Swords of the Serpentine a

A GUMSHOE-powered fantasy roleplaying game

of swords, sorcery, cities, and secrets
By Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner
ii Swords of the Serpentine

“Serpentine! Serpentine! It may attack at any time!”

Children’s nursery rhyme, origin unknown

Seek respite, traveler

For all with coin are welcome
Carved into the threshold of a Dockside temple in Eversink

Credits
Publishers: Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin
Setting Design and Development: Emily Dresner and Kevin Kulp
System Design and Development: Kevin Kulp and Matthew Breen
Based on GUMSHOE rules design by Robin D. Laws and Kenneth Hite
Editing: Tim Gray, Kevin Kulp, Cathriona Tobin
Creative Direction: Kevin Kulp
Sensitivity Editing: Misha Bushyager
Art Direction: Kevin Kulp, Cathriona Tobin
Cover Artist: Jérôme Huguenin
Interior Artists: Simone Bannach, Mary Corballis, Siba Gasser, Olivia Hintz, Jérôme Huguenin, Pat Loboyko, Rich
Longmore, Jen McCleary, Gill Pearce, Hannah Seakins, Phil Stone, Madison VanDoren, Piya Wannachaiwong
Layout: Jen McCleary

Dedications
Emily: To my husband, Eric, who is always a font of the very best and craziest ideas.
Kevin: To Peggy, now and always. Pins, Abigail.

©2021 Pelgrane Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Swords of the Serpentine is a trademark of Pelgrane Press Ltd.
Pelgrane Press is co-owned by Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin.
Swords of the Serpentine iii

Playtesters and Clever Advisors

Rob Abrazado Ferran Cabré Paulinho Barril Mary Lynn Gregory Jordan
Henny Admoni Sophie Cadorette Dobrado Mat Gregory Josh
Patricio Aguilera Cal Brian Dorion Ian Griffiths Alberto Junqueira
Heather Albano Andrew Cancellieri David Dorward Ollie Groß Ivan Juric
Gareth Anderson Wes “Montbar the Joshua Drobina Avram Grumer Rachel Kahn
Ken Andrade Exterminator” Andy Eaton M.H. “Goat!” Mile Karlica
Karla “Ancient Cantrell Stefanie Ehmke Grzesiak Ray Karni
Nobility” Andrich Laura Cardinale Morgan Ellis Alex Gu Joe Kason
Shawn Andrich Stefano Cardinale Steve Ellis Justin Gu Dan Kassiday
Demetris Apousianas Karen (Double Tap) Kaan Emirier Miguel Ángel Arnaiz Kieffer Katz
Maude Applewhite Carrincross Liz England Guimet Julie Kay
Will Baber Sam Carter Chet Erez Viktor Haag Simon Keeble
Roland Bahr Mark Causey Shyama Ezekiel- Ed Hall Caspar Kielwein
Drew Bailey Filip Cerovecki Fagundo Julie Hall Heather Kirby
David Baker David Chalker Neena Fagundo Claus Hallen Ian M Kirby
Marcia Baker Colin Chapman Nicholas Fagundo Florentin Hallen Jesse Klein
Warner Baker Bucky Chappell Ryan Falzon Richard Hamel Arnis Kletnieks
Finley Ballew George Chatzipetrou Kim Farrell Jarryd Hanson Jody Kline
Liam Ballew Victoria Chayes Jim Fauntleroy John Harford Knights of the Game
Mário Bastos Andrew Church Mike Fehlauer Hayes Dorian Hart Table
Kennon Bauman Cira Jose Felix Elanor Hart Alan Kohler
Christine Bellemare David Cockson Mike “Professero” Jennifer Hartogensis Uwe Kölsch
Scott Bennett Mia Cockson Ferdinando Erica Hastings David Konkol
Zak Bennetti Rob Collingwood Antônio Mário Dantas Rob Hebert Javier Koslow
Ronald Sebastian David Collins Bastos Filho Fiona Heckscher Teri Kowiak
Bermudes Storn A. Cook Jeff Foley Jonathan Hegner Ben Kramer
Tom Bisbee Bill Cooper Adam Foster Lars Heitmann- Diana Kreutz-Kielwein
Don Bisdorf Edgar Cotte Jesse Fowler Ohnesorge Joshua Kronengold
Jimmie Bise Jr. Christopher Cotton Jonathon Fowler John Helmuth Kevin Kuhlmann
Jeb Bishop Malaika Cowan Foxfire Kenneth Helvig Anatoliy Kulbanskiy
Jason Owen Black Shawn Crapo Tim Franzen Scott Henderson Bruce Kwartler
Andy Blanchard Todd Crapper Brian Freund David Heron Gustavo “Tanaka” La
Joseph Blankenship Bill Crosbie Baby Linda The High Tide Games Fontaine
Joshua Blue Tim Crosby “Distraction” Indie Gameday Nicole La Vertue
Antónia Bolvári Finn Cullen Kielwein group Moe Lane
Ted Bonnah Lars Dabney Fricke M. Alan Hillgrove Ludovica Lanzieri
Emylie Bonneville Neal Dalton Max Fricke Gareth Hinds Duncan Law
Nicole Borchert Dan Jason Fritz Ian Hogarth Sandie Law
Huw Bowen Max Dan Emmett Furey Jurie Horneman Tony Law
Matt Boyd Scott Daniel Diana Gamet Howard Keri Lemoine
J.P. "Gianni" Brannan Lane Daughtry James Gardner Morgan Hua Zan Lennon
Matthew Breen Andy Davidson Adam Gauntlett Paul Hughes Jamie Lennon
Jym Brier Georgia Davidson Elizaveta Generalova John (Arac) Hume Dave Lepzelter
Mary Brier Patrick Davila Giacomo “Jack” Ayla Hurley Marcy Lerner
Christianne Briffa Kyle Davis Gentile Tom Idleman Sean Lesley
Adam Brimmer Sean Dawson Graham Gentz Sergei Ivanov CJ Lewis
Maxine Brimmer Chuck Dee Bill Gerke Tomislav Ivek Frank Lietzke
Nathan Brimmer Orion Delwaterman Daniel Gerke Ariel Jaffee Jason Lieuallen
Ivan Brkic Steve Dempsey Antonio A. Gil Kate Jenkins Robert Lijklema
Peter Bryant Emily Devereaux Max Gladstone Mark Jessup Tse Yang Lim
Stephanie Bryant Stephen Dewey Danny Godin Will Jobst Ian Lim
Vanesa Carballo Búdia Jim DiBenedetto Hannah Gravius Larry Jones Henry Link
Neil Burton Elizabeth Grech Scott Jones Giulia Lisi
iv Swords of the Serpentine

Andrew Lister Michele Mishko Leonard Pimentel James Schoonmaker Hector Trelane
Noah Lloyd Avi Molder Tom Pleasant Dennis Schroeder Blake Tullo
Mike Longfritz James Moody Vic Polites Derek Schubert Aaron Valentine
Igor Losev Scott Moore Jenna Povey René Schultze Jochem Van ‘t Hull
Lothwin George Moralidis Tracy Pressé Nikita Shalin Hayley Garcia Van
Stephen Loveless Max Morrice Nikica Puksic Daniel Sheldon Dinther
Jeanna “Iekika” Alison Morris Mark Quinto Sam Sherry Rogier Garcia Van
Lundgren Adam Morse Troy Raines Ekaterina Shmaylova Dinther
Robert “The Khanda” Denise Moxon Marco Ranieri Cris Shuldiner Paul Venner
Lundgren Belton Myers Oscar Ratcliffe David Shuldiner Viktor Vereb
Pepote Luvazza Simon (That’s Sacha Ratcliffe Steve Sigety Joost Vermeulen
H. M. ‘Dain’ Lybarger Outrageous) Myers Epidiah Ravachol Oscar Simmons Clay Vernon
Jill Lybarger Ricardo Nacarini Maddie Reynolds Aaron Size Roe Vernon
Edward MacGregor Alex Negelein Raena Reynolds- Kristin Size Avi Vogel
Paul St John Christopher Robin Jackson Scott Slater Artemy Volopyansky
Mackintosh Negelein Stephen Rider Rebecca Slitt Mert Vuraldi
Kristen MacLean Gabe Nichols Dennis Ringewaldt Matt Slucas Ralf Wagner
Dávid Magyari James Nicoll Andres Rivera Christopher Small Jennifer Walker
Cindy Maka Nimbian Norman Riveros Marina Smirnova Mitchell Wallace
Lesley Malfavon Christopher Noble Kirin Robinson Jonathan Smith Todd Ward
Andrea “Panda” Dave Nolin Wade Rockett Erik Smith Clara Warford
Mandalari Ivan Novosel Andrew Roddy Alkesandr Smykin Noel Warford
Volker Mantel Michael Nutt Brian Rogers Jay Song Nicco Wargon
Lauren Marino Eugenio Nuzzo Elizabeth Rogers Thomas Sonneberg Dave Weinstein
Marisa Marcus Nyahoe John Rogers David South Ben Wellner
Victoria Marrero Thurstan (Give it a Rachel Rogers Dave Speredelozzi Leonardo Weyand
Matthew R. Martinez Go) Nyg Simon Rogers Elliot Spin Alex White
John WS Marvin Patti O’Connell Chris Roosenraad Joshua Spin Collin White
Ronaldo Mascarenhas Peggy O’Connell Jodi Roosenraad Lonnie Spin James White
Mike Maughmer Paige O’Connell-Bach Kathryn Rose Rebecca Spin Mel White
Jacob McArdle Christopher O’Neill Betsy Rosenblatt Steve Stanzani Tim Wilde
Kris McCosh Robin Oakley Greg Rothauser Lucky Starflower William
Cameron McCurry Erik Oberlin Greg Roy Paul Stefko Charles Williamson
Owen McIntosh Joshua O'Connor Jennifer Roy Liam Stevens Dale Williamson
Ian McLean Dimitrios Oikonomou Steven Roy Derek Stoelting Toby Williamson
John McMullen Olkon Zach Ruiz Elisabeth Strayer Daniel Withrow
Julie McNeil David Olsen Adi Rule James Sura Luke Withrow
Márcio Melo Ben Osborne Gareth Ryder- Ben Swinehart witpun
Members of the Ian Osborne Hanrahan Kathryn Swiss Oliver Wolf
Pseudopolis Yard Osvaldo Oyola Max Saltonstall Lawrence Szmulowicz Jeremy Wong
Dawn Patrol Lisa Padol Brenda Samler Gaylord Tang Chihiro Yamada
Jacques Menasche Eric M. Paquette Paul San Clemente Neal Tanner Jeff Yaus
Frank Merten Jonathan ‘Evil Laugh Kristin Sands Tartra Kit Yona
Sarah Messer Guy’ Parsons Levin Scassellati Paul Teece Zach
Dawn Metcalf Carlos Passos Mirin Scassellati Matt Thompson Patrick Zammit
Marina Michelini Brian Paul Rowan Scassellati Rodney Thompson Ksenya Zheltova
Michelle Greg Pearson Ralf Schemmann Ruth Tillman Zackery Zobrist
Tracey Michienzi Mike Pereira Pete “Ethain” Farkas Tivadar Zolzos
Mike Miller Connor Peterson Schlough Grgo Toplak …and people in any
Rich Miller Lucija Petricioli Mary Schmitt Jenry Towle playtests whose
Nancy Milligan Giulia Peverini Andy Schmoll Michael Towle names accidentally
Lara Milton Sam Phinizy Saul Schnitman Thomas Toynton weren’t recorded.
Daniël Mioque Sylvestre Picard Heiko Scholz Alan Traylor Thank you.

Special bonus thanks to Peggy O’Connell, Storn A. Cook, Matthew Breen, M. H. Grzesiak, and to everyone in our
home playtesting groups. May your canals never flood, even in rainy season, and may you always turn a profit.
Swords of the Serpentine v

Table of C ontents

Credits.................................................................. vi Creating a Character Quick Reference................... 11

Dedications.......................................................... vi Sample Character.................................................. 12
Playtesters and Clever Advisors............................. vii Character Professions............................................ 13
Sentinel........................................................... 13
Sorcerer........................................................... 14
Chapter One: The Basics Thief................................................................ 15
Warrior............................................................ 16
Introduction......................................................... 1 Mixing and Matching....................................... 16
Concept................................................................ 1 Adjectives and Drives............................................ 17
About the System................................................. 2 Adjectives........................................................ 17
Investigative Abilities....................................... 2 Drives.............................................................. 17
General Abilities............................................... 2 Investigative Abilities............................................ 18
About the Setting................................................. 4 Scale for Investigative Abilities......................... 18
Eversink........................................................... 4 Initial Build Points for Investigative Abilities.... 19
Scenes from Eversink....................................... 4 List of Investigative Abilities................................. 20
Social Investigative Abilities.................................. 20
Charm............................................................. 21
Chapter Two: Your Hero Command....................................................... 21
Intimidation.................................................... 22
Framing the Game................................................ 8 Liar’s Tell........................................................ 22
How Did Your Heroes Meet?.......................... 8 Nobility........................................................... 22
Big Damn Adventurers..................................... 8 Servility............................................................ 23
Bookhounds of Eversink.................................. 8 Taunt.............................................................. 23
Cabals and Covens........................................... 8 Trustworthy..................................................... 23
City Watch....................................................... 9 Profession Investigative Abilities............................ 24
Do-Gooders.................................................... 9 Sentinel Investigative Abilities.......................... 24
Family Business................................................ 9 Sorcerer Investigative Abilities.......................... 26
Freelance Slinks................................................ 9 Thief Investigative Abilities.............................. 29
Government Agents......................................... 9 Warrior Investigative Abilities........................... 31
Infidels............................................................ 9 Allegiances............................................................ 33
Inquisitors....................................................... 10 Assigning Allegiances....................................... 34
Misbegotten Soldiers....................................... 10 General Abilities................................................... 35
Spider’s Web.................................................... 10 Scale for General Abilities................................. 35
Thick as Thieves............................................... 10 Talents: Rewarding Specialization.................... 35
vi Swords of the Serpentine

Initial Build Points for General Abilities........... 35 Tests..................................................................... 56

List of General Abilities......................................... 36 Simple Tests..................................................... 56
General Ability Descriptions.................................. 37 Difficulty Number Table....................................... 57
Athletics ......................................................... 37 Full Contests................................................... 58
Bind Wounds................................................... 37 Combat................................................................ 63
Burglary........................................................... 38 Order of Combat............................................. 63
Health............................................................. 38 Combat Range................................................. 63
Morale............................................................. 38 Initiative ......................................................... 64
Preparedness.................................................... 38 Attacking a Foe................................................ 65
Sorcery............................................................ 40 Advanced Attacks............................................. 68
Stealth............................................................. 41 Damage Calculation Reference Table.................... 70
Sway................................................................ 41 Boosting Damage with
Warfare............................................................ 42 Investigative Spends Examples.............................. 71
Minor, Iconic Gear................................................ 42 Using a Maneuver............................................ 72
Examples of Character-Defining Gear.............. 44 Cover.............................................................. 74
Quick-Start Character Templates.......................... 45 Surprise........................................................... 77
Assassin............................................................ 45 Health.................................................................. 77
Barbarian......................................................... 45 Health Tests.................................................... 77
Beggar............................................................. 46 Health Quick Reference Table.............................. 78
Brute............................................................... 46 Becoming Hurt................................................ 78
Burglar............................................................ 46 Fixed Damage.................................................. 79
Church Militant............................................... 47 Regaining Health............................................. 79
Committee Diplomat....................................... 47 Healing Injuries............................................... 80
Duelist............................................................. 47 Defeat, Death, and its Aftermath...................... 80
Inquisitor......................................................... 47 Morale.................................................................. 81
Leecher............................................................ 47 Morale Tests.................................................... 81
Marketpriest.................................................... 47 Becoming Demoralized.................................... 81
Mercenary........................................................ 48 Morale Quick Reference Table.............................. 82
Prophet........................................................... 48 Bolstering Morale with Sway............................ 83
Sneak Thief...................................................... 48 Regaining Morale............................................ 84
Sorcerer........................................................... 48 Hazards................................................................ 84
Blindness......................................................... 84
Diseases........................................................... 84
Chapter Three: Rules Drowning and Suffocation .............................. 88
Falling............................................................. 88
Swords of the Serpentine 101: How to Play.......... 49 Fire.................................................................. 88
The Basics........................................................ 49 Heat and Cold................................................. 89
To Attack........................................................ 49 Poisons and Venoms........................................ 89
To Damage...................................................... 50 Traps.................................................................... 91
Mysteries, Leads, and Clues.................................. 50 Traps That Warn STAY OUT.......................... 91
Passive and Active Leads.................................. 51 Traps That Say DIE......................................... 92
Core Leads...................................................... 51 Guidelines of Trap Design................................ 93
Spending Investigative Ability Points................ 51 Traps and Investigative Abilities....................... 94
Allegiance Ranks................................................... 54 Traps and General Abilities.............................. 96
Allies ............................................................... 54 Trap Notation.................................................. 96
Favors ............................................................. 54 Refreshes.............................................................. 97
Enemies........................................................... 54 Refreshing Investigative Ability Points.............. 97
Grudges........................................................... 55 Refreshing General Ability Points..................... 97
Swords of the Serpentine vii

Character Growth................................................. 98
Chapter Six: Gear, Both
Ability Advancement After Each Game............. 98
Spending Advancement Points......................... 98 Sorcerous and Mundane
Allies and Enemies........................................... 99
Gear................................................................ 99 How Much Can You Carry?.................................. 131
Wealth and Lifestyle......................................... 99 The Cost of Goods and Services............................ 131
Changing Your Abilities................................... 99 Weaponry............................................................. 132
Putting It All Together......................................... 100 Weapon Modifiers............................................ 132
Melee and Ranged Weapons Table........................ 133
Firearms............................................................... 134
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption Mundane and Alchemical Gear............................. 134
Miscellaneous Gear.......................................... 134
Sorcery Quick Reference....................................... 101 Alchemist’s Fire .......................................... 134
Sorcery 101: The Essentials................................... 102 Badge of Office .......................................... 134
Health or Morale Damage?.............................. 102 Cestino’s Cameos ....................................... 135
Learning Sorcery.............................................. 102 Denari’s Book of Truths and Tax Code....... 135
Sorcerous Spheres............................................ 103 Dogbane..................................................... 135
How Sorcery Works.............................................. 112 Nightstones................................................ 135
How Corruption Works........................................ 113 Theatrical Disguises..................................... 135
Exceptional Damage........................................ 113 Mundane Protective Gear................................ 136
Unique Spells................................................... 115 Buckler....................................................... 136
What Happens When You Chainmail................................................... 136
Spend Corruption?........................................... 117 Leather Armor............................................ 136
Advanced Sorcery................................................. 120 Plate Armor................................................ 136
Rituals: Time, Assistants, Astrology, Sacrifices, Scorpion Shield........................................... 137
and Sorcery...................................................... 120 Shield.......................................................... 137
True Names..................................................... 121 Snake’s Eye................................................. 137
Curses.............................................................. 122 Watch Whistle............................................. 137
Sorcerous Glyphs and Traps............................. 124 Poisons, Toxins and Venoms............................ 138
Cadia Juice.................................................. 138
Fallow Weed............................................... 138
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle Feasting...................................................... 138
Floodlung................................................... 139
Wealth.................................................................. 125 Gluggut...................................................... 139
Lifestyle................................................................ 127 Gutsplash.................................................... 139
Low Repute..................................................... 127 Hollowing.................................................. 139
No Repute....................................................... 127 Sea King’s Blessing...................................... 140
High Repute.................................................... 127 Snapback..................................................... 140
Repute Spend Table.............................................. 128 Trembleroot............................................... 140
Describing Your Lifestyle................................. 128 Sorcerous Gear..................................................... 141
Minimum Lifestyle........................................... 129 Grimoires ........................................................ 141
Assigning Treasure................................................ 130 Grimoire: The Calcifex Manuscript.............. 141
Grimoire: The Ophidius Parables................ 141
Grimoire: Zelgrieb’s Notebook of
Dissection................................................... 142
Miscellaneous.................................................. 142
Beggar’s Rags.............................................. 142
Earring of Truth.......................................... 143
viii Swords of the Serpentine

Fiella’s Ring of Terrible Distraction............. 143

Chapter Seven: Adversaries
The Head of Goffredo Zetticci.................... 143
Nolio’s Coin............................................... 144
Character Nomenclature....................................... 153
Oracular Knife............................................. 144
Heroes............................................................. 153
Potion of Fluidity........................................ 144
Supporting Characters...................................... 153
Reputation Charm...................................... 144
Companions.................................................... 153
Tabriel’s Favor............................................ 144
Adversaries....................................................... 153
Runes.............................................................. 145
Monstrosities................................................... 154
Rune of Belief............................................. 145
Mooks............................................................. 154
Rune of Fury............................................... 146
Adversaries............................................................ 155
Rune of Generosity..................................... 146
Template for Building Adversaries.................... 155
Rune of Humiliation................................... 146
Adversary Health and Morale Thresholds......... 155
Sorcerous Protection........................................ 146
Scaling Health and Morale for Climactic
Amulet of Spiraling Agony.......................... 146
Battles............................................................. 157
Endless Prayer............................................. 146
Alertness and Stealth Modifiers........................ 157
Saint Velendo’s Reliquary............................ 147
Malus: The Wild Card General Ability.............. 158
Warding Charms......................................... 147
Adversary Special Abilities................................ 159
Sorcerous Weapons.......................................... 147
List of Special Abilities.......................................... 160
Anchor Knife.............................................. 147
Sample Human Adversaries.............................. 166
Chantry (Heavy Mace)................................ 147
All-Purpose Background Character.............. 166
Eel Blade (Saber)........................................ 148
Ancient Nobility.......................................... 166
The Falcon’s Eye (Crossbow)...................... 148
Crafty Matriarch.......................................... 167
Hunger (Greataxe)...................................... 148
Haughty Duelist......................................... 167
Lament (Sword).......................................... 148
House Guard.............................................. 167
Leech (Short Sword)................................... 148
Sniveling Lackey.......................................... 167
Lifedrinker (Mace)...................................... 149
Superfluous Scion........................................ 167
Slaughterer’s Sword (Greatsword)............... 149
Church of Denari........................................ 168
Swordbreaker (Rapier)................................ 149
Street Preacher............................................ 168
Thirst (Knife).............................................. 150
Parish Priest................................................ 168
Staves.............................................................. 150
Divine Prophet............................................ 168
Staff: Demogogue....................................... 150
Impressive Cleric......................................... 169
Staff: The Shambling Staff........................... 150
Inquisitor.................................................... 169
Staff: Stormtoss’d........................................ 150
Inquisitor Bodyguard.................................. 169
Tokens............................................................. 151
Inquisitor-Mage.......................................... 169
Token of Blackjacks..................................... 151
Soldier of Faith (Church Militant)............... 170
Token of Broken Rules................................ 151
City Watch.................................................. 170
Token of the Constricting Serpent............... 151
Watch Commander..................................... 170
Token of Grease.......................................... 151
Watch Investigator...................................... 170
Token of Misdirection................................. 152
Watch Officer.............................................. 171
Token of the Scampering Blade................... 152
Commoners................................................ 171
Token of Spiraling Darkness........................ 152
Back-Alley Leech......................................... 171
Bartender.................................................... 171
Common Laborer....................................... 172
Diseased Beggar.......................................... 172
Hedge Witch.............................................. 172
Rabble-Rousing Firebrand........................... 172
Flock of Watch-Geese................................. 173
Swords of the Serpentine ix

Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers....... 173 Giant Scorpion............................................ 189

Architect’s Engineer.................................... 173 Giant Snake................................................. 189
Guild-Certified Architect............................. 174 Golem........................................................ 189
Canal Watcher............................................. 174 Hollowed.................................................... 190
Guild Troubleshooter.................................. 174 Lich............................................................ 191
Retired Engineer......................................... 174 Lycanthrope................................................ 191
Mercanti..................................................... 175 Obsessed Cultist.......................................... 191
Bodyguard.................................................. 175 Penanggalan................................................ 192
Common Merchant..................................... 175 Rattakan..................................................... 193
Rich Merchant............................................ 175 Serpent Folk (Serpentine)............................ 193
Mercenaries................................................. 176 Serpentine Monstrosity............................... 194
Mercenary Officer....................................... 176 Seskie.......................................................... 195
Mercenary Sorcerer..................................... 176 Shadow Demon.......................................... 196
Rank and File Soldier.................................. 176 Shadow Wisp.............................................. 197
Veteran Soldier........................................... 177 Singer in the Swamp.................................... 197
Outlanders.................................................. 177 Skeletal Giant.............................................. 197
Drunken Sailor............................................ 177 Swamp Ogre............................................... 197
Foreign Spy................................................. 177 Will o’ the Wisp.......................................... 198
Outlanders.................................................. 177 Winged Ape................................................ 198
Raging Barbarian........................................ 178 Vampire...................................................... 199
Wide-Eyed Tourist...................................... 178 Zombie....................................................... 200
Sorcerous Cabal.......................................... 178
Sorcerous Apprentice.................................. 179
Cruel Sorcerer............................................. 179 Chapter Eight: GM Advice
Master Sorcerer........................................... 179
Puppetmaster.............................................. 180 Safety During Play................................................ 201
Thieves’ Guild............................................. 180 Setting the Tone for Sword & Sorcery.................. 201
Assassin....................................................... 180 Players Help Build the World................................ 202
Brute.......................................................... 181 Character Construction......................................... 204
Common Footad........................................ 181 Analysis Paralysis.............................................. 204
Brutish Lieutenant...................................... 181 Specialization................................................... 204
Gang Boss................................................... 181 Health vs. Morale............................................ 204
Guildmaster................................................ 181 Gear................................................................ 205
Master Thief............................................... 182 Judging Investigative Ability Spends..................... 205
Triskadane.................................................. 182 Ask the Player, “What’s Your Goal?”................ 205
Secret Police Investigator............................ 182 What’s a Reasonable Spend?............................. 205
Sleazy Politician.......................................... 182 What’s a Reasonable Effect?............................. 205
Monstrosities................................................... 183 What Are the Limits?....................................... 205
Animated Statue.......................................... 184 How to Run a Fight............................................. 206
Buzzing Acolyte.......................................... 184 Effective Adversaries......................................... 206
Chuggut Hunter......................................... 185 High Grit and Armor....................................... 207
Chuggut Swamp Shaman............................ 185 Wards and Healing.......................................... 208
Demonic Counsel....................................... 185 Fight Locations................................................ 208
Denari’s Singer............................................ 186 Effective Tactics............................................... 208
The Drowned............................................. 186 Tactical Weakness............................................ 210
Faceless....................................................... 187 Allies................................................................ 210
Flock of Carnivorous Seabirds..................... 188 Using Enemy, Grudge and Low Repute
Ghost.......................................................... 188 Points ............................................................. 210
x Swords of the Serpentine

Mysteries and Leads.............................................. 212 The Menagerie: Wild Animals in Eversink........ 236
Core Clues....................................................... 212 Divinity and Divine Power............................... 237
Defining Clues................................................. 213 Sumptuary Laws (and Other Unusual Edicts)... 237
Using Multiple Clues....................................... 213 Eversink’s History................................................. 238
Clues on the Fly............................................... 213 A Thousand Years of Adventure....................... 238
Listen to Your Players...................................... 214 Before Eversink................................................ 239
Write and Summarize Clues............................. 214 The Founding of Eversink................................ 239
Location and “Wild Card” Abilities.................. 214 City Districts........................................................ 241
Start Adventures as Late as Possible.................. 214 Temple Market................................................ 244
Adventure Construction........................................ 215 Ironcross.......................................................... 252
Types of Scenes................................................ 215 Alderhall ......................................................... 259
Lead-Ins and Lead-Outs (and why Sag Harbor...................................................... 263
they’re essential).............................................. 215 Harbor Approach............................................. 268
Plot Maps........................................................ 215 The Tangle...................................................... 274
Jumping Around in History............................. 217 Other Major Features in Eversink..................... 279
The Challenge Montage: Speeding and Eversink’s Government.................................... 282
Summarizing Travel......................................... 217 Eversink’s Powerful Committees ..................... 283
One-Shot Construction.................................... 217 ‘Sinkish Law.................................................... 285
Customizing Swords of the Serpentine.................. 219 Allegiances: Who Matters in Eversink?................... 288
More Narrative Play/Less Randomness............ 219 The Ancient Nobility....................................... 288
No Melee Combat........................................... 219 The Church of Denari...................................... 290
Change the Setting.......................................... 220 The City Watch............................................... 291
Customizing Allegiances.................................. 220 The Commoners.............................................. 291
Customizing Sorcery........................................ 220 The Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers.... 292
Customizing Abilities....................................... 223 The Mercanti................................................... 293
Customizing Foes............................................ 224 The Mercenaries.............................................. 295
One-on-One Play............................................. 224 The Monstrosities............................................ 295
Fledgling and Sovereign Heroes....................... 225 The Outlanders................................................ 297
Playing a Ghost................................................ 226 The Sorcerous Cabals....................................... 298
The Thieves’ Guilds......................................... 299
The Triskadane................................................ 301
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink Economics and Trade........................................... 302
What Is For Sale? ............................................ 302
Eversink in a Nutshell........................................... 227 The Balance of Trade Guilds, Mercanti
The Buildings are Always Sinking..................... 227 and Ancient Nobility........................................ 303
The City and the Goddess are One................... 227 Banks and Coinage.......................................... 304
Statues Are Everywhere, Because Statues Foreign Trading Partners................................. 304
Represent Souls............................................... 229 Trade as Invasion............................................. 305
About Eversink..................................................... 229 Trade as Intelligence........................................ 305
The People...................................................... 229 Internal and External Threats to Eversink.............. 306
Location.......................................................... 229 The Chuggut................................................... 306
Climate............................................................ 230 Class Warfare................................................... 306
Architecture..................................................... 230 Corruption...................................................... 306
Roads, Canals and Bridges............................... 232 Disease and Plague........................................... 306
Death, Burial, and Funerary Statues................. 233 Fire.................................................................. 307
Sports.............................................................. 234 Flooding and Weather...................................... 307
Languages....................................................... 235 Non-human Threats........................................ 307
Eversink’s Food............................................... 235 Refugees and Immigration............................... 307
Swords of the Serpentine xi

Religious Crusades........................................... 307 People and Society........................................... 325

Small Gods...................................................... 307 Mieng.............................................................. 325
Smugglers and Counterfeiters.......................... 308 The Border Lands................................................. 326
Sorcery............................................................ 308 Government.................................................... 326
Supply Chains.................................................. 308 People and Society........................................... 326
Trade Wars and Speculative Bubbles................. 308 Milktown......................................................... 327
Treason........................................................... 308 The Destroyed Plateau..................................... 327
War................................................................. 308 Camadi............................................................ 327
Salt Mountains of Lut........................................... 328

Chapter Ten: The World

Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray
The Great Kingdom of Capria .............................. 312
Government.................................................... 312 An Introductory Adventure................................... 329
People and Society........................................... 313 Adventure Premise........................................... 329
Friends and Enemies........................................ 313 Setting............................................................. 329
Torith.............................................................. 313 Tone................................................................ 330
Hohenach ....................................................... 313 Hints for Running the Game............................ 330
Republic of Caym ................................................ 314 Plot Summary....................................................... 330
Government.................................................... 315 Primary Adversaries............................................... 331
People and Society........................................... 315 Antoni Valori................................................... 331
Friends and Enemies........................................ 315 Donastra.......................................................... 332
Cachain........................................................... 315 Uxorioth.......................................................... 332
The Vontavni Horse Lords and the The Fleshtangle............................................... 333
Great Flatlands..................................................... 316 Involving the Heroes............................................ 334
Government.................................................... 316 Plot Map.............................................................. 335
People and Society........................................... 317 Expanding the Core Adventure............................. 336
Friends and Enemies........................................ 318 Starting the Game................................................. 337
Yrans............................................................... 318 Scene 1: Aboard The Shining Coin....................... 337
The Tent City of Surharnil............................... 318 1.1 Opening the Scene..................................... 337
Pirates of Min....................................................... 318 1.2 Running the Fight..................................... 339
Government.................................................... 318 1.3 Following the Combat............................... 340
People and Society........................................... 319 1.4 Closing the Scene...................................... 341
Friends and Enemies........................................ 319 Scene 2: Approaching Eversink............................. 341
Min................................................................. 320 2.1 Opening the Scene..................................... 341
Theocracy of Erebos............................................. 320 2.2 Travel Montage......................................... 341
Government.................................................... 321 2.3 Closing the Scene...................................... 341
People and Society........................................... 321 Scene 3: Corpsetakers at the Docks....................... 342
Friends and Enemies........................................ 321 3.1 Opening the Scene..................................... 342
Omuzaphur..................................................... 321 3.2 Enter the Corpsetakers............................... 342
Dezhakos......................................................... 321 3.3 The Real Corpsetakers Arrive..................... 343
The Kingdom of Irilev.......................................... 322 3.4 Clue Summary........................................... 344
Government.................................................... 322 3.5 Closing the Scene...................................... 344
People and Society........................................... 322 Scene 4: Into the Tangle....................................... 344
Friends and Enemies........................................ 323 4.1 Opening the Scene..................................... 344
Luz Rech......................................................... 323 4.2 Following the Corpsetakers?....................... 344
The Empire of Senggon........................................ 324 4.3 Travel Montage......................................... 344
Government.................................................... 324
xii Swords of the Serpentine

Scene 5: Antoni Valori and Noble House.............. 345

Appendices
5.1 Opening the Scene..................................... 345
5.2 Learn about Noble House.......................... 345
Swords of the Serpentine 101: How to Play.......... 362
5.3 Talk to Antoni........................................... 347
The Basics........................................................ 362
5.4 Enter the House........................................ 350
To Attack........................................................ 362
5.5 Explore the House..................................... 352
To Damage...................................................... 362
5.6 Closing the Scene...................................... 356
Creating a Character Quick Reference................... 363
Scene 6: Horrible Rampage.................................. 357
Character Sheet.................................................... 364
6.1 Opening the Scene..................................... 357
Sorcery Quick Reference....................................... 365
6.2 A Hideous Awakening............................... 357
GM Enemies, Grudges & Repute
6.3 Running the Fight..................................... 359
Quick Reference................................................ 366
6.4 First Actions.............................................. 359
Investigative Abilities Quick Reference.................. 367
6.5 The Final Confrontation............................ 360
General Abilities Quick Reference......................... 368
6.6 Closing the Scene...................................... 360
Health Quick Reference........................................ 369
Scene 7: Aftermath and Conclusion...................... 361
Morale Quick Reference....................................... 369
7.1 Possible Rewards and Penalties................... 361
Difficulty Number Quick Reference...................... 370
7.2 Closing the Scene...................................... 361
Damage Calculation Quick Reference................... 370
Spending Corruption Quick Reference.................. 370
Index.................................................................... 371
Swords of the Serpentine 1

Chapter One

The B asics

Introduction
When it’s summer, you smell her before you see her. crystal turrets reflect down into a shimmering bay full of
The guilds won’t have flushed the canals out yet like hundreds of brightly colored boats. Architecture from
they do on Scouring Day, so the smell hits you like a a dozen eras towers above a tangle of grand plazas and
slap in the face. You sail up the delta of the Serpentine narrow canals. Temples to her goddess rise above the
River and the scent of the open sea drifts away to be mansions and tenements, calling her people to prayer.
replaced by the stench of low tide, of boat tar, of rare She may be ancient and corrupt, slowly and inexorably
spices spilled from a smuggler’s ship, of cooking smoke swallowed by an endless bog, but she’s alive in a way
and human waste. most cities aren’t. She’s a melding of faith and stone
You can hear her, too. Bells ring out across the water and wood and water — and mud — that’s unique in all
and echo like the song of ghosts, loud enough to almost the world.
drown out your sailors’ chanted prayers. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve come to kill a rival,
Finally, you see her. You round the bend past the earn a fortune, learn a secret or hire an army. You’re
salt flats and the lower fort and she’s sprawled out on home now, and the Sinking City will embrace you. All
scores of islands across the sheltered water, and you you need to do is survive.
gasp, and everything else falls away. Her jeweled and Welcome to Eversink.

Concept
Swords of the Serpentine is a tabletop roleplaying game This is a game of investigation, heroism, sly politics,
(RPG). It supports 1-7 players (with a sweet spot of and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with
4-5) playing fantasy heroes inspired by sword & sorcery skulduggery and death. These rules adapt Pelgrane
fiction, and one Game Master (GM) who keeps the Press’ GUMSHOE system into a fantasy game with
adventure moving and plays the foes and supporting a relatively loose class structure and high-action
cast, also known as Supporting Characters. roleplaying. These rules work fine even without the
included setting of Eversink, and shine more brightly
when political allegiances are closely tied to the heroes.
 2 Swords of the Serpentine
The Basics

About the System

In Swords of the Serpentine, following sword & sorcery- You can spend your Investigative ability points
style clues while roleplaying your character propels for advantages like extra information, bonus General
you headlong into mysteries and adventures filled with Ability points, or story twists. Your GM will suggest
danger and forbidden knowledge. A clue may let you opportunities to spend points; you can also suggest
find lost and sunken treasure, ancient jungle ruins, the possible benefits for spending Investigative points.
lost key to a sorcerous trap, or the identity of a charming Spending points from an Investigative Ability does not
murderer. prevent you from using that ability to find clues.
Your character learns and accomplishes things in the
game using abilities. There are two kinds of abilities,
Investigative abilities and General abilities. General Abilities
You have a rank in every ability, which gives you a
pool of that many points to spend for extra benefits. General abilities represent actions in the game, and have
Spending points from any ability pool never lowers a chance of failing.
that ability’s rank. Your pool of points reduces and When using a General ability you roll a six-sided
increases as you spend and refresh it, but it can never die (d6) to succeed against a target number (the
exceed that ability’s rank. To use an analogy, your Difficulty). The normal Difficulty is 4, but this may
ability rank is like a bucket, and the ability pool is the increase or decrease depending on what you’re trying
water currently in that bucket. You can’t overfill the to do. You can spend pool points (p. 35) to increase
bucket, and the bucket doesn’t get any smaller as you your chances.
drain the water out of it.

Designer Notes:
Investigative Abilities Creating House Rules
GUMSHOE is all about acquiring and using One of the advantages of a long design process
information, and Investigative abilities let you find is that we have the chance to select and include
that information by giving you key (or “core”) clues if rules we consider the most fun. That said, this
you have the right ability for that situation. Say you’re is now your game, and you get to customize
looking around a library. If you point out to the GM it however you like. Play it in a way that is fun
that you’re using your Research ability, you’ll find any for you, and if the GM or players don’t like any
Research-related information automatically. You don’t of these rules, change them or leave them out.
need to roll for these abilities, or spend any points to You’ll find more thoughts on customization in
get them — you just need to ask the right questions and Chapter Eight: GM Advice.
roleplay the right actions.
Chapter 1: The Basics 3

The Basics
Welcom e t o Eversink
 4 Swords of the Serpentine
The Basics

About the Setting

Eversink Scenes from Eversink
Almost a thousand years ago, the “city” of Denaria was The best way to quickly give you a feel for the Swords of
nothing more than several dozen squalid huts perched the Serpentine setting is to show you a quick montage of
on a few islands in the swampy, salty river delta of the what you might see within the city of Eversink. You’ll
River Serpentine. The city’s patron goddess Denari find more adventure hooks throughout the setting
soon pushed back the swamp and raised dozens more chapters.
islands from the river’s bottom. Times have changed: � Chanters sing prayers from the spires and gondolas
close to 100,000 people dwell here now and the of Eversink, and from the corners of narrow streets,
population soars during festivals or major market days. giving praise to the goddess Denari as she drives
Long since renamed Eversink, the city looks westward the city onwards. The bells echo overhead. There is
onto a rich and well-protected sea harbor and boasts never any doubt the Goddess is present, loving, and
a powerful patron goddess who promotes trade and near.
profit. Eversink is one of the best-known cities on the � Marketpriests of Denari wander the beautiful
continent and wields unmatched economic power. and bustling Temple Market, making change for
In Eversink, the ringing of bells occasionally drowns merchants and lending money to those in need.
out the din of endless hammering and the cries of Interest is paid with time spent volunteering, and
merchants hawking their wares. Pennants of deep blue, a default on the loan is paid with devout servitude.
the crest depicting a white swan swimming above a Few of the faithful resent their time spent as acolytes
gold pool (or is it a coin?), flutter from rooftops and of Denari; priests leave the church understanding
poles. Priests and merchants are everywhere, statues the magic of coin and trade.
adorn every building in sight, wild swans paddle � A charming beggar sells “blessing stones” at a
beneath hundreds (perhaps thousands) of stone or canal junction, offering simple pebbles in exchange
wooden bridges, and brightly painted buildings with for a stranger’s coin. They’re just rocks, but the
breathtaking architecture ignominiously stand half- goddess Denari doesn’t approve of charity — so by
sunken into the ground. Say what you want about the exchanging a pebble for someone’s kind coin, the
smell of the canals, it’s a memorable and beautiful city. goddess’ Blessing is strengthened.
� Deep beneath the streets, chanting sorcerers use
Player Advice - “You Tell Me” Corruption to burn out a priestess’ devotion to
her goddess. The priestess resists them for as long
You have a responsibility alongside the GM as she can, screaming defiance into a chamber her
to help create the world, so don’t be surprised goddess cannot reach.
when you ask a question and they answer, “You � A family of Ancient Nobility gathers in a candlelit
tell me.” You will often get to customize the dining room with peeling paint and a leaky ceiling,
world unless your GM already has something in sitting at chairs and a table over 300 years old,
mind, so expect to have an input into details of surrounded by watchful statues of relatives long
the setting; and to describe where you are and dead. They eat a frugal meal of canal-fish and
what’s nearby when trouble occurs! vegetables upon jewel-studded plates they couldn’t
possibly risk their social status to sell.
� Gondolas and barges ply the many canals of the
city, scudding across filth-choked water (at least
in summer and winter) to reach many destinations
that are impossible to walk to.
Chapter 1: The Basics 5

The Basics
� An intricately carved stone bridge arches over a � A mighty-thewed northern warrior saunters
wide canal. At dawn, lovers pause at the edge and through the Sunrise Gates, looking around in
throw flower petals into the water below, pledging wonder at the city before her. Her pocket is picked
their love. before she makes the first tavern. She vents her
� The City Watch tramps out their route, half-asleep, anger on the first local foolish enough to pick a
knowing local politics will probably prevent them fight.
from solving the murders they’re bound to discover � Late at night, a tipsy noble finds himself lost without
— and they’ll have to try regardless, or face the his guard in the wrong part of town — and from
Watch Commander’s wrath. the shadows, bitter commoners close in around
� Laughing with unbridled joy, an outlander thief him on every side. In the morning the Watch will
scales a crystal spire, empty sacks slung across her find his corpse hung from a butcher’s hook, with a
back. If she survives this, she’ll eat well for a year. sarcastic sign dangling from what’s left of his hand.
� In the vast courtyard of a noble estate, a mercenary
army refuses to attack a neighbor and social rival So welcome to Swords of the Serpentine. If you want to
unless they’re paid in advance — with a bonus, track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt and decadent
thank you very much, or they’ll just see how much city, clamber through underground ruins to sneak into
that neighbor is willing to pay instead, won’t they? an enemy’s home and rob them blind, or wage a secret
� In the darkness of a slowly flooding tunnel, a war against a rival political faction, you’re in the right
hissing voice reveals ancient secrets to a clever place.
young commoner.
� An elderly woman strolls the bazaar, casually Designer Notes:
mentioning a rumor here and a rumor there, setting
wheels in motion to discredit and ruin her family’s
Stream Your Game Online
political rival.
Emily and Kevin here. We’ll have designer
� A gaudily dressed and portly merchant looks up
notes throughout this book to explain designer
from her ledgers to learn yet ANOTHER shipment
intent, point out rules subtleties, and mention
has been hijacked, and what is she paying her guards
fun plot hooks.
for, anyway?
With lots of player world-building, cinematic
� A sorcerer stares into the spilled intestines of his foe
combat, and no battlemap required, Swords of the
and sees the future within them.
Serpentine (#SerpentineRPG) works well for
� Cloaked men and women pilot a shallow-draft
online play and live-play podcasts. If you want to
barge through the reeking swamp, hoping this
broadcast your game, thank you! Pelgrane Press
shipment of smuggled goods will successfully
is committed to supporting online streaming of
bypass Eversink’s greedy and grasping reach.
play; see the Swords of the Serpentine Resources
� Thirteen anonymous shapes meet in a shimmering
page at PelgranePress.com for guidelines and
room of illusion and lies. Districts and guilds rise
advice for online streaming.
and fall on a single word.
 6 Swords of the Serpentine
The Basics
Chapter 2: Your Hero 7

Chapter Two

Your Hero
Your H ero

Your Hero ventures out from the heart of a corrupt

and tangled city. What you do in this game depends Designer Notes:
on what drives you and who you’re allied with: you
What’s Most Important?
may hunt sorcerers with church inquisitors, delve
deep into flooded ruins in search of lost treasure, play
This chapter is about making your Hero. We walk
politics against sly nobles to discredit a powerful enemy,
you through that process and tell you everything
track down murderers with the City Watch, or plan
you need to know.
breathtakingly ambitious thefts that take place in broad
We find that creating a Hero takes ten or
daylight.
fifteen minutes, but we’ve made a lot of them.
Your actions change the city, the politics, and the
Most playtest groups reported initial character
state of the world. You’ll learn secrets that can bring
creation taking about an hour for everyone, with
down the mighty or raise the humble, and you’ll uncover
the most time spent on thinking up iconic gear
whispers of the past that may well bring more trouble
and each Hero’s Three Best Things. To be fair,
and attention than you want. Swords of the Serpentine is
those are the most fun parts of the process.
more a game about power and loyalty than it is about
One of the big challenges with any point-
loot and items, and it’s a game about how your choices
based game is analysis paralysis, trying to get your
affect the world.
Hero just right because otherwise you’ll be stuck
with a mistake for games to come. Don’t worry
about it. Not only do you have official permission
to change your Hero’s abilities after your first
game when you figure out a way to have more
fun, you can just leave Build points unassigned
when you start and assign them on the fly as you
play. If you want a jump start, grab an archetype
from p. 45 and tweak it from there.
 8 Swords of the Serpentine

Framing the Game

Your Hero

Before you make your characters, your group needs to To quickly choose your group’s origin and the tone
decide what kind of game it’ll be so you’re all pulling of the campaign, pick one of the following:
in the same direction. Your GM probably has an idea
of the kind of story she wants to explore, and what the
tone and themes are. Discuss as a group what it will Big Damn Adventurers
feel like, and what will it be about, and check whether
anyone has issues or concerns with the themes. You’re old friends, you don’t work for anyone but
yourselves, and your adventures might take you
anywhere in the city or across the world. People look
GM Advice: at you warily because you’re an unknown quantity;
Jumping Around in Time with no specialization and few loyalties beyond your
own self-interest, trust from others might be more
Classic sword & sorcery stories often skip between of a challenge. Classic literary heroes from Robert E.
the hero as a young fledgling adventurer, as an Howard, Mercedes Lackey, or Fritz Leiber fall into this
aging ruler, and as a hero at the peak of their category.
career. You can do this in your Swords of the
Serpentine game, even turning it into a trilogy of
adventures that skip around in time. See p. 225 Bookhounds of Eversink
for details.
You work for, or run, a bookshop that specializes in
ancient tomes of history, prophecy, and sorcery. The
Talk to the other players about how your characters
Heroes act as muscle, thieves, and sages, and many of
know each other. Is it through allegiances, occupations,
your adventures focus on finding, retrieving, or stealing
shared history, common goals, or something else? See
important tomes.
“How Did Your Heroes Meet” below for quick ideas.
Alternatively, you may be the professors, staff and
Your character may not be particularly heroic,
students of one of Eversink’s universities, researching
or they might have secrets they keep from the other
and exploring the city’s secrets and vast and wondrous
Heroes, and that’s fine. Who you and the other players
mysteries — even as you try to procure funding for
choose to play will influence the type of adventures you
next year. A game where the professors were from a
go on, the type of enemies you fight, and the type of
sorcerous university would echo some of author Terry
mysteries you solve.
Pratchett’s fiction.

How Did Your Heroes Meet? Cabals and Covens

When putting together your group of Heroes, there
Sorcery may be the next closest thing to illegal
are lots of reasons you might know each other. You
in Eversink, but that doesn’t mean powerful and
may be tied together by common interest, an employer,
influential sorcerers don’t have dealings there. You are
a shared enemy, personal history, prophecy, or just
master sorcerers, apprentices, and politically-connected
happenstance. Your GM may decide your group is allied
assistants, trying to maneuver and arrange plans in the
with a specific faction or organization within Eversink.
city without being strung up by the Inquisition. Shame
Decide how you know each other, and give your
you have so many other enemies here who want you
characters a reason why you adventure together today.
dead as well…
Chapter 2: Your Hero 9

City Watch Player Advice: Quick-starting

Your Group’s Origin

Your Hero
You are working-class officers in Eversink’s City Watch,
headquartered in a selected district and focusing on If you want a fast and fun origin for your
crime both there and across the city. Drawing inspiration group of Heroes, have them act as independent
from novels by Terry Pratchett, this type of adventure problem-solvers for a noble family (for politics),
focuses on mysteries, solving crimes, and negotiating a Mercanti guild (for wealth), a thieves’ guild
complex politics while you try to keep the city safe. (for illegality), law enforcement like the City
Watch (for justice and legality), or a paid team
of independent investigators working on special
Do-Gooders assignment for the Church.. That makes your
Heroes the people others come to when they
You’re making the world a better place. Whether you’re need something done that can’t be accomplished
ensuring beleaguered commoners are fed and housed, through “polite” channels, and it keeps your
scouring self-interested politicians and officials from Heroes independent enough that they can easily
the government, or brokering peace between warring strike out on adventures of their own.
cabals of sorcerers and their mercenaries, you specialize
in doing what’s right. When true evil rears its head, you
may well be the only people worthy to fight it.
Government Agents
Family Business You’re elite government problem-solvers who chase
down mysterious prophecies from state-sanctioned
You may be a prestigious member of the Ancient
seers. You work alongside members of the Black Swans,
Nobility, the merchant princes behind a major Mercanti
Eversink’s secret police, and you often work directly for
guild, or even a close-knit family of commoners who have
the secret rulers of the city themselves. Making sense of
taken up a life of crime. For you, family is everything —
divinations helps you untangle any number of different
and when family and friends get threatened by personal
problems and mysteries in the city. In this type of game,
or political enemies, you turn to heroics to get your
you act with governmental authority; use it wisely!
own back. This style of game deals with family politics
Other forms of governmental teams are also possible.
and social pressure as much as external threats; you may
If you’ve ever wanted to play a combat accountant,
have just slipped into a rival’s office to poison their wine,
leading a group of elite tax collectors who get assigned
but is that going to make your mother proud of you?
challenging scofflaws to track down for smuggling and
tax evasion, this is the game for it.
Freelance Slinks
Infidels
You solve other people’s problems... assuming they can
pay. You’re investigators (sometimes called “slinks”),
Like religion but hate Denari, Goddess of Eversink?
and you’re beholden to no one but yourselves. Some
Make your adventuring team all worshippers or initiates
difficult security work, more than a little theft, a
of a tiny cult to a forgotten small god. Or hey, declare
smattering of blackmail, occasional exploration of very
that your Hero is an avatar of the god made flesh. The
dangerous places, and a lot of investigations — you
god (more of a spirit right now, really) can be a deity
handle it all. This type of game treats the Heroes like
of literally anything you want. It probably dwells inside
noir detectives, fighting darkness and corruption deep
your sorcerer to give them power, and will give you
in the heart of the city.
blessings as long as you venerate it. Grow their worship
— and take Denari down a peg or two in the process.
 10 Swords of the Serpentine

Inquisitors Spider’s Web

Your Hero

You belong to the Church of Denari and act as Her Information is power, power means wealth, and in
inquisitors, church militant, prophets, diplomats, and Eversink it’s the information brokers and spies who
agents in the world. You sniff out heresy and corruption, know that best of all. Either you all work for an
you expose traitors in the city, you kill monstrosities, and information broker, gathering rumors and blackmail
you bring the word (and coin) of Denari to whomever material, or one of you is the broker and has to navigate
needs it most. If you want a game focused on religious a minefield of political challenges and threats. If you
mysteries, demon-hunting, and villainous sorcerers, this think Littlefinger or Lord Varys in Game of Thrones has
is a fun way to arrange it. an interesting job, this is a great choice for a campaign
framework.

Misbegotten Soldiers
Thick as Thieves
You all belong to a mercenary company, your own or
one you’ve signed up with. You get sent on dangerous You belong to a thieves’ guild, either your own private
assignments for little pay, usually to kill someone who’s guild that you run or a much larger guild you’ve
getting the same raw deal from their end. Even when sworn allegiance to. You’ll spend your time dodging
missions seem suicidal, it’s up to you to carry them out. the City Watch, running cons, stealing wealth, spying,
This style of play lets you echo author Glen Cook’s The and getting into some fascinating trouble. This style of
Black Company. game draws inspiration from Scott Lynch’s The Lies of
Locke Lamora.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 11

Creating a Character
Quick Reference

Your Hero
Once you’ve set the tone and theme for your group’s game, follow these steps for making a character in
Swords of the Serpentine.

1. Choose a character Profession (p. 13).

a. Sentinel: likely trained in law and the subtleties of detecting crime, you’re adept at knowing how
crimes are committed... which may well make you an expert in committing them yourself.
b. Sorcerer: whether you’re possessed by a demon or you’re the heir to ancient Serpentine secrets,
you manipulate fell and forbidden magic.
c. Thief: you may be a lowly street thief or a charming con artist, but you’re skilled in taking what
other people possess — secrets, influence or wealth.
d. Warrior: you focus on dealing death through warfare, whether you’re a mercenary, an outlander
barbarian, or a suave duelist.
e. Mixture: mix and match Investigative Profession abilities to create your own combination.

2. Note a few Adjectives to describe your Hero and write down your Drives, which are your three
favorite things in life (p. 17).

3. Assign Investigative Build Points according to the number of players and choose Investigative
Abilities (p. 19).

4. Decide your Allegiances (p. 288) – assign 2 Build Points to Allies (both to the same Ally, or one
each to two Allies) and 1 Build Point to an Enemy. Your Ally and Enemy can be the same faction!

5. Assign 30 General Build Points (p. 35) to your General abilities.

1. 6. Assign Health and Morale (p. 77), splitting 18 Build Points between the two, with a minimum
of 3 in each.

7. Give yourself Health and Morale Thresholds of 3; if your Health or Morale is 10 or higher, that
threshold will be a 4.

8. If you have any ranks of Corruption, decide whether your Sorcery targets your enemies’ Health
or Morale. Pick one Sorcerous Sphere (the theme and appearance of your spells) for every rank of
Corruption you possess. See p. 103.

9. Write down 5 or more pieces of minor, iconic gear that help define who you are (p. 42).

10. Give yourself 1 point of Grit (p. 75). Grit helps reduce Morale damage.

11. You start with no Wealth (p. 125) and you’ll start with No Repute (see p. 128) for the first
adventure.

12. Name yourself. Most people in Eversink have fantasy names based on medieval Italian names (there
are plenty of lists online), but there’s nothing magical about that naming scheme, so name your
Hero something you love.

You’re ready to go!

 12 Swords of the Serpentine

Sample Character
Your Hero

Pallia Vitturi
(sometimes called “Murk”)

Part-time thief Doing a hard thing well

Perfect timing
Driven, acquisitive,
Stealing what others don’t
curious, amused,
appreciate or deserve
professional

OO
O
O
O
O
OO
O
OO

8 OOOOOOOO Mercanti +1
Mercenaries +1
Ancient Nobility -1
5 OOOOO
1 O
8 OOOOOOOO
3 OOO
5 OOOOO
4 1
O
O 3 1

A talent for delegation; a stream of party invitations from

high society; three (!) arranged marriages you’ve now avoided;
a practical knowledge and love of weapon-smithing; an unread
copy of your family’s biography, “The Armory of Death”;
clerical responsibilities for the Guild of Smiths that you handle
effortlessly; an exquisite long dagger you yourself forged
(Damage Modifier +1); beautifully-made leather armor (Armor
1); an anxious mother; a lucky finger-bone from a less-lucky thief
Chapter 2: Your Hero 13

Character Professions

Your Hero
Four professions are common: sentinel, sorcerer, thief, and warrior. Professions are defined by the role you feel your
Hero plays, not by the point distribution on your character sheet. These are part of your character concept and
guide your choice of abilities later on.

Sentinel

As a sentinel you may be a Church

Inquisitor, a member of the City
Watch, an informer for Eversink’s secret
police, a scout for smugglers, or an inspector for
the Mercanti. You typically have an eye for detail, an
exhaustive knowledge of rules and regulations, and a
keen sense for criminal activity (whether you encourage
it or try to stop it). Some Sentinels can sense ghosts and
see into the spirit realm that overlays the true world.

Designer Notes: Sentinels

Early in the game design sentinels were called

investigators, which is an awful name for heroes
in a sword & sorcery adventure. They’re as close
to traditional detectives or law enforcement as
this game has. Their Laws and Traditions ability
gives them lots of fun narrative control to declare
something legal or illegal, and their ability to see
spirits gives them insight into ghosts and demons
that no other profession can touch. A more holy
version might be similar to a paladin, infused with
the power of their god to bring the unrighteous
to justice; all you’d need to change is how you
describe their abilities working.
 14 Swords of the Serpentine

Sorcerer
Your Hero

As a sorcerer you may know rare and hidden secrets,

know how to heal the sick (or how to kill more quickly),
be able to prophesy the future, and know the corrupt
keys to sorcerous power. Sorcery may take a hundred
different forms, but tapping into your true power is
dangerous to your allies and deadly to Eversink’s patron
goddess. Powerful sorcery causes Corruption,
and Corruption is illegal in Eversink. If you
wish to avoid persecution, you may have to
limit your power, keep your skills
secret, or to be so powerful and
politically connected that few
dare challenge you. There’s
no “good” magic when it
comes to sorcery; whether
true power stems from
the writings of the
ancient and inhuman
snake-people or is a gift
from forgotten demons,
the source of all sorcery
is foul and corrupt.

Player Advice:
When is a Sorcerer
Not a Sorcerer?

It’s possible you want to play

a sorcerer but prefer not to
face the trade-offs that come
with Corruption. If so, take
heart! It’s common in sword
& sorcery novels (such as
Robert E. Howard’s Conan the
Barbarian) for “sorcerers” to
exercise their powers through
semi-magical alchemical dusts,
dread poisons, and even
mesmerism. If you prefer this
approach, talk to your GM
about the Thaumaturgy rules
on p. 221.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 15

Thief

Your Hero
You specialize in secrets. Thieves may attack with word
or blade, and they’re equally treacherous with either.
You probably know the alleys and canals of Eversink
better than anyone else. You may be incredibly lucky,
you’re likely skilled at gathering information through
illegal means, and you are tied into the web of gossip
and scurrilous rumor that circulates throughout the
city.
 16 Swords of the Serpentine

Warrior
Your Hero

You’re an expert at the art of warfare. As a warrior you

primarily make your way through the world by force of
arms, whether you’re a duelist, a brute, a mercenary, or
a foreign barbarian. You are likely skilled at surviving in
the wilderness, battling monsters, spotting your foe’s
weaknesses, and understanding deadly battle tactics.

Mixing and Matching

These professions are customizable and can easily be

adapted to specific literary or fantasy models. If you
want to recreate your favorite magical sneak thief or
outlander barbarian from movies or novels, it’s easy to do
so. Think of these four professions as guidelines instead
of straitjackets when you create a Hero. You could
focus your Hero’s Investigative abilities on sorcery but
still call her a thief because she’s excellent at Burglary,
she uses her sorcery to steal, and “thief” is how
she thinks of herself. These four categories are
themes to help focus your choices as you create
your Hero, not unbreakable constraints.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 17

Adjectives and Drives

Your Hero
Adjectives Designer Notes: Drives
Jot down some adjectives on the character sheet that The game is designed so that you can pick up
encapsulate your Hero’s personality. This provides a new character sheet and know everything
a fast reference for how you act when you face a you need to know about the Hero from their
difficult decision. It’s particularly useful when building Adjectives, their Drives, and their Gear (which
characters for one-shot games. sounds odd, but it’ll make sense, we promise).
As a result, Drives are a really handy way to
You want to play a young woman recruited summarize the things your Hero holds most
by the Guild of Architects and Canal- dear. They’re fun to create, and ideally capture
Watchers, one of the most prestigious guilds the most important reasons you willingly throw
in the city — and one with a secret. You yourself into a life of adventure.
write down:
Young, fiery, opinionated, loyal, never
forgives a betrayal
Drives
You can change these later, but it’s a
fast way to remember how she reacts, and Once you know more about your character’s personality,
knowing her personality will help guide your answer this question from the 1982 Conan movie: what
choices when roleplaying or when picking three things are best in life?
abilities during character creation. These are your Drives. Write down the three answers
to this question on the top of your character sheet.
You can invoke each of these Drives once per
adventure to gain +1 on a single die roll, or to try and
use a General ability you have zero ranks in, but the
situation needs to relate to the Drive you’re invoking.
You can only invoke one Drive per test, but can invoke it
after you already roll. Invoke your Drives to emphasize
your personality and to gain a small bonus when it really
matters.
Your Drives will change over the course of your
adventuring career because your experiences will
change who you are and what makes you happy. Adjust
your Drives whenever you need to, and let your GM
know you have.
 18 Swords of the Serpentine

Player Advice: Describing Your Abilities

Your Hero

Swords of the Serpentine pays attention to the mechanical results of your abilities, leaving it up to you to
describe how they work and what they look like. You may decide your Hero is a Marketpriest who is an
extremely charming individual, and people just like her whenever they meet her. Alternatively, you may
decide your Marketpriest has the power of the goddess Denari flowing through her, and that this divine
charisma wins over anyone she meets. In both cases, you’d represent this by starting with 1 or more ranks of
the Investigative ability Charm. The mechanical result is the same — people like your Hero enough to tell
them secrets — but the two characters feel very different because of how they’re described.
Similarly, the first character may practice their Bind Wounds ability with leeches, poultices and plenty of
bandages to keep someone up and running in the middle of a fight. The second character might describe their
Bind Wounds ability as divine healing from the Goddess. There is no mechanical difference between the two,
but the ignorant or deeply faithful you meet in Eversink may have more respect for the latter.
When you’re building your Hero, think about what you want them to look and sound like, and then
describe their abilities accordingly.

