Sunday, November 4, 2018

Cybernetic Bastards - Session 2

(thanks megafunk)

City Weather Table

The the near cyberpunk-future the weather is fucked.  It always seems to be raining and when the sun does shine its through a thick orange smog.  Ice storms, heatwaves, electric storms, and radioactive blowouts can all happen in the same day.  Use the generator below to see what the weather is like in the city.


Saturday, October 27, 2018

Cybernetic Bastards

I made a cyberpunk hack for Into the Odd, based on the EBL playtest packet 2

Get it here

Whats so different between this and ItO?

Archana is now Chrome - your augs, chips, laser guns, and other high tech gadgets.

Critical Damage and Wounds are now just Wounds.  When your out of HP roll STR to avoid getting a Wound.  You get Wounds based on how bad you fail this roll.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

White Willows pt19 - Boulevard of Bureaucrats


This part of the city is referred to as the ‘Beige Quarter’ by residents of the city. Most of the day to day operations of the government and the guard are served by the many Bureaucrats that make the gears of government run.

Town Guard Headquarters
This large complex serves as the base of operations for the Town Guard of White Willows. It consists of a defensive stone wall with a large open courtyard in the center. Despite being here for centuries there are very few permanent buildings on the campus and most of the Guards offices are in large bleached canvas tents.

The City Gaol
The City Gaol is a dark in foreboding block of gray granite with no windows, one gate, and topped with a tangle of razor wire on top. The jail is mainly used for holding criminals awaiting trial or as a ‘cool off’ for drunks, hot heads, and the occasional youth riot. The jail is strictly split into sections for each class, the upper level for the wealthy, whose cells are more like barred apartments, the ground floor for the moderates and middle class, the most akin to what we might think a prison is, and finally for the poor the squalid under dungeons where the accused are kept chained to the wall until their trial.

There are older sections of the jail, where the canton keeps prisoners that cannot be given a trial, or who have been identified as being too much of a risk to be made into a slave or catch the executioner’s axe. This section of the jail has a bad reputation and is feared as the place where they ‘lock you up and throw away the key.’ Indeed there are cells in this area where the doors have been bricked over and the whole are plays host to strange phenomena and odd noises.

Visitors, unless with legal counsel, are not allowed in, but the guards are able to be bribed.

Tax Collection Bureau
The Tax Collection Bureau (TCB) is hosted in a building built like a small fortress. Square, squat, and plain made of dark gray stone and lacking windows a squad of specially made golems patrols the top of the top of the building day and night. The stark building clashes with its garish inhabitants as tax collectors for the canton dress in bright colors and outlandish attire. The uniform for a tax collector is similar to a landsknecht with wide floppy hats, bright hose, and overly enlarged codpieces. Make no mistake however, Warwick the Stern, the large nosed Halfling who runs the tax collection bureau, is efficient and disciplined and expects no mistakes and nothing but the best from his employees. The TCB is known for hiring a lot of ex-adventures and demi-humans. The TCB has been cracking down on illegal slave trading so the canton can get its 10%.

Nobles Court
This court is dedicated to the legal issues of the upper classes and of maters of state. Run by Chief Magistrate Tallo he demands a court free of antics, clean, and as quiet as a library. Tallo is harsh with his settlements and many cases that would be considered minor often get long slave times or the death sentence. This said Tallo is extremely corrupt and trials are often just a farce for who can bribe him the most.

The Low Court
This court is dedicated to the legal issues of the lower classes and is undermanned and understaffed to deal with all of the issues. Chief Magistrate Balfar is known for giving out strange and bizarre punishments and has begun to charge spectators viewing rights to the punishments. He has been using the funds to increase the staff of the court and create a defensive fund to protect peasants from abuses of the nobles.

Office of Street Scoopers
This office controls a small army of slaves and day workers whose sole job it is to clean the city of trash and refuse. They are all equipped in bleached white uniforms and sweep each street at random (but the wealth areas get cleaned more often). The basement of the office is a temple dedicated to the bald God of Cleanliness and everyone who leaves smells lemony-fresh.

Involuntary Fire Brigade
Made mostly of slaves, criminals, and some randomly drafted citizens the Involuntary Fire Brigade focuses on stopping any fires that might flare up in the city. They are equipped with numerous axes, ladders, and two Decanters of Endless Water. Despite its press gang origins the Involuntary Fire Brigade is well respected.

City Archives
This large plain building is filled to the brim with old scrolls and dusty tomes. Staffed by a single nearsighted bureaucrat the City Archives contains copies of old city data – censuses, old deeds, and family genealogies.

The Golden Goose
One of the few buildings on this street not dedicated to the government The Golden Goose is a small restaurant run by old widow by the name of Nanella. Famous for her bowls of roast goose and rice she opens at noon and closes when she sells out, which is often within the hour. Much beloved by the local bureaucrats it pays to be friends with Nanella as she can get you in to many places that the bureaucrats would normally keep you out.

White Willows pt18

Boulevard of Business
The financial and commercial heart of the city the Boulevard of Business is what most people think of the city when mentioned. Its street is home to hundreds of small shops and vendors catering to all and any tastes.

First Sacrosanct Bank
White Willows is the center of the cantons commercial power and as such home to its only bank. The First Sacrosanct Bank gives out loans, and protects its customer’s money. A 1,000gp minimum is required to open an account here. Loans can be taken out but require a rigorous credit check and audit (500gp/level @ 15% interest, membership required). The interior of the bank is richly appointed with black marble columns and brass fittings and its exterior is made from a white stone in an almost temple like fashion. (Despite public denying it, local rumors persist that there may be a temple to the God of Greed hidden within the bank). The most impressive feature of the First Sacrosanct Bank are its guardians, 20ft tall golden single eyed golems with mace like fists. They fire beams of burning red energy from their eye and their eyes follow each and every person who enters the building. A few thieves had tried to crack the vault but the Golden Golems soon rendered them to dust and bone.

