

SPITEFUL Ghost:

            OMEN: Paralyzing, nauseating vertigo. Find a nice cool patch of ground to lie facedown for 1d4 minutes or lose your lunch messily.

            MANIFESTATION: A sneering shade, boiling with contempt for those who have defiled this place. Reaches out to grasp your brain, and give you the end you deserve. Save vs Magic or be possessed. If successful, will make a break for the nearest pit or trap and hurl themselves in if not restrained—if not established, assume there is a hidden hazard 1d4 rounds of movement away, roll on the appropriate hazard table for your location. Seeks the most haughty among you.

PROPITIATED BY: Ritual self-abasement and humiliation. Grovel, snivel, weep and wine; beat yourself on the head, smear yourself with ash and dust and cult, soil yourself as the rest of your group showers you in invectives. You’ll be visibly disgusting and powerfully stinky until you get a chance for a deep, through clean. OR A symbol of status and pride (regimental standard,  badge of office etc) OR a horse.

CURED BY: Insults, scorn and derision. When they possess someone, hit them—the victim, for the ghost has assumed their pride as well—with the most cutting insult you can shape, venomous and personal. If it’s good enough to make other players go “oh damn”, it’s good enough to shock the ghost into inaction, which is your opening for everyone else to open up and lay in. Pile it on thick, leveraging every insecurity and old heartache you can pull—eventually, the specter won’t be able to take it, and will flee shrieking and gibbering from the poor soul’s body. They will have heard every bit of it, of course.

DISCONSOLATE Ghost:

OMEN: Crying fit--snot dripping, shuddering gasps, the whole nine yards. Lasts 1d3x10 minutes.

MANIFESTATION: Screaming, wailing, sobbing; beside itself with the grief of being dead. Will wrap its bony, frigid limbs around you and not let go, demanding a sympathetic ear for all its suffering; tremendously loud and heavy. Seeks the most compassionate among you. Attacks and spells against a clinging ghosts inflict half-damage to the victim.

PROPITIATED BY: A full mourning session in concert with them. Weep, scream, wail, tear your shirts and pound the earth. Cling to the ghost and each other and bewail the cruelty of life. Takes a half hour and will provoke a wandering monster check. OR an object of sentimental comfort (grass doll, locket, old scarf), OR a horse.

CURED BY: Lay awake with them in the dark for a long, bleak night. Accept their sorrows into your heart, and murmur soothing words. Their shrieks soften to sobs, then to sniffles, then at dawn fade into a gentle snore; their grip will fade and their burden shall pass from you—but not entirely. You’ve given too much of yourself and your own fire has faded. Fill an inventory slot with Grief. It will take time to set down. 

ENVIOUS Ghost

OMEN: Gnawing, cloying, obsessive anxiety; are you missing something? did you forget your rope? Does your purse feel lighter? Swipe their character sheet, especially their inventory; they don't get it back until they've spent a watch compulsively counting and recounting everything they have. They can still act as normal, but unless they remember what they have, it's unavailable until inventoried.

MANIFESTATION: Covetous, grasping, desperately jealous and leering. Why should you have such fine things while it must content itself with the dusty wages of the dead? Reflex save or it steals something; steal 1d6 valuable items before retreating with its haul. If it gets away, you may find your items later, piled in a funerary nook beside the bones of the dead—but there are thousands and thousands of graves in the labyrinth below.

PROPITIATED BY: Give them something shiny, and sell the hell out of it. Pour on your most desperate used-car-salesmen, your 4am infomercials guy, and lie your ass off about how this is a one of a kind Serpentman Dynasty relic inherited from your great aunt and so on. Insufficient salesmanship will produce haggling “gimme that thing too”, will demand greater bids to give you your stuff back.  OR pay it 100 gold to fuck off OR a horse.

CURED BY: go find your stuff, sucker.

HUNGRY Ghost:

OMEN: Cravings--something fatty, salty, sugary, rich, sweet. You want some quality grub, damn it. The next time you rest, unless you can eat something appreciably nicer than a field ration, rest recovery is halved, and you'll probably be whiney about it.

MANIFESTATION: Gaunt, hollow cheeks, knobbed fingers, swollen belly—it has been so long so long so long since they have had something to eat— Reaches through your skin and shrivels you, devouring your fat. You thin, visibly—fill a slot with Hunger, then another with Malnutrition, then a third with Starvation—a fourth encounter is fatal. Seeks the healthiest among you. 