Investigative Abilities
Investigative abilities define what you know and how
you interact with other people in the world. These Scale for Investigative Abilities
abilities always work; without ever having to roll a die,
they let you discover leads and clues that push you � Rank 0 in an Investigative ability means you cannot
farther into the adventure. use it to gather leads
� Rank 1 in the ability makes you proficient at it
Your Hero has 1 rank of the Investigative � Rank 2 makes you an expert
ability Leechcraft, giving you extensive � Rank 3 indicates remarkable knowledge or aptitude
medical knowledge. When investigating the in that area
corpse of your poisoned friend, tell the GM � Rank 4 suggests you’re one of the best in the city in
you’re using Leechcraft, and if there are any this area
Leechcraft-related clues on the body, the GM � Rank 5 indicates you are one of the best in that
will give you those clues. It’s then up to you to ability that most people will ever meet
interpret them. Without GM approval, you may not exceed rank 5 in
Even one rank in an Investigative ability means you’re any Investigative ability.
proficient in that field of knowledge. It’s rare to
see anyone with more than three ranks in any given
Investigative ability.
You can spend points from your Investigative ability
pools to gain special abilities and do remarkable things.
Details on these special benefits is on p. 51. Spent
Investigative points can’t be refreshed until the next
adventure, but you don’t stop being knowledgeable in
a subject just because you spent one or more points.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 19

Crafting a thief for a five-player game, you

Designer Notes: start with 10 Investigative Build Points.
Organizing Investigative Abilities You decide to purchase 6 ranks of Social

Your Hero
abilities and 1 rank each of Profession
We like the idea of splitting up Investigative abilities City’s Secrets, Ridiculous Luck,
abilities into Social abilities, Profession abilities, Scurrilous Rumors, and Skulduggery. All
and Allegiances, even though they all work the of your profession-specific abilities are in the
same way. It gives you a fast place to look when
thief profession, so you gain a bonus Build
you just want to remind yourself what your
Point.
personality is; it lets you design an incredibly
social Hero who seems to know everyone but
Build Points don’t all need to be spent before play
who has zero profession abilities; and it makes
begins. Leaving a few points unallocated can give you
homebrewing new professions a whole lot easier.
flexibility when you really need a particular ability
during an adventure. You don’t even need to spend any
Build Points on Profession abilities at all if you want a
Initial Build Points Hero who focuses only on Social Investigative abilities
for Investigative Abilities and Allegiances; such a Hero still gains the bonus Build
Point.
The Investigative ability Build Points you can spend
during character creation varies based on the number of Player Advice: How to Distribute
Heroes. If there’s a Hero whose player you don’t expect
your Investigative Build Points
to attend regularly, disregard them for the purposes of
determining the number of players.
When assigning Investigative Build Points, you
can pick a balance between raw power, influence,
Investigative and flexibility.
# of players
Build Points � If you spread your Build Points out between
1 14 (see p. 224) lots of abilities, not initially putting more
than 1 or 2 points into any one ability, you’ll
2 13 gain tremendous flexibility. In exchange
3 12 you’ll limit how much damage you can do
in any one attack, and you probably aren’t
4 11
renowned for being astonishing at any one
5+ 10 thing.
� If you focus your Build Points into fewer
As well as these, new characters also receive 3 additional abilities, each with more ranks, you’ll gain
Investigative Build Points which must be spent on quite a bit of power in that area and be able
Allegiances — 2 for Allies and 1 for Enemies. to inflict considerably more damage when
Assigning Allegiance points is discussed on p. 34. you’re pulling out all the stops during a
When creating a character, you gain 1 bonus climactic fight. You’ll also develop something
Investigative Build Point if you choose all your initial of a reputation. In exchange, you’re going
profession-specific abilities from the same type. You can to lack flexibility while adventuring and have
spend this bonus point on any Social ability, Allegiance, fewer opportunities to find leads and clues.
or for one more rank of one of your Profession abilities.
It’s the classic trade-off with specialization: is it
more fun to be really good at fewer things, or
solid at a lot of things? The answer to that will
change from Hero to Hero.
 20 Swords of the Serpentine

List of Investigative Abilities

List of Investigative Abilites

Page
Ability Name Type Description
Your Hero

Number
Charm Social People like you, or find you attractive 21

You know the back streets and hidden truths

City’s Secrets Profession/Thief 29
of cities
People listen to you when you give them
Command Social 21
orders
You can tap into the foul source of sorcery for
Corruption Profession/Sorcerer 26
knowledge and power
You can spot warning signs of crime and
Felonious Intent Profession/Sentinel 24
criminal behavior
You know facts, legends, and trivia others have
Forgotten Lore Profession/Sorcerer 26
long forgotten
Intimidation Social Others find you terrifying 22
You know legends or secrets about non-
Know Monstrosities Profession/Warrior human creatures, including their tactics and 31
motivations
You know the (often obscure) laws and
Laws & Traditions Profession/Sentinel 24
traditions of wherever you live
You can diagnose ailments and know how to
Leechcraft Profession/Sorcerer 27
cause or heal diseases, injuries and poison
Liar’s Tell Social You usually know when you’re being lied to 22
You fit in with the upper crust, who treat you
Nobility Social 22
with special privilege
You can prophesy secrets from the past, present
Prophecy Profession/Sorcerer 27
or future
You’re far luckier than most people, and
Ridiculous Luck Profession/Thief 29
stumble on leads others might miss
Bribery, gossip, and whispered secrets help you
Scurrilous Rumors Profession/Thief 30
learn what others have done
You fit in with common people, and tend to
Servility Social 23
fade into the background
You can find out hidden information through
Skulduggery Profession/Thief reprehensible methods such as blackmail, 30
spying, and shadowing
You can see into the spirit realm, and may
Spirit Sight Profession/Sentinel 24
sense ghosts or Corruption
You notice and exploit weaknesses in armor,
objects, and structures; and you might even see
Spot Frailty Profession/Warrior 31
weakness in people’s personalities, allowing you
to manipulate them emotionally
Chapter 2: Your Hero 21

Page
Ability Name Type Description
Number
You can read fight scenes and understand

Your Hero
Tactics of Death Profession/Warrior 32
military tactics
You can make people angry enough to
Taunt Social 23
monologue at you
People want to trust you unless you give them
Trustworthy Social 23
a reason not to
You notice tiny details others might miss,
Vigilance Profession/Sentinel 25
making you seldom surprised

You can navigate, survive, and even thrive

Wilderness Mastery Profession/Warrior 32
outside of cities

Player Advice: Remembering How Ranks Work

The first thing everyone asks is “If I spend my point of Charm, do I get less charming?” Nope. Spending these
doesn’t make you any worse at Charm. You get leads because you have ranks of Investigative abilities. But
once per adventure for every rank you have, you can spend a pool point of Charm to accomplish something
particularly cool. Don’t be shy about spending those pool points, either; every remaining point unspent at the
end of an adventure is a lost opportunity to do extra damage or do something cool.

Social Investigative Abilities

Social Investigative abilities can be selected regardless Command
of your profession. Each rank purchased costs 1
Investigative Build point. You know how to order others around. Mercenaries,
soldiers, and guards accept you as one of their own, and
Charm you can walk into a room and immediately act like you
belong there.
Sample Spend: Get crowds to follow your orders,
Whether through flattery, flirting, or sorcerous mind
particularly in chaotic circumstances. Give orders to
control, you’re so charming or desirable other people
those who believe themselves to be your subordinates,
are willing to reveal their secrets just to get your
or spend 2 points to order around people who aren’t
attention.
quite sure who you are or why you’re important.
Sample Spend: Make a Supporting Character trust,
like, love, or be infatuated with you. The more points
you spend, the deeper their affection (or lust). For a 2+
point spend, an enemy may betray their allies for you,
or spare your life in hopes of impressing you.
 22 Swords of the Serpentine

Intimidation
Your Hero

You can terrify others into doing what you want or into
telling you what they know. Make no mistake: they
aren’t going to be happy about helping you, because
you’re intimidating them into it, but they’ll tell you
regardless.
Sample Spend: Bully a Supporting Character into
obeying you even after you’ve left the area.

Liar’s Tell
You can usually tell when you’re being deliberately lied
to, and when people are trying to distract you from the
truth. You may also be able to tell when someone is
being sorcerously mind controlled.
Nearly everyone lies, and there are a lot of reasons
someone might not be telling the truth. Liar’s Tell won’t
tell you what that truth is or why they’re obscuring it,
but it will indicate when a deliberate lie is being told.
Certain individuals may be so skilled at lying that they
never set off your Liar’s Tell. Some people believe their
GM Advice: Best in the World own falsehoods. While Liar’s Tell will not function on
everyone, it will never give you a false positive or false
During playtesting someone made their Hero negative.
with 5 ranks of Command, something that Sample Spend: Gain great insight into why a person
wouldn’t normally have occurred to us. I mean, may be lying, even if it doesn’t tell you what the truth
sure, you can theoretically make a specialized actually is. The knowledge of the lie may allow you to
Hero who only has two Investigative abilities of manipulate them or pry out the truth.
5 ranks each, but is that fun? Need to lie to someone and have it believed?
It sure was in this case. When a player does Spending a point of Liar’s Tell makes it less likely other
this, they’re saying “I want to be the best in the people question your lie, because your body language
world at this thing.” So let them! Five ranks of and delivery are flawless. Unlikely information may
Command meant that people looked to him still be questioned, but others won’t believe you’re
to be in charge. When he gave a command no deliberately telling a falsehood.
one dared refuse. People kept hounding him
to act as their general, their leader, and their
spokesperson. Strangers would gossip about his Nobility
personal magnetism — was it natural? Was it
from a god? Was it sorcerous? — and you can bet You fit in with the nobility and other rich and powerful
that his reputation preceded him. His enemies people of social prominence, and you can easily make
were terrified of this inexplicable command and small talk with them. They likely accept you as one of
wanted him recruited or dead. their own. You can dress fashionably for any occasion (if
You won’t see them very often, but a Hero like you can afford or steal the clothes), recite your lineage,
this is handing you a year’s worth of plot hooks, make your way past gatekeepers determined to keep out
and the game hasn’t even started yet. Embrace it. the riff-raff, learn specific or relevant gossip about a rich
Chapter 2: Your Hero 23

or important person, follow proper social conventions, Sample Spend: Goad an enemy or enemies into
and identify the best wine, liquor, and art. People won’t attacking you or paying attention to you, instead of an
always like you, but they see you as socially important. ally who would rather stay unnoticed. Incite a crowd

Your Hero
The more ranks of Nobility you have, the more into jeering insults or actual mob violence against a
important people think you are. person or organization you wish targeted; the larger the
Sample Spend: Manipulate others through your crowd, the more points you’ll need to spend. You can
social status, convincing them they will be socially also spend pool points of Taunt to trick two Supporting
humiliated if they don’t do as you suggest. Establish Characters or adversaries into arguing with each other.
you’re skilled at unusual hobbies favored by the nobility,
whether hunting a commoner through a nature reserve
(for fun, of course, those old illegal hunts died out Trustworthy
many generations ago) or singing complex hymns once
taught only to the nobility. You can make people trust you, and you can reassure
people even in the most terrible of circumstances. When
things go poorly, others turn to you for help. People
Servility tell you secrets and give you information because they
trust you not to misuse it. (Whether you do misuse it,
People tend to forget your name. An expert at cringing, of course, is entirely up to you. Trustworthy is a must-
bootlicking and truckling to those of higher station, you have ability for any con artist.)
appear so socially inconsequential that others ignore you Sample Spend: Pass a bald-faced lie off as the truth
or disregard you as a potential threat. You hear secrets without anyone immediately questioning you.
that people don’t think you’re important enough to People look to you for inspiration and support. A
understand, and you’re overlooked when enemies 1-point spend of Trustworthy can restore 6 points of
consider their security risks, sometimes allowing you to Morale to an ally, as long as you have at least 1 rank
hide in plain sight by taking on the role of a beggar or of the General ability Sway. If you don’t, or if you’re
servant. The more ranks of Servility you possess, the less trying to restore your own low Morale, a 1-point spend
important you appear. restores 3 points of Morale.
Sample Spend: Manipulate an attacker into attacking You and your friends tend to trust your judgment
someone else instead, since you seem so servile and over that of others. A 1-point spend can give you or
inconsequential. If knocked unconscious, a 1-point an ally Grit 4 for one round or Grit 2 for a scene. (Grit
spend will cause your enemy to disregard you and spare works like Armor against Morale Damage – for more
your life. details, see p. 75.)
A 1-point spend in the middle of a fight may get
your foe to stop and talk to you for at least a moment
Taunt instead of continuing to attack. This conversation
lasts until anyone attacks the reassured enemy, or
You are an expert at infuriating others, making them so until it’s dramatically appropriate for the conversation
angry that they let their secrets slip while berating you to conclude. This use of Trustworthy is handy for
and monologuing. You can goad them through insults, buying time when it’s needed the most and for solving
sarcasm, disdain, or public humiliation. You know misunderstandings that lead to combat. If your GM
when a threat against you is sincere, and you know how decides that the foe isn’t going to stop and listen at all,
to drive your foes into a furious need to explain how you don’t lose the points you tried to spend.
clever they truly are.
 24 Swords of the Serpentine

Profession Investigative Abilities

Your Hero

Each profession has four unique abilities specific to A 1-point spend of Felonious Intent will allow you
them. These cost 1 Investigative Build Point per rank. to act as a bodyguard for one attack, taking the place
Starting your character with profession-specific abilities of another person in Point-Blank range who is the
from only one profession gives you a bonus Build Point. subject of a Health attack or Maneuver. The attack or
Maneuver is instead resolved as if you were the target.
Your Health Threshold and Armor applies, instead of
Player Advice: theirs. You may make this spend and act as a bodyguard
Trying the Wrong Ability even if you have already taken your turn that round.

Sometimes you won’t be successful in getting Laws and Traditions

a clue from a Supporting Character because You know the many obscure laws and traditions of
you’re trying an ability that doesn’t make any both Eversink and its primary religion, the penalties
sense given the circumstances. The incredibly for breaking the law, and how to manipulate Eversink’s
proud noble isn’t going to respond well to being policies and procedures. When something or someone
Intimidated in front of her peers; and trying to violates the law in your presence, you notice. You
Command the head of the City Watch in front understand bureaucracy and know how to navigate
of his subordinates is just going to earn you an labyrinthine organizations and cut through (or arrange
enemy. Common sense should be your guide for) red tape.
here, and don’t hesitate to ask your GM first Sample Spend: Make up an obscure but applicable
if you aren’t sure what a reasonable approach church dictate or city ordinance that then becomes
might be. canon for the rest of the campaign. Spend pool points
Don’t fret too much if this happens to you. to keep someone arrested without rumor escaping, or
Gaining a personal enemy or rival by staying true to pull strings from someone in government and gain
to your personality might be an incredibly fun a favor for your faction; the number of pool points
role-playing moment. required depends on the importance of the person and
the magnitude of the favor you ask.

Sentinel Spirit Sight

You glimpse the edges of the spirit world. You can sense
Investigative Abilities
corrupted areas of the city by seeing the weaknesses in
the barriers between the mortal and spirit worlds. You
Felonious Intent can sense ghosts if you look for them and can tell when
You have insight into the criminal and villainous mind. an area is haunted. By looking carefully, you can tell if
You can predict how nefarious activity is about to occur, a person is cursed or possessed. If you know a ghost’s
or understand how it did, and you can easily identify true name (see p. 121), you can summon and compel
the guilty. You notice ambush opportunities and see them to speak to you.
weaknesses in security. Walk into a marketplace and you You may pull back the veil and gaze fully into the
spot the pickpockets, the likely hustlers, and the thieves. spirit world, but the horror of doing so is emotionally
If you’re planning on committing a crime, you’ll know taxing. You will take between 1 and 8 points of Morale
how the Watch will try to track you down. damage, as determined by your GM and based on the
Sample Spend: A 1-point spend can generate a enormity and horror of what you observe; Grit reduces
knowledgeable and helpful contact who owes you a this damage. You’ll see and possibly talk to ghosts fully,
favor, such as a Watch officer or minor criminal from and likely be able to guess how they died; you’ll see the
your past. after-images of well-loved but long-forgotten buildings;
Chapter 2: Your Hero 25

and you’ll be able to see any insubstantial monstrosities Vigilance

within line of sight.
Every rank of Vigilance you possess increases your
Possessing Spirit Sight can be politically dangerous.
Alertness Modifier by +1 (see p. 57). You have a

Your Hero
The Church of Denari considers those blessed with
remarkable eye for detail and notice small and unusual
(as they call it) Inquisitor’s Gaze to be hand-picked by
details around you, seeing clues or leads that others
the Goddess, and by ecclesiastical law such people are
might miss. You spot subtleties and inconsistencies
remanded to the church for training as Inquisitors. It
someone else might gloss over. You’re more likely to
isn’t uncommon for people who prefer to avoid a life of
spot hidden passages, traps, disguised imposters, and
faith to keep their Spirit Sight secret.
unexpected secrets.
Sample Spend: Spend 1 pool point to gain both
Sample Spend: Gain an additional +3 Alertness
Armor and Grit for the scene equal to your Spirit Sight
Modifier to notice someone or something hidden. A
rank, effective only against sorcery attacks and attacks
spend (usually prompted by the GM) will let you notice
from adversaries with the Insubstantial special ability.
signs of an ambush before it has been sprung. Spend a
Spirit Sight can be spent to heal the psychic pollution
point to go first in the initiative order at the start of a
left by sorcerous Corruption; by reaching into the spirit
fight, or to seize the initiative order from a foe.
world you literally start to knit reality back together in
that spot, although it’s not always a simple process. See
p. 120 for details.
Spend 1 point to remove the
Insubstantial special ability from a
creature for a scene, but for interaction
or combat with you alone; your attacks
reach into the spirit world to affect
it. Spend 2 points to entirely remove
the Insubstantial special ability from
a creature for a scene. It will appear
ghostly but will be solid to the touch
and vulnerable to normal attacks, fully
dragged into your world.
There are ever-shifting spaces in
Eversink where the barrier into the
spirit world is particularly thin and
you can step across, usually where
Corruption has occurred. Only if your
GM allows, spend a point to fully enter
the spirit world for one scene, and two
points to bring your party with you.
This may cause damage to body and
mind, but you’ll feel the effects with
enough time to escape back to the real
world before the experience kills you.
For more about the spirit world and the
dangers therein, see p. 281.
 26 Swords of the Serpentine

Designer Notes: Seeing Ghosts Sorcerer Investigative Abilities

Your Hero

Spirit Sight started out as being called “Inquisitor’s Corruption

Gaze”, but we realized early that the ability was This ability unlocks the General ability Sorcery, and you
too interesting to limit to just church inquisitors. can’t gain ranks of Sorcery without at least one rank of
With Spirit Sight you can see demons and spirits, Corruption. Gain one Sorcerous Sphere for every rank
rip away the mortal veil to see the spirit world of Corruption you possess (see p. 103).
that underlies reality, and gain leads by talking There’s no such thing as “good” sorcery in Swords
to ghosts. Spirits spend most of their time in the of the Serpentine, and ranks in Corruption indicate that
spirit world, especially after they’ve been dead you have somehow found a way to access the source
for some time, but they’re attracted to spots of of Corruption and twist it into doing your will. The
Corruption, and a newly murdered ghost may two most common methods for learning sorcery are
manifest and haunt the place of their death or a possession by a demon and finding ancient writings from
place particularly important to them, instead of the Serpentine empire (see p. 102). Other methods,
waiting within the spirit world for the funerary such as speaking to the dead or striking a bargain with a
statue that will usher their spirit to paradise. small god, are also possible.
Have fun with this. Have some ghosts Ranks in Corruption give knowledge of curses,
be hostile and some friendly, and let Heroes rituals, ancient gods and dark traditions. You can sense
occasionally solve a murder by talking to a ghost, the scars in Eversink left by past Corruption spends.
because sometimes the real challenge is tracking Knowledge of Corruption also allows you to identify a
down and apprehending the murderer and not faint “signature” from other sorcerers where Corruption
just finding out who they are. has occurred, enabling you to recognize their sorcery if
Heroes with multiple ranks of Spirit Sight you encounter it again.
might see and chat with ghosts all the time, or Sample Spend: Spending even one point of
perhaps they channel ghosts during a séance, or Corruption creates powerful magical effects but always
they allow ghosts to possess them. The player and allows Corruption to seep into the world. You have the
GM should agree on what’s fun, remembering choice to either internalize the Corruption (changing
that different Heroes can use this ability in your body in tiny or sizable ways) or externalize it
different ways. (polluting the area around you and possibly terrifying
We think there’s an amazing adventure to be your allies). See p. 117 for details on how these
had by walking out of the living world into the options function.
spirit world, and walking back through the ghost Spend pool points to increase the power of your
of the city to discover what really happened in sorcerous spells or to use your power in unconventional
the past. We just haven’t written it yet. ways, such as exceptional damage and unique spells; see
p. 113.
You can spend all your remaining Corruption points
at once to level a Curse at a foe. See p. 122 for details.

Forgotten Lore
You’re a repository of legends and superstitions, as
well as political, historical, and general lore. You learn
languages quickly and you know historical trivia,
forgotten stories, old truths, and half-remembered
rhymes about the near-mythical past. This is your catch-
all ability for remembering, or being able to track down,
essential information that most people just wouldn’t
remember.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 27

In addition to the normal fluency in a mother tongue Spend points to give someone a disease or to poison
that everyone has, every rank of Forgotten Lore allows them. In combat this poison can be as simple as inflicting
you to be fluent in two additional known languages, an extra die of damage per pool point spent, or be more

Your Hero
decided whenever it would be useful to declare your complex, as described on p. 90.
fluency. See p. 235 for more about languages. If you are treating disease or poison, every pool point
Sample Spend: You know ancient secrets that make of Leechcraft you spend can give the victim a cumulative
your sorcerous knowledge more dangerous; every pool +3 on their next Health or Morale test to resist the
point you spend adds an additional die of damage to affliction, and will often give them an immediate test to
a successful Sorcery attack. Spend one or more points lessen their symptoms. Describe your cure however you
to create a protective ward (see p. 75) that briefly wish, even if it has no basis as a cure in the real world.
reduces damage to you or your allies. So long as your patient makes their next Health test
Use Forgotten Lore to help world-build. You can against the ailment, the cure you prescribe will work.
spend 1 pool point to establish a new fact about the
world. If your new fact conflicts with a truth that the Your ally seems to be suffering from a virulent
GM has already established, usually she’ll either accept foreign plague. You prescribe a poultice of
your truth instead or she’ll give you your pool point dung and chicken blood, moistened by a
back. widow’s tears and held to the neck for 12
“There doesn’t seem to be an heir? My hours by a silk cloth. You spend 2 points of
Forgotten Lore tells me that the family line Leechcraft. Your ally gets +6 on their next
might not really be dead, and they supposedly Health test against the disease, succeeds, and
changed their name and moved across the begins to recover due to your help.
city. Let’s go see if we can track them down!” Alternatively, your Hero is very faithful
to Denari, and you decide to describe your
Note that with your GM’s permission, any player can
Leechcraft as divine inspiration that triggers
help world-build at any time. Forgotten Lore spends
magical healing. When you see a plague
just let you do so at a time when it’s immediately
advantageous to you. victim, you place a coin on their tongue and
pray to the goddess. You spend 1 point of
Leechcraft Leechcraft, you describe golden light flowing
from your fingers, and your patient gets +3
With 1 rank of Leechcraft you have enough experience
in folk medicine to diagnose poisons and diseases,
on their next Health test against the disease.
treat illnesses (usually with disgusting poultices), and
determine cause of death. When someone suffers from Prophecy
an injury, disease, or poison, you can tell how sick You can prophesy (or interpret others’ prophecy); see
they are and their chances of recovering. You learn any glimpses of the past, present, or future; and even use your
injury-related or health-related leads from corpses you oracular knowledge to influence future events. Whether
examine. you’re reading dreams, studying the murmuration of
With 2 or more ranks of Leechcraft, you likely 50,000 seagulls, or poking through the intestines of a
have formal training as a physician, and rely more on gutted foe, knowledge of Prophecy means that you can
known facts than on old superstitions. It’s just about sense the location of unknown leads.
as effective, but you sound much more authoritative This is a handy Investigative ability in that it can
about your knowledge. provide a path forward when all else is lost. Your
Sample Spend: Spend 1 pool point to wake up GM may use it to steer you towards leads you might
someone who is unconscious. otherwise miss. Prophecy can also be used in a more
If you have at least 1 rank of Bind Wounds, a 1-point focused manner, deliberately looking for signs so
Leechcraft spend will restore 6 Health for an ally. If you learn where to look for more information about
you don’t have any ranks of Bind Wounds, or if you’re a specific lead. Some leads might only be obtainable
trying to heal yourself, the spend heals 3 Health instead.
 28 Swords of the Serpentine

through Prophecy, making someone else’s carefully your flashback work. You can also spend 1 point
kept secret available to only you. of Prophecy to know exactly where to look for a
Prophecy seldom gives you out-and-out answers: it discarded but useful tool, which will allow you to
Your Hero

supplies leads, not solutions. Much more often it gives succeed automatically at a difficulty 4 Preparedness
you a glimpse of a location or a person and you won’t test or gain +3 to a more difficult test.
yet know why. You’ll just know they’re important.
You’ll need to head to that location, or speak to that Combat: There are multiple futures, and you get to
person, to understand how they’re connected to your pick the one you like. Spend 2 points of Prophecy
adventure. and choose any General ability. For the rest of the
Less often, you may also see a complete scene taking scene, whenever you need to make a test with that
place in the past or possibly the present; such dream- ability, roll two dice and choose the result you
like images play out as if you’re standing in the scene, prefer.
but no one else can see or hear you.
Rarely, you’ll receive a poem, a riddle, or a bit of Designer Notes: Niche Protection
doggerel that can be interpreted to help you find out
what you wish to know. This is entirely dependent upon You’ll notice that this game has fewer abilities
your GM. If you use Prophecy and the GM doesn’t than many other GUMSHOE games. That’s
wish to give you additional leads (or there aren’t any deliberate; our game design philosophy is to have
available), you’ll either receive a vision of something you broader and more-frequently-useful abilities, and
already know that you need to pay particular attention then let players describe those abilities however
to; you’ll experience a prophecy of something unrelated they choose.
(that may be foreshadowing for a future adventure); or Playtesters initially expressed some concern
you’ll receive no vision at all. about niche protection. Would characters seem
Sample Spend: Your ability to foretell the future can too similar to one another? We haven’t seen that
gain you benefits including the following: problem in practice. A barbarian, a hardened
mercenary, a shadowy assassin, and a noble
Wealth: You see the location of minor treasures,
duelist all feel very different in play even when
from coin-bags dropped in a sewer to lost and
their capabilities overlap.
hidden art. Spend 1 point to foresee the location
If you want to guarantee some niche protection
of forgotten wealth worth Wealth 3 or (sometimes
regardless, talk to the other players when you’re
quite substantially) more. Mind you, success isn’t
making your Heroes so that everyone knows they
automatic: you may know where it is, but you still
have something they’re best at.
have to get to it...
If you let it be known that you have the gift of
prophecy, strangers may approach you with both
wealth and questions. Not only might these be fun
plot hooks, but you’re likely to get paid as much
or more than you’d earn from prophesying the
location of lost treasure.

Stealth: You gain a vision of exactly the right time

to sneak unobserved. You and allies accompanying
you all gain a +3 bonus on one Stealth test.

Preparedness: You foresee the future, and you

can put a plan in place to shift the odds your way.
Gain the Preparedness Talent “Flashback” for one
current or upcoming scene in this adventure; you’ll
still need a successful Preparedness test to have
Chapter 2: Your Hero 29

Thief Investigative Abilities GM Advice:

Luck May Swing Both Ways

Your Hero
City’s Secrets
The architectural and geographical secrets of Eversink The thing about Ridiculous Luck is that it
and other cities are yours to discover, and you can isn’t always good luck. If you and the player are
uncover other secrets (such as political machinations) amenable, every few adventures a particularly
with relative ease. You more-or-less understand how lucky Hero’s fortune might go ridiculously badly
a city’s bureaucracy functions, you know the many for a single scene: one coincidence after another
districts and neighborhoods of Eversink, and with some goes against them, old enemies show up at the
work you can find a particular location above or below worst possible time, the plan doesn’t work the way
ground when you need to. they expected, they fall into a wagon of nightsoil,
Sample Spend: Spend 1 point to determine entry and suddenly they’re framed for something they
points into sealed portions of the undercity, or to travel didn’t actually have anything to do with! During
across the city through shortcuts at roughly double this scene full of bad luck, the Hero may not
normal speed. You may take allies with you if you wish. spend any pool points of Ridiculous Luck.
If in a building or urban environment, you may also At the end of this scene the afflicted Hero
spend a point during a fight to move twice as quickly as gains a bonus pool point of Ridiculous Luck as
normal for one round. compensation — a point that they can use to dig
themselves out of what just occurred. Just don’t
Ridiculous Luck engineer this on a night when the actual player
has had a bad day.
Remarkable coincidences happen around you on a
regular basis, and a million-to-one chance is a thing to
bet on. Gain leads by simply stumbling across them —
if you’re wise enough to notice the coincidence when Designer Notes:
it occurs. The Quintessential Ridiculous Luck
Like Prophecy, Ridiculous Luck is a great catch-
all ability that picks up on leads other people haven’t There’s a scene in the very first Conan story,
thought to look for. Strange coincidences, useful Robert E. Howard’s novelette “The Phoenix
happenstance, and unexpected good or bad luck help on the Sword”, where the enslaved and servile
you notice important details you might otherwise miss. sorcerer Thoth-Amon tells a cowardly baron that
In fact, some leads might only be noticed by Ridiculous he only became a slave because a thief stole the
Luck — if you don’t stumble on it accidentally, no one magical serpent ring that once gave him great
will. power. Unfortunately for the snobbish baron
Don’t assume that Ridiculous Luck can replace every who was studiously ignoring Thoth-Amon,
other Investigative ability. Luck isn’t always pleasant, the word “ring” makes him declare (and we
heroic, or convenient; being arrested and thrown into paraphrase), “Hey! I forgot all about my magical
jail may have gotten you that clue, but now you still serpent ring which I bought off a thief! Let me
have to break out of prison to pursue it. just pull that out!”
Sample Spend: Spend 1 pool point to generate a It is of course the same ring, Thoth-Amon
non-lead-related lucky coincidence when you need one pulls out a dagger and gets particularly stabby, the
most, such as an unexpected escape opportunity or a baron dies messily, and our demon-summoning
handy unlocked armory door. bad guy is back in the game.
Moral of the story? Servility is a great way
to not get noticed by nobles, and it’s seldom a
bad idea to invest in at least 1 rank of Ridiculous
Luck.
 30 Swords of the Serpentine

Scurrilous Rumors Sample Spend: Use pool points to affect public opinion
about a person, faction, idea or event. The more points
You have your ear to the ground. Not only can you learn
you spend, the farther your rumor spreads and the more
rumors both fair and foul; with a little work you can start
Your Hero

it is believed. You can start rumors that affect public

them as well to sway opinions or undercut an enemy. You
perception either positively or negatively. Others may
can use Scurrilous Rumors to gain gossip about subjects
try to counter your rumor by starting their own; if so,
you’re interested in. The gossip isn’t always useful or
the side that spends the most total points of Scurrilous
directly relevant, but if there’s a clue to be gained from
Rumors has their rumor believed by the masses.
what people are talking about in the city, you or your
network of informers can usually track it down.
Note that this ability doesn’t reveal closely kept
Skulduggery
secrets unless used on someone who could have heard Use Skulduggery to find leads through dishonest, illegal,
that secret. You may find out about a noble’s secret or unethical means. You can learn secret information
infidelities from a house servant, for instance, but you through spying, shadowing and surveillance. You might
wouldn’t hear about them when asking a bartender in a gain clues through blackmailing a minor Supporting
tavern nearby. Character, or follow a foe within the city with only a slim
chance of being detected so long as
you’re tracking down a lead. You
know how to stab people in the
back both literally and figuratively,
and you can identify the movers
and shakers in the underbelly of
Eversink.
If you’re Stealthy when
you make a Warfare attack,
automatically increase your
Damage Modifier for that attack
by +1 per Skulduggery rank.
Sample Spend: Spend 1 or more
pool points to find the general
location of someone hidden in
Eversink who doesn’t wish to be
found. Spend 1 point to perfectly
remember an overheard and illicit
conversation. Spend pool points to
blackmail a Supporting Character
for Wealth; each point spent gains
you +1 Wealth, but woe betide
you when they track you down.
Spend a point to gain a second
action in one round, as long as one
of those actions is used to Hide.
For every point of Skulduggery
you spend on a Stealth test, gain
+3 to your Stealth Modifier for
that test. This can either be a
Stealth test to hide, or a test to
hide something else (see p. 58).
Chapter 2: Your Hero 31

You have Spot Frailty at rank 3. You ignore

Warrior Investigative Abilities the first 3 points of your foes’ Armor and
Grit every time you attack their Health or

Your Hero
Know Monstrosities Morale. When fighting a heavily armored
You have knowledge of monstrous foes and can predict mercenary warlord, you spend a point so that
their traditional weaknesses (if any). You can identify one of your allies also ignores 3 points of the
monstrosities when you interact with them (even ones warlord’s Armor and Grit for the duration
that appear human), and you understand their typical of the battle.
tactics and hunting strategies.
Sample Spend: Use pool points to manipulate such Spend 1 or more points to heroically smash, break or
foes in combat, goading them into an action or position destroy something non-magical: an enemy’s shield, a
you desire in order to set a trap; if you need that swamp locked door, a stout chain, sturdy manacles, a pillar
giant to be standing right next to the quicksand, holding up the temple ceiling. Ask your GM: the more
spending a point can make sure that occurs. narratively important the object, the more pool points
Spending points allows you to increase your damage are required to smash it.
against a monstrous foe by 1 damage die per point
spent. You can also gain this bonus damage against
non-monstrous foes if, when making the spend, you Designer Notes:
describe how fighting some monster in the past might
Spot Frailty and Bilbo Baggins
give you an advantage in this combat.

“Good thing I saved some of the venom when The ability to see the weaknesses in things doesn’t
I disemboweled that giant snake!” at first seem like a traditional talent in sword &
sorcery novels, although there’s definitely space
for a warrior who’s superb at smashing pillars,
Spot Frailty shattering swords, and finding the weak spot in
You notice the weaknesses in objects around you, from an opponent’s armor. The inspiration for Spot
the corroded hinge on a dungeon cell door to the small Frailty comes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
chink in your opponent’s armor. You automatically
ignore an enemy’s armor by 1 point per rank of Spot The dragon rolled over. “Look!” he
Frailty when you damage their Health. said. “What do you say to that?” “Daz-
If you prefer, you can decide when creating your zlingly marvelous! Perfect! Flawless!
character that Spot Frailty instead applies to Grit. Staggering!” exclaimed Bilbo aloud,
You instinctively sense and exploit people’s emotional but what he thought inside was: “Old
vulnerabilities, and you ignore an enemy’s Grit by 1 fool! Why, there is a large patch in the
point per rank of Spot Frailty when you damage their hollow of his left breast as bare as a
Morale. snail out of its shell!”
When you add your first rank of this ability, decide
Bilbo now has the information he needs to
whether your Spot Frailty applies to your foes’ Armor
ignore Smaug’s armor. He can’t use it himself,
or to their Grit. Once you reach 2 or more ranks of
though, so later he spends his pool point of Spot
Spot Frailty, the benefit applies to both Armor and
Frailty so that Bard of Laketown can use this
Grit, allowing you to automatically ignore 1 point per
same vulnerability against a single foe (Smaug)
rank of each.
for a single scene.
Sample Spend: Spend 1 point to give this ability’s
It’s not exact, of course. But we love it enough
benefit to an ally for use against a single, designated foe
to want it in our game.
for one scene.
 32 Swords of the Serpentine

Tactics of Death
Designer Notes:
You understand ambushes, combat tactics, particularly
lethal weapon maneuvers, and the most efficient The Clash of Armies
Your Hero

and imaginative methods for making an enemy stop

breathing. You can look at the aftermath of a fight and The Swords of the Serpentine core rules don’t
understand how the battle progressed. By looking at include tactical mass combat, but we can easily
wounds, you can tell the type of weapon that inflicted imagine games where the Heroes are the generals
them, as well as the approximate height and strength of or key leaders of a fighting force — Aragorn in
the assailant. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Howard’s Conan
If you ever stumble into a fight or ambush that as a warlord, or Cook’s The Black Company all
might be lethally unwinnable, Tactics of Death may spring to mind as literary inspirations. It’s up to
give you enough advance warning to retreat or change the GM to allow (or disallow) Tactics of Death to
your tactics. influence the result of a large-scale clash between
Sample Spend: Spend a point to gain a second action navies, mercenary companies, or armies. They
in the same round, as long as at least one action is used should take both army size and player strategy
to attack. into account, incorporate any Tactics of Death
You’re skilled at influencing a battle’s odds. Pick a spends, go around the table along with the players
General ability such as Warfare or Athletics. For every to narrate (and possibly play out) a montage of
point you spend, for the length of a scene all enemies the battle’s most important turning points, and
suffer a 1-point penalty to their tests when using that then decide which side wins and by how large a
ability. Narrate how you are creating an interesting margin.
tactical advantage that accomplishes this. This tactical
advantage doesn’t have to come from traditional Wilderness Mastery
methods such as seizing the high ground or using clever You can track animals and navigate trackless wastes
troop movement, although it certainly can. with ease. Others may starve or die of exposure in the
A company of twenty mercs corners you hinterlands, but you thrive away from civilization. With
in a dead-end alley, angry that you killed your GM’s permission, you may even have a mystical link
their employer just because she tried to with certain animals that follow you as companions.
poison you. Wanting to even the odds while You can train birds (usually pigeons, ravens, or gulls)
simultaneously showcasing your Hero’s as carrier animals to send and receive messages. This is
religious beliefs, you boldly announce that the fastest way to get a message across Eversink or from
the Goddess Denari disapproved of their one nation to another. You may even gain leads in this
treacherous employer and that She will mark fashion.
them and cause their blows to go astray if Sample Spend: When outside, spend a point to move
they keep their tainted loyalty. You spend twice as quickly as normal for one round.
2 pool points of Tactics of Death, and now Spend pool points to stampede a herd of animals,
the mercenaries suffer a 2-point penalty from rats to cattle — the more points spent, the greater
on any Warfare attacks for the rest of the the effect — or to choose the weather for an upcoming
scene.
scene. The mercenaries are likely to retreat
For a 1-point spend, your GM may also allow you to
as soon as they realize that they’re at such a
bond for the adventure with one or more specific animals.
disadvantage, and some may even repent.
This could let you see through your falcon’s eyes, have a
wolf attack for you, or briefly channel a stallion’s speed.
If you find yourself commanding troops of Supporting
This mystical use of the ability smacks of sorcery, and you
Characters (whether small units or whole armies),
may not wish to use it when there’s an inquisitor around.
spend 1 or more pool points to give your troops an
Bonded animal attacks use your Warfare pool, typically
offensive or defensive tactical advantage in combat, as
inflict Damage Modifier +1, and have their own place in
determined by your GM.
the initiative order separate from your own.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 33

Player Advice:
Call of the Wild

Your Hero
Wilderness Mastery is probably
the least-selected ability for the
predominantly urban Heroes who
are based in Eversink — why in the
world would anyone ever want to
come face-to-face with dangerous
nature? — but it’s essential if you
go on an expedition outside of the
city walls or choose to explore the
world. Remember that you can
spend pool points of Allies to hire
a reputable guide for the duration
of an adventure.
Even if you never leave the
city, Wilderness Mastery is a must
for anyone who loved the old
movie Beastmaster, or who wants
huge flocks of aggressive seagulls
to harass their enemies. See p.
153 for more details on animal
companions.

Allegiances
Allegiances allow you to wield political power in the � Ancient Nobility (p. 288): dissolute but infinitely
same way a warrior might wield a sword. They help you proud, clinging to their social graces and ancestral
manipulate politics and call in powerful favors in a way superiority within their crumbling mansions.
you might not see in a typical fantasy game. � Church of Denari, goddess of Commerce and
Allegiances are Investigative abilities tied to rival Civilization (p. 290): every exchange of money
political factions in your game. Allies and Enemies is a prayer to her sly wisdom and obsession with
are permanent Allegiances, have ranks, and act as trade that defines the city itself. Her priests are
standard Investigative abilities. Favors and Grudges moneylenders who hunt down Sorcerers and carry
are temporary Allegiances, never have ranks, and have out her will.
pools of influence that disappear once they’re used. � City Watch (p. 291): these poor bastards are
Pick your Allies and Enemies from the following under-funded, under-respected, and the hardest
political factions, as well as others the GM creates. working employees in Eversink. They’re responsible
 34 Swords of the Serpentine

for enforcing order, solving murders, and bringing � The Triskadane (p. 301): anonymous rulers
the guilty to the gallows. of Eversink, their secret police, and the vast
� Commoners (p. 291): no one remembers the government bureaucracy of committees that keeps
Your Hero

underclass, but the commoners look out for their the city functioning as well as it does.
own, and there’s a lot more poor in Eversink than
there are nobles. A terrifying force when roused.
� The Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers (p. Assigning Allegiances
292): despite rumors that guildmembers often die
young from disease and injury, this powerful guild Assign 2 Investigative Build Points to any political
ensures Eversink’s architectural stability, and thus faction as Allies, and one point to any faction as an
enjoys significant political sway within the city. Enemy. You can also assign any leftover Build Points
� Mercanti (p. 293): the new-money nobility of from character creation into Allies.
Eversink, church-blessed families whose iron grip Your GM may want all the Heroes to be associated
on specific guilds brings in the trade that powers with the same faction, and so will assign your Enemy
the city. rank or one of your Allies ranks for you. The second
� Mercenaries (including House Armies) (p. rank of Allies is always yours to assign freely.
295): hard-living professional warriors who stay
loyal as long as their pay doesn’t run out. Your GM wants all the player characters to
� Monstrosities (p. 295): most people have be working for one of the Guildhalls of the
never seen one, but there are rumors that a
Mercanti. You mark down “Mercanti 1”
loose community of non-humans live within (or
under Allies. You decide you were raised in
underneath) Eversink. They’re unlikely to have
Denari’s best interests at heart.
the poor part of the city and you still have a
� Outlanders (p. 297): an unorganized and lot of friends there, so you spend your second
unpredictable group of barbarians, travelers, Ally Build Point to take “Commoners 1”. As
tourists, professional adventurers and piratical a commoner, you probably don’t have a lot
scoundrels seeking some quick coin. of affection for the Ancient Nobility, and
� The Sorcerous Cabals (p. 298): Sorcery is you decide a noble house (to be decided later)
considered inhuman, unnatural, and antithetical to had your grandmother falsely executed for
the grace of the goddess Denari. If one or more sorcery and still has it out for your family.
sorcerous cabals exist, they’re a threat to everything You spend your Enemy point to mark one
right-thinking people love. A sorcerous cabal is rank of “Ancient Nobility”.
typically headquartered and run from outside of
Eversink, and its agents typically represent sorcerers’ If you ever have an Allegiance rank of 2 or more with a
interests in the city. political faction, you gain a reputation with them, and
� Thieves’ Guilds (p. 299): avoiding taxes is members of that group are likely to recognize and know
a mortal sin in the eyes of the goddess Denari, about you. As your fame (or infamy) grows, so does
but making money is a blessing, so it’s fair to say your reputation.
the dozens of smugglers’ and thieves’ guilds are
conflicted at best. They’re a shadowy power in the
city, and they manipulate power most people don’t
even suspect exists.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 35

General Abilities

Your Hero
General abilities represent taking actions in the game.
When your character wants to do something, your GM Initial Build Points
will indicate what General ability you need to roll. You for General Abilities
can spend one or more of your General ability pool
points and add them to your roll, typically trying to When creating your Hero, split 30 General Build
hit a target Difficulty of 4. That means by spending 3 points between General abilities, excluding Health
points from your ability, you’ll automatically succeed in and Morale. There’s no minimum spend; the maximum
most situations. you can spend on your highest ability is twice the rank
Each rank in an ability gives you one pool point, so of the next highest ability. Each rank in a General ability
Warfare 4 gives you 4 pool points to spend. Your pool costs 1 Build point.
in an ability may rise and fall as you refresh and then Next, split an additional 18 points between Health
spend points, but the rating (number of ranks in that and Morale, spending a minimum of 3 in each ability.
ability) remains the same. Larger pools give you more 10 points or more in Health or Morale increases that
options and effectiveness in an action scene. ability’s Health or Morale Threshold (see p. 77)
You can refresh spent General ability points from 3 to 4.
throughout the game, as described on p. 97.
You use 14 Build points to buy Sorcery 14, a
high rank. To do so you must have another
Scale for General Abilities ability at 7 points. This leaves you only 9
points to split between other General abilities.
� Rank 0 in a General ability means that unless you That’s not much, so you decide to spend 10
are attacking, you may not roll the die to attempt points on Sorcery instead. That leaves 15
success unless the GM gives you specific permission more Build points to distribute freely, once
to do so
you buy at least one ability at rank 5.
� Rank 1-3 indicates that you are a dabbler
� Rank 4-7 means you’re trained and are quite
competent
Player Advice:
� Rank 8-15 indicates that you are an expert in that
ability, and qualify for the special bonuses called Stock Up on a Combat Ability
Talents.
You’ll be most effective in combat if you have
at least one combat ability (Sorcery, Sway, or
Talents: Warfare) at 5 or higher, and you’re unlikely to
regret raising one of these abilities to at least 8
Rewarding Specialization ranks. Taking down many Mooks at once with
your ability’s Talent isn’t just good tactics, it’s
Every General ability except for Health and Morale has
darned fun.
a Talent, a feature that kicks in when the character has a
If you want to play a non-combatant but still
rank of 8 or higher in the ability. Talents exist to reward
be effective in a fight, choose Sway. You’ll have
specialization, to mark the point where “competent”
a chance to turn the tide of battles without ever
becomes “expert”, and to make sure you get more bang
picking up a weapon or shedding blood.
for your buck when you focus on a limited number of
General abilities. Most Talents function constantly; you
can always use a Talent’s special benefit, even if that
ability’s pool has dropped to 0.
 36 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Why Two Types of Abilities?

Your Hero

The two ability sets are handled differently because they have different jobs during an adventure. The goal
of most adventures in Swords of the Serpentine is to solve a problem — stop (or commit!) a crime, unravel a
mystery, identify a sorcerer — and then confront or manipulate the forces behind it. That confrontation must
be suspenseful, which is why General abilities have a possibility of failure. But the confrontation has to occur
in order for your players to feel satisfied, which is why investigating the problem — in order to get to the
confrontation — must succeed. A well-designed scenario rewards players for cleverly or stylishly solving the
problem by making the confrontation more exciting, more survivable, or flat-out more fun.
For more on scenario design, see GM Advice starting on p. 201.

List of General Abilities

Page
Ability Name Description Talent
Number

Covers physical activities such as You have the opportunity to dodge or parry
Athletics 37
running, jumping, and climbing. Warfare attacks.

Spend 1 point to heal someone

Bind Wounds Heal yourself as efficiently as you heal others. 37
else 2 Health points.

Pick pockets, open locks, sleight

Burglary Pick pockets as a free action. 38
of hand, steal things.

How hard you are to kill or

Health defeat (and believe us, many 38
things would like to kill you!)

How long you stay in a conflict

Morale 38
before surrendering.

Roll to have what you need, Set up Flashbacks where, on the fly, you
Preparedness 38
when you need it. establish your schemes and plans.

Use your Sorcerous Spheres

You may injure more than one target on a
Sorcery to attack someone’s Health or 40
high attack roll.
Morale.

You can disappear and pop up wherever and

Stealth You move unseen. 41
whenever you want to.

Use fear or persuasion to attack You may injure more than one target on a
Sway 41
someone’s Morale. high attack roll.

Use a weapon to attack You may injure more than one target on a
Warfare 42
someone’s Health. high attack roll.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 37

General Ability Descriptions

Your Hero
Athletics Designer Notes:
The Awkward Dodge
Athletics allows you to perform general acts of physical
derring-do, from running and jumping, to climbing a We thought long and hard before adding Dodge
wall. Any physical action not covered by another ability to the game. Thematically we love it — it echoes
probably falls under the rubric of Athletics. With a classic swordfights and battles where a hero
successful Athletics test, you can: simply avoids an attack that should have skewered
[ throw a bottle of alchemist’s fire her, it chews away steadily at your Athletics pool,
[ race after someone and it pairs nicely with shields and bucklers —
[ climb walls but it uses a mechanic that we don’t use much
[ swim out from underneath a collapsing building elsewhere, and it has the potential of slowing
[ dive for cover without using an action down the game until the player gets the hang
[ ride a horse of a fast opposed roll. Yet it’s the kind of ability
[ pole a gondola. that can really save your butt at the last moment,
especially if an evil sorcerer has just flung a brutal
Talent: Dodge
spell at you and maybe, just maybe, you can
You can try to dodge or parry attacks against your dodge out of the way…? Playtesters found it fun,
Health. After you’ve successfully been attacked, but we agreed, and so in it stays.
before your foe rolls damage, spend at least 1 point of That said, we haven’t added the equivalent of
Athletics and roll an Athletics test. You must exceed Dodge for avoiding Morale attacks. There wasn’t
the attacker’s successful result; if their result was a 5 to a General ability that “Laugh It Off” (the name
attack you, for instance, your result must be 6 or higher being an excellent playtester suggestion) seemed
to successfully Dodge. If you’re using a buckler or to fit, and it felt like a solution in search of a
shield, you must only meet (not exceed) the attacker’s problem, especially since by design it’s far more
result to successfully Dodge. efficient in the game to heal Morale damage
with Sway than it is to heal Health damage with
Bind Wounds. We like the classic feel of Morale
Bind Wounds getting battered down during a fight by insulting
or terrifying foes, and then getting encouraged
You can spend your action restoring Health points to
at a key moment by a well-timed inspirational
yourself or others. Unlike other General abilities, you
pep talk. Laugh It Off doesn’t quite capture that
do not roll a die when spending pool points of Bind
tone, so out it goes.
Wounds. Instead, every point you spend from your
Bind Wounds pool restores 2 Health points to someone
else who has lost Health points, or 1 Health point to
you. This is capped at their Health rank.
Healing becomes less effective once your patient points to try to hit a Difficulty number. Such spends do
becomes Seriously Wounded, at or below -6 Health. not simultaneously restore Health points.
See Healing Injuries on p. 80 for additional details. You can describe your healing methods however you
Rarely, Bind Wounds tests are used for actions other wish, whether you use leeches (as most physicians do),
than healing; for instance, a Difficulty 4 Bind Wounds poultices, or rare herbs. For instance, it’s common for
test can stabilize someone who is Seriously Wounded. those faithful to Denari to be granted magical healing,
In such cases, roll a die normally and add Bind Wounds and Sorcerers who specialize in flesh might be able to
 38 Swords of the Serpentine

knit together wounds. You both use the same Bind action, or when you do — your choice. You can use Fast
Wounds rules, but choose to describe it as miraculous Hands to either remove something or add something
or magical. to their pockets.
Your Hero

Talent: Plenty of Leeches

If your Bind Wounds rating is 8 or more, you can heal Health
yourself as efficiently as you can heal others, gaining 2
points of your own Health back for every point of Bind Your Health measures how hard you are to kill or
Wounds you spend on yourself. Pack extra leeches! defeat, and how close you are to perishing when foes
attempt to cause you damage.

Burglary
Morale
Burglary is the nuts and bolts of being a skilled thief.
It’s different from Stealth, which is all about not being Your Morale measures how close you are to fleeing
noticed. Using Burglary you can go where you’re not when foes attempt to demoralize you, or otherwise
wanted and steal what’s there. oppose you. It is also used to gauge stubbornness,
With a successful Burglary test, you can: measure willpower, and resist sorcerous mind control.
[ pick pockets without being noticed
[ plant small objects on people
[ pick locks Preparedness
[ deactivate or evade mechanical traps (and even
Sorcerous traps, if you have at least 1 rank in You never know what you’re going to need on an
Corruption) adventure, and Swords of the Serpentine assumes you’re
[ find suitable places for breaking and entering, and packing some nonstandard gear above and beyond
use them what you have written down on your character sheet.
[ find relatively safe routes through dangerous but Assuming you have access to your gear, you can produce
navigable portions of the undercity. whatever object you or your allies need to overcome an
obstacle.
Some locks require specialized tools that can be Make a Preparedness test at a Difficulty specified
produced with a Preparedness test. Complex or tricky by the GM, usually 4; if you succeed, you have the
locks and traps may have a higher than usual Difficulty item you want. You don’t need to do this in advance
to open them speedily, to avoid noise or damage, or of the adventure: you can simply sort through your
to relock or reset afterward. Some traps require ranks nonstandard gear as the need arises. The rarer the item,
of specific Investigative abilities to bypass; the most the higher the Difficulty, although you can typically
common of these are magical traps, wards or glyphs purchase them using both your Preparedness and your
requiring 1 or more ranks of Corruption to successfully Wealth (see p. 131) if you’re in a location where such
bypass with Burglary. items are for sale.
You don’t need to use Preparedness to produce
Talent: Fast Hands minor and inconsequential items appropriate to your
Once per round, you can try to pick someone’s pocket lifestyle (such as typical dress, a knife, or a standard
without taking an action to do so, even if you’re sword for someone focused on Warfare), or basic tools
in combat at the time. This Burglary test is usually that allow your abilities to function (such as lockpicks
Difficulty 4 but may be higher or lower depending if you have Burglary). You have to roll Preparedness
on what you’re trying to steal. If you don’t mind if you’re trying to produce a non-basic weapon, for
your target noticing you just picked their pocket, the instance, chain mail, or oddball items that suddenly
Difficulty is 1 point lower. come in handy in the course of the adventure.
Your target must be at Point-Blank range, and you The sorts of items you can produce at a moment’s
can try to pick their pocket either when they take an notice depend on narrative credibility. If the GM
Chapter 2: Your Hero 39

Designer Notes: Preparedness as a Combat Ability

Your Hero
One early playtest started with the Heroes on a small canal boat facing down three other boats full of angry
opponents. One Hero leapt between boats and attacked with Warfare; one Hero used Sway to intimidate
enemies on a second boat into backing down; and one Hero used Preparedness to attack.
Wait, what?
“I have the Flashback talent from a high Preparedness, and I knew this might happen. I’m going to say
we’re right next to a huge facility that processes the pig feces from the slaughterhouse. I’m going to whistle,
and my friends up there are going to open the valve to the high pressure outlet pipe… the pipe that’s right
next to the people we’re about to fight. Can I use Preparedness as a combat ability?”
Yes, you gloriously inventive pig-foulness-spraying tactician. Yes, you can. Just make a successful roll for
your Flashback first.
The point of this? Whether it’s using Burglary to drop a venomous snake down someone’s neck, or
Athletics to throw alchemist’s fire, allow players to use non-combat abilities as combat abilities when it makes
sense. It rewards creativity.

determines that your possession of an item (especially Preparedness test to succeed, and you must still convince
a sorcerous item) would seem ludicrous and/or out of the GM that your precaution is credible. If the action
genre for her game, you don’t get to roll for it. You required a test (of Burglary, Stealth, etc.) you or your
simply don’t have it. Any item that elicits a mocking collaborators must make it successfully. Depending on
laugh from the group when suggested is probably out the result, the GM might introduce a complication to
of bounds. make life interesting…
Gear you acquire with Preparedness doesn’t stay on The difference between a Flashback and a standard
your character sheet. Investigative or General point spend is twofold.
[ Your plan can involve other Heroes and their
Talent: Flashback abilities.
If your Preparedness rating is 8 or more you can narrate
[ You can present your plan to the GM as a fait
accompli; you don’t need to go back and roleplay
a flashback where your group prepared a secret plan in
your fellow Heroes hiding blackmail material in
the past, even if no one had been aware of it until now.
an easy-to-find location. You just grab narrative
Examples include:
control, state what occurs, roll your Preparedness
[ declare that a foe’s breakfast that morning was
test, and then each Hero involved spends whatever
poisoned
points are needed, and succeeds with their rolls, to
[ a portal normally kept locked and barred is left ajar
make it happen.
[ a dagger smuggled in earlier is hidden beneath your
chair A suspect is fleeing from you across the densely
[ a stolen satchel of treasure turns out to be previously packed rooftops of one of Eversink’s poorer
switched for an identical one with different contents
districts. It’s common to have planks of wood
[ you’ve previously bribed one of the two armed
mercenaries threatening you to be your ally. between buildings to act as impromptu
You must have had opportunity and the means to bridges for the locals. Using Flashback, you
set up the action, which can include the help of fellow announce that Prophecy warned you about
Heroes even if you haven’t filled their players in on this, so you previously had an ally partially
the Flashback plan until this very moment. (This, by saw through one of the wooden planks that
the way, is an excellent reason to keep pre-adventure hangs above a pig pen 10 meters below. This
planning as loose as possible: you’ll have more “blank is a complete surprise to your fellow player
space” available for preparation.) You must still make a Karla, but she’s enthusiastic about the plan.
 40 Swords of the Serpentine

You make a Preparedness test, Karla makes [ Minimum guaranteed damage from Sorcery points
a Burglary test for her Hero (since it involves only applies to your initial target.
Your Hero

a hidden trap), and your suspect falls 10

meters into a pig pen if they don’t have the You only spend 1 point of Sorcery when
Athletics to catch themselves. attacking your foe, but you luckily roll a
6 on the die for a total attack result of 7.
Your initial target had a Health Threshold
Sorcery of 4; you exceeded this by 3, so you also hit a
second foe nearby with no additional attack
Prerequisite: 1 or more ranks of Corruption. required. Describe what happened and roll
Sorcery is a combat ability. It’s also particularly damage separately against each victim, or
flexible; see p. 112 for details on all the ways you can just assign the second victim 4 damage to
use Sorcery and Corruption. Mostly, though, you use save time.
Sorcery to attack your foes.
Using the Sorcery General ability does not cause
Corruption in the area around you.

Talent: Blast
If you have Sorcery of 8 or more,
you can use powerful Sorcery to
automatically attack multiple foes, or
blast through many mooks at once.
[ After rolling a successful Sorcery
attack, your final attack result
determines how many additional
foes you hit. Each three points
over the target number, rounded
down, allows you to hit one
additional foe. If your original
target was Health or Morale
Threshold 4, you need a result of
7 to hit one extra foe, 10 to hit 2
extra foes, etc.
[ Health or Morale damage against
additional foes has Damage
Modifier +1. Want to save time?
Instead of rolling a die, assign 4
damage (a low average) against
each additional foe.
[ Attacks using Blast never score a
Critical Hit.
[ Additional foes must be in Close
range of your original target.
[ Additional foes must have a
Health or Morale Threshold
equal to or less than that of your
original target.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 41

A Hero with the Vigilance Investigative ability might

GM Advice: not be fooled by Stealth; see p. 25. Some Foes have
Describing General Ability Use Stealth Modifiers or Alertness Modifiers that increase or

Your Hero
lower the Difficulty of Stealth tests.
It’s good to remember that players describe
their General ability use in whatever way Talent: Where’d She Go?
is coolest or most fun, but should still use When you succeed at a Stealth test, disappear from a
whichever General ability best applies to the location and reappear later in a physically accessible
action they’re attempting. This comes up most location at a convenient time during the same scene,
commonly when they describe using Sorcery to without worrying about how you got there.
do something normally resolved with Athletics. This means you can slide behind a pillar mid-combat
They should absolutely describe climbing onto a and a moment later rise up behind the evil high priest
roof by simply animating the rock beneath their up on his pulpit. It’s okay that no one saw how you
feet to fling them upwards, because that’s a lot sneaked behind him; you’re that good.
more fun and cinematic. Just remember that
having Sorcery is what enables them to do it this
way, and it might be the fast route — but flying Sway
through the air and landing safely still requires an
Athletics test. Sway is a combat ability. It allows you to attack a foe’s
Morale, demoralizing or terrifying them into surrender
or flight even if you never engage in physical warfare.
Your words and non-verbal behavior can end a fight
without a single blow being struck. You can also use
Stealth
Sway as an action to restore your own or someone else’s
lost Morale (p. 83), even impacting more than one
Sometimes it’s better not to be seen or noticed. You’re
person at once.
good at noticing other people trying to be unobtrusive,
and you’re skilled at not being noticed yourself. With a
successful Stealth test, you can:
Talent: Play to the Crowd
[ hide in plain sight within a crowd Your words can sway multiple people when attacking,
[ blend into the shadows to hide most useful against many Mooks at once. After rolling
[ escape from someone following you a successful Sway attack, your final attack result
[ spot someone trying to hide or be sneaky determines how many additional foes you hit. Each
[ avoid being Surprised in combat three points over the target number, rounded down,
[ Surprise others in combat allows you to sway one additional foe. If your original
[ follow someone without being noticed. target was Morale Threshold 4, you need a result of 7
to hit one extra foe, 10 to hit 2 extra foes, etc.

Designer Notes: Sway, as Seen Through the Lens of J.R.R. Tolkien

The riddle contest between Bilbo and Gollum, deep beneath the Misty Mountains? Smaug atop his dragon
hoard, using his voice to lure out an invisible Bilbo? Éomer, Gandalf, and the Rohirrim terrifying the orcs as
they charge down the hill towards Helm’s Deep… or for that matter, the terrifying scream of the Nazgûl?
Wormtongue whispering to King Théoden, and Gandalf breaking the spell? Saruman speaking from the
balcony of Orthanc in Isengard? The one ring itself, corrupting anyone who claims it?
All Sway.
 42 Swords of the Serpentine

[ Morale damage against additional foes has Damage Talent: Cleave

Modifier +1. Want to save time? Instead of rolling a
You can quickly stab multiple people or fire multiple
die, assign 4 Morale damage (a low average) against
arrows in quick succession. After rolling a successful
Your Hero

each additional foe.

Warfare attack, your final attack result determines how
[ Attacks using Play to the Crowd never score a
many additional foes you hit. Each three points over
Critical Hit.
the target number, rounded down, allows you to hit
[ Additional foes must be in Close range of your
one additional foe. If your original target was Health
original target.
Threshold 4, you need a result of 7 to hit one extra
[ Additional foes must have a Morale Threshold
foe, 10 to hit 2 extra foes, etc. This is most useful for
equal to or less than that of your original target.
attacking many Mooks at once.
[ Minimum guaranteed damage from Sway points
[ Health damage against additional foes has the
only applies to your initial target.
Damage Modifier of your current weapon. Want to
save time? Instead of rolling a damage die, assign
4 Health damage (a low average) against each
Warfare additional foe.
[ Attacks using Cleave never score a Critical Hit.
Warfare is a combat ability. Whether fighting with [ Additional foes must be in Close range of your
ranged weapons like a bow or crossbow, melee weapons original target.
like a sword or dagger, an improvised weapon, or even [ Additional foes must have a Health Threshold
bare fists or claws, a Warfare test determines whether equal to or less than that of your original target.
you successfully hit a foe in physical combat. [ Minimum guaranteed damage from Warfare points
only applies to your initial target.

Minor, Iconic Gear

In Swords of the Serpentine, who you are is defined by (such as “wanted poster with my face on it and an
the things you keep around. We don’t mean powerful insultingly low reward amount”).
weapons and epic magical items: in a sword & sorcery You can add to your character-defining gear at any
game, those come and go. We mean the small and time, or remove items that no longer tell someone
personal trinkets that help define your life. The things who you are. You never need to roll Preparedness for
in your pockets, around your neck, on your feet. The character-defining gear when it doesn’t give you a
things that you hold dear and that would tell someone mechanical advantage. If something does give you a
investigating your corpse what kind of a person you are. mechanical or narrative advantage (such as armor or
Feel free to name signature gear, particularly weapons. your own dwelling), it’s probably fine, but quickly run
Having tangible reminders of who you are and the list past your GM for approval.
where you came from strengthens your will. Heroes When considering your character-defining gear, give
with at least five items of character-defining gear gain yourself an anchor to Eversink’s social structure. Don’t
Grit 1 against Morale attacks. be afraid to establish yourself with a residence that
Gear is usually physical, but it can also be emotional matches your political Allies and/or Enemies.
or mental (such as “deep longing for a time before you Gear you acquire with Preparedness doesn’t stay on
joined the City Watch” or “burning envy for those who your character sheet. Gear you find during an adventure,
weren’t turned away from the Guild of Architects”). or that you purchase using Wealth, sticks around until
You’ll know you’ve done a good enough job when used up, lost or broken. Write it down on your character
a friend can look at your Gear list and be able to tell sheet if you wish to keep (and carry) it. Be aware that
you what makes your Hero tick. You’re encouraged the GM may raise the Difficulty of Athletics tests by +1
to create items that hint at a fun story or plot hook, to +4, especially while swimming, if she thinks you’re
especially if they’re not necessarily good for your Hero carrying an unreasonable or awkward quantity of gear.
Chapter 2: Your Hero 43

Your Hero
 44 Swords of the Serpentine

Examples of Character-Defining Gear

Your Hero

Sorcerer from Ancient Nobility Inquisitor of Denari

[ Family signet ring [ Very worn holy coin of Denari
[ Noble titles that sound great and carry debts [ Blessed coin pouch, full of most recent pay (not
[ Beautifully tailored but threadbare clothing yet tithed)
[ Family history bound (at her own request, according [ Mace of the faithful (Damage Modifier +1)
to family legend) in your great-grandmother’s skin � Well-worn uniform/robes
[ The last flawless gown remaining from your youth [ Chain mail crafted from old silver coins, passed
[ Key to your decaying family mansion down from your great-grandfather (Armor 2)
[ Loyal, aging servant whose name you can never [ Codex of Denari’s Holy Word and Tax Code
remember [ A Sorcerer’s shriveled tongue (a constant reminder)
[ Shared dormitory room attached to a dockside
Thief with the Harbor Knives, a chapel
thieves’ guild of smugglers
Outlander Barbarian Warrior
[ Encrypted list of Harbor Knives’ safe houses
[ Hidden book of blackmail information
[ Empty wineskin
[ Bottle of mild poison
[ Empty money pouch
[ Bottle of antidote that itself is severely poisoned [ Lucky knife stolen from a foolish merchant who
thought he could betray you. If he comes for it,
[ Well-honed dagger named Blackthorn (Damage
you aren’t giving it back. (Damage Modifier +0)
Modifier +0)
[ Sturdy leather armor you stole from a rival (Armor [ Severed and mostly-dried merchant’s hand. If he
comes for it, you aren’t giving this back, either.
1)
[ Empty coin purse
[ Well-used axe you call by the name of the last
creature you killed (Damage Modifier +2)
[ Token of affection stolen from noblewoman
[ Attic room with a leaky ceiling but easy roof access [ Long list of dead enemies
[ Short list of alive enemies
[ Untameable stallion you easily ride
Chapter 2: Your Hero 45

Quick-Start Character Templates

Your Hero
Want to get started quickly? Grab one of these templates and then tweak it after your first game.
Each template is written assuming that you have 5 or more Heroes in your party, so each starts with 10
Investigative Build points. If you have fewer than 5 Heroes in your group, add a number of additional points per
the table on p. 19.