H.H.R. Pawn and Lending
Those that have been turned down by the First Sacrosanct Bank may turn to the nefarious H.H.R. Pawn and Lending (300gp/level @ 25% interest). Operated by the shrewd and aloof Halfling businessman Helix Halsteder Rigoon he has brokered a monopoly on pawn and lending in the city due to a decades old contract with the Lord Viscount for services rendered in time of need (as well as a generous bribe to the Thieves Guild). In addition to offering loans HHR also offers appraisals of treasures and gems, money changing (he is quite proud of his exotic currency collection and is always looking to increase it), and pawning (he prefers ‘easy to move’ items like jewelry and gems, and dislikes rare and strange artifacts). HHR often hires thugs, brigands, and adventures to collect on those who have defaulted on their debt. HHR is not a part of the Thieves’ Guild (despite rumor) but operates a bit more on the ‘gray’ side of the law.

Bull and Bear Bazaar
The central feature of the Boulevard of Business is the massive Bull and Bear Bazaar. Swarming with hawkers and vendors selling everything and anything imaginable no trip to White Willows is complete without a trip to the Bazaar.

The bazaar is a large cobblestone open plaza. At the center of the Bazaar is the Pilar of Objewl, 30ft sheer marble pillar that at its top features a statue of a bull and a bear back-to-back palms out made of gold. Legends say that placing an offering of coin in the palms of the animal will grant the blessing of the Objewl, God of the Free Market and Enterprise. Purportedly the best way to do this is to tie ones bootstraps around the pillar and pull themselves up by them.

On market days the Bazaar is crowed with up to 2d6x100 individuals from all across the canton and beyond. A preferred stop for adventures, merchants and thieves the Town Guard has a strong presence in the bazaar. Fights and pickpockets are common but unless they involve the vendors the Town Guard rarely steps in. If the Town Guard does step in they step in hard with clubs swinging.

The Bazaar is open day and night, lit by enchanted hanging lanterns the wires of which all radiate off the Pillar of Objewl. Most vendors close shop at night and as the crowds disperse, wandering minstrels, street preforms and ‘purveyors of the flesh’ come out. [[During the day any objects from the ALL SHOPS COMBINED list can be found along with just about any domestic and simple items, and in season fruits and vegetables]] along with 2d6 of the shops on the "Strange Shops of the Bull and Bear Bazaar" table

The Sword and Boarding House
This large dilapidated building known as the ‘Cheap Sleeps’ is a pest filled boarding house popular with penny pinchers, mercenaries, and savages. (1SP a night) It serves no food and asks that all are out of the building by noon for the daily delousing.

Wandering Merchants Inn
The Wandering Merchants Inn is a typical inn that one might find in any city. Popular with out of city traders the inn provider food, drink, beds, and nightly entertainment. Owned by the former adventurer Cylon he is currently seeking to unload the inn on someone else.

Priswinsky Wines and Ales
Porter “Port” Priswinsky operates this brightly painted shop that sells a wide collection of rare and exotic wines and ales. Port, along with his partner “Dandy” Danrell serve a clientele that is mostly foreign merchants looking for a taste of home and bored nobles looking for something more exotic than what the vineyards and brewers of White Willows can produce. Prices range from 1sp to over 500gp per bottle/growler. Due to his clientele Port and Dandy are very knowledgeable about the tastes and habits of the merchants and nobles of White Willows. Hidden in a large wine cask in the basement is an Avatar of the God of Wine. Porter would like the avatar gone but does not want to invoke the ire of a god, particular one who could spoil his entire stock and has been trying, for years to get rid of the giant cask that the avatar lives in.

Adama Pottery
This shop smells of wet clay, burning kilns, and a strange metallic scent. While workmen churn out most of the cantons pottery, Adama, the master potter works in experimentation in the basement. He has recently created small clay golems (made from enchanted clay from the nearby mountains and trolls blood) and plans on selling them as ‘humane and safe’ alternates to slaves. He fears that the Slavers Guild will try to stop him and is a bit paranoid but will open up to anyone know as an abolitionist.

White Beards Arms and Armor
Run by two twin brothers who both have a set of twin daughters White Beards Arms and Armor is the best armorer in the canton. All of their goods sold are masterwork quality and are prized by enchanters as their arms and armor seems to keep enchantments better. Their daughters are looking to go out adventuring, just like their fathers did in their younger years, but their fathers do not approve.

Blinky the Blacksmith
Halmor the blacksmith runs this small shop that specializes in pole arms and axes. He has a pet mini-blinkdog that runs around the shop. Halmor is an ex-mercenary and serves part time in the town guard.

Varket’s Furs
Harold Varket small shop sells most exotic furs to the noble classes. Leopard, tiger, lion, wolf, minx and giant hamster can all be found in his shop. Varket posts the occasional bounty for specific creatures and gladly buy furs from hunted animals from his backdoor. Harold, while looking a bit like a pomp, is a skilled hunter himself.

Slavers Guild
Ruff Rodger runs the Slavers Guild and is primarily dedicated to stamping out illegal slavery and making sure the other slavers play nice. Slavery has become unpopular in White Willows in the past few years due to a few ‘ugly’ incidents. Rodger has been trying to fix the PR image of slavery from whips and chains to that of a more indentured servitude. The Slavers Guild is entitled to a levy of 10gp per slave each year from every slaver at the start of the New Year. Thanks to some legal loopholes many slaves are freed on the last day of the year so they are not taxed and the first few weeks of the New Year involve a lot of slave re-capturing.