PROPITIATED BY: Welcome them for a feast, why, we’ve been expecting you, we’re just getting started! Treating them as an honored guest, prepare the most delectable banquet you can—be detailed with what you make and how. Alcohol pairings go a long way. Takes at least an hour and requires a fire (this fire will not repel the ghost—guest right is older than ghosts). OR every single speck of food and booze the party has on hand OR a horse.

CURED BY: Gotta eat. Each slot of famine applies stacking penalties. They can be cured at a rate of 1/day by consuming double rations and bed rest, or triple rations if engaged in adventure.

INQUISITIVE Ghost:

OMEN: A transient sense of good fortune, like a gentle touch on the shoulder. Until the next sunrise, the first time you'd fail a roll by one, succeed instead.

MANIFESTATION: Hey, this one’s friendly! This ghost, for one reason or another, has retained their sense of self and identity; in both appearance and behavior, they are a spectral reflection as they were in life. Curious and inquisitive, hungry for novelty and connection. If you look interesting, they will approach and attempt to open a conversation. Treat as friendly NPC. In search of tales—news, juicy gossip, chivalric tails, family updates, and more. Will gladly return the favor, sharing folklore, history, what they know of the current events, directions and so on.

PROPITIATED BY: Well, I’m flattered, but really, there’s no need—If your party and the ghost hit it off and get along, they’ll offer to tag along for the adventure, so long as you’re acting at least tangentially in the interests of their living kin and the Priestess (Stealing from the Dynasts is good enough). They’ll provide ghost-buddy support: scouting, spying, diplomatic intercessions with other ghosts, etc. 

CURED BY: They’ll see you off with a wave and well wishes, should you survive and leave the valley. Unless…If one of the players and the ghosts have really hit it off, like seemed to form a personal bond, they might—shyly—ask if that PC wouldn’t mind taking them along for the ride. There’s so much of the world they never got to see, out there beyond the steppe. They’ve heard such tales of the sea…

If the player declines, no harm, no foul. Should the player accept, grant them template A of Ghost-Ridden Rider. 

BONUS CLASS: GHOST RIDDEN RIDER

that's right suckers, I snuck a secret prestige class into the ghost encounter table

A: GHOST RIDDEN, RIDER, +1 HP, +1 to-hit.

GHOST RIDDEN: You’ve willingly invited a spectral roommate to cohabitate in your own head. Your ghostly bondmate is half-in-half-out; they share all your senses, but can pull away from you a short distance and use their own as well. Ghosts have no senses of smell, taste or touch, but can see in the dark up to 30’ and see invisible forces--fellow ghosts, spells, demons and so on.

For the duration of your bond, with respect to others, treat your charisma as -1 (your personality is somewhat distracted vycohabitation) but your wisdom at +1 (two heads are better than one), and you may roll twice for perception and take the higher. When subject to mind-altering effects such as charm or sleep, your ghost partner can push you to fight it, giving you an extra save after a turn of effort. (Doesn’t apply to fear; ghosts get scared too.)

You’re bound to each other, and it’s painful and disorienting for both of you to be more than 30’ apart—take a -2 to everything, as your mind and body experience a sudden vertigo of absence.  You cannot enter consecrated ground or cross spiritual wards without forcing that painful separation, although as a flesh-and-blood body you’re free to interfere with such boundaries should you please. Return quickly—if you are forced apart for longer than an hour, their bond to this plane may begin to fray.

You count as undead for magical purposes, and clerics, paladins, soothsayers and mediums will know you to be haunted. Those who can see ghosts and spells will see them, leaning on your shoulder, flitting around you. How they react to this will depend on their personality and doctrine.


RIDER: They guide your movements, and their long-dead reflexes live anew within you. A gentle touch on the elbow—an impulse in the leg—and you find your body flowing with a strange familiarity.

After a week of awkward acclimation, you become proficient in riding and archery, if you were not already. After a month, you become proficient in overland navigation, survival, tracking and tanning, if you were not already. After a season, you gain the effects of Born in the Saddle, and your arrows are fired at an additional +1 to-hit, as they guide your arm. These effects persist so long as your partnership does. If your journey together lasts for 5 years or more, they are permanent.

Born in the Saddle: You ride and shoot like a falcon in flight. You gain +1 to-hit and AC while mounted, and shoot freely on the move. If you Parthian Shot someone, the attack has advantage on the to-hit and damage roll.

This journey together is liable to end in tragedy. The living and the dead love at distance for good reason. But—if future tragedy is cause to reject present joy, then what’s the point of living at all?