Unique Weapons and Armor of the Crusader Kingdoms

As requested, below the fold are brief descriptions of the unique weapons and armor from the previous post. Note that they are just rough notes intended to be expanded when the item actually shows up in the campaign.

*Spoiler Alert* If any of my players are reading this, you will only be spoiling the surprise if you read on.

I Hate Swords +1

As the title states, I hate the phrases “sword +1”, “shield +2”, “plate armor +2”, etc. They pull me right out of the fiction. You shouldn’t give anything in your game world a name that doesn’t make sense for the characters to say. So, I stole an idea from George R. R. Martin, and made magic swords in the Crusader Kingdoms into swords made with special metals that can only be worked with magic. I also like the idea of a split between common and unique magic items, as implied by the ACKS Magical Engineering proficiency.

So, I created my own tables for magic swords, armor, and miscellaneous weapons. Here are the results. Note that several of the unique swords are stolen from Simon at The Sky Full of Dust.

Session 2: In Which I Roll 6 for Wandering Monsters 5 Times in a Row

A week has passed since the events of the last session. In this time, the Spearmaidens have moved the PCs from their altar chamber to their dormitory – a large chamber with an open hearth, several bunks, and a chicken coop. The Spearmaidens feed their guests nothing but meat and eggs for the week, as Spinello and Thjolstoff convalesce. In the name of modesty, the Spearmaidens bring the PCs masks from Cynidicea Below: new masks of their choosing for those PCs willing to spend 1gp on them (as much as a nice hat); old, worn, random masks for everyone else.

With the help of the Spearmaidens, all the PCs who speak Atlantean – these being Spinello, Simbra-Nar, and the Aisha Alendi the Atlantean stormtrooper – learn the Cynidiceans’ strange dialect. They ask many questions of the Spearmaidens, and learn many things. They learn that the camel-masked Cynidiceans that they met were wakedreaming under the influence of blackspore brandy, the preferred drink in Cynidicea. They also learn that there are 13 Spearmaidens, a similar number of Brothers of Gorm and Magi of Usamigaras. They also learn that there are nearly twice as many Chosen of Zargon, and they are reinforced with a garrison of 50 or so zargonian beastmen at their temple, and hundreds of zargonians in the caverns of Zarakadur below the city. Thjolstoff swears to slay this monster Zargon, but Dalyaa-Nush, the High Spearmaiden, explains that Zargon has been slain many times in the past, but always returns. Aisha explains that there are many possible reasons for this; it may be that Zargon is some kind of demon or other spirit, as spirits are often merely banished from the mortal realm for a year and a day when their mortal form is destroyed. When asked how she would deal with the monster, Dalyaa-Nush explains that she wishes to build a wall around the city and train a garrison capable of destroying Zargon whenever he appears. unfortunately, to do that, she would need to seize control of the city and its revenues.