Horse Market
A slight misnomer, this large open pavilion and adjoining stables serves all mounts of all types and their needs. Numerous smaller stalls can be found in the building and the scent of animals and hay and the sound of whinnies and hawkers dominate the air.

The Whistler
This lazy Halfling by the name of Curly is able to teach horses tricks and commands that function on a series of whistles. A tin whistle will be hanging on his stall along with a sign that says “BLOW FOR SERVICE.” He can be found napping in one of the stables. Teaching a horse “whistle tricks” costs 20gp and takes d4 weeks and at the end of that time roll a d6 on the table below. The mount knows that trick and all under that roll.

Whistle Tricks
Roll Trick
1 Come”
2 Go Home”
3 Move Silently”
4 Whinnie”
5 Alert”
6 Make up your own

Agular Saddles
Jose Agular an Azorian craftsman that runs the saddle shop. While expensive his saddles are of the highest quality and materials and are very good for extended rides. He also sells a number of other leather goods, including saddle bags and cowboy boots.

Lucky’s Horseshoes
Marty “Lucky” Luskvar is a Halfling farrier. He attracts customers to his shop by his gimmick of juggling horseshoes and offering a discount to anyone who can beat him in a game of horseshoes. (Rigged of course, his ‘lucky horseshoe’ is a magnet and strikes true every time). Lucky is extremely greedy and has no scruples with doing less than legal work for coin.

Slick Vic’s Mounts
A catty salesman that goes by Vic that wears an all while suite and cowboy hat and talks in a thick faked drawl runs the largest stable in White Willows. Vic has a wide variety of common mounts (donkeys, horses, and lizards) as well as a supply of special mounts for sale (roll d20 4 times on the Strange Mounts table to determine which are for sale that week).

White Willows pt17

Avenue of the Academics
Formerly the White Willows Wizarding College (WWWC) post-Boggie Pox this area is now the Avenue of the Academics. The old college serves as a new college, focusing on more mundane subjects, as well as the home of the cities intelligentsia. This area is a home to artists, radicals, drop-outs, NEETS, philosophers, charlatans, madmen, cranks, as well as the over-educated and under employed. The city guard has a ‘light touch’ with this area as heavy handedness can lead to riots. The old dormitory of the college are now apartment complexes and small cafes and taverns line the streets. It is a lovely neighborhood, if one can look past the riots, ennui filled youth, and the occasional alchemical accident.

The Sages Guild
The Boggie Pox devastated most instructions of magical learning and the wizard college of White Willows was no exception. Within a few years of the pox the school was dissolved. Still education seeped from its walls and soon many educated in the more mundane arts begin to inhabit the rundown campus. Now known as the Sage’s Guild the old wizard college serves as a base for medicine, alchemy, and higher learning in the canton.

The Library
One of the few components of the old wizard college to remain relatively intact, thanks to the quick actions of Lord Viscount Alva who bought the library to prevent its knowledge from falling into the wrong hands. Most of the library is dedicated to mundane books and offers free reading classes to citizens. The librarians who run the library are willing to pay premium prices for rare books which they add to the library’s collection. Also not all of the arcane texts are lost and for an extra fee most non-necromancy and non-evocations spells third level or less can be found for research. Access to spells from the school of necromancy, evocation, or anything higher that third level, requires a writ from the Lord Viscount himself (along with a generous fee to the Library.)

Sages Offices
Sages, a catch all term that people use for anyone who is an expert in their field, inhabit most of the old college. Many of the classrooms and study halls have been converted into studio apartments and private laboratories. Sages that pay guild dues can reside on campus. Many when not involved with personal research offer their skills for a fee. The sages are all strange and eccentric and more interested in their studies than people. Each has an apprentice along with a number of slaves that assist with work.

Wands and Wonders Supply House
This shop sells a variety of strange substances for arcane and alchemical usages. Jars of strange unguents, preserved monster parts, and exotic herbs and minerals line the shelves of this shop. Jaskar the Inquisitive the hooded proprietor of this shop follows his customers around like a hawk, partially to assist partially to make sure they do not steal or break anything. Jaskar has a small group of ‘apprentices’ (slaves really) that take care of the day to day functions of the shop that he does not want to do. Jaskar will buy any sort of magical curio, strange herb or mineral, whole monster corpses for 3d6/HD, and specific parts for d6/HD. Jaskar sells scrolls and potions up to 3rd level and minor enchanted weapons and armor.

White Willows pt16 - Avenue of Amusements

The Avenue of Amusements is the entertainment area of White Willows. Section off from the rest of the city by a stone wall it is a loud and rambunctious place with comings and goings taking place at all times.


Grimskull Arena
A remnant from the time of the Invincible Overlords this old stone colosseum has gone through numerous upgrades and modifications over the years. Its roof can be opened and retracted, its field can flooded, and numerous traps and enchanted lights have been installed. While blood sports are rare other violent conflicts, like pit fighting, wresting and boxing are popular. Fall and winter the arena is converted for use for Bloodbowl and Iceblades and in the summer Disk Derby, a sport where wizards on floating disks race/fight their way to the end of a track.


The Dragons Hoard Casino
This large gaming hall, open 24-hours, is the only legal casino allowed in White Willows (the Thieves Guild runs a number of illegal ones). A statue of a large Gold Dragon sits atop a pile of false coins outside the entrance and at the top of every hour shoots a small blast of flame from its mouth. Inside the hall is filled with all sorts of gaming tables and as long as one has coin, no one is turned away. One can find bandits and guardsmen at the same tables. There is rarely conflict and cheating thanks to the large orc bouncers that roam the hall. Conversation here is based on the games and local rumors. The games are all rigged so that the house gets a profit (a profit which White Willows is entitled to a cut of). Losers have a tendency to blame the winners, and often seek vengeance after leaving.