Assassin
Killing with poison or with a knife in the back, you possess
enough broad knowledge to be terrifyingly effective.
Health 11, Morale 7
Allegiances:
Ally: Thieves’ Guilds 1, Ally: Ancient Nobility 1,
Enemy: City Watch 1
Social Abilities: Charm 1, Intimidation 1, Liar’s Tell
1, Servility 1
Sentinel Abilities: Vigilance 1
Sorcerer Abilities: Leechcraft 1
Thief Abilities: Ridiculous Luck 1, Skulduggery 2
Warrior Abilities: Spot Frailty 1 (vs. Health)
General Abilities: Athletics 8, Burglary 3, Preparedness
2, Stealth 8, Sway 1, Warfare 8

Barbarian
With little or no knowledge of the city and a deadly mastery
of warfare, visiting barbarians are typically placated (or
manipulated) by nearby locals.

Health 12, Morale 6

Allegiances: Ally: Outlanders 2, Enemy: Triskadane 1
Social Abilities: Charm 1, Command 1, Intimidation
2, Taunt 1
Warrior Abilities: Know Monstrosities 1, Spot Frailty
2, Tactics of Death 2, Wilderness Mastery 1
General Abilities: Athletics 8, Bind Wounds 3,
Preparedness 3, Stealth 3, Sway 3, Warfare 10
 46 Swords of the Serpentine

Beggar
Don’t let the rags or odor fool you; when information or
Your Hero

gossip is a weapon, few are deadlier than an informed

beggar.

Health 7, Morale 11
Allegiances: Ally: Commoners 1, Ally: Thieves’ Guild
1, Enemy: Ancient Nobility 1
Social Abilities: Liar’s Tell 1, Servility 3, Taunt 1,
Trustworthy 1
Thief Abilities: City’s Secrets 1, Scurrilous Rumors 2,
Skulduggery 2
General Abilities: Athletics 4, Burglary 8, Preparedness
4, Stealth 4, Sway 8, Warfare 2

Brute
Big, strong, and brutally effective.

Health 11, Morale 7

Allegiances: Ally: Mercenaries 1, Ally: Thieves’ Guild
1, Enemy: Commoners 1
Social Abilities: Intimidation 2, Liar’s Tell 1, Taunt 1
Sentinel Abilities: Felonious Intent 2, Vigilance 1
Thief Abilities: Ridiculous Luck 1
Warrior Abilities: Spot Frailty 2
General Abilities: Athletics 8, Burglary 3, Preparedness
3, Stealth 8, Warfare 8

Burglar
Take what you want, get out safely, and never let them
know you were there.

Health 9, Morale 9
Allegiances: Ally: Thieves’ Guild 2, Enemy: City Watch
1
Social Abilities: Charm 1, Intimidation 1, Liar’s Tell
1, Servility 1, Trustworthy 1
Thief Abilities: City’s Secrets 1, Ridiculous Luck 2,
Scurrilous Rumors 1, Skulduggery 2
General Abilities: Athletics 5, Burglary 8, Preparedness
2, Stealth 8, Sway 2, Warfare 5
Chapter 2: Your Hero 47

Church Militant Inquisitor

Often clashing with less religious sellswords, you enforce You know horrible truths about Corruption, even if you’re

Your Hero
the temporal will of the Goddess and the Church. loathe to draw upon the power you possess.

Health 10, Morale 8 Health 8, Morale 10

Allegiances: Ally: Church of Denari 2, Enemy: Allegiances: Ally: Church of Denari 1, Ally: Triskadane
Mercenaries 1 1, Enemy: Sorcerous Cabals 1
Social Abilities: Intimidation 1, Liar’s Tell 1, Servility Social Abilities: Command 1, Intimidation 1, Liar’s
1, Trustworthy 1 Tell 2
Sentinel Abilities: Laws and Traditions 1 Sentinel Abilities: Felonious Intent 2, Laws and
Sorcerer Abilities: Leechcraft 1 Traditions 1, Spirit Sight 1, Vigilance 1
Warrior Abilities: Spot Frailty 2, Tactics of Death 2 Sorcerer Abilities: Corruption 1
General Abilities: Athletics 6, Bind Wounds 3, General Abilities: Athletics 5, Bind Wounds 3,
Preparedness 5, Sway 8, Warfare 8 Preparedness 8, Stealth 3, Sway 8, Warfare 3

Committee Diplomat Leecher

Politically adept, connected to power, and pulling the You know all about poison, disease and wounds — but it’s
strings. up to you whether to cure them or inflict them.

Health 7, Morale 11 Health 7, Morale 11

Allegiances: Ally: Triskadane 3, Ally: Mercanti 1, Allegiances: Ally: Mercanti 1, Ally: Mercenaries 1, Ally:
Enemy: Sorcerous Cabals 1 Thieves’ Guilds 1, Enemy: Monstrosities 1
Social Abilities: Charm 1, Command 1, Liar’s Tell 1, Social Abilities: Charm 1, Liar’s Tell 1, Trustworthy 1
Servility 1, Trustworthy 1 Sentinel Abilities: Laws and Traditions 1
Sentinel Abilities: Laws and Traditions 1 Sorcerer Abilities: Forgotten Lore 2, Leechcraft 2
Sorcerer Abilities: Prophecy 1 Thief Abilities: Skulduggery 1
Thief Abilities: City’s Secrets 1 General Abilities: Athletics 3, Burglary 3, Bind
General Abilities: Athletics 4, Preparedness 10, Stealth Wounds 8, Preparedness 8, Sway 4, Warfare 4
4, Sway 12

Marketpriest
Duelist
You are the friend of common people, and the bane of
Stylish, urbane, and witty, with a blade even deadlier thieves.
than your insults.
Health 8, Morale 10
Health 10, Morale 8 Allegiances: Ally: Church of Denari 1, Ally: Commoners
Allegiances: Ally: Ancient Nobility 2, Enemy: Mercanti 1 1, Enemy: Thieves’ Guilds 1
Social Abilities: Charm 1, Command 1, Nobility 2, Social Abilities: Charm 1, Liar’s Tell 1, Servility 1,
Taunt 1 Trustworthy 2
Thief Abilities: Ridiculous Luck 1, Scurrilous Rumors 1 Sentinel Abilities: Felonious Intent 2, Laws and
Warrior Abilities: Spot Frailty 1 (vs. Health), Tactics Traditions 2, Vigilance 2
of Death 2 General Abilities: Athletics 5, Preparedness 8, Stealth
General Abilities: Athletics 10, Preparedness 4, Stealth 3, Sway 8, Warfare 6
2, Sway 4, Warfare 10
 48 Swords of the Serpentine

Mercenary Sneak Thief

A classic freelance soldier, dedicated to fighting for those “I shake her hand, and I’m amazing at picking pockets.
Your Hero

who pay for the privilege. What did she give me?”

Health 10, Morale 8 Health 9, Morale 9

Allegiances: Ally: Mercenaries 2, Ally: Mercanti 1, Allegiances: Ally: Thieves’ Guilds 2, Enemy: City
Enemy: Outlanders 1 Watch 1
Social Abilities: Command 1, Intimidation 1, Liar’s Social Abilities: Charm 1, Liar’s Tell 1, Servility 1,
Tell 1, Trustworthy 1 Trustworthy 2
Warrior Abilities: Spot Frailty 2, Tactics of Death 3, Thief Abilities: City’s Secrets 1, Ridiculous Luck 1,
Wilderness Mastery 1 Scurrilous Rumors 1, Skulduggery 3
General Abilities: Athletics 8, Bind Wounds 2, General Abilities: Athletics 5, Burglary 8, Preparedness
Preparedness 6, Stealth 3, Sway 3, Warfare 8 2, Stealth 8, Sway 6, Warfare 1

Prophet Sorcerer
You see into other realms, and pray that the things in other Whether it comes from a possessing demon or ancient
realms don’t see you as well. tablets, your knowledge of Corruption can change reality
itself.
Health 6, Morale 12
Allegiances: Ally: Church of Denari 1, Ally: City Watch Health 7, Morale 11
1, Enemy: Sorcerous Cabals 1 Allegiances: Ally: Sorcerous Cabals 2, Enemy: Church
Social Abilities: Liar’s Tell 1, Trustworthy 1 of Denari 1
Sentinel Abilities: Spirit Sight 2, Vigilance 1 Social Abilities: Charm 1, Intimidation 1, Liar’s Tell
Sorcerer Abilities: Forgotten Lore 1, Prophecy 2 1, Nobility 1
Thief Abilities: City’s Secrets 1, Scurrilous Rumors 1 Sorcerer Abilities: Corruption 3, Forgotten Lore 2,
General Abilities: Athletics 5, Bind Wounds 5, Prophecy 2
Preparedness 8, Stealth 1, Sway 10, Warfare 1 General Abilities: Athletics 3, Preparedness 8, Sorcery
10, Stealth 3, Sway 6
Chapter 3: Rules 49

Chapter Three
Chapter Three

R u les

Rules
Swords of the Serpentine 101:
How to Play
Already created your Hero? Here are the basics on how to play, along with page numbers to look up more details.

The Basics To Attack

� Use Investigative abilities you have rank 1 or � To attack someone, tell the GM you’re using
more in to find leads and gather clues. (p. 18) Warfare (to attack someone’s Health), Sway (to
� Spend Investigative ability pool points to get attack their Morale), or Sorcery (which targets
powerful effects. (p. 51) either Health or Morale) (p. 65), and whether
� You have political Allegiances who can give you you want to spend points from that combat ability
information or lend you a hand. (p. 33) to add to your attack roll.
� Use General abilities to take actions. Roll a d6 � Roll a d6. You’re trying to meet or beat your
(before you roll, you can spend points from that target’s Health or Morale Threshold, usually
General ability’s pool) and try to match or exceed a a 3 or 4. That means by spending 3 points from
Difficulty number (usually 4). (p. 35) your ability, you’ll automatically succeed in most
� Spending Corruption lets you cast powerful spells situations. (p. 57)
or inflict exceptional damage, but corrupts either � If you can rationalize how spending an Investigative
your body, or your friends’ Morale and the world point might boost your attack, it gives you +3 on
around you. (p. 117) an attack roll. (p. 51)
� If you spent enough Wealth at the start of the � Is your attack ability rank 8 or higher, and you
game, you may have High Repute you can use to exceeded your roll by 3 or more? If so, you
buy your way out of trouble. (If you didn’t, your automatically attack more than one nearby foe.
Low Repute might cause you some trouble!) (p. (p. 68)
127) � You can use a teamwork attack instead of leaping
in to attack yourself, giving an ally your attack’s
damage; this lets you use Morale damage when
attacking Health, or vice versa. (p. 69)
 50 Swords of the Serpentine

� You can boost that damage by another 1 die or

To Damage more by spending Investigative points, if you can
explain to the GM how that ability can help hurt
� If your attack hit your target, you normally inflict your target more. (p. 71)
1d6 +1 damage. That damage may vary a bit if � The damage you inflict (and inflicted on you)
you’re using a weapon. (p. 68) is reduced by Armor (for Health) or Grit (for
� Your minimum result on that damage die roll Morale). (p. 75)
is the number of points (up to 6) you spent while � Use Maneuvers for combat stunts or manipulating
Rules

attacking. (p. 70) people: the target takes damage if they don’t allow
� If your attack exceeds the target number by 5 or your Maneuver to affect them. (p. 72)
more, you score a Critical Hit and do an extra die
of damage. (p. 68)

Mysteries, Leads, and Clues

Heroes in Swords of the Serpentine unravel mysteries, only when dramatically appropriate (and when they’ve
navigate politics, challenge enemies, and change the worked their way to the right information) do they
world. There are mysteries everywhere: Why do my uncover the true extent of the villain’s horrible plan.
allies want help on this mission, and what aren’t they Not every adventure is a mystery, of course. In a
telling me? Who is the hidden sorcerer who has cursed straightforward action story or a heist, your Investigative
my friend? Who or what is prowling the street at night? abilities give you leads into danger, excitement, and
Mysteries mean investigation, and investigation means rewards.
finding and following leads.
Leads and clues are very similar and are generally “We need money,” you say, “and I’m
used synonymously in these rules. If leads propel you sure not going to work for it if I can stab
towards adventure, clues are self-contained facts that someone and take theirs. I have a rank of
then point towards the right path. A clue might start Scurrilous Rumors and 2 ranks of Allies:
you towards a sunken tower full of treasure, and you’d Thieves’ Guilds. Any rumors of adventures
find a clue in an old map as to its location. or employment cross our ears?”
If there’s a clue to be gained in a scene, you’ll learn
the information you need to move forward in the
“Sure!” says the GM, making up
adventure from your Investigative abilities. All you interesting plot hooks off the top of her head.
need is to be in a location where you can find out that “A minor thief turned up dead in Ironcross
information, have an Investigative ability that might and his relatives are looking for someone to
logically apply, tell the GM how you’re using it, and find and punish the murderers before the
roleplay the scene. Watch does. Also, thieves’ guilds are looking
Of course, there may be consequences to what for a team to rob an important merchant
ability you use. If you Intimidate someone into giving from out of town, someone to poison a bottle
you information instead of treating them kindly, they of wine on a ship down in the harbor, and
may hate and resent you for it afterwards. If you use someone to go looking for a lost funerary
Skulduggery to blackmail information out of someone, statue that is apparently really important all
and they learn who you are, they will consider you a
of a sudden. Oh, and some merchants want
threat.
a “scout” for an expedition into ancient
Leads and clues work like in a sword & sorcery
ruins upriver.”
story or a mystery: the heroes learn information that
propels them into a confrontation with the villain, and “What pays best?” you ask.
Chapter 3: Rules 51

“The statue. Suspiciously well.” Player Advice: Note the Leads

“Good. I also have Skulduggery; let’s find
out why they’re willing to pay so much. We We’ve found it’s best to have at least one player
can investigate our employers at the same taking notes of active leads and clues found
time we’re finding their statue to sell back to during an adventure. If no one wishes to, the
them. Assuming they don’t kill us first.” GM should write down key names and factions
on index cards for the players, and be liberal

Rules
about occasionally summarizing known clues.

Passive and Active Leads

Some leads would be obvious to anyone searching a Spending Investigative
scene (or asking a knowledgeable ally for information), Ability Points
and the GM will give you these passive leads without
prompting. After all, anyone can notice a dead body, If you think of your Swords of the Serpentine game as a
even if it takes Leechcraft to know what turned it into a TV series, spending an Investigative point for an extra
corpse. You can then dig deeper for active leads to find benefit gives your character a juicy spotlight moment.
out even more. It’s a means of grabbing narrative control to accomplish
The GM usually hands these leads out to the most something exciting you might not otherwise have been
appropriate Hero, the Hero with the highest rank in able to pull off, telling the GM, “I want to do something
a relevant ability, or just the Hero who hasn’t done particularly cool with this, so please pay attention!”
anything cool for a bit. Your GM may offer you the chance to spend
Active leads or clues, in comparison, you need to additional points from your Investigative pool during
ask for. Think about what your Hero might be able to play, but it’s also up to you to ask if it there’s anything
know, look at the situation, and ask the GM if there to be gained by making an Investigative spend.
are any leads present that you might be able to notice. Spending an Investigative pool point doesn’t make
If you don’t ask, the GM probably isn’t going to offer you less knowledgeable about that subject, or reduce
that information. that ability’s rank; it just limits the number of times you
Scenarios and common sense suggest which leads can get special benefits related to that ability during the
are passive and which are active, but your GM may adventure.
adjust these in play depending on how much guidance You can spend an Investigative pool point to do any
you seem to need. On a night when you’re buzzing one of the following:
with caffeine, the GM may sit back and let you prompt � Gain a +3 bonus on a related General ability test
her for passive leads. When you’re bogged down and (including attacks).
confused, she may volunteer what would normally be � Gain +1 die of damage to a successful attack.
active leads. Investigative points from only one ability can be
added to any given attack.
Core Leads � Gain Armor 4 (which reduces Health damage) or
Grit 4 (which reduces Morale damage) for one
For each scene, the GM designates at least one core round.
lead. This is the information you absolutely need to � Increase your Health or Morale Threshold by +3
move to another core scene, and thus to eventually for one attack.
complete the adventure. � Give Supporting Characters a favorable impression
The Investigative ability the GM designates is just of you.
one possibility, not a straitjacket — if you come up with � Stretch the definition of the ability you’re using,
a plausible method using another Investigative ability, granting you a clue that would ordinarily be gained
the GM will give out the information. with a different ability than the one you have.
 52 Swords of the Serpentine

� Create one of the special effects noted under the Using General Abilities
ability’s description.
Investigatively
� Create a unique special effect that you and the GM
agree is balanced with others on this table. In a pinch most General abilities can also function
as Investigative abilities when they’re clearly the best
choice for gathering a lead. Stealth, for example, might
Designer Notes: The Most be used as an Investigative ability to cleanly infiltrate the
temple of a heretical cult without being seen (although
Important Part of the Game!
Rules

getting out again afterwards may be a lot trickier). A

minimum rating of 4 in the General ability, indicating
Spending Investigative pool points for extra
you are more skilled than a casual dabbler, is needed to
damage may be the most important part of
gain this benefit.
this game, and it’s a big difference from how
other GUMSHOE games work. When we were
designing Swords of the Serpentine we realized early
What If Something Is Hidden?
on that combat would have to be cinematic and Swords of the Serpentine has a fairly simple rule for
exciting. Exciting combat means high numbers, noticing someone or something hidden that isn’t a clue
and GUMSHOE’s typical “1d6+1 damage” or lead:
didn’t seem to fit. And so, players can (and
You spot something hidden with the same
should) spend Investigative pool points to buff
up their attack damage. This can do real damage General ability that was used to hide it.
to terrifying Adversaries, and when combined
with Critical hits and Teamwork attacks, can let Stealth is generally used to hide people or objects;
a player change the course of the battle with a Burglary is used to hide small objects on the body or in
single blow. If you’re hoping to model classic a room. A magical illusion not part of a Maneuver (see
sword & sorcery heroes, that matters. p. 72) is noticed with a Sorcery test, which means
illusions are difficult for most people to detect. If you
have ranks in Vigilance, every rank you possess gives
Each benefit costs 1 or more points from the relevant you +1 Alertness modifier (p. 25) on this test.
pool, depending on what you’re trying to achieve – the The GM may ask you to make a test without telling
GM can tell you how much it will cost, and can give you you why. If she does, it may be to see if you notice
the option of describing a montage instead of playing something hidden that she doesn’t otherwise want to
out the entire scene. tell you about.
Alertness modifiers and Stealth modifiers (see p.
“You want to rob the heavily guarded 57) might affect the Difficulty of spotting something
Guildhall just to steal money? That’s not hidden. Your GM may apply these modifiers if
a lead; to save time you can spend 1 point something is harder or easier than normal to spot, just
of Servility to sneak in briefly as a servant giving you a final target Difficulty.
during the day, 2 points of Servility to pretty A thief is following you because she wants
much have the run of the place overnight, or to rob you. To notice her you roll a Stealth
you can spend nothing and we’ll play out the test, plus any Alertness modifier you may
whole scene trying to infiltrate using Stealth. have. The Difficulty is 4 plus the thief’s
What sounds like the most fun?” Stealth Modifier. If her modifier is +2, your
Difficulty to notice her is 6. If you fail, she’s
If you want to make a spend in a situation where the
able to Surprise you (see p. 77) when she
GM has no special benefit to offer you, she will let you
makes her move.
know, and you do not lose the points you wanted to
spend.
Chapter 3: Rules 53

The Best Rule of Thumb

When you’re trying to decide how to tackle a challenge,
don’t desperately stare at your character sheet for
Allegiance Ranks
inspiration. Instead, tell the GM what your end goals
are. Together, the two of you will figure out the best Allegiance ranks define the extent of a Hero’s political
way to succeed. Allies and Enemies within Eversink.
Investigative Build Points points can be split between
different Allies, or multiple points can be assigned to a

Rules
Player Advice: single Ally to gain a reputation and indicate a stronger
Encouraging Creative Solutions bond. In fact, the same political faction can include
both Ally and Enemy ranks, indicating that the Hero is
You’ll notice we use the phrase “if you can a member or friend of that faction, but also has enemies
rationalize it” a lot when describing what you can in it, secretly (or maybe not so secretly) working against
accomplish by spending an Investigative point. them.
There’s a reason for that. This game works best
Your Hero is an idealistic teenager from
when you come up with creative solutions for
a prominent but corrupt noble family.
using your abilities. No GM is going to give you a
During character creation you assign your
damage bonus if you ask “Can I do extra damage
by spending a point of Nobility?”, but they will 2 Ally points, AND your 1 Enemy point,
if you explain: “As a child I was trained each year into Ancient Nobility. That indicates you
by a different fencing tutor, and I learned eight have loyal allies within high society (probably
different fighting styles in eight years. I’d like to drawing on your family’s centuries-old clout
spend a point of Nobility to remember one that and influence), but other members of the
does particularly painful damage. Then I want to nobility secretly wish to see you thwarted or
stab this guy in the throat.” dead. You and the GM decide on something
Why the difference? The latter description heroic or memorable you did to make those
helps build the world, expands your Hero’s people hate you.
background, and makes the game more fun for
everyone. You deserve to be rewarded for that. When you draw on your Ancient Nobility’s
For her part, your GM will try to be open- influence, you’ll have to watch your back to
minded and default to “Yes, and…” when you avoid betrayal. You have a reputation with
make your case. other nobles, who will usually recognize you
Once you’re familiar with the rules, you’ll end by sight.
up creating unique special effects and creative
solutions almost every adventure.
GM Advice: Simplifying the
Game – Politics, Schmolitics

Allegiances are one of our favorite and most

fun aspects of Swords of the Serpentine, but they
aren’t relevant if your adventure takes place in
the wilderness or involves no political pressure.
If you want a simpler game, you can safely ignore
Allegiances.
 54 Swords of the Serpentine

Allies Favors
These are political factions you — big surprise — are These signify that the faction owes you favors, but once
permanently allied with. If you have 1 or more ranks in you call those in, you’re considered even. These have
an Ally, at least one person in that faction will gladly assist a rank of 0, and are temporary pool points in a given
you whenever you need them to, including providing faction. When you say “I’m going to have to cash in
details that would otherwise be hidden from outsiders. a few favors for this,” you’re spending pool points of
Rules

When you say something like, “Don’t worry, I know Favors to get what you want. You never gain free leads
someone who’ll be willing to help,” you’re drawing on or clues from an unspent Favor, but you can spend pool
your Allies. The faction descriptions starting on p. 288 points of Favors for faction information or assistance.
suggest ways that your Allies might be able to aid you. Unspent Favors last between adventures, but once you
You can spend Ally pool points during an adventure spend a Favor point, it is gone and does not refresh.
to use the faction’s clout or resources to help you. New pool points of Favors are typically earned by
Mercenaries might supply you with troops (or helping a faction during an adventure.
withdraw their troops from one of their clients at a
crucial moment), the Mercanti might give you a ride You have Favors: Monstrosities 1, gained
on a fast ship when you need it the most, the Thieves’ after you spared a rat-thing’s life. You and
Guilds might steal crucial evidence for you, the Church the monstrosity have a grudging respect for
of Denari may give you access to their prophets, the each other at best, but if you ask it, it’ll go
Triskadane may bend the law for you, the City Watch out of its way to give you information about
may briefly arrest someone you want out of the picture, monstrosities or to do you a favor. Once it
and so on. Just ask (and spend enough pool points), does, the 1 point of Favor is spent, and the
and they’re happy to help. Don’t be surprised if they two of you no longer have a continuing
occasionally ask you for help in return. That’s what obligation.
allies are for.
As with all Investigative ranks, spent pool points
from Allies refresh at the start of every adventure. Enemies
New ranks of Allies are typically earned by spending
Advancement points (see p. 98). If you’ve repeatedly If you have 1 or more ranks in an Enemy faction, at
proven your worth to a faction over time, your GM least one person in that faction hates you. When you say
may, rarely, reward you with a rank of Allies with that something like, “We’ll be fine as long as no one from
faction. the Thieves’ Guilds sees us,” you’re probably referring
to an Enemy. Like any Investigative rank, you can use
You assigned your Hero Allies: Thieves’
your Enemy ranks to find leads and clues about that
Guilds 2, so you have two ranks of friendship
faction. However, your enemies (not you!) can spend
with Eversink’s underworld. You know the
the same number of pool points to complicate your life
movers and shakers of the criminal world, in a number of ways discussed on p. 210. As with all
and a lot of them know you. You can freely Investigative ranks, spent pool points from Enemies
go to them for leads and clues, and if you refresh at the start of every adventure, even when you
need a favor, your two ranks give you 2 wish they wouldn’t.
pool points that you can spend if you need Talk with the GM and decide why your enemy hates
to have a rival’s pocket picked or acquire a you. Make it personal, make it interesting, and make it
particularly rare poison, for instance. dramatic.
Chapter 3: Rules 55

You have Enemies: Church of Denari 1,

because they suspect you’re a sorcerer but Designer Notes: Strike with an
haven’t yet been able to prove it. You can use Army Instead of a Sword
your Enemy to learn church-related leads
and clues, but during each adventure, the This is a game where who you know really
GM can spend that Enemy pool point to matters. Just as in actual politics, you can get
complicate your life… usually in the form what you want by threatening your foe with the
wrath of important people or blocks of people.
of an inquisitor who dogs your steps and

Rules
Your Allegiance Investigative ranks represent this
threatens you in public.
influence, and you shouldn’t be shy about using
it to gain leads or spending it to gain favors.
New ranks of Enemies are assigned by the GM and
The idea of Allegiances came when we asked,
are typically earned by thwarting a faction’s goals in a
“How might you handle something like 13th Age
memorable way. If you thwart a faction in a way that
RPG’s icons in a GUMSHOE game?” We think
only leaves important members of the faction briefly
that game does a brilliant job of tying heroes
angry, you’ll receive a Grudge (below).
to vast powers. In this game we’ve lowered
the default political power down from 13th Age
RPG’s continent-spanning level to our city level,
Grudges but the theory still holds. Ally yourself with the
powerful, and you can rely on them to aid you
These signify your obligation to someone or hostility
when you need it most.
against you, but not a long-lasting vendetta. These have
Even more interesting to us are Heroes who
a rank of 0 and are temporary pool points in a given
spend their initial Investigative Build Points
faction. If you say something like, “We may not want
to increase their Allegiances instead of their
to go to Ironcross, I’m not really popular there right
Profession abilities. You can legitimately play
now,” you’re walking around with at least one point
a new Hero with 5 ranks of Allies in a single
of Grudges from the Triskadane. Once the faction (not
faction, letting you start off as one of the most
you!) uses the Grudge against you to call in a favor or
politically powerful and influential people in all
to thwart you somehow, that point is spent, and the
of Eversink — with combat power identical to
grudge is gone forever. No hard feelings, right? The
that of other Heroes. Just check with your GM
GM may award you Grudge points in any adventure
first, because you want to make sure they and the
where you thwart a faction’s plans.
other players think this is as much fun as you do.
You have Grudges: Sorcerous Cabals 1,
gained when you refused to help a Cabal
sorcerer animate a surprisingly large number
of corpses. The Cabal will do something nasty
to complicate your life, but once they do the
Grudge is spent; survive their complication
and they’re off your back until the next time
you cross them.

You never gain free leads or clues from an unspent

Grudge.
 56 Swords of the Serpentine

Tests
If you aren’t looking for a clue or lead, success is tied to rolling the die, you may choose to spend any number of
your General abilities, and isn’t automatic. This is often points from a relevant General ability pool, adding +1
the case when you already know where to go for your for each point spent to the final die result. If you forget
next lead, but there’s some sort of barrier or obstacle to specify the number of points you want to spend
Rules

between you and your goal that doesn’t provide you before rolling, you’re stuck with the unmodified result.
with any new information: a vigilant guard, a locked That’s okay. It happens.
door, a devious trap, or a hungry monster. You can keep using a General ability even when your
pool drops to 0, so long as your rank in that ability
You’ve followed a clue to discover some is 1 or higher. You just don’t add any pool points to
missing jewels, but they’re protected by a your die roll, because you don’t currently have any pool
sorcerous glyph, a bound guardian spirit, points to spend.
and a locked chest. You’ll need to deal with Spending points indicates special effort and
those before you can grab the evidence. concentration by your Hero. Spend enough points and
you can guarantee success, although this may leave you
You still need to get out, and you’re no
temporarily depleted in that ability. For normal tests of
longer hunting for a clue when you do so. Your
Difficulty 4, you have a 50% chance of success without
group must make Stealth and Burglary tests
spending any General ability points, and a 100% chance
to get out successfully, and your roleplaying of success if you spend 3 points. For a nearly impossible
makes a big difference as to whether you can test, you’d need to spend 8 points for a 50% chance of
successfully fool any servants or guards who success, and 11 points to guarantee success.
spot you. Later, after the alarm is sounded
and the house guard rushes in pursuit, you Revealing Difficulty Numbers
make Athletics tests to flee across the rooftops. The GM should usually not reveal exact Difficulty
Numbers, but when the information would be evident
Tests apply to General abilities only, and the GM should to you the GM should indicate whether they are easier,
call for tests only when their failure is consequential. You harder, or much harder than normal.
don’t need to roll an Athletics test to climb up onto the
rooftops when you just happen to be wandering around “Can I use Sway from here to talk him into
the city. If you’re involved in a chase, however, or trying surrendering?”
to avoid a raging flood, that Athletics test matters.
There are two common types of test: simple tests “He’s on the other side of the loud street
and full contests (including chases). on a roof, just barely in Medium range, and
you’d have to really shout. It’s possible, but
much harder than normal.”
Simple Tests
On occasions where spending more than needed is
A simple test occurs when you attempt an action frustrating instead of fun, such as the Dodge Talent
without active resistance from another person or entity. from a high Athletics or on Health and Morale tests
Swimming a canal, jumping across roofs, shooting a (see p. 77), your GM will tell you the target number.
target, and sneaking into an unguarded building are all
examples. “He’s trying to skewer you but you have
The GM determines how hard any given action is by Dodge. His attack result to stab you was a 5.
assigning it a Difficulty number ranging from 3 to 12. You need to roll a 6 or higher on an Athletics
You roll a single d6: if your result is equal to or test in order to Dodge entirely. Want to
higher than the Difficulty Number, you succeed. Before spend any points?”
Chapter 3: Rules 57

Difficulty Number Table

Difficulty Number Level Example
3 Easy Sneaking past a sleeping guard
4 Normal (default) Sneaking past an awake guard
6 Hard Sneaking past an awake, alert guard
8 Very Hard Sneaking past an awake, alert guard with a guard dog

Rules
Sneaking past a well-lit watch-post full of alert guards,
10 Exceptionally Hard
watch dogs, and vigilant geese1

As per Difficulty 10, except they have a prophet

12 Nearly Impossible
or they’ve been warned you’re coming

1
Throughout actual history, geese turn out to make superb guards, and that’s true in Eversink as well. No, seriously! Go Google
it, and see p. 173.

Alertness Modifiers
GM Advice: When to
Your Alertness Modifier affects whether you’ll spot
Reveal Difficulty Numbers hidden people and objects. You gain that modifier on
your General ability tests to notice something that isn’t
If your players are loss-averse and feel frustrated supposed to be noticed, like a lurking assassin or a secret
because they don’t know exact Difficulty passage. Every rank of Vigilance you have gives you a
numbers, get in the habit of telling them the exact constant +1 bonus, and spending a point of Vigilance
numbers by default. Secrecy is less important than gives you an additional +3 Alertness Modifier on your
your friends having fun, and revealing Difficulty next test. This usually lets you notice hidden things
numbers to your players sure won’t break the automatically, even when they aren’t leads or clues.
game.
You have 3 ranks in Vigilance, giving you a
+3 Alertness Modifier. You’d normally have
General Spends to roll a Difficulty 4 Burglary test to notice
Occasionally there’s a task at which there is no that your wine at dinner has been poisoned.
reasonable chance of failure, but which should cost Your Alertness modifier means that you
the Heroes a degree of effort. To do this, the GM notice it automatically.
will simply charge your Heroes a number of points
A foe’s Alertness Modifier represents their ability to
from relevant General ability pools; 1 or 2 points per
notice your activities when you’re the one trying to be
character is a reasonable General spend for most tasks.
stealthy. Your foe’s Alertness Modifier affects the base
Where tasks can be performed by a team effort, multiple
Difficulty of your Stealth test.
Heroes may contribute points to the total.
The guard dog has a +3 Alertness Modifier
“You want to enter the tower by the roof,
due to keen hearing and a heightened sense of
and you’re willing to take your time helping
smell. Your Stealth Difficulty to sneak across
each other get up there? Sure. Spending 10
the courtyard rises from 4 to 7. There’s also a
Athletics points gets everyone up there safely,
guard, but she’s drowsy and has an Alertness
and I don’t care who or how many people
Modifier of −1; the Stealth Difficulty to sneak
they come from.”
 58 Swords of the Serpentine

past her is only 3. You roll a single Stealth either because they lack pool points or do not have the
test at Difficulty 7 to see if the dog notices ability at all, the Difficulty of the attempt increases by 2.
you.
You and four of your allies use Stealth
to sneak into the guildhall of a notorious
Stealth Modifiers
thieves’ guild. You take lead. Everyone else
Your Stealth Modifier affects whether other people will
in your group should pay 1 point of Stealth
spot you when you’re trying to be Stealthy. Spending
so they can piggyback with you. Problem is,
a point of Skulduggery or (when appropriate) Servility
Rules

gives you a +3 Stealth modifier on a Stealth test to hide. two of your allies have no points left in their
Stealth pool. Your Difficulty rises by 4 points,
You’re hoping to avoid that guard dog. You 2 for each of those two allies, to 8. Spend
spend a point of Skulduggery for a +3 Stealth accordingly!
Modifier, conveniently cancelling out the
dog’s Alertness Modifier. The Stealth test to In most instances your group can’t logically act in
successfully sneak drops back to 4. concert. Two Heroes with Preparedness check for an
item one at a time instead of checking at the same time,
A foe’s Stealth Modifier represents their ability to be unless they’re combining their Wealth to buy it in a
stealthy when you’re the one trying to notice them. shop. Only one character at a time can pick a normal-
Your foe’s Stealth Modifier affects the base Difficulty sized lock.
of the Stealth test you make to try and spot them; a foe
with a positive Stealth Modifier is harder to spot, and Cooperation
a foe with a negative Stealth Modifier is easier to spot. When two characters cooperate toward a single goal,
they agree which of them is undertaking the task
A shadow demon with a +4 Stealth Modifier directly, and which is assisting. The leader may spend
drifts closer to you, hoping to ambush you. any number of points from their pool, adding them to
The Difficulty of a Stealth test to spot it rises the die roll. The assistant may pay any number of points
from Difficulty 4 to Difficulty 8. from their pool. All but one of these is applied to the
die roll.
Retrying a Failed Test You and your ally are trying to lift a very,
Other than combat attacks, the test represents your very heavy portcullis enough to slip under.
best chance to succeed. Once you fail, you’ve done She takes lead. You both spend 6 Athletics;
your best and cannot retry unless you take some other
your bonus on the test is +11.
supporting action that would credibly increase your
odds of success. If allowed to do this, you must spend
more pool points than you did on the previous attempt.
If you can’t afford it, you can’t retry. Full Contests

Piggybacking Full contests occur when two characters actively attempt

to thwart one another. Often, this is between one or
When you work with other Heroes to perform a task
more Heroes and one or more Adversaries controlled
together, designate one Hero to take the lead. That
by the GM.
character makes a simple test, spending any number
In a full contest, each character acts in turn. The first
of their own pool points toward the task, as usual. All
character to act makes a test of the ability in question. If
other characters pay just 1 point from their relevant
they fail, they lose the full contest. If the first character
pools to gain the benefits of the leader’s action. These
succeeds, the second character then makes a test. This
points are not added to the leader’s die result. For every
continues until one character loses, at which point the
character who is unable to pay this Piggybacking cost,
other one wins.
Chapter 3: Rules 59

that round by +2 per non-chase action. It’s hard to run

In a chase, the character who bolts from the scene acts
and kill someone at the same time! The GM adjudicates
first. Where the characters seem to be acting at the same
whether an action helps or hinders. Successful actions
time, the one with the lowest rank in the relevant ability
might raise the difficulty of the other side’s next chase
acts first. In the event of a tie, or if the Adversary has no
test or give you a +2 bonus to yours.
rank listed, Adversaries act before player characters. In
the event of a tie between player characters, the player You’re on foot, chasing some sort of rat
who arrived last for the current session goes first in the monstrosity through a marketplace. It plows
contest. Hey, punctuality counts.

Rules
through a market stall full of chickens,
A drunken argument with a noble has led hoping the loose birds will confuse you. The
to an archery competition… with the target rat-thing makes a Warfare test at Difficulty
being a piece of fruit set atop the head of a 4 to smash open the cages while it runs past.
commoner. You’re going first. If you miss, This increases the Difficulty of the rat-
you possibly aren’t the only person who loses. thing’s chase test by +2 this round, making
it Difficulty 6.
Typically each character attempts to beat a Difficulty of If the chicken diversion is successful, the
4. A notable advantage or disadvantage can lower the Difficulty of your (and your allies’) next
Difficulty to 3 or raise it to 5 or higher for one or both chase tests rises by an amount chosen by your
of the characters.
GM, usually +2. If any of you then fail your
Using the Talent from a high Preparedness chase test, the diversion will have worked and
ability, one of your friends establishes with that person will have to drop out of the chase.
Flashback that your opponent in the archery It’s up to the loser of the chase how they respond upon
contest has been poisoned with a drug that being caught or losing the chase. They may surrender,
leaves their hands shaking badly. Their they may fight, they may try to hide, or they may try
Difficulty rises from 4 to 6, while your to talk their way out of trouble. Either way, they’re
Difficulty stays at 4. probably trying it while panting from exertion.
If a fight erupts during or at the end of a chase,
move into normal Initiative (see p. 64), with one of
Chases
the victors going first in combat.
In Swords of the Serpentine the most common full Refresh tokens (see p. 97) are held back until
contest is the chase. A chase occurs when one character the end of the chase. The goal of a chase is flight, not
(or group of characters) is trying to catch up to another combat, and slowing down to defeat enemies along
character or group, or when multiple groups are taking the route shouldn’t allow Heroes to then refresh their
separate routes to race to a single spot. Athletics pool to run even faster.
Characters roll a Difficulty 4 chase test against a
key ability that varies based on the nature of the chase,
and any character who fails a roll is out of the chase. Racing to a Location
If a quarry fails, pursuers catch up with them and they Some races don’t have a pursuer and quarry, and
must surrender or fight. If a pursuer fails they may not instead are multiple individuals or groups racing for
continue the chase, and they rejoin the group after the a finite duration or to a specific location. Examples
chase’s conclusion. The chase ends when all pursuers might include a ten-person footrace, sprinting through
have dropped out of the chase, or when all quarries a flooding sewer for the exit, or a regatta through
have been caught up with. Eversink’s canals from one side of the city to the other.
During a chase, attempting any non-chase action When groups are racing to a single location, the
that helps you or hinders your opponents (such as GM establishes the number of rounds that the chase
attacking with Warfare, changing the rower on your will last. Every round, each contestant (or group of
boat, and so on) raises the Difficulty of your chase test contestants) must succeed at their chase test to stay in
 60 Swords of the Serpentine

Attempting any non-chase action raises the Difficulty

Designer Notes: Chase Mechanics for that action by +2, and Refresh tokens are held back
until the end of the chase.
There’s a tricky balance when it comes to chases.
We want them to be frenetic, interesting and
You’re piloting your small boat across the city
exciting; we don’t want them to be a simulation at night, hoping to reach the harbor before
that takes every factor into account. These rules your enemies can set off an alchemical bomb
assume that you’re mostly focused on pursuit (or in a ship. Your rivals are trying to arrive
Rules

escape), and that anything else you or your allies before you do, so that they can steal the bomb.
decide may distract from that. Athletics is the chase ability, and the GM sets
Running away from someone? At first glance this as a 4-round race.
it doesn’t seem like a good idea to distract your
Because your whole team is in a single
pursuer, because every attempt raises your chase
boat, you only make one Athletics test each
test Difficulty by 2 and makes you more likely to
be caught. round (with everyone else piggybacking off
The non-obvious trade-off is that if you’re your hard work rowing, and so paying 1
successful, you raise the Difficulty of the chase Athletics point each). Your chase Difficulty
test by 2 or more for everyone following you is 4, and so is your opponent’s.
— and if they fail that, they’re out of the chase 1st round: You spend 6 Athletics and
entirely. Is it worth risking your own failure if roll a 6. Your result is 12. Your foes spend
it means that one or more pursuers must drop
5 Athletics and roll a 3, for a result of 8.
out of the chase? Maybe! And frankly, it’s just
Once you subtract the Difficulty, your lead is
fun to tip over a marketplace booth selling live
scorpions if it means your pursuers will then have
8, theirs is 4. You’re in the lead!
to navigate the resulting chaos. 2nd round: You spend 4 Athletics but roll
a 1. Your Result is 5, while your foes’ is 9:
subtract the Difficulty from each and your
the race. Where the odds of success are skewed in favor lead is now 9 (8+1), theirs is 9 (4+5). You’re
of one contestant, the GM may assign different chase tied.
Difficulties to each side. The GM calculates the lead 3rd round: You’re almost out of Athletics
by subtracting each party’s chase Difficulty from their
so you change boat pilots to someone else,
result.
increasing your Difficulty this round by +2.
The GM keeps track of the cumulative lead for each
Your side spends 6 but rolls another 1, for a
individual or group in the race, and the contestant with
the highest cumulative lead at the end is the winner. result of 7. Your foes get 9. Your lead is now
The group with the highest lead at the end of any given 10, theirs is 14. They’re in the lead.
round is ahead. 4th round: You spend a point of City’s
Throughout the chase, everyone at the gaming Secrets to take a shortcut, adding +3 to your
table should collaborate to add flavor to each result, Athletics test this round. Your side spends 5
explaining what you did to remain in the race. Describe Athletics, adds +3, and rolls a 6, for a result
slippery cobblestones, mud, inconvenient canals,
of 14. Your foes are almost out of Athletics
handy shortcuts, annoyed pigs, rickety rooftop bridges,
and get a result of 7. You add 10 to your
surprised churchgoers, and crowded markets. That way,
instead of dropping out of the narration to talk about
Lead, and your opponents add 3 to theirs.
Difficulty numbers and Athletics spends, you keep the Your total lead at the end is 20, and your
fictional world verbally alive in a way that everyone foes’ total lead is 17. You win and arrive
around the table can picture. before they do.
Chapter 3: Rules 61

Rules
 62 Swords of the Serpentine

When you start running low on your key chase ability,

GM Advice: remember that Investigative pool points can always be
Non-traditional Chases spent for a +3 bonus on a linked General ability roll (p.
51). This means that even if you’re out of Athletics,
There’s no reason you have to use these rules you can spend a point of an ability like City’s Secrets,
only for traditional chases. Multiple sorcerers Prophecy or Ridiculous Luck and gain +3 on your next
trying to control a single magical gem might have chase test. It may be enough to make the difference.
a mental chase through its sorcerous labyrinth
Rules

using the Racing to a Location rules with Sorcery

Piggybacking During Chases
It’s rare for a chase to involve the Piggybacking rules
as the chase key ability. Two rival rogues trying
unless the characters have an explanation for how they’re
to be the first person to trigger a deadly but
helping one another and staying together, such as when
confusingly complex mechanical trap might have
they’re sharing a boat. When Piggybacking in a chase
a 3-round “chase” using Burglary as the chase
scene and one side has a member whose pool has fallen
key ability, with the winner triggering the trap
to 0, that side can choose to leave that person behind
against the loser.
(if the pursuers) or abandon them to be captured (if
the quarry) instead of increasing the Difficulty by 2 as
Investigative Spends During Chases normal.
It’s easier to consistently win chases if you spend an
You’re chasing an Outlander spy who leaps
appropriate Investigative point to gain a +3 bonus on
onto a gondola, shoves the pilot overboard,
your chase test for the round. No matter how many
people there are per side, each side can benefit from
and heads down the canal as fast as he
only 1 Investigative spend per round. can. You and your allies leap onto another
gondola and give chase. Normally everyone
“Don’t worry,” you say as you steer your but you would pay 1 point of Athletics and
gondola into a narrow side canal, “I know you’d pole the boat for everyone. One of your
the Canal Watchers have the main canal allies is out of Athletics and raising your
closed.” You spend a pool point from Allies: target Difficulty from 4 to 6; with him on
Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers board your gondola is just too heavy. Your
and add +3 to this round’s chase result. other allies decide to lighten the load: there’s
a grunt, a splash, some muffled curses, and
your gondola surges forward with reduced
weight.
Chapter 3: Rules 63

Combat
Fights are full contests that use one of the General You’re farther away from a foe than you
abilities Sorcery, Sway, or Warfare. want to be. On your turn you close from Long
At the start of a combat, establish where the range to Medium range and fire a crossbow.
characters are in the scene, which will enable you to

Rules
Next round you close from Medium range
assign range (below) as needed. to Close range and attempt a Sway attack
Combat happens in rounds. In a round, all the
against your foe’s Morale. If that doesn’t
characters involved take a turn to do something. The
seem like a good tactic, the following round
order they act is set by initiative (p. 64).
When called upon to act, you may strike at any foe you can close to Point-Blank range, draw
within range of your weapons or abilities, hide using your blade, and try to stab your foe.
Stealth, or take a different non-combat action. You
may also move up to one range increment — running Point-Blank Range
towards a fight from Medium to Close range, for You are literally face-to-face with your foe, within easy
instance, or backing away from Point-Blank to Close arm’s reach.
range. � All brawls and knife fights occur at this range.
You attack someone (see p. 65) using Sorcery, � Trying to use ranged Warfare attacks at this range
Sway, or Warfare. A successful attack typically inflicts raises the target’s Health Threshold by +2, making
damage. Combat damage subtracts from your target’s them more difficult to hit.
Health or Morale pool, whichever is appropriate for the � Moving from Close range to Point-Blank range
type of attack you made. against someone with a drawn and ready ranged
The fight continues until all combatants on one weapon such as a crossbow is risky; your foe with
side have fallen, surrendered or fled. Remember that the ranged weapon gets an immediate free attack
you can have a combat using only Sway that takes place on you. This bonus attack occurs outside of normal
while seated politely around a table, and the results are initiative order. Charging a wall of mercenaries
just as definitive as if the opponents were using daggers. all aiming crossbows is a very brief, very painful
experience.

Order of Combat Close Range

You are in the same room with your foe, or within no
Combat happens in the following order. more than 10 meters or so.
1. Determine range (p. 63) � This is the farthest range at which you can have
2. Determine initiative (p. 64) a swordfight (or other melee fight using Warfare),
3. Determine whether either side can be Surprised (p. with plenty of maneuvering and circling.
77) � This or closer is the standard range for Sway attacks
4. Attack! (p. 65) if you’re attempting to talk. (Other uses of Sway,
5. Calculate damage (p. 70) such as intimidating body language or a terrifying
cavalry charge, may function normally at longer
ranges at the GM’s discretion.)
Combat Range � This is the farthest you can throw any difficult-to-
throw object (such as a barrel).
Swords of the Serpentine uses five ranges. You may move
up to one range as part of your action, either closing or
Medium Range
retreating — but moving between Long and Very Long You can see your foe distinctly, perhaps across a canal or
range is two or more moves. down the street, no more than 30 or 40 meters away.
 64 Swords of the Serpentine

� This or closer is the standard range for Sorcery

attacks.
Initiative
� This is the farthest range for Sway attacks if you’re
The time it takes to go through the ranking order once,
attempting to talk. Sway attacks at this range raise
with each character taking an action, is called a round.
the target’s Morale Threshold by +2, making them
When one round ends, another begins. Each character
more difficult to hit.
and Adversary (or group of Adversaries, if several act at
� This is the farthest you can throw any easily thrown
the same time) gets to take a turn during each round.
object (such as a bottle, a spear, or a rock). If
Rules

The GM determines which Hero or Adversary goes

throwing at a small target, the GM may raise the
first in the first round. Usually it’s the individual who
target’s Health Threshold by +2, making them
initiates some action or attempts to throw the first
more difficult to hit.
blow, but not always; some individuals may be able to
anticipate attacks. One Hero (usually the first one to
Long range mention it) can also spend an Investigative point from a
Your foe is within 100 meters. Opponents farther away relevant ability to go first.
than this cannot be targeted easily, and are generally One of the things you do during your turn is to pick
out of the combat unless taking distance penalties. and announce the next character to go; it doesn’t have
� This or closer is the standard range for attacking to be announced instantly, but sooner is better than the
with a crossbow or longbow. Targeting someone end of your turn, because this gives the next character’s
up to 200 meters with these weapons raises the player some time to think about their actions. It can be
target’s Health Threshold by +2, making them any character, either player or supporting, friend or foe,
more difficult to hit. so long as that character hasn’t yet had a turn in the
� This is the farthest range for Sorcery attacks. Using current round. When an Adversary takes a turn, the GM
Sorcery at this range raises the target’s Health or announces which character goes next.
Morale Threshold (as applicable) by +2, making After the current character concludes their turn, the
them more difficult to hit. next character takes their turn, and so on until every
character in the fight has taken a turn.
Very Long Range Once everyone has acted, the last player to act in the
Your foe is within 500 meters. Most foes are considered round gets to choose who goes first in the next round
out of the combat unless someone is using a weapon — which can be themselves once again. This pattern
with sufficient range. then continues, with every player in turn picking the
person to follow them, and every character getting to
act once each turn.
Unnamed Adversaries often act as a group, and
named Adversaries often act on their own. When

Representing Combat With Miniatures

Swords of the Serpentine is usually played in your imagination: you and the GM describe the scene together,
you describe your actions, and the GM describes who’s where throughout a fight. It’s why the rules use range
zones from a target instead of specifying how many feet you can move each round. This isn’t a simulation: like
a sword & sorcery novel, combat is more interesting when you don’t worry too much about exact distances.
If you want to use a gridded battlemap and miniature figurines, however, that’s easy and fun to do instead,
and very useful for complicated battlefields. Use the description of the combat range zones to estimate how
far you move, the range of your attacks, and where you are compared to everyone else. Use any marker or
figurine you like to represent your Hero, as long as it’s distinctive.
Chapter 3: Rules 65

your combat ability’s Talent to defeat 3, 4 or even 5

GM Advice: Deciding Who Mooks in a single attack (with an attack result of 9,
12, and 15 respectively), you’ll save your group a lot of
Goes Next in Combat
pain... and you’ll immediately earn 3, 4, or 5 Refresh
tokens you can use to refresh your attack General ability.
In our games, we like to choose who goes next
in combat at the start of a turn because this gives
players more time to plan, and that tends to Attacking a Foe
make combat go faster overall. You may prefer

Rules
the tactical flexibility of choosing who goes next To attack:
at the end of a player’s turn instead. Ask your � Select a target within range.
players which they prefer and use that method. � Describe your attack.
� Spend points from the relevant General ability (if
desired).
multiple Adversaries on the same initiative attack a � Roll a d6, and attempt to meet or exceed your target’s
single Hero, the GM determines their order of action Health (p. 77) or Morale Threshold (p. 81).
in whatever manner she finds convenient — usually the � If successful, calculate damage (p. 70).
order in which she’s tracking them in her rough notes.
When you successfully attack, your total damage is:

Using Initiative Markers

Base Damage + your Damage Modifier +
Initiative gets even easier to manage if you have a visible
Investigative Spends (p. 51) + Critical Hits (p.
marker for the combatants who have already acted in a
68) + Teamwork Attacks (p. 69).
round. Whether it’s a card that’s green on one side and
red on the other, a glass bead you remove once you’ve
gone, or an index card you flip over, it’s handy to be
able to look around the table and immediately see who
Attacking with Sorcery
still has to act. These attacks use magical power to damage either your
Also useful is having a distinctive marker for the foe’s Health or Morale, depending on your choice
person who goes next. This can be silently handed when creating your hero.
from one player to another to indicate who goes next Select a target within Medium range, or Long range
in combat. With this, the game doesn’t even need to with a Difficulty of +2, and describe your sorcerous
slow down to announce who goes next. When a player attack. The appearance of Sorcery attacks varies
is ready to nominate, they simply hand the object to the tremendously by Sorcerer, but it usually has some
next combatant. detectable element to it that onlookers might see if they
know what to look for: you may be mumbling a chant,
Initiative Strategy scribbling profane diagrams in ink, or perhaps your eyes
just glow while you use it.
There’s some interesting strategy involved in Initiative.
The base damage is 1d6 with a +1 Damage Modifier,
If you think your Heroes can defeat all their foes in
and your minimum result on your damage die is the
one round, you have an incentive to have your entire
number of Sorcery points you spent on your attack.
team act before the foes. If you try this and are wrong,
This maxes out at 6 points of guaranteed damage;
however, your remaining foes will be able to act twice
you can spend more than 6 Sorcery points in an
in a row (at the end of the first round and the beginning
attack (perhaps to get a Critical Hit or to use the Blast
of the second round).
Talent (p. 40) on some Mooks), but your minimum
It’s often best to take out as many Mooks as possible
guaranteed damage doesn’t rise above 6. If you get to
as quickly as possible, even if that means risking all of
roll additional damage dice on your attack, these are
your attack skill’s pool points to do so. Mooks have a
rolled normally.
tendency to be “glass cannons”, dangerous in combat
but with only 1 Health or Morale point. If you can use
 66 Swords of the Serpentine

The damage you inflict is reduced by your foe’s the attack. This maxes out at 6 points of guaranteed
Armor if you target Health, and by your foe’s Grit if damage; you can spend more than 6 Sway points
you target Morale. in an attack (perhaps to get a Critical Hit or to use
the Talent Play to the Crowd), but your minimum
You spend 4 points of Sorcery when attacking
guaranteed damage doesn’t rise above 6. If you get to
your foe, and Sorcery normally has a
roll additional damage dice on your Sway attack, these
Damage Modifier of +1. You roll a 1 on the are rolled normally.
damage die. Because you spent 4 points on
Rules

your attack, the 1 is treated as a 4, and you You spend 6 points of Sway when threatening
inflict 5 points of damage on your foe. your foe and successfully hit. You don’t need
to roll a damage die because your minimum
You’re encouraged to describe and narrate your actions. die result is 6. Sway has a Damage Modifier
It’s more entertaining to say “Whatever vegetation he of +1, so you inflict 7 points of Morale
ate for lunch sprouts, writhing up his throat and out damage on your foe.
his nose as it grows thorns and rips apart his flesh” than
it is to say “I hit him with Sorcery,” even though the You’re encouraged to roleplay your attack. It’s much
amount of damage your foe suffers is the same. more fun and entertaining to explain exactly why
You can’t attack with Sorcery unless you possess at your pathetic foe would be a fool not to surrender
least one rank of the Investigative ability Corruption. immediately, or to diplomatically insult them, than it is
to say “I Sway him”. Another reason to describe your
attack is that some foes are more or less vulnerable to
Player Advice: Use Two fear, and many undead are particularly vulnerable to
Different Colored Dice Sway attacks described as prayer. Loud noise in the
environment may make a spoken attack less effective.
It’s useful to have your attack’s base damage die
be a different color than your other dice. That’s
because the number of points you spend when Player Advice:
attacking sets the minimum base damage you The Three Uses of Sway
inflict. If you have a different colored die for
rolling base damage, you can roll all your dice at Sway allows you to bolster and effectively heal
once and just adjust damage on the fly. the Morale of your allies (p. 83), so think twice
before spending your Sway pool down to 0 while
attacking an opponent’s Morale in combat. You
Attacking with Sway could be caught unable to rescue a demoralized
When you make a Sway attack, you’re using words, ally after spending all your resources to attack.
actions or body language to undermine your foe’s In addition to combat and bolstering an
confidence, bravery and willpower, demoralizing them ally’s Morale, you’re most likely to use Sway
into surrender or flight even if you never engage in on Morale-based Maneuvers (see page 72)
physical warfare. where someone either must do what you ask or
Sway attacks can occur at any range where the take Morale damage. They’re an elegant way to
combatants can see or hear each other, although nudge a Supporting Character’s decision towards
circumstances such as distance and competing noise the choice you want them to make.
may raise the Difficulty and lower the damage.
A Sway attack targets a foe’s Morale, and the damage
you inflict is reduced by your foe’s Grit. Sway’s base
damage is a die plus a +1 Damage Modifier. Attacking with Warfare
Your minimum damage die result (before any Whether fighting with ranged weapons such as a
modifiers) is the number of Sway points you spend on crossbow, melee weapons like a sword, or bare-fisted,
Chapter 3: Rules 67

Rules
 68 Swords of the Serpentine

the Warfare ability determines whether you strike your you choose. A giant axe is going to do more damage
foe. than a sword, a sword is going to do more damage than
Ranged Warfare attacks generally occur at Close a dagger, and a dagger is going to do more damage
range or farther away. Melee Warfare attacks occur at than a pointy rock.
Point-Blank range, with combatants ducking in and out Small weapons have a Damage Modifier of +0;
of Close range as they maneuver. medium weapons have a Damage Modifier of +1;
Weapon attacks target your foe’s Health, and the and large weapons have a Damage Modifier of +2.
damage you inflict is reduced by your foe’s Armor. Adjust these numbers and add Weapon Modifiers as
Rules

Warfare’s base damage is one d6, with a Damage appropriate. A full list of weapons is on p. 133.
Modifier that is based on your weapon (see p. 133). Weapons that are easy to find can be acquired for
Even impromptu weapons will likely hurt your foe more free; you can find a makeshift club almost anywhere.
than unarmed punches or kicks will. Better crafted weapons, such as a sword, cost Wealth
You’re encouraged to describe and narrate your 2 or higher if they aren’t already part of your minor
actions. It’s much more fun and entertaining to say iconic gear.
“I knock off his hat with the tip of my sword before Whether ranged or melee, almost all weapons attack
stabbing him in the belly” than it is to say “I hit him,” a target’s Health and are wielded with the Warfare
even though the amount of damage your foe suffers is ability.
the same.
Putting effort into greater accuracy is rewarded. Your
minimum damage die result (before any modifiers) is Advanced Attacks
the number of Warfare points you spend on the attack.
This maxes out at 6 points of guaranteed damage; you Critical Hits
can spend more than 6 Warfare points in an attack
(perhaps to get a Critical Hit or to use the Cleave You can score a Critical Hit when attacking with Sorcery,
Talent (p. 42) on some Mooks), but your minimum Sway, or Warfare if you exceed the target’s Health or
guaranteed damage doesn’t rise above 6. If you get to Morale Threshold by 5 or more. This inflicts an extra
roll additional damage dice on your attack, these are 1d6 of damage to Health or Morale (as appropriate),
rolled normally. and an additional die of damage for every 5 points
beyond that.
You spend 3 points of Warfare when
Your attack will usually hit a foe if you
attacking your foe, and roll a 3 for a total
succeed at Difficulty 4, so you get a Critical
attack result of 6. Your target had a Health
Hit for +1 die of damage if you reach attack
Threshold of 4, so you missed triggering
result 9, and your Critical Hit rises to +2
the Cleave Talent by 1 point. Luckily,
dice of damage if your attack reaches attack
“Disemboweling your foes” is one of your
result 14.
Drives, so you invoke it to push your result
up to 7. This lets you damage a second foe Your minimum damage from spending pool points (see
within range with no additional attack p. 65) only applies to your initial damage die, not
required. Describe what happened and roll to additional damage dice gained through your Critical
damage separately against each victim, or Hit.
just assign 4 damage to your second foe. If you roll a high enough attack, you choose whether
to inflict a Critical Hit or attack multiple foes (but not
both on the same attack), depending on whether you
Weaponry want to focus your damage or spread it about.
Weapon statistics in GUMSHOE are simplified;
differentiating most weapons is usually a matter of Attacking Multiple Foes
narrative description, not game mechanics. Your Surrounded by Mooks? The Talents for Sorcery (Blast),
Damage Modifier for Warfare comes from the weapon Sway (Play to the Crowd), and Warfare (Cleave) allow
Chapter 3: Rules 69

you to use a single combat action to attack more than

one foe at once, if you exceed the target’s Health or Designer Notes
Morale Threshold by 3 or more. Critical Hits vs. Talents
As always, Sorcery, Sway, or Warfare points must
be announced and spent before rolling the die. After Curious why Talents from combat abilities can
the attack is rolled, you can choose to automatically hit never trigger a Critical Hit? Those and combat
an additional foe within Close range for every 3 points Talents are both linked to high attack results, so
exceeding the target Difficulty. Damage against these we want you to choose one or the other. If you

Rules
additional foes always starts with base damage (usually could use both on the same attack, you would
1d6+1, or 4 points if you prefer to take the average), target your primary enemy, spend all your pool
regardless of how much damage was inflicted on the points at once, score a massive Critical Hit, and
primary target. then trigger your Talent to also deal damage
to every foe nearby. That would be awfully
Your minimum damage from spending pool points impressive, but it wouldn’t be much fun for
(see p. 65) only applies to your initial damage die anyone but you because fights would be over
and to your initial target, not to damage inflicted on long before every player had a chance to act. By
additional targets. You can only target additional foes restricting your options on powerful attacks, you
who have a Health or Morale Threshold equal to or less have to choose between taking down multiple
than the original target’s. Mooks with a Talent or badly hurting one person
with a Critical Hit.
You charge forward and attack your foes,
choosing one as a target. That foe’s Health
Threshold is 4, and you spend 5 points of
Warfare before you roll to hit. You roll a 6, To make a teamwork attack, select an ally, then make a
add the 5 Warfare you spent, and reach an Sorcery, Sway or Warfare attack against a foe’s normal
attack result of 11. You decide it will be more Health or Morale Threshold. If successful, add 1d6
fun to Cleave than it would be to inflict a (with no Damage Modifier) to the damage of your
Critical Hit. ally’s next attack against that Adversary. If your attack
is a Critical Hit, or if you spend Investigative points to
So you hit your original target and add dice of damage to your attack, these bonus dice
Cleave two other foes (the original target of damage are also handed to your ally. Your ally’s
at 4, a second foe at 7, and one final foe at successful attack must occur before the end of the next
10). Round down to determine the number round. If their attack misses or doesn’t happen, your
of successful targets. If any of those foes had a bonus damage is discarded.
Health Threshold of 5 or higher, you’d have You should describe how you’re helping your ally
skipped over them when determining possible do more damage. Teamwork attacks are only possible
targets. when the GM considers your description of aid to
be reasonable. “I’m distracting it so it’s paying less
attention to other people” is a perfectly fine description.
Teamwork Attacks “It’s clumsy and it trips” isn’t because it doesn’t reflect
Feeling generous? You can boost an ally’s damage your action, unless you also describe pulling it off-
instead of inflicting damage yourself. balance so that your ally has an advantage.
Use teamwork attacks when: Your teamwork attack doesn’t need to target the
� Both are trying to inflict the same damage type same Health or Morale ability that your ally is attacking.
(Health or Morale) on a foe. Your Sway attack could distract a foe enough that your
� Working to punch through high Armor or Grit. ally gets in a really good Warfare attack, for instance, or
� You aren’t close enough to attack an enemy directly. your Warfare attack could make your ally’s Sway attack
� There’s a reason you don’t wish to directly attack. be that much more convincing.
 70 Swords of the Serpentine

Your Sorcery targets Morale. You announce of anything, but can still try. Note that having a rank
that your magic will alter the foe’s of 0 is very different from a Hero with ranks but no
perception of pain, and you successfully remaining pool points; that Hero suffers none of these
make a Difficulty 4 teamwork attack using penalties.
Sorcery. You spend a point of Intimidation Using Warfare (including fists or feet) or Sway
when you have 0 ranks in the ability has the following
to add an additional die of Morale damage.
drawbacks.
Then you assign both dice of shared damage
� You gain a −2 Damage Modifier.
to your friend Karla’s warrior; if Karla’s
Rules

� The GM chooses when you go in each round,

Hero successfully jams her sword into the inserting you into the initiative order where she
foe’s chest, she’ll do two extra dice of Health pleases.
damage from your teamwork attack as the
foe perceives great pain. You may ignore these penalties for one round if the
situation allows you to invoke one of your Drives (see
p. 17).
Attacking Without Abilities You may not use Sorcery to attack if you have no
A Hero with no ranks in Warfare can still pick up a ranks in Corruption. If you have one or more ranks
sword when a furious mercenary charges them, but of Corruption but no ranks of Sorcery — a fairly rare
will fight hesitantly and ineffectively. Similarly, a Hero situation unless you’re an inquisitor of Denari — you
with Sway 0 has very little ability to convince others may attack with the above penalties.

