Like a Yard Sale...

Just a bunch of random crap on tables!!! Each area has its own table, because I'm obsessive like that. Each half-hour (hour if they're trying to be quiet) the party searches a building, roll on the appropriate table. The next post will include the rest of the areas.

This is the general aesthetic I'm going for. The art is by Mike Milkowski.

Library - 1D6

1-2) Nothing of Use: The characters just find shelves of strangely bound books and scrolls, all of them disintegrating into the dry wind.

3) Singing Scrolls: These intricately etched cylinders sing in the lilting language of the Pasha when the etched pictographs are traced a with finger tip. Those that are able to understand the singing, are granted a permanent, one time, +1 bonus to knowledge rolls depending on the scroll's subject matter. (1D6 - 1. Religion, 2. Arcane Magic, 3. The Wilds, 4. Technology, 5. Medicine, 6. Architecture)

4) Scholar's Lens: When a character views an unfamiliar language through this 7 sided prism, the language is translated to one the character understands.

5) Silence Box: Though this item appears to be an iridium music box with delicate scroll-work, it is quite the opposite. For every round the box is wound, to a maximum of 6 rounds, the box produces a 5 foot zone of silence for a turn.

6) Reading Lens: These two lenses are mounted using a lustrous dark metal so that they may be worn. The lenses give the user low-light vision and a +1 bonus to Search. These lenses are perfect for reading tiny script in dark rooms!

Market - 1D10

1-2) Nothing of Use: The characters just find piles of disintegrating, cheap clothing and incomprehensible souvenirs.

3) Roll on Library Table

4) Roll on Governance Table

5) Roll on Court Table

6) Roll on Living Area Table

7) Roll on Armory Table

8) Roll on Barracks Table

9) Roll on Hospital Table

0) Roll on Farming Table

Governance - 1D6

1-2) Nothing of Use: Characters just find piles of disintegrating paperwork and insane legislation.

3) Maps: The characters find a set of complete maps of the Pashan Whispers along with maps to other lands. (1D6 - 1. Voivodja, 2. Carrowmore, 3. Carcosa, 4. Phyrrous Plains, 5. Yoon-Suin, 6. The Islands of: Korus, Kelis, and Kravian.)

4) Transcription Machine: When wound, 1 round of winding equals 1 turn of functionality, and fed with paper, the machine will transcribe everything said into it's horn. Made of black and green metals, it is the size of large book, and resembles a combination of a grand piano, gramophone, and a scarab. As to how it knows the written form of the languages spoken into it, one would have to open the device's case. Within the inner most shell is a pulsing piece of flesh that looks like a strange combination of a heart and a brain. Once exposed to air, the organ withers and dies leaving only the gold electrodes that attached it to the machine.

5) Attachment Device: It resembles an elongated, legless horned beetle crouching over a narrow plate that extends just beyond the 'head'. Constructed of a prismatic metal, it appears to have been constructed to bind pieces of paper together. However, with a successful Strength/Bend Bars check (relatively easy), one can pry loose the bottom plate to make the device more useful. The device can bind any two objects together using a sliver of the same prismatic metal it is constructed of, and it seems to have a limitless supply. After being bound together, it requires a successful Strength/Bend Bars (somewhat challenging) check to separate the two. Great for repairs, or keeping pesky enemies in place. The device does 1D3 damage, and only has a range of 5 feet.

6) Dispenser of Cooled Water: This large device, about 4 feet high and 50 lbs, looks like a large, two legged spider attempting to do a hand stand constructed of a gold-tinged metal. It dispenses a unlimited amount of water from it's 'head', roughly a gallon a minute. A bit unwieldy, but incredibly useful in this cursed rainbow desert. (Go Metric!: 1.23 Meters Tall, 22.68 Kg, and 3.785 liters a minute)

Court - 1D6

1-2) Nothing of Use: Characters just find piles of disintegrating wanted posters and unpaid crab parking tickets.