The owner of the hall, a stout but friendly Halfling, who is always in a gilded suit has a secret, he in fact is a Coin Dragon and his hoard is below the hall in an elaborate vault system. Any intruder he catches he dips in gold and has a small ‘museum’ in is private quarters.


Nivet’s Winery
Originally this winery made spiced wine flavored with all sorts of spices, herbs, flowers, and even small insects. In recent years Nivet installed a huge wine tub where 3d6 beautiful women dance and smash grapes which draws in large crowds. The crowds are encouraged to buy the stomped extract which Nivet then ferments and gives to them at a later date. This establishment is seen as seedy, even by Avenue of Amusement standards which Nivet has hardily embraced. He plans on adding a wine wresting ring and mulled wine baths. Nivet can be found chomping on a cigar plotting future additions.


Le Saule Blanc
In addition to being a restaurant this is also temple to the God of Cooking. They server only the hardest to cook, most elaborate dishes, and rare foods to the ultra-rich in elaborate many course meals (3d10 courses). Menu items include iodized flailsnail escargot, eggs with kumquat foam, dry aged Owlbear steaks, cockatrice a l'orange, fried illithind tentacles, abolith sushi, etc. The head chef pays handsomely for exotic meats and ingredients and will even occasionally put out bounties. Secretly however the restaurant is just a front for an underground food pantry/soup kitchen well known to the cities poor.


Dome of Delights
A Catty prince runs this large dome structure fitted with dancing girls, endless goblets of wine, unlimited kebobs, and constant performances. The Dome of Delights is invite only, however uninvited guests will be brought up to the prince and asked to perform for him in shackles. If successful they can spend a day in the Dome of Delights, if unsuccessful they are robbed, beaten, and thrown into the street.


Larrson Massage
A group of Solvangers runs this sauna/massage parlor. Slaves toss an almost endless stream of water on hot coals filling this building with hazy steam. Popular with the middle classes there is often a line for the Northern Treatment, a beating with herbs, a scraping with imported sea shells, scented oil bath, and a rib fracturing massage.


School of Minstrels and Bards
The School of Minstrels and Bards is a large community of entertainers of all sorts (drama prevents them from forming a guild). Music can be heard from the building day and night, but most of its class rooms and performance halls are build underground to prevent sound from coming in (and out). The building itself is one of the oldest in White Willows and is made from gray stone with a high ceiling and thick pillars. The School has gone to great expenses to color up the building and along with the large stained glass windows bright tapestries hang from the pillars and the ceiling is painted with a vast mural. The pride of the school is its massive pipe organ, almost six stories in height with tubbing running throughout the building. It is rumored to be so loud that if brought fully to bear its song could be heard throughout the entire canton.

Entertainers are required to tithe 10% of every performance to the school to help pay for training of new preforms, general services, and the retirement fund. A small market for entertains can be found in the basement, selling not only musical instruments, but costumes and props from old plays, makeup, knickknacks, and commissioned works like plays, pomes, and songs (which the narcissistic noble class love).


Memory Lane
This building is filled with low couches separated by silk curtains. Its proprietor Cassie Brunweld serves a special wine that allows individuals to experience the emotions and memories of others. Cassie is able to ‘brew’ special versions of the wine that can help the weak willed or the cowardly. She can also make a version that implants a particular memory in the mind of someone for 500gp but will deny knowing how to. Cassie’s wine is made by a complex combination of herbs and run off from the psychoactive meads created in the Floral Sea.

Berlwin Candle Shop
This shop has been in the hands of the Berlwin family for over six generations. They sell all sorts of candles from simple tallow to exotic waxes and scents. Recently they have expanded into making scented oils, soaps, incense and other products. Well loved by the community they sell large religious candles to the temples and Botanica and gives candle stubs to the poor. Exotic candles can be special ordered that burn with strange colors or give off strange gasses.

Blue Water Bath
This large bathhouse goes heavy with the perfume scented waters. The entrance fee is 2sp and entrance is denied to all non-human, elf, or Halfling races. Blue Water Bath is extremely popular with the middle class.

Pangolin Theater
This large theater caters to the common man, playing simple comedies and tragedies. Occasional performances will lead to riots that the Town Guard are quick to quell. Seemingly always on the brink of financial collapse the theater changes hands often.

The Good Earth
This flower shop is run by a half-giant whose large size and fearsome appearance contrast greatly with his gentleness and nimble hands. If not in the shop he can be found tending to his flowers in any of the hundreds of flower boxes on the side of the building on the greenhouse on the roof.

White Willows Wondrous Wigs and Weaves
Popular with the nobility, thieves, and the bald this shop has a virtual monopoly of wig production in the canton. The wigs come in a variety of colors, shapes, and coifs and range anywhere from 1 to 100gp depending on quality and the hair needed. The shop will also buy hair for SP an inch.

House of Delights
Run by an odd shop keepers named Votrin this shop hosts an odd collection of items each designed for ‘pleasure’ Strange pantaloons, slippers, pillows, collars, stuffed animals, rocks, oils, potions, ‘herbal supplements’, unguents, whips, paddles, and outfits can be found amongst the disorganized shelves and tables. Votrin will claim that it is all magically imbued ‘for your pleasure’ when trying to upsell. He is also way too inquisitive about people’s ‘in most desires’.

Squid's Tattoo Parlor
Run by a heavily tattooed and bearded ex-sailor known only by his nickname of ‘Squid’ this is the premiere tattoo parlor in the canton. Squid was captured by the Inked Mages when a boy and has many stories to tell of the Sea of Wrecks. Prices for the tattoos run from 1 to 20gp depending on the style and colors. Examples of his work can be found on the walls.

