Logton, God Of Healing

As one of the player characters, Violet Applewing, was almost killed in our last session (2 weeks ago now, and while we were supposed to play today, we had some issues so having to play next week). TFT is of course not like modern D&D: sleep and you are magically and completely healed (and no, not really sure that is the case but to me WOTC have really nerfed the actual game so that everyone essentially plays superheroes. But again, I digress...)

And so. I've been working on a few other things, including trying to finish some painting and working on NPCs that may help.

WIP but so close on a couple!

I'm going to try and bring up my homebrew rules I first outlined in this post. To do so, I've also come up with the God of Healing, Logton. And no, not a part of my original pantheon from way back when. I view that as an idea or starting point, not a straitjacket! However - Logton is one of the many offspring of Tionna, who, like Zeus, seems to have a wandering eye. 

Sister Ishbarra is a cleric of Logton. She is a red-robed woman, carrying a shield and hammer or mace. The mace has a symbol of a base crescent with a mace and a constellation of the Lamb. She has taken a vow of silence but does carry a slate and chalk (and I carry a small whiteboard with a dry erase pen if I can find it for the next game session!). She does use CSL (Common Sign Language) which of course, none of the players know. Especially as I just made that up as I write this. But it is now a thing in my world. She is always healing people when she can, though this can be at some cost to her as per the magic rules I came up with. Her mace is blessed, and so will do damage against magical creatures normally immune, such as demons. Which may also come in handy soon...and for me, the advantage of playing an NPC character with a vow of silence is I don't have to talk! As someone who can barely speak coherently far too often, trying to make distinct accents or voices for NPCs strains my already laboring ability to speak!

Sister Ishbarra

And yes, I wrapped her description around a mini I already had, and even painted. As in painted a couple years ago or more! But at least I am finally using it! I have a feeling she and Erirderlun Earthfury are on the same trail to Bresselwythe. And sadly, though Sister Ishbarra is silent, I feel Eirderlun is a talker. Mostly talking to his goat Genny but will talk to anyone. Ahh, but in re-reading:

While quiet until his 4th mug of ale, Erirderlun is quite knowledgeable and seems to be able to get along with just about anyone with a perfect phrase and has been known to de-escalate tense situations so he would not have to use his healing arts

My group seems to think all Dwarves have a Scottish accent. At least every single Dwarf they play has such an accent. I may try something entirely different, though doubt I'll be able to pull anything off. 

But while I am here, let's see about getting some additional info for our newest god in the pantheon! And dive again into the Lesser Key To The Celestial Legion! 

Logton, God of Healing

Logton, a child of Tionna the God of All Living Things and a mortal woman, is known as the God of Healing. His mother died during childbirth, and Logton grew up as a human, not knowing his celestial origins. He was also mute, never even crying as a baby. It was not until his 25th year when, seeing a child hurt from being hit by a wagon, that his celestial background awakened: holding the child, ethereal wings spread from his back, and the child was healed in a blaze of light. Knowledge of his father seemed to burst into his head and memory, and since then he has been prayed to and places of worship sprung up all over Cidri. His clerics often take a vow of silence. mimicking their god's mute appearance. 

Another AI drawing

His symbol is a crescent moon with a hammer and the Lamb constellation as the background. Often it is very ornately drawn or engraved, sometimes a few lines. 

Yeah, looks a lot like Sailor Moon was here...

His herald is roughly humanoid, and generally about 4' tall but with regular proportions. The herald appears to be made out of smoke. The smoke itself is of an orange hue with spirals in constant motion.  The herald's eyes seem to have 2 pupils, has smokey wings that mimic Logton's wings. The herald's incarnation is from a large egg that drops from the sky, cracking open to reveal the 4' smoky herald. And water within 60 feet freezes over, though it does not feel cold to anyone in that range. The is also, despite the freezing water, the smell of fresh rain. 

Windemere Crossing gets a healer

After our characters come back from their bone barrow adventure, wounded and tired, they asked about a town healer, or a temple where there may be clerics for healing. Windemere Crossing, as previously mentioned, does not have a temple despite Deputy Newtonson's entreaties to the town leaders. It is a pretty small town based out of an old military outpost, so there is really not the room for that. Though there is a "here is a generic room you may use" at the Nimble Priest's that is often used. The Fair Lady is pretty generous about other gods so having a place set aside is fine.

However, a growing town does need a healer, and one of the recent new people will be that healer. Rolling a die I get an odd number so a male healer. Looking over my pantheon, none of those gods or goddesses really fit. Rolling even I get a goddess (and most healing gods tend to be goddesses, but we'll not delve into the patriarchal and matriarchal western world views here though it could be an interesting discussion until politics inevitably get mixed up in it. I do miss my classes when I was working on a liberal arts degree: fun discussions without people getting stupid. And I DO seem to be getting grumpier lately!). Off to the fantasy name generator for female goddesses and we have Ynja, the Goddess of Healing.

And how would we even pronounce her name? Yin-ja? In-ya? Think I like the in-ya version. And deciding to see what an AI depiction of a fantasy goddess of healing looks like, 2 of the 4 had three arms. 4 I could have dealt with, but 3? The other two I'll post here and decide later which one is most like her.

As for our cleric, Supti Psammenitus has wandered the desert for years, learning from various desert tribes all aspects of healing. He lived for a short time in the Elemental City of Athukthad north of the Kalor Desert where he studied at the Temple Ynja. This temple is both a hospital and a temple, for Ynja, while she can perform miraculous healing as can her clerics, prefers a more holistic approach and natural healing time. Clerics of Ynja focus on the healing spells specifically. 

As he settles into Windemere Crossing, Brother Supti is a 4th level cleric. As such, he does know 2 1st level spells and one 2nd level. His Book of Ynja has Cure Light Wounds and Purify Food and Water. His 2nd level spell is Hold Person: it comes in handy when resetting broken bones or other painful yet necessary steps. The book is not really necessary as he prays each morning for his spells.

OSE does not have skills for first aid or the like. And I think I mixed up The Fantasy Trip's much more brutal 1 point every 2 days vs OSE, where:

Natural: For each full day of complete rest, a character or monster recovers 1d3 hit points. If the rest is interrupted, the character or monster will not heal that day.

I'll not add in any first aid rules, but a medically trained cleric I may do a 1d3 +1 for healing if you are in the temple. After all, you are being cared for with fresh bandaging and purified food and water. And it turns out that I have an entirely undeveloped apothecary in Windermere Crossing. The buildings and such came from Spectacular Settlements, way too long ago for me to remember all of them. But it is apparently of good quality. And as the old sawbones Old John was getting up in years, Brother Supti has been welcome to the town and is proving to be a better healer than old John and his leeches. One of the rooms is being converted to a shrine to Ynja. 

