Bristol Rennaissance Faire 2011

Posted in Gaming Culture with tags , , on July 29, 2011 by boccobsblog

The Bristol Renaissance Faire never disappoints. This year’s trip was one of the best yet (which is saying something since I’ve been attending for the last twenty years). Every year the faire seems to have gained some new shop or attraction that keeps the it vibrant and exciting.

Many of the buildings have been given facelifts and new roofs and the landscaping was the best I’ve ever seen. While I was sitting on a bench resting a hummingbird dressed like a tiny dung-sweep swooped in and drank from a flower inches away from my face.

My friends and I took in a show by Christophe the Insulter where he decimated audience members with filthy verbal abuse that left me laughing and greasy-feeling.

We ate faire food until we were about to burst: BBQ ribs, cheese fritters, turkey legs, Gyros piled with fresh veggies, etc. And we drank enough booze to float a Spanish galleon. (This year the Faire added hard liquor to its many pubs and taverns.)

We marveled at the costumes and the weapons, (and at the bearded old man in a chainmail bikini and purple fairy wings).

All in all it was an amazing day that I highly recommend to anyone in the Midwest. With tickets costing on 17 dollars and parking a mere two bucks, it is much cheaper than a day ay an amusement park.

 From the website:

Where is the Faire?

Just west of I-94 at the Illinois/Wisconsin border, the Faire is open Saturdays and Sundays and Labor Day Monday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine, from July 9 through September 5, 2011.

What are the dates and hours?
We are open Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day Monday, July 9 through September 5, 2011 from 10:00 am until 7:00 pm.

All photos by Paul P.

 

RenQuest

Posted in Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming Culture, LARP with tags , on July 28, 2011 by boccobsblog

On our trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire my friends and I tried a role-playing event they offer called Rennquest. What is RenQuest? Well according to their website:

Be among the first to get a glimpse of the latest chapter of RenQuest™, the live action fantasy game many have credited with setting a new standard for multiplayer role-playing events everywhere. Originating at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in summer 2008, RenQuest™ draws upon the unique resources of one of the country’s top Renaissance fairs to create an interactive theatrical experience that provides gamers with an unprecedented opportunity to test both their mental and physical skills, beyond the realm of their computer screens.

After a three-summer struggle to rid the hamlet of Bristol from the threats of the barbaric Draco Disciples and the legacy of the Dragon Bloodtharken, this summer’s RenQuest™ finds new forces of evil emerging, amidst mounting chaos and a prophetic warning to all would-be protectors not to be fooled by unlikely foes.

RenQuest™’s playing field is an entire 30-acre village with 1,200 period performers, artisans and merchants, and a professional production staff, ready to engage patron-players in an evolving adventure of riddles, spells, hunts and other challenges. As players advance through the levels of the live action game, they earn individual player achievement rewards and accumulate points toward the advancement of one of two factions with which they’re aligned.  Some quests last a day; others extend over multiple weekends or the entire Faire season.

Overall the experience was enjoyable. The quest took the better part of the day (though we did stop several times for drinks). It was cool to interact with NPC’s that were in full costume (though some were more “in-character” than others).

The puzzles were challenging and the cast did a great job.

I would highly recommend RenQuest to gamers in the Midwest.

Check them out on their Facebook page, or on the Bristol site.

All photos by Paul P.

Another 101 D&D Quest Ideas

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , on July 27, 2011 by boccobsblog

Many of you may remember the post we did several months back entitled, “101 D&D Quests Ideas”, it has been one of the most popular articles on the blog and one of the most searched terms by readers using search engines like google to find us (in fact if you google, “D&D Quest Ideas” B3 is the first hit- woot!). So we turned out another 101 D&D quest ideas usable for any fantasy-themed RPG, but written with D&D and Pathfinder in mind. Enjoy! (And a big thank you to Dave R. and Adam A. for submitting quest ideas)

1. A minotaur was victimized by a wizard, and now he will hire you to lead him through his own labyrinth to his treasures.

2. A painter has been using magic to easily duplicate his own paintings to sell as originals. But a fowl art critic with a penchant for theatrics is on to him and has sworn to reveal the secret unless he is permitted to marry the artist’s only daughter. The artist hires you to eliminate the critic who knows too much.

3. The sun set 26 hours ago. The world is in panic. The Drow are invading, and only the heroes can stop them.

4. A madman who thinks he is a prophet is slaughtering the livestock of the local farmers in the hopes that it will bring forth Ibanirox, the Night Eater, a long forgotten (and made up) deity of immense power. The farmers offer the group 20 gold or 3 cows per adventurer.