White Willows pt15

Avenue of Avarice
Avenue of Avarice is the upper class district of White Willows home to most of its bankers, merchants and the few remaining wizards. Multi-story mansions and towers with wrought iron fences and lush private gardens dominate this street. The City Guard is constantly on patrol here and will beat up and boot out anyone they qualify as riff-raff. There is little public land and business in this area.

Mazzah’s Spire
This crumbling spire is the home and tower for Mazzah the Magnificent a local wizard of some renown. Once resplendent with its greenhouses and observation dome the tower has fallen into disrepair and is choked in ivy and moss. Large DO NOT DISTURB, NO SOLICITORS, and BEWARE OF BLINK DOG signs cover the front gate to the building. Mazzah will however welcome anyone who is selling any sort of Void Elf items and will pay well above market cost if the seller has a good story to go with the item. (He plans on opening a Void Elf museum one day.)

Tower of Forthran
This space-age looking tower with its steel body, sweeping lines, and geodesic sphere at the top has always been host to many local rumors. No one knows who owns it and no one has seen anyone enter the door at the base of the tower, but the grounds are still kept immaculate.

Plaza of Verdant Delights
The Avenue of Avarice ends in a cul-de-sac. Surrounding the tip of the cul-de-sac is the Plaza of Verdant Delights. Kept well-groomed this garden is in impeccable condition, its monstrous hedge sculptures are life like and its odd marble fountains with their statues in various pose of copulation and self-love have just the right amount of creeping vines and vibrant flowers to give that perfect sense of ennui the wealthy love so much. Getting hopelessly lost in its azalea maze then making love to the first person you find is a popular pass time for the bored wealthy wives of the Avenue of Avarice.

Pazrah Ashad’s Manor
This house, bought recently by a wealthy Catty prince, has been turned into a pleasure palace. Expensive perfumes can be smelled in the air and the sound of soft music and hoity-toity laughter can be heard at all hours. Pazrah can be found mostly often napping on his sun drenched balcony wearing is dark glasses and lapping spiced cream watching the antics of the socialites below. Pazrah will occasionally spice things up by any number means. His last notorious party was famous for serving Sahaugin Caviar laced with psychoactive drugs and having his servants create a replica pirate galleon in his lawn. Needless to say the neighbors want him out.

Fosar Family Estate
The Fosar family has long had its hands in a number of trading and business ventures and is one of the wealthiest families inside the canton. Unlike many of the noble families they have a strong work ethic and their austere but comfortable grounds reflect that. Instead of pleasure gardens the manor has a small but efficient farm and orchard as well as an artificial lake stocked with fish.

Pulcholi Family Estate
This family rarely ventures forth from their compound and little is known about the source of their wealth and there is much speculation to its true source. Despite much of the manor grounds being over grown the manor itself is extremely well kept. Strange visitors can be seen coming and going at night to the manor.

White Willows pt14

Avenue of the Masks
The Avenue of the Masks is the demi-human section of White Willows and while not entirely demi-humans (the street is extremely popular as a place of residence for adventures and the bored rich seeking the exotic) those that cannot afford to live in better parts of the city, but can afford to live outside the slums, live here. This street gets its name from the lanterns with mask like faces on them that are strung out on wires between the buildings over the street. The City Guard rarely patrols the area and most of the law enforcement is done by various gangs based on species.

Sun Rise Tea House
This large four story building with bright red walls and large gently curved pagoda like roofs is the center of Dowa culture in White Willows. While its first story is a public tea house, theater, and restaurant its upper stores are progressively more exclusive. Local rumor has it that the fourth story is the headquarters of the Dowa Yakuza.

Fi-FI-Fo-Fum’s Tavern
This tavern is run by a family of friendly half giants and while looking like almost any tavern one might find everything from the food, to the drinks, to the building itself, is 1.5x normal size. Unsurprisingly then the tavern is well known for its large portions, its ‘gallon o’beer’ special, and its large oversized beds. The family is very nice and has an odd affinity for the smaller demi-human races doddering on them like they were little children (booster seats and bibs all around).

Brass and Brimstone Society
This unassuming black and red building is a combination coffee house, printing press, and art supply shop. Owned and operated by a Roger Bathalumex, one of the many recent Ba’atorians to flee the Halknovian-Ba’atorian War for the Patchworks. The Brass and Brimstone Society also publishes the Hoof and Horn, liberal newspaper run by Roger Bathalumex written in both Common and Ba’atorian.

Fatty’s Diner
Situated on the edge of the Avenue of the Mask facing the City Center Fatty’s Diner is a popular restaurant for all citizens of White Willows, demi-human or not. Run by an overweight Halfling known as “Biggs” the resturant is known for its greasy cheese and starch heavy Halfling cuisine, low cost, and fast service. It is popular with all strata of society but the upper classes would rather be caught dead then in Fatty’s Diner so they have an almost unending line of servants picking up take out. This line is a great place to hear rumors about the upper classes as the servants love to kvetch.

The Roost
This tall tower is naked on the inside except for various girders connection wall to wall. Known as “The Roost” this building serves as the center of the Kenku population of White Willows. The Roost is separate from the rest of White Willows and as the Town Guard lacks any avian members its upper reaches are free from the reach of the law. The lower sections are noisy and messy.

White Willows p13

The City Underfoot
Below White Willows is an ever expanding maze of storm drains, sewers, basements, crypts, tunnels, vaults, and piping. The site on which the city sits has been inhabited for centuries, even millennia, according to rouge scholars and the mad street preachers. While the surface city has only a few examples of its previous iterations, the City Underfoot is a labyrinthine galley of the cities past. New sewers bleed into old foundations. The transition between ages and styles is jarring, one moment the wall are modem brick and mortar, then rough carved caverns, then blasted clay, then large cyclopean stone blocks.