Brother Supti

STR 10 INT 13 WIS 15 DEX 8 CON 10 CHA 8

Divine Spells: Cure Light Wounds, Purify Food and Water, Hold Person

Level 4 Cleric of Ynja the Healing Goddess.

A very quiet man, tall and slender, he tends to say small prayers to Ynja when working in the more mundane aspects of healing. He also hums when nervous. His slender hands are deft when it comes to healing and wrapping, yet he is clumsy otherwise, and continually bumps his head against the smaller door to the back storeroom in the apothecary. While he cannot make healing potions himself, he will buy them from Sharn or the old witch Bellatrix Grimsbane who lives out in the woods far south of Windemere Crossing.

Brother Supti still has chain mail from his years on the road, for not all roads are safe even for a cleric. He carries a large mace as well as a staff. Both have Ynja's butterfly symbol carved into the handles. He has been known to accompany adventurers as well as the occasional caravan to act as a healer. Half of his pay goes to the temple of Yjna in the Elemental City. Every few months a caravan takes the Path of Lost hope connecting the northern Kalor Desert to the south, and he sends gold that way by trusted courier. He is also setting aside coins to create or buy a stronghold dedicated to his goddess. It will be many years before that can happen if he just stays in town to heal those who show up. He is often ready to go on adventures to accumulate enough gold and favors to get his own stronghold.

Two of the images created. Think I'll need to do a post for Ynja soon!

More Pantheon Expansion - Druid Edition

The upcoming game (only a week away!) and I have all the character sheets. Actually printed them out, and I have them in notebook. And I printed out one of the potential adventures as I only have that in PDF form.

Anyway - the druid is following Hern the Horned God. I found a few interesting references:

From this reference:

Unlike the majority of deities in the Pagan world, Herne has his origins in a local folktale, and there is virtually no information available to us via primary sources. Although he is sometimes seen as an aspect of Cernunnos, the Horned God, the Berkshire region of England is the home to story behind the legend. According to folklore, Herne was a huntsman employed by King Richard II. In one version of the story, other men became jealous of his status and accused him of poaching on the King's land. Falsely charged with treason, Herne became an outcast among his former friends. Finally, in despair, he hanged himself from an oak tree which later became known as Herne's Oak.

In another variation of the legend, Herne was fatally wounded while saving King Richard from a charging stag. He was miraculously cured by a magician who tied the antlers of the dead stag to Herne's head. As payment for bringing him back to life, the magician claimed Herne's skill in forestry. Doomed to live without his beloved hunt, Herne fled to the forest, and hanged himself, again from the oak tree. However, every night he rides once more leading a spectral hunt, chasing the game of Windsor Forest.

Which is a pretty sad tale! But there are other references such as this one, which is the one I think we're going to go with:

In Celtic mythology, Cernunnos was the Horned God who ruled over wild beasts and places. He’s most commonly associated with forests, wild animals, fertility, and wealth. Cernunnos is often depicted with prominent stag antlers on his head and was known as the Lord of the Wild Places or God of the Wilds

Which works out well as I am really wanting to lean a bit more into the Fey as a darker, richer world. While the Fantasy Trip treats Orcs mostly like a different branch of mankind, most game systems have them a bit further apart. Same with Goblins: they are not just small green (or whatever color your goblins are!) people that act like humans: they are a mischievous and dangerous folk that think and act a lot differently than humans do. And should have minor glamours and things like that (which does not work well in the TFT game system though OSE supports it. But we can make it work!) Though getting the idea of the Fey across well is hard (at least for me). Though I am backing the Secret of the Fey and the Dolmenwood kickstarters which are heavily fey! And still want to plop the characters into Rackham Vale. The murder hobo approach in any of these settings would not go well! I will have to place gates in various places, including that mushroom ring in my mountain scene where Thiseas currently calls home.

The more gods the merrier. Nope - Hern the Horned God is not part of my little pantheon, but I run a very open world and like what other people bring to it. The universe (or at least my gaming universe) has lots of room for all sorts of deities. My Centaur Druid did not specify a god. Looking over my ancient pantheon, the druids are normally associated with Tonna, Goddess of the Lesser Creatures. However, Centaurs are generally affiliated with Aronius, Goddess of the Lands. Which explains why he had to leave and now lives in that forest glade several miles from Windemere.

And I decided to roll reaction rolls for how Tonna feels about Hern, and vice versa. Gods can be capricious! In our case, Tonna is open armed to Hern. He is not part of her family of deities. Hern, on the other hand, is not as open towards Tonna, but has no problems with her. No outright antagonism. How some druids or clerics feel may be different, but the gods themselves have no issues with each other.

Thiseas of the Gallantos Herds of the Western Fields worships Tonna. While raised to worship Aronius, he felt a calling from wide open plains of the Western Fields, and slowly roamed south and eventually ended up in the Vele Hory Range (which is actually close to Czech for large mountains - one way of coming up with names: get translator to translate to a different language!). Here is communes with the animals and helps protect this side of the mountain. While he is gaining affinity with Tonna, there may be some animosity from Aronius: she may not want to lose a single being to another deity. And centaurs need wide open fields to run as much as they like! Something to think about at any rate.

I asked whatever art engine Bing uses for a fantasy goddess of small animals and got back some interesting results. Not sure which one I like and they may all be aspects of her. Interestingly they are all very similar, though I did ask for standing in the woods surrounded by small animals. Images at the end.

And digging out my Lesser Keys for avatars, let's see what sort of avatar she will have. 

Tonna's Herald is roughly humanoid, about 6' tall and proportioned normally but looks to be made out of air. Its eyes have the appearance of stars. There are 6 mouths that when speaking, create a chorus that can be disconcerting. When appearing, there are also 1d6 rodents/skunks/weasels (roll 1d3 for each animal). The Herald rises up from the ground, and mortals witnessing this become sycophant bootlickers until it goes away. The Herald also fluctuates in size, from rabbit to giant-sized. And smells of fresh rain when it appears. The Herald does have a name: Iaharuyauh, though few know or use it,

Tonna's holy symbol sits on a trapezoid base and depicts a field of grain under the stars, usually carved in bone or ivory when near the sea. The grain is to feed the animals, and the stars represent Tonna herself. Most clerics or druids wear a modest robe during ceremonies, with ribbons adorning their hair (Thiseas even has ribbons in his tail). Reading from the sacred texts is accompanied by percussion and acapella singing. Mead is often poured out as a sacrifice. The ribbons are often knotted, which is also how messages and doctrines are passed along (part of the Druid's cant for Tonna is being able to read and write using the knotted ribbons). 