Damage Calculation Reference Table

+ Investigative + Teamwork
Base Damage + Damage Modifier + Critical Hits
Spends Attacks
+1 bonus damage
1d6; minimum die per every 5 Damage given to
Sorcery: +1; Sway: +1 bonus
damage is the points that your you by an ally,
+1; Warfare: from damage die per
number of points attack exceeds the excluding Damage
weapon (usually +0 Investigative point
spent on the attack Health or Morale Modifiers, if you
to +2, see p. 133) spent (see p. 71)
(max 6) Threshold (see p. hit (see p. 69)
68)
Bonus targets from
combat Talents
Corruption
take 1 die +1
spends may inflict
damage, with no
exceptional damage
other modifiers; or
(see p. 117)
4 damage if you
want to save time
Chapter 3: Rules 71

Boosting Damage with

Investigative Spends Examples
Investigative Ability Spend Add to Damage

Use the threat of your Allies’ power to demoralize your foe,

explaining that they’ll constantly be harassed and attacked unless

Rules
Sorcery, Sway
Allegiances they do what you wish. Alternatively, you use poison or martial
or Warfare
resources (such as describing a hidden crossbow-wielding soldier)
obtained from your Allies to damage their Health.

You use feigned affection and physical attraction to make your

Charm Sway
words bite more deeply.

You maneuver your enemy onto a slippery cobblestone or

City’s Secrets Warfare
crumbling bridge.

Command You order your foe to surrender or drop their mental defenses. Sorcery or Sway

You weave unnatural Corruption into unique sorcerous effects that

Corruption inflict exceptional damage or have particularly special effects. See Sorcery
p. 117 for damage and details.

Every dirty trick your enemy is about to try is one you’ve seen
Felonious Intent many, many times before — and you have a deadly technique in Sway or Warfare
reserve that they probably haven’t run into.

You know ancient tactics, charms and incantations to make your Sorcery, Sway
Forgotten Lore
attacks more powerful. or Warfare

Sorcery, Sway
Intimidation You muscle in to terrify your foe.
or Warfare

You’re knowledgeable enough about non-human foes to know

Sorcery, Sway
Know Monstrosities exactly where their weak points are, and may have monstrous
or Warfare
trophies such as poison to use on anyone in combat.

You have legal backup to legitimately accuse an enemy of a crime,

Laws & Traditions Sway
ruining their reputation.

You know poison and disease, and how to jab people where it will Sorcery, Sway
Leechcraft
hurt the most. or Warfare

You tell a particularly believable and scandalous lie, or even worse,

Liar’s Tell Sway
you tell the truth.

As a child, you had a superb fencing tutor, and you know the most
Nobility Sway or Warfare
damning family gossip.

You’ve foreseen truths about what’s going to be truly effective, Sorcery, Sway
Prophecy
and what won’t. or Warfare
 72 Swords of the Serpentine

Investigative Ability Spend Add to Damage

The fates work in your favor, making your attack particularly Sorcery, Sway or
Ridiculous Luck
effective. Warfare

Scurrilous Rumors You let your enemy know that you could shred their reputation. Sway
Rules

You’re experienced at communicating societal guilt, and your

Servility humility makes it easier to get close enough to slip your knife int Sway or Warfare
someone’s back.

You know exactly where to sink your blade, or exactly what secret
Skulduggery Sway or Warfare
to reveal, to bring your foe to their knees.

You can channel ghosts into and through your enemy, Sorcery, Sway or
Spirit Sight
demoralizing or injuring them. Warfare

You know dozens of ways to inflict crippling damage or gain a

Tactics of Death Warfare
tactical advantage.

Sorcery, Sway or
Taunt You make your foe so furious they let their defenses slip.
Warfare

Trustworthy Your enemy foolishly allows you to get within their guard. Warfare

You see exactly the right time to attack, presumably when your foe Sorcery, Sway or
Vigilance
is distracted. Warfare

Using a Maneuver You want to confront your archrival

privately, so you brusquely order his
When you want to achieve a non-damage effect against bodyguard to leave the room. You succeed by
a foe, use a Maneuver. Your target must choose to spending 3 Sway and rolling a 5, setting the
accept the effect you specify or take damage; the higher Difficulty at 8. Your foe decides whether they
your attack result, the more damage they take if they resist your order and take 6 points of Morale
decline to suffer the Maneuver’s effect. Maneuvers only damage (Difficulty 8 – 2), or whether they
affect one target unless it makes sense for the GM to slink out of the room.
say otherwise (like when you’re dropping a chandelier
down into a crowded room). If you have the Dodge Talent (see p. 37), you can
To perform a Maneuver, roll a successful Sorcery, try to dodge a Maneuver’s initial attack against your
Sway or Warfare attack (depending on what kind of Health. If you succeed, the attack misses and no
Maneuver you want to perform) against the target’s Maneuver occurs.
Health or Morale Threshold as appropriate. If successful, Attackers may spend appropriate Investigative
the attack does no immediate damage, but the result points to add +3 to the Maneuver Difficulty (and thus
sets the Difficulty. The defender must either accept the +3 to the damage). Defenders may spend appropriate
Maneuver’s effect, or suffer Health or Morale damage Investigative pool points to reduce the Maneuver’s
equal to the Difficulty -2: their choice. Depending on Difficulty (and thus the damage) by 3 points per
the effect, their Armor or Grit may reduce this damage Investigative point spent.
if they opt not to accept the effect.
Chapter 3: Rules 73

You’re fighting atop the Opera House and GMs decide how long a Maneuver’s effect lasts: most
your sorcerous foe tries to use a Maneuver — physical effects last at least until the end of your next
an illusion, in this case — to trick you into round, and most mental effects last for the scene. GMs
walking off the edge of the very high roof. The may raise or lower a Maneuver’s Difficulty if they think
Difficulty of their Sorcery attack is 10, so you the test is likely or unlikely to succeed. For instance,
it’s much easier to slip if you’re already standing on ice.
have a choice of either walking off the roof or
Sorcerous items such as Tokens may raise the Difficulty
taking 8 points of Morale damage. You tell
(and thus the damage) on Maneuvers, making defenders
the GM you’re spending a point of Vigilance

Rules
more likely to choose the effect instead of the damage.
(because you are so observant), reduce the
Morale damage from 8 to 5, further reduce Examples of Maneuvers
it by your 1 point of Grit, and take 4 points � Temporarily blind a foe with Sorcery or Warfare
of Morale damage instead of plummetting. (they take Health damage or are blinded, increasing
It’s a good choice, as the fall would probably the Difficulty of actions where visual acuity matters;
kill you. see p. 57).
� Use a headshot or sheer terror to daze someone
Note that Morale-based Maneuvers aren’t mind control; with Sorcery, Sway, or Warfare (they take Health or
you can’t make someone love you or be infatuated with Morale damage, depending on the type of attack,
you, although you may convince them to help you for or have all test Difficulties rise by +2).
a time. Your GM may disallow any Maneuver if she � Disarm a foe with a Sorcery or Warfare attack (they
thinks the effect you want is too powerful. take Health damage or whatever they’re holding is
knocked out of their hands, requiring an action to
pick up).
 74 Swords of the Serpentine

� Drag or Restrain a foe with a Sorcery or Warfare

Cover
attack. (They take Health damage or you control
their movement, although they may still be able to
attack. They’re freed when you next attack them Cover Against Sorcery and Warfare
or when they succeed at an Athletics test with the Attacks
original Maneuver’s Difficulty.)
In a typical fight you’re assumed to block and dodge,
� Persuade someone with a Sway attack, or a Sorcery
using anything nearby as cover. Deliberately moving
attack with an appropriate Sphere such as emotion
Rules

behind full cover can improve your Health Threshold

control (they take Morale damage or do what
by +1 or more, at the cost of making it more difficult
you’ve asked them to).
or impossible for you to attack. The GM adjudicates
� Strangle someone with a Sorcery or Warfare attack.
cover, so let them know when you’re seeking it.
(They take Health damage or they are unable to
There are three Cover conditions in Swords of the
vocalize and begin to Suffocate — see p. 88.
Serpentine.
Strangle ends when you take damage or when
they succeed at an Athletics test with the original
Exposed
Maneuver’s Difficulty.)
You can’t dodge or evade an incoming attack, and there’s
� Trick someone with a Sway attack or a Sorcery
no barrier between you and the Adversary firing at you.
attack with an appropriate Sphere, such as illusion
This is a relatively rare situation unless you’ve been
(they take Morale damage or they’re fooled).
Surprised, although it’s a good reminder that enemies
� Trip or Knock Back a foe with a Sorcery or Warfare
with bows can be dangerous when you don’t see them
attack (they take Health damage or are tossed back
coming. Your Health Threshold decreases by 1.
and off their feet).
� Unseat a foe from a mount with a Sorcery or Partial Cover
Warfare attack (they take Health damage or are The default assumption. You have room to maneuver
knocked from their saddle). in combat, or about half of your body is exposed
Sorcerers also use the Maneuver rules when targeting foes to incoming fire. Your Health Threshold remains
with particularly powerful, unique spells; see p. 115. unchanged. It’s assumed that you’re seeking partial
Alternative Maneuver rules from the playtest edition cover by default, blocking and dodging to keep yourself
are on p. 226. safe.

Full Cover
You’re hunkered down and hard to hit, and the barrier
Player Advice: Why No
you’re behind is largely protecting you from incoming
Unconsciousness Maneuver? fire. Your Health Threshold increases by +1, +2, or +3,
at the GM’s discretion, although you’re penalized the
You could reasonably expect “knock same amount if you try to target or attack someone on
someone unconscious” to show up on a list of the other side of the Full Cover.
Maneuvers, but it’s been deliberately excluded. Shields can provide Full Cover when used, at the cost
Inconsequential Supporting Characters already of penalizing your combat tests by the same amount.
have 1 Health, so you can declare them
unconscious as soon as you damage them at
Cover Against Sway Attacks
all, and the only time villains get knocked
unconscious in classic sword & sorcery novels is You can similarly take full cover from Morale attacks
when they’ve been thrashed into submission first. by limiting your ability to see and hear your foe. Cover
If you want to ring someone’s bells by swinging against Morale-targeted attacks uses the system above,
a sock full of coins at their head, use the Daze but the nature of Cover changes dramatically when
Maneuver instead. you’re facing fear or a convincing argument.
Chapter 3: Rules 75

Exposed reduced by Armor. At the GM’s discretion, damage

You are Exposed when you can’t block your ears, drown from certain Sorcery attacks may ignore Armor as well.
out noise, close your eyes, or otherwise protect yourself. If a Protective Ward is in place (see below), subtract
This is most common when drugged or captive, and Armor before halving damage.
occurs rarely. Your Morale Threshold decreases by 1.
Grit
Partial Cover Self-assurance, Investigative spends, magical items, and
The default assumption. You can see and hear your sorcerous spells can provide Grit of 1 to 4 that protects

Rules
opponent, but are not particularly vulnerable to their you from attacks against your Morale. Each 1 point of
blandishments. Your Morale Threshold remains Grit reduces damage inflicted on you by 1 point. People
unchanged. with Grit often appear emotionally detached, distant, or
fanatical. Note that some foes can ignore all or part of
Full Cover your Grit.
Your foe’s Sway attack is somehow obscured, whether Heroes who have at least five pieces of gear that
by darkness (for body language), by loud noise, by define their personality (see p. 42) have Grit 1.
extreme distraction, or by distance. Your Morale Grit derived from different sources isn’t cumulative;
Threshold increases by +1, +2, or +3, at the GM’s use the best single source of Grit when reducing Morale
discretion, and any Sway attacks you make are penalized damage.
by the same amount. If a Protective Ward is in place (see below), subtract
Grit before halving damage.
Shields
Shields take up one hand and act as Full Cover when you Protective Wards
choose to use them, increasing your Health Threshold Ancient half-forgotten chants sometimes have value;
by +1, +2, or +3 (depending on how defensive you are pool points of Forgotten Lore can be spent to weave
being). Your Warfare, Sway and Sorcery attacks are lucky, religious, or magical Protective Wards that
penalized an equal amount, although only when you protect Health or Morale. Anyone with ranks of
are gaining the Full Cover benefit of the shield. You Forgotten Lore can accomplish this, not just Sorcerers.
decide whether you default to using your shield when Describe what the effect of your Protective Ward looks
combat occurs, and you can freely change this decision like when you create it.
on your turn.

Armor GM Advice: The Last-Minute

Protective clothing (such as leather armor, chainmail, Desperation of a Protective Ward
and plate mail) gives you Armor of 1, 2, 3, or 4 that
protects you from attacks against your Health. Reduce Getting defeated by a single powerful attack is a
damage by the protective value every time you are lot less exciting than almost getting defeated by
injured. a single powerful attack and then scrambling to
See details on armor types in the Gear chapter (p. keep yourself alive. We like the idea of a resource
136). Armor more protective than Leather is heavy spend that provides a last-minute escape against
and cumbersome, and may give penalties to actions. a deadly foe, barely buying you enough time to
Armor derived from different sources isn’t escape or even win.
cumulative; use the best single source of Armor when That said, you may find that protective wards
reducing Health damage. make combat less exciting. If you do, completely
Note that some foes can ignore all or part of your remove them from the game, raise the danger
Armor. Damage to your Health that isn’t caused by level of an average fight, or remove them for
a Warfare or Sorcery attack (such as poison damage Heroes until you give the secret of such protective
or spending points of Health on a Health test) is not wards out as treasure.
 76 Swords of the Serpentine

when halving damage, subtract Armor

or Grit first, and then round down. The
uses of the ward are shared between
everyone who is warded. Anyone warded
can choose to draw upon the ward as
needed, after they find out how much
damage they would take from an attack.
The ward stops working once its power
Rules

is expended or when the scene ends.

You and your three companions

are under the effect of your
2-point Protective Ward, which
you describe as a sphere of gently
pulsing light. After taking small
amounts of damage from a series
of lesser attacks, all four of you are
hit by a sorcerer’s cloud of sentient
acidic mist and the GM tells you
that the deadly attack will inflict
14 points of Health damage.
That’s worth using the ward for!
Only two out of the the four of you
may halve that damage to 7 points
(or less if a victim is wearing
Armor) by drawing on the ward,
after which the ward dissipates for
everyone. You choose the two Heroes
with the worst Health to take the
least damage.
On your turn, spend one or more pool points of
Forgotten Lore to ward yourself and possibly your Last-minute Protective Wards
allies, as follows. There will be times when the only way to save the lives
� 1 point spent: Ward yourself or another person of you or your friends is to erect a last-minute Protective
within Point-Blank range, gain one use. Ward. What happens if you haven’t yet cast a ward when
� 2 points spent: Ward everyone you choose within an Adversary unleashes a deadly attack?
Point-Blank range, gain two uses. The answer is Flashback, the Talent from 8 or more
� 3 points spent: Ward everyone you choose within ranks of the General ability Preparedness. Any Hero
Close range, gain three uses. with Flashback can declare that you have already put a
� 4 points spent: Ward everyone you choose within Protective Ward in place, you foresighted person, you!
Medium range, gain four uses. They then make a Preparedness test and have you spend
� 5 points spent: Ward everyone you choose within the Forgotten Lore points needed to provide protection
Long range, gain five uses. for the team.
Each use of the ward halves damage from a single source No one has a high Preparedness rank? Spending a
of Health or Morale damage, such as an attack or a fall; pool point of Prophecy can gain that Hero Flashback
temporarily, as noted on p. 28.
Chapter 3: Rules 77

If you’re Surprised, you suffer a +2 increase to

Surprise all General ability Difficulties for any immediately
subsequent action, and you may be exposed without any
Cover (see p. 74), lowering your Health Threshold
When Should You Roll Surprise? by 1. In a fight, these penalties pertain only to the first
Ignore Surprise unless one side or the other has the round of combat.
chance to be caught completely flat-footed. If the You can completely avoid being Surprised by
groups can see or hear each other coming, and no spending a Vigilance point from your Investigative

Rules
one tries an ambush in the middle of a conversation, abilities. If there are special circumstances in which the
Surprise is less likely to be a concern. GM dictates that doesn’t apply, such as your enemy
having a particularly high Stealth Modifier, spending a
How Surprise Works Vigilance point still gives you a +3 Alertness Modifier
You are Surprised when you suddenly find yourself on your Stealth roll to spot the ambush.
in an unexpectedly dangerous situation. Avoid being You can Surprise your foes by sneaking up on them
Surprised with a successful Stealth test to notice the with a successful Stealth test. The basic Difficulty is 4,
hidden ambush. The basic Difficulty is 4, adjusted by adjusted by the foe’s Alertness Modifier and your Stealth
your Alertness modifier (see p. 57) and the foe’s modifier (if any). Spending 1 point of Skulduggery
Stealth Modifier. gives you a +3 Stealth Modifier on this roll.

Health
Health represents how hard you are to physically defeat. test, the GM will tell you what happens: you may fall
Your maximum Health is determined by your Health unconscious, take more Health damage (denoted
rank. Although your Health pool may rise and fall as by the term Loss, such as “Difficulty 4/Loss 4”), or
you get injured and heal, your Health rank doesn’t something else depending on the circumstances.
usually change unless you deliberately improve it with If spending points on a Health test drives your
Advancement points. Health to -6 or below, you still only make one Health
Starting Heroes have a Health rank between 3 and test. If you go to Hurt and then to Seriously Wounded
15 (see p. 35). A Health rank of 10 or higher raises as a result of two separate attacks, you make two separate
your Health Threshold from 3 to 4. Health tests.
Health Thresholds can be raised or lowered by
You’ve dropped to –1 Health and want to
conditions such as shields or cover.
stay conscious. The GM asks you to make a
Difficulty 4/Unconsciousness Health test
Health Tests to do so. You decide to spend 2 Health on
the roll, giving you a +2 bonus on the die.
Some attacks and situations, including but not limited You reduce your Health pool from –1 to –3,
to dropping below 0 Health, require you to make a then roll a die and add 2. As long as you
Health test. Do so by rolling a die and trying to reach don’t roll a 1, you’ll hit or exceed the target
or exceed the target Difficulty, which is usually 4. Difficulty of 4 and will stay on your feet. If
Before you roll, you can choose to strain yourself and
you roll a 1, you fail the Health test and pass
spend points from your Health to boost your die roll.
out from pain.
You can do this when your health is below 0, though
obviously it’s risky. If you succeed at your Health test, Any penalties from being below 0 Health don’t apply to
you will usually take no additional damage other than Health tests. Armor doesn’t apply to Health tests, and
what you choose to spend. If you fail your Health never reduces the amount of Health spent or lost.
 78 Swords of the Serpentine

Health tests and Morale tests). In combat, this penalty

Becoming Hurt effectively raises foes’ Health or Morale Thresholds by
1. This penalty isn’t cumulative with that from a low
When your Health is successfully attacked by Warfare Morale; only apply the stricter of the two penalties.
or Sorcery, or when something hurts you without an A character with the Bind Wounds ability can help
attack (like falling off a rain-slick roof), you’ll take improve your condition. For every Bind Wounds point
damage to your Health pool. they spend, you regain 2 Health points — unless you’re
If your Health pool is 0 or above, you are Healthy binding your own wounds, in which case you gain only
Rules

and aren’t physically injured in any meaningful or lasting 1 Health point for every Bind Wounds point spent. If
way. You may look bruised or battered, however. you have the Bind Wounds Talent, Plenty of Leeches,
If your Health pool is anywhere from –1 to you may restore Health to yourself as if you were
–5, you are physically Hurt but have suffered no tending another character.
permanent injury beyond a few superficial cuts and If your Health pool is between –6 and –10, you
bruises. Immediately make a Health test at Difficulty have been Seriously Wounded and healing is only half
4 when you first drop below 0 Health. If you succeed, as effective on you until you reach Health 0 or higher.
you stay conscious despite your injuries and don’t need Each point of Bind Wounds spent on you heals 1
to make another test until additional injuries drop you Health, not 2, and trying to bind your own wounds is
below –5 Health. If you fail, you drop unconscious: see equally half as effective as normal. This penalty can be
Health Tests, below, for more information. ignored for one round if the person tending you spends
When Hurt, the pain of your injuries increases the a point of Leechcraft.
Difficulty of all General ability tests by 1 (excluding

Health Quick Reference Table

Health: 0+ Health: –1 to –5 Health: –6 to –10 Health: Below –10
SERIOUSLY
HEALTHY HURT DEFEATED
WOUNDED
� You aren’t � Immediately make a � Immediately make � You’re removed from
physically Difficulty 4 Health test another Difficulty 4 the conflict. The attacker
injured in any to stay conscious. Health test to stay decides in what way you are
meaningful � Difficulties of all General conscious. defeated.
or lasting ability tests increase by � Healing is only half � Investigative spends (when
way. You may 1 until at or above 0 as effective on you as conscious) are sharply
look bruised Health. normal. limited.
or battered, � Can be healed normally � Lose an additional � You may no longer take
however. with the Bind Wounds Health point every half actions during this scene.
ability. hour until stabilized. � If slain, hope that your loved
� Difficulties of all General ones have a funerary statue
ability tests increase by crafted for you, so that your
2 until at or above 0 soul isn’t denied the afterlife
Health. (see p. 229).
� Difficulties for General
ability tests remain raised
by 1 for the rest of the
adventure as you heal.
Chapter 3: Rules 79

You must make another Health test at Difficulty

4 when you first become Seriously Wounded. (If you Fixed Damage
went directly from Healthy to -6 or below without
ever stopping at Hurt, we’re really sorry, and just You may be asked by the GM to spend a fixed amount
make this one Health test.) If you succeed, you remain of Health or Morale. This is most common for
conscious and can continue to act. If you fail, you drop environmental hazards, terrifying locations, or to speed
unconscious. If you do manage to stay conscious, during up play.
this scene you won’t need to make another Health test
“Entering this crypt claws at your sanity;

Rules
from accruing damage until additional injuries kill you.
That’s particularly useful if you want to try to crawl you’re not sure if its haunted, but you do
away, or see who finishes you off. know that something very terrible happened
If you are able to remain conscious when Seriously here. If you want to enter, take 3 damage to
Wounded, the pain of your injuries increases the your Morale, less your Grit.”
Difficulty of all General ability tests (excluding Health “The fire begins to spread. Everyone will
tests and Morale tests) by 2. In combat, this penalty
take 1 Health damage this round. If you
effectively raises foes’ Health or Morale Thresholds by
stay in the burning room and no one deals
2. This penalty isn’t cumulative with that from a low
with the fire, that will rise to 3 Health
Morale; only apply the stricter of the two penalties.
If you’re Seriously Wounded and unconscious, you damage next round. Armor won’t reduce
will lose an additional Health point every half hour the damage.”
until you receive first aid. A character with the Bind
Wounds ability can stabilize your condition by making a
Difficulty 4 Bind Wounds test. This test doesn’t restore GM Advice: Fixed Damage
any lost Health, it just stops you from continuing to
bleed out. Use fixed damage to quickly establish tone. If you
Your allies can get you back on your feet, but it takes tell players they suffer 5 points of Morale damage
some time to fully recover. If you become Seriously because “ripe fungal growths are rapidly bursting
Wounded, the Difficulty of all General ability tests you up through the old lady’s skin as she moves to
make stays at 1 point higher than normal for the rest of attack you,” they’ll instantly understand how
the adventure (or for one week, whichever elapses first). horrible she is.
When your Health pool dips below –10, you Fixed damage is also a great way to remind
are Defeated. It’s up to the person who defeated you players that externalized Corruption remains
whether you are dead, unconscious, maimed, conscious toxic long, long after the sorcerer departs (see p.
but captured, or otherwise defeated. If left conscious, 118).
you may no longer take any actions during this scene
(you can still roleplay, but not make attacks), and you
will typically start the next scene regaining consciousness Regaining Health
but still Seriously Wounded.
The only Investigative spends you can make are from
You can regain lost Health points slowly over time, or
your Allegiances or Social abilities, made to convince
they can be restored through the Bind Wounds General
your foe not to slay you.
ability, see p. 37. A spent point of the Investigative
If slain, take this time to mourn your Hero and create
ability Leechcraft can also restore Health.
a replacement character. See p. 233 for important
Characters generally recover 2 points of Health per
details on funerary customs and the afterlife. Rarely,
day of restful, relaxed activity.
your GM will allow you to play your own ghost for a
short time; see below.
 80 Swords of the Serpentine

Healing Injuries
You will shake off any lingering penalty
from being Seriously Wounded after
7 days of rest. You heal fully between
adventures.
During an adventure, you’re much
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more likely to depend on the Bind

Wounds ability for on-the-fly healing. See
details p. 37; the ability’s effectiveness
drops when you become Seriously
Wounded. A Leechcraft spend can also
restore a significant amount of Health all
at once.
You can’t use Refresh tokens to directly
recover your Health pool, and you can
never heal higher than your Health rank.

Defeat, Death,
and its Aftermath
You have a few options when you’ve been
defeated.

Surrender and Captivity

In Swords of the Serpentine, being defeated
in combat doesn’t usually mean being
killed. Just as in most sword & sorcery
fantasy novels, villains have a strange
propensity for taking you captive and
then publicly humiliating you, unaccountably falling in
Sometimes Heroes Die
love with you, chaining you where you can be eaten by Not everyone will take you captive; unthinking
a giant serpent, talking about their secret plans in front monsters, for instance, are more likely to just eat
of you, or tossing you into a dungeon and forgetting you. You may be able to spend an Investigative point
you existed. It’s not smart, necessarily, but it’s probably such as Servility before that happens and just be left
satisfying to any Adversary who likes gloating. unconscious instead; ask your GM.
The best part of this is that captivity is a superb place If your character is killed, you have a few options.
for you to pick up leads. You might even deliberately � Bring in a new character. If the deceased Hero
surrender just so you have the chance to learn about had gained any Advancement points from previous
your enemy’s plans. Then you can use your abilities and games, the new character gains those Advancement
Allegiances to break free, escape, gain some vengeance points as well. They don’t get the old Hero’s
along the way, and continue the adventure. accumulated Wealth (if any).
� Play (at least until the end of the adventure) as a
ghost (see p. 226).
Chapter 3: Rules 81

GM Advice: Do You Kill Heroes?

The sword & sorcery approach to character death is that a Hero shouldn’t ever actually die without their
player’s express permission, although the Hero may be defeated and captured many times. That’s how classic
fantasy stories handle it, right? It’s primarily about the story, and you can lose badly without losing your life.
In comparison, the “gaming approach” to character death is that enemies are hostile, chance is random,
and once in a while Heroes get slain. This approach focuses more on risk and danger; some players enjoy a

Rules
game more when the spectre of death is always a possibility.
These rules assume the latter, but you should talk to your players about how you want to handle death.
Either method works well, so pick the approach you and your players prefer.

Morale
Morale measures willpower and represents how strong- If spending points on a Morale test drives your
willed and brave you are. Your maximum Morale is Morale to -6 or below, you still only make one Morale
determined by your Morale rank. Starting Heroes have test. If you go to Unstable and then to Panicked as a
a Morale rank between 3 and 15 (see p. 35). A Morale result of two separate attacks, you make two separate
rank of 10 or higher raises your Morale Threshold from Morale tests.
3 to 4.
Only sentient creatures and objects have Morale. A You’ve dropped to –1 Morale (Unstable) and
human foe would have Morale (and so you could talk want to stay active in the scene. The GM asks
them into surrendering), but a reinforced doorway you you to make a Difficulty 4 Morale test to do
want to get through would not. Don’t expect much so. You decide to spend 2 Morale on the roll,
progress if you try to use Sway to talk your way through giving you a +2 bonus on the die. You reduce
a closed and locked door. your Morale pool from –1 to –3, then roll a
die and add 2. As long as you don’t roll a
1, you’ll hit or exceed the Target Difficulty
Morale Tests of 4 and can continue to act in the scene. If
you roll a 1, you fail the Morale test and tell
Some attacks and situations, including but not limited
the GM why your Hero is no longer active
to dropping below 0 Morale or resisting mind control,
require you to make a Morale test. Do so by rolling a (due to fear, distraction, unconsciousness, or
die and trying to reach or exceed the target Difficulty, something else you choose).
which is usually 4.
Before you roll, you can choose to strain yourself Any penalties from being below 0 Morale don’t apply
and spend points from your Morale to boost your die to Morale tests. Grit doesn’t apply to Morale tests, and
roll. You can do this when your Morale is below zero, never reduces the amount of Morale spent or lost.
though obviously it’s risky. If you succeed at your
Morale test, you will usually take no additional Morale Becoming Demoralized
damage other than what you chose to spend. If you fail
your Morale test, the GM will tell you what happens: When your Morale is successfully attacked by Sway or
you may get to choose for yourself why you’re out of Sorcery, or when something demoralizes you without
combat, but under other circumstances you may panic, an attack (such as fear emanating from a cursed altar),
take even more Morale damage (denoted by the term you’ll take damage to your Morale pool. See below for
Loss, such as “Difficulty 4/Loss 4”), or something else. how you can recover that damage.
 82 Swords of the Serpentine

Morale Quick Reference Table

Morale: 0+ Morale: –1 to –5 Morale: –6 to –10 Morale: below –10

RESILIENT UNSTABLE PANICKED BROKEN

Able to think Immediately make a Immediately make another Choose one:

and act as Difficulty 4 Morale test Difficulty 4 Morale test to
Rules

If you don’t become

normal. to stay active in the remain active in the scene.
Treasonous (see below),
scene. If you fail, tell If you fail, tell the GM why
you’re removed from the
the GM why you are no you are no longer active
conflict. Develop mental
longer active (fainted, (fainted, afraid, etc.).
and spiritual instabilities that
afraid, etc.).
plague you going forward.
Using Sway to bolster
Difficulties of all your Morale is only half as
Investigative spends (when
General ability tests effective as normal.
conscious) are sharply limited.
increase by 1 until at or
above 0 Morale. Difficulties of all General
You are forever more
ability tests increase by 2
vulnerable to possession by
Morale can be bolstered until at or above 0 Morale.
ghosts.
normally with the Sway
ability. Difficulties for General
ability tests remain raised
by 1 for the rest of the
adventure.

If your Morale pool is 0 or above, you are you A character with the Sway ability can help bolster
are Resilient and aren’t demoralized or cowering your Morale. For every Sway point they spend, you
in any meaningful or lasting way. Even if something regain 2 Morale points — unless you’re trying to talk
makes you feel afraid or discouraged, you possess the yourself into being brave, in which case you gain only 1
willpower to persevere. Morale point for every Sway point spent.
If your Morale pool is anywhere from –1 to –5, If your Morale pool is between –6 and –10, you
you are Unstable. Immediately make a Morale test at are Panicked, and bolstering your Morale is only half as
Difficulty 4 when you first drop below 0 Morale. If you effective as normal until you reach Morale 0 or higher.
succeed you stay active despite your low morale and Each point of Sway spent on you restores 1 Morale, not
don’t need to make another test until additional Morale 2, and trying to bolster your own Morale is equally half
damage drops you below –5 Morale. If you fail, tell the as effective as normal. This penalty can be ignored for
GM why you are no longer active during this scene one round if the person tending you spends a point of
(you may fall unconscious, flee, surrender, be captured, Trustworthy.
or something else). You must make another Morale test at Difficulty 4
When Unstable, your rising panic increases the when you first become Panicked. (If you went directly
Difficulty of all General ability tests (excluding Health to Panicked without ever becoming Unstable, make
tests and Morale tests). In combat, this penalty only this one Morale test.) If you succeed, you can
effectively raises foes’ Health or Morale Thresholds by continue to act. If you fail, as above, tell the GM why
1. This penalty isn’t cumulative with that from a low you are no longer active during this scene.
Health; only apply the stricter of the two penalties.
Chapter 3: Rules 83

When Panicked, the Difficulty of all General ability Becoming Broken permanently cracks and scars your
tests (excluding Health tests and Morale tests) is psyche in a way that some sorcerers and all hostile spirits
increased by 2. In combat, this penalty effectively raises can take advantage of. Attackers using the Possession
foes’ Health or Morale Thresholds by 2. This penalty Maneuver against you (see p. 163) gain +1 for every
isn’t cumulative with that from a low Health; only apply time in your adventuring career that you’ve been Broken.
the stricter of the two penalties.
Your allies can restore your confidence, but it takes Your Morale has been Broken three times
some time to fully regain your composure. If you in your adventures, and now a hostile ghost

Rules
become Panicked and then subsequently you’re brought tries to possess you. They roll a Sway attack
above 0 Morale, the Difficulty of all General ability tests with a result of 7, add +3 because you’ve
stays at 1 point higher than normal for the rest of the been Broken three times before, and end up
adventure (or for one week, whichever elapses first). with a final result of 10. You choose between
taking 8 points of Morale damage (result –
2) or being possessed. If you had never been
GM Advice: Broken, you’d choose between taking 5 points
Panic and Participation of Morale damage or being possessed.

It’s not fun for players to sit out of half a combat,

and no one likes having narrative control taken Player Advice:
away from their Hero. That’s why players get to “You Can’t Talk Me to Death!”
dictate the result when they are below 0 Morale
and fail their Morale test. When looking at the effects of low Morale,
it’s good to remember that you don’t become
Panicked or Broken because you lost a minor
When your Morale pool dips below –10, you are argument with someone. Your Morale drops
defeated and become Broken. Decide why you are no because a foe is terrifying you or browbeating
longer a part of the conflict. You develop mental and you with their antithetical beliefs, and you’re
spiritual instabilities (such as fears, guilt, or self-doubts) finding yourself believing them despite yourself.
that might plague you in future adventures until you That can strain or break deeply held beliefs, and
address them through roleplaying. it’s this strain that a low Morale represents. Have
If you prefer, you can instead become Treasonous, fun roleplaying this clash, which can lead to some
either publicly or privately allying with your foe or (if character-defining moments.
they’re now deceased) your foe’s cause. This will likely
change your Allegiances somewhat and may put you
secretly at odds with your Allies. Talk to your GM about Bolstering Morale with Sway
this, and make sure you both agree on how becoming
Treasonous might work. You can use Sway as an action to restore your own or
The only Investigative spends you can make when someone else’s lost Morale, even impacting more than
Broken are from your Allegiances or Social abilities, one person at once. Restoring Morale requires you to
made to convince your foe not to slay you. describe how you’re boosting yourself back up, or give
You may no longer take any actions during this a brief inspirational speech to your friends, bolstering
scene (you can still roleplay, but not make attacks), and their waning self-confidence and bravery. Every point
you will typically start the next scene conscious but still you spend from your Sway pool restores 2 Morale
Panicked. Your allies can then use Sway to restore your points to someone else or 1 Morale point to you, split
Morale with the same penalties listed under Panicked, up however you want among the people listening to
but it takes some time to fully regain your composure. your short speech.
Difficulties of all General ability tests are 1 point higher Bolstering lost Morale becomes less effective once
than normal for the rest of the adventure. your target becomes Panicked at or below -6 Morale.
See p. 82 for additional details.
 84 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Regaining Morale

Demoralizing the Adversary
Your Morale rank determines the maximum amount of
Morale that you can possess at once. Although your
In a large fight the Heroes may demoralize their
Morale pool may rise and fall as you get demoralized
primary Adversary, defeating them through a loss
and then recover, your Morale rank doesn’t usually
in Morale. It’s up to you whether the Adversary
change unless you deliberately raise it with Advancement
then surrenders on behalf of all their troops,
Rules

points. You can never regain Morale higher than your

or whether the fight rages on but without the
rank.
defeated foe participating. Which you choose
Heroes naturally recover 2 points of Morale for each
depends on the circumstances, whether the bad
full day of restful, relaxed activity. You recover fully
guys have a strict chain of command, how the foes
between adventures unless you and the GM have a
think the Heroes will treat them if they surrender,
reason why you wouldn’t.
and (mostly) what’s most fun for both you and
During an adventure, you’re much more likely
the players. In general, the more independent
to depend on Sway for on-the-fly bolstering of
your villains are, the more likely they’re going to
your Morale. See details above and on p. 41, and
continue to fight even when their leader drops.
remember that your ability to regain Morale drops
If you really aren’t sure, have remaining
when you become Panicked. A Trustworthy spend also
Adversaries make a Morale test to keep fighting.
restores a significant amount of Morale all at once.
You can’t use Refresh tokens to directly recover
Morale.

Hazards
There are all sorts of ways to get hurt that don’t involve still and silent, and their location cannot reasonably be
being stabbed. This section covers many of them, guessed). The GM adjudicates the modifier based on
including disease and the all-important (in Eversink, at circumstances and your senses.
least) poison.

Blindness Diseases
Partial blindness (such as losing one eye or degenerating Swords of the Serpentine isn’t a game about disease —
eyesight) doesn’t affect your Hero mechanically, at least, not usually — but disease may be a significant
although under certain circumstances (usually dim story element in an adventure or a campaign. As you’d
light or long distances) the GM may slightly penalize expect, disease can be a problem in a crowded city that’s
your Alertness Modifier or the Difficulty to use ranged surrounded by stagnant swamps.
weapons accurately. Sudden outbreaks of disease terrify people. If you
Temporary full blindness (such as a sack over your ever need to get a city district blocked off so that no
head, which you’ll need to spend an action to remove) one can get in or out, spreading the rumor of a terrible
and permanent full blindness (such as losing your sight disease is an awfully effective method of getting others
to a curse) raise the Difficulty on tests where visual to do your dirty work for you. The Triskadane isn’t
acuity matters. The size of the Difficulty change varies shy about quarantining entire districts of Eversink in
from +1 (attacking a foe who is touching you) to +3 order to control the spread of contagious diseases and,
(trying to pick a lock by touch alone) to +5 (your foe is historically, districts have been burned down to the
Chapter 3: Rules 85

GM Advice: GM Advice: Disease Symptoms

Heroes with Disabilities
When designing your own diseases, don’t create
If a player wants to play a badass Hero with a symptoms that completely sideline an infected
disability, talk with them about what that means Hero. No one wants to show up for a game
during play. A blind swordsman with Vigilance 3 session when their sick Hero is going to spend
is much more interesting than a generic soldier the entire adventure unconscious.

Rules
with a sword, and a blind elemental Sorcerer Additionally, be respectful when designing
with the Earth sphere who sees the world diseases with symptoms similar to real-world
through vibrations in her bare feet (like Toph conditions.
in Avatar: The Last Airbender) is a distinct and
novel concept. How they perceive the world may
give them both advantages and disadvantages. another is up to the GM; diseases move at the speed of
For instance, a deaf thief might have a very high plot. The GM may ask you to make a Health or Morale
Grit against Sway attacks (since they can’t hear an test to recover from a disease, or to avoid passing from
enemy’s voice), but no Grit at all against Morale one stage into another. The Difficulty of that test might
attacks using sorcery, body language, and fear. rise significantly (to Difficulty 8 or higher) for easy-to-
Find a fair, interesting balance with the player. catch or hard-to-cure diseases.
A disease is first noticeable in either the first or
second stage, depending on its severity and initial
symptoms. You can’t resist or treat a disease until you
waterline with the inhabitants still in them to stop the suspect you have it, or someone else does.
spread of a plague. The fact that these districts are almost Leechcraft will allow you to identify a disease, and
always the poor sections of the city is surely coincidental. for each point of Leechcraft you spend, a disease victim
In real world history, the spread and severity of will gain a +3 bonus on their next Health or Morale test
disease has shaped the course of empires. A GM who to resist or recover from the disease.
wants to shake up a campaign can introduce a plague
that kills both allies and enemies alike, and an adventure Known Diseases in Eversink
that prevents (or spreads) a virulent illness can have With outlanders arriving daily, and long-forgotten
huge stakes for millions of people that the heroes have crypts accidentally being stumbled into by explorers,
never met. new (or ancient) diseases can crop up at any time.
Create additional illnesses, but you only need to create
Disease Mechanics game stats for diseases that have a meaningful impact on
Diseases are physical, mental, parasitic, or spiritual heroes. Anyone might get a cold or the flu, for instance,
maladies that may be contagious. They aren’t limited but you’d only need to create game mechanics for a
to diseases that exist in the real world, and might be severe flu that kills people or guts a mercenary company
fantastical (with magical symptoms) or transformative on the eve of battle.
(turning the victim from a human into something
else). The onset time, symptoms, communicability, and Scabral
virulence vary by disease. A disease’s symptoms can be Scabral is a rare magical disease of the soul that slowly
wide-ranging, and may be noticeable and inconvenient turns you into a rat monstrosity known as a rattakan
without necessarily becoming crippling or deadly. A (see p. 193). Since most people don’t know that
paralytic disease may affect Athletics; a disease that steals the rattakan even exist, it is typically overlooked or
the ability to speak might lower Sway as it progresses. misidentified as bad luck or a curse. This disease is
Diseases are organized into stages. Although each automatically contracted from the bite of a rattakan,
disease has suggestions for a typical case, the speed and and ties directly into Denari’s Blessing (see p. 227).
conditions for any disease to move from one stage into Many rattakan suffer from scabral at Stage 5.
 86 Swords of the Serpentine

Scabral worsens or heals slowly, usually advancing or � Stage 3: The flesh of your feet begins to dissolve
recovering by one stage per adventure. It is virulent and and turn to swamp mud and slime. Walking
difficult to resist, typically with a Difficulty 8 Morale without crutches triggers a Health 4 test from the
test required. pain: if you fail, become Dazed. Athletics tests to
� Stage 1: You look different under Spirit Sight, run, climb and chase are at Difficulty +4.
mottled and sickly. � Stage 4: One or both feet rots away entirely below
� Stage 2: Any business deals you try to make go the shin, leaving raw stumps.
sour on you. � Stage 5: You begin to dream of throwing yourself
Rules

� Stage 3: You begin to affect your environment into the swamp and sinking out of sight.
with sorcerous Corruption, weakening Denari’s
Blessing in your vicinity and Corrupting the area Special: If you survive Stage 5, the disease automatically
around you (see p. 118) when you stay in one passes. Victims pass from Stage 5 directly to cured —
location for more than one scene. although you’re still missing your feet, of course.
� Stage 4: Your flesh starts to slowly dissolve into Soaking your feet in swamp mud at least once a day
black vapor whenever you are in an area of Denari’s gives you a +2 bonus on your next test to resist the
Blessing (i.e. most of Eversink). Lose 1 die of disease.
damage from your Health pool at the start of every
Scene that takes place within Denari’s Blessing. Throat Leeches
This damage can be healed normally. Amongst the more disgusting of conditions, throat
� Stage 5: If you enter a temple, shrine, marketplace, leeches are picked up when drinking infected water.
or any area particularly sacred to Denari, you die Don’t go gargling swamp water if you can avoid it.
and dissolve into black greasy vapor. You sense this They’re a truly horrible way to die.
before you step into danger. Throat leeches worsen or improve by one stage per
day, and are resisted by Health, usually with a Difficulty
Special: It’s common for people infected with scabral 6 Health test.
to not notice until in Stage 3 or 4. Rarely, virulent and � Stage 1: You have a slight tickle in your throat, and
fast-moving strains of this disease worsen or improve your voice is hoarse.
every scene instead of every adventure. � Stage 2: You have trouble swallowing and you
crave swamp water to drink. Your throat begins to
Swamp Rot bulge.
Swamp rot is a common ailment that often afflicts the � Stage 3: You suffer from coughing fits. Once per
poor (or those afraid of leechcraft). A fair number of the scene, usually at the least convenient time, you
beggars in Eversink have lost their feet to swamp rot. It cough live leeches out of your mouth.
worsens or improves by one stage per adventure and has � Stage 4: Along with the symptoms of previous
clear symptoms, so most people afflicted have time to stages, you begin actively planning how to infect
seek treatment. Swamp rot is resisted by Health, usually others with throat leeches (usually by getting them
with a Difficulty 6 Health test. to drink liquid you have spit in). This desire isn’t
Swamp rot usually follows people who have had rational, and can be resisted with a Difficulty 4
to trek through mud and muck, and it’s believed that Morale test.
swamp spirits are claiming payment for their kindness � Stage 5: A truly revolting number of throat leeches
in not drowning you. Before you ever catch swamp bursts out of your neck, killing you.
rot, propitiate the spirits by tossing Wealth 2 into the
depths of the swamp. They say that if you do so, you’ll Tidal Plague
never need to fear swamp rot again. This lethal, fast-moving plague comes in from the sea
� Stage 1: Your feet begin to smell like low tide on a during a storm surge. It can leave the canals choked
hot day. with corpses in a matter of days.
� Stage 2: The flesh on your feet aches and begins to Tidal plague worsens or improves quickly, advancing
bruise easily. Athletics tests to run, climb and chase or recovering a stage at each high tide. Tidal plague is
are at Difficulty +2. resisted by Health; the Difficulty of the test is normally
Chapter 3: Rules 87

8, but rises to 10 when high tide coincides with dawn there via a Difficulty 3 Persuade Maneuver (so
or dusk. obey Colony or suffer 1 Morale damage). You
� Stage 1: A fever that waxes and wanes with the are not aware that you’re being manipulated. You
tide; when the tide is high, the fever is worst. The occasionally cough wetly.
skin between your fingers and toes itches. � Stage 3: The fungal infection grows in your lungs,
� Stage 2: Bulges appear on your neck beneath the and you cough often. The Difficulty for holding
jawline. You hallucinate that you’re underwater. your breath or to resist any respiratory infection is
You may walk into canals because you erroneously 2 higher than normal. If Colony wishes, you are

Rules
believe you can breathe water. Hint: you can’t. connected to its hivemind. You don’t find this odd
� Stage 3: Your body erupts with boils and blains, at all.
seeping with clear fluid that smells like saltwater. You � Stage 4: Your body has adjusted and you seldom
start suffering hallucinations, often accompanied by cough. You have become one of the Drowned,
confused ranting and violent behavior. You’ll need connected to Colony’s hivemind whenever it
to make Morale 5 tests to tell friends from foes. wishes, and this seems normal and natural to you.
� Stage 4: You suffer an irresistible compulsion to be Colony can attempt to take you over entirely for
underwater. You’ll harm others, even loved ones, a scene through a Difficulty 8 Persuade Maneuver
to achieve this goal. (obey Colony or take 6 points of Morale damage).
� Stage 5: You die by drowning as your lungs fill up It prefers not to do so, as most people suffering
with internal fluids. from wetlung are more useful as pawns and spies,
and the consequence of successfully resisting it is
Special: The priests of Denari deny that tidal plague not in Colony’s best interests (see below). See p.
is the curse of an ancient ocean god who craves blood 186 for combat stats or the Drowned.
sacrifice. In fact, they deny it fairly emphatically. The
only god who holds sway in Eversink is Denari, even at Special: The most likely vector for infection is through
high tide. spore-infested water entering the lungs directly. Anyone
who suffers a near-drowning in any of Eversink’s
Wetlung waterways runs the risk that the water was contaminated
Wetlung is a parasitic fungal infection that connects (Difficulty 4 Health test to avoid being infected). Most
victims to a secret colony of psychic fungus growing of Colony’s victims are the result of a person being
in a near-flooded underground chamber beneath forced to aspirate deliberately infected water (Difficulty
Eversink. The huge inhuman entity, which weighs over 10 Health test to resist).
50 tons and thinks of itself as “Colony”, can influence Wetlung’s victims aren’t zombies; they’re simply
people via the parasitic spore colonies growing in their susceptible to subliminal nudges towards outcomes
lungs. The true nature of wetlung isn’t understood by the hivemind desires. They won’t retain the memory
Eversink’s physicians. of their abduction and infection, nor will they realize
Wetlung is resisted by a Difficulty 10 Health test that some of their decisions are coming from an outside
once you’re infected, but isn’t traditionally contagious; agency. If they notice at all, it will seem completely
the disease is only spread by infected water unless the normal to them that their internal organs are slowly
spores somehow become airborne. Wetlung worsens being suffused with fungus.
or improves slowly, usually advancing or recovering by
one stage per adventure. The Consequences of Resistance: Colony is the
� Stage 1: You may show pale skin and bluish lips, human equivalent of the Cordyceps fungus (do a
faint symptoms of having been recently drowned. quick web search if you aren’t familiar with it). You
You suffer pleasantly hallucinogenic visions will take Morale damage if you resist a command or a
for several hours, as if drugged, and you can’t suggestion from Colony. If this Morale damage defeats
remember the incident that infected you. you, you will experience an irresistible urge to head to
� Stage 2: You are subject to subliminal psychic the highest location you can easily access (usually a tall
suggestions from Colony if you have no Grit: not building’s roof). You will violently resist anyone who
anything dramatic, just small nudges here and tries to detain you.
 88 Swords of the Serpentine

Once in this high location, you will spend all your When suffocating, roll a Health test every round.
Athletics pool grasping onto a railing or similar object Your first failure means you become Dazed (the
so that you are difficult to move. You will remain there Difficulty of all tests rises by +2); your second failure
for the remainder of the scene while Colony’s fungus means you fall Unconscious. The Difficulty of this test
grows uncontrollably within your body. It will grow starts at Difficulty 2 in the first round of Suffocation,
a unicorn-horn-like fungal rhizome out the top of and rises by 1 each subsequent round you cannot
your skull at the end of this scene, killing you. Next breathe. Any round in which you’re active (struggling,
scene the rhizome will spread airborne spores (similar fighting, swimming), the Difficulty of the Health test
Rules

to how a dandelion spreads its seeds) on the wind, rises by an additional +2. If you somehow gain a gasp of
infecting nearby humans as if they had a near-drowning air and then start suffocating again, the base Difficulty
(Difficulty 4 Health test to resist). Other infected hosts resets to 2 and begins to rise each round as normal.
will soon arrive to remove and destroy your now- Once you fall Unconscious, you are defeated and
crumbling body. start dying. Lose 1 die of Health every round until you
Identification of an infected host can be tricky can breathe again.
without at least 1 rank of Leechcraft. Wet coughing can Lost Health points can be restored normally with
be an identifier, as can extraordinary strength. If their Bind Wounds if you’re rescued and resuscitated before
induction event was recent (Stage 1), they may exhibit you die. You cannot resuscitate yourself with Bind
some symptoms of near-drowning, such as pale skin Wounds or Leechcraft while suffocating.
and bluish lips. Most infected at Stage 3 and higher are Some weapons (such as a monster’s strangling
also particularly susceptible to respiratory ailments like tentacle) may inflict Health damage in addition to
pneumonia as a result of fungal growth in the lungs. suffocation damage.
Alternatively, a pattern of inexplicable behavior might
point towards Colony’s mental influence at work.
Colony asks its hosts to blackmail and murder in Falling
order to maintain tight secrecy, but the few folk who
have become aware of the mold and its infected hosts If you’re falling in Eversink, it’s usually from a
refer to them collectively as “The Drowned”. It’s building. Falling inflicts 5 Health damage per building
dangerous to let it be known that you know anything story (roughly every 3 meters) you plummet onto
about what’s going on; that tends to make one a cobblestones. If you were prepared to fall, a successful
target for infestation. With many hosts in positions of Athletics test reduces damage by 5 points. Falling into
substantial power within the assorted political factions, water or something reasonably soft that breaks your
Colony also has other ways to make life uncomfortable fall (mud, hay, or a cart full of night soil) also reduces
for those getting too close to the truth. damage by 5 points. Falling onto spikes raises damage
by an additional 5 points or more.
The GM can give you the opportunity to have
Drowning and Suffocation Success at a Cost (see p. 206) if a fall would otherwise
kill you.
In Eversink, there’s nearly endless opportunities to
suffocate and die. Swamp mud, quicksand, murky Fire
canals, smoke-filled tunnels, an assassin’s garrote…
think about the possibilities! Damage from exposure to fire varies according to how
You can hold your breath if you have advance much of your body is exposed to flame, and repeats for
warning before being denied breathable air. Holding each round (or, outside of combat, every few seconds)
your breath gets you three rounds (or one minute if you remain exposed to it.
not in combat or a chase) before you start suffocating. Minor exposure, most often to an extremity like a
If you can’t hold your breath, you start suffocating hand or foot, carries a Damage Modifier of −2, with a
immediately. minimum damage of 1. Armor can reduce damage to 0.
Chapter 3: Rules 89

Partial exposure, to your face or to up to half of

your surface area, carries a Damage Modifier of +0. Poisons and Venoms
Extensive exposure, to half or more of your body’s
surface area, imposes a Damage Modifier of +2. If there’s one thing the nobility of Eversink loves, it’s
The GM will often give you a chance to avoid being their poisons, and that traditional method of solving
set on fire. The difficulty of extinguishing a flame varies problems has become a mainstay of ‘Sinkish culture. If
depending on the substance; if your clothes are simply you need a poison, you can find someone to sell it to
on fire, the flames are easier to put out (Difficulty 3 you. Buying the antidote, however, might be a little

Rules
Athletics test as an action, or dive into water; fire out more challenging.
in 1 round) than if you are covered in alchemist’s fire Poisons and venoms are one of two types: an effect
(Difficulty 5 Athletics test as an action; fire burns for 2-7 created by your Investigative spend and then described
(1 die +1) rounds unless it is smothered or sorcerously as a venom or poison; or an object such as a poison vial,
suppressed). found during play or purchased independently. These
Characters in a burning building or a heavily burning latter are typically rarer and more powerful.
forest also run the risk of smoke asphyxiation, which
uses the drowning and suffocation rules above.
Lava isn’t something you’ll typically find in Eversink, Designer Notes:
but sooner or later in your adventures you’re going to So Much Poison, So Little Time
end up dueling on the rim of an active volcano. That’s
just the way adventuring works. Your GM may give We like to think the game of competitive poi-
you the opportunity to try to cling to safety with an soning is practically a sport amongst certain An-
appropriately difficult Athletics test, but if you fall in cient Nobility. Imagine a Hero with Leechcraft
lava you die spectacularly. Lesser exposure to lava, such (to create poisons), Burglary (to slip those poi-
as to a limb, inflicts Extensive fire damage and acts as sons into food and drink), and a high Prepared-
alchemist’s fire. ness (to use Flashback and just declare that the
Supporting Character was poisoned two hours
ago).
Heat and Cold But it’s tricky. We want Swords of the
Serpentine to include expensive, deadly, obscure,
It can be difficult to move or think in extreme heat or rare poisons with strange effects that Heroes
cold. If you’re suffering from either, you’re treated as must struggle to cure at the last minute, but
Hurt (see p. 78) regardless of your current Health. we don’t want Heroes to automatically have
Your GM may also assign a small amount of fixed easy access to these. We also want Heroes with
damage every scene, or more frequently, depending on Leechcraft (or the Poison sorcerous sphere) to
the severity of the heat or cold. be able to produce their own less esoteric poisons
Spending 1 point of Wilderness Mastery will stave and antidotes on the fly, without needing to plan
off this penalty for one scene for the Hero who spends ahead or spend Wealth.
the point. Spending 2 points (which can come from That’s why we divide poisons up between the
different Heroes) will stave off the penalty for at least rare weird effects, which you typically need to
one scene for the entire team and their companions, up plan ahead for and spend Wealth to buy, and less
to 20 or so people. That’s enough to keep your crew virulent poisons that a Hero can whip out on the
safe when your ship sinks and everyone plunges into spot just by spending points of Leechcraft. It’s an
cold water, but not enough to survive a full trek into artificial divide, sure, but it helps you understand
the frozen North to battle giants without bringing any what you can reasonably create on the fly.
warm clothing. And hey, if you want a multi-point Leechcraft
expenditure to produce really rare poisons, that
seems like a perfect balance.
 90 Swords of the Serpentine
Rules

Onset Time Poison as Effect

Poison onset times in the real world tend to be relatively Pool points of the Investigative ability Leechcraft can be
slow, measured in minutes or hours. That’s less common spent to poison someone or to produce poison. Name
in sword & sorcery novels, where a poison’s effect starts the poison and describe what it feels like as it takes
to occur almost instantly, or just quickly enough for the effect, and suggest an onset time. For every point of
victim to know exactly how much trouble they’re in Leechcraft you spend, generate one die of either Health
should they not obtain an antidote. Poisons in Swords or Morale damage (as on p. 27) that immediately
of the Serpentine follow this latter model: if the goal takes effect — or you can agree with the GM on one
isn’t a slow and hard-to-trace assassination, poisons are special effect per pool point spent. Here are some
assumed to take effect within the scene and to become possible special effects coming from poison.
detectable at the most dramatically appropriate time. � Inflict 3 Health or Morale damage per round for a
For poisons that don’t already have a stated onset time, certain number of rounds.
players may suggest an onset time which might then be � Raise the Difficulty on a specific type of Maneuver,
sped up or slowed down at the GM’s discretion. such as Persuade or Daze.
� Increase by 1–2 points the damage taken from all
Antidotes other sources.
Leechcraft spends will provide you with poison � All General ability tests increase in Difficulty by 2
antidotes, with every Leechcraft pool point spent able for the remainder of the scene.
to delay, lessen, or in some cases negate one ongoing � Any healing during the scene is at half effectiveness,
effect of a poison. The antidote may not take effect or is impossible if two Leechcraft points are spent.
instantly, at the GM’s discretion, or may not work at all � Immediately give a victim the penalties of being
if too much time has passed. Hurt or Unstable, regardless of their current
You can also purchase antidotes to specific poisons, Health or Morale.
and purchased poisons may come with a small vial � Temporarily affect memory.
of antidote attached. These antidotes are effectively
Leechcraft spends, but only for this specific poison.
Chapter 3: Rules 91

Flashback (the Preparedness Talent) can establish that guidelines used when poison is treated as an effect. A
an individual is already poisoned. If you prefer, you can powerful sleeping draught may only trigger a series of
announce that you’re using slow-acting poison that can three successive Health tests to stay conscious, while
take effect in future scenes instead. a truly deadly venom from a rare snake might have a
Damage Modifier ranging from +6 to +12. Damage or
Poison as Object effect might be parceled out in increments, such as 4
Not all toxins are created through Leechcraft spends, Health lost a round for four rounds, and it isn’t unusual
and these more powerful poisons (while illegal) can for poison to reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of

Rules
typically be purchased if you know where to look. See Bind Wounds while the poison is active.
p. 138 for a sample list of what’s commonly available: The GM will ideally give you a chance to avoid
the more virulent or effective the poison, the higher exposure, likely via Leechcraft, Vigilance, Skulduggery,
the cost. When your GM wants to introduce unique or Burglary (if the ability was used to hide the toxin).
poisons that can’t casually be duplicated by Heroes, Once you have been exposed, some poisons allow
expect to buy them instead of creating them yourself. a Health test (listed as Test in the examples) for half
Your GM will raise or lower the suggested Wealth cost damage or some other lesser effect (under Minor in
of purchased poisons based on supply and demand (and the examples). If you fail the test, the Severe result
by how much fun they think it will be for you to use it). occurs. The Investigative ability Leechcraft can be used
Purchased toxins and poisons can vary widely in to create antidotes.
lethality and nature, and don’t need to adhere to the

Traps
Traps are common when adventuring in forgotten Traps That Warn STAY OUT
tombs or robbing well-secured vaults. They may be
natural (such as an unstable stone bridge perilously close These traps often use Maneuvers and non-deadly
to collapse) or deliberate (such as pit traps, scything techniques to channel or trap intruders. They may be
blades, sorcerous glyphs, or hidden poison). Use your designed to delay you. Warning traps often scream
Investigative abilities to identify the existence of a trap. “This is a trap!” to anyone paying attention, under the
Once you do, it’s up to you to figure out how you’re theory that you’ll decide proceeding just isn’t worth
going to avoid or disarm it with your General abilities. the bother. When your trap involves deafeningly loud
A trap is nothing more than an attack, a spell, or a scything blades or a glowing, pulsing sorcerous glyph,
Maneuver that someone left behind. When you think your trap is telling people to go away. Such traps may
of them in this way, you realize how incredibly creative also inflict a small amount of fixed Morale damage by
you can be when designing new traps. inspiring hopelessness and discouragement, enough
In Swords of the Serpentine, traps aren’t usually a that Supporting Characters never choose to approach.
casual distraction. They either provide important leads
in themselves (such as a sorcerous glyph that reveals � Typically simple to spot, and as intimidating or
information about the sorcerer who cast it), act as an terrifying as possible.
action set-piece (such as a rolling ball trap you must � Often designed to delay, re-channel, embarrass, or
outrun), or reveal that something very important discourage.
indeed is being hidden. Traps are intended to trap you, � Often rolls an attack against anyone coming within
discourage you, or kill you, and there are some key range, instead of requiring a Hero to dodge with
differences between them. Athletics.
� May use Maneuvers (or a similar simplified
mechanic), giving you a choice whether you take
damage from the trap or retreat back to safety.
 92 Swords of the Serpentine

� Might use poison or disease with an

onset time that encourages you to
immediately leave and find medical
help instead of proceeding.
� Glyphs might use Sorcerous
transformation or persuasion.
� If the trap is any good, it may be
the work of a famous trap-maker,
Rules

knowledge of whom can reveal

secrets of the trap.
� May have hidden access tunnels that
bypass the trap for repair, resetting,
cleaning, and maintenance. These
typically lead away from important
areas, in the hopes that any thieves
who find them get distracted or
lost.
� Lean more towards the frivolous
than the brutally effective in terms
of effect.
� More likely to target Morale than
Health.

Warning traps skew towards the

following effects, although this list is
far from comprehensive.