5. A theatre director hires the party to keep his lead actor (who is marked for death by a crime syndicate) alive long enough to perform in front of a powerful monarch. The assassins attempt to make his death scene a real one.

6. A tribe of kobolds has taken up residence in the sewers and has been hunting dogs and cats as food.

7. The pc’s are sent after a powerful artifact/weapon that will make their patron unstoppable.

8. The pc’s are hired by a Gensai sorceress to recover her mephit familiar from an enemy.

9. A character notices an error in a broadsheet posted in the city square, and quickly realizes that the paper has been forged to deflect guilt from a minor noble. The noble hires thugs to “dissuade” the party from investigating further by stealing some of their gear and shifting their attention to the thieves.

10. Mind flayers are performing perverse rituals on local orc tribes and granting them psionic abilities. The party must find and destroy them before psionic orcs destroy the kingdom.

11. Ancient prophecies predict that a star will fall at a precise location on a certain day. Whoever is first to grasp the star will receive a wish. Various dark factions camp and await the coming of the star, intent on making their wish.

12. A devil/caster/demon/warlock has set a fire using hell fire and it can only be quenched by the waters from a spring in Celestia

13. A Devil prince coerces you to sabotage the wedding of one of his political rivals.

14. A besieged city holds a tournament to mock their enemies. The King asks you to sneak into the city and win the tournament to demoralize them.

15. A wizard believes he has discovered the location of the wreckage of a legendary battleship, but so has his rival. You must recover the arcane weaponry from the wreck before the opposing team does.

16. You are hired to perform a filibuster in the legislative body of a monstrous nation. It proves dangerous.

17. An ancient and complex prison facility for extraplanar criminals is malfunctioning. The party must repair it as a group of imps attempts to use the facility against them.

18. The party is sent to investigate the disappearance of a missionary cleric in a vast and dark jungle. Investigation reveals that the cleric has instead been converted by the demon-worshiping jungle people and now mobilizes them against his former mission.

19. Gnolls have dug up the severed head of a lich in the desert, and it has promised them great power if they reunite him with his body.

20. A band of Drow (or similarly evil humanoids) comes to town claiming to be not evil and seeking asylum.

21. Ghostly dryads haunt the grove where their tree was destroyed and they can only be put to rest if the grove is replanted.

22. A werewolf, seemingly immune to wolfs bane and silver terrorizes a village. He is in fact a barghest.

23. A ruined tower is in fact a colossal animated object.

24. A yeth hound poses as a wounded blink dog.

25. The pc’s seek an item buried within a grove sacred to a centaur tribe.

26. A delver tunneling under the city is causing earthquakes.

27. The characters are sent to a primitive island to retrieve an item/find a treasure/seek an npc. The island is filled with dinosaurs, near-humanoids, and dire animals. As the pc’s explore the island they begin to devolve, as do their animal companions, mounts, familiars, etc.

28. The mayor, sheriff, high priest, has been replaced by doppelgangers.

29. A white dragon is freezing ships and carrying them off to his glacial home.

30. A major port is now home to spawning dragon turtles.

31. Dryads have taken loggers hostage.

32. All news and shipments from a dwarven stronghold have stopped; the king frees a Duergar attack.

33. Ettercaps have poisoned village children and carried them off, the pc’s know they have a limited window in which to rescue the children before they are eaten (as ettercaps like to let their dinner hang and liquefy before eating).

34. Hippogriffs, run off their mountain roosts by a red dragon, have begun devouring cattle.

35. All the townspeople in a village have contracted lycanthropy and become were-moose at the full moon. The group must discover that the alchemist upstream of the village’s water supply has been experimenting with dangerous chemicals to turn his beloved pet albino moose, Alabaster, into a sentient best friend.

36. The pc’s break a law in an unjust and evil land while doing something good, but are later pursued by a zelekhut for their actions.

37. The elementals that power a dwarven forge have broken free and must be captured without harming them.

38. A thief tells the party about a dragon graveyard that contains the treasure of a dozen hoards, but is haunted by ghostly-dragon guardians.

39. The pc’s require the help of a lillend, but she refuses unless the party’s bard can impress her with his musical abilities.