The planting of crops at the end of winter is when Tonna's adherents celebrate. Quiet prayers at the edge of the crops at dawn and pouring out mead from the previous year's harvest.

Priests of Tonna, if they become sainted, have their body interred in a moveable shrine. In a seated position with their hands at their sides, wrapped in linen. This shrine is guarded by 2 types 1d4 animals. 

The Lesser Key To The Celestial Legion also has a list of boons. I may use that as needed if we need a deux ex machina at some point.

and one of my game group got me a cat dice tray!

Mythology and Pantheons: The Elves of Windemere Crossing and the Goddess Ran

As I am reading a book on Norse mythology (I had no idea Odin had several sons!) I think I'll pull some of those gods and goddesses into my own little fantasy world. The pirate Elves that run the Silver Pirate (and there are a number of half-Elves when I re-read that) may often use the curse "Let Ran take them down!".

In Norse mythology:

Ran is a goddess and a personification of the sea in Norse mythology. She is the wife of Aegir, the sea god, and the mother of nine daughters who personify waves. She is frequently associated with a net, which she uses to capture sea-goers and drag them into the depths of the ocean. She is also seen as a protector and a guide for those who travel on the sea, and a symbol of the vastness, mystery, and transformation of the ocean.

For my world, she is a separate pantheon than the one I started 40+ years ago in college. She has 9 daughters who personify the waves. I'll try to explore that later, seeing as there are many waves from the smallest ripple to a tsunami that can take out a city.

But for our Elves of the Silver Pirate, Ran is both a blessing and a curse. They pray to her for safe voyages, as well as blame her for sailors lost at sea. Now at the edge of a desert, the Elves do not pray or offer many observances for the goddess. They are frustrated with the curse that brought them here. The cacklemar (a fat seagull looking bird) is nicknamed Ran's Messenger. Being fat and unable to fly, Nomehi Wiridea, the inn's owner, still offers the bird mackerel she has shipped from the ocean, praying to be allowed back to the sea. The cacklemar is an odd bird found in the Wex's Drift supplement. If my players ever get to an ocean, I'll use that as it seems like a lot of fun. In the meantime, the Silver Pirate NPCs know about the Drift and it may come up in conversation or as rumors. Along with the Amazons - Nomehi has her suspicions about the Burgermiester of Windemere Crossing.

AI generated sea goddess

Now we've nine daughters to deal with if I really want to expand out the pantheon for them, though I may stick with the Norse myths for the Sea Elves gods and goddesses, or at least my interpretation of those myths. Do the Elves deal with Aegir, the god of the sea? Or is he just a sea god of a particular sea?

Which brings to mind: are the gods and goddesses universal in my world, or do they have some sort of geophysical or cultural ties to a more restricted area? If I recall, Tery Pratchett's gods and goddesses depended on their followers' faith for their strength (and actually, that is a is pretty common idea across a lot of history and fiction, I just remember it being specifically mentioned in his books). While I have my central pantheon that I am bit by bit fleshing out, there can be many others out there as well. 

Where this also comes to mind is that my next game (the OSE game I've been slowly prepping for) has a druid, and I've asked the player to come up with that druid's specific religion or god or whatever. Part of my shared world-building process. He is very imaginative so  I am sure he'll have something good that I can hang some game hooks off of.

Sharn, Orc potion peddler OSE version, game prep

I forgot I had an Orc potion peddler, and thinking she may be useful as an NPC. I've created her in TFT here so now we just need to figure out how she works for OSE.

Sharn

As per my previous conversions, strength, intelligence, and dexterity are the same in both systems. Having to roll the dice for the remainder, we have:

• Strength 9 (a bit on the weak side for an Orc, but she is a small Orc)
• Intelligence 11 (in OSE this makes her literate, however, as her TFT skills do not include that, and as per my character post she is learning to read at Lubok's, she is currently partially literate and knows a few words at most)
• Wisdom 13, giving her a +1 on magic saves
• Dexterity 11
• Constitution 13, +1 on HP rolls
• Charisma 11 (even after the -2 for being an Orc)

There is not really a potion peddler per se in OSE, and while not all NPCs really need to have a class, I like the NPCs to have at least similar possibilities of growth as the player characters get. Looking through all the classes I do have, it is really the cleric's role that seems to fit this at least in some way,

Rolling my trusty d4, she is a level 2 cleric with 2,000 XP, 10 hit points, carries the holy symbol of Tinma, God of Plants as a necklace around her neck. Her single 1st level spell is detect magic (there are 8 spells, so I just rolled a d8).

Tinma's Holy Symbol

Using an AI art program and asking for an ivy necklace as a holy symbol, I sort of like this one. And for a god of plants, this is pretty good:

Tinma walking through the woods

And we've not really touched on Tinma, the god of plants. Apparently one of the primary gods for female magic users, and I suppose our Orc potion peddler as well. Often Druids are adherents of this god (though now realize my Orc potion mistress could have been a Druid, but I'll stick with the Cleric of Tinma). 

Tinma often uses heralds when communicating with his followers. His usual herald is a 12 foot tall spruce tree festooned with flowers and vines. There are eyes hidden in the leaves, and the roots are quite mobile. For game purposes, it cannot be surprised and has a MA of 14 (TFT) or 70' for OSE. The herald grows out of thin air, and flowers sprout from the ground it walks on.

If a cleric or druid meets with a herald of Tinma, they can ask a boon if they have been strong adherents to his calling. 1d6 for:

1. grants 1d6 healing potions in the form of a leaf-wrapped root. These will each do 1 point (TFT) or 1d4 (OSE) healing per potion
2. grants a twig that has 1d6 uses for purifying water when used in a container of water. This will remove any poisons and bacteria making it perfectly safe to drink. The twig will dissolve on its last use
3. grants 1d6 meals that are completely nutritious and will last for an entire day. These are leaf-wrapped around a nut-based paste that tastes like walnuts
4. grants the cleric a token that allow them to sense all life within 120' for 1 turn. Simply place the pine needle on their forehead and praise Tinma
5. grants the cleric a fig leaf that acts as an illusion for the cleric. They can appear however they like for up to 60 minutes
6. grants a handful of 4-leaf clovers (1d6). Each one may be used to roll with advantage (technically not in TFT but may be used by rolling an extra die and taking either the lowest (for attacking against dexterity) or highest if used for damage. Must declare usage before any attacks or attempts at magic

If the cleric or druid meets with the herald and has broken their vows:

1. the cleric or druid takes 1d4 of immediate damage
2. the cleric or druid loses 1 randomly rolled spell they have
3. the cleric or druid loses 1d4 strength immediately
4. the cleric or druid is bound to this spot for 1d6 days to contemplate the error of their ways
5. the cleric or druid is given a task to accomplish to get back into the good graces of Tinma
6. the cleric or druid and their entire party are attacked by the herald, though the cleric or druid are the primary target

Tinma followers have few real rules they need to follow. They must not hurt living plants: they can only use deadfall for fires, tools and the like. They basically need to celebrate Earth Day every day (today being Earth Day so this worked out well timewise!) They need to pray every 4 days at least. This is a quiet prayer, and if they can sacrifice a small animal at least every 6 days, they are keeping to the faith. Note that this is one of the reasons Tonma, goddess of lesser animals, and Tinma do not get along. While off-spring of Tionma and Blizria, like a lot of siblings they do not get along. 