� Architecture: corridors and rooms

shift, redirect, become blocked,
swivel, or have ceilings that slowly
lower.
� Showy devices of death: obvious
death-traps (such as swinging particularly simple to enter but exceptionally difficult
blades) designed to discourage you from moving to leave, trapping adventurers forever in their depths.
forwards, possibly using Maneuvers. And really, is your treasure truly stolen if the thief can
� Visible barriers: razor walls or open pit traps, never escape?
designed to be easy to avoid or escape from if
you’re leaving, but difficult if you’re proceeding.
� Teleportation: redirects you out of the complex or
Traps That Say DIE
into another trap.
These traps have one purpose, and that’s to defeat you
� Guardians: hostile animals, people, monsters, or
before you pass them. They seldom provide deliberate
non-living creatures (such as animated statues)
hints as to their presence or nature and may include a
attack you only if you are pushing deeper into the
system to clean up any bones or corpses left behind. If
complex.
your pit trap includes a secret falling ceiling block to
Interestingly, some trap complexes use this structure turn the victim into meat paste, your trap is trying to
in reverse, and this works well with GUMSHOE’s rule kill people.
that says it’s easy to enter a place when you’re following � Notably hard to spot, and when you do spot them,
a lead, but possibly hard to depart. Such dungeons are it’s likely due to the remains of a previous victim.
Chapter 3: Rules 93

� Often inflict automatic damage unless a Hero

dodges with Athletics, instead of rolling an attack. Designer Notes: Traps vs. Leads
� Death traps vary in quality from extremely precise
to a bit shoddy, with mechanics and effectiveness to We have a conflict here between the very fun
match. fiction of “Traps are designed to stop you from
� If the trap is any good, it may be the work of a getting to your goal!” and the GUMSHOE
famous trap-maker, knowledge of whom can reveal philosophy of “When following a lead, your
secrets of the trap. appropriate Investigative abilities speed you on

Rules
� May have hidden access tunnels that bypass the trap your way.” So ask yourself what makes a better
for repair, resetting, cleaning, and maintenance; adventure. If you and your group think that
these may lead deeper into the complex, giving traps are fun, partially ignore the GUMSHOE
Heroes a chance to bypass the deadly trap entirely. philosophy when facing down a trap: your
� Lean more towards the brutally effective than the Investigative abilities can tell you how a trap
frivolous in terms of effect. works, no roll required, but it’s still up to you
� More likely to target Health than Morale. and your General abilities to get past the darn
thing (and, like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the
Deadly traps lean towards the following effects, Lost Ark, back past it on your way out).
although this list is far from comprehensive.
� Sharp blades or spikes: these might swing, pop up,
scythe, impale, or spin.
small god of disease. Find one or two themes, and
� Heavy weights: these might swing to knock you
stick to them.
backwards (using a Maneuver), crush you, trap
you, or immovably block your path for a time.
� What’s the Trap’s Purpose? As noted above, is
this trap meant to warn “Stay out!” or is it meant to
� Poison gas: most often used in small spaces with
say “Die!”? The appearance and effect of traps will
limited air flow, acting as any other poison of your
be strongly shaped by this choice. You may even
choice. Holding your breath may be an effective
want to point this out to the Heroes, so they know
defense until you begin to suffocate.
how cautious to be.
� Sorcerous glyphs: see p. 124. These can hold any
Sorcery attack, Maneuver, or unique spell effect.
� What Does the Trap Target? As with the purpose,
does the trap focus on harming Health or Morale?
� Magical fire: the trap tries to incinerate you using
Does it roll an attack, or does it automatically hit
unnatural fire or another exceptionally deadly
unless the Hero avoids it with Athletics? You can
hazard.
assign small amounts of fixed damage just from
� Guardians: hostile animals, people, monsters, or
being within close range of a trap: an ancient
non-living creatures (such as animated statues)
altar saps your Morale by 2 points per round, or
attack you with an intent to kill.
the blistering heat of magical fire burns you for
3 Health every time you approach. Such fixed
damage underscores the trap’s purpose in a really
Guidelines of Trap Design
immediate way.
When you’re designing traps, consider a few basics.
� Does the Trap Have Style? Make traps that
your players will remember. You can combine
� What’s the Theme? Describe traps in a way that
mechanical traps with sorcerous glyphs to create
emphasizes and hints at the structure they’re located
almost any unusual effect you can imagine within
in, or the person who paid for them. In the same
a theme. Then assign it an attack bonus to see if it
way that Sorcery must stay within specific Spheres,
hits (or to calculate the Maneuver Difficulty) and
the traps in an ancient jungle pyramid may feel quite
think about ways to make it interesting enough
different than traps in an Eversink moneylender’s
to be worth spending fifteen minutes of precious
basement, and a high society poisoner’s traps will
game-time on.
be quite different than the trapped temple of a
 94 Swords of the Serpentine

Designer Notes: The Philosophy of Traps

You won’t find too many traps in Eversink itself outside of Mercanti treasure vaults, but they litter every
haunted jungle tomb or forgotten Serpentine burial mound you run across. We struggled a bit to make traps
fun until we nailed down the Maneuver mechanic. Being able to say “The swinging blade is coming right for
you, and hits! You have a choice: take 10 Health damage or leap backwards to where you started” is exactly
the right feel for traps that protect an area by actually keeping people out. Those are different from death traps
Rules

that are only designed to kill intruders, sure, but remembering that a trap is nothing more than an attack or
effect someone left behind makes the mechanics much easier.
We have particular fun designing themed traps. Think of the temples of heretical small gods: an ocean
temple might use mechanical and sorcerous traps that all involve salt and water, for instance, and a god of the
hunt might use traps that involve archery, running, and vigilance. You can use themed traps anywhere; the
traps guarding the Butchers’ Guild treasure vaults must be freakin’ terrifying.

� Is the Trap Boring? If it is, don’t spend a lot of brave and penalize the cautious: in the same way
time on it. You don’t want to get bogged down that the crumbling stone stairway in Peter Jackson’s
in micro-management unless everyone at the table Fellowship of the Ring started disintegrating when
finds that fun! You’re better off saying “You find a the Balrog approached, every Hero who bypasses a
series of three pit traps with strange grooved pillars trap might raise the Difficulty by +1 for the Heroes
under a series of murderholes, but if you’re willing who come afterwards.
to take your time, you can bypass all three with a � What’s the Solution? If a trap is just an attack
General Spend of 8 Athletics for the whole group.” or effect someone else left behind, defeating a
Then, of course, you hit them with the excitingly trap means getting past it without getting hit by
guarded pit traps and lightning pillars on their way that attack. Think through how the original trap
out. designers (or current inhabitants!) got around the
� How Deadly is the Trap? Avoid insta-kill; trap, then encourage players to do the same. They
they aren’t fun for anyone but the GM. Instead, can then use their Heroes’ abilities to find or use
use Maneuvers so that the Heroes can make a that solution, or just brute force their way past it.
difficult choice between taking damage or finding � What’s the Reward? Traps let the thief shine,
themselves flung, off-balance, rerouted, or trapped. especially if they don’t use their Burglary very much
� Does the Trap Make Sense? Briefly think otherwise. Just as if they defeated an Adversary,
about where and how the trap was built. An successfully bypassing or disarming traps earns
architect without much money is going to have Refresh tokens. The harder the trap or more elegant
embarrassingly basic traps (unless she constructed the Heroes’ solution, the more tokens, from 1 to 7.
them herself as a labor of love), while the Guild That will let the thief refresh their Burglary pool, so
of Architects and Canal-Watchers is going to have they can tackle more traps to come.
traps of breathtaking subtlety and sophistication.
A sorcerer will rely mostly on magical runes. Use
traps that make sense for the building they’re in, Traps and
and remember that it’s just as valid for Heroes to Investigative Abilities
bypass or deactivate a trap as it is for them to fall
prey to it. Most profession Investigative abilities (and a few Social
� Does Strategy Help? Do you want a trap solved ones) can be useful when adventuring and looking for
in a particular way, or with particular speed? If so, traps. Suggestions are below, but this list is certainly not
reward that. You can used timed traps that get exclusive. Be creative when hunting for, and disarming,
harder the longer you wait. You can reward the traps.
Chapter 3: Rules 95

Social Investigative Abilities Forgotten Lore: You know obscure details about
trap-making and the sorcerous wards used in traps,
Command: Some guardians may be susceptible to
including possible procedures and techniques for
forcefully presented orders, especially if they think
disarming them (if possible).
you’re their master.
Leechcraft: You can analyze and identify poisons,
Liar’s Tell: If you’re in the presence of people who
venoms, and diseases delivered by traps. When someone
know about existing traps, their nervousness may warn
is poisoned, you can gauge the severity and onset time
you of upcoming danger.
of the poison.
Nobility: You’re familiar with the general types of

Rules
Prophecy: It isn’t unusual for you to gain a vague
traps that were once fashionable for nobles to install.
premonition of disaster before you blunder into a trap
Servility: When traps require access to hidden
that might kill you or your friends; your Alertness
alcoves and back rooms to reset, you’re familiar with
Modifier rises by +1 per Prophecy rank when you’re
the types of hidden doorways used by servants and
searching for traps.
trapsmiths.

Sentinel Investigative Abilities Thief Investigative Abilities

City’s Secrets: Your knowledge of architecture may
Felonious Intent: If a trap is designed to prevent theft
indicate sliding walls, hidden portcullises and disguised
— a dropping cage, clamping manacles, severing blades
pits. If there’s a way for workers to get into the trap’s
— this ability helps you predict how the trap might
inner workings, you may be able to identify the location
operate.
of that path.
Laws & Traditions: Just like everything else, traps
Ridiculous Luck: It’s unwise to depend on
become fashionable and then fall out of fashion at
Ridiculous Luck to find traps — you may set off a trap
certain points in history, and you may be able to predict
in such a way that it destroys your friends but leaves you
traps based on a building’s age and style. You know
unharmed — but you may stumble onto an obscure
when a trap is illegal, not that it usually matters at the
clue about the trap’s presence or solution. Spending a
time.
pool point of Ridiculous Luck may get you and your
Spirit Sight: If a trap is in any way tied into the spirit
friends out of an otherwise lethal trap with relatively
world or tied to ghosts, demons or small gods, Spirit
little damage.
Sight can alert you to the presence of those entities and
Scurrilous Rumors: If the trap is recent or is related
indicates that the trap is more than might meet the eye.
in any way to gossip (such as an architect or trapsmith
You can help someone with Burglary disarm or bypass
talking publicly about constructing it after the fact),
sorcerous glyphs.
you may have heard about a clue that gives away the
Vigilance: Tremendously useful when searching for
trap’s existence or solution.
triggers and subtle signs of traps, each rank of Vigilance
Skulduggery: You have a good sense for how traps
gives you a +1 Alertness modifier to notice signs that
are designed, and when you stop to consider an area
others might walk past and ignore. Spending a pool
you can usually predict the most effective type of trap
point gives you an additional +3 Alertness Modifier for
for that space. You can often gauge the lethality of a
the scene.
trap.

Sorcerer Investigative Abilities Warrior Investigative Abilities

Corruption: If you concentrate you may be able to
Know Monstrosities: If a trap uses venomous animals
sense the unnatural emanations given off by sorcerous
or monsters, you’re familiar with their signs and general
wards. You gain a feel for what may be required to
behavior.
avoid or disarm magical traps, whether that’s knowing
Spot Frailty: You notice weaknesses, flaws, and
a command phrase, proving sorcerous power (e.g.
deliberately sabotaged supports. You’re likely to see a
spending points of Sorcery), having a specific appearance
collapsing ceiling or false floor.
or identity, or something else. You can help someone
with Burglary disarm or bypass sorcerous glyphs.
 96 Swords of the Serpentine

Tactics of Death: If you can observe the corpses

or signs of previous victims, you can usually make an Trap Name
educated guess as to how the trap killed them.
Physical description of trap
Wilderness Mastery: You understand the triggers
and causes of natural traps, such as flash floods, Obvious/Hidden Mechanical/Sorcerous Trap
avalanches, and rockslides. Trigger: Instructions on what sets off the trap, if
applicable
Deactivation: Instructions on how to deactivate the
Rules

Traps and trap, if possible

Offense — Warfare: +X; Damage Modifier +Y, plus
General Abilities
special instructions
Offense — Sorcery: +X; Damage Modifier +Y, plus
Use General abilities to bypass or disarm traps that you’ve
special instructions
identified. Some traps will injure or inconvenience you
Offense — Sway: +X; Damage Modifier +Y, plus
regardless of your roll, but success will generally reduce
special instructions
or lessen the risk.
Misc: Stealth Modifier for finding it, if not 0; any
Athletics: Running, jumping, lifting, dodging, and
unique advice needed to adjudicate the trap
climbing around traps.
Refresh Tokens: 1, 3, 5 or 7, as a reward for dealing
Bind Wounds: Disable poisons and other toxins on
with it
traps.
Description: Details of the trap
Burglary: Essential for spotting hidden traps,
especially when accompanied by a high Alertness As an example, the following simple “Die!” trap might
modifier from Prophecy or Vigilance. Useful for drop a stone block on your head.
unlocking and manipulating locks, hidden panels, trap
machinery, and possibly sorcerous glyphs.
Preparedness: Helps ensure you have what you
Deadly Crushing Block
need to deal with a trap, or (using Flashback) that the A massive stone block falls from the ceiling when triggered
trap is never a problem in the first place. by a pressure plate, before slowly rising back up on a
Stealth: Sneaking past traps that only trigger when counterweighted chain to reset.
you are spotted.
Hidden Mechanical Trap
Sorcery: Used to trigger traps or destroy them from
Trigger: Weight of more than 25 kg on the pressure
a distance.
plate sets off the trap; 5 minute reset
Sway: May affect traps that function with command
Deactivation: Turning a torch sconce deactivates
words or that require living people to set them off.
the trap for 5 minutes; once triggered, a Difficulty
Warfare: Physically smashing or destroying trap
4 Burglary test will prevent the mechanism from
components.
resetting
Offense — Warfare: Damage Modifier +8; Difficulty 8
Athletics test avoids damage entirely
Trap Notation
Offense — Sway: If the trap successfully defeats a
target, all who view the occurrence automatically take
If writing an adventure, record traps in the following
Morale damage with Damage Modifier +4.
format. Categories that aren’t needed are omitted from
Misc: If the target has ranks of Leechcraft or Vigilance,
the stat block.
just before triggering the trap they note the faint
coppery scent of old blood. This slight warning
reduces the Athletics test to dodge from Difficulty 8
to Difficulty 4.
Refresh Tokens: 3
Chapter 3: Rules 97

Description: This is likely to catch most Heroes Description: Heroes must get past three consecutive
unaware, although once set off once it can easily blades whirling in an unpredictable pattern. Each
be avoided. If the falling block successfully defeats blade attacks when a Hero attempts to pass it. The
someone, the Morale of their fellow adventurers Hero may only move forward to the next whirling
suffers from the experience. blade if the blade’s Warfare attack is unsuccessful, or
Similarly, the following sophisticated “Stay out!” if the Hero voluntarily accepts the Health damage
trap might fill a hallway with whirling blades. from the successful Warfare attack. Any successful
Warfare attack also inflicts 3 Morale damage, whether

Rules
or not the Hero takes Health damage.
Whirling Blades of Denial
Increasing your Health Threshold (see p. 77) is
Spinning, moving blades that demoralize Heroes and an efficient way to pass with little damage.
force them backwards to safety
Obvious Mechanical Trap Designer Notes:
Deactivation: Hidden mechanical key shutoff; Whirling Blades of Death!
Difficulty 8 Burglary test to jam each blade
Offense — Warfare: +2 per blade; Damage Modifier This sample trap models the classic complicated
+3, or Hero flinches backwards to safety and must try spinning blade trap that forces a Hero to edge
to pass that blade again forward, duck down to avoid a huge blade, and
then leap forward once the timing is exactly
Offense — Sway: Fixed Morale damage 3 to the Hero
right… getting more and more nervous with
any time a Warfare attack succeeds, whether or not
every near-miss. It’s not particularly realistic, but
the Hero takes Health damage from the attack
it is a huge amount of fun.
Misc: Stealth Modifier –3
Refresh Tokens: 5

Refreshes
Refreshing Investigative Refreshing General
Ability Points Ability Points
Unless the GM specifically indicates otherwise You can refresh your General ability pool points after
(sometimes as a story reward, or when a single adventure you’ve spent them by using refresh tokens. These are
stretches out for more than two sessions of play), spent dropped into a bowl in the middle of the table when
Investigative pool points only refresh at the start of the you do certain things. You could use counters, poker
next adventure. They cannot be refreshed in any other chips, pebbles, boardgame pieces or something else that
way, including by Refresh tokens. seems appropriate.
Refresh tokens may be drawn from the bowl and
used by any player at any time, other than when you’re
in the middle of a General ability spend. It’s generally
polite to ask the group— they’ll let you know if it seems
like the tokens need sharing more evenly.
 98 Swords of the Serpentine

Each token refreshes 1 General ability pool point of rest; a week spent carousing, for instance, adds 5
(except for Health or Morale) for the player who uses refresh tokens per Hero and not 35.
it, and a used token is discarded after use. � End of Adventure: Unless there are special
Unused refresh tokens are discarded at the end of a circumstances (such as an ability-sapping disease or
scene. Use them while they’re there! curse), all General Abilities are refreshed at the end
There are several methods of gaining more refresh of an adventure. Note that an adventure may span
tokens. more than one session of play.
� Defeating foes. Dropping a Mook immediately
Rules

creates a 1-point refresh token that goes into a

bowl at the center of the table. Dropping a named Designer Notes:
foe or a non-Mook enemy adds 3 refresh tokens to Why Refresh Tokens?
the bowl; a big bad, 5 tokens; and a massive and
truly memorable foe, 7 tokens. You earn refresh points for defeating enemies
� Solving non-combat challenges, such as a riddle because you’re a big damn hero. We want
or tactical problems. you hacking your way across a battlefield or
� GM Discretion. Before the end of a scene where convincing an entire gallery full of crossbowmen
no combat occurred but significant amounts of that they would be much better off if they quietly
General ability points were spent (such as a chase abandoned their post. That’s why combat
or a burglary), the GM can toss 2-3 refresh tokens Talents allow you to attack multiple foes, and
into the bowl for every player who was active during why you get rewarded for every enemy you drop.
that scene. The more we convince you to spend all of your
� Off-duty time. A significant non-adventuring Sorcery points at once, and then collect refresh
period of at least eight hours spent carousing, tokens from those defeated foes to partially
sleeping, studying, and the like (as appropriate to refresh your exhausted Sorcery pool, the more
your Hero) adds 5 refresh tokens per off-duty Hero exciting the game remains.
to the bowl. This only occurs once per period

Character Growth
There are lots of ways your character can grow, both in long campaigns when Heroes reach significant
mechanically (as your character’s abilities change amounts of power.
over time) and narratively (as you’re affected by what When you get an advancement point, write it down
happens in your adventures). on your character sheet so you don’t forget it. You can
spend these at any time, including mid-adventure.

Ability Advancement
Spending Advancement Points
After Each Game
� 1 point — increase a General ability by 1 rank. If
At the end of every completed adventure, each player
this increases a General ability rank from 7 to 8,
gets 1 advancement point. The GM might award an
gain the appropriate Talent.
additional advancement point at the end of particularly
� 1 point — increase Health or Morale by 1. If this
momentous and exciting adventures, or every few
increases your Health or Morale from 9 to 10, gain
sessions if an adventure lasts for 3 or more play sessions,
the appropriate Threshold increase from 3 to 4.
or during a long campaign instead of a series, to slow
the progression down. They may also cap advancement
Chapter 3: Rules 99

� 3 points — increase the rank of an Investigative

ability (including those in a new profession) by 1
Wealth and Lifestyle
rank.
The Lifestyle you choose and pay for at the beginning
� 3 points — increase the rank of an existing Ally by
of every adventure affects your Repute for the entirety
1, or add 1 rank of a new Ally.
of that adventure (see page 127). Keep any Wealth
� 3 points — eliminate 1 rank of an existing Enemy.
you haven’t spent by the end of an adventure.
Costs for increasing 1 rank also include taking a new Expect your Wealth to fluctuate wildly between

Rules
ability at 1 (though you may need to check with the adventures. Just as many heroes in sword & sorcery
GM that this makes sense). novels go from great riches to abject poverty between
stories, these rules encourage you to have fun blowing
You’ve saved up your Advancement points your treasure on an opulent lifestyle and the prestige of
and have 3 that you still haven’t spent. You high repute, so that you have a good reason to go out
use all 3 to increase the Investigative ability and adventure for even more wealth.
Ridiculous Luck by 1 rank, just as you’re
falling off the roof of a tall building. Good
timing. Changing Your Abilities
You can freely tweak your ability distribution between
Allies and Enemies your first and second games. If you put 8 points in
Burglary but never had the occasion to rob anyone, you
The GM may add permanent ranks to your Allegiances
may wish to start the second game with some or all of
(see p. 54) as you make friends and enemies in
those points invested elsewhere, if your GM approves
Eversink, but is more likely to assign temporary pool
and it doesn’t change your core character concept.
points of Favors and Grudges instead. These scores
If you’re past your second game and want to move
reflect obligations, favors owed, friendships, foul
your points around, you may do so only with GM
enemies, and debts not yet repaid – or getting caught
permission, and by sacrificing 1 Advancement point.
betraying the interests of a faction you have as an Ally.
It’s a small price to pay for getting the Hero you want
to play. Don’t redo your entire character concept when
adjusting your points.
Gear If you’re changing your abilities every game to try to
gain some sort of unfair advantage, your GM will laugh
Regularly update your character-defining gear to reflect
at you and tell you to stop.
your current personality. Your gear may affect your
Hero, especially magical items. Gear purchased with
Wealth or found as treasure gets written down on your
character sheet and sticks around between adventures
until you no longer want it.
 100 Swords of the Serpentine

Putting It All Together

The following example illustrates combat, Initiative, falls off the ladder unconscious with your dagger in
Armor, Grit, spending Investigative points, and defeat. her back.
Unfortunately, her screaming worked and the
You’ve slipped by yourself onto a huge sailing ship
GM adds new combatants to the combat. They go last
Rules

moored in Eversink’s harbor, hoping to find and steal

in the round, which means they can go first in the
back an ancient songbook of magical hymns before
second round of combat as well if they choose. A sailor
it’s smuggled out of the city. You aren’t looking for
holding a club bursts out of a cabin behind you, and
a clue — after all, you know where the songbook is
a single armed guard slides down the ladder from
and who has it, you just have to get it back — which
the deck above.
means that your ranks of Skulduggery don’t give you
Both close on you (moving from Close to Point-
an automatic success. Instead you’re relying on your
Blank range) and attack. The GM gets lucky with
ranks of Burglary and Stealth to sneak in, find the
her dice, and both enemies successfully hit. Luckily
book and get out undetected. You have 10 Health
they’re attacking your Health, considering that you
and 8 Morale, and you’re confident you’ll be fine.
already took a bad hit to your Morale.
Of course, nothing is ever easy. You’re in the
You ask the GM if you can spend a point of
Captain’s cabin pulling the book from his previously
Skulduggery to gain Armor 2 for the rest of the
locked chest when an orderly enters the room. There’s
fight. She asks how Skulduggery lets that happen,
no time to hide, and really no room to hide even if
and you make up something about your childhood in
you had time. The orderly sees you, neither of you
Eversink’s thieves’ guilds, learning to avoid damage
are Surprised, and the GM gives the orderly the first
when you were repeatedly forced to flee across a
action for Initiative. She attacks you with a Sway
crowded training room while goons tried to club you
Maneuver — “You’re not allowed in here. Surrender,
down. Your GM agrees, so instead of taking 5 and 7
or you’ll be killed!” — and hits with a result of 8. You
points of damage (for a total of 12 lost Health), you
now have the choice to surrender or to suffer 6 points
take 3 and 5 points for a total of 8 damage, leaving
of Morale damage. You aren’t about to surrender, so
you with 2 Health. You’d be at –2 Health if you
6 points of Morale damage it is. Luckily you’ve filled
hadn’t established your Armor.
out your Gear list with the mementos that help you
That’s the end of the first round, however, and the
feel secure, so you have 1 point of Grit. Your Morale
guards choose to go again. One hits, rolling damage
pool drops by 5 points, leaving you with 3 Morale.
of 6 points. With your Armor you take 4 points of
She then turns and runs, screaming at the top of her
additional damage, dropping your Health to –2.
lungs for the ship’s marines.
This leaves you Hurt, and you need to make an
You glance at the porthole — too small to slip
immediate Difficulty 4 Health test to stay conscious.
through — so you run after her, hoping to either
You spend 2 points of your Health to boost your roll,
silence her or escape before the soldiers arrive. She’s
so you only need to roll a 2 or higher to stay conscious.
halfway up the ladder to the main deck when you
Instead, you roll a 1. You aren’t seriously injured, but
flip a knife at her. You spend 2 Warfare points and
the pain from becoming Hurt causes you to collapse
roll a 2, successfully hitting her. Your minimum
unconscious on the ship’s lower deck. That may be
damage is 2 points but you roll a 4. She’s just a Mook
okay; you were planning to surrender anyway.
(she isn’t particularly a combatant and your GM
You’re sure they’ll take prisoners — and your
never bothered to figure out her name) and has only
friends back on shore will soon wonder why you
1 Health, so you’ve defeated her. You tell the GM she
haven’t returned.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 101

Chapter Four
Chapter Three

Sorcery aRnudl eCsorruption

Sorcery Quick Reference

Playing a Sorcerer? Here’s a quick summary of the Sorcery and Corruption mechanics.
To start:
� Decide whether your Sorcery attacks your foe’s Health or Morale (p. 102)
� Decide how you learned Sorcery (p. 102)
� Decide what your Sorcerous Spheres are (p. 103)
Sorcery (p. 40) is a combat General ability that targets either Health or Morale. You can:
� attack with it normally (Damage Modifier +1) (p. 65)
� describe any unopposed, regular activity that most people could do as coming from Sorcery
� use any Investigative ability, or spend any Investigative pool point, and describe the standard effect as
coming from Sorcery
� create standard Maneuvers (p. 72)
Corruption is the Investigative ability that gives your magic its true reality-bending power. The more ranks
of Corruption you have, the more powerful a Sorcerer you are.
Spend pool points of Corruption to:
� affect lots of targets or do exceptional damage (p. 113)
� trigger target area damage (p. 115)
� create non-standard unique spells (p. 115)
� create Maneuvers (p. 72) that aren’t covered by an ability you already possess
� level a Curse at a foe (p. 122)
Every time you spend a point of Corruption, you must address it either by:
� internalizing it (p. 117):
• Make a Health test, Difficulty 3 + Corruption points spent
� externalizing it (p. 118):
• All allies nearby must make a Morale test of Difficulty 3 + Corruption points spent; they each lose 4
Morale if they fail.
 102 Swords of the Serpentine

Sorcery 101: The Essentials

Eversink is steeped in ancient magic, and using Sorcery To use the Sorcery General ability (p. 40), you
and Corruption carries both risk and power. must possess at least one rank of the Corruption
Magic in this world is innately unnatural and Investigative ability (p. 26). If your Hero has one
corrupting. It comes from a fell space between worlds. or more ranks of Corruption, you have three choices to
Corruption despoils the flesh and character of the make when creating your character:
person who calls it forth, and it eats at the very nature � whether your Sorcery attacks your foe’s Health or
of reality in the area where it is summoned. Morale,
Sorcery and Corruption

Don’t make the mistake of assuming magic in Swords � how you learned Sorcery,
of the Serpentine is usable for good as well as evil. Good � what your Sorcerous Spheres are.
people may (and do) call upon Sorcery, but they do
so with the knowledge that this act eats away at reality
and slowly boils away the essence of what makes them Health or Morale Damage?
human.
The first time you purchase a rank
of Corruption, choose whether your
Sorcery damages a foe’s Health
(implying a physical or energy Sphere)
or their Morale (implying a mental,
spiritual, or fear-based Sphere). That
decision is permanent — but during
an adventure, spending a point of
Corruption allows you to choose
freely between affecting Health and
Morale for the duration of that scene.

Learning Sorcery
Sorcerers in Eversink learn their power
from one of two sources: ancient
secrets of the long-dead Serpentine
empire, or by having their body and
soul inhabited by a demon, small god,
or spirit. There are no other known
sources for learning how to manipulate
Corruption.

Serpentine
You heard hissing whispers in the
dark of a sunken basement, and you
chose to take on a sorcerous mentor
who would never show its face; or
you read ancient snakelike scribblings
on a decayed stone tablet that have
wormed their way into your brain and
refuse to depart.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 103

Either way, the lines of power in your head walk near them, and cooking fires turning
writhe and coil, demanding they be set free to look at you almost as if they were alive.
by you invoking Corruption. Whenever you inflict damage with Sorcery
you describe it as being somehow fire-related,
Demon, Small God, or Spirit such as burning your enemies alive or setting
their tongues on fire. You’ll need to spend
You have bargained with, or fallen victim to, a fell and
foreign intelligence that now inhabits you. It may be a Corruption point for unique Sorcerous
a small god, an ambitious nature spirit, a ghost, or a tactical effects that do more than just cause
conniving demon. It has no true power while it is inside damage, such as quickly setting an entire
of you, other than to give you (often biased) advice and house on fire or allowing your group to walk

Sorcery and Corruption

to fuel your understanding of Corruption. through flame unharmed.

Your demon stands above you and within

you, and its rasping voice reminds you how Player Advice:
much power you will gain if you just draw Spheres Are Special Effects
on it for strength.
Spheres don’t set your Sorcery’s raw power;
These entities can typically be seen and heard by others they’re basically just your magic’s special effects,
who have any ranks of Spirit Sight. Their appearance a visual shorthand for how you describe your
usually has something in common with the Sorcerous power. When you choose a Sphere you get to
Spheres you choose; if you chose the Sphere of Spiders, describe your Sorcery in any way you want within
for instance, you can guess how your demon might that theme, with as much visual spectacle and as
appear. many cool flourishes as you can imagine, but the
actual power of your Sorcery is still determined
by your Corruption and Sorcery pools.
Sorcerous Spheres
Create your own Sorcerous Spheres or borrow and Possible Spheres include but aren’t limited to the fol-
customize one of these. You gain one Sphere for every lowing.
rank of Corruption you possess. When you use Sorcery,
you’ll describe the effect based on your Spheres, and Page
Sphere Affects
any spells or effects you can’t rationalize within one of number
your Spheres are barred to you. Aging Health, Morale 104
Don’t make your Spheres too broad or too specific;
it’s most fun when your Sphere gives you clear guidance Air Health 104
for thematic special effects, along with wide latitude to Animal (pick a specific
come up with creative uses for Sorcery. You’re going Health, Morale 104
animal type)
for flavor instead of scientific rigor. It’s fine for Spheres
to overlap (Swamp and Water, for instance) unless the Blades Health 105
GM prefers a more rigid separation. Blood Health 105
You have one rank of Corruption, and you Chaos Health, Morale 106
chose Health damage, so you get to choose
Curses Health, Morale 106
or create a Sorcerous Sphere that affects
an enemy’s Health. You pick fire. That Death Health 106
means you can describe yourself as leaving
burning footprints, or torches flaring as you Decay/Entropy Health 106
 104 Swords of the Serpentine

Page Aging
Sphere Affects
number
Demonology Health, Morale 106 Affects: Health, Morale
The passage of time spins forwards and backwards, and
Disease Health, Morale 106
you are sought by those who think you hold the secret
Earth Health 107 to eternal youth. You cripple your foes with arthritis and
frailty, and you can turn defeated enemies into squalling
Fear Morale 107
babies instead of killing them. The dust of ages rises and
Fire Health 107 falls around you as you walk through the world.
Spending Corruption might permanently increase
Sorcery and Corruption

Flesh Health 107 or decrease a person’s or object’s age. If news gets out
Ghosts and Spirits Morale 107 that you can help old people become younger, expect a
lot of bribes and kidnap attempts.
Ice Health 107

Illusion Morale 108

Air
Lightning Health 108
Affects: Health
Love Morale 108
Wind whips and swirls around you, stealing breath and
Luck Health, Morale 108 lifting you from solid ground. You control the gales
enough that sailing captains will pay good money to
Memory Morale 108
have you on board their ships, and you commonly blast
Music Morale 109 your enemies with frigid winds and knock them around
the battlefield. Others see you constantly buffeted by a
Necromancy Health 109
wind that grows with your anger.
Plants Health 109 Spending Corruption might drop a tornado onto a
house or blow enemies hundreds of feet away from you.
Possession Health, Morale 110

Secrets Morale 110

Animal
Serpents Health 110
Affects: Health, Morale
Shadow Health 110
You have an invisible bond to a specific type of animal
Statuary Health 110 or insect, from beetles or spiders, to rats or seagulls, to
cats, to horses, up to and including sharks and whales
Swamp Health 110
(which is a lot more useful for a shipborne Sorcerer).
Transformation Your focused will controls them, summons them, lends
Health 111
(Physical) you their abilities, or changes you into one. You likely
remind others of this animal, and such creatures follow
Transmutation Health 111
you unbidden. It’s up to you whether such animals fight
Transportation Health, Morale 111 for you in a battle (as your normal Sorcery damage), or
whether you briefly channel their essence to do damage.
Trickery Morale 111 Spending Corruption might allow you to control
Water Health 111 dozens or hundreds of the animals, or speak to them to
use them as spies.
Worship Morale 111
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 105

Sorcery and Corruption

Blades Designer Notes: This Hero is
Affects: Health Played by Cate Blanchett
Sharpened metal sings to you, and sharp surfaces
wish to please you by offering up the blood of others. If you’ve seen the movie Thor: Ragnarok, think of
Weapons sharpen or dull their edges at your command, the goddess Hela as a very, very powerful Blades
and you can conjure blades from thin air. Others see sorcerer whose Spheres also included Death. The
light glint off any metal you carry, and you can use even god Loki had a portfolio that included Illusion
the dullest metal as others would a knife. In a fight, and Trickery. We bet you can guess Thor’s
swords and daggers fly around you, slicing any target spheres.
you indicate. And that brings up a very interesting point.
Spending Corruption might rip enemies’ swords Your Sorcery looks like whatever you want it to,
away from them, or cause their weapons to disintegrate so long as there’s some detectable effect. You
into rust. don’t need to chant and gesticulate in order to
manipulate power unless that’s how you picture
Sorcery working for you.
Blood
Affects: Health
You hear the quick, vital rush of blood in those around your existence, they will spare no effort to make you
you, a river of life that you can choke off or increase as their thrall.
you desire. Others feel their hearts quicken while they Spending Corruption might trigger Maneuvers that
are near you… unless they displease you. The control of daze multiple foes, or save a dying ally’s life by acting
blood can daze others or cripple them with pain. Just like Leechcraft and restoring their blood.
be warned: vampires are rare, but if one ever learns of
 106 Swords of the Serpentine

Chaos Decay/Entropy
Affects: Health, Morale Affects: Health
You are the rock thrown into the placid pool, and the Everything falls apart, and you can hasten the process.
spanner tossed into the gears: where you go, systems You make metal rust, stone flake, flesh decay, and wood
break down and rules fall apart. You incite riot and rot. The Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers will
disloyalty, and your Sorcery brings about the utterly likely put a contract out for your assassination if they
unexpected. Chaos Sorcerers may wish to invest in learn of your power — either that, or hire you to help
one or more ranks of Ridiculous Luck, so that when with urban renovations.
everything goes to hell in a handbasket around them, Spending Corruption can collapse buildings and
Sorcery and Corruption

they still end up on top. bridges, often onto the heads of your foes, or can make
Spending Corruption might make enemies begin to weapons disintegrate into dust.
in-fight, make a nearby building collapse, or have an
implausible and unlucky chain of causal events lead to
disaster for your foes. Demonology
Affects: Health, Morale
Curses The swamp is riddled with stone altars to forgotten
demons and lost gods. You call them, beseech them,
Affects: Health, Morale learn their names, and bind them to your will. Demons
Any sorcerer can cast a curse (see p. 122), but your likely fear and resent you, as does any right-thinking
curses are more flexible and you can use Maneuvers to citizen who learns of your power.
simulate minor curses. If you want to make your foe Spending Corruption might allow you to summon
unlucky in love, or curse a master burglar into becoming or banish supernatural entities and small gods, gain
the clumsiest criminal in Eversink, this Sphere is for you. hidden knowledge and true names, send a demon to kill
Spending Corruption allows you to curse your foes a distant foe, and even place a demon inside of someone
without using all your Corruption points at once. — briefly giving them an unwanted rank of Corruption.

Death Disease
Affects: Health Affects: Health, Morale
You have sway over death. You can hasten it, delay it, You can inflict or cure diseases, either mental or
control the recently dead, and create the symptoms of physical; and you can speed up or slow down the effects
impending mortality. People sense the pall that hangs of diseases that already exist. Just don’t be surprised if
around you, an aura that many will instinctively flee. you aren’t particularly popular at parties. Most plague
Others, especially the dying, will flock to you in the sorcerers are shunned or summarily executed by scared
hope that you can stave off their death for one more locals who are afraid for their health.
day. Spending Corruption might allow you to duplicate
Spending Corruption might bring the dead back to the effect of Leechcraft for diseases, to significantly
life, even for a short time — or make it seem like you speed up the course of a disease, or to create your own
have. diseases as a weapon.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 107

Earth Flesh
Affects: Health Affects: Health
Dirt and rock (and perhaps even the slurry of the For most people, “my skin is crawling” is just an
swamp) respond to your will. You can use the earth as expression. Not for you; you instinctively sense and
a weapon, bludgeoning your foes or trapping them in control flesh both living and dead. You can strangle
stone. You can turn swampland into a walkable path, foes with their own intestines, steal a foe’s face (quite
and navigating the under-city is easier for you than literally), and animate dead tissue.
for most others. Many an earth Sorcerer has been Spending Corruption might allow you to wrap a
blackmailed into helping thieves reach hidden vaults of corpse around your own body and use it as armor, or

Sorcery and Corruption

coin and contracts. disguise a corpse as a living being for a brief amount of
Spending Corruption might allow you to open up time.
a stone building like a piece of wet parchment, or to
imprison someone bodily in stone.
Ghosts and Spirits
Fear Affects: Morale
You walk between our reality and the spirit world, and
Affects: Morale you can see and command ghosts and spirits. If you’re
You conjure the images of your foes’ worst fears, lucky, they’ll tell you what they know. Even if they
amplifying their phobias and even bringing those terrors don’t, you can direct them to bedevil the living or scout
to life. Small children can’t stop crying in your presence; areas that you couldn’t otherwise reach. People might
when you stand before an enemy army, the front line come to you to learn what a vengeful ghost wishes, or
crumbles and breaks. You will often use Maneuvers to to lay a spirit to rest.
show others the taste of fear. Spending Corruption might allow you to deliberately
Spending Corruption might allow you to panic a possess an enemy for a time with an allied spirit, or to
large group of people at once, or to draw away fear to pass from our world to the spirit world at a corrupted
vastly improve a fighting force’s Grit. point (see p. 281).

Fire Ice
Affects: Health Affects: Health
Exceptionally well-suited as a combat Sorcerer, your If this whole adventuring career goes sour, you can
soul burns within and without. Flames dance at your always find a fortune making ice for the rich of Eversink
command, you can turn burns into a mere nuisance, and who want cold drinks. Your Sorcery centers around
you have to consciously remember not to burn down cold, chilling your enemies’ life-blood and freezing
nearby houses when blasting your foes. One thing is for water around them. People shiver when they are near
sure, though: your Sorcery is anything but subtle. you, and the temperature drops when you smile.
Spending Corruption might allow you to blast a Spending Corruption might allow you to freeze part
truly horrendous number of people at once, or to draw of a canal solid, possibly with people still trapped in the
an out-of-control city fire into captivity within a small water; or form a temporarily sentient snow-creature out
bottle. of ice and your distilled hatred.
 108 Swords of the Serpentine

Illusion Player Advice: Love Magic

Affects: Morale
Love potions and charm spells may be inextricably
Why would you look like yourself, when you could linked to fairy tales and sword & sorcery,
summon a glamour and look like literally anyone else but there are some very uncomfortable issues
in the world? Your Sorcery creates illusion, either false surrounding magical compulsions and willing
images that anyone can see or phantasms that only consent. Talk to your gaming group about this
appear in specific people’s minds. You can make people before you use it, and make sure you, the other
accidentally fall into canals, prey upon their fears, and players, and your GM have the same expectations
disguise people and things around you. You’re probably about charms and love magic before selecting
Sorcery and Corruption

wanted by the Watch just on general principle… but this as a Sorcerous Sphere.
they’d have to identify you first.
Maneuvers (see p. 72) are useful when you
have this Sphere, as they can help adjudicate whether
someone is fooled by your casual illusions.
Spending Corruption might allow you to craft an Luck
entirely fake reality that others believe to be real, or Affects: Health, Morale
allow you to impersonate someone specific for an entire
scene. While Luck is normally the domain of the Ridiculous
Luck ability, picking Luck as a Sorcerous Sphere
means that your magical effects appear as incredible
Lightning happenstance, and you can manipulate odds with your
Sorcery. Inflicting damage often expresses itself in the
Affects: Health form of bad luck for your target.
Also known as a Storm Sphere, electricity crackles Spending Corruption might allow you to create
around you and may even provide a ward that injures particularly lethal (or fortuitous) coincidences. Note
anyone who touches you. It is easy to Daze others with that while many such coincidences could be duplicated
your attacks, and you fear no storm. with a Ridiculous Luck spend, spending Corruption on
Spending Corruption might allow you to summon this Sphere gives you access to exceptional damage (see
massive storms, call down lightning, or charge the p. 113) and more pronounced and powerful effects.
ancient arcane pumps that help drain portions of
Eversink’s undercity.
Memory
Affects: Morale
Love
Even when you can’t read the memories of others, you
Affects: Morale can blindly dredge up their secrets or traumas and use
You specialize in mending (and breaking) hearts, those to batter your enemy’s Morale. You can implant
manipulating when and how someone falls in love. false memories, sharpen or cloud memory, and even
You may or may not be lovable yourself, but expect help relieve those who are tortured by their past.
strangers to fall in love with you and take risks for you Learning memories or implanting memories isn’t
they’d never otherwise consider. mind reading. You must talk to your target to learn
Spending Corruption might allow you to manipulate leads, compelling them to tell you about the memories
the heartstrings of two other people, or stop an enemy you are stirring up in their mind’s eye. In this regard, it
dead in their tracks when they realize you’re the person isn’t functionally different from using Social abilities to
they’ve spent their entire life waiting for. learn clues and information.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 109

Spending Corruption might allow

you to make someone remember a
completely false event; strip the memory
of an event completely from someone
else’s mind; or temporarily give yourself
enough eidetic memory to remember
every word of a quickly read book.

Music

Sorcery and Corruption

Affects: Morale
You create astonishing music with
nothing more than an act of will;
mundane musicians likely hate you
and wish you ill. If you wish, you are
surrounded by a cloud of music that
echoes your own emotional state. You
use music to affect others’ Morale,
whether to distract, terrify, or intimidate
them.
Spending Corruption might allow
you to create theme music that will warn
you of a scene’s emotions, effectively
warning you just before an ambush
or attack; or could grant you Grit by
drowning out enemies’ Sway attacks.
You can torture your foes by filling their
brains with a repetitive tune that never
ceases.

Necromancy Plants
Affects: Health Affects: Health
For you, the unbreachable gulf between life and death Flora bends to your will — literally. Whether they talk
is more of an inconvenient roadblock. You can animate to you or kill a foe by sprouting inside her stomach
dead flesh and have the dead attack for you. You can and growing out of her throat, you can speed up, slow
often pluck secrets from the memories of the dead. down and control plants. Your attacks manifest as
Even if your smell is seldom pleasant, others come to plant growth, and you may gain advantages in heavily
you when they need services that only you can supply. overgrown areas.
Spending Corruption might allow you to raise the Spending Corruption might allow you to reanimate
dead into unlife, pluck memories from a corpse’s brain, a wooden building and let it walk off its foundations, or
or prevent dead flesh from ever rotting. cause sudden sprouting vines to grow and catch your
foes. You can spend points of Corruption to create
some fairly remarkable plant-based poisons.
 110 Swords of the Serpentine

Possession Shadow
Affects: Health, Morale Affects: Health
Your spirit can exit your own body and assault others, Darkness is your ally. You can slide between shadows,
briefly taking over their flesh to do things they form shadows into allies (or weapons), and even trap
otherwise wouldn’t wish to occur. You can guide spirits your enemies in darkness. Shadows near you animate at
and demons into the bodies of hosts, leave your body your whim, moving as if alive. Perhaps they are.
briefly to travel in spirit form, and see through the eyes Spending Corruption might allow you to walk
of people or animals you possess. through shadows from one place to another, to
Spending Corruption might allow you to possess attack someone from afar by animating their shadow,
Sorcery and Corruption

someone for a lengthy time, to remove the memory of or to rip away an enemy’s shadow as you hurt them
possession from a victim’s mind, or to drive a demon tremendously.
out of its unwilling host.

Statuary
Secrets
Affects: Health
Affects: Morale Eversink is full of funerary statues, monuments to the
Even when you can’t pull secrets from the thoughts of dead. You can animate statues, speak with them, merge
those nearby, you can make your foes think you already into them, and ask them to fight for you.
have, shattering your enemy’s morale by threatening to Spending Corruption might allow you to steal a
expose the secrets and the shames they keep locked away. statue by making it stand up and walk off with you.
You may find that strangers approach you to confess With this Sphere you could turn a living person into a
their deepest secrets, or to brag about achievements statue temporarily, step inside of a statue, or animate a
that they can’t tell anyone else. statue from afar to use as an assassin.
Spending Corruption might allow you to steal
secrets from a foe against their will, learn someone’s
true name, or broadcast someone’s secret into the Swamp
dreams of hundreds of sleeping people at once.
Affects: Health
The swamp is your ally, and it will work to shelter you
Serpents or keep you safe. You might walk across the swamp
as if on a cobblestone road, and your enemies might
Affects: Health find their lungs unaccountably filled up with mud and
Really falling under the category of Animals (above), marshland creatures. People smell the rich, peaty scent
the Serpentine Empire has left behind enough writings of the bog when they are near you.
that the Serpent Sphere seems more common than Spending Corruption might make the swamp close
most; perhaps Sorcerers just like conjuring serpents in around the ankles or boats of multiple enemies, or
in people’s bellies and watching the snake slithering suddenly dissolve part of a stone building into cascading
upwards and out of their mouths. See Animals for mud and water.
further details.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 111

Transformation (Physical) Trickery

Affects: Health Affects: Morale
Your sorcery transforms your own body. You may You delight in misdirection and can create nearly
stretch, change your appearance, grow gills, or any any effect so long as it fools others. Minor illusons,
number of other changes — and your attacks take convincing lies, and convoluted schemes are your stock
advantage of these changes. Your flesh is malleable, and in trade so long as others suffer and you don’t get
the first time you kill someone by plunging your hand caught.
into their chest and extending your twelve razor-fingers Spending Corruption might allow you to use a
down into their organs, people will remember that. Persuade maneuver on many people at once, or change

Sorcery and Corruption

Spending Corruption might allow you to survive in reality in a way that makes your scheme more likely to
a foreign environment (such as underwater or poison succeed.
gas), to squeeze your body through tiny cracks, or to
fly for a scene.
Water
Transmutation Affects: Health

Affects: Health Expect to be forcibly recruited by sea-borne Mercanti,

or by the Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers.
Form is more of a mere suggestion than it is a rule, You move and control water on a whim, raising and
and you alter animate and inanimate objects through lowering it through sorcerous will. Your enemies find
ancient magic. Usually your enemies are but briefly themselves drowned or battered by deep-sea pressure.
changed, but woe betide any who cross you; “The Frog Spending Corruption might raise or lower
Prince” is a fairy tale in Eversink, too. People see your floodwaters, keep a ship safe on stormy seas, allow you
face always subtly changing, as if you can’t decide on and your friends to breathe underwater for a time, or
your true appearance. permanently waterproof a leaking wall.
Spending Corruption might allow you to transmute
a locked door into water, curse an enemy into an
innocuous form until a condition is met, or transform a Worship
swimmer’s clothing into lead.
Affects: Morale

Transportation Others naturally look to you for leadership and

protection, and the weak-willed have a natural tendency
Affects: Health, Morale to worship you as god-made-flesh. That’s good for your
The dimensions open themselves up to you, and you ego but bad for your relationship with Denari, and it’s
can cross them as easily as sailing across a canal. No one likely to anger any small gods you come across as well.
understands how you appear and disappear in rooms. Invest in ranks of Command to take fullest advantage of
Normal distances shorten or lengthen as you desire, your power, and use this Sphere to turn your enemies
affecting combat ranges and travel times. Your form into your lackeys.
seems strange to others, impossibly foreshortened and Spending Corruption might temporarily shatter
elongated both. someone’s connection with the god they worship, or
Spending points of Corruption might allow you to cause others to follow you loyally and blindly even
pass into the spirit realm (or other realities determined when they previously hated you.
by your GM), teleport to a place you’ve studied well,
instantly move an enemy 20 meters up in the air, or
make your enemies’ attacks happen at long range while
your group’s attacks occur normally.
 112 Swords of the Serpentine

How Sorcery Works

Without spending any points, you can: Make standard General ability tests and just describe
Use Sorcery to describe any unopposed, regular the results as coming from your Sorcerous Spheres.
activity that most people could do and that doesn’t The game mechanics and results remain the same, only
require a test. These are typically special effects with no the visuals differ.
conflict or game mechanics involved. � Climbing a wall requires a Difficulty 4 Athletics
� Your sorcerer has seven eyes moving around beneath test. You also need to make an Athletics test to
Sorcery and Corruption

a heavy, shadowed hood (possibly a dangerous look climb a wall, but you can describe it as if you were
in a city where sorcery makes people suspicious, but using Sorcery, such as levitating or making your
you’re sticking with tradition). This has no game fingers sticky.
effect, so you can describe your Hero like this � Non-sorcerous thieves pick pockets using Burglary.
freely. You must also roll a Burglary test to pick a pocket,
� Most people can open and close an unlocked door, but if you succeed, you can describe it as literally
carry a serving tray, or light a torch. If it’s coherent teleporting their purse from their belt to your
with your Sorcerous Spheres, you can open and hand. If you fail, they notice the magical attempt.
close doors or light torches with a wave of your Use Sorcery as a combat ability to attack someone,
hand, or have serving trays float around a room. as described on p. 65.
� Most people in Eversink have no way to make ice. � You use your Ice Sphere to attack an enemy’s
You can’t create ice with Sorcery either unless it fits Health. You describe their blood and eyeballs
within your Sorcerous Spheres, at which point you freezing, and they take Health damage.
can make minor amounts of ice as a special effect. � You use your Memory Sphere to attack an enemy’s
Use any Investigative ability, or spend any Morale. You describe flipping through her
Investigative pool point, and describe the standard memories and making the worst ones more vivid.
effect as coming from Sorcery. This does not She falters as she takes Morale damage.
include the Corruption ability, and it does not create Use Sorcery to create standard Maneuvers (p.
Corruption. 72), tactical effects that inflict damage or change the
� Charismatic people can use Charm to make a situation.
Supporting Character like them, or spend a point of � You can use Sorcery to attack Health with a
Charm to make that Supporting Character become Maneuver, and trip a foe in combat with your
enamored with them. You can do the same but Sorcerous Sphere of Earth, raising the ground level
describe it using one of your Sorcerous Spheres, just enough to unbalance your enemy.
such as magically increasing your personal charm, � You can use Sorcery to attack Morale with a
or as casting a love spell. Maneuver, tricking a foe into running down the
� Characters can gather gossip with Scurrilous wrong alley with your Sorcerous Sphere of Illusion.
Rumors, and spread gossip by spending a point.
With 1 rank in Scurrilous Rumors, you could
describe magic as carrying a hundred rumors to
your ears; if you spend a point, you can describe
as the wind picking up your whispered insinuation
and carrying it to the dreams of everyone in the city
who is asleep.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 113

GM Advice: Wait, That’s a Lot of Stuff!

Sorcery is flexible for a General ability. It’s meant to be fun and showy, with great personal danger accompanying
dramatic power. In part, this is compensation for the penalties accompanying Corruption. A Sorcerer in
Eversink is always at risk of being spotted and stalked by suspicious inquisitors; internalized Corruption
changes your appearance (and maybe the nature of what you truly are); and externalized Corruption is illegal
because it creates pools of foulness that can damage both the Goddess and Eversink’s economy.
Outside of Eversink, Corruption is still dangerous but is less of a concern. Sorcerers in other lands tend
to have a place of greater prominence and respect… or they’re surreptitiously ganked by threatened Thieves,

Sorcery and Corruption

Warriors and even Sentinels who fear the source of a Sorcerer’s power.
We’ve designed the Sorcery system to feel like Sorcery. It should seem wondrous and mysterious, full of
flavor and rewarding to the imaginative player, but it should be on par power-wise with the damage that other
Heroes can do. That’s why you can describe anything you like as coming from Sorcery, but truly unique spells
are always tied to Corruption spends, and Corruption spends have consequences.

How Corruption Works

Corruption spends are more powerful than other Exceptional Damage
Investigative spends and produce superior Sorcery
effects, but their benefits come at a price. They open There are times when you’ll wish to unleash epic,
you to the foul, unclean source of magic that lies memorable spells that shake the very nature of reality
behind Sorcery, and the risk that accompanies this
around you. For those, describe the appearance of
power, corrupting either your own flesh or the world
your spell, including the influence of your Sorcerous
around you.
Sphere, make a successful Sorcery attack and then spend
You do not need to spend Corruption on a spell
Corruption.
whose only purpose is to gain you a lead, such as
Exceptional damage generated by Corruption spends
allowing your group to fly when that’s the one method
affects all people, both friends and foes, within line of
for reaching the cloud-based adventure the GM has
sight of the target and within the indicated range. You
planned.
Spend pool points of Corruption to: only roll to attack your primary target.
� trigger exceptional damage
� trigger target area damage
� create non-standard unique spells
� create Maneuvers (p. 72) that aren’t covered by
an ability you already possess
� level a Curse at a foe (p. 122)
� create sorcerous glyphs and traps (p. 124)
You and the GM will agree on how many Corruption
pool points you must spend to create a desired effect.
If you are specifically targeting an Adversary, they
have a chance to resist, so the effect is structured like a
Maneuver (see p. 116).
 114 Swords of the Serpentine

Or total Or total Or total

Additional Or total Damage
Damage to all Damage to all Damage to all
Corruption Damage to to all within
within Point- within Close within Medium
Spend your single Long Range of
Blank Range of Range of Range of
Target Target
Target Target Target

+1 die +3
1 3 damage — — —
damage

+2 dice +3
Sorcery and Corruption

2 1 die +3 damage 3 damage — —

damage

+3 dice +3 2 dice +3
3 1 die +3 damage 3 damage —
damage damage

+4 dice +3 3 dice +3 2 dice +3

4 1 die +3 damage 3 damage
damage damage damage

+5 dice +3 4 dice +3 3 dice +3 2 dice +3

5 1 die +3 damage
damage damage damage damage

Designer Notes:
Evolution of a Corruption Spend

In the playtest rules for this game we didn’t specify

what happened when you specifically targeted a
foe with a Corruption spend. It just automatically
worked with no way to resist. Which is fun until
you realize that it potentially turns every major
confrontation into a non-event, or until you
yourself are targeted by an evil sorcerer who has
plenty of Corruption to spare.
Three or four iterations later, we really like
where we landed. Powerful Corruption-powered
spells always have at least some cool effect, they
give the target a say in their own fate (even if
the choice isn’t a particularly palatable one), and
they’ll inflict some damage as a consolation prize
if your target doesn’t make the choice you prefer.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 115

This means that you could injure a single target with

your normal 1 die +1 damage, and then spend 4 points GM Advice: “Wait, did you just
of Corruption to add exceptional damage of 4 dice +3 kill everyone on board this ship?
damage, for a total damage of 5 dice +4 against that
one person; or you could injure your single target and
Because we still need someone to
then spend 4 Corruption to inflict 3 points of damage work the oars.”
to everyone within line of sight of that target within
long range, possibly hundreds or thousands of people; The damage for Corruption spends, in both
or something in-between for Point-Blank, Close, or amount and effect, is a little bit like the effect
Medium ranges to the target. of explosions in other GUMSHOE games. The
goal is to create the opportunity for players to

Sorcery and Corruption

Your Sorcery targets Morale, and one of inflict massive damage with spectacular spells,
your Spheres is Time. You climb to a steeple but to limit the frequency by tying such spells
overlooking Eversink’s Temple Market and to the relatively rare commodity of Corruption
— with thousands of people in line of sight points. In the same way that you wouldn’t want
of you — spend 4 points of Corruption. You to throw a hand grenade into the same room
inflict 3 Morale damage on everyone within you’re standing in, exceptional damage in Swords
of the Serpentine has a nasty habit of affecting
Long range, which defeats just about every
both friends and foes. You can limit the effect to
single unnamed Supporting Character in
specific targets by spending points of Forbidden
sight. You describe this as slowing down their
Lore or even additional Corruption.
thought processes, leaving them motionless As GM, make it memorable when Heroes
and trapped in time for the duration of break out a heavy Corruption spend. They’re
the scene. Let it never be said that you don’t going to feel amazing for thwarting a single villain
know how to leave a lasting impression. or wiping out lots of enemies at once (at least,
all the ones within line of sight), they’ll create
Area Damage lots of Corruption (with all the consequences
and plot hooks that entails), and they won’t
Want to affect a smaller area? You can limit the
feel like they wasted their Corruption points. If
exceptional damage effect of Corruption spends by
knowledge of their astonishing spell becomes
spending an additional point of Forbidden Lore or
public, consider adjusting Grudges or Enemies
Corruption. Effectively, you’re using lost and obscure
(and the Reputation that comes with multiple
knowledge to modify your spell and make it safer.
ranks of one Enemy) accordingly.
When you do so, you can choose who within range is
and isn’t affected by your spell.

Your con artist friends are trying to convince

some rich merchants that you’re a demigod Unique Spells
of time, all part of some elaborate scam they
Sometimes, you’ll want to cast a momentous spell.
talked you into. The con wouldn’t work if
Maybe you want to conjure a floating whale, or freeze
those merchants were affected as well, so you
a canal into ice, or trap a foe in a floating box made of
spend one point of Forbidden Lore to exclude pure force. When this happens, you’ll spend Corruption
them from the 3 points of Morale damage. points to cast a unique spell.
Describe the spell effect (within the realm of your
Sorcerous Spheres) to your GM, along with the
suggested cost. The GM will accept your suggestion or
give you suggested changes; it’s up to you whether to
accept the GM’s recommendation. If you don’t, you
 116 Swords of the Serpentine

may choose a different action or propose a different

spell. You and the GM are partners in finding the most GM Advice:
exciting possibility within the number of Corruption Setting the Cost of Corruption
pool points you’re willing to spend.
Always look at a unique spell’s effect, not at its
Affecting the Environment description, to see how powerful it really is. This
Unique spells that target objects or the environment, or isn’t nearly as intimidating as it sounds, thank
that are unopposed, are resolved without a roll. Their goodness; you’re fine using gut feel and common
power is only determined by your Corruption spend. sense when considering Corruption costs. To
judge a spell’s cost, look at its effect (including
You want to use your Earth Sphere to
Sorcery and Corruption

damage it inflicts, with more damage or more

literally rip away the side of a stone tower, targets requiring a greater cost), aiming for an
revealing all the rooms inside (and making effect per spent point slightly more powerful than
sure that the rival thieves’ guild knows not an Investigative spend with some other ability.
to cross your guild in the future, thank you Want a world where powerful sorcery creates
very much!). You’d also like it to do damage epic spells? Err on the side of leniency for costs.
to people inside. Checking the Exceptional Want a world where sorcery is more constrained?
Damage chart above, you see that you could Err on the side of being more conservative. If
you want to encourage a particular tone, such as
do 3 points of damage to everyone in Close
“most powerful sorcery is showy and terrifying,”
range of a target — basically, collapsing the
encourage this by offering your players a
tower and injuring everyone currently inside
1-Corruption discount on any unique spell that
— if you spend 3 points of Corruption. That would dramatically drain the FX budget of your
doesn’t include the special effect of ripping game’s movie.
the tower in two, however, and 4 points is Your main job is to make sure your players
more than you’d like to spend. You and the have fun, so ask yourself “What would be both
GM agree that a 2-point Corruption spend cool and fun?” when a player proposes a spell and
makes sense for just ripping open the tower a Corruption cost. In playtests we’ve found that
(which will probably send people fleeing) the results of Corruption definitely come back to
without causing any damage to those inside. haunt the Sorcerer, so the epic and unique spells
Alternatively, for just a 1-point spend you tend to be saved for when they matter the most.
could rip away the gatehouse at the entrance, You don’t have to have it perfect right out
of the gate, either. Take a game or two to get
giving you access past the portcullis.
the feel for what’s reasonable, and then talk to
your players if you want to adjust the baseline
In the above example, a 1-point Corruption spend rips
expectation for what a Corruption spend can
away the gatehouse in an incredibly showy display of
accomplish. That’s a reasonable trade-off in a
power, but all it functionally does is give you and your
flexible and cinematic spellcasting system.
friends an entrance — not all that much different than
picking a lock. That’s why it’s a 1-point spend instead
of something more expensive.

Affecting an Adversary The one restriction is that the partial effect can’t
take the target out of the rest of the fight, or have the
Unique spells that target Adversaries are framed as
same functional impact as the full effect. For instance,
Maneuvers, with a full effect (what you ideally want
there’s no functional difference between a full effect
to happen when you’re successful) and a partial effect
that knocks your target 100 meters off a roof, and a
(what should happen along with damage if they resist
partial effect that knocks them 3 meters off the roof.
the spell).
Pick a different partial effect in such cases.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 117

To cast a unique spell affecting an Adversary,

� Describe the full effect What Happens When
� Describe the partial effect You Spend Corruption?
� Agree Corruption costs with GM
� Spend Corruption points, adding +3 for each to Corruption is the inhuman essence of impossible and
your Sorcery attack hostile realities, leaking out to twist and erode your
� Roll Sorcery against your target’s Health or Morale world every time you spend Corruption points.
Threshold; your attack result is the Maneuver’s Corruption is either internalized (mutating your
Target Number. body) or externalized (polluting the world around
you). It can’t be avoided: every time you spend points of
The defender gets a choice: they must either accept Corruption, you must choose one of these two choices.