40. Ice mephits have frozen the town’s well.

41. Merfolk are waylaying ships from traveling over a sacred coral reef.

42. A gelatinous cube, used to eat waste, has escaped the sewer and must be lured back down.

43. Drunken satyrs have carried off a number of women from the village.

44. Will o’ the Wisps are luring people to their swamp.

45. All the animals in the village have collected on a hill nearby and refused to come down.

46. A splinter cult of Drow are kidnapping townspeople and sacrificing them to a powerful aranea sorceress, they worship as an avatar of Loth.

47. The pc’s hired by a local politician that fears he will be poisoned at an upcoming banquet.

48. Thieves have stolen dragon eggs and put the entire town in jeopardy as the angry mother wreaks havoc.

49. The “haunted forest” is actually filled with awakened creatures.

50. A mage’s guild seeks thieves to steal an artifact that will hamper the use of magic. They plan to use it to control all magic in the city.

51. A stray cat taken in by the pc’s is the familiar of an enemy spell-caster.

52. Mongrelmen living under the city are demanding citizenship and full rights.

53. The local wizard’s college wants to hire the pc’s to capture some new familiars.

54. A con artist posing as a priest is fleecing peasants.

55. The pc’s must stop an angry mob from attacking a peaceful tribe of orcs.

56. A glacier has been discovered with an enormous, nightmarish creature inside and the ice is beginning to melt.

57. The pc’s are asked to serve as guardian to a young noble whose parents have been killed.

58. The pc’s must smuggle a message into a besieged city.

59. A dying dragon holds a contest to give away pieces from its hoard.

60. Lizardman-half-Mindflayers are being spotted in the marshes outside town.

61. A vigilante is killing evil criminals in town. The party is hired to capture him, while the people view him as a hero and champion of good despite his methods.

62. Something has driven all the game from the kings hunting grounds.

63. Prisoners are being sold to mindflayers.

64. Marble carved from a newfound quarry is animating.

65. The prison has been taken over by the prisoners.

66. When the well goes dry, the villagers discover a glowing portal to Sigil.

67. A wizard/engineer wants help capturing elementals to power airships.

68. A wizard polymorphed into a chimera is attacking caravans.

69. The pc’s must acquire an artifact from the hoard of a fiendish-black dragon that resides in the swamps of Othrys on the plane of Carceri.

70. People are disappearing and paintings of the missing are showing up in the inn/temple/manor.

71. Fiendish weasels are terrorizing a farmers chicken coop. The family is on the edge of hunger and ruin.

72. A group of wild elves hire the pc’s to escort their clan to a new home in the Beastlands.

73. Something is causing the dead to rise from the local cemetery.

74. After a dark omen all cure spells function as inflict spells.

75. Wererats are stealing children and infecting them with lycanthropy.

76. After a Drow priestess is hanged, women in the city begin giving birth to spiders.

77. The pc’s encounter a strange man on the road how casts a spell on them/gives them a potion, shortly after they arrive in town to see (with their arcane sight) that half the town are actually changelings.

78. A farmer finds a possessed tablet in his field and begins going on a killing rampage.

79. The city’s most powerful adventurers return from questing in a temple of Tharzidun.

80. A child has been bitten by a rare spider, and the only antidote requires some of the spiders venom.

81. A vampiric bard is dining on the finest artists in town.

82. A pc learns that his family lost a powerful legacy item to a dragon. The item is still in the dragon’s hoard.

83. The party is left to raise a brood of silver dragon wyrmlings after their mother is slain.

84. A child is possessed by a demon and must be exorcised.

85. The pc’s are shipwrecked and must build a raft to escape.

86. A child in the slums is spouting doomsday prophecies and is gathering a large following.

87. The pc’s are drugged and forced into naval service by a violent press-gang.

88. The party’s warriors are invited to participate in the alabaster cup (Com. Warrior).

89. The party is approached by an npc that claims to have detailed evidence of an assassination plot. The npc even shows them plans that he stole from the assassin. After the attempt is made, the pc’s are framed and they detailed evidence is found in their room at the inn.

90. An awaken golem is creating an army of warforged to wipe the lands free of living beings.

91. A barbarian horde threatens to invade unless someone can defeat their leader in single combat.

92. The new mayor of a rural village is a Rakshasa.

93. A massive egg has appeared in the village square and cracks are forming.

94. Each night eerie organ music can be heard from the ruin manor on the hill; in the morning, a townsperson is missing.

95. Lightning continues to strike the same gravestone every night for the last week.

96. A wizard, pretending to be goodly, hires the pc’s to retrieve his “stolen” spell book from a rival.

97. Cultists have obtained a scroll of Crushing Fist of Spite (BoVD) and intend on releasing it on the countryside.

98. A party member’s soul has been purchased/stolen/bartered for, by Asmodeus and the party must debate the Devil lord to get it back.