There is no set strata here, no codified geographic layer. The City Underfoot is a jumble of styles and purposes. The City Underfoot is poorly documented. No map of City Underfoot exists. There are only landmarks and vague directions. This anarchic geography has made the City Underfoot into a haven for criminals, cultists, monsters, and worse. You do not find well and honest citizens in the City Underfoot.

Mothbitten Light
Despite being a land locked nation, White Willows has a navy. Ordered with the thankless task of patrolling the Nadir Aquifer this small flotilla of boats armed with high-powered search beams make sure that the Nadir Aquifer is kept free from monsters and the water keeps clean and flowing to the surface. The headquarters of the navy is the Mothbitten Light an ‘upside down’ lighthouse built under the City of White Willows. Carved from a massive stalactite this serves as both guild post and dry dock for the navy and anyone foolish enough to explore the aquifer.

The Mushroom Plantations
Early in the history of White Willows large natural caverns were discovered under the city. Dark and moist these caverns were the perfect place to grow mushrooms in vast quantities. During sieges, droughts, and poor harvests much of White Willows survives on these mushrooms. Work on the Mushroom Plantations is done almost exclusively by slave labor and is considered to be one of the worst positions one can be sent to. Almost all of the slaves in the plantations are there because they are serving a criminal sentence or are unwanted elsewhere. Conditions on the plantations are awful, teams of slaves are bringing in new piles of manure to replace the old, light is rare, and those that have worked the plantations say that the day-night cycle that rules the surface is nonexistent.

Thieves Guild
Found deep in the City Underfoot, well protected by numerous traps, false doors, locks, and thugs is the Thieves Guild. A winding network of interconnected and expanded tunnels and vaults the guild is based out of an old temple, rumored to be dedicated to the God of Thievery. (Appropriately the temple belonged to a different god, now lost to time, before being taken over by the God of Thievery.) Much of the complex is old and unused or sealed off. When high ranking members of the Thieves Guild pass away their body is stolen from their tomb on the surface (typically by their successor), flensed, and their bones dipped in gold and eyes replaced with gemstones (all of which are stolen, of course.) These skeletons roam the Guild complex slaying those who cannot speak their secret cant and guarding treasures long believed lost by the surface (and in many cases to the guild itself).

Snoghorn Sausages
Considered by most to be the best sausages in the canton, Snoghorn the Halfling butcher sausages have a special ingredient that he refuses to share. Unknown to all but a few Snoghorn is a descendent of a group cannibalistic Kender that managed to make their way to White Willows decades ago known as the Cha-Houd. Snoghorn is by far the most presentable of the Cha-Houd (which is saying something as he is almost always covered in a layer of gore) and serves as the front man for the tribe. The rest of his tribe works the abattoir under the city and has a network of traps and hooks designed to pray on lone pedestrians and the cities unwanted.

Goblin Warrens
Hidden in a section of sewers is an inbreed clan of goblins who have long lived off of the trash and discarded items from the city above. Somehow even more disgusting and stupid than their swamp-folk cousins the Goblins of the City Underfoot are little more than savages with a love for explosives.

The Hive
The madmen and children of White Willows often complain of scratching and buzzing coming from the walls of basements. Most toss this off as overactive immigrations or hallucinations brought on by poor quality hooch but every now and again strange insects, some as big a dogs, can be found in the City Underfoot.

Knucklebones Hall
Run by the Thieves Guild this illegal casino is a large cash pull for the guild. Run by Vas Rorick, the Ba’atorian Duke of Dice, the drinks here are strong and most of the games rigged so players earn just enough to entice them to come back to lose even more in the future. In addition to the standard gambling fair Knucklebones has a number of other gambling opportunities, from slug races, to bareknuckle fist fights.

White Willows pt12

Outside the City
The city cannot be contained by its mighty stone walls. Spilling out from the fortification are small encampments and gardens along the hills that lead up to the city

The Terrace Gardens
All along the hills surrounding White Willows are numerous terraces. Built originally for defense many of these small plots of land have been converted into gardens and are leased by the citizens within the cities walls and serve as an additional source of income and a respite from the city. The City Guard still ‘own’ the land and have the legal right to take over a garden at any time. A system of pumps and fountains runs water down from the wells in the city to the gardens.

Gate Town
Just outside the city’s south gate is a collection of shacks, lean-tos, and hovels popular with hermits, the extremely poor, and penny pinching adventures. The Town Guard makes occasional sweeps of Gate Town, each time tearing it to the ground but a few nights later the hovels are back. The semi- permanent nature of the town and the guard sweeps keep it relatively safe from large scale organized crime but it is plagued by petty theft.

The Gates
The City of White Willows has two large gates, one south facing and one north facing called quite plainly, North Gate and South Gate. The city guard keeps a patrol on each gate at all times. The guards never open the gates at night. Thanks to a legal loophole in the canton charter they can charge anyone a tax to enter the city but will rarely do so if the person is a local or poor. Foreign merchants and adventures however are more than fair game.

The Walls
Made of large stacked basalt blocks made smooth from both handiwork and erosion these 15ft tall walls are the primary defense of White Willows. The city guard makes the occasional patrol of the wall but sticks mostly to their guard towers in the city. While hard to climb there are a few foot holds and hidden loose stones, the locations of which are secreted but to a select few ne’er- do-wells

Town Center
Centered on the Tomb of the Ancestors, Willow Plaza, and The Immaculate Palace the town center is the heart of the city of White Willows.