Sorcery and Corruption

the spell’s full effect, or suffer the partial effect along
with Health or Morale damage equal to the Maneuver’s Internalized Corruption
Target Number – 2. If available, defenders may spend You choose to contain the Corruption within your
appropriate Investigative pool points to reduce the own body. When you spend one or more points of
Target Number by 3 points per Investigative point spent. Corruption, make an immediate Health test with a
Armor or Grit may reduce the damage accompanying a Difficulty of 3 + 1 per point of Corruption spent (so
partial effect. Difficulty 4 when spending 1 point of Corruption,
For example: Difficulty 6 when spending 3 points, etc.)
If you succeed at the Health test, choose and write
You want to use your Transmutation Sphere
down on your character sheet one small thing that has
to semi-permanently turn your foe into a changed on your body. These changes – a toenail falls
chicken as the full effect (at least physically; off, a wart appears –are not easily noticeable by others
mentally, they remain themselves). You and have no mechanical effect on your Hero. The
and the GM agree that this should last changes to your appearance add up over time, however,
until someone tries to slaughter the chicken, gradually transforming you physically into someone
because that scene would be hilarious. This who looks quite different than you looked when you
longer-lasting full effect should require began your adventuring career.
spending at least 2 Corruption, and for a If you have learned Sorcery from ancient writings,
the changes tend to move you closer to the shape and
partial effect, your foe takes damage and
nature of a snake. If you learned Sorcery by sharing your
turns into a chicken only until the end of
body with a demon or small god, the changes might be
next round. more random or less themed, or they bring you closer
You cast your unique spell of transforma- to the appearance or nature of the entity inside of you.
tion, putting all 8 of your Sorcery points into Only one thing about you will change, no matter how
it because you want it to succeed. You roll a many points of Corruption you have just spent at one
3 and spend 2 Corruption, turning the Cor- time.
ruption into 6 more points of Sorcery. This If you fail the Health test, this change is noticeable
easily exceeds the opponent’s Health Thresh- to an observer. Perhaps your pupil narrows to a slit, your
old, and sets the Target Number at 17, tongue becomes forked, or one of your feet changes
to a hoof. While this has no mechanical game effect,
which is huge. Your foe decides whether they
it’s certain to affect your interactions with superstitious
resist your spell and take 15 points of Health
Supporting Characters.
damage (Difficulty 17 – 2) along with a
brief transformation, or whether they turn You spend 2 pool points of Corruption and
into a chicken semi-permanently. They pick internalize the effect. You succeed at a
the latter. You now have a very angry and Difficulty 5 Health test, so you tell the GM
intelligent chicken to catch. The GM awards that snakelike scales have appeared down
your spine. You write down the change on
you Refresh tokens, which you use to partially
your character sheet.
refresh your Sorcery pool.
 118 Swords of the Serpentine

Bloodlines and Corruption Terrifying Your Friends

With the help of forbidden rituals, it’s theoretically When you externalize Corruption, allies (and only allies)
possible for a Sorcerer to internalize Corruption in a within Medium range or closer must make a Morale
blood relative (usually a child) instead of in their own test with a Difficulty of 3 plus 1 per Corruption point
body. Particularly heinous (or vain) Sorcerers have you spent. If they succeed at the Morale test, there’s no
been known to do this to keep their unnatural power further consequence. If they fail the Morale test, they
a secret despite extensive use of Corruption. Using a lose 4 Morale.
blood relative to avoid Corruption is a capital crime
in Eversink, one guaranteed to get you tortured and Scarring a Location
executed if caught. Externalized Corruption pollutes and sickens the world
Sorcery and Corruption

around it, and there’s only so much that the Church of

Externalized Corruption Denari can to do mitigate the effects.
Corruption normally affects the single location where
If you don’t internalize Corruption, it leaves you
the sorcerer was standing when they spent Corruption
untouched, but affects the world around you. In the
points. It is measured in stages, with the initial stage
short term this terrifies your allies; in the long term it
equal to the number of Corruption points spent. The
spiritually scars the area around you, causing sickness
Corruption slowly spreads outwards in a radius from
and insanity in the population, and in Eversink, actively
that spot, lessening one stage with every range. Stage 5
harming Denari’s Blessing (see p. 227), causing
Corruption will be at stage 5 in Point-Blank range from
building foundations to weaken and towers to topple.
where the Sorcerer was standing, stage 4 at Close range,
Spreading Corruption not only brings the law’s
stage 3 at Medium range, stage 2 at Long range, and
wrath, it brings the Church’s as well. Sorcery is where
stage 1 at Very Long range.
the Church’s Inquisitors and the civil legal system meet.
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 119

Spirit Sight spend

Heals itself naturally by
Stage Effect needed to reduce
one stage in…
Effect by one stage
Denari’s Blessing is temporarily burned away, Approximately one
detectable by Spirit Sight or Corruption (or poor profit month, but can
1 from business transactions). Nearby cows give sour be restored sooner 1
milk, chickens lay stones instead of eggs, and babies cry through multiple
non-stop. business transactions
Causes disquiet in anyone passing through,
encouraging people to hurry on their way. Those who

Sorcery and Corruption

deliberately linger in the area suffer 1 point of Morale Approximately one
2 4 (min 2 at a time)
damage after several hours. This may drive Mooks and decade
other narratively unimportant Supporting Characters
into emotional breakdowns or panic attacks.
Weakens building foundations, softening stone and
eroding mortar. Causes fear or temporary obsession
in anyone passing through the area, triggering an
immediate Loss of 2 Morale (Loss 4 after dark). Approximately one
3 9 (min 3 at a time)
Supporting characters are filled with dread, and the area generation
soon becomes known as haunted. The barrier between
worlds is weakened; determined ghosts can pass
through from the spirit realm.

Entering this area automatically causes 4 points of

Morale loss, and the area reeks of sadness and terror.
Those who live nearby may be driven to paranoia or sly
Approximately a 16 (min 4 at a
4 murder. The area might be (but is not always) cloudy
century time)
and lit from within, and spirits might be seen or felt
within this area. This acts like a beacon, subtly drawing
the evil and the unnatural to it.

Entering this area triggers the Possession Maneuver;

take 6 points of Morale damage or become possessed
by a ghost, demon, or other spirit drawn to the fell
energies. The spirits of those who die nearby are
25 (min 5 at a
5 trapped here. This is a sucking, writhing rip in reality Never heals
time)
that warps physical spaces around it. Unnatural
creatures such as demons or something worse might
come through, either in mortal or spiritual form.
Animals nearby often twist and mutate.

36 (special, min
This sanity-blasting rift in reality pierces the world and 6 at a time); may
Never heals, and slowly
can theoretically corrupt an entire nation if allowed be less if sealed
6+ spreads unless sealed
to spread long enough. Effects are as Stage 5, but the from the far side
from the other side
affected area spreads. as part of a unique
adventure
 120 Swords of the Serpentine

Fixed Morale damage from externalized Corruption forgotten sorcery has forever scarred the spiritual
doesn’t hurt you more than once per scene. Your landscape. Some of these have been healed by Church
Morale won’t keep eroding if you run into and out of Inquisitors. Some locations have just been walled off,
an affected room multiple times, but depart and come and the Church hopes for the best. Many they haven’t
back later in a different scene and you’ll suffer the fixed yet found.
Morale damage once again. People who can see the spiritual rift can help fix it.
Your Sorcery leaves a unique and hard-to-describe Corruption is healed by spending pool points of the
signature when you Corrupt a location. There’s no Investigative ability Spirit Sight, and it takes an amount
way to immediately tie this signature back to you, but specified in the chart above to instantaneously heal a
anyone with ranks of Spirit Sight (such as a Church Corrupted spot one level. Spirit Sight spends made to
Inquisitor) will recognize your unique signature if they heal the Corruption can come from multiple people
Sorcery and Corruption

encounter it more than once. working together. The Inquisitors of Denari work
Multiple acts of Corruption in a single location tirelessly to heal or seal corrupted areas in Eversink;
aren’t cumulative. The single largest Corruption spend they consider any corrupted area to be an open wound
in a location sets the Stage, although smaller spends in in the Goddess.
the area might reset the time before Corruption heals Corruption heals faster in flowing water than it does
itself. This means that if your enemy lets loose with a on land, disappearing as if it were two stages less than its
3-point Corruption spend and pollutes the area nearby, actual stage. Stage 1 Corruption in flowing water heals
you can also externalize Corruption without making by itself in approximately a week. Although Corruption
the effect worse. (Mind you, doing so is still illegal in heals more quickly in running water, the number of
Eversink.) points of Spirit Sight needed to reduce Corruption does
not change from the above chart.
Curing Corrupted Locations
Eversink is dotted with cursed corners, areas where

Advanced Sorcery
GM Advice: Rituals: Time, Assistants,
Starting the Game? Read This! Astrology, Sacrifices,
and Sorcery
The Sorcery rules from this point until the end
of Chapter 4 —Rituals, True Names, Curses, and Unless noted otherwise, invoking Corruption and
Glyphs —are all key components of Sorcery in attacks using Sorcery takes only one action, just like
Swords of the Serpentine, especially true names any other attack. There are occasions when that isn’t
and curses, but aren’t necessary to know when appropriate for Corruption spends, however. As a GM,
you’re starting the game. Your players will have you may want villains to need long (even multi-day)
enough to keep straight the first few games rituals to complete a particularly terrible spell, a spell
without worrying about these as well. Integrate that’s only possible when the stars or tides are right, or
these rules gradually as plot hooks from one a spell that can only occur if you have enough chanting
adventure to the next. cultists assistants. Similarly, you may decide that an
If this is your first read-through, feel free to effect is only possible when one or more sacrifices occur
skip this part and come back to it later. first, either simultaneously or over time.
In these cases, use time, assistants, astrology, and
sacrifices as a mitigating factor. Given a foul tome,
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 121

enough cultists, stars in the correct configuration, Once you know your true name it resonates through
the right incense, and sufficient time, an otherwise your soul, reminding you of who you truly are. This
unimpressive Adversary may be able to trigger a fairly self-knowledge provides strength in times of need.
horrible effect from spending Corruption. There’s no
conversion table showing the relationship between Benefits of True Names
Corruption spends, chanting assistants and time: GMs Once per adventure, you or an ally who knows your
should allow or disallow such adjustments on a case by true name (and who speaks it loudly enough for you to
case basis, primarily based on what will be most fun for hear) can audibly call on it to grant you extra resources.
the game. Doing so doesn’t take an action but must be done as
Such tactics are usually the province of villains rather part of a turn.
than Heroes, but there may be times when you want

Sorcery and Corruption

Calling on your true name gives you one of the
Heroes to access power beyond their normal means. following benefits (your choice).
On these occasions, a fell tome of sufficient Forgotten � Immediately gain 5 Refresh tokens, usable by you
Knowledge may allow a Hero to know what they could alone.
do to stretch their normal boundaries — at a cost. � If you have been transformed through Sorcery
(other than the physical changes that come from
internalizing Corruption), that condition ends and
True Names you may immediately return to your true shape.
� If you are currently possessed, mind-controlled, or
Most people know they have a true name but don’t know mentally enchanted in any way, that condition ends
what it is, although Sorcerers and prophets can learn and you can immediately think for yourself once
theirs easily. Your true name is how the gods remember again.
and think of you. It has a unique pronunciation and
defines the essence of who you are; anyone who knows You may not be able to say your true name if you are
it can manipulate the essence of your identity. You can physically transformed or mentally controlled. Write
draw on your true name for a boost of resources when down who you have told your true name to; it’s up to
you need it most, and knowing an enemy’s true name you whether the risk of having a trusted friend know
gives you great power over them. your true name is worth the benefit of their intervention
when you are incapacitated. Note that receiving this aid
Learning Your Own True Name might make you vulnerable in the future, if enemies
You can learn your own true name if you have at least who survive the battle are canny enough to overhear
one rank of Corruption, Prophecy, or Spirit Sight. and remember it.
You may seek the knowledge within yourself through True names can provide other benefits.
introspection, or it may appear to you in a dream or � A promise sealed by exchanging true names is
vision; just tell your GM you want to learn it. Learning considered unbreakable, believed to transcend
your true name can be the focus of an adventure. You even death itself. Marriages are often solemnized in
and the GM get to decide what the nature of true this way. Breaking such a promise might result in a
names are; they can be simple or complicated, poetic or curse determined by the GM.
unpronounceable. � Someone who knows your true name can use
If you have no ranks in those Investigative abilities, Prophecy to learn roughly where in the world you
someone else can divine your true name for you, but are (although this information might be unclear or
only with your permission. This can be risky, as this couched as a riddle).
person also learns your true name. Only trusted friends, � Knowing a spirit’s or demon’s true name may allow
spiritual advisors, and family members are usually called you to summon them to you.
on for this task. You may wish to spend Investigative � You’re considered to have 1 rank of Liar’s Tell
pool points (such as Charm or Trustworthy) to turn when listening to someone whose true name you
this person into a firm ally you can trust. know; as a result, you can almost always tell when
they are telling the truth.
 122 Swords of the Serpentine

Learning Another’s True Name Some enemies are too puissant to oppose normally;
they may be nearly invincible or far too important.
Learning the true name of another person, living
Learning their true name helps even the odds, even if
or dead, is exceptionally difficult. You may be lucky
it means that you become their most important enemy.
enough to be told a person’s true name, either because
they trust you or you’ve extorted it out of them. If
not, bargaining with fell powers is generally your only
recourse.
Curses
The currency of true names is secrets, both those
Curses are usually cast by Sorcerers releasing all of their
you give up yourself and those you learn about others.
Corruption potential in one fell swoop, although curses
If you learn some hidden shame that your victim keeps
can also come from objects, places, and supernatural
Sorcery and Corruption

others from knowing, a malign entity such as a demon,

entities. A dying Sorcerer may have the opportunity to
spirit or small god might give you your victim’s true
utter a powerful Death Curse before they perish.
name — but only if you also give the malign entity your
own true name as part of the bargain. This exchange
requires a profound and personal sacrifice on your part
Curse Mechanics
in order to gain true power over someone else. It’s a The more Corruption points are spent in the curse,
decision not made lightly. the more powerful and interesting the curse becomes
If you’re unwilling to give up your own true (approximately as powerful as an attack using the same
name, the malign entity might give you a portion of points). Certain circumstances can raise or lower the
your victim’s true name — usually a syllable at a time curse’s power.
— requiring you to provide two to four momentous
secrets in total to learn your victim’s entire true name.
You curse a hated Sorcerous rival, releasing
This requires less sacrifice and far more research and all 3 remaining pool points of your
adventuring on your part, and it takes much longer. Corruption ability at once. You can’t see your
The more often you bargain with fell entities for true target when you utter the curse. Normally
names, the greater and more dangerous their demands the curse would be as powerful as if you’d
become. spent 2 Corruption instead, but you’ve stolen
a lock of your victim’s hair. Your curse is at
True Names as Weapons full power.
If you know someone’s true name, they are tremendously
vulnerable to your influence. Their Health or Morale
Your Sorcerous rival doesn’t know who
Threshold is treated as 4 less than actual against your cursed them, but they swear revenge and
Sorcery attacks, making it much easier for you to score curse you back. They spend their remaining
Critical Hits and almost impossible to miss them in 3 points of Corruption but don’t know your
combat. If you spend an Investigative point to influence identity and can’t see you. Their curse has the
or attack someone whose true name you know, the approximate power of a 1-point Corruption
effect of your spend will be greater than normal. Your spend.
victim will sense that their true name is being invoked
and will likely be furious — and terrified.

Circumstance Effect on Curse’s Power

Cannot see the intended victim -1 point (less powerful)
Do not know the identity of the intended victim -1 point (less powerful)
Have a lock of the victim’s hair +1 point (more powerful)
Know victim’s true name +1 point (more powerful)
Death Curse (kills Sorcerer to cast) +2 points (more powerful)
Chapter Four: Sorcery and Corruption 123

Curses are usually narrative instead of mechanical, in for a hundred years, or make someone’s nose grow every
that they create horrible story penalties for the victim, time they lie. A curse may instead be subtle; “May your
instead of killing them or hampering their abilities. family never know wealth” might reduce the cursed
You should tell your GM what you say when you utter Hero’s treasure or raise their lifestyle expenses, and take
your curse, but remember that curses are notoriously a few adventures to even be noticed.
shifty and untrustworthy forms of revenge, and the The point of curses is usually to teach someone a
curse vary in power or have a different effect than the lesson, not to kill them outright, and the curse recedes
one you intended. Your curses usually, but not always, or abates when that lesson is shown to be learned.
manifest in a manner congruent to one or more of your Players and GM should work together to fashion
sorcerous Spheres. interesting, effective curses. It’s in no one’s best interest
if a combative GM deliberately minimizes the effect of a

Sorcery and Corruption

You utter the curse, “You will find no sleep Hero’s curse, because that just tells the player that they
until you return what you have stolen!” should never try to curse anyone again — and that’s no
If your sorcerous Spheres attack Morale, fun for anyone.
A cursed character can typically learn the details of
nightmarish insomnia may plague your
their curse by speaking with someone who possesses 1
victim. For instance, if one of your Spheres
or more ranks of Prophecy. Someone with 1 or more
is Time, the cursed victim might obsess over
ranks of Spirit Sight can tell, by looking carefully,
growing old every time they try to sleep. whether a person is cursed — but not the details.
If your sorcerous Spheres attack Health, It’s common for curses to worsen as they progress.
they may instead be woken by physical trauma For instance, a cursed liar may have a stone appear in
every time they try to sleep. For instance, their mouth every time they lie. If they continue to
if one of your Spheres is Water, the cursed lie, the stones get larger, possibly choking off air and
victim might feel like they’re drowning when causing suffocation with every lie. If the curse worsens
further, at its most virulent stages the liar might take 1
they try to sleep.
die of Morale damage with every lie, and listeners hear
Either way, they’ll dream of what they the truth instead. A curse’s progression is handled solely
stole. Their Morale begins to plummet as a by the GM, based on whether the victim is ignoring the
lack of sleep, and fear, begin to catch up with curse or trying to avoid its effect.
them. The rule of thumb for a curse’s effectiveness is
“How effective would it have been if those points of
Judging a Curse’s Power, Effect, Corruption had been used in an attack instead?” While
curses are usually spread out over time, the effectiveness
and Duration should be comparable. If the victim avoids taking
Certain powerful curses can have such a long duration actions that trigger the curse, it may not manifest (such
that they affect entire generations of families, and other as the liar mentioned above starts telling the truth), but
curses may come and go in the space of hours or days. the curse does not disappear unless the victim triggers
A curse’s power varies with the number of Corruption the escape clause.
points spent. The more points spent, the more effective
and remarkable the curse. 5-point curses are the sort The Escape Clause
that are talked about for centuries, and that affect entire Curses must have a condition that frees the victim from
generations of families. the curse. In general, this escape clause is attainable,
Whether leveled against the Heroes or their enemies, even if it is difficult or apparently impossible to achieve.
curses are most interesting and fun when they’re The escape clause should be stated as part of the curse,
cinematic and memorable. Classic “fairy tale” curses but that doesn’t always happen (especially if the sorcerer
are appropriate when they fit the campaign’s tone; if is dying, or if the player forgets), in which case the GM
you’re powerful enough (and have the right Sorcerous decides it. In the example above, if the person returns
Spheres) you can set the inhabitants of a tower to sleep what was stolen the curse dissipates and they can sleep
 124 Swords of the Serpentine

normally again (though admitting to being the culprit You’ve created a glyph to trap your enemy,
may have other consequences). an assassin named Celestina Avanti. You
Heroes can discover a curse’s escape clause by want her to fall into a deep sleep when she
speaking with someone who has 1 or more ranks of sets off the glyph, with a full effect of “sound
Prophecy. An escape clause may be simple (such as asleep for 24 hours” and a partial effect of
apologizing to the Sorcerer who cast it), or may seem
“groggy and Dazed for the scene”. You make
impossible or nonsensical when first heard (such as
a Sorcery attack when you create the glyph,
swimming in dry air when low and high tide occur at
once), but it must be possible to achieve — whether
spending and dealing with 2 Corruption;
literally, symbolically, or through a clever technicality. only one of those Corruption spends will apply
+3 when calculating the Target Number
Sorcery and Corruption

Death Curses (see p. 116). Your Maneuver’s total Target

A dying Sorcerer can channel their life force into a curse Number (after rolling and adding your
to make it more powerful. Death Curses occur when Sorcery spend) is 11, so when Celestina sets
a Sorcerer is below 0 Health but remains conscious. off the glyph she’ll choose to either take 9
Casting a Death Curse immediately kills the Sorcerer, Morale damage and become Dazed, or fall
and the Curse that results is treated as if the Sorcerer sound asleep for a day.
had two more points of Corruption than they actually
Your triggering criteria can be whatever
had. Such strengthened Death Curses are notoriously
you wish, and you choose “when Celestina
dangerous.
Avanti passes under this portal.”

Sorcerous Glyphs and Traps Spotting and Disarming Glyphs

You can spend Corruption to leave sorcerous glyphs You must make a Difficulty 4 Burglary or Sorcery test
that trigger at a later time. Describe the type of glyph (your choice) to spot a typical glyph. Your Alertness
you wish to set, specify a condition for activation, and modifier applies, and some tiny or glowing glyphs
spend points of Corruption; the glyph triggers when might be harder or easier to spot.
the criteria you specify occur, and no matter where you You can use Burglary to temporarily bypass or disarm
are you automatically know when a glyph you have sorcerous glyphs. You or someone working with you
created has been set off. must possess 1 or more ranks of either Corruption or
Exceptional Damage or unique effects occur at a Spirit Sight. Attempting but failing to bypass or disarm
level one less than the number of Corruption points a glyph might set it off, depending on its activation
you spend. Suffer the effects of Corruption when the criteria.
glyph is created, not when it is triggered. If the glyph The Difficulty to temporarily bypass a glyph with
delivers an attack or Maneuver, roll your Sorcery attack Burglary is 4 + the number of Corruption ranks spent in
when you create the glyph, and then make a note of its creation; the glyph remains inactive for the duration
the result. of the scene. The Difficulty to fully disarm a glyph with
Sorcerous glyphs vanish and unravel at the end of Burglary is 8 + the number of Corruption ranks spent
each adventure. If you want your sorcerous glyph to in its creation.
last until discharged, even across adventures or across
whole centuries, spend a point of Forgotten Lore when
inscribing the glyph to lock it in place.
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle 125

Chapter Five
Chapter
Chapter Three
Five
Wealth a n d Lifestyle

Sword & sorcery novels are full of heroes who find Your Wealth includes the number of coins and
vast treasure in one story and are penniless again in the valuable items you possess, along with less physical
next, because they’ve squandered all their money on assets: debts others owe you, the influence you can
magnificent creature comforts. Swords of the Serpentine wield to acquire something you desire, even secrets you
is aiming for the same feel. can trade on. None of these are tracked separately.
As a result, this isn’t a game about buying and Each Wealth point can be turned in for a pool of 3
selling gear, or about saving your loot to buy legendary General ability points usable when you’re in a situation
weapons that increase your personal power in a fight. It where it might matter (such as a Preparedness test in a
is a game about increasing and leveraging your influence marketplace or bribing someone during a Sway test),
with other people. In a city like Eversink, spending
your wealth opens doors. You can use that influence to
further your own aims during adventures.

Wealth
When you adventure, you’ll gain Wealth. You’ll spend
Wealth on your Lifestyle every adventure, as noted
below. Unspent Wealth carries over from adventure to
adventure.
Wealth isn’t measured in coins. Instead, when you
find treasure or gain a reward you’ll track pool points
of Wealth from 1 (a piddling reward) to 5 (enough
wealth to live a luxurious lifestyle for an adventure) to
10 or higher (truly wealthy, able to live at the highest
level of society for two adventures or more). An average
adventure gives you 2-5 Wealth per Hero, although
rewards are most fun when they fluctuate dramatically.
You can’t squander all your riches on unneeded luxuries
unless you first have riches to squander!
You have 0 Wealth when you start your first
adventure, as it’s assumed you’ve spent it all wisely or
squandered it carousing, as Heroes do.
 126 Swords of the Serpentine

Don’t Memorize the Coin Table

Obviously, this conversion chart is unworkably complicated — and that’s by design. One of the reasons is
that this coin chart delights us. But the real reason is that the mechanical systems in Swords of the Serpentine,
from Preparedness to Lifestyle to Repute, run on Wealth and not coins. Wealth isn’t a linear progression
(spending 5 Wealth is much, much more expensive than spending five instances of 1 Wealth) so we want you
to think twice before handing out specific quantities of treasure. This matches classic fiction, where heroes
find overflowing treasure chests of coins and jewels but never bother to count the damn things.
In any case, Eversink natives turn out to like “unworkably complicated”. Unscrupulous moneychangers
take advantage of the ridiculous complexity to skim a few coins for themselves every time they make change.
If this doesn’t work for you, just simplify or streamline the coinage to something that is easily memorable
without unbalancing the game. Just remember that by awarding treasure in Wealth you’ll seldom if ever need
to hand out exact coinage. If you hand out Wealth to Heroes and accidentally describe the coinage in a way
that doesn’t match this chart, the total amount of Wealth you specified is what’s important. Discrepancies can
be caused by clipped coins, counterfeits, ancient and valuable coinage, and the like.

but Wealth points are more effective when

Designer Notes: Coins in Eversink
channeled into Lifestyle points (see below).
Wealth and Lifestyle

Eversink has a ridiculously complicated system of In the Night Markets beneath Sag
currency, with coins in circulation from dozens of Harbor, you finally find a sorcerous
kingdoms. As a result, merchants typically weigh or
charm you’ve been hunting for — one
alchemically assay coins to determine their value
guaranteed to turn any curse back
in gold. Here are the standard coins minted by the
at the caster, and who cares if it’s
Triskadane.
3 bits = 1 iron tripenny made with a hanged man’s tongue,
anyway? Problem is, it’s so rare that
3 tripennies = 1 iron penny
the Preparedness test to acquire it is
13 pennies = 1 copper halfeel (Wealth 1; enough to
Difficulty 16. You have Preparedness
live a life of Squalor between adventures)
8, so the best result you could normally
2 halfeels = 1 copper eel
achieve is 14. Instead, you turn
13 eels = 1 silver fish (Wealth 2; enough to live a
in 2 Wealth for 6 pool points of
Struggling lifestyle between adventures)
Preparedness. Now you have 14 points
3.5 fish = 1 silver cygnet
of Preparedness to spend, so you hope
7 cygnets = 1 silver bridge (Wealth 3; enough to live a
you roll a 2 or higher on the die.
Comfortable lifestyle between adventures)
8 bridges = 1 gold halfswan Although accumulated Wealth isn’t usually
2 halfswans = 1 gold swan (Wealth 4; enough to live a tracked on a per-treasure basis, there may be
Wealthy lifestyle between adventures) times you wish to make an exception. Memorable
9 swans = 1 quill (handcrafted by artisans as items and glorious art objects might be useful to
standardized works of art) list separately.
4 quills = 1 bell (handcrafted by artisans as unique You stole a legendary ruby the size
works of art, each coin made singly and studded of a baby’s fist from the eye socket of
with gems) (Wealth 5; enough to live an Opulent
a massive demon statue. The ruby is
lifestyle between adventures)
worth 75 Wealth, a king’s ransom,
Bank script = variable (custom written by each banking
but you can’t use that Wealth until
house in town, representing the total of stored
you sell it — and selling it will be an
funds for a customer)
adventure in itself.
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle 127

Lifestyle
Have you blown all your money and you’re living in Low Repute
squalor, or are you incredibly rich and spending coins
like water? Low Repute represents the social challenge faced by
There are five different levels of Lifestyle you can those who can’t or won’t spend money on their lifestyle.
choose at the start of each adventure, and the one you Squalid or struggling Heroes may be discriminated
choose affects how the world sees you. Wallow in your against by the upper classes and social elite.
Weath and gain High Repute to impress the people
around you; spend little Wealth and your Low Repute You’re living a squalid lifestyle when you
will be used against you by the GM. use Skulduggery to shadow someone into a
New Heroes have No Repute for their first adventure. restaurant. “You can’t come in here!” says
At the start of each adventure after the first, choose the the restaurant owner loudly, using one
Lifestyle you’ve lived since your last adventure, and of your 2 Low Repute points to make sure
mark down your Repute. The Low or High Repute you
the person you’re following notices you. The

Wealth and Lifestyle

gain lasts until the end of the current adventure.
GM uses your other point of Low Repute to
You must spend a minimum of 1 Wealth on your
summon the City Watch, who will then dog
Lifestyle each adventure (as opposed to each game
session; a long adventure might incorporate multiple you the rest of the adventure whenever the
game sessions). You may spend as much Wealth on action slows down.
your Lifestyle as you want, especially if you want people
to be talking about you in wonder and awe for years You may use Low Repute as an Investigative ability
to come, although there’s no mechanical benefit for to gain leads when speaking with the poor or
spending more than 5 Wealth. disenfranchised, who are less likely to misjudge you or
treat you with disdain.

GM Advice: Simplifying the Game No Repute

Part II – Eliminating Repute
A comfortable lifestyle gains you No Repute for the
We love Repute because it models how folks adventure. You have neither penalties nor advantages
might respond to (or discriminate against) due to your lifestyle. You start with No Repute during
adventurers when they get hold of some money, your first adventure.
and because the Lifestyle rules give players a
great reason to spend Wealth every adventure.
High Repute
If you’re running a one-shot adventure or don’t
particularly care about Wealth acquisition by the
High Repute represents the social privilege and
Heroes, though, you can simplify the game by
reputation you gain for spending large amounts of
completely ignoring the Lifestyle and High/
money on your lifestyle, garnered from your impressive
Low Repute rules. This won’t affect your combat
clothing, fine lodging, legendary parties, philanthropic
balance at all.
donations, and trustworthy servants. Other wealthy
or socially prominent Supporting Characters may
acknowledge and accept you as one of their own; you
may use your pool points of High Repute to influence
or bribe those who might be impressed by your Wealth.
 128 Swords of the Serpentine

Repute Spend Table

Spend Lifestyle Penalty or Benefit
1 Wealth Squalid Low Repute 2
2 Wealth Struggling Low Repute 1
3 Wealth Comfortable No Repute
4 Wealth Wealthy High Repute 1
5 Wealth Opulent High Repute 2

Prophecy shows you that your enemy is about Designer Notes: Literary Loot,
to escape from Eversink in a sailing ship
and The Lies of Locke Lamora
and you won’t be able to get there in time
to stop them. You spend both of your High
Wealth and Lifestyle

You know what’s a pain? Creating an economy

Repute points to hire the fastest messenger system when Heroes can already get much of
in the city to rush there with a message for what they need through Preparedness spends,
the harbormaster, indicating that it will that’s what’s a pain. And don’t get us wrong,
be very much worth their while if they find we love Preparedness, but it definitely makes a
“irregularities” in the shipping manifestos fantasy game’s economy trickier. How to avoid
that keep the ship in port for another too much finicky bookkeeping?
few hours. The ship (with your enemy on Inspiration came from Scott Lynch’s The
board) is still anchored when you reach the Lies of Locke Lamora, where his protagonist
harbor. You never actually have to pay the thieves have a vast treasure room jam-packed
with treasure that they can’t spend or they’ll get
harbormaster the bribe; that’s included in
caught cheating the Thieves’ Guild. In Swords of
spending the 2 points of High Repute for a
the Serpentine terms, the con artists in the story
significant benefit. are living a struggling lifestyle (and paying out 2
Wealth per Hero each adventure) even as they
The GM may use High Repute against you when you bring in 25 Wealth or more per scam. All that
are speaking with the poor or disenfranchised, who are unspent money keeps piling up, so they just use
likely to scorn you. it to keep score and continue their delightful lives
of low repute.
It feels just right to us for the sword &
Describing Your Lifestyle sorcery genre. In this sort of Wealth system your
barbarian doesn’t need to track every coin but
You’re encouraged to narrate how you’ve spent your can, in time-honored fashion, spend all of their
time since your last adventure, and how you’ve blown accumulated loot on ridiculously extravagant
— err, wisely spent — your treasure and savings. things and still get a great mechanical benefit
You finished your last adventure with 7 from that largesse… even as they quickly need to
seek out more treasure so they aren’t sleeping in
Wealth, and you decide you want to blow all
a gutter at the start of next adventure.
of your money buying drinks for friends and
making really poor life choices. At the start of
this adventure you spend 5 Wealth to live an
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle 129

opulent lifestyle. You wake up at the start of Minimum Lifestyle

this adventure hung over and with your belly
full of deliciously exotic foods, your rented If you want to fall back on your Allegiances (in other
mansion filled with items you don’t want words, make someone else pay), you can ask your Allies
or need, with influential social climbers to support you for a time at a comfortable level. Doing
desperate to see you and do favors for you, this incurs 1 point of Grudges in that same Ally until
but with only 2 Wealth in your pocket. You you pay off that debt in deed or Wealth, as roleplayed
will enjoy the benefits of High Repute 2 for and decided upon by the GM.
this adventure, but you can only maintain
Completely out of money and not wanting
this incredibly wealthy lifestyle if you raise
some money. Time for an adventure... the social stigma of becoming dissolute, you
decide to use your Allies: Mercanti 1, and
you roleplay out a deal with one of the guilds.
They’ll support you at a comfortable lifestyle
until the end of this adventure, no Wealth
spend needed, but you now add Grudges:
Mercanti 1 on your Grudges list until you
fulfill your promise to stop some extremely
annoying smugglers.
 130 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Guaranteeing a Minimum Lifestyle

If you think that a Hero’s family or business contracts would support them at a given lifestyle level — no sure
thing when they’re Heroes instead of full-time Mercanti or bankers! — you may allow them one or more free
Lifestyle pool points each adventure, starting them off at squalid, struggling or comfortable before they ever
spend Wealth points on Lifestyle. This is for Heroes with significant business concerns or hidden resources
that help to handle Lifestyle expenses even when the Hero is adventuring. It’s rare, however, and players
(except perhaps for Mercanti and members of some Sorcerous Cabals) usually have to earn this benefit as a
roleplaying reward during your campaign.
Alchemists also have a method for obtaining a minimum lifestyle. See p. 223 for details.

Assigning Treasure
Wealth and Lifestyle

If Heroes are going to put their lives on the line, they adjusts it slightly upwards to 23. She splits
deserve rewards! Occasionally having them wallow in up these rewards into different opportunities
wealth is one way to make them feel like big damn throughout the adventure, dividing it
heroes, especially if the Wealth drifts away as quickly as between coins, jewelry, expensive goods, and
it is discovered. To make treasure interesting, make it promised favors from a major mercantile
memorable. Describing a shattered funerary statue with
guild.
jeweled eyes and teeth, lying on a bed of ancient coins
and religious offerings from 600 years past, is much
The value of any goods, jewelry, gems and the like is
more interesting than simply saying “You find Wealth
included in the total Wealth. If the GM chooses to
30.”
assign 15 Wealth to the Heroes as treasure, they might
When assigning treasure from an adventure, GMs
describe that as barrels of rare wine and crates of exotic
should think about how they want the Heroes to live
spices. The value of these goods is based on the fair
until the start of their next adventure, per the table on
and realistic price that the Heroes can get for them.
p. 128. Rich as Mercanti, swimming in loot? Desperate
If Heroes come up with a particularly clever plan for
and on the streets, scrabbling for coin? Dole out total
selling items in a way that should make them more
wealth accordingly. Your Heroes might not choose a
money, the GM is justified in increasing the total value
Wealthy lifestyle, and that’s fine; next adventure, they’ll
of Wealth gained by an amount that seems fair.
roleplay the results of whatever lifestyle they did choose.
Unique gear, such as magical weapons that can’t
The GM thinks the Heroes deserve to feel easily be bought or sold, should be excluded from these
triumphant, and so should earn enough loot totals.
Heroes (particularly those allied with the Mercanti)
during this adventure to remain Wealthy
may work hard to establish ongoing sources of Wealth,
through to the end of their next adventure.
such as trading agreements, business concerns or even
There are five Heroes. She sets the vast lucrative blackmail. Encourage this if it makes your
amount of treasure available this adventure game more fun, and use Minimum Lifestyle to represent
to 20 (cost 4 x five Heroes = 20), and then it instead of just granting extra Wealth.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 131

Chapter Six

ear, Both S and Mundane

G or c e r o us

While this isn’t a game about buying and selling gear, it’s useful to know what sort of equipment you can buy or
produce with Preparedness and Wealth.

How Much Can You Carry?

Most of the gear you need during an adventure you’ll you’re carrying or expect to suffer Athletics penalties
produce using Preparedness, and only if you consider when swimming, jumping or climbing. You can’t use
a piece of gear iconic does it stick around between two sorcerous shields at once, for instance. Items that
adventures. If you tend to use the same gear every work in specific locations (head, body, primary- or off-
adventure (always the same shield, for instance), it hand) are limited to one item per location. Sorcerous
should be added to your standard gear list so you don’t items are rare enough that that’s seldom a concern.
need to perfunctorily roll for it every game. A heavy pack is reasonable, although people in
The amount of gear and sorcerous items you can Eversink will look at you oddly; anything more than
carry and use at any one time is left to common sense, as that may encourage you to hire a servant to carry your
filtered through your GM. If you look at your character excess belongings for you.
sheet and think “that seems unrealistic”, pare back what

The Cost of Goods and Services

Most goods and services are inexpensive enough to Some gear can’t realistically be produced suddenly
be handled with a Preparedness test, or as part of the with Preparedness. In these cases, such as when
benefit from a wealthy or opulent lifestyle. This isn’t purchasing unique poisons, you must spend the
a game about “How much you spend on a guide,” appropriate Wealth points in a location that sells the.
so GMs won’t charge Heroes for unexceptional and Heroes may pool their Wealth together for this purpose.
unmemorable transactions.
 132 Swords of the Serpentine

Weaponry Weapon Modifiers

Armor-piercing
Weapons that are easy to find can be acquired for free; This weapon ignores the stated amount of Armor,
you can find a makeshift club almost anywhere. Better adding to ranks of Spot Frailty (if any) when determining
crafted weapons, such as a sword, cost Wealth 2 or its effectiveness.
higher if they aren’t already part of your minor iconic
gear. Loud
The range is determined by the weapon type. Melee Using this weapon creates significant amounts of noise
weapons can only be used on a foe within Point-Blank (apart from the screams of the person you’ve just
range. Ranged weapons cannot be used on a foe within injured).
Point-Blank range (unless stated otherwise in the
table on p. 133), and their accuracy diminishes with
Obvious
distance.
The following list of weapons isn’t exhaustive, and This weapon is difficult or impossible to conceal,
you’re encouraged to describe your weapons creatively. requiring a difficult Stealth test to do so, and usually
When you add your own weapons, small weapons has a Damage Modifier of +2. It’s tricky to hide a
have a Damage Modifier of +0; medium weapons have greatsword in the back of your ballgown.
a Damage Modifier of +1; and large weapons have a
Damage Modifier of +2. The GM may adjust these Reload
numbers and add Weapon Modifiers as appropriate. Once this weapon is used, an action must be spent
reloading it before it can be used again. Such weapons
are often used once and then tossed aside as enemies
close into range.

Stun
Gear

Instead of inflicting regular damage, this weapon causes

the Daze Maneuver to be more likely to succeed, by
raising the Health test Difficulty by the noted amount
(see p. 73). It does not stack with bonuses from
other gear, such as the Token of Blackjacks.

GM Advice:
Lethality and Firearms

If you wish to increase the Damage Modifier on

firearms to +3 to make them more dangerous,
increase the reload time to two rounds. This
will encourage both Heroes and Adversaries to
use a firearm as their first action before wading
into combat and will in general make the game
deadlier.
This optional rule can also apply to crossbows.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 133

Melee and Ranged Weapons Table

Damage
Name Size Range Cost Other Modifier
Modifier
Axe Medium Point-Blank +1

Blackjack (leather sack full of

Small Point-Blank +0 Stun 1
iron shot or metal coins)

Club (standard) Small Point-Blank Difficulty -2 +0

Club (heavy) Medium Point-Blank +1 Obvious

Armor-piercing
Crossbow Large Long Difficulty +2 +2 1; Obvious;
Reload

Dagger Small Point-Blank +0

Flail Medium Point-Blank +1

Greataxe Large Point-Blank Difficulty +2 +2 Obvious

Horse Lance Large Point-Blank Difficulty +3 +2 Obvious

Improvised weapon (large) Medium Point-Blank Free +1 Obvious

Improvised weapon (small) Small Point-Blank Free +0

Knife Small Point-Blank Difficulty -1 +0

Knife (thrown) Small Close Difficulty -1 +0

Gear
Longbow Large Long +1 Obvious

Mace Medium Point-Blank +1

Maul Large Point-Blank Difficulty +2 +2 Obvious

Polearm Large Point-Blank Difficulty +2 +2 Obvious

Quarterstaff Large Point-Blank Free +1

Rock (pointy) Small Point-Blank Free -1

Rock (thrown) Small Close Free -1

Shortbow Medium Medium +1 Obvious

Point-Blank/ Armor-piercing 1;
Spear Large +1
Medium Obvious

Sword (standard) Medium Point-Blank +1

Sword (terrifyingly large) Large Point-Blank Difficulty +2 +2 Obvious

Warhammer Medium Point-Blank +1

 134 Swords of the Serpentine

Firearms
Eversink doesn’t have firearms, but that’s a stylistic choice, not one based on mechanical balance. If you prefer, add
firearms to the game using the following rules.

Damage
Name Size Range Cost Other Modifier
Modifier

Light pistol Small Close +0 Loud; Reload

Heavy pistol Small Medium Difficulty +2 +1 Armor-piercing 1; Loud; Reload

Light rifle Medium Long Difficulty +2 +1 Loud; Obvious; Reload

Heavy rifle Large Long Difficulty +4 +2 Armor-piercing 1; Loud; Obvious; Reload

Mundane and Alchemical Gear

This list is far from exhaustive and is meant as a starting point. If you want something not on this list, describe it
to your GM and agree on a Preparedness Difficulty needed to obtain it. Particularly rare items are seldom if ever
available through a Preparedness test unless you are in a market where they are for sale.

Miscellaneous Gear Badge of Office

Gear

Cost: Gift or loan only

Mundane
Alchemist’s Fire Location: Body or Off-hand

Cost: Wealth 1 The more organized factions of the city — the City
Alchemical Watch, the Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers, the
Triskadane, the Church of Denari, and the like — have
Clinging fire in a bottle, alchemical fire official sanctioned badges that they sometimes lend to
burns briefly even underwater and requires those on their missions. These badges carry the weight
smothering to be extinguished. Throw it of the organization behind them, so others usually defer
with an Athletics test; a successful hit inflicts to people who wear them.
a die of damage each round for 2-7 (1 die Badges of Office hold 1 or more pool points of Favor
+1) rounds or until extinguished. Putting with the organization that created them; the Favor
alchemist’s fire out requires a Difficulty points can be spent normally. Heroes who hold such
5 Athletics test as an action. Rumors a badge can temporarily wield influence in the name of
persist of alchemist’s fire that lasts an organization they might not normally be allied with.
longer, is much harder to extinguish, Using one of these without the faction’s authority gains
or burns hotter; if such variants exist you multiple Grudge points as soon as that faction finds
they would be notably more difficult to out.
obtain.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 135

and prophecy, along with the correct tax and tithing

Cestino’s Cameos amounts for different times of year. Family copies of the
Cost: Wealth 2 to 5, complete Book of Truths and the Glorious Covenant
depending on are often filled with gold illumination and gorgeous
rarity hand-painted illustrations; these will always be far more
expensive (and meaningful) than the hastily made
copies of the Book of Truths with appended tax code
Mundane distributed for free at churches across the city.

These are a
collection of several Dogbane
dozen antique cameos
whose display conveys Cost: Wealth 1
sentiments ranging from bland disinterest to mild Alchemical
contempt to scathing insult (but only to those who can This is only useful when being hunted by dogs, but
interpret the cultural code). Used properly, Cestino’s if you are, it’s really useful. Sprinkle it behind you
cameos can create the effect of a Taunt or Intimidate when making a Stealth test. Any dogs that try to track
spend. you past that location will suffer a –3 penalty to their
An artist of middling talent named Cestino turned Alertness Modifier for the rest of the Scene, making it
out hundreds of these a few centuries ago as collectible much easier for you to hide.
sets for preteen girls of the noble houses. The joke
insults associated with each design were just naughty
enough to appeal to the children, and it became a short- Nightstones
lived fad.
Ten generations later, the insults are treated as Cost: Wealth 1 per five stones
deadly serious by noblewomen and conveyed by the Alchemical
original jewelry passed down from mother to daughter These rocks are alchemically coated to extinguish small
over several hundred years. One can only signal using

Gear
flames such as torches or lanterns, making them handy
the designs in one’s possession — complete sets are rare for sneaking through darkness without being identified.
and highly valued, and it’s considered extremely gauche Throw one into a torch or lantern and you’ll douse the
to use anything but an original Cestino. The code is light, causing it to need relighting. Toss one into a
completely opaque to anyone outside of the aristocracy. bonfire and you’ll reduce its size, reducing its Damage
Ranks in the Investigative ability Nobility or Allies: Modifier by -2 for the scene. Multiple nightstones
Ancient Nobility are required to recognize and translate aren’t cumulative on the same fire.
the cameos, and a Nobility spend is required to utilize
the code for a specific effect.
Theatrical Disguises
Denari’s Book of Truths Cost: Wealth 1
and Tax Code Alchemical
These dyes, glues, fake beards, and other tools help you
Cost: Free - Wealth 5, depending on how beautiful the
disguise yourself. When using the kit, make a Stealth
book is Mundane
test; if successful, increase your Stealth Modifier by +2
This holy text is a highly annotated and abridged version when others are trying to recognize you. The effect lasts
of the equally common but lengthier Book of Truths. for one scene.
It recounts the holy word of Denari through parables
 136 Swords of the Serpentine

Mundane Protective Gear Leather Armor

Protection items help keep you safe. These include Cost: Wealth 1
armor, shields, and protective charms. Mundane
Location: Body
Leather armor, whether boiled leather or reinforced
Buckler with cunningly placed chain link, is the most common
Cost: Wealth 1 form of armor in the city — mainly because it’s the only
Mundane armor that won’t immediately drown you when you’re
Location: Off Hand shoved into a canal. While you wear it you have Armor 1.

When you wear a

buckler, you only have Plate Armor
to meet the Difficulty
(instead of exceeding Cost: Wealth 3 to 10 or more
it) when blocking or Mundane
dodging attacks using the Location: Body
Dodge Talent for Athletics Plate Armor is usually custom
(see p. 37). fitted and beautifully decorated;
the best such armor is an
announcement that you have
Chainmail Armor style, wealth, and deadly enemies
Cost: Wealth 1 who are terrible at killing you.
Mundane While you wear your plate
Location: Body armor you have Armor 3,
but the Difficulty on any
Chainmail is an effective deterrent to swords, but it Athletics tests to swim
Gear

can be dangerous in a city that regularly floods. While rises by +6.

you wear your chainmail you have Armor 2, but the Occasionally the
Difficulty on any Athletics tests to swim rises by +4. most expensively
decorated plate
armor is tied to a
Designer Notes: Armor Penalties particular faction or
organization, whether
You’ll notice that only heavier armor provides that group makes the
penalties, and those penalties are only to swim armor for your Hero as
instead of to sneak and climb. We thought about a reward, or you’ve found
a more complex set of penalties for heavier armor long-lost armor made for
but they were finicky, hard to remember, and not another hero who died long
fun. They got tossed. ago. In those cases, 1 or
GMs, if you find that all your Heroes are more pool points of Favors
wearing heavy armor and it feels out of genre, for that faction is attached
consider adding a situational penalty back in (or to the armor, and wearing
occasionally pushing the heavily armored Hero the armor will earn you the
into a canal). Otherwise, such penalties aren’t attention of the faction it is
worth the trouble. associated with.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 137

Scorpion Shield Snake’s Eye

Cost: Wealth 2 Cost: Wealth 1
Mundane Mundane
Location: Off Hand Most societies
Fashioned from the carapace of extremely rare and have a ritualistic
aggressive giant scorpions, this item acts as a standard charm that gets
shield. Once per adventure, you can brandish the put up by the
shield and be treated as if having spent a pool point of front door to
Intimidation, usually scattering your enemies away from ward off bad
you. Others will see the shield and believe that you have fortune — a
a reputation for being deadly in combat. Whether you horseshoe, a prayer
can live up to that reputation is then up to you. tablet, and the like.
In Eversink, this traditional charm is called a snake’s
eye. It’s a small coil of wire and glass, a central round
Shield mirror set within a spiral. These don’t do anything,
but snake eyes are a ‘Sinkish tradition, and nearly every
Cost: Wealth 1 home has one hanging beside a door jamb. They’re
Mundane frequently turned into art objects, and are often given
Location: Off Hand out as housewarming presents when people move into
Shields are often decorated with coats of arms, sigils, a new home.
guild symbols, and other identifying marks. If you use If you’re a GM, see p. 194 for additional
a shield from an organization you aren’t allied with, information about this tradition.
expect them to take umbrage.
Shields take up one hand and act as Full Cover
when you choose to use them, increasing your Health Watch Whistle
Threshold by +1, +2, or +3 depending on how

Gear
defensively you are using the shield. Your attacks are Cost: Wealth 1
penalized an equal amount, although only when you Mundane
are gaining the Full Cover benefit of the shield. You Location: Off Hand
decide how you are using your shield when combat Watch whistles are shrill, piercing, and they carry across
occurs, or if you’re using it at all, and you can freely water and through twisting alleys. Blowing a watch
change this decision on your turn. If a weapon or action whistle will summon a member of the City Watch in
requires the use of both hands, you can’t use it while 1-6 minutes, sometimes sooner. If the whistle was
your shield is equipped. blown but there’s no emergency at hand, expect some
When using a shield and using the Dodge Talent annoyance.
from Athletics to avoid an attack, you must only meet Before whistles came into vogue, the City Watch
the attacker’s success instead of exceeding it. used loud rattles. You may still stumble over these now
and then, but the sound didn’t carry as far and they
have fallen out of use.
 138 Swords of the Serpentine

Poisons, Toxins and Venoms Fallow Weed

Cost: Wealth 4 (highly illegal)
The following examples are only a small fraction of the
Onset: Approximately two minutes
vast number of poisons available in Eversink, and almost
Test: Difficulty 6 Health
all will reliably kill or disable Supporting Characters
Minor: The Target Number of Morale-based Maneuvers
who aren’t essential to the narrative.
meant to trick or convince the victim rise by 4
If a victim is exposed to the poison (there may be
Severe: The Target Number of Morale-based Maneuvers
a test to avoid this), they suffer minor effects if they
meant to trick or convince the victim rise by 8
manage to pass the test to resist, and severe effects if
they succumb fully. See p. 89 for more details. Fallow weed is an ingested drug that puts the victim
into a state of extreme suggestibility for a short time
(approximately five minutes), making them believe
Cadia Juice suggestions (such as Morale-based Maneuvers) that
aren’t even remotely realistic. People who are taught
Cost: Wealth 2 per dose (illegal but not hard to find) lies under the influence of fallow weed don’t register as
Onset: Fifteen minutes to mere seconds (depending on lying when using Liar’s Tell because they believe the lie
dose) completely. The weed has a peppery taste that is best
Test: Difficulty 4 to 8 Health (Difficulty 3 + the number disguised with strong spices. People retain their sense
of doses, up to 5) of right and wrong when under the influence, but can
Minor: In a relaxed situation, drop into a deep and easily be tricked into thinking they are doing the right
natural sleep during the scene thing.
Severe: Feel sleepy for 3 rounds, become Dazed for 3 Fallow weed leaves a lingering sense of light euphoria
rounds, then fall Unconscious that lasts for several hours, usually making people laugh
This ingested poison is alchemically purified from more easily than normal, and can stain the tongue
the sap of a hard-to-find jungle vine that grows in slightly gray until the next day.
abandoned Serpentine ruins. It’s a bright purple,
Gear

which tends to limit its use to dark liquids or a non-

transparent container. Cadia juice is one of the most Feasting
reliable sleeping draughts used in Eversink. A small
Cost: Wealth 2 (illegal)
amount (one dose) can help correct insomnia, but a
Onset: One hour
more substantial amount (3 or more doses) can drop
Test: Difficulty 6 Morale
someone into sleep within a moment.
Minor: Compulsive urge to eat to satiation, followed by a
Health test 5 to remain conscious
Severe: Compulsive urge to eat until stomach ruptures;
after 1-6 hours of non-stop consumption (GM’s choice),
Health drops to Seriously Wounded
This rare insect venom causes an uncontrollable
compulsion to consume. When stung in the wild, prey
animals consume anything they can find and then pass
out or die, providing the insect with a convenient body
to lay eggs in. Within Eversink, it’s used as an amusing
way to murder or embarrass an enemy.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 139

Floodlung Gutsplash
Cost: Wealth 2 (illegal) Cost: Wealth 2
Onset: Immediate Onset: 3–6 hours
Test: Difficulty 6 Health (Difficulty 3 if holding breath to Test: Difficulty 5 Health
avoid inhaling mist) Minor: No damage, moderate intestinal distress
Minor: Suffocate for 3 rounds Severe: Extreme intestinal distress for 24 hours
Severe: Suffocate for 6 rounds When you want to make sure someone stays home and
This illegal mist, usually kept in sealed ceramic in bed — or near the chamberpot — there’s no better
containers that are thrown and shattered, is derived poison than the boiled swamp herb known as gutsplash.
from alchemically modified swamp water. Floodlung If you’re planning on stealing a noble’s identity, this
magically drowns its victims by transmuting air to water can help ensure you don’t accidentally bump into them
within their lungs. It affects everyone in Close range to at the worst possible time.
where it is released, dissipating in three rounds (or faster
if there is strong ventilation). Victims use the Drowning
rules on p. 88. Hollowing
Cost: Wealth 5 (illegal)
Gluggut Onset: 30 seconds
Test: Difficulty 10 Morale
Cost: Wealth 2 Minor: No apparent effect; if given a second dose within
Onset: approximately 15 minutes, lasting more than an the next hour, the test Difficulty rises by +2
hour Severe: Your soul is separated from your body for a period
Test: Difficulty 10 Morale of time chosen by the GM
Minor: Compulsive urge to drink any potable liquids
nearby, and will seek out other potable liquids when This injected poison is formulated from the crushed
those are gone and alchemically treated bones of freshly-killed corpses.

Gear
Severe: Compulsive urge to drink any potable or non- It ejects your soul from your body for one or more
potable liquids nearby, and will seek out other non- scenes and prepares your body for easy possession by
potable liquids (no matter how foul) when those are ghosts and other spirits. When your soul is separated
gone; Health drops to Seriously Wounded from your body, the GM may allow you to play your
own disembodied ghost (possibly restricting you to the
This alchemical poison slowly makes the imbiber thirsty, spirit realm that overlays Eversink), or play the ghost
and drinking liquid does not abate their thirst. While it that is now steering your body. If the former, you have
causes no damage itself, people poisoned with gluggut no knowledge or control over what your possessed
may die from alcohol poisoning or from drinking other body does; if the latter, your GM may hand you revised
liquids that poison them. abilities for your new ghostly personality.
When returning automatically to your body after
a period of time chosen by the GM, you must make
a Difficulty 8 Morale test to remember your time as
a ghost (although during future adventures you may
recall small horrific flashes of your experiences, if the
GM allows). If your body is possessed by a ghost when
the drug’s effect ends, you automatically expel it. It is
likely to resent this.
 140 Swords of the Serpentine

Sea King’s Blessing Trembleroot

Cost: Wealth 3 Cost: Wealth 3 (illegal)
Onset: Immediate Onset: 2 rounds
Test: Difficulty 6 Health Test: Difficulty 6 Health
Minor: For the scene, take 1 point of additional damage Minor: Whenever making a test involving physical
every time you suffer Health damage. precision (usually an Athletics, Burglary, or Warfare
Severe: Breathe either water or air for the duration of the test) for the next three rounds, roll two dice and use the
scene. For the scene, take 2 points of additional damage lower of the two.
every time you suffer Health damage. Severe: Whenever making a test involving physical
precision (usually an Athletics, Burglary, or Warfare
This slimy contact poison allows you to breathe fresh test) for the remainder of the adventure, roll two dice
and salt water for a time, but slowly dissolves your and use the lower of the two.
organs into seawater every time you take Health Alchemically derived from plants grown within an area
damage. As such it’s a mixed blessing; if you take it to of severe Corruption, trembleroot disrupts fine motor
adventure underwater, try not to get hurt. It’s often control and causes pain and uncontrollable muscle
used by assassins to kill their victims more quickly. spasms for days. It has a sweet, almost cloying odor,
and is usually administered as a contact poison.

Snapback
Cost: Wealth 5 (illegal)
Onset: 3 rounds
Test: Difficulty 6 Health
Minor: Muscle contractions causing 2 points of Health
damage per round for 6 rounds
Severe: Massive muscle contractions that leave the victim
nearly helpless while they die, inflicting 1 die of damage
Gear

each round for 6 rounds, and penalizing General

ability tests by -2 for the duration

This venom causes extreme and nearly immediate

convulsions, usually lethal enough to cause the victim
to snap their own spine. It’s traditionally used for very
public assassinations that are meant to send a message.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 141

Sorcerous Gear
It’s rare, but not unheard of, for sorcerous items to be
available for sale. Sometimes you just need to be at the Grimoire: The Calcifex Manuscript
right Night Market or find the correct little market stall
Cost: Unique
that you’d somehow never noticed before. Sorcerous
Sorcerous
items aren’t often seen in Eversink, and more powerful
Location: Primary and Off Hand
items have a tendency to disappear on their own after
a time serving their master. They’re rarely dependable. The Calcifex Manuscript is a surprisingly heavy, large
tome with covers made from sheets of petrified wood.
Its unwieldiness requires you to hold it in both hands
Grimoires or (more commonly) place it upon a lectern. The
Manuscript grants you 2 bonus Corruption points,
Most sorcerous grimoires are written in the ancient usable only with the bonus Sorcerous Spheres of Stone
Serpentine tongue. Sorcery doesn’t like being written and Statuary. It is evil and antithetical to flesh, desiring
down, and the writing has a bad habit of becoming to turn all living creatures near it into statues that
sentient. Grimoires are books of magical theory and then praise it and offer it obeisance. It communicates
knowledge that are only usable by someone with 1 with the sorcerer by speaking through the mouths of
or more ranks of Corruption. Grimoires grant bonus all nearby funerary statues. If no statues are nearby, it
Corruption points that can usually only be used with cannot communicate.
specific Spheres or spells; these Spheres either attack When first opened each adventure, the Calcifex
Health or Morale, but never both, and can only be used Manuscript attempts to possess you with a Difficulty
with the Corruption points granted by the grimoire. 8 Maneuver; take 6 points of Morale damage or
The books also have a tendency to try to possess the become temporarily possessed. If you are possessed, the
sorcerer when they are used, something that should be grimoire will temporarily turn you into a living statue,

Gear
avoided when possible. piloting you and drawing on your Sorcery to do its own
To establish a grimoire for their own game, GMs bidding (which usually involves settling scores against
should select the following: the families of long-dead enemies). You lose control of
� The amount of bonus Corruption pool points the your actions and gain the Adversary special ability Stony
book grants (see p. 164) during the possession.
� The Sorcerous Spheres associated with the book You may make a Difficulty 8 Morale test to throw off
(typically one per point of Corruption) the possession every time you take Health damage. You
� The book’s personality and method for interacting may spend your Morale to do so even when possessed.
with the Sorcerer Afterward, you retain no memory of your actions.
� Whether or not the book contains any true names
or special abilities
� The Difficulty for resisting its Possession Maneuver Grimoire: The Ophidius Parables
(see p. 163) the first time you try to use it each
Cost: Unique
adventure.
Sorcerous
Location: Off Hand
This slim volume is a scroll written on shimmering,
nearly indestructible snakeskin. The writing in the
Ophidius Parables seems to coil and squirm when read.
The scroll recounts a pre-human legend of sacrifices
made to a primeval serpent-god, including methods
 142 Swords of the Serpentine

for summoning it (something the book advises you not externalizing the bonus Corruption, and then using
do unless you have an abundance of sacrifices handy to a human sacrifice to channel the Corruption into the
appease it). flesh-tangle, will animate it and give it terrible purpose.
The scroll grants you 1 bonus Corruption point, The fleshtangle thus created gains (usually) 1 Health
usable only with the bonus Sorcerous Sphere of Serpents. per corpse used. See p. 333 for details.
It seems to have a predilection for conjuring snakes in The notebook doesn’t communicate directly, but its
the stomachs of enemies, snakes that then damage foes owner will experience terrible epiphanies and insights
as they crawl up their esophagus and out their mouths. that actually come from the grimoire. When first opened
It cannot communicate but has a tendency to wrap each adventure, Zelgrieb’s Notebook attempts to
itself around your arm, much like a coiling snake. possess you with a Difficulty 10 Maneuver; take 8 points
When first opened each adventure, the Ophidius of Morale damage or become temporarily possessed. If
Parables attempts to possess you with a Difficulty 6 possessed you will be obsessed with gathering corpses
Maneuver; take 4 points of Morale damage or become from whatever source you can find and leaving them
temporarily possessed. If you are possessed, you will near the notebook (or leaving them in a heap for
attempt to summon the primeval serpent-god and beg later exposure to the notebook). This overwhelming
it to devour you. Make a Difficulty 6 Morale test to urge lasts for the length of the adventure, or until the
throw off the possession every time you take Health notebook has possessed someone else. While possessed
damage. you gain temporary Grit of 1 to 6, in proportion to the
strength of the urge.
Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection is fickle, and
Grimoire: Zelgrieb’s Notebook of seldom stays with a single individual for more than one
Dissection adventure.