Higher level clerics or druids may have the holy texts painted on linen. Usually, the cleric or druid will take the flax themselves to make the linen, and the paint is made from berries and inks. These are considered holy and to be respected. 

Holy days are those when the crops are planted and reaped. Celebrants gather under vine-covered arches and give prayer to Tinma. 

Some notes about this post. I did use some AI art generators as I don't need to worry about copyright per se (though there are always questions about where those AI generators got their models from, so technically there could be copyright issues depending on the training sets of art they used) I also uses the Lesser Key to the Celestial Legion for the herald. Just so that I am using things I have bought over the years (though in my search for this volume, I found a lot I've not used. Yet).

And finally - two weeks looking for a job. I do apply a lot, but I fear being older, despite relevant experience, is causing issues. But I am hopeful that something good will unfold and I'll get into a company that respects me. I've even started adding this blog as a URL, along with my Github site, hoping that they will see the creativity I can bring. Software is actually a fairly creative endeavor: there are multiple ways of solving issues, and sometimes thinking outside the box brings in solutions that are better. Probably one of the reasons I had issues with Rails: it is a good framework for getting things done fast up front, but some of its opinions just rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. Guess years of C-based languages with the conventions that went with that background were different enough from the Rails conventions. But I was getting pretty good at Rails despite myself!

Character Challenge 2023: 7/36

I roll dice a lot, then sometimes a good combination comes up. I've a female cleric-looking mini I've been wanting to write up, and finally got something worthwhile for OSE. While her strength is pretty poor (5, -2 on strength checks, 1-6 chance of opening doors), her intelligence of 12 and wisdom of 15 fit in with the concept.  Rolling a d4 for her level, I get a 4.

I've a partial deity list for my fantasy worlds here. I've expanded a couple of them: Mim, God of Rains.  Tona, Goddess of the Lesser Creatures. Tionma, Goddess of All Living Things. Poking around my pantheon, which is in no way the complete set of gods, goddesses, devils and whatnot available. We have at the upper echelons Slamia, God of Might, and his wife, Blizria, Goddess of the Demons. They have two known child gods, Bizma, Goddess of Fire and the patron goddess for Ogres and Giants. Blizra is Goddess of Lightening, and the patron goddess of imps and devils. Normally, one thinks of clerics as being for the good guy (or at least I do) but there can also be clerics for the eviler religions - they all are following something. And, getting into philosophy a bit, is evil an actual thing, or is it all relative? That is, our ideals of good and bad stem from what we perceive and have been taught. These are all driven by society. Anyway, I digress from creating a character.

Picking Bizma, Goddess of Fire and patron of Ogres and Giants. Not that our Sister Gurec (born Cináed Gunner) is a giant or ogre by any stretch of the imagination. Though tall, she is not an imposing figure despite her red robes over the rose dress. Her armor is visible as plate, and she carries a large shield and carries a mace with an easy grip. Bizma's symbol, generated from the Lesser Key to the Celestial Legion, is a septagon with a valley crossed by a spear. At least for this particular sect, the Sisters of the Crossed Spear. They worship Bizma via a secret sign language, and their services are accompanied by a stringed conch shell instrument. Their sacred texts are carved into the skulls of sheep. Fortunately, the Sisters have a very small set of sacred writings! Fire is the central theme of the Sisters, and as such, they tend to burn brightly and jump into actions without as much thought as may sometimes warrant.  Bizma will often use fire elementals for her avatars. These avatars only use the sign language the clerics use. She is often a cross goddess, one might say hot tempered, and has little patience but is also very protective of her fold. Those who worship her will not attack Ogres or Giants else become unfavored. In fact, clerics of Bizma get a bonus in dealing with Ogres and Giants, adding their level to the reaction roll.  Well - maybe I need to make that not 1:1 but some sort of curve as higher level clerics will always be best buds with giants and ogres! And I need to clean this stream of thoughts into something a bit more useful. Eventually maybe I'll do a more formal pantheon booklet of sorts.

At level 4 she has 3 spells, 2 first level (cure light wounds, purify food and water) and a 2nd level spell, resist fire. Seeing as she is a cleric for a fire goddess. Her plate gives her a pretty good armor class. As befitting serving a fire goddess. she prays each night over roaring fire if available, else she uses one of her candles. Her prayers are silent as she uses sign language. She is literate and carries her spell book which is bound by skull bone pieces. She does not talk much but tends to be very aggressive in combat situations, swinging her +1 Mace of Bizma, a mace blessed by the goddess. At the abbey, she is also a glass blower, and will peruse markets in search of interesting glass baubles.

Leaving the Abby for another adventure

Day 1: Classic Traveller Scientist

Day 2: OSE Gnome Illusionist

Day 3: Mongoose 2e Navy Commander

Day 4: The Fantasy Trip Spy

Day 5: Aslan Outcast

And I've been remiss and not linking to the Tardis Captain who started this whole thing!

Character Challenge 2022 15: Ellis Newtonson, Deputy of Windemere

I keep thinking of Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith show for this character. He's very earnest, yet over-confident and thinks things should be the way they are supposed to. He is not happy with Ira Sprigbasher's capitulation to the Elf Pirates, so tends to patrol around the Silver Pirate and writing up citations for everything he can think of. The pirates ignore him. His does talk to the few children in the town, trying to "nip it in the bud" when they act out. 

He was a sergeant under Ira when they served together, and, despite the half-Elf pirate issue, has a great deal of respect for the sheriff and will stand up for him in all cases. He is also a devout follower of Bizma, the goddess of Fire. He has fashioned a tunic with her symbol, and wishes he had some of her holy armor (see the pantheon I've never fully fleshed out but will try to start using a bit more here). 