3) Spitting Fleas: These oversized sand fleas, about the size of an apple, are somehow still alive in their cobweb-like wrapping. They have atrophied limbs, and a squishy, protruding abdomen. When squeezed, they spit a caustic liquid that can temporarily blind a target. A touch attack is required, the target gets a +2 bonus if they are wearing headgear. If successful the target must save versus Poison/Fortitude (DC 14) or be blinded for 1D6+1 rounds. The flea can spit 3 times, before it must rest for an hour and be given a few drops of water. Amazingly they don't need to eat. The characters find 1D4 fleas.

4) Pincer Manacles: The manacles look as if they were ripped off of an oversized scorpion. The manacles are no more or less easy to escape from than their mundane cousins. However, every failed escape attempt results in the wearer taking increasing levels of damage until their hands or feet are lopped off. (Attempt 1. 1D2 2. 1D3 3. 1D4. 4. 1D6 5+. Save versus Death/Fortitude (DC 15) or lose the extremity as well as 1D6 damage).

5) Chalk of Truth: Drawing a circle around an individual using the chalk creates a zone of truth. The target must make a save versus Magic/Will (DC 15) in order to tell a lie for the next 5 questions. On a successful save the liar takes 1D2 subdual damage, and must make a successful bluff check in order to not show signs of pain. Each piece of chalk has 10 uses before it becomes a useless nub. The characters find 1D4+1 pieces.

6) Lightning Stick-Bug: This bug is found barely alive in its cobweb case. It resembles a stick-bug without limbs and an iridescent black carapace, it is roughly the length of an adult's forearm. It's eyeless head as a short proboscis with a sharp tip. If fed 1 hp of blood, it will become active. When it is gripped by the rough, hand-sized section below its head, the rest of its body vibrates softly and gives off a scent of ozone. Anyone struck by the bug takes 1D4 bludgeoning damage and must make a save versus Paralysis/Fortitude (DC 14) or be paralyzed for 1 round. After an hour of activity the bug goes back into its coma-like state.

Living Area – Roll a number of times depending on the type of living area 1x Single Family/Group, 2x A Few Families/Groups, 3x Many Families/Groups - 1D6

1-2) Nothing of Use: Characters only find worthless dining sets and strange family portraits.

3) Jewelry: Characters find insect and crab themed jewelry worth 1D6 x 100 gp.

4) Entertainment Spider-Chair: This chair appears to be constructed of prismatic glass thread, with a still-living and headless iridescent spider the size of a greyhound attached to the back. When an individual sits in the chair, and one of the nearby crystal cylinders is inserted into the hole where the spider's head should be, the spider-legs weave an illusion for the sitter. To those not sitting in the chair, it just appears to be a shifting sheet of color with humming sounds, but to the sitter it appears as if they are actually sitting in the environment the story is taking place in. The participant may end the session whenever they wish, and instinctively understand that they are viewing an illusion despite its realism, all the dialogue is heard in the viewers native tongue. The characters find 1D6+1 crystal cylinders nearby (1. Hero Epic, 2. Drama 3. Tragedy *EVERYONE DIES* 4. Very Strange Comedy 5. Romance 6. Pornography *Sometimes involves insects, making it more of a horror story*)

5) Valuable/Weird Art: Strange sculptures and even stranger pictures worth 1D10 x 100 gp.

6) Communication Beetles: These hand-sized black beetles will extend their feathery antennae and contact other beetles of the same type over any distance. The beetles will mimic the voice of anyone speaking into them to the other beetle, though the voice sounds like a tinny distorted version of the person speaking. To teach the beetle to contact another particular beetle, the user simply presses the beetle into the beetle of the other person while yelling that persons name at the beetle. From then on that beetle will contact the other beetle whenever that name is yelled at it. Want to really creep your players out? There is a 1 in 6 chance everyday that the owner of a beetle will get a mysterious call, the person on the other end will: 1. Just breathe heavily, 2. Just Giggle, 3. Describe in minute detail everything the character has done so far that day, 4. Begin pleading for help in a loved-one's voice, 5. Describe what it wants to do to the character using sand and beetles, 6. Describe to the character what awful act the caller is about to engage in. The characters will find 1D4 Communication Beetles.