Cost: Unique
Sorcerous Miscellaneous
Location: Off Hand
This slim, leather-covered book contains far more Plenty of Sorcerous items aren’t easily categorized.
Gear

sketched illustrations and diagrams than words. In These are usually unique, with only one existing at a
fact, at first glance it appears that there are no words time unless a Hero makes their own. This list is for the
at all; but further examination shows text hidden in sake of example and is far from exhaustive.
the illustrations of flayed corpses, anatomical drawings,
and ritual circles. The book is a meditation on death, Beggar’s Rags
corpses, afterlife, and how Corruption seems to have a
predilection for entering and animating dead flesh. Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
The notebook has one truly useful function: Sorcerous
studying the text can teach you how to eradicate even Location: Body
the most powerful and ancient patches of externalized
These filthy and shredded clothes were once taken
Corruption, causing them to vanish through simple
from a beggar’s corpse as an object lesson in turning
(if horrific) human sacrifice. The notebook doesn’t
haughtiness into humility. While you wear them, any
explicitly say that Corruption is channeled into nearby
ranks of Nobility you possess are treated as if they
corpses, creating unusually powerful undead, but that
were ranks of Servility instead. At the GM’s discretion,
can be reasonably assumed.
getting recognized while wearing these may affect what
This grimoire is unspeakably powerful and grants
people think of you (positively if noticed by commoners,
you 3 bonus Corruption points that target Health,
negatively if recognized by nobles or Mercanti.)
usable only with the bonus Sorcerous Spheres of Death,
Regardless of your actual Lifestyle this adventure,
Decay, and Flesh. Over several weeks, dead flesh placed
people treat you as if you have Low Repute 2.
near the notebook slowly merges into one horrific flesh-
Deliberately washing Beggar’s Rags with soap
tangle of merged skin, hair and bone. Spending and
destroys their magic.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 143

Earring of Truth Designer Notes: Create Sorcerous

Cost: unique (cannot be purchased) Items That Delight You
Sorcerous
Location: Head The Ring of Terrible Distraction is both potty
humor and a really good way to distract a
This emerald earring was commissioned by Patrizia
Supporting Character. It also makes one of your
Ridolfi to avert her appalling luck at cards. In the
authors happy because it’s a callback to 1981
presence of falsehood, it emits a faint chime audible only
when a friend advised, “You need to come join
to the wearer. While the intent was to allow Patrizia
the after-school gaming club. The teacher who
to read her rivals’ bluffs at the card table, subsequent
runs it has a ring that causes diarrhea!” I never
owners have discovered it to respond to any lie.
did find out what he was talking about, but that
The wearer enjoys the benefit of one rank of Liar’s
club started a life-long love affair with gaming
Tell; they are, however, compelled to participate in any
and sword & sorcery, so the ring shows up in
wager offered in their presence.
every campaign I run.
Embrace your inspirations. If the tone of
your game allows, create sorcerous items that are
Fiella’s Ring inspired by iconic weapons from your favorite
of Terrible pulp novels and movies, and magical artifacts
Distraction filled with mystery that echo what you see in
your imagination. Your players will have nearly as
Cost: unique (cannot be much fun with them as you do.
purchased)
Sorcerous
Location: Primary or Off
Hand The Head of Goffredo Zetticci
This silver ring has been used to cause guards

Gear
Cost: unique (cannot be purchased; illegal)
to abandon their duty post, and to terribly embarrass
Sorcerous
nobles about to fight a duel. The ring is engraved with
Location: Off Hand
images of various swamp plants; anyone with 1 or more
ranks of Wilderness Mastery will notice that each plant Goffredo Zetticci was a notorious sorcerer who
is used in folk medicine as an emetic or a laxative. As operated in Eversink over two hundred years ago until
an action, the wearer may use the ring to undetectably Inquisitors caught and executed him. His skull was
trigger a Difficulty 5 Health test in one person per removed from the crow’s cage after his
adventure. Spending a Wilderness Mastery point allows body rotted and was promptly stolen
a simultaneous second target. If the targets fail their by his apprentice. Zetticci now
Health test they start to feel their guts roiling, as if from remains as a spirit inhabiting
food poisoning, and will immediately abandon their his elaborately carved skull.
current location in favor of finding a toilet. The GM For a sorcerer in
may assign the target penalties to other actions (such as possession of the skull,
resisting Persuade tests) due to the distraction caused Zetticci can act as an
by such urgency. advisor and mentor (though
he’s inclined to sulk if his
advice is ignored). For a
1-point Charm, Command or
Intimidation spend, the skull
will permit access to the Curses
or Disease Spheres for the rest of
the adventure, targeting Health.
 144 Swords of the Serpentine

Zetticci also has a Sorcery pool of 8 he can lend to

his possessor. For every point of Zetticci’s Sorcery pool Oracular Knife
borrowed, the sorcerer loses 1 point from their Morale Cost: Wealth 5 (illegal
pool. Nothing can stop or reduce this loss, although in Eversink)
it can be healed like any other Morale loss. Zetticci’s Sorcerous
Sorcery pool can be recharged with Refresh tokens, as Location: Primary hand
normal.
Note that mere possession of the skull is illegal and is This knife is ancient, made of razor-
considered sufficient evidence of guilt for any Inquisitor sharp but jagged obsidian (Damage
to convict. Modifier +1). Its hilt is little more than
an old leather thong wrapped around the
bottom of the obsidian shard. When this knife
Nolio’s Coin is used to kill a living creature, its intestines can be
used by the wielder to prophesy the near future. The
Cost: unique (cannot be purchased) clarity and usefulness of the prophecy depends on the
Sorcerous victim: a large animal (ram, hog or larger) is treated as
Location: Body or Off Hand Prophecy 1, an unconscious human as Prophecy 2, and
Usually referred to in stories as “the luckiest man in the a conscious human as Prophecy 3.
‘Sink,” Nolio the Bold is a legendary local folk hero who An oracular knife can be used at most once per
is one part trickster, one part fool, one part Commoner, adventure. Once a wielder receives a prophecy of their
and many parts a way to tell stories that tweak the nose own death, the knife stops functioning for several
of the rich and powerful. In his stories he inevitably months if that death does not come to pass as predicted.
gets into conundrums where he is far out of his depth,
but his natural wit and supernatural luck save him every
time, usually with hilarious consequences. Potion of Fluidity
A magical coin circulates its way around the city that Cost: Wealth 2
embodies the best of the Nolio tales. It’s large for a Sorcerous
Gear

coin, gold and heavy, supposedly a coin stolen from the

hoard of Denari Herself. One side of the coin shows a Drinking this potion briefly turns you into sentient
swan, the other side shows Nolio in profile, although water, handy for getting under doors but definitely
the face that he’s making usually changes over time. a shock to your system. Gain the Adversary Special
Invoking the coin creates incredible (and often Ability Fluidity for up to 5 rounds. When you revert
embarrassing) luck for a scene, as if having spent 2 pool back to your normal state, make a Health 5 test or drop
points of Ridiculous Luck — but only if the invoker Unconscious.
acts in a trusting and foolhardy manner. You could leap
blindly through a tower window and be lucky enough
to land safely in a cart of night soil, but try to carefully Reputation Charm
climb out the window and the coin is unlikely to Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
function. In combat, it isn’t uncommon to see owners Sorcerous
of Nolio’s coin fighting blindfold. If you trust the coin, Location: Head
the coin repays your trust.
To recharge the coin, freely donate Wealth 3 to A small and unassuming pendant causes you to be viewed
‘Sinkish commoners, usually in the form of food and as far more important than you actually are. Anyone
housing. who looks at you knows, without doubt or conscious
thought, that you’re one of the most important people
in Eversink. They will treat you accordingly, usually
with servile deference. If your Allegiances are obvious,
it will be assumed that you’re one of the leaders of that
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 145

faction; if they aren’t, most people will assume you’re a

member of the Triskadane. Runes
Barring unusual circumstances, this pendant can be
used for one day only once activated, from the time of Runes are small, ancient stones with a sigil carved into
activation to the next midnight, before vanishing and them. You must grasp the rune tightly in one hand for
appearing somewhere else within the city. There is no its magic to take effect. When you do, the rune appears
known way to stop it from vanishing. within your thoughts, and you can draw on that rune
to improve or influence a Sway attack. In this regard
runes are comparable to how
Tabriel’s Favor a magical weapon affects
physical combat.
Cost: As a gift, or Thieves’ Guilds Allegiance spend 3
Runestones predate
Sorcerous
humanity and are considered
Location: Body
corrupting by the Church. They
The Harbor Knives is a Thieves’ Guild. Their are extremely rare but can sometimes
Guildmistress Tabriel definitely plays favorites, and be purchased if you know the right
it’s said that her patience is short even at the best of people.
times. She has several pairs of boots that she gifts to her Runes work five times before
best-earning thieves, or to those with whom she wishes losing their magical effect for several
to curry favor. The boots vanish when Tabriel’s favor years. Their use leaves a slowly fading
shifts, usually stranding you in danger somewhere in an sorcerous brand on the victim that
unfamiliar part of the city. The boots blend in perfectly can be seen by those with ranks of
with whatever else you wear, appearing beautifully Corruption or Spirit Sight.
polished or filthy and scuffed as appropriate. When
not being worn they appear to be made from dark and
supple leather with stitchwork too fine for the eye to Rune of Belief
see.
Activate the boots by spending a pool point of Allies: Cost: Wealth 5

Gear
Thieves’ Guilds or Favors: Thieves’ Guilds. For the rest Sorcerous
of the scene, the boots allow you and your companions Location: Off-hand
to move across Eversink in less than half the time it This ancient rune is shaped like a humanoid snake and
usually takes. While you don’t seem to teleport, city makes your words particularly sinuous and believable.
landmarks flow oddly around you: a door to a hall may Once per scene after triggering the rune with a successful
lead to a rooftop instead, and a trapdoor in the roof Sway attack, you can tell a lie to the person you just
then leads to the sewers. If you keep your destination in successfully attacked. No matter how outrageous the
mind, you’ll end up there quickly. These won’t let you lie, your target will firmly believe that you believe the lie
walk to an end destination you haven’t seen, but they’ll to be true — and they may believe it as well, depending
usually get you close. on the circumstances. Other people within earshot are
under no compunction to believe the lie, but they will
be unable to convince your target that you’re lying.
Your target will tend to obsess over your lie. Over
the course of several days it will gradually consume them
as they dream of it and go over and over it. They will
take 2 Morale damage per day; if this loss drives them
below 0, they may break and come to you begging to
be shown that what you said was true. Either way, the
certainty (and any obsession) ends at the end of your
adventure.
 146 Swords of the Serpentine

your target is primed to utterly humiliate themselves

Rune of Fury in public during either this or the following scene.
Cost: Wealth 5 They ignore proper social conventions, act rudely, and
Sorcerous engage in spectacular forms of self-sabotage. As the
Location: Off-hand effect of the rune fades, they will have no memory of
the conversation that triggered their social downfall.
Shaped like a spiraling fire, this rune incites anger and
jealousy in others. Once per scene after triggering the
rune with a successful Sway attack, you can make your Sorcerous Protection
target utterly furious at a third party. You can incite
murderous envy, extreme jealousy, or incandescent
Protection items help keep you safe. These include
anger — often enough to incite someone to murder.
magical armor, shields, and sorcerous wards.
Your target will remember your conversation but will
typically be too busy obsessing about the third party to
think it unusual.
Amulet of Spiraling Agony
As soon as your target spills the third party’s blood
or takes other hostile actions against them (including Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
compromising them socially), the effect of the rune Sorcerous
quickly fades, typically leaving them filled with remorse. Location: Head or Body
This ancient snake-shaped amulet is a remedy against
Sorcery; when you take damage from Sorcery, the caster
Rune of Generosity
of the spell immediately loses 1 Health and 1 Morale as
Cost: Wealth 5 the magic recoils. Armor and Grit does not prevent this.
Sorcerous It’s meant as encouragement for the sorcerer to leave
Location: Off-hand you alone and go attack someone else, and sorcerers
tend to destroy every single one they find.
Shaped like a coin, this rune causes exceptional
generosity. Once per scene after triggering the rune
Gear

with a successful Sway attack, your target decides that

their wealth is best off with people who need it more
Endless Prayer
than they do, and they’ll offer a portion of their wealth Cost: unique (must be freely given)
(up to Wealth 5) to those who they think need it the Sorcerous
most. Whether or not this is you depends on how
convincing you are. Once they come to their senses There are many ancient, primal prayers to Denari that
in following scenes, they will remember their rush of only one person can recite at a time — but reciting
unexpected philanthropy and may seek to regain their each prayer is obsessively all-consuming and constant,
wealth by any means possible. distracting you while awake and filling even your
dreams. You seem distant and emotionally detached.
While an endless prayer echoes in your head, gain Grit
Rune of Humiliation 2. If you permanently give the prayer away to a priest
or official in the Church of Denari, gain Favor: Church
Cost: Wealth 5 of Denari 1.
Sorcerous The prayer may change hosts once per scene,
Location: Off-hand usually because the previous host wants to think about
Shaped like a twisting circle, this rune triggers something else for a change. No one knows what
humiliating social faux pas in your target. Once per scene happens to Denari if someone dies while reciting the
after triggering the rune with a successful Sway attack, prayer.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 147

Saint Velendo’s Reliquary Sorcerous Weapons

Cost: Wealth 7 (more commonly found for free by those
If it’s used to hurt someone with the Warfare ability, it
who need them most)
counts as a weapon.
Sorcerous
Location: Any location (your choice)
Whether it’s a tooth, a fingerbone, or a small lock of Anchor Knife
hair, the fragmented remains of Saint Velendo’s corpse
are considered a sovereign remedy against disease. If Cost: Wealth 5
you carry one while making a Health or Morale test to Sorcerous
resist a disease, gain a +6 bonus on the first such test. Location: Primary Hand
The second Health or Morale test you make against a An anchor knife is used to briefly stop a moving object
disease is at +4, the third is at +2, and then the reliquary in its tracks, whether it’s a person, a ship, a wagon, or
disappears to be found by someone else. You are left a gondola. To do so, use Warfare to successfully attack
with a golden coin worth Wealth 3. the target and roll damage normally (Damage Modifier
If you own a Reliquary for three adventures and it +0). Leave the knife in the wound. Every round that
is never used, don’t be surprised if it disappears and is you stay within Close range and pay 1 point from your
replaced by a golden coin worth Wealth 5. Sorcery pool, the target cannot move from their current
location. A person can talk, attack, scream, and flail,
but they can’t easily leave their current spot and they
Warding Charm can’t remove the knife from their wound until you fail
to pay a point of Sorcery. Extreme effort (a Difficulty
Cost: Wealth 2
8 Athletics test) will allow someone to move for one
Sorcerous
round.
Location: Any location (your choice)
If used on a moving vessel or vehicle, the craft will
Instantly invoke a Warding Charm to take half damage stop abruptly but the people and goods on it may not.
from any one Health or Morale attack, decided after

Gear
Depending on speed, a GM may ask for Athletics tests
you learn what the normal damage would be. The from people on board to keep their feet.
Warding Charm is destroyed once used, and you may An anchor knife doesn’t suspend people or objects
only trigger one Warding Charm per adventure. in mid-air. If used on something falling (which
usually requires you to fall as well), it
will continue to fall and then be unable
to move from its landing spot as long as
you’re in Close range and paying the cost
each round. If this is underwater, the results
can be unfortunate.

Chantry (Heavy Mace)

Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
Sorcerous
Location: Primary Hand
This ancient weapon is useful
for inquisitors and those who
must confront spirits. Through
sheer force of will, the heavy mace
(Damage Modifier +2) allows the
 148 Swords of the Serpentine

wielder to spend points of Social Investigative pools Hunger (Greataxe)

(Command, Intimidation, and the like) and treat
them as if they were spent points of Spirit Sight Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
instead. In this way, insubstantial spirits can briefly Sorcerous
be forced into physical form and Corruption scars Location: Primary and Off-Hand
can be healed. The haft and blade of this axe (Damage Modifier +2)
are inscribed with miniature scenes depicting the foes it
Eel Blade (Saber) has vanquished, but it always hungers for more. After a
successful Warfare attack roll, the wielder can unleash
Cost: unique (cannot be purchased) its power to add +6 to the result, which can improve
Sorcerous a Critical Hit by +1 die or add an additional two
Location: Primary Hand Cleave targets. Once this power has been discharged,
This blade crackles with electricity and has a it is unavailable until recharged by spending 8 Refresh
hilt shaped like a coiling eel, with Damage tokens.
Modifier +1. If you use a Maneuver to Daze When Hunger defeats an enemy worth 5 or more
a foe, the Maneuver’s Difficulty to resist is Refresh tokens, a scene illustrating the new
raised by +2. If you have one foe Dazed and victory joins the others.
attempt to Daze a different foe, the first foe
regains their senses.
Lament (Sword)
Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
Sorcerous
Location: Primary hand
When it slashes into a foe, this ancient
longsword (Damage Modifier +1)
emits the sounds of lament and sorrow
Gear

the target’s loved ones will make once

they learn the target is dead. In addition to
The Falcon’s Eye (Crossbow) inflicting normal Warfare damage to Health,
the target must make a Difficulty 4/Loss 4
Cost: Wealth 2 Morale test when hit. If the GM determines
Sorcerous that no one will mourn the target once they
Location: Primary and Off-Hand are dead, no Morale test is needed.
This crossbow (Damage Modifier +2) is exceptionally
stable, aided during precision shooting by the faintest
amount of sorcery. The Critical Hit step is reduced Leech (Short Sword)
from every 5 points above the Health Threshold
to every 4. It’s illegal for anyone to own one Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
who isn’t a member of the Black Swans Sorcerous
(the Triskadane’s secret police), or Location: Primary hand
who doesn’t have a special This short sword (Damage Modifier +0) is vaguely
permit. sentient and always hungry. On a successful hit, the
wielder instinctively knows that they can sacrifice
their own Health to do more damage. If they
decline, nothing happens. If they agree, they may
choose any amount of their own Health to sacrifice
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 149

to the sword: it then drinks an equal amount of Health You roll a 2-die Critical Hit from a
from the foe being stabbed. very high attack roll (you spent more than 6
Once Leech has drunk 10 points of Health total Warfare when attacking, so the minimum
during a day, it becomes even hungrier and the wielder damage on your first damage die is 6), and
no longer has the option to decline sacrificing at least you also have +1 die from a teamwork attack.
one point of their own Health per hit.
Your damage is 3 dice +6 +2. You roll 5, 3,
1 — you deal 26 damage, and take 9 points
Lifedrinker (Mace) of Morale damage.

Cost: unique (cannot be purchased) If your Morale hits zero, you continue to fight but you
Sorcerous no longer get to select your targets rationally, and you
Location: Primary hand won’t stop until you’re put down or everyone else in
Every time you slay a foe with this mace (Damage sight is.
Modifier +1), heal one point of Health. The corpses If you wish to leave your berserk state early, you
you leave behind appear twisted and withered, and may do so by succeeding at a Difficulty 6 Morale test
continue to groan or scream for the rest of the scene (at least until you’re damaged again and
despite being dead. once more need to resist berserking).

Slaughterer’s Sword (Greatsword) GM Advice:

Cost: Wealth 5 (illegal in Eversink) Slaughterer’s Sword
Sorcerous
Location: Primary and Off-Hand Be cautious about putting this in the
hands of a powerful Adversary, especially
When the City Watch hears about hideous mass
those with the ability to increase their
murder, they always fear that someone with a cursed
weapon damage through Special Abilities
slaughterer’s sword (Damage Modifier +2) is to blame.

Gear
or Investigative spends. It has the potential
There’s a demonic rage spirit captured within the blade,
to defeat most Heroes in one or two shots if
and it glories in the actions of weak-willed humans.
they get too close, and that’s not necessarily
Even if left behind or locked away, it will somehow
a desirable tactic for a fun fight.
follow its chosen wielder, appearing conveniently
nearby when a fight breaks out.
This greatsword forces you to go berserk for
the remainder of the fight if you fail a Difficulty 4
Morale test any time you are injured. You may Swordbreaker (Rapier)
also go berserk voluntarily.
While berserk, roll damage for your Warfare Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
attacks as normal. Now deal damage as Sorcerous
though every die were a 6, and take the Location: Primary Hand
difference as Morale damage. Nothing This thin sword (Damage Modifier +1) is supple
can stop or reduce this loss, although it and flexible. It is engraved with one prayer to Denari
can be healed normally. etched over and over again in tiny, precise letters:
Your normal damage is 1 die “Taxes and faith are stronger than steel.” Holding the
+2. You roll a 4 on the die. You sword makes you easier to strike in combat, lowering
deal 8 damage (6 + 2), but your Health Threshold by 1.
take 2 points of Morale Holding Swordbreaker grants you mystical sight,
showing your enemies limned in golden light except for
damage (8 – 6).
 150 Swords of the Serpentine

the portions of their anatomy that are weakest and most

vulnerable. You gain a partial benefit of Spot Frailty 3, Staves
allowing you to ignore 3 points of a foe’s Armor when
attacking. You do not gain this benefit against your Sorcerously imbued staves contain no reservoir of
foe’s Grit. Corruption but add specific Sorcerous Spheres to
These pool points of Spot Frailty cannot be spent your repertoire. These Spheres target either Health
for the normal benefit, but you can spend all 3 pool or Morale; you can use that Sphere regardless of what
points at once to instantly shatter a foe’s magical or your own Sorcery targets. Staves can only be used by
mundane weapon when that foe successfully strikes someone with one or more ranks of Corruption. More
you. Damage from their attack is applied to them as powerful staves contain two Sorcerous Spheres instead
well, and they’re left holding only the broken shards of of one and have a Damage Modifier of +2 instead of +1.
their weapon. Swordbreaker is equally effective against There are a huge number of possible staves, as their
natural weapons such as claws or teeth; shattering such themes are only limited by imagination. Several sample
a natural weapon triggers a Difficulty 6 Morale test or staves follow.
the attacker retreats.
Unlike your own Investigative abilities,
Swordbreaker’s Spot Frailty pool points refresh at a rate Staff: Demogogue
of one per scene.
Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
In rare cases an attacker’s weapon is not permanently
Sorcerous
destroyed by Swordbreaker, usually because it’s an
Location: Off-hand
important plot hook or because the attacker is loaded
down with ridiculous luck. Even then, the affected Demogogue appears as an attractive, highly polished
weapon needs repair and likely remains useless for the ebony cane. It grants access to the Worship Sphere
rest of the adventure. which targets Morale. It’s usually found in the hands of
someone who appears tremendously popular, and who
is surrounded by slavishly devoted toadies.
Thirst (Knife)
Gear

Cost: unique (cannot be purchased) Staff: The Shambling Staff

Sorcerous
Location: Primary or Off-Hand Cost: unique (cannot be purchased)
Sorcerous
This wicked stiletto (Damage Modifier +0) appears to
Location: Off-hand
be fashioned from transparent crystal. For a short time
after it takes a life, however, the blade is blood-red, no This staff is constructed of fused bones, with a small
matter how carefully it is cleaned. skull atop it that could easily be human. Holding the
If Thirst drops a foe as the result of a Critical Hit, Shambling Staff grants you access to the Necromancy
the usual Refresh token reward is tripled. If Thirst is and Flesh Sorcerous Spheres, both of which target
left unsated for too long, the wielder will gradually Health. The Damage Modifier is +2. Be warned; if the
become more and more restless and distracted. A Shambling Staff is found unattended, it’s usually in a
longing to hunt and feed starts to intrude on their graveyard or mausoleum, and it surrounds itself with
dreams and eventually their waking thoughts. unquiet dead.
Chapter Six: Gear, Both Sorcerous and Mundane 151

Staff: Stormtoss’d Token of Broken Rules

Cost: unique (cannot be Cost: Wealth 2
purchased) Sorcerous
Sorcerous Location: Any
Location: Off-hand A Token of Broken Rules makes it easier to convince
Stormtoss’d appears as an old, someone to do something reasonable that they
long, gnarled piece of driftwood wouldn’t normally allow, such as sharing confidential
used as a walking stick. Holding documents or giving you access to a locked room.
Stormtoss’d grants you access to the If you use a Maneuver that includes a convincing
Ocean Sphere which targets Health. argument designed to change someone’s mind about
When dipped into salt water, you may a minor choice, the Maneuver’s Difficulty is raised by
transform it into a luminescent ghost +2. If someone tries to convince you to do something
ship of a size that holds between 4 and against your better judgment, the Maneuver’s Difficulty
20 people, or larger if the GM allows. is reduced by –2.

Tokens Token of the Constricting Serpent

Cost: Wealth 2
Tokens are lucky charms that affect or
Sorcerous
influence Maneuvers. Tokens usually have
Location: Any
a physical manifestation, such as a lucky
seagull’s foot that’s been mummified and A Token of the Constricting Serpent makes it easier to
spangled with small beads, but not always; prevent a foe from moving. If you use a Maneuver that
it’s quite possible for a Token that affects restrains someone physically or mentally, the Maneuver’s
Morale-based Maneuvers to simply be Difficulty is raised by +2. If someone tries to restrain you,
something that a Hero can do, without the Maneuver’s Difficulty is reduced by –2.

Gear
needing a physical manifestation of the
ability. In these cases, such a Token is
usually the temporary gift of a small Token of Grease
god or some other power.
Unless of unusual power, Tokens Cost: Wealth 2
can be used once per scene and stop Sorcerous
working for a few years after being used Location: Any
five times. Particularly weak Tokens only A Token of Grease makes it easier to trip someone or
work three times or fewer. shove them from place to place. If you use a Maneuver
that moves someone or knocks them off their feet,
the Maneuver’s Difficulty is raised by +2. If someone
Token of Blackjacks tries to trip or shove you, the Maneuver’s Difficulty is
Cost: Wealth 2 reduced by –2.
Sorcerous
Location: Any
A Token of Blackjacks makes it easier to Daze someone
with a blow to the head or with shocking or terrifying
news. If you use a Maneuver to Daze a foe, the
Maneuver’s Difficulty is raised by +2. If someone tries
to Daze you, the Maneuver’s Difficulty is reduced by –2.
 152 Swords of the Serpentine

Token of Misdirection Token of Spiraling Darkness

Cost: Wealth 2 Cost: Wealth 2
Sorcerous Sorcerous
Location: Any Location: Any
A Token of Misdirection makes it easier to trick A Token of Spiraling Darkness makes it easier to
someone, whether with a sorcerous illusion or a well- temporarily blind an enemy. If you use a Maneuver that
crafted lie. If you use a Maneuver that tries to fool prevents a foe from perceiving their surroundings, the
someone, the Maneuver’s Difficulty is raised by +2. Maneuver’s Difficulty is raised by +2. If someone tries
If someone tries to use a Maneuver to trick you, the to blind you, the Maneuver’s Difficulty is reduced by –2.
Maneuver’s Difficulty is reduced by –2.

Token of the Scampering Blade

Cost: Wealth 2
Sorcerous
Location: Any
A Token of the Scampering Blade makes it
easier to disarm a foe. If you use a Maneuver
that knocks whatever your enemy
is holding out of their hands, the
Maneuver’s Difficulty is raised by +2;
make a Difficulty 4 Athletics test to then
catch it in your spare hand. If someone tries
to disarm you, the Maneuver’s Difficulty is
reduced by –2.
Gear
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 153

Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Adv e r s aries

Character Nomenclature
Different characters in the game world are referred to Companions
by different names to help you keep their capabilities
straight. A Companion is a highly specialized Supporting
Character who accompanies your Heroes on an
adventure. They may be a torchbearer, a faithful family
Heroes servant, a paid henchman, or a semi-tame bonded animal
companion. Give Companions a fun or interesting
A player character is referred to in the rules as a Hero. personality. Companions are usually only good at one
This is true even if they don’t necessarily act heroically; or two things, so you should introduce a Companion
you can easily have Heroes who are only looking out to make up for an important ability that the Heroes
for themselves. If you think about your adventures as otherwise lack. Specialties such as guiding, healing,
sword & sorcery stories, they’d be on the cover of the prophecy, protocol, wilderness survival, cooking, or
novel or collection of short stories. even fighting are all fair game for a Companion.

Supporting Characters Adversaries

Supporting Characters are people in the game world Any named non-player human character that the Heroes
who the Heroes won’t likely fight. They seldom are likely to fight is an Adversary. Most Adversaries
have combat statistics. If they are unimportant to the have combat statistics and provide Refresh tokens when
narrative, they likely have 1 Health and 1 Morale, defeated in a fight. Powerful or narratively important
can’t resist Maneuvers without being defeated, and Adversaries may have ways to (briefly) reduce the
are defeated by a single successful attack. Supporting amount of damage they suffer in a fight.
Characters don’t provide Refresh tokens when defeated
in a fight.
 154 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Mooks
Building a Companion
Mooks are Adversaries who are particularly easy to
defeat. Narratively unimportant and intended as
Bonded animal and human Companions are
cannon fodder in a big fight, Mooks have 1 Health and
staples of sword & sorcery novels. Whether
1 Morale. They can’t resist Maneuvers without being
they’re only around for a single adventure or
defeated, and in combat they are defeated after being
they have a recurring role, Companions use
hit with a single successful attack unless their Armor
their limited and specialized abilities in the best
or Grit protects them. What defines a Mook isn’t their
interest of the Heroes until they’re betrayed,
strength or hardiness (or the lack thereof), but rather
treated badly, or there’s a very good reason for
their importance to the plot. If they’d be played by an
them not to stay loyal.
extra in the movie of your game, and they don’t have a
Companions don’t have full character
name, they’re probably a Mook.
sheets like a normal Hero; that’s more record-
While they may not matter narratively, Mooks aren’t
keeping than anyone needs. Instead, construct
necessarily a pushover in combat. Sure, they go down
a Companion with a normal stat block like an
in a single hit, but they can be quite lethal before that
Adversary (see p. 155) giving them enough
happens. Heroes shouldn’t ever take them for granted
Health and Morale to survive a fight, a fixed attack
in a fight, and it’s usually good tactical sense in a
bonus (often +0 or +1), 10-15 points of Malus,
confrontation to take out as many Mooks as possible as
and specific Special Abilities as appropriate.
quickly as possible.
Companions may also get up to 3 Investigative
ranks in the abilities they specialize in. If they
choose, they can spend these pool points to assist GM Advice:
Heroes.
Making Mooks Matter
A Hero can often turn a Supporting Character
into a Companion for one or more adventures by
Every once in a while you want your adventure’s
spending a point of High Repute or an appropriate
final confrontation to have the feel of an epic
Social Investigative point. A Hero can sometimes
screen battle where the heroes defeat all the
turn a hostile animal into a Companion for
minions before coming for the primary villain.
Adversaries

one or more adventures by spending points of

The original Conan movie comes to mind, as
Wilderness Mastery.
does the House of Blue Leaves scene in Kill Bill
Vol. 1. If you ever want to achieve this in your
own game, just tell the players that the villain
only takes half damage until all the Mooks are
Monstrosities defeated. Trust us, they’ll prioritize their attacks
accordingly.
A monstrosity is a non-human Adversary. Most foes in
If you do this, just don’t make it a surprise for
Swords of the Serpentine are human, but monstrosities
the players. They’ll have much more fun if they
exist in the undercity, the swamps, and the outer
can plan tactically.
world at large. Monstrosities have unique abilities you
generally won’t see in a human foe and may be uniquely
horrific or challenging to defeat. While they’re known
to exist, most ‘Sinkish citizens live their entire lives only
seeing a few monstrosities – and even then, usually
stuffed and displayed in a sideshow or museum.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 155

Adversaries
Template for 1 Health might be very fast and thus have a Health
Threshold of 4, 5 or 6; a relentless swamp giant with
Building Adversaries high Morale might be very superstitious or gullible,
with a Morale Threshold of only 3.
Every non-player character, whether bystander, Mook,
monstrosity, or Adversary, uses the same basic stat
block. Categories that aren’t needed are omitted from
Adversary Survivability and
the stat block. Effectiveness
Use the guidelines below to adjust the length and
Name danger of a battle. As the GM, you should alter and
tweak Adversary stats as you see fit; they are benchmarks
Roleplaying adjectives and guidelines, not hard-and-fast absolutes. You have
Defense – Health: Health Threshold, Armor, Health four main methods of adjusting an Adversary: their
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold, Grit, Morale survivability (by changing their defenses), their combat
Offense – Warfare: +X; Damage Modifier +Y effectiveness (by changing their likelihood of hitting
Offense – Sorcery: +X; Damage Modifier +Y and doing extra damage), their unique abilities (by
Offense – Sway: +X; Damage Modifier +Y adding to or removing their special abilities), and the
Abilities: Investigative abilities (if any); General combat balance (by determining how many and what
abilities; Malus kind of foes threaten your Heroes).
Special Abilities: special ability (cost, if any)
Misc: Alertness Modifier if not 0, Stealth Modifier if Combat Survivability
not 0; any unique advice needed to run the creature Unlike Heroes, all foes are defeated when their Health
Refresh Tokens: 1, 3, 5 or 7 or Morale reaches 0 — it’s just simpler to keep track of.
Description: Who they are and what they look like Narratively important foes who are losing a fight often
Variations: Very similar variants that don’t need their try to escape if they believe they’ll be defeated.

Adversaries
own stat block � Easy foe (mook): Health 1 and Morale 1; usually
no Armor or Grit.
� Moderate foe (named adversary): Health and
Adversary Health Morale up to 12; Armor and Grit up to 2.
and Morale Thresholds � Hard foe: Health and Morale 12 or higher, or (for
fights that last multiple rounds) can be calculated
For most Adversaries, Health and Morale Thresholds at 10 per hero; Armor and Grit 2 or higher, may
are calculated the same way they are for Heroes: 10 or possess the special abilities Warded (Malus cost 6)
more ranks of Health or Morale gives a Threshold of 4 and/or Defense Boost (cost 6).
instead of 3. � Deadly foe: Health and Morale calculated at 15
You are always encouraged to tweak and customize to 30 or more per Hero; Armor or Grit may be
an Adversary’s game statistics if an Adversary is more or 3 or higher (usually not both); likely possesses the
less vulnerable than their Health or Morale ranks might special abilities Warded (Malus cost 6) and/or
suggest, or to make a fight more fun, interesting, or Defense Boost (cost 6).
challenging. An easy-to-kill insect monster with only
 156 Swords of the Serpentine

Combat Effectiveness � Hard foe: Use any of the foe’s Special Abilities,
If you find that fights initially seem easier than they and look up the less common ones before the fight.
should be, be sure that you’re using Malus to trigger Remove or add Special Abilities to match the foe’s
crits, Maneuvers, and special abilities when it’s fun or personality.
exciting to do so. This can make a large difference in � Deadly foe: Feature the most impressive Special
the amount of threat the Heroes perceive. Abilities early in the combat, leading with
Adversaries

� Easy foe: Set attack bonuses to -1, 0, or +1; never memorable strategies that might scare the Heroes
add any Malus to attack rolls. (and which will remind them that they might want
� Moderate foe: Set attack bonuses to +1 or +2; add to use defensive tactics to stay alive and triumph).
up to +1 Malus on important attack rolls, or more Look up Special Abilities before the fight and
on Maneuvers. customize them as needed to make this enemy feel
� Hard foe: Set attack bonuses to +2; add up to +2 unique.
Malus on attack rolls (makes a hit very likely, makes
a critical hit possible), or more on Maneuvers. Combat Balance
� Deadly foe: Set attack bonuses to +3; add up to +4 � A small number of Mooks will likely fall to a single
Malus on attack rolls (makes a hit certain, makes a hero’s attack.
critical hit very likely), or more on Maneuvers. � A crowd of Mooks (3 or more per Hero) will be
diminished quickly if the Heroes have initiative, but
Unique Abilities might inflict surprising amounts of damage if the
� Easy foe: Remove all but the most basic of Special Mooks go first in the fight.
Abilities, with enough Malus to trigger it once. � Waves of Mooks (2 to 4 per Hero, per wave)
� Moderate foe: Use any of the foe’s Special Abilities provide a satisfying multi-round fight, but can get
whose effect you can remember without looking it out of hand quickly if the Mooks are Moderately
up. Effective or better in combat.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 157

� Several foes with Moderate to Hard Survivability, Your job as GM is to make the game fun and
accompanied by several waves of Mooks, provides a challenging, so you may vary these numbers mid-fight
very satisfying fight. if you wish. Always let Heroes be defeated by bad luck
� A single massive foe, with no Mooks to distract the or bad tactics, but if you significantly under- or over-
heroes, needs Deadly Survivability to last more than estimated how difficult a monster would be to fight,
a round or two of combat. Create single massive make that correction on the fly to make the game more
foes with the ability to attack more than one Hero fun for everyone. You also have control of deciding
per round. when in a fight a villain triggers the Defense Boost or
Warded special abilities, which may buy your Adversary
an additional round or two for trying to escape.
Scaling Health and Morale Finally, don’t panic if you made your Adversary too
for Climactic Battles strong and the Heroes are defeated. Defeat doesn’t
usually mean death in this game, but rather capture,
and that just gives the Heroes a later opportunity for a
The final fight of an adventure tends to have very high
heroic escape.
damage output from Heroes because there’s no reason
for them not to spend their remaining Investigative
points as bonus damage with each successful hit. Adversary Armor and Grit
That’s a good thing; it helps the players feel heroic and Armor and Grit vary tremendously from one Adversary
effective, it encourages cinematic Maneuvers, and it to another. A knight might be incredibly well armored
steers combat towards ending an adventure with a bang and have a shield, making them hard to hit and hard to
instead of a whimper. hurt, but will drop quickly once injured because they
This can be a problem, however, when combats only have 5 Health. When you want to customize an
end too quickly or without enough threat because you opponent, increase or reduce their Armor and Grit
haven’t scaled the climactic encounter to the size of to make them an interesting and fun challenge for
your group. With Mooks, you can easily use waves of the Heroes. This also provides a satisfying victory for
them each round to continue challenging a larger group Heroes who have invested points in Spot Frailty.
of Heroes. With named Adversaries and monsters, The Armor and Grit of some Adversaries will vary
though, a six-player gaming group is going to end a depending on how players describe their attack. For
fight against a single terrifying Adversary much more instance, many undead lose their Grit when players

Adversaries
quickly and efficiently than a three-player group might. describe their Sway attacks as being a prayer, and
The solution is linking a climactic Adversary’s Health vampires lose their Armor and Grit when confronted by
and Morale to the number of Heroes in that fight. If a bane. This technique can be fun and highly flavorful,
you want a fight to last three rounds, for instance, and allowing Heroes to bypass significant defenses, and
the average Health or Morale damage per round when Heroes with ranks in Know Monstrosities should be
Heroes pull out all the stops is 10 points per Hero, given this information whenever it might be useful.
you might set a single climactic Adversary’s Health or
Morale at 30 points per Hero. You might go higher in
either ability if the Adversary is notoriously healthy or Alertness and Stealth Modifiers
strong-willed, or lower if they’re particularly sickly or
fearful. Some Adversaries may be unusually wary or may be
This isn’t an exact equation. Defense Boost, Armor particularly adept at noticing movement, heat, faint
and Grit make an Adversary harder to defeat, as does sound, life signs, or any other appropriate sensory data.
Healing and the Warded special ability, as does the Give them a higher than usual Alertness Modifier.
breakdown of how many Heroes primarily attack Every point of bonus increases the target number that
Health or Morale (or use Teamwork); and any other a Hero must reach when being stealthy. Lowering an
targets on the battlefield siphon off attacks against the Adversary’s Alertness Modifier makes it easier for a
primary foe, usually allowing it to survive for longer. Hero to be stealthy.
 158 Swords of the Serpentine

Similarly, Adversaries may have Stealth Modifiers Attacks and Damage

higher than 0; each point of bonus raises the Difficulty
Most Adversaries have static attack bonuses, ranging
for a Hero to detect them. Lowering an Adversary’s
from -1 (for an Adversary who is truly dreadful at
Stealth Modifier, even below 0, makes them easier to
accuracy) to +3 or higher (for a very dangerous
notice.
Adversary or monstrosity who reliably hits with every
attack). Malus may be used to supplement it, with each
point spent increasing the static attack bonus by +1
Malus: The Wild Card for that attack. An Adversary with a +1 static Warfare
General Ability bonus who spends 4 points of Malus (giving them a
+5 attack bonus for that attack) rolls a minimum of 4
Malus (pronounced almost like “malice”) serves as an points on their damage die. Adversaries using Malus to
Adversary’s stand-in for any number of other Abilities. supplement their static attack bonus may score Critical
The more Malus an Adversary has, the greater and Hits, as described on p. 68, if the result is high
more flexible their capabilities are. Spend Malus when enough.
you want an Adversary to appear particularly stylish or
competent. Damage Modifiers
When running an Adversary or Supporting Adversary damage is usually listed as a Damage Modifier,
Character, you can: the amount added to or subtracted from a damage die.
� Trade Malus for any General ability (e.g. Athletics The nature of the damage, and if relevant whether the
during chase scenes) on a 1 for 1 basis attack targets Health or Morale, is also specified.
� Supplement your static attack bonus by using
Malus as Warfare, Sway or Sorcery points Fixed Damage for Mooks
� Spend Malus when you want to score a critical hit Mooks usually have a fixed damage amount instead of
� Spend 3 points of Malus to gain a temporary a Damage Modifier, such as Damage 2 (rusty knife).
Investigative pool point in an ability you consider When using fixed damage, any successful attack does
appropriate this much Health or Morale damage as appropriate,
� Use Malus to trigger Special Abilities (p. 159) with no damage roll needed. This is done to speed up
� Spend Malus to create more powerful Maneuvers combat when using Mooks and to limit the amount
of damage that weaker foes inflict. If you prefer to roll
Chases
Adversaries

a damage die instead of taking the set amount, you

GMs should determine the appropriate size of an should do so.
Adversary’s Athletics pool and convert it from Malus
before a Chase begins. That prevents an Adversary with Investigative Abilities on the Fly
a large Malus pool from always winning a Chase. It’s up An Adversary’s on-the-fly Investigative abilities are
to the GM how much Malus to convert; 10 points puts most useful for effects linked to their roleplaying
them on par with most Heroes, so adjust upwards or adjectives that describe their personality. For instance,
downwards from there depending on how fast and wily if a military officer is described as commanding, you
the Adversary is. For well-prepared Adversaries, Malus shouldn’t hesitate to spend 3 Malus for the effects of an
could also be turned into Preparedness as a Chase key Investigative Command spend. If a noble is described
ability. as gossipy, you should feel confident spending 6 Malus
for the effect of an extraordinarily adept Scurrilous
Rumors. Use these ad hoc Investigative abilities when
they’re needed, just not in combat. You can also ignore
this capability if it’s more detail than you need or want.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 159

vary tremendously by Sphere, and Sway attacks can

GM Advice: Choosing Adversary be anything from convincing whispers to hideous
Investigative Abilities supernatural fear.
It’s always easier to add an ability on the fly than it
Only very rarely should you use an Adversary’s is to have to juggle a half-dozen different capabilities
Malus to power Investigative abilities that written down in your notes. Never feel bad about adding
they’ll use in combat for extra damage, such as abilities on the fly, either; if you need your Adversary to
Tactics of Death or Corruption. That’s what fling a Hero across the street, but you forgot to write
the “Extra Damage” or “Spellcasting” special down Strength as a special ability, just describe the
abilities represent. It’s a great surprise against throw and cross off 2 Malus from the Adversary’s pool.
overconfident Heroes, but this tactic can change Don’t forget that Special Abilities can change any
a balanced encounter to one with dead Heroes foe’s tactics. A sunken room of mutated spiders may
unfairly scattered around the battlefield. When be Mooks, but they certainly have Spider Climb and
an Adversary has the expected ability to regularly Venom. A Mook guard may still be able to Summon
inflict extra damage, this is specified under their allies if she can only get to her warning gong before
Special Abilities. she’s struck down.

Adversary Special Abilities

Special abilities that aren’t constantly active usually have
either special conditions when they activate or a cost in
Malus. Special abilities that are constantly active don’t
have a Malus cost.

Choosing Special Abilities

Once you have the general shape of the Adversary in
mind, choose special abilities. Our advice?

Adversaries
When building an Adversary from scratch, simplicity
works in your favor. Resist the urge to add so many
special abilities that you can’t remember what they do.
Do not build Adversaries by starting with a point-buy
budget and selecting abilities: this list isn’t balanced in
such a way, and doing so will create an overpowered,
confusing villain.
Adversaries should be built on a theme, and should
underscore what makes that foe unusual, memorable,
or effective. Instead of going through the list below and
saying, “Oh, this looks cool, as does this, as does this…”
it’s most effective to give some thought to what your
Adversary might be capable of without any game rules
in mind. A conniving noble might use Venom and be
a Mastermind, while a murderous barbarian lord might
have Strength and move incredibly quickly in a fight.
A foul sorcerer, unsurprisingly, will have
the ability to manipulate Corruption and do
extra damage, but individual sorcerer’s spells
 160 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Choosing Designer Notes:

Adversary Special Abilities The Power of Good Allies

In the interest of good GMing, no Special Ability Scott Lynch’s novel The Lies of Locke Lamora
should ever be instantly lethal to the Heroes features the Bondsmages of Karthain, a mage’s
it affects. guild with an unbreakable promise to the world:
Teleportation is rare even in sorcerers and kill one of our wizards, and we will systematically
monstrous opponents, as it doesn’t occur destroy everything you love before we destroy
often in classic sword & sorcery stories. As you. Everyone lives in fear of crossing their
a result, it has a high cost. If you decide it members for very good reasons. It’s an excellent
should be more common, or even rarer, adjust example of how a guild of close allies can drive
the cost accordingly. future adventure.

List of Special Abilities

This list is far from comprehensive. If you think of a new, balanced, fun ability while designing an Adversary, just
assign a Malus cost (usually 3 for single-target offense, 6 for multi-target offense, or 6 for defense), and you’re ready
to go. Several abilities (such as Spellcasting or Monstrous Ability) are a catch-all for any number of other effects.
Point costs optimize offense over defense, because it’s more fun to fight an opponent that does a lot of damage than
it is to fight one that’s extremely hard to hurt.

Special Abilities
Name Malus Cost Description

The Adversary has powerful allies who they can call on for help. If the Adversary
Allies 3 is killed or seriously injured, the Allies will try to get revenge. Such Allies are
Adversaries

seldom secret from the Heroes trying to destroy the Adversary.

Armor-
3 Attacks against an enemy’s Health ignore 3 points of Armor for 1 round.
Piercing

By deciding before damage is rolled and interposing themselves, a bodyguard

3 per attack can take all Health damage inflicted on a single selected ally in Point-Blank range
Bodyguard
blocked from weapons and sorcerous attacks, as well as Maneuvers. A bodyguard can’t
block damage from Conditions such as disease or curses, or Morale damage.

2 per 1 Spend Malus to restore Morale to an ally, similar to the General ability Sway.
Bolster
Morale Usually found in servitors and lackeys whose job is to encourage the main
Morale
restored Antagonist.

This triggers automatically upon the death of a sorcerer, targeting their killer
Remainder with a Curse equivalent to the sorcerer’s remaining Malus. It cannot be used
Death Curse
of Malus at any other time. The Curse typically takes several adventures to manifest. In a
one-shot adventure, ignore this ability.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 161

Name Malus Cost Description

At any time, the adversary fights defensively for the round, raising Health and
Defense Boost 6 Morale Thresholds by +3. Health and Morale Thresholds return to normal at the
end of the round unless triggered again.

The Adversary can change their appearance to look like someone else, either
through illusion, mundane makeup or shape-shifting. Some highly talented
1 for dis-
Adversaries can accurately impersonate a particular person; doing so costs 3
guise or 3
Disguise Malus instead of 1.
for imper-
If a Hero deliberately tries to penetrate the disguise, treat it as a Stealth “Spotting
sonation
Hidden Things” test on p. 52. The Malus spend acts as a bonus to the
Adversary’s Stealth modifier when avoiding detection.

Move quickly enough to gain an extra action in one round, which may be spent
attacking. Most Adversaries can only use this once a round, and choose whether
Extra Action 3
to take both attacks at once, or (more powerfully) gain a second place in the
initiative order. The Adversary can target the same enemy more than once.

After successfully hitting, spend 3 Malus to gain a bonus die of Health or Morale
3 per die
damage, describing the action cinematically. Particularly dangerous Adversaries
Extra Damage of bonus
can spend 6 Malus for 2, or 9 Malus for 3, extra dice of damage. Most
damage
Adversaries can only use this once a round.

3 against
one foe, or In addition to your normal action, automatically inflict 3 points of Morale
Fear 6 against damage (or higher) without rolling by doing something terrifying. A single target
many, in costs 3 Malus; multiple targets costs 6.
Close range

Adversaries
As one action, perform a Sway attack at the same time as a Warfare attack. Apply
3 per
Fearsome Health and Morale damage separately, as appropriate to the attacks used. For
combined
Blow instance, this could be a large monstrosity with a particular attack that looks
attack
devastating.

Like Preparedness, the Adversary has retroactively arranged a plan. The cost for
5 per activating this includes any Malus cost for Preparedness the Adversary would
Flashback
Flashback normally have to make to put their plan in place. Feel free to describe the
Adversary’s Flashback for your players.

Using wings or sorcery, the Adversary can levitate or fly. This requiries a 3-point
0, or 3 for Malus cost if flying is an unusual activity for the Adversary. The speed of flight
Flight occasional depends on the means used. Less mobile Adversaries may only be able to levitate,
fliers hovering unerringly at any height. Constant flight, such as a bird’s, does not
require a cost in Malus.
 162 Swords of the Serpentine

Name Malus Cost Description

The Adversary is an amorphous being, such as an ooze, sentient fluid or a

swarm of tiny insects or worms. All physical wounds simply flow closed, and the
Fluid 0, or 6
Adversary has Armor 5 for attacks against Health. Attacks against Morale work
normally if the Adversary is sentient. They may move anywhere a fluid can go.

2 per 1 Similar to Bind Wounds, the Adversary can spend Malus to restore Health to an
Healing Health ally who has taken Health damage. It’s most often found in servitors whose job is
healed to keep the main Antagonist alive.

Instantly share knowledge and conversation with other members of the

hivemind. With some time and effort, outsiders can be indoctrinated into some
Hivemind 0 hiveminds. Creatures in a hivemind can perfectly coordinate their attacks on
enemies: for each extra member of the hivemind in a combat, one foe’s Health
Threshold decreases by 1.

The Adversary is able to spread disease through touch or mere interaction.

Infection 0 Anyone exposed must make a Health test (usually Difficulty 4) to avoid being
infected. (See p. 84 for some example diseases.)

Whether made of smoke or sentient thought, the Adversary is out of phase and
can only touch other insubstantial things, passing through solid objects as if they
Insubstantial 0, or 6 were not there, and taking no Health damage from material sources, including
sorcery. If the Adversary isn’t innately insubstantial, they must pay 6 Malus to
activate it.

Restores another’s Malus pool by 1 point for every point of Malus put in up to a
1 for 1 maximum of the ability’s rating, effectively transferring Malus from one creature
Invigorate
Adversaries

transfer to another. This is usually used by servants of a primary Adversary, minions who
willingly drain their own power to maintain their master’s.

Some Adversaries can amplify Stealth enough to make themselves effectively

invisible, increasing their Stealth Modifier and Health and Morale Thresholds
against targeted attacks dependant on what the Adversary is doing each round,
from +1 (e.g. covered in flour or touching a Hero) to +5 (being still and silent).
Invisibility 0, or 6
If a Hero spends 1 Vigilance, they gain a +3 Alertness Modifier for the duration
of the scene that acts against your Invisibility’s Stealth Modifier and Health or
Morale Threshold increases. If the Adversary isn’t innately invisible (as a ghost
might be), they must pay 6 Malus to activate it.

The Adversary is incredibly quick, increasing their movement (but not their
attack rate — for that, see Extra Action) to 2 range increments instead of 1 and
Lightning
3 per round still attack, or they can move 3 range increments without attacking. Their Health
Speed
and Morale Thresholds rise by +1 for the round. When used during a foot chase,
Lightning Speed adds +2 to the Adversary’s die roll on a Chase test.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 163

Name Malus Cost Description

The Adversary is only defeated when both their Health and Morale drop to 0
(or for more powerful Adversaries, -10). This is particularly common in undead,
Linger 0
which require a prayer (Morale damage) to unbind the spirit once the corpse has
been destroyed with Health damage.

If a target fails a Difficulty 5 Morale test, the Adversary convinces them that they
are confidants, making the target do anything they’d do for a trusted friend.
Magical Upon waking every day, or if the target is damaged or given self-destructive
3
Charm orders, they can try a Difficulty 4 Morale test; success frees them from the
Charm. Charmed subjects may not even realize that they are charmed until after
it wears off, although they typically suffer from terrible nightmares.

Masterminds are exceedingly rare, designating the most dangerous Adversaries.

The GM is encouraged to pull out all the rat-bastardly, sneaky, underhanded
Mastermind 0 stops when it comes to a Mastermind’s complex, subtle plans and tactics, as these
Adversaries can find out everything the GM knows. Masterminds should be used
as long-term personal nemeses, ongoing foes, or extremely memorable villains.

The Adversary can read someone’s mind against their will. If the victim fails their
Morale test, the Adversary can rifle through their recent memories and read their
Mind Reading 3
surface thoughts for the scene. The victim is usually unaware that the Adversary is
doing so.

Trigger a monstrous power of the GM’s choice, such as sprouting tentacles to

Monstrous climb walls or being able to breathe under water. Some monstrous abilities,
3
Ability like venomous claws, may be used in combat. A monstrous ability’s effect is
comparable to what a player character could achieve with an Investigative spend.

Adversaries
The Adversary has visions of the past, present, and future. Many oracles are
Oracle 3 “recruited” (because institutional kidnapping is such an ugly word) by the
Church or by Sorcerous Cabals as soon as their prophetic power reveals itself.

Persuasive 3 Attacks against an enemy’s Morale ignore 3 Grit for 1 round.

The Adversary can possess a living creature’s body. They must pay 3 Malus and
roll a successful Sorcery or Sway attack, which sets the Difficulty. The defender
must either allow the Adversary to possess them, or suffer Morale damage equal
to the Difficulty –2. The target’s Grit reduces this damage if they opt not to
Possession 3
accept being possessed. The Difficulty is raised by +1 for every time in their
heroic adventures the defender’s Morale has dropped to –10 (Broken). In cases
where possession is a strain to maintain, the Malus cost may need to be paid
every round, minute or scene to keep the possession active.
 164 Swords of the Serpentine

Name Malus Cost Description

The Adversary can regenerate, usually due to supernatural vitality. Regeneration

is a free power that doesn’t require a combat action. The GM can decide on
the type (e.g. some, half, or all), extent (Health and/or Morale damage) and
speed (e.g. immediately, at the beginning of the next round, between scenes, or
(for undead) when killing a foe) of the regeneration. Regenerating all damage
immediately makes it very hard to kill or demoralize the Adversary unless the
Regenerate 0
Heroes have the ability to inflict massive amounts of damage in one single attack.
Regenerating damage at the beginning of the next round or longer allows a
coordinated assault by the Heroes to take the Adversary down to 0 Health or
Morale before they can recover. Some Adversaries with powerful regeneration
simply can’t be killed by traditional means, and Heroes will need to find a craftier
way to destroy them.

Seize The Adversary can jump into the initiative order wherever desired, often
3
Initiative thwarting a player’s best-laid plans.

The Adversary can reshape their body into a non-humanoid form, such as a chair
or a carpet, or to form rough weapons from body parts. Shape-Shift is most
Shape-Shift 3
effective when used with Disguise, assuming the Adversary doesn’t want their
“carpet” to look like a flattened Adversary.

The Adversary can trigger a magical effect within one or more Sorcerous
Spheres. Spellcasting abilities are comparable to what a Hero could achieve with
a Corruption spend, or can be combined into more dangerous or impressive
Spellcasting 3 per effect effects. The GM should decide ahead of time how many times this ability can be
used; an Adversary with 12 Malus and the Spellcasting ability shouldn’t turn all
their Malus at once into 4 Corruption effects unless they’re already established as
Adversaries

a great sorcerer.

Spider Climb 0 The Adversary can clamber effortlessly up walls and across ceilings.

The Adversary is made of stone or some similarly hard matter. They gain Armor
4, and are immune to normal fire, but possibly vulnerable to acids or other
alchemical attacks. Falls that inflict damage might shatter, crack or chip the
Stony 0, or 6
Adversary. They sink in water and can’t swim, but likely do not require breath. If
the Adversary isn’t innately made out of stone (as a possessed statue would be),
pay a cost of 6 to activate it.

The Adversary is incredibly strong and does +1 (stronger than normal) to +3

(preternaturally strong) more Warfare damage than normal, for a cost of 0. Rare
Strength 0, or more monsters such as giants might inflict even more bonus damage. Any impressive
feat of strength (such as battering down a bolted door) costs 3. For Adversaries
with variable strength or attack ability, use the Extra Damage ability instead.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 165

Name Malus Cost Description

Summoning allows the Adversary to summon help — armed guards, attack dogs,
the City Watch, a team of highly officious and bureaucratic scribes, and the like.
Summoning 3
This can typically be used only once per encounter, unless the fight is particularly
climactic.

The Adversary can swim effortlessly and move as well (or better) in water as they
Swimming 0
do on land, and may be able to breathe underwater.

The Adversary can communicate silently, mind to mind, with creatures they can
Telepathy 0, or 3 see for zero cost, or creatures they know but can’t see for a Malus cost of 3. To
read someone’s mind against their will, see Mind Reading above.

Instantaneously move from one location to another, either within Long range
(cost 3) or outside of Long range (cost 6). Most teleportation prevents the
Adversary from accidentally materializing in a solid object. Whether turning into
Teleport 3, or 6 a horde of scattering rats or sublimating into mist, teleportation takes a Sphere.
It is up to the GM whether other people can be teleported as well, if it can be
tracked using Investigative abilities, and what limits, if any, the Sphere imposes
on the teleportation.

Through blazing speed or an area effect, the Adversary can attack everyone they
Universal
6 want within range during one round, making separate Sorcery, Sway or Warfare
Attack
attack rolls for each.

Monstrous Adversaries may be venomous, and the ‘Sinkish often use poisons to
Venom 3 thwart their foes. See pp. 89 and 138 for sample ways in which poison and
venom might affect a victim.

Adversaries
Narratively important Adversaries may rely on sorcerous charms, well-made
shields, tremendous agility, or some other means of protection, but they take
only half damage from all Health or Morale damage for one complete combat
round. This protection, as well as whether it’s protecting Health or Morale, is
usually obvious to any attackers.
If they have armor, it reduces incoming damage first, and then any remaining
damage is halved by the ward. The Warded special ability starts at the beginning
of a combat round and ends at the end of the round, and does not use up an
Warded 6
action to initiate. Warded might also be activated at the very beginning of a
fight if the Adversary is expecting trouble or has Flashback. If they have enough
Malus, they can use Warded for more than one round in a row.
Note that this is deliberately more powerful than the Protective Ward (see p.
75) available to Heroes; it’s meant to keep an important Adversary active in a
fight for a bit longer without artificially inflating their Health or Morale ranks. If
you want to give your Adversaries a similar ability that isn’t nearly as powerful,
give them a Protective Ward (protecting against one attack) instead.
 166 Swords of the Serpentine

When you need stats for such a Supporting Character,

GM Advice: What Do You start with the following and customize them to match
Mean Everyone’s Dead? what you need. For instance, you might give an
Officious Bureaucrat Morale Threshold 4 and Grit 3 to
Be cautious about combining Extra Action and make them more difficult to influence with arguments.
Universal Attack during the same round. The
former lets the Adversary take a second attack
All-Purpose Background Character
action, and the latter lets the Adversary attack
as many people as they like within range. Taken Pick a few words about their personality and capabilities
separately, they’re great for letting a single
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 0,
Adversary or two challenge an entire team of
Health 1
Heroes. Combining the two, however, allows
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 0, Morale
the Adversary to attack everyone nearby twice in
1
one round, resulting in very injured Heroes and
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 3
very irritable players who may consider it unfair.
Offense – Sway: +0; Fixed Damage 3
If you use this combination, save it for only the
Abilities: Malus 3
most dangerous of foes, and make sure there’s
Refresh Tokens: 1
a good in-game reason why they possess this
power.

Ancient Nobility
The Ancient Nobility
Sample Human Adversaries have manipulative
elders, loyal servants,
The following Adversaries are sorted into factions for and paid house
easy reference, but feel free to select and customize the guards.
most relevant archetype from any faction.
In classic sword & sorcery tales, non-humans (such
as elves or mer-people) who aren’t monsters are rare.
That shouldn’t stop you for adding them into your
Adversaries

game if they make sense or are fun.

All-purpose Background Characters

Inconsequential Supporting Characters don’t need
combat stats, and will instead be based on the All-
Purpose Background Character template below. Such
nameless Supporting Characters might include:
� Boat Pilot
� Cheerful Urchins
� Common Merchants
� Conscripted Sailors
� Desperate Beggars
� Household Staff
� Mute Messengers
� Mysterious Soothsayers — add Special Ability:
Oracle (cost 3)
� Newly-recruited Cultists
� Officious Bureaucrats
� Untrained Soldiers — add Armor 2
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 167

Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1

Crafty Matriarch (longsword)
Calculating, proud, snobbish, so noble it hurts Abilities: Malus 9
Special Abilities: Extra Damage (cost 3)
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 4 (one
Refresh Tokens: 3
round only — magical charm), Health 14
Description: A noble family’s house guard are often
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
mercenaries who are only loyal when their pay is
(accurate sense of own self-importance), Morale 10
steady, but a few families have extremely dedicated
per Hero
house guards who maintain high morale. A typical
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (cutting
guard force includes an equal number of men and
politeness)
women.
Abilities: Malus 20
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — Ancient Nobility),
Flashback (cost 5), Mastermind, Persuasive (cost 3), Sniveling Lackey
Summoning (cost 3 — house guard or servants), Gossipy, servile
Warded (cost 6)
Refresh Tokens: 5 Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1
Description: To lead a noble family you just need to be Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 3
well-bred. To lead a noble family well, and to triumph (cringing acquiescence), Morale 8
at social warfare, you need to be well-bred… and Offense – Warfare: –1; Fixed Damage 2 (poorly-
also clever, haughty, manipulative, and ruthless. The wielded knife)
most successful heads of noble families know how Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (sly gossip)
to manipulate the people around them and set their Abilities: Malus 8
enemies against each other. Special Abilities: Bolster Morale (cost varies),
Invigorate (cost varies)
Refresh Tokens: 1
Haughty Duelist Description: Sniveling lackeys typically insinuate
themselves into the nobility as advisors or sidekicks.
Easily offended, overconfident, snobbish
They are sly, clever, and as gifted with words as they
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 15 are ultimately untrustworthy.

Adversaries
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
(extreme self-confidence), Morale 10 Superfluous Scion
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (rapier)
Abilities: Malus 15 Condescending, dangerous when bored
Special Abilities: Defense Boost (cost 6), Extra Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 2
Action (cost 3), Extra Damage (cost 3) (chain shirt that was tremendously stylish 120 years
Refresh Tokens: 3 ago), Health 6
Description: When you’re over-privileged and under- Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 6
worked, there’s little to do but drink and duel. Offense – Warfare: +0; Damage Modifier +1 (great-
Dissolute young nobles can be incredibly dangerous grandmother’s rapier)
to insult. Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (snide
remarks)
House Guard Abilities: Malus 10
Refresh Tokens: 3
Bored, competent, paid to be loyal Description: With little interest in anything but high
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4 or 5 (shield), society, rumor, and politics, this wastrel typically spends
Armor 2 (chain mail), Health 10 their day hunting, eating, courting, condescending to
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 1 (family commoners, and waiting for their parents to die.
loyalty), Morale 6
 168 Swords of the Serpentine

commonly priestesses, really) are distributed across

Church of Denari Eversink in every single district. There are hundreds of
The Church of Denari includes the religious places to worship, with multiple priests per location.
structure of the church, the Church Militant The size of the shrine, chapel, church, or cathedral
that applies Denari’s will through force, and the may vary tremendously by wealth and location — but
Inquisitors that deal with sorcery, demons, spirits in each, the local minister is responsible for guiding
and sin. the spiritual well-being of their faithful on a day-to-
day basis.