A tall man and now balding, Ellis wanders the streets with his trusty halberd at hand, sword on his hip. He has been with Ira Sprigbasher more than 20 years now, first in the wars and now as his trusted deputy. A stickler for the law, he carries a pad of parchment paper and often will write up people for every possible offense. Few people take this seriously, though there have been vigorous arguments at the sheriff's abode. He is known to even write up children in the street, wanting them to grow up in the straight and narrow. He visits the Nimble Priest Inn every 3 days, lighting a candle in one of the back rooms that serves as a generic sanctuary. Each year he petitions for an actual temple, or at least using one of the many abandoned buildings for a sanctuary. His letters to Edge City have gone unanswered as the priests there do not believe Windemere to be large enough to support a temple, or even an outpost.

He does not like Orcs in general but has learned to temper his feelings as Rennor is also earnest in her own way. He has learned to respect that aspect of her, but still hates that she is an Orc. He lost many comrades in the war against Orc tribes. He gets even more upset that Ira will hire her to help with the occasional bar brawl.

Ellis has deputized several people in the past to create a temporary guard squad for high value caravans and the like. When the sheriff is drunk at the Inn, Ellis takes him back home, often in a handcart.

Unlike many of the citizens of Windemere, Ellis actually lives outside the city walls in a large 2 story building to the east, just north of the eastern gate. He lives here with at least a dozen stray cats and a small flock of chickens. He makes breakfast for the sheriff and any prisoners and is a decent cook. Eggs play a good part of the meals he creates. He also tends a small garden that has a tiny shrine to Bizma. 

Not sure how much I'll use these rough relationship maps, but still thinking I may try & make a complete PDF booklet/zine for the trade town of Windemere sometime.

I also want to do up some of the buildings in town just to play with the mapping stuff. Though honestly - does anyone really use maps like that? I seem to struggle to use them other than inspiration. In actual play they really don't matter. Perhaps I've gotten used to the more theater of the mind we use.

And not at all related, but there is an Asheville game pub opening back up soon. I may see about that. And there is that new game shop down in Marshall I need to visit. If you want to see what Marshall looks like, it was used in that movie years ago with James Gardner and Jack Lemon, My Fellow Americans. And Asheville (if I remember, it has been a few years) was the Dorothy Parade. Asheville is a strange city at times. There has been a number of movies shot around here.

Tionma - God of All Living Things

 Tiomna is the God of All Living Things. With Blizria, the Goddess of All Demons, he is the father of Tona, Goddess of the Lesser Creatures (explored a bit here) and Tinma, God of Non-Living Lives. He probabkly has a a few other children, either via mortals or other goddesses. My pantheon was limited and based on the miniatures I was getting at the time, and there is no reason there cannot be other deities out there (in fact, there will be the Silver Lady from a friend's homebrew at some point I am hoping!)

Tionma, as with all the deities, can choose any form they like. He is most often associated with that of a young man, a crown of stars across his brow, and raven wings. 

Being the god of all living things means he also sees all living things when he chooses. Having a wandering eye, he is the father to dozens if not hundreds of half-godlings across Cidri. Some know their father, most do not. And often they posses no godly powers other than an affinity for life. Most would be considered charmed though, and good fortune does seem to smile on them. Though some seemed cursed, especially when Blizria finds them: their lives seem full of imps that cause nothing but minor problems.

Tionma also recognizes the full circle of life, and has no qualms in culling the sick. He often takes on the appearance of Death itself for those he has favored or despised. He wanders the world, far from the planes of the deities, and often can show up as a peddler with charmed tokens to aid those he wants to, or harm those he dislikes.

One of his favorite forms is that of an old man and a travelling bar: a large tent where he can create small meals and share his souza, a drink from the dream times to share in his patrons dreams, and to help them in some way. Or to punish them depending on his mood and the person. 

This "pop-bar" has mystical signs on it, and the smell of fresh food cooking. It will often show up when a person is unsure of what they should do, and as they drink the souza they will fall into a deep sleep and have dreams that Tionma shares and can direct to aid that person. It can show up anyplace but cannot be found again after the person awakes, usually in their own beds or campsite. 

And yes, the mystical pop-up bar is a series I just finished, and enjoyed. About a 500 year old person trying to assuage 100,000 grudges to save her unborn child from a cycle of painful reincarnations. It told the story over 12 episodes, which was really good for drawing out the past and how it fit in the present. It allows for great character development that you cannot do in a single 2 hour movie. And it ended with a complete story of redemption and hope. I thought I'd try to squeeze that concept into my world somehow. 

And realize I may want to see if and how we can use these deities in games. What's the use of having a lot of background information if it never gets used? In using the pop-up bar idea and his other forms, the characters could:

• be in the wilderness searching for something or someone and come across the bar. Tionma will give the characters dreams to help them know where they need to go
• the pop-up bar could be in the middle of a settlement or city, an innocuous tent with the sounds of fresh meat sizzling on a grill and an old man humming to himself. If they drop in, they could receive a token for good luck: lets the player re-roll 1 die 1 time.
• could be a patron: an appearance by his younger form and asks for the characters to go on some quest
• an NPC may remember this pop-up bar and how good fortune came his way. the players could see about a quest to find the bar. 

And what sort of temples would a god of life want? In my early charts, Tinma, his son via Blizria, is the god most druids tend to pray to. Tona, his daughter, is the patron goddess of female wizards and magic users (I had just bought some female wizards at a guess!). His temples would be full of life: both animal and plant. Large and small statues celebrating life. Sacrifices would be non-living things: jewels, precious metals. The clergy may be getting rich off of this but as long as they do no active harm Tionma seems to not notice. Some temples may just be waiting for a skilled thief. So some additional ideas:

• you are getting paid to find the thief who made off with a substantial amount of gold from the temple
• there are rumors of an abandoned temple of Tionma that is still full of gold and jewels. Perhaps guarded by large predators. Or perhaps not even abandoned but used by one of Tionma's off-spring, one who may have some god-like powers or spells.
• And if there is a character who deals with demons or imps (which is always a risky thing in The Fantasy Trip!), perhaps Blizria via an avatar wishes the group to do something to one of Tionma's temples: rob it, desecrate it, or take out the clerics
• a temple has been desecrated and needs to be cleaned up. The local clerics will pay very handsomely for that.
• a temple has been getting too greedy and affecting the lives of those in the neighboring villages. The characters are hired to "talk" to the cleric in charge. There could be hints from Tionma himself that this is a good thing to do.

And finally, in looking over some of my other posts, I realize there are no real evil deities. I tend to live in a PG-13 world and want just the good things, but I think I do need to have some evil in my world for the characters to fight against, or be a part of if they want. Part of this was when I finally started playing this as an RPG, the group I was GMing for was a father & his children. So I kept it well within safe limits, especially as one was a girl maybe 8 or 9 or so. And the father is both very protective and very large, but a good friend and I did not want to do anything that would upset anyone.

But the other group I've played with are are adults, and most like a grimmer game. So I'll see about something a bit darker perhaps in the future.

