RUMORS

Rumors can primarily be picked up in the Medusa’s Head (area 3). Most attempts
to gain rumors will require the purchase of drinks. For every opportunity to hear a
rumor, roll 1d20 (+2 if no drinks were purchased, +4 if not in the Medusa’s Head or
other establishment that sells food and drink). If the result was less than or equal to
the character’s Charisma, they gain 1d4 rumors from the following table.
1 Some of the Sword Brothers 12 A huge black bear prowls both
still live in the Abbey eatin’ rats graveyards, chasing mourners
and straw. They skitter around away from funerals and making
and look naught like people. off with bodies in the night.
2 I heard that people go in the 13 Smoking the strange vines
ruins sometimes and see rooms around Nightwick Abbey will
that weren’t there before, and find give you strange visions, if
other rooms in different places. you survive the experience!
3 The Sword Brothers had a conjure- 14 Some of the monsters in the
man come and build them a big Abbey hate each other. A smart
garden that’s lit by its own Sun. man could play them against
4 Nightwick Abbey sings out to all each other for a profit.
manner of monsters and bugaboos, 15 You can always tell when
and they can’t refuse the summons. something came from Nightwick
5 The dungeons straight Abbey. It’s marked by the Devil,
down to Hell! and no good folk should buy it.
6 The last Grandmaster of the 16 A bloated demon, big as a bull,
Sword Brothers still walks the walks the halls of the Abbey
halls, looking for men to kill. looking for manflesh to cook.
7 The undead beneath the Abbey 17 Nightwick Abbey lives and
all serve a great king below. breathes just like you and me. You
8 The Finger of Gax they got can even hurt it, but anyone who
in the church of Lychgate is does is likely to meet a bad end.
a fake. The real one is in the 18 With all the goblins in the Abbey
dungeons somewhere but no and the forest there must be some
one wants to go find it. dwarf ruin out there. Goblins
9 Anyone taking a dog up to the always come out of dwarf ruins.
ruins must be a devil worshiper. 19 What those monsters really
People go up all the time with one, need is the Law. Bring back
but they never bring them back. here and give ‘em a baptism
10 Those who slew the Sword and see what happens!
Brothers are forever forced to 20 Some woman lives in the ruins
reenact their final battle. and waits to gobble men up who
11 Strange, hooded men have are too stupid to know no woman
been seen going in and out ain’t supposed to live there!
of the ruins at night.
The veracity of these rumors is up to the individual referee. It is suggested that most
have some cornel of truth, or at least lead to some sort of adventure. Wild goose
chases are as unrewarding for the judge as they are for the players.
LEGENDS
Legends will be found in old tomes in Nightwick Abbey or through contacting
sages in Lychgate. The number of legends associated with a tome is given in its
description in the dungeon. These entries are provided in chronological order, but
they should be rolled randomly when someone is reading a tome (the results being
presented in the proper order but with gaps between information).
1 A powerful demon lord was 11 The Sword Brothers’ crusade
imprisoned in the hill on which against the pagans in the Dark
the Abbey now stands. Country turned increasingly
2 That demon lord was named violent, with few people converted
Armadeus, Emperor of Lies, and many tortured and killed.
and his evil has corrupted 12 The Sword Brothers were
the entire Dark Country. contacted by an evil force beneath
3 The civilization that sealed the Abbey and began to worship it.
him away destroyed itself. 13 The Baron of Averois, worried
4 During the days of the Empire, the about his daughter’s mortal soul,
hill was shunned by all good folk. sent her to live an ascetic life
5 After the collapse of the among the Sword Brothers.
Empire, the Dark Country 14 The Baroness of Averois became
was overtaken by pagans. an infamous witch and harlot, and
6 The Sword Brothers went on many believed she ruled the Sword
crusade in the Desert Lands Brothers with her feminine wiles.
to save Zenopolis, the last 15 Hoping to make the dungeon
remnant of the Empire. more self-sufficient, the
7 The Sword Brothers used the Sword Brothers hired many
riches they found in the Desert magicians from the Realm and
Lands to fund a crusade into parts unknown to perform
the Dark Country. They rituals in the Abbey and build
built Nightwick Abbey to be a great, sunless garden.
their main chapterhouse. 16 Pagan kingdoms began
8 The Sword Brothers sealed preemptively converting to
many of the treasures they the Law to avoid destruction
brought with them in the by the Sword Brothers, but
dungeons beneath the Abbey. the Brothers would attack and
9 The Sword Brothers dug deeper in slaughter them anyway.
the dungeons and found portals 17 The lords of the Realm, worried
to other worlds, as well as dark that the Sword Brothers had
creatures that warred with them. become deviated from the
10 Some evil, unknown to the Law, marshalled a force to
Sword Brothers, began to go and destroy them.
corrupt their minds and hearts. 18 The Realmish forces took control
of many of the cities the Sword
Brothers had established, such
as Waldheim and Lychgate.
19 The Sword Brothers, now found 20 The final battle occurred during
out, began openly employing a siege of Nightwick Abbey itself,
demons, werewolves, and and though the Sword Brothers
undead in their armies in an were slain, the ghosts of both sides
attempt to gain an advantage. continue to haunt the Abbey.
More history of Nightwick Abbey may be found in an appendix to come, but the
Sword Brothers were not privy to those additional details.