99. A gnoll army sweeps from the north, their leader wields what appears to be the Triple Flail of Yeenoghu, Demon Prince of Gnolls.

100. A Cauldron of Zombie Spewing (BoVD) has been unearthed in an ancient ruin by clerics of Neurull.

101. A mad cleric has resurrected the stuffed monster in the party’s favorite inn.

Another 101 quests

The first 101 D&D Quest Ideas can be found here.

 

Buy me an 1/18 of a cup of coffee
D&D 5E Core Rulebook Gift Set
Dungeon Mayhem – D&D Card Game
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

Road Shrine Adventure Site

Posted in D&D 3.5, Pathfinder with tags , , on July 25, 2011 by boccobsblog

This non-combat encounter can be placed along any road in your game world. It is suitable for a party of 1st to 7th level, though lower-level characters will receive the biggest boon. Also, if placed shortly after a combat encounter the players will benefit from the possible healing.

Background (for the DM)

Several years ago (since the first dirt paths were trod by humanoids) a small stone shrine appeared next to the road. No one is certain who carved it or created the stone though several wandering clerics have spent time next to it offering aid to weary travelers. The stone is imbued with powerful magic and will gift the PC’s with a blessing if they leave a donation, or will bestow a powerful curse on them if they dare to rob the shrine of any of its treasure.

Description (read aloud to players)

A foot or two from the road sits a large gray stone worn and weathered. The stone is roughly five feet tall, seven feet in diameter. The stone is covered in dozens of messages left by other travelers written in white chalk or black charcoal. A rough shelf has been cut out of the center of the stone (about three feet from the ground) that is three feet deep. The stone alcove is covered in numerous piles of small treasure left like offerings on an altar. Coins, gems, flowers, and incense litter the small stone shelf. Among the treasure sits a small brass bowl filled with pieces of white chalk and black charcoal.

A DC 10 Search check reveals that there is 568 gold pieces in assorted coins and gems.

A DC 10 Knowledge Religion check reveals this to be a roadside shrine to a nature or travel god (or any deity fitting for your setting).

A DC 15 Knowledge Religion check reveals that this shrine is imbued with divine energy and has several spells keyed to it. (It is impossible to determine the exact spells stored in the altar)

Beneficial Effects

Should a PC place an offering on the altar they will receive a blessing whose strength will be determined by the market value of the offering.

1 copper – 10 gold

Roll d6 (assume a level caster of 1)

  1. Cure Minor Wounds (ignore if PC is uninjured)
  2. Guidance
  3. Light (ignore if PC has lit source of light
  4. Resistance
  5. Guidance
  6. Guidance

11 – 25 gold

Roll d8 (Assume a caster level of 1)

  1. Bless
  2. Cure Light Wounds (9hp, reroll if PC is uninjured)
  3. Divine Favor
  4. Magic Stone (3 appear)
  5. Magic Weapon (reroll if PC has a magic weapon)
  6. Protection from Evil
  7. Sanctuary
  8. Shield of Faith

25 – 50 gold

Roll d8 (Assume a caster level of 3)

  1. Aid
  2. Aid
  3. Align Weapon
  4. Bear’s Endurance
  5. Bull’s Strength
  6. Cure Moderate Wounds (19hp, reroll if PC is uninjured)
  7. Delay Poison (reroll if PC is not poisoned)
  8. Eagle’s Splendor
  9. Owl’s Wisdom
  10. Lesser Restoration (ignore if PC has not sustained ability damage)

51- 100 gold

Roll d8 (assume a caster level of 5)

  1. Create Food and Water
  2. Cure Serious Wounds (ignore if PC is uninjured)
  3. Magic Circle Against Evil
  4. Magic Vestments
  5. Prayer
  6. Remove Blindness/Deafness (ignore if PC is not afflicted)
  7. Remove Curse (reroll if PC is not cursed)
  8. Remove Disease (reroll if PC is not Diseased)

Detrimental Effects

If a player should choose to steal from the shrine, roll on the table below. A kind DM may wish to add a warning, perhaps a DC 10 Spot or Search check reveals a skeleton laying in the tall grass near the shrine gripping a small gemstone in its hand. Summoned creatures attack the thief and fight until death.

Roll a d12 (Assume a caster level of 7.)