TFT: Healing Spells

 The Fantasy Trip is a pretty lethal game. Healing is not as easy as taking a nap and waking up, refreshed from horrendous wounds. Without magical aid of some sort, wizards can restore from the fatigue of casting spells at 1 point for 15 minutes of resting. Physical wounds heal at one point every 2 days! 

There is the physicker who can heal 2 points after the battle, and the master physicker who can heal 3 points. This assumes they are carrying around their medical kits, but that is a safe assumption! 

There are healing potions that heal 1 point of damage. I have my version for my group that consists of a d4 in a little bottle I found, the "big boy" healing potion that heals 1-4 points. I like to watch them shake the bottle and roll out the die. 

A lot of RPGs have your cleric, with the laying on of hands. The Fantasy Trip has no classes other than fighter and magic user, and all those do is adjust how much skills or spells cost to learn. There is no laying on of hands as per the paladins in DnD. I have to say that I do like the simplicity of the rules a great deal.

Working with a friend of mine to translate his priest into the Fantasy Trip. And while we can play around with the stats, skills, spells, weapons and armor, we wanted to have a way to lay on hands for healing.

I found this home rule at this site (inthelabyrinth.org) and tweaked it a bit.

Laying on of Hands Healing (IQ 12) will heal up to 4 points of damage for a cost of 3 ST from the user. However, as this is a blessing from your deity of choice, we're using a variation of the to hit rolls:

• roll 5 and it only costs 2 ST
• roll 4 and it only costs 1 ST
• roll 3 and there is no cost to the cleric

Laying on of Hands Major Healing (IQ 15) Will restore up to 8 points of damage; 2 ST is restored for every 3 ST put into it. Depending on the roll:

• roll 5 and it only costs 2 ST per 2 ST healed
• roll 4 and it only costs 1 ST per 2 ST healed
• roll 3 and there is no cost to the priest

Now in my pantheon, I may use this for the paladins or clerics I am working with. So far I've used enchanted weapons which are entirely within the rules. I've also got a DnD character we've moved to a microlite game (see this post) I may get around to converting him to The Fantasy Trip and use as an NPC.

The priest's weapn of choice is a pair of matching great hammers. These are blessed (aka enchanted) to do 2d+3 (vs 2d+2) damage, and also have a +1 to hit. I am also thinking about making them contain powerstones that can hold a 3ST so that in theory he could do 2 healings a day without cost. While I don't think this would unbalance the game, we're still discussing it. I like the lethality of TFT: it makes players think a bit more. Or should, but since creating characters is not complicated...

In the end, I think the costs work well and don't break the idea of the Fantasy Trip, but also allows for some blessings if the player rolls well.

Paladins of the Pantheon: Tona's Guardians

 Thinking I could do an entire series of paladins for the various gods and goddesses of my little corner of the Fantasy Trip world. And that eventually I may have to bring it all together a bit better. And so here we are, some details for the goddess Tona's Guardians. Here is the description for Mim's Paladins.

The goddess Tona is the goddess of lesser creatures, as well as healing and the strife of life. Her paladins will always be animal and healing centric in their goals as well as their skills. There are only a few large enough temples that can train her paladins. These expansive temples have a temple, a hospital and healers training as well as the paladins training. There are two branches a paladin can follow when following Tona: the way of the creatures, where the focus is on the animal world, and the way of healing, where it is a both healing and more clerical path.

There is a bit of overlap between the paths. Both will eventually lead to horsemanship, bow, animal handling, naturalist, ax/mace and the cleric skill. Advanced paladins may also pick up vet though the healing path stresses that aspect more. 

For those following the creature path, the talents a follower will pick up will have basic weapon skills, though the bow is the preferred weapon of choice. They will be taught running, alertness, tracking, expert horsemanship, expert naturalist. 

Those on the healing path pick up physicker and master physicker, master theologian, literacy and scholarship (to read all those tomes).

The Temple of Reysandoyal, located in the grasslands, is a sprawling collection of temples, training facilities, and a healers college. Large pastures surround the facility and they are also known for well trained horses. There is also what many would consider more of a zoo, but is actually a place of healing for various creatures. There are several surrounding villages, as well as wandering tribes. Children are brought here to see if they have an affinity for the goddess and her creatures, and if so, may remain to be trained. Training takes years, and more than a few stay on to train the next group. The first few years are when the trainee decides which school to follow. They are all taught to care for animals. and learn horsemanship, animal handling, naturalist, cleric and the bow. After the first few years, when they are deemed ready, they make a training circuit throughout the grasslands and beyond with a senior paladin. Upon returning, they are granted their mace, the official indication that they are now a paladin of Tona.

The main advantage of being a paladin of Tona is there is magic involved. The mace is more than a well-crafted mace: it is enchanted with the spells of control animal and summon wolf without any cost to the wielder. After that the normal cost in ST is spent. Each spell may be called once per day without ST cost. The mace has an affinity for the goddess, so that a 3rd enchantment limits this spell to only her paladins. There are a few magical users in the temple that help enchant these weapons. Critical hits bring down the blessings of Tona, which make the character seem to glow for a moment:

• 5 will restore 1 hit point to you
• 4 will restore 2 hit points to you as well as double damage
• 3 will restore 3 hit points to you as well as triple damage

And yes, this is more than vague reference to Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. But I enjoyed those books and so I decided to bring them in a bit to my world. Hey. Cidri is a BIG place!

We could do a bit of homebrew and add more spells or skills, but I am happy with the base rules of the Fantasy Trip. It has enough flexibility to play any sort of fantasy game you want to. Pretty much like Traveller, despite it getting deeply entrenched into the 3rd Imperium setting. The original rules, like those of the Fantasy Trip, were enough of a sandbox you can do what you want to. 

Opinion piece coming up Seems like DnD keeps rehashing the old adventures, just like Mongoose is doing with Traveller. There is so much more that could be done. Just like Traveller 5.10 reboots the Imperium and allows for even higher technology than the Classic but has not really given any real details to the environment. The exception there being the XBoat zine I backed on Kickstarter [and now available in DriveThru I think] that does a bit more explanation of the Galaxiad. Except via fan zines, and that is where the gold is for new adventures and ideas. And why I back way too many of those zines on Kickstarter - to get ideas. And hopefully use some of them! The Lamia adventure I've been working on is using parts from close to a dozen things, some for other games systems as well as a lot of system neutral stuff. Anyway, people need to work on their own worlds and let their imaginations soar beyond what is written. How many times has Ravencroft been done? I made the mistake of getting Mongoose's Travellers Aid magazines: fully 75% or so was stuff I already had, though changed a bit (usually for the worse) to fit in with the Mongoose current version of Traveller. It is the fan zines where real imagination is taking place. End of opinion piece. 