Tomb of the Town Gods
This squat black stone building is unadorned except for some large black columns and a central bellower. Inside its polished stone halls are numerous sealed crypts, each dedicated to previous rulers and great citizens of White Willows, all of which are elevated to local deity status and referred to collectively as the Town Gods. Most people pay little heed to their minor ancestor gods here and mostly go through the motions of respect such as bowing their head when passing the building. Every resident of the city is expected to spend one day a year helping clean and maintain the tomb, but most just end up paying some indigent off the street to polish the stones.

Willow Plaza
Arranged in a circle around the Tomb of the Town Gods this large circular public space is dominated by 13 large white willow trees arranged in a circle from which the city and canton get their name. The trees are said to be planted on the junction of major ley lines and where already in place before the city was built. The parameter of this open space is kept lit with white ever burring torches and people, both good and bad rich and poor, can be found here day and night.

Bell Tower
This 60ft tall stone tower has a system of advanced pneumatic bells driven by large bells. It rings at dawn, noon, and sundown. It will also ring on special occasions. An advanced system of punch cards can be programs to play songs with the bells but no one is quite sure how it works.

The Immaculate Palace
This large building is the home of the Lord Viscount Alva, the current rule of White Willows. Once a fortress the palaces massive granite was are covered in a thick veneer of marble. Two large iron golems, posing as statues, guard the entrance. Weapons are banned in the palace and all spell casters must have null bands on at all times. Much of the palace is unused by the Lord Viscount, or has been given over to various administrative offices of the government. Long gone are the days of dandies and sycophants, the Lord Viscount has ordered whole building along with the grounds are to be kept quiet at all times. Ever since the death of his wife and child only a skeleton crew maintains the palace.

White Willows pt11

The City of White Willows
Avenue of the Holies
This street is the center of religious life in White Willows. A large temple of the All-Gods dominates here, along with specific temples to the All-Gods Solus, Mortuna, and Crom. Val Verdis has an ‘urban grove’ here as well. The New-Gods are represented by a Church of the Light Bringer and a Sanguine Temple.

Temple of the All-Gods
This large building is filled with hundreds of tiny shrines and small booths in various states of upkeep. The most popular All-Gods are well kept with candles and donations, while more obscure and unpopular All-Gods are covered in dust. In addition to being a place of worship the temple operates a number of other services including a funeral parlor, soup kitchen, and religious counseling.

Temple of Solus
This building looks like the child between a stain glass window and a greenhouse. Large iconography of suns and large sweeping rays are built into the glass structure. Mirrors on the lawn are adjusted hourly to pour light into the building. Services are held a dawn, noon, and sundown. Temple also pays bounties for quashing cultist activates.

Shrine of Mortuna
This small stone building is centered upon a fully clothed skeleton in the garb of Mortuna. Many candles and offers line the floor of this building. The priests and priestesses make sure to change the skeletons outfits at the beginning of every month to the appropriate color for the season and month. While there is no specific worship time (as fate and death can strike at any time) there is almost always at least one worshiper at the shrine at any given time. The shrine also sells many materials to make home based shrines.

Temple of Crom
This wooden building is very plain and looks (and smells) more like a sweat soaked beer hall that a holy site. Devotes of Crom can be found lifting weights and saying devotionals in-between sets here at any time of day. Every weekend the temple gets cleared out to host games of strength like arm wrestling, tug of war, and caber tossing. Food and drink sales from the games go directly to the temple and Crom’s followers.

Church of the Light Bringer
This tall stone tower looks like a square light house with a bonfire at the top. Despite being closed to non-worshipers the light on the top is always lit. The Temple of Solus complains at least once a week to the town guard about the ‘false light’ and why it is a nuisance and a fire hazard.

Sanguine Temple
This building is known less for its religious usage and more for its attached bakery. The scent of its fresh baked goods intermingle with the incense from the other shrines giving the Avenue of the Holies its unique smell.

Father Jamillo
While not a temple this small brightly painted home is covered in charms and wind chimes is located on the Avenue of the Holies and is home to a ‘miracle working and healer’ - Father Jamillo. This old man with his wide brimmed straw hat, knowing smile, and scarred nose is associated with thousands of miracles, from healing, clairvoyance, levitation, exorcism, and stranger things. More skeptical individuals might say that his ‘folk magic’ is just herbalism and alchemy with a touch of the arcane but the old man has been able to cure things that no medicine or wizard could. He also does not ‘set off’ Detect Magic or Detect Divine.

Botanicas
Many small shops selling medicines, religious paraphernalia, statuary, amulets, charms, oils, incense, perfumes and potions fill in the gaps between the temples and street preachers. These are commonly referred to as Botanicas and are there to fulfill the material needs of the spiritual.

The Street Preachers
Found in the street and on the sidewalks of the Avenue of the Holies are numerous preachers, prophets, madmen, conspiracy theorists, philosophers. They mostly spout theological non-sense like how the world is ending or that real life is a simulation or that they are just pawns in a game. They follow people when the guard is not looking and harass them until they donate or are told off.

Pigs in a Barrel
This is the only bar on the Avenue of the Holies. All of its furniture is made from old wine barrels and most of its clientele are clerics and worshipers from the avenue. The barkeep thinks that the gods are all magic-using condemn and has open disdain for most religions but will serve their members regardless, as long as they have coin. His distance has made the tavern a neutral ground on the avenue, no theological debate or divine pageantry is allowed inside.

Temple Services
The following services can be bought from most temples on the Avenue of the Holies. Worshipers are given a discount pertaining to their standing in the church. Resurrection services are not offered by the temples. Not publicly anyway.

