DungeonLiar (Technically a Relaunch)

From the mind of @spindatheliar comes the launch of my blog (now with more OSR sensibilities). I'm jumping on the blog train because:

• I've miss designing and documenting RPG and D&D content. 
• My original blog didn't live up to my expectations. 
• I've recently joined some choice OSR discord servers and love the cool ideas I get to apply to my usual D&D fare
• I've been told by enough people that maybe I should shout my ideas into the void so here goes

I'm starting off with something simple, a cool hex I made for a 5e hexcrawl contest. Odds are I might repurpose it for a hexcrawl project I've kept on the back burner. It doesn't necessarily need to be tied to D&D but the white apes helping a psychic alien rebuild it's spaceship in the desert is too evocative to not share.

The Crashed Nautiloid

A crashed astral shuttle and the enclave that surrounds it radiates menaces. You can see various white furred apes going about their daily activities and you feel like you’re being watched. Here in the desert is a small rough-hewn village, arrayed around a small oasis and populated by 15 or so four-armed albino apes.  These girallon (VGTM pg 152) are leagues more intelligent than their more savage cousins and have 14 intelligence as well as the ability to speak in sign language from exposure to the creature within the crashed shuttle. They follow the orders of the creature and revere it like a god.  They are under strict instructions to capture alive any intelligent creature that enters the borders of the village and kill any creature who is deemed too much trouble. Their individual huts do not contain any treasure of note beyond some rough-hewn tools and carvings of some many limbed deity that appears attached to a spiral shell. The girallon tribal leader (denoted by his distinctive headdress frilled with long purple cords that fall to the monster’s knees) has been outfitted with flensing claws (VGTM pg 81). Its claw attacks deal 1d12+4 damage. He also has some pieces of nautiloid steel fitted as a sort of half plate (AC 17). 

Near the center of the village is a crashed Nautiloid (VGTM pg. 78) The fairly large vessel is mostly either in pieces or buried in the sand. The pieces that remain above ground resemble a collapsing spiral shell with a nasty gash down the side serving as an entrance. The room immediately past the gash appears to be some form of ship deck with various upturned tables and instruments. There is an open porthole in the ceiling with a rusted metal ladder leading up. Surrounding the ladder are various offerings. These offerings include large bowls of brine-filled water and several bound halflings that look severely underfed and unconscious. Occasionally several long purple tentacles will reach down through the porthole and grab an offering.

In the upper level attached to the ceiling and pinned by various machines and psionic instruments is Velthoris an Ulitharid (VGTM pg 175) who has seen better days and currently boasts a speed of zero as he remains attached to the remains of his nautiloid. Having to rely mostly on his tentacles to manipulate things in his permanent domicile, he can use two tentacle attacks as one action. Using his considerable psionic abilities to wrest control of the girallon in the area, Velthoris has tasked them to slowly restore himself and his ship to its former glory. At the current pace, this is likely impossible and the ship will never truly fly again.  Velthoris continues his crusade regardless and needs brains to do it. He orders the girallon to capture most anyone they can alive as a snack to speed his recovery. Should Velthoris recover completely he will likely take steps to complete his transformation into an elder brain and gods help surrounding areas after that.

Velthoris makes a fairly effective tactician, using his creature sense to pinpoint intelligent intruders within two miles and directing his girallon in ambushes from the dunes. He likely won’t use plane shift as the strain of moving his pinned and ingrained body will likely kill him.  If he is in danger he will emit a psychic cry for help that any girallon in range will heed. In a moment of final desperation, he can use a reaction to activate the ship’s self-destruct engine dealing 10d6 fire and 10d6 force damage in a 600ft radius 1 minute after its activation (No save).

Plot Hooks: 

Mysterious Kidnappings

We’ve heard tell from our scouts that kidnappings are becoming a serious problem near the desert edge.  The culprits appear to be white apes of some kind.

A Crashed Ship

A couple months ago a large structure not unlike an astral ship crash-landed in the desert. None of the scouting parties sent to check it have returned.