Okay, so we really need to create  two paladins, one that followed the healing path and the other that followed the creature path. If we assume we're getting a new paladin just off their training circuit, we can also add a few more points as this is no longer the kid just off the turnip truck. I'll work on the warrior version first, then another post for the cleric style paladin.

Sir Jenlak Layne of Reysandoyal, Guardian of Tona

ST 14 DX 14 (10) IQ 9

Fine Mace 2d (enchanted: summon wolf, animal control)

Long Bow 1d+2

Dagger1d-1

Fine Plate stops 6 points, -4DX 

Skills Knife, Ax/Mace, Bow, Horsemanship, Literacy, Running, Alertness, Priest

Spells Animal Control (though the mace also has this as an enchantment)

Rides a large horse, Cylof, well suited for the plains with long legs and great endurance. Not a war horse but a fine steed none the less.

Entering his 3rd decade, Sir Jenlak came from one of the many nomads drifting across the vast grasslands. His sister was injured by a charging boar, and the family, hearing of the Temple, got there. His sister was healed and, as the family was both impressed and felt gratitude, stayed on to help work the Temple's fields. His sister Dascia was more attuned to the medical arts and studied to become a Paladin of Tona. Jenlak, both more brash and feeling stifled from the family's shift to a settled life, pursued the path of weapons. Just back from his first training circuit, he has been knighted by the Temple as a full paladin. His training is not complete - he needs more experience to fully embrace his path. As he gets more experience, he will learn the naturalist and cleric skills eventually.

The Lamia's Labyrinth: Solo Test Game Part 2

 Perhaps this will be a post per room as I run through the map. And it may help to have a bit of the map to see where we are. We did room 1 yesterday, and today we are in room two:

This small antechamber has holes in the walls that looked to hold pegs or torches. There is blood on the floor (4D INT to determine it is only a few hours old, 2D if any woodsman or investigating skills) leading out of the southern open archway. Encounter: Giant Spider hanging on the SW corner; ST: 16 + 1d6 DX: 10 IQ: 10 MA: 12. 1d damage, roll 4/ST or suffer 2d damage from poison. The spider has what appears to be fresh wounds on it.

It is a small room, really only a couple of megahexes honestly. And this is where using hexes for square buildings has issues. I do have a battlemap, so I may switch to that so see if it is simpler to draw out the rooms. I was hoping to be able to leverage the tiles but unless you are really using a map designed for hexes, they don't work too well. But here we have room 2, with our giant spider!

A all-too quick battle ensues: with one character having a bow and high dexterity, she gets to shoot twice in a round, once at the beginning and once at the end. And unless she rolls a 16+ she won't miss! And two of the characters are apparently carrying morningstars which do a fair amount of damage. The first round the spider takes a beating, going from 22 points (I actually rolled a 6 for the ST) to 9 thanks to an arrow and two solid blows with the morningstars. The spider did not hit anyone, and wounded again from a 2nd arrow. The second round made short shrift of our poor giant spider. I was also using a d20 to track the hit points for that spider, and now realize how a spin down die would be a bit easier. Good thing I backed yet another Kickstarter for some giant d20 bloody spin down dice! Cool thing it is actually from a game store in Baltimore, so next visit back to my family I may have to visit as they live in the DC area. And depending on which way I go to the Eastern Shore for my mother, I may pass not too far away from that store. Anyway, spin down dice do not make the opposite sides add up to the same value (a d6 the 1 will always be opposite the 6, 2 and 5, etc. The theory is that the die will be more random if there are subtle weight differences). Spin down goes sequentially so it is easier to rotate. If perfectly balanced I would think it would be just as random but I have read that some DMs will not allow the use of spin downs at the table. But hey - a 2" die. 

 I also used the large creature cards, so this shot shows our dead giant spider and the card as well. I need to organize that deck of cards to be alphabetical so I can find the things! And make my own template to print my own cards on cardstock.  

So room two went by fairly quickly and was an interesting room. Do we want to stick potential treasure in this room as well? I don't think every room will have a treasure, but should have something exciting in it. The 1st room had nothing really, just a minor trap and minor treasure.

Additionally, there is a backstory to the temple/labyrinth they are in. I need to expand the descriptions a bit to start showing that this is a temple for Tona in her healing capacity. For instance, if anyone recognized the frescoes in the 1st room, they may know of Tona as my pantheon is well-known my corner of Cidri. But just how much do they know?

And this brings me to why I like having games start at a low level. Both the players and GM are exploring the world together, and knowledge they gain and create during play helps to flesh out the world I think more than just reading things. The characters are living them. In fact, the first game I played with this group they met an avatar of Mim though I doubt they remember much of that. Unfortunately it has been months since our last game and looks to be months more. But that is also another reason I am playtesting my own game: what do I need to bring with me to play, as we'll be playing probably at their house instead of the really cool warehouse we used to game at. Or we may play here - we'll just have to see how it plays out. And look at me, getting a pun in :)

Summary for room 2: small room, giant spider, no treasure. But another hint with the blood on the floor. And I think the characters will see wounds they did not inflict on the spider and know that they are going the correct way so far.

And - happy November 1! 

The Lamia's Labyrinth: Solo Test Game Part 1

 I decided I could run myself through my planned next game (which may be a ways off for the Fantasy Trip group as they are even more paranoid than we are about getting sick. Both our families have immuno-compromised spouses and we need to be careful). So, first thing is start grabbing tiles and set up room #1. After putting together a close enough approximation, I realize without walls it is a bit harder to imagine this as a room. Of course, that may be because I am anticipating some walls to show up at some point from a Kickstarter, Ramparts. And while I have some fantasy doors (which you can barely see in this picture I think) I have no fantasy floors yet, so it is more of a grate to be able to hold that door. Of course, I also have doors showing up that will better match. But I digress. 

So the party is dropping into room number one, a 20 foot drop from the shifting sands above. The room is described as:

The entrance is through a hole in the ceiling, dropping down about 20 feet to the sand covered floor below. The 6 sided room has a closed door to the south and an open door to the east. Sand is piled up under the hole and you can see footprints in the sand going to the east door. The room is cool and dusty, with the whispery sound of the air over the hole in the roof in the adventurers ears. The walls and ceiling have frescoes of human, animal and magical figures cavorting about. Remains of what appear to be kneeling benches are crumbled against one wall. Small alcoves on the northwest wall are empty except for one with a gold statue of a cockatrice. For statue, 4D/INT to notice trap, 2D with detect trap skill. Normal save roll against poison needles that will do 1d6 damage. For the frescoes, INT roll vs 4D, 2D if they have history or priest skills to recognize that these are from the local pantheon but are representing what looks to be gods and goddesses amongst regular beings. Amongst them is a animal goddess.