Temple Services
Spell
Cost
Cure (HD+CON hp)
50gp
Cure Disease
150gp
Remove Curse
150gp
Neutralize Poison
280gp

White Willows pt10

The Guilds of White Willows
Most of the trade and professions in White Willows fall under the command of a guild. These guilds wield massive influence, setting prices, controlling nobles, and issuing regulations for their various industries across the canton. These guilds are established in the laws of the canton and are beheld only to the Lord Viscount himself. He alone has the power to disband a guild and all of the guilds seek to be in his good graces.

There are also a number of ‘illegal guilds’ who function much like a legal guild but do so without the protection of the law. Currently three of the most powerful illegal guilds, the Thieves Guild, the Beggars Guild, and the Assassins Guild are in a three way war that has ground to a stalemate.

Guilds of Note
Slavers Guild
A legal guild, despite the protest of many abolitionists, the Slavers Guild has been losing a public relations war with the abolitionist lately and is in the process of reforming itself. The Slavers Guild is trying to move away from its old ‘whip and chain’ and has begun promoting itself as a safer more humane way to treat criminals and avoid loan sharks.

Mercenaries Guild
The Mercenaries Guild is made of a collation of many Mercenary Companies who operate within the canton. The Mercenaries Guild operates outside of the laws of the canton. Each member of the guild is beheld only to the laws of the guild and to their home country while abroad. The mercenaries themselves are a rough and tumble lot however they are dependable and loyal to the job (a rarity these days!). The Mercenaries Guild special status and its immunity to many of the cantons laws are derived from one clause, that the guild itself is fully loyal to the Lord Viscount and if in times of war will fight for him (paid, of course).

Merchants Guild
The Merchants Guild is by far the most powerful guild in the canton, and rivals in strength that of the nobles and the Lord Viscount himself. As much of the cantons funds come from taxation of the activities of this guild they have gained incredible political clout and power. Few goods come in or out of the canton without the Merchants Guild say so. The leaders of the guild have grown extremely wealthy (as have their sycophants) and have begun to displace the traditional noble class of the canton. The Lord Viscount still retains ultimate control of the guild as their elected council must be approved by him and the threat of disbandment is very real and would be welcomed by many of the lesser merchants in the guild. A number of the Thieves Guild and Assassins Guild are rumored to have infiltrated the Merchants Guild.

Sages Guild
The Sages Guild is made up of the remnants of the White Willows Wizarding College (WWWC). A shadow of its former self the guild is little more than a collection of loosely affiliated mages, experts, alchemists, and scientists. The guild still controls the old Wizarding College’s library of arcane books and is the only reliable source for arcane research in the canton. The current Lord Viscount hold the sages of the guild in high regard and often consults them in making long term plans and changes to the city.

Assassins Guild
The Assassins Guild is by far the smallest and the most secretive of all the guilds and while it is not clear how many members it has, it is rumored to be less than a hundred canton wide. Previous Lord Viscounts had used the Assassins guild much more often than the current Lord Viscount Alba. Falling out of the Lord Viscount s favor has not that detriment to the guild (as nobles and jealous lovers always keep them busy), but the three way war between themselves the Beggar’s Guild and the Thieves Guild has. Local rumor has the Assassins Guild planning an assault on a number of their enemies in the near future.

Beggars Guild
At first little more than a gang of allied beggars trying to avoid persecution and violence the Beggars Guild has grown into a powerful force in the canton. While vagrancy and begging are illegal in the canton the Beggars Guild often acts as the eyes and ears for the Town Guards and has become more like a spy ring and source of rumors within the past few years. The Beggars Guild has a large membership and has many allies and even more enemies. Recently the Beggars Guild has gone to great lengths and risks to ‘narc’ out members of the Thieves and Assassins guild as those other guilds have begun to either poach their members or outright attack them. As the guild is decentralized and lacks a main hall they are always able to bounce back from an attack. Members in the guild must tithe 10% of their beggings to the guild and in exchange get protection, bread if they haven’t eaten that day, access to a safe place to sleep, and the latest Hobo Cant, a secret symbolic language that changes monthly.

Thieves Guild
Next to the Merchants Guild the Thieves Guild is the most powerful guild in White Willows. Long illegal (and proud of it) the Thieves’ Guild is a major source of grief for the other guilds and the government, however many of its members remain either well-hidden or untouchable. The guilds strengths come in many forms, from its intimate knowledge of the City Underfoot, to its many members who have infiltrated the government and other guilds, to its raw determination and defiance to the law.

The Thieves Guild structure is loose and while each gang of thieves is its own independent unit they all swear fidelity to the guild. In a mockery of the government above members of the Theves Guild are granted an honorific title according to their rank. The Thieves Guild is currently run by a counsel of three thieves, “Squeaky” Vito, Lord of Fences and Rackets, Katja the Bitch, hound mistress and the Queen of Broken Knees, and the aptly named mute, Silent, Overlord of the Empty Vault and Pocket. Below them are the dukes and duchesses of various crimes. The guild is entitled to a cut of every crime in the city, up to 50% depending on where one stands in the organization. In return the guild has a network of fences, safe houses, crooked guards, and thieves’ tools at their member’s disposal. Being captured one too many times, crossing the guild, not paying ones dues, or snitching will find one on the wrong end of the guild. The guild is currently engaged in a three way stalemate of a war between the Beggars Guild and the Assassins Guild for dominance of the criminal underworld.

The Thieves Guild has long been a thorn in the side of the Lord Viscount and he has sout to remove them or dimish their power for years. While some steps have been attempted to curb the power of the guild they have mostly been superficial. The Lord Viscount knows how powerful the guild is and if a direct assault was attempted against them, while the Thieves Guild might be destroyed, so would the government. One of the few effected countermeasures to the guild is the slow process of taking control of the City Underfoot by the Guard.