For those who don’t have the Inner Sea Bestiary, petrified maidens are petrified women animating
in undeath—the cursed handiwork of the wizard king Geb (and scribe Greg
Vaughan). In your campaign they
might have another origin, but there still should be some unfulfilled
obligation or vendetta to explain their resistance to destruction. Since they are undead who present as
constructs, unraveling how best to defeat them could be a nice mid-battle puzzle
even for experienced parties.
(And yes, these could easily be petrified youth instead of
maidens. Nor do they have to be
virgins. But I found both to be
useful hooks for constructing the following adventure ideas…)
The medusa witch Lariss
was famous for acts of particular evil, including the Stoning at Achiss and the
petrification of an entire nunnery.
When she was slain and then raised
from the dead (the work of adventurers and a blind azer henchman, respectively)
the spirits of all those she had slain rebelled. Every maiden Lariss caught in her gaze animated and began to
hunt her down. But they have no
love for the living, either, whom they blame for their stony state, and will
caught down anyone who gets in their way.
Even for a drow goddess,
the Scorpion Queen is a particularly jealous deity. When a fane to Orpolia, the Skull Matron, was constructed in
Alphez’dre, the Scorpion Queen commanded her clerics to bury the entire temple
district in mud. Orpolia
retaliated, raising her worshippers as petrified maidens. Wielding the traditional drow
scimitars, they will hunt the depths until every living daughter of Alphez’dre
is slain.
There is only one
fiendish unicorn—the get of a semi-divine nightmare born under the Moon of
Blood. Like all unicorns he allows
only maidens to approach, but those who ride him are turned to stone by the end
of the journey, and serve the beast forever more. His destruction is presumed to be the prerequisite for ending the curse.
—Inner Sea Bestiary
37
I should have mentioned yesterday: No radio show to post
this week, as I was hanging out in Boston on Saturday.
By the way, I think you might be interested in Bogleech's D&D monster articles, which can be found at http://bogleech.com/dnd.html . It's sort of similar to what you're doing except for tackling the designs/fluff of various monsters throughout the ages, and I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteHe's also got a great look at his Top 10 Favorite Fiends (http://www.bogleech.com/halloween/hall11-dndemons.htm) and some hilarious takedowns of The Book of Vile Darkness (http://www.bogleech.com/halloween/hall12-viledarkness.html) and Green Ronin's Book of Fiends (http://www.bogleech.com/halloween/hall12-bookoffiends.html)m along with his own badass setting Mortasheen (http://bogleech.com/mortasheen.htm). I'd love for you to give him a shoutout on this blog, that is, if you like his stuff.
Also, not to self-promote or anything (too late), but I've also been working on my own setting to eventually be written up for the as-of-yet-unfinished D&D Next. It's called Dungeonworld (The name being the same as that OSR game is pure coincidence), and it's set in a world-sized dungeon, with such things as an ancient Thri-Keen empire, naturally-occurring traps, weird Discworld-y gods, elves that aren't snooty douchebags, Highlander-y beholders and lots and lots of music-inspired theme-naming.
I was wondering if you'd consider giving it a shout-out as well, that is, if it is to your liking. It's a bit more Gonzo than the usual D&D campaign settings, more Planescape/Spelljammer/Gamma World than Greyhawk/Krynn/Faerun. You can find it at http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255799 , and I hope you enjoy it!