In reading part of this out loud, I think I need to make the room a bit more spooky (of course I am writing this on Halloween, the power just flickered [fortunately I my computer system is on battery backup so no disruption there!] so perhaps some of that is creeping in!). I need a short but better way of the initial impression of the room. Something more like:

You drop to the sand-covered floor, faint moonlight shining against the pile of sand beneath the hole in the ceiling 20' above. The air is cooler and you hear the whisper of the desert winds above you.  Your torches give frescoes on the walls the appearance of life as the shadows flicker across paintings of humans, animals and magical creatures cavorting about. Against the walls are the rotting remains of benches, and you can see the glint of what appears to be a small gold statue in a niche on the wall.

That does seems a bit better maybe. The room otherwise is pretty barren, just the one trap, and nothing to signify any connection to anything other than those frescoes. I am also going to use a picture from one of the artists I patronize on Patreon, CCJ Ellis. She does Welsh mythical art among other things, and has some really cool stuff. I think this image is another good way of looking at Tona, the Goddess of Lesser Creatures.

I also grabbed 4 random character cards from the Fantasy Trip Deck, and paired them with 4 cards that expand on the basic character to something approaching an actual player character.

Which does help, especially if I go through the Death Test again! But other than that 1 trap next to the gold cockatrice statue, there is nothing much going on in this room. Should there be more? A random treasure? I'll probably leave this as is as other rooms do have a lot more, and this room has been open for a bit at least to the desert above. However, I think there does need to be a more active encounter, more of one of those nuisance creatures. So maybe a small number of scorpions or spiders. Nothing to hurt anyone with armor, but an active enemy to get things warmed up.

So our master thief eyes the gold statue, and manages to do well on her roll to avoid the trap. So she now has one gold statue. I probably need to establish a cost, but when I play this, unless the character has assess value, they will only know that it is a small gold statue.

And that is as far as I really got: took longer for the set up and finding doodads for scatter terrain. In fact, I forgot my cheap rocks and may add them as well. Hopefully tomorrow I can go through more rooms.

Anyway, this adventure is pulling things in from a few Kickstarter zines, a couple of my Patreon feeds, and my own imagination as well as all the Fantasy Trip stuff I managed accumulate. I am going to rewrite that 1st paragraph as above though. The revised version seems more evocative.

More info on Tona here.

Pantheon: Tona, Goddess of the Lesser Creatures

 Daughter of Tionnia, God of All Living Things, and Blizria, Goddess of All Demons, Tona inherited part of her father's gifts with the animal kingdom. She is also the goddess that most female warlocks, witches and mages align with, regardless of race.  

There are a lot of similarities with Freyja, the Norse Goddess:

Freyja, the Norse goddess of witchcraft, death, love, and fertility, was later condemned by Christian missionaries as the “Queen of Witches.”

I did not actually know that when I wrote my pantheon back in the 80s college days, but in looking for some images that portray her, I found this image by irenhorrors, and rolling with the queen of witches (and perhaps I had been reading some Norse mythology or just got really lucky by coincidence):

info and image from this blog

Tona's animals include a wide variety of the "lesser" creatures, so does not include dragons and other sentient creatures of a similar ilk. She is often portrayed as a healer, from the abada whose magic horns is the antidote to all known poisons . This creature is originally from Central Africa and in my part of Cidri, exists in the plains and mountains. Read up on that from Cryptids, Creatures and Critters by Rachel Qunney. Another Kickstarter book that looked interesting, and I thought I could use it for an inspiration for gaming. And I am :)

And going through the Lesser Key by Psychoda Press, another Kickstarter book for generating religions in fantasy worlds. Written more for DCC, it requires dice I do not have. Yet. May have to see about a DCC dice set to get a d24 and d30. So I am faking some of the rolls. and re-rolling or picking what sounds better. And I apologize for this being more of a stream of consciousness than it should be. At some point I may collect my pantheon postings and try to get them ordered a bit. Not that I've 

Tona's heralds are usually in the form of various creatures, though they may be larger or smaller than typical. Additionally, there is a 50% chance that the Herald will also be covered in flames, a gift from Blizria that Tona sometimes has difficulties with. The animal will always be native to where the Herald is encountered. One that is hunted or killed will often bring down her wrath with another Herald in a much larger form. Fortunately, her Heralds are easy to detect as not a normal creature on 2d6 versus IQ. That and they will talk, as well as possibly being enveloped in flames. Her Heralds will often come upon wounded travelers, and will exchange healing for a quest. Her quests are usually to aid those who are victims: witches being persecuted, animals being abused, fay being attacked. 

Upon the appearance of a Herald, there is a silence that extends from the Herald. Animals are frozen, even birds in flight are frozen in place. The Herald's voice is in the characters heads and speaks their native tongue. Afterward, other than the quest given, little can be recalled of how it sounded. Upon leaving, the Herald will bound away, returning to what appears to be a normal version of that creature. The sounds start back up and birds continue their flight. It is as if time has paused for all but the Herald and the adventurers. 

There are often shrines and temples for Tona, found in all sorts of environments. The temples usually house 2-12 clerics and have statuary of various creatures. Often inside the statues are vials of healing and antidotes, used by the clerics to help heal their flock. More often than not the clerics are women but men are equally welcome in most temples. Some, however, are often all female, and can be actually belligerent to men for a variety of reasons. Temples tend to be a bit serpentine with some central chamber approached via a curving corridor. For Tona and her adherents, life is never a straight path. Her temples often carry her symbol: a mace on an octagonal base, and an animal engraved on the mace. The animals vary by location, usually depicting a local magical creature, but may often be something simple as a rabbit or turtle as well. The symbols are usually made of bronze. Clerics have a sort cape made of cloth, and the symbol is often embroidered on this cape in bronze threads.

Services are held using percussion instruments as the background with singing predominating the service. Sacred texts are usually inked on linen sheets. There are a few high services held at mid-solstice, and prayers sent to renew protections for the community. The community could be the native animal population, or any group that needs protection. High services last for a week, starting on Thursday and starting at midnight. Regular services tend to be sporadic and when enough people come together to want to share a service, or if the cleric determines that a service is needed. 

There are no relics for Tona. Saints are usually those who have served her by saving or rescuing those in need, be they creatures or beings.  They are usually depicted bowing, holding a mace with an animal carved into it, wearing a loincloth and guarded by a Herald. A small bowl to hold gems is the usual offering; these are often used to build the temples and feed those in need.

And I've reworked by little adventure a bit, incorporating a bit of this info. PDF should be below.