  1. Bane
  2. Inflict Light Wounds
  3. Doom
  4. Inflict Moderate Wounds
  5. Summon Monster II
  6. Bestow Curse
  7. Blindness
  8. Contagion
  9. Inflict Serious Wounds
  10. Summon Monster III
  11. Poison
  12. Summon Monster IV

Shrine PDF

Midnight Syndicate to Release New Album

Posted in Music with tags , , , , on July 22, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via MS's website

If you haven’t heard of Midnight Syndicate you’re missing out on the best gaming soundtracks available. You may recall the D&D sountrack that they released in 2003 (I believe it was attached to an Eberron book):

Ancient underground temples, dark knights, mysterious labyrinths, sorcerers, forgotten tombs, enchanted forests, and creatures from the deepest depths all await you on this gothic fantasy adventure containing over an hour of music.  The perfect musical accompaniment to the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

Well Midnight Syndicate is about to release their next album, Carnival Arcane this August. Visit their site and give them a try. I own four of their albums and I play them almost every time I game and they certainly add atmosphere.


Monster Mash-Up Round Two

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons with tags , on July 20, 2011 by boccobsblog

The Monster Mash-up contest is heating up. Eight monsters have been eliminated and the second round has begun.

The round two match ups are as follows:

Were-Chimera vs. Enfield

Grivvin vs. Displacer Cube

Intellect Tyrant vs. Strigethid

Displacer Dragon vs. Medusa Hydra

Vote here.

(They turned down my Vampiric Weasels, so they can all go to Hell as far as I’m concerned)

Fortune Cards: Neverwinter Released Tomorrow

Posted in D&D 4e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming News with tags , , on July 18, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via wizards.com

On July 19th Wizards will release their next set of Fortune Cards. The next set will feature a Neverwinter theme to coincide with the release of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting set to release in August.

The response to Fortune Cards has been mixed to say the least. Some players adore any opportunity to add to and modify their game in new and exciting ways, others see them as a just another attempt to get their money.

If you’re unfamiliar with how the cards work; here’s an explanation from Wizards.com:

At the start of each encounter, shuffle your deck and draw a card.

You can play one card per round. It requires no action to play. The rules on each card state when you can play it and what effect it has. A card takes effect just once unless it states otherwise, and you discard the card when its effect ends.

You can have only one Fortune Card in your hand at a time. At the start of each of your turns, you can do one of the following:

  • Discard the card in your hand and draw a new one.
  • Draw a new card if you don’t have one in your hand.
  • Keep the card that’s in your hand if you haven’t played itThe cards will come in booster packs of 8 cards and retail for 3.99 USD

Example cards:

 

 

 

 

 

We would be interested in hearing from anyone that uses Fortune Cards in their game. What do you think of them? Do they improve game play?

For more info on Fortune Cards click here

Review of Dominion by Rio Grande Games

Posted in Non-Collectable Card Game, Product Review with tags , , , , on July 15, 2011 by boccobsblog

This weekend I had a chance to play Dominion, a non-collectable card game from Rio Grande games.

Dominion is all about resource management with a dash of “screw your neighbor over” thrown in. The purpose is to amass the most victory points (which are represented by lands: Estate, Duchy, Provence, and Colony). There are also ten action cards that each affect the game in some way. Victory points, treasure and action cards are all purchased with money in the form of cards (copper, silver, gold, and platinum).

Each round a player will have an action phase in which they play an action card(s) and a buy phase when they can purchase treasure, victory points and more action cards.

What I really liked about the game is that it will be different each time, as you pick ten new action cards each game (the set we played had about 40 – 50 different action cards).

 The Breakdown:

  • Easy to learn (you’ll have the gist after one game)
  • Changes each time for high replay value
  • Fantasy-themed cards, but far enough removed from an RPG or fantasy board game that non-geeks will play and enjoy themselves.
  • Low attention game (you can chat and joke without messing up your turn)
  • Fast-paced 30-60 minutes a game

Check out the rules for free

Rio Grande Games’ Dominion site

Pictures:

Fellowship of the Boobs

Posted in Gaming Culture, Gaming News with tags , , , , , on July 13, 2011 by boccobsblog

pic via the GTT website

Yes you read that correctly. At the Gorilla Tango Theatre in Chicago they are showing The Fellowship of the Boobs a “A nerd-themed burlesque show pays homage to “Lord of the Rings,” World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons and role playing games”.

