Couronne-d'Ouest Ruins - Rencontres Aléatoires
- Abandoned and wanting on that blackened shore I waited, alone with my enemy, the vicious, patient sea. Eightyfour days of starvation and scorn, eighty-four days of battling the unwearying beast. Here was my crucible, here was my Hell—yet I refused to burn. My travail had brought transformation, my rod become a crooked lance, my salt-soaked hat a helm, the arms of a victory I would not be refused. I lasted the death of a hundred thousand waves. I gritted through the freezing breath that had claimed so many men. No trick of this endless beast would cow me, no death would force my defeat. But on the eighty-fifth, the harlot deep choked up her spawn—her needle-teeth, her gibbering revenge—and on saffron wings they stole my sanity away.
- —From The Madness of Lostmast, by Actino Manolin
Menaces inhabiting the streets and sewers of Westcrown, as well as beings haunting the shadows of Cheliax, come together in this installment of the Pathfinder Bestiary. Within the dark and forgotten reaches of Westcrown creep the disgusting torble, the amorphous shadowgarm, and countless forms of repulsive parasites. The wild coasts of the infernal empire also serve as the home and hunting ground of the irritating gremlins known as hanivers and the sinister winged strix of Devil’s Perch. The denizens of Hell also begin their march this month, with the least of their number, the blazing ukobach, bringing burning death to all who would oppose the whims of the archdevils. Cheliax is a dangerous place, and those who fall here risk losing much more than just their lives. [1]
Council of Monsters[1]
The Council of Thieves Adventure Path brings with it a host of new monsters, both to supplement each volume’s adventure and to aid GMs in exploring Cheliax and Golarion far beyond the walls of Westcrown. Over the course of this series, readers can expect a wide range of beings tied to each month’s plots and themes. In addition, as the infernal themes of Council of Thieves draw upon many of the fiendish elements of the Pathfinder Chronicles product Princes of Darkness: Book of the Damned Volume 1, this and the next five Bestiaries each feature a new devil, continuing that tome’s work of detailing and further swelling the ranks of Hell.
To aid in preparing GMs for what’s coming in subsequent installments, here’s a sneak peak at the monsters lurking just around the corner.
Pathfinder #25: Denizens of Cheliax, a host of beasts from Westcrown and elsewhere in the infernal empire.
Pathfinder #26: Terrors of Nobility, creatures of assassination, honor, and ambition.
Pathfinder #27: Monsters of Treasure and Antiquity, exotic beasts and the bane of explorers.
Pathfinder #28: Hellspawn, Hellish natives beyond the infernal.
Pathfinder #29: Beings Beyond Shadow, the dooms that come from darkness.
Pathfinder #30: Masterminds and World-Ending Evils, high-level embodiments of the apocalypse.
Wandering Monsters[1]
Westcrown serves as both home and war zone for thousands of Chelaxians, as its abandoned northern reaches have given way to ruin, violence, and the worst humanity has to offer. In this urban wasteland lurk beasts and brigands, the scavengers of a splendorous past and the terrors that would prey on such rabble. Presented here and in the random encounters sidebar are just a few of the dangers PCs might encounter as they explore the walled-off northern reaches of the Wiscrani Dospera.
Dotarri: The dotarri are the Westcrown city guard. While many are upstanding peacekeepers, others — especially those who might be wandering the Dospera— are corrupt and likely up to some mischief or criminal venture. To approximate a typical dotarri, use the stats for a Hellknight armiger, presented on page 21.
Thieves: Characters might encounter a wide variety of scavengers, criminals, miscreants, and other ne’er-dowells in their exploration of Westcrown’s ruins. These might be disorganized brigands, thugs, con men, or even members of the Bastards of Erebus. Such thieves might use the statistics for tiefling rogues, present on page 264 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. An encounter with 1d6 CR 1/2 thieves is a CR 2 encounter, while an encounter with 1d10 CR 1/2 thieves is a CR 3 encounter.
Westcrown Ruins Random Encounters[1]
| d% | Encounter | Avg. CR | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | 1d6 dire rats | 1/3 | Bestiaiy 232 |
| 4-7 | 1 giant centipede | 1/2 | Bestiaiy 43 |
| 8-10 | 1 guard dog | 1/2 | see page 40 |
| 11-15 | 1d6 dottari | 1 | seetext |
| 16-19 | 1d6 guard dogs | 1 | see page 40 |
| 20-22 | 1d4sewergoblins | 1 | see page 22 |
| 23-24 | 1d6 skeletons | 1 | Bestiaiy 250 |
| 25-29 | 1 sp1der swarm | 1 | Bestiaiy 258 |
| 30-32 | 2d8 torbles | 1 | Pathfinder #25 |
| 33-34 | itieflingfighter2 | 1 | see page 35 |
| 34-35 | 1d6 hanivers | 2 | Pathfinder #25 |
| 36-39 | îimp | 2 | Bestiaiy 78 |
| 40-42 | 1 rat swarm | 2 | Bestiaiy 232 |
| 43-46 | 1 shadowgarm | 2 | Pathfinder #25 |
| 47-51 | îdio skeletons | 2 | Bestiaiy 245 |
| 52-55 | 1d6 stirges | 2 | Bestiaiy 260 |
| 56-61 | îdiotiefling thugs | 2 | see page 39 |
| 62—64 | 1d6 thieves | 2 | seetext |
| 65-68 | itorble swarm | 2 | Pathfinder #25 |
| 69-73 | 1d6 zombies | 2 | Bestiaiy 288 |
| 74-76 | îallip | 3 | Bonus Bestiaiy 4 |
| 77-78 | 1 assassin vi ne | 3 | Bestiaiy 22 |
| 79-82 | 1 giant rot grub | 3 | Pathfinder #25 |
| 83-85 | 1shadow | 3 | Bestiaiy 245 |
| 86-89 | îdio thieves | 3 | seetext |
| 90-91 | 1d4venomous snakes | 3 | Bestiaiy 255 |
| 92-94 | 1 gargoyle | 4 | Bestiaiy 137 |
| 95-96 | 1 otyugh | 4 | Bestiaiy 223 |
| 97-99 | rot grub hazard | 4 | Pathfinder #25 |
| 100 | 1 shadow mastiff | 5 | Bonus Bestiaiy 16 |