The Sword in the Stone (Cath Celdaenn Hexcrawl)

The sword Durandal, ancient beyond days, held by a shining hero in the lost past of Cath Celdaenn, has been found in the depths of the City. Durandal has wandered through fable - they say it can cut through stone and steel, that its touch cures disease, that its shine scatters armies. 

It should be no surprise that so many are willing to kill for it.  

Random Encounters

1. Hanged Sumire, a Braid D who says she learned not from the Capitol Tree, but from the "Dead Willow", where she hung from her ankle for months. Laughs at Durandal - the real treasure is below it. 

2. One of the four heroclans of the White Teeth, out for glory.

3. 2d8 Victims re-measuring distances for their cannon.

4. Stephen, leading 12 of the Scalloped Knights on a scouting expedition.

5. A hydra, questing beast of the Scalloped Knights, doing cartwheels across the ground. Stats as carcass crawler with 8 HD. Why on earth is it on land. Who allowed this. Stop it.

6. Roll twice and combine.  

Hex Keys

A1: Staircase

Durandal has landed on a flat concrete-and-grass disc that cantilevers from the side of one of the City's great pillars. To reach it requires a slow climb up 20 stories of tight, one-person-wide spiral staircase. Don't expect to leave in a hurry.

A2: Camp of the White Teeth

A heroclan party of four clans:

• Conn, whose 68 members are Storm-Chosen B (Thor). They are haughty and over-proud - channeling their ancestor after he struck down the Wyrm of Olenoch with a bolt of lightning. 
• Geta, whose 59 members are Princesses C (with the ability to speak to birds, eusocial insects, and fish). They are fair and scrupulously honest - which makes it all the stranger that they claim that their ancestor killed both the Wyrm of Olenoch and its (apparently imaginary) twin.
• Togort, whose 32 members are Folk N-1. They are far from Togort's lands and the strain slowly kills them while they laugh. 
• Baki, whose 61 members are Ghouls D. They are truly heroic - Baki's long undeath gave her centuries to add to her renown.

All four clans despise each other - their histories are a long tangle of territory disputes and blood feuds,  put momentarily on hold to quest for Durandal. For now they drink and celebrate, putting up an ostentatious facade while the peace still holds out.

B1: The Victims' Cult

A swarm of 138 skeletons, killed by Durandal in time immemorial and seeking it ever since. They've pointed a cannon at Durandal's hill - if they can't get their hands on the sword, nobody else will either.

B2: Durandal

The sword Durandal glows like the sun at all hours. If it were moved even slightly everyone would see it and the Knights, the heroclans, and the dead would immediately swarm over to start swinging.

All the myths were true - Durandal ignores armor and strikes unerringly, cures disease and heals its wearer 1 HP per round, and permits its bearer to attack as an army in mass combat. 

If one were to dig under the mound, however, they would find Sumire's "real treasure" - a ruby seed. Planted and tended, this would grow a tree that could feed ten thousand (and, given Celdic society, start a religious schism).

B3: The Great Earthworm

The commotion of clashing armies has awoken the great earthworm to gnaw once more at the roots of the city. 15 HD, blind, food-seeking and dryness-repelled, 100 feet long. It is obvious from the surface - you can see hills rise and trenches form as it passes. 

C1: Viewpoint Tower

An abandoned Ilmari tower ending in an onion dome - from here you can see all other hexes. 

C2: Fief of the Scalloped Knights  

A bizarre example of parallel evolution with Celdish knight-penitents, the Scalloped Knights are 125 members of a deep-sea clade of ambulatory shellfish, punished for past crimes by being sent to crusade in the City above. (2 HD, 16 AC, attack +2 1d10+2).

They have cut out a small kingdom here, where they reign under the King of the Four Corners of the World, who Holds The City in an Iron Fist (who spent his time before exile robbing undersea convenience stores).

The King's son, Stephen, is appalled. The world of air is hideous, full of dust and weird people who insist on having "skin" and performing all kinds of depraved saint-worship. Durandal won't end their exile - they should return to the sea to fight against hydras and hippocampi and bathe in the adoration of their fellows. The King, for his part, is increasingly frustrated and would be overjoyed if Stephen were, let's say, forcefully remanded to a monastery where he can be "pious" and "moral" somewhere the King doesn't have to see it.

Their fief holds 523 bonded serfs, split evenly between people of the City (who lived here before the invasion and are now taxed heavily to punish them for their heathen ways) and civilian molluscs. 

This post is for  G L Å U G U S T 2 0 2 6 challenge 1.4, "sequel to a blogpost from last year".