According to their website:

In the beginning there was the Bosom, and from the Bosom sprang forth the ancestors of the Four Buxom Warriors. In this burlesque send-up of all things Fantasy, we join Bruste Oakentits (a Dwarf), Isdra Silverbosom (an Elf), Pectus Ironchest (an Amazon Warrior) and a mysterious Fourth Companion as they journey over sea, under mountain, and right out of their semi-protective armor. Will there be Epic Battles? You betcha. Wit and Wizardy? In spades. Sassy, Sexy, and Sultry Striptease? Quite possibly more than your Bag of Holding can handle. A great show for anyone who’s ever wondered what that Birch Nymph is hiding under her sexy bark, just how much mischief a Dwarf can get up to inside a Faerie Ring, or really, for anyone that’s ever seen a movie with a dragon in it and happens to like boobs.

The Gorilla Tango Theatre also hosts, A Nude Hope: a Star Wars themed burlesque, The Boobs of Khan: A Star Trek themed burlesque, and Boobs and Goombas: A Super Mario themed burlesque.

I have been meaning to take in some culture…

Much thanks should be piled upon Dan R. for sending this gem our way! May his D20 roll crits for seven generations.

Gorrilla Tango Theatre
1919 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647-4320
773-598-4549
 

The Alchemist’s Tree

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5e DM Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , on July 11, 2011 by boccobsblog

The Alchemist’s Tree is a non-combat encounter site that can be easily dropped into any D&D or Pathfinder campaign.

Background

Nebkin Bronzebeaker was a gnome wizard that specialized in potions and alchemy. He traveled all over the countryside selling medicine and potions to adventurers and townsfolk alike. Many is the person with a tale of how their child or spouse was near death’s door only to be healed by a tincture from Nebkin who asked for nothing in return.

During a trip through a particularly savage valley, Nebkin was set upon by a ravenous wyvern intent on eating his ponies. The wizard fought hard to defend the horses that made his traveling business possible and served as his only friends, but try as he did, Nebkin was slain. As it ripped the ponies from their harnesses, the wyvern tipped the wagon on its side cracking open the roof. Hundreds of potions, tinctures, and tonics shattered and spilled out onto the ground. The stream of arcane fluid ran down a short embankment and soaked into the ground where a small sapling grew. The tree absorbed the magical properties of Nebkin’s potions and now sprouts magical fruit that produce random effects.

Description

Much of the brightly colored wagon still remains, but lays broken and shattered on the ground, and the claws of weather and age have begun picking at the paint. The ground is covered with the glass remains of hundreds of bottles. Ten feet from the wreckage, a young apple tree grows (or any fruit appropriate for your setting). Even the most cursory glance (DC 5 Spot check) reveals that the apples growing on the tree are very strange. Each of the apples is a different color, and some bear dots, stripes, or intricate patterns never found on ordinary fruit.

  • A DC 15 Knowledge Arcana check will reveal that tree has absorbed the contents of the shattered glass bottles that litter the ground and hold magical properties.
  • A DC 15 Search check of the wreckage will uncover the skeletal body of a gnome in bright robes. Nearby the body is a spellbook, unreadable and ruined by exposure. (Note: should the PC’s bury Nebkin or perform any religious acts over his remains, he will appear as an apparition and lead them silently to his cache of treasure.) The cache holds 1,013 gp in assorted coinage, and 737 gp in gems (EL 7, feel free to increase or decrease).
  • A DC 25 Search check will reveal the gnome’s cache of treasure hidden in a compartment in the floor of the wagon.

 

Effects

The Alchemist’s Tree has 3d4 apples on at when found. If a player casts detect magic the fruit and the tree will glow. The spell school of each fruit can be determined with an appropriate Spellcraft check, but the actual spell contained is unidentifiable until eaten.

Once picked the magic fruit will last for one week before rotting and losing its magical properties, otherwise treat the fruit like any other potion (A DC 20 Knowledge Arcana check reveals that the magical energies locked in the apples cause the fruit to decay at a much faster rate).

Any attempt to dig up or move the tree will kill it.

Roll 1d20 and ignore repeats (keep results secret)

Caster Level 5th

01       Cure Light Wounds

02       Jump

03       Mage Armor

04       Barkskin +2

05       Bear’s Endurance

06       Bull’s Strength

07       Fox’s Cunning

08       Eagle’s Splendor

09       Cat’s Grace

10       Invisibility

11       Owl’s Wisdom

12       Levitate

13       Spider Climb

14       Fly

15       Remove Curse

16       Cure Moderate Wounds

17       Water Breathing

18       Tongues

19       Gaseous Form

20       Displacement

The Alchemist’s Tree PDF