Street Preacher Divine Prophet

Filthy, fervent, inspiring Distant, mysterious, prophetic
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1 Defense – Health:
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2 Health Threshold 3,
(fevered certainty), Morale 10 Armor 2 (supernatural
Offense – Sway: +0; Fixed Damage 4 (convoluted foreknowledge), Health
diatribe) 5
Abilities: Malus 5 Defense – Morale:
Special Abilities: Bolster Morale (cost varies), Morale Threshold 3,
Persuasive (cost 3) Morale 5
Refresh Tokens: 1 Offense – Warfare:
Description: Street preachers may be wild-eyed –1 (or +2 if they close their eyes,
and shouting from a canal bridge, or kind activate Oracle, and trust to their
and gentle, but if they’re too poor to have prophetic sixth sense); Damage
their own church or even a shrine there’s a Modifier +0 (improvised weapon)
pretty good chance that a street preacher Offense – Sway: +1; Damage
isn’t officially recognized as a minister of Modifier +1 (annoyingly unclear
Denari. The Goddess accepts even those yet accurate prophecy)
who haven’t joined the bureaucracy, Abilities: Malus 15
Adversaries

however, and so (assuming they aren’t Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 —

heretics) will bless all those who Church of Denari), Flashback (cost
spread her word. 5), Oracle (cost 3)
Misc: Alertness Modifier +3
Refresh Tokens: 3
Parish Priest
Description: Divine prophets tend
Humble, honest, kind to have a tenuous hold on reality,
Defense – Health: Health something not surprising for people
Threshold 3, Health 6 asked to prophesy all day, every day, in
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold the service of their church and city. Even
4, Grit 1 (quiet faith), Morale 10 if their prophecies and predictions don’t
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage always make the most sense at first, they
Modifier +1 (convincing scripture) retain an uncanny sense of what is
Abilities: Malus 10 immediately about to occur.
Special Abilities: Bolster Morale (cost
varies)
Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: Parish priests (more
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 169

Impressive Cleric Inquisitor Bodyguard

Respectable, conservative, pompous Selfless, loyal, fearless, observant
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 8 Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4 or 5 (shield),
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1 Armor 2 (customized chain mail), Health 18
(protective faith), Morale 10 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
Offense – Warfare: +0; Damage Modifier +0 (loyalty), Morale 10
(improvised weapon) Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +1
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (divine (longsword) or +2 (crossbow)
charisma) Abilities: Malus 15
Abilities: Malus 12 Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 – Church of Denari),
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — Church of Denari), Bodyguard (cost 3 per attack), Warded (cost 6)
Bolster Morale (cost varies), Summoning (cost 3 — Misc: Alertness Modifier +1
Church Militant soldiers) Refresh Tokens: 3
Refresh Tokens: 3 Description: An Inquisitor Bodyguard is assigned by
Description: Rising in the Church’s hierarchy means the church to keep someone else safe, or even to kill
more responsibility, more bureaucracy, and less them if they transgress Denari’s will. Bodyguards are
contact with common people. An older member of excellent at noticing trouble before it starts, hopefully
the clergy might be impressive, draped in rich fabrics giving them enough time to get their charge to safety
and preaching with astonishing charisma, but they are — and if they can’t they’ll throw themselves in the
seldom as humble as when they were younger. way of any incoming damage, giving their charge a
chance to avoid harm. Some Bodyguards memorize
ancient Warding prayers, giving themselves or their
Inquisitor charge protection from some damage for two rounds.
A good Bodyguard is fearless and will willingly give
Suspicious, self-confident, righteous
their life for another... but frankly, they’d rather kill
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4 or 5 (shield), their enemy and live another day.
Armor 2 (bloodstained chain mail), Health 15
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
Inquisitor-Mage

Adversaries
(obsession), Morale 12
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (flail
Tormented, knowledgeable, disliked
made from sharpened coins)
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (church Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 2
doctrine) (leather lined with coins), Health 8
Abilities: Malus 15 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — Church of Denari), (obsessive faith), Morale 16
Healing (cost varies), Warded (cost 6) Offense – Sorcery: +2; Damage Modifier +1 (attacks
Refresh Tokens: 3 either Health or Morale)
Description: A typical Inquisitor is dedicated to Abilities: Malus 20
rooting out heresy by hunting down demons and Special Abilities: Death Curse (cost: all remaining
rogue sorcerers across the city. They use divinely Malus), Extra Damage (cost 3), Spellcasting (cost 3
granted senses like Spirit Sight to identify and track — 2 uses), Universal Attack (cost 6), Warding (cost
sources of Corruption. While they are advised by the 6)
Church not to harass sorcerers who haven’t broken Misc: Sphere tends to be either Coins or Fear
the law, Inquisitors tend to be strict and inflexible, Refresh Tokens: 3
and showing mercy to a suspect sorcerer doesn’t
come naturally.
 170 Swords of the Serpentine

Description: If you find a dead heretic with their

stomach full of coins, they’ve likely been visited by City Watch
an Inquisitor-Mage. Such sorcerers always internalize The City Watch solves crimes and keeps Eversink
their Corruption, upon pain of execution, and are safe, even if the inhabitants don’t want them to.
typically accompanied by an Inquisitor Bodyguard They know the law better than anyone outside of
whose other job is to execute them the moment they an Ironcross magistrate.
step out of line. Their knowledge of Corruption helps
them track less ethical Sorcerers.
Watch Commander
Soldier of Faith (Church Militant) Canny, commanding, and superb at her job
Traditional, regimented, faithful Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2
Defense – Health: Health (hand-me-down chain mail), Health 18
Threshold 4 or 5 (shield), Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
Armor 2 (shining chain (righteous sense of justice), Morale 15
mail), Health 15 Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +1
Defense – Morale: Morale (truncheon) or +2 (crossbow)
Threshold 4, Grit 1 Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +1 (tired but
(faith), Morale 10 certain authority)
Offense – Warfare: +1; Abilities: Malus 20
Damage Modifier +1 Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — City Watch), Seize
(polished longsword) Initiative (cost 3), Summon (cost 3 — other Watch
Abilities: Malus Officers)
10 Misc: Alertness Modifier +2
Refresh Tokens: 5
Description: The Watch Commander runs a
District Watchpost and is responsible for the
training and discipline of the Watch Officers
stationed at that post. They have a tendency
Adversaries

Special to stick their nose deep into trouble, are

Abilities: usually far less corruptible than their Officers,
Healing (cost and report to a Triskadane committee on law
varies) enforcement.
Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: A soldier
Watch Investigator
in the Church Militant
can pray for your soul Sneaky, knowledgeable, and usually law-
just before she cuts abiding
you down — all at the
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3,
Church’s bidding, of
Armor 1 (city-issued leather, dyed black),
course. She’s fervent in
Health 8
her faith, and her faith
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
rewards her.
(disdain for authority), Morale 10
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1
(truncheon) or +2 (crossbow)
Abilities: Malus 15
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 171

Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — City Watch), Extra

Damage (cost 3), Summon (cost 3 — other Watch Commoners
Officers) There are far more commoners in Eversink than
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2, Stealth Modifier +3 any other faction. They’re usually politically
Refresh Tokens: 3 unorganized, ordinary people just trying to live
Description: A Watch Investigator is usually a their lives and make enough money to survive. If
reformed thief, someone knowledgeable enough the commoners ever get angry enough to rise up,
about Eversink’s underbelly to provide the Watch Denari help the Ancient Nobility.
with leads no one else can get. They’re stealthy,
clever, deadly with a hidden weapon, and often
hunted by their former underworld colleagues. Back-Alley Leech
Disreputable, smarmy
Watch Officer Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1
Stalwart, exhausted, doing their best Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 6
Offense – Warfare: –1; Fixed Damage 3 (bloody
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, scalpel, or jar full of leeches)
Armor 1 (city-issued leather), Health 10 Abilities: Malus 10
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Special Abilities: Healing (maybe) (cost
Grit 1 (self-righteousness), Morale 8 varies)
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Refresh Tokens: 1
Modifier +1 (truncheon) or +2 Description: The quality of medical
(crossbow) care can be dubious in poorer parts
Abilities: Malus 15 of the city, and people who can’t
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — afford anywhere better to go usually
City Watch), Seize Initiative (cost go to a back-alley leech before they
3), Summon (cost 3 — other Watch die. In fact, those two actions are usually
Officers) related. If you’re lucky, you find a leech
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1 with a smattering of knowledge about folk
Refresh Tokens: 3

Adversaries
remedies and healing. If you aren’t, your
Description: The typical Watch corpse gets slid into the swamp or into a
Officer is well-meaning but canal when no one is looking.
demoralized from the
enormity of their job.
They aren’t all corrupt
Bartender
enough to take bribes Dependable, trustworthy, gossipy
(especially when anyone
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4,
is watching), and good
Armor 1, Health 10
leadership can make a huge difference
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3,
in the quality of a Watch Station’s
Grit 2 (practices indifference), Morale 8
personnel. Watch Officers retain the
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier
authority to arrest anyone who has
+1 (convenient club)
committed a crime, from a high
Abilities: Malus 10
priestess to a lowly beggar, and they
Refresh Tokens: 3
retaliate harshly against anyone who
Description: Someone needs to pour drinks,
attacks them.
spread rumors, and provide somewhere
safe to hide out between adventures. Tip
your bartenders, folks. They deserve it.
 172 Swords of the Serpentine

Common Laborer Hedge Witch

Sturdy, frustrated, just getting by Wise, intimidating, stern
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 3 Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 8
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 3 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 1
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 4 (stubborn resolve), Morale 8
Abilities: Malus 9 Offense – Sorcery: +1 vs Health; Damage Modifier
Special Abilities: Summon (cost 3 — other +1 (Spheres of Disease and Luck)
commoners) Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (common
Refresh Tokens: 1 sense wisdom)
Description: The average laborer is strong enough to Abilities: Malus 12
hurt you, but wise enough not to open the can of Special Abilities: Death Curse (cost: all remaining
worms that would come from a public brawl. The City Malus), Healing (cost varies), Spellcasting (cost 3 —
Watch aren’t always sympathetic to commoners, 1 use)
so they’d rather investigate and Refresh Tokens: 3
punish their own crimes than Description: Hedge practitioners are healers who have
get the Watch involved. learned a few old traditions and swamp magics,
just enough to cure (or cause) disease, heal
a bit, and cause others to have good or bad
Diseased Beggar luck. They’re often looked to for advice
Scrofulous, wheezing, observant by others in the community and feared by
those outside their neighborhood.
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3,
Health 1
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 1, Morale Rabble-Rousing Firebrand
1
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 3 (rusty Charismatic, angry, passionate, natural-
knife) born leader
Offense – Sway: +1; Fixed Damage 4 Defense – Health: Health
Adversaries

(wheedling entreaties) Threshold 3, Health 12

Abilities: Malus 5 Defense – Morale: Morale
Special Abilities: Infection Threshold 4, Grit 2 (fiery
Refresh Tokens: 1 certainty), Morale 20
Description: Plague in Eversink is dealt with Offense – Warfare: +0; Damage
quickly and brutally, but there are still plenty Modifier +0 (emphatically-waved
of commoners too ill to survive on anything torch)
other than charity. Since actual begging Offense – Sway: +2; Damage
and charity is forbidden by Denari, they Modifier +2 (astonishing
typically sell “blessed rocks,” normal charisma)
pebbles that they exchange for a coin Abilities: Malus 15
and a kind word. No one ever notices a Special Abilities: Allies (cost
beggar but beggars notice everyone, so 3 — commoners), Persuasive
they make superb spies if you’re willing (cost 3), Summon (cost 3 —
to pay. commoners)
Refresh Tokens: 5
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 173

Description: When the Common folk rise up against

the Mercanti, Triskadane and Ancient Nobility, a Guild of Architects and
rabble-rousing firebrand will be at their head. Able Canal-Watchers
to ignore up to 3 points of Grit while making Sway
The Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers is a
attacks, a firebrand is uniquely suited to inspiring and
secretive, close-knit organization that keeps the
leading others towards change. Wherever they go, a
city’s buildings upright and the canals open. How
crowd gathers.
they do so is a closely kept secret they’re willing to
kill to protect.
Flock of Watch-Geese
Aggressive, territorial, loud
Architect’s Engineer
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 8
(Armor 0 vs. Sorcery), Health 4 Responsible, artistic, martyr
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 8 (Grit 0 Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 8
vs. Sorcery and Fear), Morale 8 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1 (oaths
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 2 of secrecy), Morale 10
(pecking beaks) Offense – Sorcery: +1 vs Health; Damage
Modifier +1 (elemental sorcery)
Abilities: Malus 15
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1
Special Abilities: Flight, Universal Attack (boring architectural details)
(cost 6) Abilities: Malus 21
Misc: Alertness Modifier +3 Special Abilities: Death Curse (cost: all
Refresh Tokens: 3 remaining Malus), Spellcasting (cost 3),
Description: Trained geese make Warded (cost 6)
superb watch-animals: inexpensive to Refresh Tokens: 3
feed, double as a food source, mean Description: Architect’s
as anything, and both loud and Engineers are incredi-
territorial when predators approach. bly talented and well-
trained craftsfolk, but

Adversaries
Both in commoner homes and
mercenary camps, you’ll they’re also secretly sor-
hear hissing and honking cerers who have Spheres of
watch-geese more often Air, Stone, Water, or sometimes
than barking watchdogs. something esoteric like Construc-
tion or Architecture. Special-
ly schooled in construction
techniques, they have official
(if secret) legal dispensation
to practice sorcery in the inter-
est of their profession, and are
forced to swear that they will al-
ways internalize Corruption. Engi-
neers are often assigned their own per-
sonal Inquisitor to watch and manage
them. The best Engineers also have
a background in art and an apprecia-
tion for geometry and beauty.
The disfigurement that comes from
internalizing Corruption is usually
 174 Swords of the Serpentine

explained to the public as the scars from a construction

accident, or as a disease. When they can no longer Guild Troubleshooter
legitimately pass for human on the surface, the Guild Convincing, intimidating, stubborn
moves Engineers to a secret undercity compound and
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1
treats them kindly in exchange for help stabilizing
(worn leather), Health 10
foundations.
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 1
(confident authority), Morale 8
Guild-Certified Architect Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +2
(crossbow or greatsword)
Hardworking, entitled, observant
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (cheerfully
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 6 descriptive threats)
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 2 (smug Abilities: Malus 20
knowledge of self-importance), Morale 6 Refresh Tokens: 3
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (officious Description: Guild troubleshooters typically clear
expertise) hostile dwellers from buildings under construction,
Abilities: Malus 15 whether those dwellers are human or otherwise. A
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2 troubleshooter is selected for being deadly enough
Refresh Tokens: 3 to survive angry squatters while being diplomatic (or
Description: Architects have the difficult job of threatening) enough to solve problems without ever
inspecting, repairing, stabilizing, and improving the shedding blood. Their relatively large pool of Malus
allows a troubleshooter the flexibility to use Persuade
buildings of Eversink. Most aren’t particularly fierce
Maneuvers on stubborn holdouts.
combatants, but they have a fierce will and the sense
of entitled authority that comes from the certain
knowledge that anyone who treats them poorly will be
Retired Engineer
blackballed by the guild. Architects have a sharp eye, Secretive, earth-shakingly powerful, content, nostalgic
an encyclopedic memory of the city’s neighborhoods,
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1
and the authority to order changes in private and
(mutated skin), Health 15
public buildings. Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
(inhuman detachment), Morale 20
Canal Watcher Offense – Sorcery: +2 vs Health; Damage Modifier +2
Adversaries

(elemental sorcery)
Corrupt, hardworking, patient
Offense – Sway: +0; Damage Modifier +1 (sorcerous
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1 croakings)
(leather armor you can swim in), Health 10 Abilities: Malus 30
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 8 Special Abilities: Death Curse (cost: all remaining
Offense – Warfare: +0; Damage Modifier +1 Malus), Extra Damage (cost 3), Spellcasting (cost 3 —
(sharpened grappling hook on light rope) 5 uses), Warded (cost 6)
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (self- Refresh Tokens: 5
assurance) Description: The hidden undercity refuge of retired
Abilities: Malus 5 Engineers is perhaps the most beautiful architecture in
Eversink — not that it’s permissible for most people
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1
to even learn of its existence without being killed for
Refresh Tokens: 3
possessing that knowledge. The Guild guards its secrets
Description: Canal Watchers keep the canals flowing.
carefully, and a village full of deformed and immensely
They manage locks and pumps, fish out refuse and powerful sorcerers who specialize in stone and water
dead bodies, repair damage to canals, and manage (along with air and obscure construction Spheres) is
boat traffic. It’s not the world’s most interesting a secret worth keeping. The Guild works hard to get
or creative job, but it pays well: Mercanti want to retired engineers anything they wish in order to keep
get their goods to Temple Market as quickly and them happy and complacent. No one wants the old
efficiently as possible, and that means bribing Canal engineers to rise up in open rebellion against Guild
Watchers constantly. rules.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 175

Description: With long-ingrained ability to recognize

Mercanti someone trying to cheat them, a standard shopkeeper
Many Mercanti aren’t combatants, being far more is much more likely to call a guard than to mount
interested in making money than in risking death, their own defense. They’ll typically use their Malus
but more adventurers than you’d think try to beat on Persuade Maneuvers to try to get a higher price.
merchants with the items they were just about to
buy. Mercanti are more than just shopkeepers; Rich Merchant
they’re also craftspeople, artisans, trading ship
captains and guildmasters. Confident, ostentatious, observant, persuasive
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 2
(specially blessed lucky amulet), Health 1
Bodyguard Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 2
(entitled), Morale 9
Brave, observant, professional Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (undeniable
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4 or 5 (shield), confidence)
Armor 2 (chain mail), Health 15 Abilities: Malus 15
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2 Special Abilities: Summon (cost
(loyalty), Morale 10 3 — Bodyguard, Guard, or
Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +1 City Watch)
(longsword) or +2 (crossbow) Misc: Alertness Modifier +1
Abilities: Malus 15 Refresh Tokens: 3
Special Abilities: Bodyguard (cost 3 per attack), Extra Description: Whether
Action (cost 3), Extra Damage (cost 3), Warded deserved or not, success
(cost 6) in business has led to
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1 confidence and riches.
Refresh Tokens: 3 These merchants
Description: A good bodyguard puts their own life are typically dressed
at risk to save their patron, and they’re rewarded in rich fabrics and
extraordinarily well for it. They’ll notice trouble might be dripping
before it starts, get their charge to safety, and use in jewels worth
their Warding (usually particular toughness instead up to 10 Wealth.
of a sorcerous effect) to buy themselves some time. As such they
typically engage
bodyguards and
Common Merchant armed guards to
Convincing, charming, tenacious accompany them,
and they are always
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1 canny and aware of
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 2 their surroundings
(Stubborn), Morale 6 unless they’re
Offense – Sway: +0; Fixed Damage 3 (experienced someplace they feel
bargaining) or the Persuade Maneuver they can relax.
Abilities: Malus 10
Special Abilities: Summon (cost 3 — guard, or
nearby member of the City Watch)
Refresh Tokens: 1
 176 Swords of the Serpentine

Mercenaries Military Sorcerer

They’re the most visible line of defense protecting Pompous, showy, deadly
Eversink from foreign attack. They’re a fashion
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2
statement for the Ancient Nobility, armed guards
(beat-up chain mail), Health 10
for the Mercanti, inadvertent missionaries for the
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
Church, and a constant threat to the commoners.
(deadpan wit), Morale 15
Whoever controls the mercenaries controls
Offense – Sorcery: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (two
Eversink — and the people with the money
Sorcerous Spheres that attack either Health or
control the mercenaries.
Morale)
Abilities: Malus 15
Special Abilities: Death Curse (cost: all remaining
Mercenary Officer Malus), Extra Damage (cost 3), Oracle (cost 3),
Spellcasting (cost 3 — 3 uses)
Competent,
Refresh Tokens: 3
commanding,
Description: Outside of Eversink, mercenary
tactical, well-
companies worry much less about sorcery (espe-
traveled
cially if Corruption is internalized so that it doesn’t
Defense – destroy the Morale of other soldiers nearby). It’s
Health: Health common for companies to have pompous, well-
Threshold 4, Armor paid sorcerers in their ranks. Sometimes,
3 (well-worn plate), those sorcerers even earn their
Health 16 pay.
Defense – Morale:
Morale Threshold 4,
Grit 1 (nearly fearless), Rank and File
Morale 12 Soldier
Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage
Long-suffering, well-
Modifier +2 (well-honed
Adversaries

trained, dangerous
sword)
Abilities: Malus 20 Defense – Health:
Special Abilities: Bolster Morale Health Threshold 4 or 5
(cost varies), Flashback (cost (shield), Armor 2 (chain mail),
5), Summoning (cost 3 — Health 12
soldiers) Defense – Morale: Morale
Refresh Tokens: 5 Threshold 3, Grit 1,
Description: A Mercenary Officer Morale 8
commands any number of troops,
Offense – Warfare: +1;
from a handful to hundreds. If they
Damage Modifier +1
don’t come home from battle, it’s
(longsword)
the officer who’s at fault; they’re
expected to use their tactical Abilities: Malus 15
knowledge and strategy to win the Special Abilities: Extra
combat and bring their soldiers Damage (cost 3)
back. As a result, they demand Refresh Tokens: 3
high prices for their troops and Description: The typical warrior is competent
deliver (or claim to deliver) but not exceptional in battle, chopping their
the best. way through foes with brute force.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 177

Veteran Soldier Outlanders

Battle-scarred, well-respected, superstitious, tactical If you’re not a native of Eversink and a worshipper
of Denari, in local parlance you’re an Outlander.
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4 or 5 (shield),
You may be a northern barbarian, a pilgrim from
Armor 3 (plate mail), Health 20
the Salt Mountains of Lut, a trader from Caym, or
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2, a rider from the Great Flatlands, but to a native of
Morale 10 Eversink you’re an Outlander just waiting to honor
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1 Denari with your coin.
(longsword)
Abilities: Malus 20
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3), Extra Damage (cost Drunken Sailor
3), Summoning (cost 3 — soldiers)
Inebriated, foul-mouthed
Refresh Tokens: 3
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1
Description: A veteran soldier often knows more
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 2
about tactics than their commander, just by dint of
(drunk), Morale 6
surviving so many fights. They make good leaders
Offense – Warfare: +0, Fixed Damage 3 (belaying
and dangerous opponents, able to quickly surround
pins) or the Daze Maneuver
themselves with soldiers. If they’re attacked or slain,
Abilities: Malus 10
they’re usually popular enough that their troops will
Refresh Tokens: 1
seek vengeance.
Description: Loaded down with all the courage that
excessive alcohol can deliver, these sailors use their
belaying pins to “recruit” new sailors into their crew.

Foreign Spy
Suave, unflappable, conniving

Adversaries
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 1
(leather), Health 9
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2,
Morale 16
Offense – Warfare: +0; Damage Modifier +0 (subtle
dagger)
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +1 (practiced
arguments)
Abilities: Malus 20
Special Abilities: Disguise (cost 1 or 3), Venom (cost
3)
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +1
Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: Easy to trust and as dishonest as the tide
is high, a spy is usually in Eversink to engineer an
assassination or steal information they can’t obtain
any other way. They use their Malus to gain whatever
Social ability they need to pass in society.
 178 Swords of the Serpentine

Raging Barbarian Wide-Eyed Tourist

Muscled, naïve, resentful Awe-struck, Lost
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1 Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1
(stolen from a foreign soldier), Health 12 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Morale 8
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 2 Offense – Sway: +0; Fixed Damage 4 (kind-hearted
(frothing rage), Morale 8 babble)
Abilities: Malus 5
Offense – Warfare: +1, Damage Modifier +2 or +4
Refresh Tokens: 1
(massive spear)
Description: A complete stranger to Eversink, they’re
Abilities: Malus 15 wandering around wide-eyed and trying not to admit
Special Abilities: Armor-Piercing (cost 3), Strength that they’re lost.
(cost 3)
Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: Annoyed by Sorcerous Cabal
the city and ready to take Just because sorcerers are hunted and persecuted
it out on anyone nearby, in Eversink doesn’t mean that they and their
this barbarian can be minions aren’t nearby. Very nearby. Possibly
deadly in hand- standing behind you right now.
to-hand combat.

Sorcerous Spheres for the Cabal

For the Supporting Character Cabal variants

below, assign Sorcerous Spheres as follows:
Animal-related cultists have Spheres of their
Animal, Physical Transformation, or Serpents
(which is appropriate for sorcerers who learned
their Corruption from ancient Serpentine
Adversaries

writings).
Elementalists have Sorcerous Spheres of Air,
Fire, Earth, or Water.
Necromancers have Spheres of Aging, Blood,
Death, Decay, Disease, Fear, Flesh, Ghosts
and Spirits, or Necromancy.
Eversink’s Mercanti Ship-Sorcerers have Spheres
of Air, Illusion, Transportation, Water, or
Weather.
Mind controllers have Spheres of Illusion, Love,
Memory, Possession, Secrets, or Worship.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 179

all remaining Malus), Extra Damage (cost 3),

Sorcerous Apprentice Spellcasting (three times only — cost 3), Warded
Cautious, thorough, cruel (cost 6)
Refresh Tokens: 5
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 8
Description: Operating with the equivalent of 3
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
Corruption, a typical Sorcerer may have a very public
(haughty disdain), Morale 12
persona (typically dwelling outside of Eversink,
Offense – Sorcery: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (pick
sometimes on a boat in the outer harbor) or a very
Sphere below)
secret identity where their sorcery remains hidden.
Abilities: Malus 18
They’re usually haughty and obsessive, but that
Special Abilities: Extra Damage (cost 3), Spellcasting
doesn’t make their scheming any less dangerous.
(twice only — cost 3), Warded (cost 6)
Variants: Assign three Sorcerous Spheres. Choose
Refresh Tokens: 3
whether Sorcery attacks Health or Morale.
Description: Neophyte sorcerers
are still canny and incredibly
dangerous. They often Master Sorcerer
travel with a servant and
a bodyguard, so that Powerful, social, earth-shaking,
they never have even the efficient
temptation of privately Defense – Health: Health
creating Corruption when Threshold 4, Armor 3
spellcasting. (That’s a lie: they’re (uncanny resilience), Health
always tempted, and it’s rare that they 15 per Hero
internalize Corruption.) Defense – Morale:
Variants: Assign one Sorcerous Sphere, Morale Threshold 4,
or two for advanced apprentices. Choose whether Grit 3 (self-righteous
Sorcery attacks Health or Morale. certainty), Morale 15 per
Hero
Offense – Warfare: +0;
Cruel Sorcerer Damage Modifier +1 (well-

Adversaries
Disdainful, stylish, even crueller used sacrificial dagger)
Offense – Sorcery: +3; Damage
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1
Modifier +1 (pick Spheres below)
(scintillating power), Health 15
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
Modifier +1 (honeyed voice)
(unworldly focus), Morale 15
Abilities: Malus 40
Offense – Warfare: +0; Damage Modifier +0
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3),
(spare sacrificial dagger)
Death Curse (cost: all remaining
Offense – Sorcery: +2; Damage
Malus), Extra Damage (cost 3),
Modifier +1 (pick Spheres
below)
Offense – Sway: +1;
Damage Modifier +1
(obsessive monologuing)
Abilities: Malus 25
Special Abilities:
Allies (cost 3 —
Sorcerous Cabals),
Death Curse (cost:
 180 Swords of the Serpentine

Flashback (cost 5), Oracle (cost 3), Mastermind,

Spellcasting (up to five times — cost 3), Warded Thieves’ Guild
(cost 6) There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of underworld
Refresh Tokens: 7 gangs and thieves’ guilds in Eversink. Hopefully
Description: Operating with the equivalent of 5 they aren’t all trying to kill you at once.
Corruption, a Master Sorcerer is unutterably deadly.
They’re well-connected socially, impeccable planners,
and can rip apart a human being with a wave of their
hand. Worse, they’re usually surrounded by servants,
Assassin
bodyguards, and their own apprentices — and even if Professional, courteous, cautious, efficient
you survive their death curse, their allies will hound
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1,
you mercilessly. Master Sorcerers tend to be foes you
Health 20
confront through proxies or social manipulation,
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Morale 20
because engaging them directly is what you do when
Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +2
you’re tired of life.
(poisoned sword or poisoned crossbow bolts)
Variants: Assign five Sorcerous Spheres. Choose
Abilities: Malus 15
whether Sorcery attacks Health or Morale.
Special Abilities: Armor-Piercing (cost 3), Disguise
(cost 1), Defense Boost (cost 6), Extra Action (cost
Puppetmaster 3), Extra Damage (cost 3), Lightning
Speed (cost 3), Seize Initiative (cost
Manipulative, sociopathic, charming 3), Venom (cost 3)
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor Misc: Alertness Modifier +1,
2 (mind-controlled slaves who try to interpose Stealth Modifier +3
themselves), Health 25 Refresh Tokens: 5
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1 Description: Assassins
(narcissism), Morale 25 are fast, brutally
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +2 (mind- efficient combatants
controlled slave with a large axe) who thrive on
Offense – Sorcery: +2 vs Morale; Damage Modifier dodging blows
Adversaries

+1 (unexpected loyalty) and escaping

Abilities: Malus 20 before they’re
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3), Death Curse (cost: seriously put
all remaining Malus), at risk.
Magical Charm (cost 3),
Spellcasting (two times only
— cost 3), Summoning (mind-
controlled minions — cost 3), Warded
(cost 6)
Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: Puppetmasters
typically have Spheres of
Love, Secrets, or Worship.
They thrive on the attention
of others, and spend their time
building networks of charmed
slaves who dedicate their lives to
making the puppetmaster happy.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 181

They have a wide range of offensive and defensive Description: Smarter than most brutes, the lieutenant
powers but lack the stamina to use them for long. is adept at tactics and knows how to best position
Eversink’s assassins have a reputation for being their people for deadly combat.
particularly courteous to their victims on the rare
occasion that conversation occurs.
Gang Boss
Brute Clever, intimidating, heartless, greedy
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2,
Unimaginative, violent Health 5 per Hero
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 6 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 1
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 6 (stubborness), Morale 10
Offense – Warfare: +1, Fixed Damage 4 (club) Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +2
Abilities: Malus 10 (wickedly sharp sword)
Refresh Tokens: 3 Abilities: Malus 15
Description: Ill-smelling and far from clever, this brute Special Abilities: Extra Damage (cost 3), Summoning
will never pass for nobility, but they’re handy when (cost 3 — thieves)
you need a violent goon who doesn’t think too hard. Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +2
Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: Typically found running a gang of thieves,
Common Footpad the gang boss is a dangerous leader who keeps them
Fast, hungry, foolhardy organized, intimidated, and efficient.

Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 5

Defense -- Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 1 Guildmaster
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 3 (knife)
Abilities: Malus 8 (typically used on Burglary and Feared, intimidating, rich, clever
Athletics) Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1
Special Abilities: Extra Action (cost 3), Seize (custom-made sharkskin leather), Health 15 per
Initiative (cost 3) Hero

Adversaries
Misc: Stealth Modifier +2 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
Refresh Tokens: 1 (confidence), Morale 20
Description: Cowardly but dangerous, footpads make Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +1
their living by taking your things away from you. (poisoned dagger) + poison
They’re fairly indifferent as to whether they have to Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +1 (confident
hurt you in the process. swagger)
Abilities: Malus 35
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — Thieves’ Guilds),
Brutish Lieutenant Disguise (cost 1 or 3), Flashback (cost 5), Venom
Mean, smart, brutish (cost 3 — any rare and unusual poison)
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2, Stealth Modifier +2
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 10 Refresh Tokens: 5
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 6 Description: A survivor and master of flexibility,
Offense – Warfare: +1, Damage Modifier +1 (club) the guildmaster’s high Malus score lets them use
Offense – Sway: +1, Damage Modifier +1 (threats) whichever Investigative ability they need on the fly.
Abilities: Malus 15 They are masters of their neighborhoods, with scores
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1 of thieves at their command and most officials in their
Refresh Tokens: 3 pocket.
 182 Swords of the Serpentine

Misc: Alertness Modifier +2, Stealth Modifier +2

Master Thief Refresh Tokens: 3
Risk-averse, shadowy, calculating, witty Description: Empowered by Denari to read people’s
minds, the Triskadane’s secret police force the Black
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1 (just
Swans move through the city rooting out treason,
plain lucky), Health 20
counterfeiting, tax evasion, and important murders.
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
They have a long-standing feud with the City Watch,
(distrust), Morale 12
the Mercenaries, and the Church Inquisitors, none of
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1
whom like them. Their reputation is not a good one,
(anonymous but poisoned dagger)
and they deliberately use fear as a weapon.
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +1
Elite members of the Black Swans are rumored
(persuasive)
to utilize Memory magic, so that their face is never
Abilities: Malus 20 (often used on Maneuvers,
remembered and so they can pull the memory of their
burglaries, and escape)
questioning from the subject’s mind.
Special Abilities: Disguise (cost 1), Defense Boost
(cost 6), Seize Initiative (cost 3), Spider Climb,
Venom (cost 3) Sleazy Politician
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +3
Refresh Tokens: 3 Corrupt, charming,
Description: Master thieves are accomplished at getting ingratiating, reputable
into where others don’t want them to be, getting the Defense – Health:
goods, and getting out again. They’d rather avoid Health
detection and definitely prefer not to get into a fight Threshold 3,
along the way. Health 1

Triskadane
The Triskadane are the thirteen secret rulers
of Eversink, but the name also refers to their
servants, enforcers, and governmental bureaucracy.
Adversaries

Secret Police Investigator

Forgettable, secretive, fearsome
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2
(subtle and beautifully made chain), Health 15
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2 (steely
resolve), Morale 15
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +2 (Falcon’s
Eye crossbow, p. 148)
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (whispering
voice)
Abilities: Malus 20
Special Abilities: Disguise (cost 1 or 3), Fear (cost 3),
Mind Reading (cost 3), Persuasive (cost 3), Warded
(cost 6)
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 183

Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2,

Morale 15 Designer Notes: When Is a
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +1 Monster Not Just a Monster?
(convincing rhetoric) or the Persuade Maneuver
Abilities: Malus 10 Sword & sorcery monsters tend to serve a
Special Abilities: Allies (cost 3 — clerks), Warded different role than monsters in other fantasy
(cost 6) games. They’re often a symbol of some
Refresh Tokens: 1 aspect of the city or setting, whether that’s
Description: Politicians are almost never combatants, a shadowy conspiracy (the Drowned), crime
but they rely on using the Persuade Maneuver to and corruption (rattakan), child and new
win people over to their way of thinking. They’re mother mortality (penanggalan), terrifying
well connected, and often serve as fronts for more dark magic and ancient history (serpent
nefarious power groups. folk), mortality (any undead), or barbaric
savagery (swamp ogre). Their appearance
in a battle tends to be important and
Monstrosities momentous. It’s rarer that they’re used as
an inconsequential throwaway monster.
Most monstrosities in Eversink are inhuman. Sometimes, Carefully consider using monsters
though, you get creatures that are close enough to who can carry a mystery or an adventure.
human to pass, or who live in that in-between half- Even a giant scorpion could be linked to
world that bridges human society and the secret city a mystery, if it turns out to be behind a
known by creatures who only survive in darkness. series of unexplained deaths in a crowded
Most monsters will prefer to keep a low profile and poverty-stricken district, but the best
while in Eversink, as they (or their human handlers) monsters in a Swords of the Serpentine game
won’t want a mob trying to track a rogue monstrosity are those who can think, plot, and plan.
through the streets and canals, so they’ll try to eliminate These become the creatures who actually
any witnesses to a monster’s existence before they can create mysteries and adventures instead of
spread the word. There’s a demimonde in Eversink just becoming the defeatable roadblocks to
where humanoid monstrosities can exist almost like a solving them.
human: a network of dubious pubs and extremely shifty

Adversaries
night markets where a disguised intelligent monster can
get a drink and quietly confer with other non-human
creatures. Humans who enter these places by mistake
are quickly ushered away if at all possible instead of
being killed.
Indoors, underground, or in the wilderness outside
of the city, monsters are a very different story. They’ll
have territory that they defend viciously, and they’ll
use this territory to their advantage when stalking and
killing prey.
 184 Swords of the Serpentine

Animated Statue Buzzing Acolyte

Powerful, beautiful, strong Fevered, off-putting, inhuman
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 4 (and Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 1 (flesh
see Stony), Health 20 briefly dissolves into flies when hit), Health 8
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold nil or special, Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
Morale nil or special (see below) (fanatical), Morale 12
Offense – Warfare: +1, Damage Modifier +3 (stone Offense – Sorcery: +0; Damage Modifier +1 (clouds of
fist) biting flies that attack Health)
Abilities: Malus 10 Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (buzzing
Special Abilities: Regenerate (regenerates at end of secrets)
scene), Stony, Strength; possibly Flight (cost 3) Abilities: Malus 12
Refresh Tokens: 5 Special Abilities: Fluid (cost 3 — turn into a cloud of
Description: Animated statues may be set into flies for one round), Spellcasting (cost 3 — fly- and
motion by sorcery or through ghostly decay-themed — 2 uses)
possession. If the former, they cannot Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier –1
be injured by attacks against their Refresh Tokens: 3
Morale. If the latter, they use Description: The buzzing acolytes of
the possessing ghost’s Morale Yil’uk are worshippers of a fly demon
defenses (usually Morale who have been “blessed” with its
Threshold 4, Grit 2 but Grit power. They congregate around
0 vs prayer, Morale 16). filth and ordure, mostly in Sag
Animated statues shaped like Harbor, and even in human form
gargoyles may also have the speak with a buzzing voice.
ability to fly. Animated statues
shaped like angels have the
unsettling tendency to only
move when no one is looking at
them.
Adversaries
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 185

Refresh Tokens: 3
Chuggut Hunter Description: People live out in those swamps and
Subtle, savage, superstitious probably have for a thousand years or more, displaced
when Denari pushed back the marshes and drew the
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 10 islands from the riverbed itself. They hate Eversink
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 8 and just about everyone in it. People think the
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +2 (festering different tribes of Chuggut have a somewhat toadlike
spear) cast about them. They are fiercely territorial and
Offense – Sorcery: +0 vs Health; Damage Modifier +1 almost universally hostile. Their hunters seem to
(Sphere of Swamp) blend into the swamp, attacking with Surprise as they
Abilities: Malus 18 leap toad-like into battle.
Special Abilities: Spellcasting (cost 3 — Swamp Sphere
only, one use)
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +2 Chuggut Swamp Shaman
Nimble, predatory, spiritual
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 16
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Morale 20
Offense – Sorcery: +2; Damage Modifier +1 (Spheres
of Darkness, Insects, Plants, or Swamp that attack
Health)
Abilities: Malus 24
Special Abilities: Extra Damage (cost 3), Monstrous
Ability (cost 3), Spellcasting (cost 3 — 4 uses)
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +1
Refresh Tokens: 5
Description: Not all of the semi-human Chuggut
swamp dwellers are fierce warriors. They breed their
own type of sorcerer out there in the reeds and
brine, a shaman who specializes in swamps,

Adversaries
plants, insects, and darkness. They’re
terrifying to face and used by parents
as bogeymen to scare young, entitled
Eversink children.

Demonic Counsel
Persuasive, needy, malicious
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 3
(also, see Insubstantial), Health 20
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2 (infernal
anger), Morale 25
Offense – Warfare: +2 (only when possessing a victim),
Damage Modifier +3 (bare hands and supernatural
strength)
Offense – Sway: +2, Damage Modifier +2
(supernaturally convincing)
Abilities: Malus 26
 186 Swords of the Serpentine

Special Abilities: Insubstantial, Invisibility (cost 3 — and sing it constantly, or leave Denari’s Blessing
possibly visible to Spirit Sight), Possession (cost 3), (such as in a Corruption scar). While the hymn is
Strength (cost 0 — only when possessing a victim); being sung, all the singers share the same emotional
can grant humans forbidden knowledge and the state, which is usually euphoric, and can share surface
ability to access Corruption in exchange for a bargain thoughts.
Refresh Tokens: 5 Those who survive knowing the hymn whisper that
Description: As insubstantial and mostly spiritual a day will come when enough people in Eversink will
creatures, demonic counsels (often just called sing the hymn at once, and the world will change.
demons) are much easier to drive away temporarily Considering that the hymn is intimately but
than they are to kill. Each is unique, with its own name mysteriously tied to Denari, it’s surprising that the
and own Spheres of power. These spirits are typically Church of Denari is utterly opposed to the hymn and
summoned by those seeking personal power, such as to those who sing it. They will take extreme sanction
access to Sorcery. Until a deal is made the demons on areas that are compromised by singers, attempting
come across as incredibly calm, misunderstood, and to isolate the singers or to
helpful beings. Their true nature isn’t evident until stop the spread of the
after a deal (such as exchanging your soul for access hymn in whatever way
to Sorcery or other power) has been struck. Demons is kindest. The hymn,
may be able to use the senses of any sorcerer beholden meanwhile, tries to get itself
to them, which makes them excellent sources of secret sung by the priests who sing
information… if you’re willing to pay the price. prayer across the city.

Denari’s Singer The Drowned

Memetic, unforgettable, divine Believable, ordinary,
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1 unconcerned,
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 1 surprisingly fungal
Offense – Sway: +1; Persuade Maneuver to teach the Defense –
hymn to all nearby. If Persuaded the target finds the Health: Health
hymn inhabiting their thoughts, and they suffer 1 die Threshold 4,
Adversaries

of Morale damage whenever they do not begin a new Health 14

scene using a Persuade Maneuver to publicly sing the Defense – Morale:
hymn Morale Threshold
Abilities: Malus 6 (used on Maneuvers) 4, Grit 3 (fungal
Special Abilities: Hivemind (while the hymn is being indifference),
sung) Morale 8
Misc: Stealth Modifier –1 Offense – Warfare:
Refresh Tokens: 1 +0; Damage
Description: Somewhere in Eversink there is a Modifier
particularly beautiful hymn to Denari that’s self-aware +2 (fungal
and alive. As long as at least one person is singing it, strength)
it survives. Each instance of it dies whenever a singer Offense –
stops humming it or leaves Denari’s Blessing, so it Sway: +1;
reproduces itself memetically and virally, trying to get Damage
itself heard and sung by as many people as possible Modifier
as often as possible. Once heard by a receptive host +1 (utterly
it stays inside the singer for as long as it can, making reasonable
itself impossible to forget, making the singer repeat it normality)
again and again until they break, join the hive mind
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 187

Abilities: Malus 10 Description: Faceless are doppelgangers who can

Special Abilities: Infection, Hivemind, Strength disguise themselves flawlessly as a specific person by
Misc: Stealth Modifier –1 (occasional wet cough) ripping the person’s face off (typically done once the
Refresh Tokens: 3 victim is unconscious or completely demoralized)
Description: Anyone will tell you that “the Drowned” and placing it over their own. This gives them access
is a ridiculous conspiracy and that the rumors aren’t to the victim’s shape, manner, memories, and voice.
true. Often, the person telling you this is already a If the faceless can be convinced to return the
member of the Drowned. person’s face, or assumes a new victim’s face, the curse
Created by the disease wetlung (see p. 87), the dissipates and the original victim’s face magically
Drowned are humans who can be puppeted and returns and heals. If the faceless is killed while wearing
possessed by Colony, an underwater fungal hivemind their victim’s face, the face dies with the faceless.
somewhere beneath the city. They can instantly The usually unconscious victim is left with a blank
communicate with each other when Colony wishes, face with only a tiny nose-slit available for breathing;
and use this hivemind communication to focus on similarly, their fingers are merged together. It can be
and efficiently eliminate one enemy at a time. The an adventure in itself to identify a victim. It’s rumored
Drowned seek to put themselves in positions of that some faceless actually rip off their victim’s skin,
influence and power, all the better to promote the
fungal intelligence’s inscrutable plans.
See the disease description for more information
about the Drowned, including their most common
method of death.
The Drowned are surprisingly strong, mostly
because the fungus that controls them has little
concern about ripping apart an infected’s muscles
after they’ve revealed themselves.

Faceless
Mutable, empathic, sociopathic

Adversaries
Defense – Health: Health Threshold
4, Armor 1 (mutable body), Health
20
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold
4, Grit 2 (dual personalities), Morale
20
Offense – Warfare: +1, Damage Modifier +1
(whatever the assumed form would use as a weapon)
Offense – Sorcery: +1 vs Health, Damage Modifier
+1 (sliding flesh)
Offense – Sway: +2, Damage Modifier +1
(supernaturally convincing)
Abilities: Malus 21
Special Abilities: Disguise (cost 3), Mind Reading
(cost 3), Monstrous Ability (cost 3), Shape-Shift
(cost 3)
Misc: Stealth Modifier +3
Refresh Tokens: 5
 188 Swords of the Serpentine

leaving a raw and bloody mess behind, but that’s less

common. Ghost
As masters of moving flesh, most faceless can Abandoned, angry, confused, hostile
easily disguise themselves as any random person, even
creating the appearance of clothing. Some faceless Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor Special
keep old faces so that they can turn themselves into (see Insubstantial), Health 8
non-human forms, or even twist and morph their Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2 (Grit 0
bodies to create horrific and unique abilities. vs prayer), Morale 16
Faceless tend to hate dogs and animals with a keen Offense – Sway: +2, Damage Modifier +2 (bone-
sense of smell. While their appearance can change as chilling fear)
they shapeshift, their odor typically does not. Abilities: Malus 18
Special Abilities: Fear (cost 3 or 6), Insubstantial,
Invisibility, Possession (cost 3)
Flock of Carnivorous Seabirds Refresh Tokens: 5
Description: Ghosts usually manifest when a funerary
Raucous, hungry, airborne statue is broken (see p. 233) and the soul is forced
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 8 out of paradise. Some souls simply fade away into
(Armor 0 vs. Sorcery), Health 10 nonexistence; others, particularly those that are
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 8 (Grit 0 angriest about their broken statues or who left
vs. Sorcery and Fear), Morale 10 something unfinished in life, become undead such as
Offense – Warfare: +2, Damage Modifier +0 (many ghosts and are drawn to spots of Corruption.
sharp beaks) Ghosts have no physical attacks. They attack Morale,
Abilities: Malus 30 primarily through Fear or terrifying Sway attacks.
Special Abilities: Fear (cost 6 — all targets), Flight, Once they have terrified someone into insensibility,
Universal Attack (cost 6) they possess their body (see Possession, p. 163) and
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2; Stealth Modifier –2 walk amongst humanity once more. What they do
Refresh Tokens: 5 with the body, or if they ever give it back, depends
Description: Trained by air burials to crave human on the ghost. Such spirits are almost always angry and
flesh, flocks of seabirds sometimes find it desirable irrational, so their plans to avenge wrongs done to
to hunt live prey. They may even be controlled by them in life seldom end well for mortals involved.
Adversaries

a Sorcerer or a Warrior who can speak the language It’s easier for ghosts to possess you if you’ve
of birds. Either way, being attacked by a flock of previously cracked under severe emotional stress;
carnivorous gulls is an experience few forget. They’re the Difficulty of the Morale test to resist Possession
almost impossible to injure with normal weapons due rises by 1 for every time you have dropped below –10
to their numbers, and shouting at them does nothing. Morale during your adventuring career. This means
Intense fear can chase them away or scatter them that ghosts are more likely to be successful when
after enough repetition, and sorcery or fire is usually possessing the survivors of severe mental trauma,
effective in getting their attention…Then again, you such as war or natural disasters.
may not want their attention. Note that not all ghosts are human. It’s believed
that ghosts of long-dead Serpentine Sorcerers (and
worse) are largely responsible for passing on the
secrets of forbidden Sorcery. Such entities never have
humanity’s best interests in mind, and use living
humans as pawns in bringing about their obscure and
perilous schemes.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 189

Giant Scorpion Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +1

Refresh Tokens: 5
Predatory, huge, aggressive Description: Giant snakes typically act through instinct,
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 4 stalking and ambushing their prey. They Daze their
(hardened carapace), Health 18 prey with venom before choking the life out of it with
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 3 (see their coils. They don’t understand human languages,
below), Morale 8 and are largely resistant to fear.
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +2 or the
Restrain Maneuver (massive pincer); and +1; Damage
Golem
Modifier +1 plus venom (huge venomous tail —
Range Close) Implacable, unstoppable, a walking objet d’art
Abilities: Malus 25
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 4 (see
Special Abilities: Extra Action (cost 3), Lightning
Stony), Health 30
Speed (cost 3), Spider Climb, Venom (cost 3 — tail
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 10
only; Difficulty 5 Health test vs unconsciousness each
(implacable as stone), Morale 12
round for 3 rounds)
Offense – Warfare: +2, Damage Modifier +3 (massive
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2
stone fist)
Refresh Tokens: 5
Abilities: Malus 15
Description: The giant scorpion doesn’t live in
Special Abilities: Regeneration (cost 0 — regenerates
Eversink except when someone is stupid enough to
at end of scene), Stony, Strength
import one for use in pit fighting or as a guardian.
Refresh Tokens: 5
They attack by snapping with one or both pincers to
Description: Golems are implacable clay or stone
immobilize their foe (using the Restrain Maneuver
creations crafted by astonishing artists and animated
to do so), then jabbing with their tail at anyone else
by a divinely powerful coin embedded somewhere
within range. Good luck if you’re poisoned by their
in their heads. They do not feel, or breathe, or get
venom; after three Difficulty 5 Health tests in three
bored, or even really think: they just exist, and when
subsequent rounds, you’ll be lucky to stay conscious.
needed, they destroy. Not only are they difficult to
Giant scorpions don’t understand speech and thus
hurt with weapons, they’re almost immune to any
are immune to language-based Morale attacks, but
Morale-based attacks.

Adversaries
scare them enough and they’ll typically retreat. Their
Only two groups of people are reputed to have
thick carapace can be turned into an impressive shield
affected a golem’s Morale. One was a group of priests
with some skilled craftsmanship.
who combined all their Sway attacks by singing prayers
(see p. 66), with one member then unleashing that
Giant Snake powerful faith like a mental bludgeon. The other was
an artist so overcome by the golem’s sheer artistic
Hypnotic, hungry, coiled beauty that she praised it instead of attacking. At least
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2 one of these reports is highly unlikely.
(hardened scales), Health 25
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 4 (cold-
blooded indifference), Morale 15 (takes no damage
from language-based Morale attacks)
Offense – Warfare: +1; the Restrain Maneuver (coils),
or Damage Modifier +2 plus venom (fangs)
Abilities: Malus 15
Special Abilities: Extra Damage (cost 3), Fearsome
Blow (cost 3), Spider Climb, Strength, Venom (cost
3 — Daze)
 190 Swords of the Serpentine

Description: The Hollowed are priests of Denari

Hollowed whose faith has been hollowed out — quite literally
Bitter and empty in the truest possible way — and ripped away by multiple sorcerers, turning
the priest into a hollow and murderous mockery of
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1 (no
what they stood for in life. A Hollowed seeks out
internal organs), Health 14
the faithful and destroys their Morale, telling them
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
blasphemous untruths about their goddess before
(focused hatred), Morale 14
strangling the life from them. Although Hollowed
Offense – Warfare: +1, Damage Modifier +2
look human, only their shell of flesh remains, and
(sorcerously strengthened attacks)
there’s nothing inside them but emptiness and
Offense – Sway: +2, Damage Modifier +2 (heretical
hatred.
and insidious teachings)
Abilities: Malus 15
Special Abilities: Regeneration (cost 0 —
regenerates 2 Health and 2 Morale each time
it damages or demoralizes a living creature)
Refresh Tokens: 3
Adversaries
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 191

Lich Lycanthrope
Plans within plans within plans, the most dangerous Howling, agile, and hungry for fresh and panicked meat
monster you’ll briefly meet Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 5
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 5, Armor 3 (Armor 0 vs silver weapons), Health 20
(undead vitality) + Warding, Health 15 points per Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 3 (feral
Hero focus), Morale 12
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 5, Grit 3 (iron Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +3
willpower) + Warding, Morale 15 points per Hero (sharpened claws)
Offense – Sorcery: +3 vs. Morale, Damage Modifier Abilities: Malus 20
+3 (Obedience, Illusions) Special Abilities: Extra Action (cost 3), Fear (cost
Offense – Sway: +1, Damage Modifier +1 (whispering 3 or 6), Monstrous Ability (cost 3), Shape-Shift
certainty) (human to animal or half-form — cost 3)
Abilities: Malus 30 Misc: Alertness Modifier +2, Stealth Modifier +3
Special Abilities: Extra Damage (cost 3), Fear (cost Refresh Tokens: 5
3 or 6), Mastermind, Regeneration (cost 0 — Description: When a human becomes possessed by an
regenerates entirely at the end of an adventure if animal-related small god or demon, they occasionally
the hiding place for the lich’s soul has not been become a lycanthrope. The type of animal may vary
destroyed), Spellcasting (cost 3 — 5 uses total; add from rat to wolf to even a meat-eating seabird, but all
up to 3 additional Spheres); add up to two other lycanthropes are extraordinarily dangerous and take
Special Abilities to make each lich unique great joy in the bloodlust of a hunt. Quite often the
Refresh Tokens: 7 human doesn’t realize that they are cursed, and so
Description: Liches were powerful sorcerers in life. continues to live their normal life as well. Lycanthropy
They continue into undeath by hiding their soul in sometimes occurs from Corruption linked to an
the funerary statue of someone who was important Animal Sorcerous Sphere.
to them in life. A bitter rival, a dead lover, a trusted Some lycanthropes are triggered by the moon.
mentor, or a late parent — as long as the person Other, more dangerous lycanthropes are triggered
inspired exceptionally strong emotions in the sorcerer, by the tides. Lycanthropes only pass on their curse
their statue is fair game as a soul repository. Defeating if they also have the Infection Special Ability, at

Adversaries
a lich permanently usually requires the Heroes to the GM’s discretion. Some lycanthropes also have
investigate who the lich was in life. That can be tricky; Summoning, allowing them to summon and control
liches definitely bear grudges. animals matching their nature.
After a lich has been slain but before it has reformed,
there is usually some sort of guardian monstrosity
protecting the area around its soul-repository statue. Obsessed Cultist
These seldom give away the statue’s location, but Crazed, faithful, unstable
act as a last-ditch attempt to keep it safe. Subtle and
deadly traps are common. Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1
Liches are politically active in Eversink, hiding Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 8
behind human catspaws to manipulate and control Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 4 (sacrificial
huge amounts of influence and wealth. They often dagger)
skulk in sunken basements, rising to offer advice to Offense – Sway: +1; Fixed Damage 5
their descendants or to their allies. A Hero might Abilities: Malus 5
finish numerous investigations before they begin to Special Abilities: Bodyguard (cost 3 per attack),
realize that there’s a single mastermind manipulating Magical Charm (cost special; requires 7 cultists
events. working simultaneously, each paying 1 Malus)
Refresh Tokens: 1
 192 Swords of the Serpentine

Description: Driven into madness by exposure to Upon returning to her home, she must soak her
entities whispering out of a scar of Corruption, organs in vinegar to let them shrink enough to fit back
obsessed cultists labor ceaselessly to carry out their into her body. In human form, most penanggalans
patron’s wishes within the true world. They may carry a faint scent of vinegar. The Church of Denari
magically convert others to their cause, give their stringently denies that any of their Inquisitors work
life away to protect a more important personage, or with penanggalans in the hunt for sin.
speak with spirits or other entities to learn of possible Male versions exist as well, often called
futures (as if gifted with Spirit Sight). Cultists are manananggals.
unpredictable and dangerous if you oppose their Destroying a penanggalan’s head in combat only
goals. inconveniences her briefly. The only method for truly
destroying a penanggalan is to place broken glass
into her body’s neck cavity while she is away, or by
Penanggalan burning her headless body so that she has nowhere
Vigilante, nightmarish, just trying to get along in the to return to.
world
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2
(sorcerous resilience), Health 15
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2
(unbreakable hunger), Morale 12
Offense – Warfare (monstrous form): +2, Damage
Modifier +3 (fanged maw and blood-slurping
sharpened tongue)
Offense – Sway (human form): +1, Damage
Modifier +1 (convincing)
Abilities: Malus 18
Special Abilities: Fluid (cost 6), Monstrous Ability
(cost 3), Flight, Regeneration (cost 0 — regenerates
entirely at the end of a scene if her headless body has
not been destroyed)
Adversaries

Misc: Alertness Modifier +2 (scents blood and sin

only), Stealth Modifier +2
Refresh Tokens: 5
Description: A penanggalan is a cursed woman who
can monstrously detach her head from her torso,
flying through the night with her stomach and
entrails dangling beneath her, the organs twinkling
like fireflies in the darkness. When she does so she
leaves her headless body behind.
In other countries it’s said that these creatures
hunt mothers and newborn children. In Eversink,
however, the penanggalan hunts wickedness —
and the more dire the sin, the tastier her meal. She
squeezes herself up through the floorboards, moves
around the room using her intestines as tentacles,
and slurps her victims’ fresh blood through her long,
sharpened, tube-like tongue. She gains memories and
secrets from these victims, and she may bargain with
those secrets if her life is put in danger.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 193

Rarely, transformed rattakan can fully pass as human.

Rattakan These are carefully fostered, trained, and inserted as
Rodent-like, skittering, greedy and untrustworthy spies, gang leaders, or the leaders of thieves’ guilds.
More horrifying, naturally born rattakan changelings
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 10
are occasionally swapped for human babies without
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 6
the parents knowing for years.
Offense – Warfare: +1, Damage Modifier +1 (gnawing
Rattakan carry the late-stage disease scabral (see p.
fangs plus Infection)
85). It is transmitted through their saliva (so usually
Abilities: Malus 18
through their bite, although we don’t recommend
Special Abilities: Armor-Piercing (cost 3), Disguise
you spend time kissing one, either). It’s painful for
(cost 1), Defense Boost (cost 6), Infection, Shape-
rattakan to move through Denari’s Blessing, and
Shift between rat and rattakan (cost 3), Summoning
they are unable to enter sacred spaces without being
(cost 3 — rat swarm); dissolve into greasy black vapor
destroyed.
when slain
Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +3.
Injured or slain by places of worship (see p. 86) Serpent Folk (Serpentine)
Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: The rumor is that rattakan are nothing Ancient beyond measure, sorcerous, the true masters of
more than shadows seen by inebriated City Watch. humanity
Certainly no one has ever seen a body. And people Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 3
would notice if black-furred, bipedal, humanoid (hardened scales), Health 25
rats walked the city, don’t you think? Of course they Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 2 (utter
would. disdain), Morale 18
And yet, babies keep disappearing from the poor Offense – Warfare: +2, Damage Modifier +1 plus
sections of the ‘Sink, and people disappear when Venom (bite) or the Restrain Maneuver at +2
they’re infected with the disease scabral. Difficulty (coils)
Rats are always a problem in Eversink, and where Offense – Sorcery: +1 vs Morale, Damage Modifier
there are rats, there are the rattakan. They shift +1 (Spheres of Memory Control and Mind Control)
between rat-sized and the size of a human, are sly and Offense – Sway: +0, Damage Modifier +1 (hypnotic
territorial, and they both figuratively and literally gnaw whispers)

Adversaries
away at the religious and architectural underpinnings Abilities: Malus 30
of Denari. They spread quiet terror as they ruin the Special Abilities: Disguise (cost 1), Extra Action (cost
things that humans love. The church works to wipe 3), Lightning Speed (cost 3), Monstrous Ability
them out without ever letting knowledge of their (cost 3), Oracle (cost 3), Spellcasting (cost 3 — 2
existence reach the population as a whole. There uses), Venom (cost 3 — Daze)
would be terrified riots if that occurred, and no one Misc: Alertness Modifier +1, Stealth Modifier +2
wants to be the person who pushes the commoners Refresh Tokens: 5
into a rebellion. Description: Serpent folk lived in Narissimanitellikul,
The rattakan dwell deep beneath Alderhall and here in the delta of the great River Serpentine, for
Ironcross in long-forgotten sunken stone palaces that thousands of years before humanity first fled down
haven’t entirely collapsed or flooded. The bloated rat the river and tried to cross the mud. The serpent
queens lair there with thousands of their squeaking, people built unnatural temples within the bog, raised
naked young. It’s said that those linked rattakan idols to their demonic gods, and — in conjunction
palaces are maintained by nothing more than pure, with the great Serpentine Empire upriver — tore the
concentrated faith in the rattakan god; should that rules of sorcery from the starlight above. Most had
faith ever falter, the lairs would flood and collapse, departed by the time that Eversink was founded, and
taking a sizable portion of Eversink’s buildings with Denari drove many of the remaining serpent folk far
them. away.
 194 Swords of the Serpentine

Everyone knows that serpent folk died out long, long Faster than thought they were, and their sorcery
ago, and there’s no risk at all of ever encountering affected... affected... eh. It doesn’t matter, because
serpent folk within Eversink. Even if they still they don’t exist. This discussion is boring. Let’s talk
existed, they would not worship in the flooded and about another Adversary instead.
abandoned depths of the city, nor would they walk Snake’s Eye: as mentioned on p. 137, the ‘Sinkish
the streets pretending to be normal humans. That often mount a small mirrored charm on their door
sounds unlikely at best, don’t you think? jambs to ward off evil. Almost no one remembers
Truly, their extinction is a blessing. Stone carvings show the truth any more (2 ranks of Forgotten Lore or
them to have been long and deadly, with poison fangs Laws and Traditions needed), but legend has it that
and a coiling body atop which sat a human-like face. a properly made charm wards off serpent folk. It
catches their eye and repels them; serpent folk take 5
Morale damage if they attempt to pass a Snake’s Eye
charm on a door or window frame, and are restrained
for at least a round if they try. Sometimes, strange old
traditions happen for a reason.

Serpentine Monstrosity
Hulking, unthinkable, terrifying
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 5,
Health 20 per Hero
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 5, Grit 3,
Morale 15 per Hero
Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +3 (curved
blade or fangs), and the Restrain Maneuver (coils)
Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +4 (terror)
Abilities: Malus 50
Special Abilities: Fearsome Blow (cost 3),
Monstrous Ability (cost 3), Spider Climb, Strength,
Adversaries

Summoning (cost 3 — snakes), Universal Attack

(cost 6), Venom (cost 3 — Daze)
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2
Refresh Tokens: 7
Description: Serpentine Monstrosities are massive
human-ish serpents more than 10 meters
long, giants of hunger and hatred that
will gleefully destroy any human that
wakes them from their long torpor.
They are often worshipped as near-
gods by sorcerers and other superstitious
humans. They’re far from intellectual
and operate at almost a primal level,
but they rarely need to think more
clearly than that.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 195

Seskie
Luminescent, driven, inhuman
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 1
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Morale 3
Offense – Sorcery: +1 vs Health, Fixed Damage 4
(Sphere of Ocean)
Abilities: Malus 10
Special Abilities: Fluid (cost 3), Seize Initiative (cost
3), Swimming, Telepathy
Misc: Stealth Modifier +1
Refresh Tokens: 1
Description: The seskie are ocean spirits given flesh
for a brief amount of time — usually the length of a
tide, or a single moonlit night. They have pale skin
and eyes the color of ocean waves, and in moonlight
they glimmer like phosphorescent tides. They are
animated by the ocean’s powers and can swim upriver
or walk upon land until their allotted time expires or
they are slain. In either case, their body bursts into sea
water and no sign of the seskie remains.
Seskies are usually sent for a particular purpose,
such as capturing a certain person, learning a certain
fact, or recovering a certain item. They may come in
the hundreds or thousands when they do, or just a
handful may come into Eversink seeking their goal.
They avoid temples of Denari; simply crossing a
threshold is usually enough to burst their bonds of
flesh, so they recruit human allies if what they need is

Adversaries
within a holy space.
It’s rumored that seskies far more powerful than
the rank and file — true ocean sorcerers — exist as
well but find Eversink distasteful.
 196 Swords of the Serpentine

Shadow Demon
Lurking, evil, amused
Defense – Health: Health Threshold
6, Armor 2 (and often Insubstantial),
Health 15
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold
4, Grit 2 (hissing persuasion),
Morale 15
Offense – Sorcery: +1 vs Health,
Damage Modifier +3 (boiling
blood)
Offense – Sway: +2, Persuade
Maneuver
Abilities: Malus 15
Special Abilities: Spellcasting
(cost 3 — 1 use), Insubstantial
(when not in direct sunlight),
Possession (cost 3)
Misc: Stealth Modifier +4
Refresh Tokens: 5
Description: Shadow demons
are the shredded remnants of
a long-dead god. They’re made
from living shadow and bad
ideas, and they exist solely to
trigger lethally poor choices.
They appear to be toddler-
sized shreds of shadow;
Adversaries

although they can literally boil

the blood from your veins, they
vastly prefer to use the Persuade
Maneuver. Success results
in the victim doing exactly
what the shadow demon tells
it to do, without knowing it has been
manipulated.
Their preferred victims are
children. More than one parent
has been murdered in their sleep
by a 6-year-old who has no
recollection of why she’s suddenly
standing in a pool of blood.
Shadow demons leave a stink behind
them that smells of old blood. Church
Inquisitors claim greater-than-
average success in tracking their
movements.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 197

Shadow Wisp Skeletal Giant

Starved, evil, hidden Ancient, driven, hunting
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 6, Health 1 Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2,
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Morale 6 Health 15 per Hero
Offense – Sorcery: +0 vs Health, Fixed Damage 4 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 8 (0 vs
(vitality drain) prayer), Morale 3
Abilities: Malus 10 Offense – Warfare: +2, Damage Modifier +3 (tree
Special Abilities: Insubstantial (when not in direct trunk)
sunlight) Offense – Sway: +1, Damage Modifier +3 (paralyzing
Misc: Stealth Modifier +4 fear)
Refresh Tokens: 1 Abilities: Malus 20
Description: Shadow wisps are shadows stolen from Special Abilities: Fearsome Blow (cost 3), Lightning
children. They do the bidding of the shadow demon Speed (cost 3), Linger (can’t be defeated until both
that created them. Most dissipate naturally if their Health and Morale reach 0), Regeneration (cost
progenitor is destroyed, but rarely one or more grows 0 — Morale regenerates fully at the end of each
sufficiently in strength to eventually become self- round), Strength, Universal Attack (cost 6)
aware and a shadow demon itself. Misc: Stealth Modifier –1
Refresh Tokens: 7
Description: A necromantic hulk of the storm-torn
Singer in the Swamp North, this giant skeleton is ancient and deadly. To
Eerie, clinging, undead be truly destroyed, a skeletal giant cannot be killed
unless both Health and Morale are below 0. Morale
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor 1, regenerates at the end of each round. Using prayer
Health 1 for a Sway attack against it ignores Grit.
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 1,
Morale 1
Offense – Warfare: +0, Fixed Damage 4 (sharpened Swamp Ogre
fingerbones) or Restrain Maneuver
Fetid, dripping, insatiably hungry

Adversaries
Offense – Sway: +0, Fixed Damage 5 (paralyzing
fear) Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 3,
Abilities: Malus 10 Health 30
Special Abilities: Linger (can’t be defeated until both Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 2 (fear
Health and Morale reach 0), Regenerate (1 Health only), Morale 10
per round until defeated) Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +4 (massive
Misc: Stealth Modifier +1 spiked club)
Refresh Tokens: 1 Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +3 (terrifying
Description: Singers in the swamp (sometimes called roar)
bog singers) are reanimated skeletons of those who Abilities: Malus 20
drown in swamps. They’re typically imbued with Special Abilities: Strength
necromantic energy and a fell purpose; they delight Misc: Alertness Modifier –1, Stealth Modifier –1
in hiding under muck and brackish water, then using Refresh Tokens: 5
the Restrain Maneuver to pull passers-by down to Description: 3 meters tall and bestial, swamp ogres
their doom. They sing as they do, their eerie voices stalk the far reaches of the bog taking whatever they
echoing across the swamp. need by dint of their strength. When they invade
To be truly destroyed, a bog singer must both be human lands, livestock vanishes just barely before the
damaged physically and have a few words of prayer commoners do.
said over it (a Sway attack) during the same turn.
 198 Swords of the Serpentine

Will o’ the Wisp Winged Ape

Flitting, beautiful, murderous Ancient, ferocious, debased
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor Special Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2,
(see Insubstantial), Health 1 Health 16
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 1 Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Morale 10
Offense – Sorcery: +1 vs Morale, Fixed Damage 4 Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (massive
(unquenchable curiosity) or the Persuade Maneuver clawed fists), or +2 (fanged maw)
Abilities: Malus 9 Offense – Sway: +0; Damage Modifier +0 (terrifying
Special Abilities: Insubstantial, Invisibility (cost 3), howl — usable at Very Long range)
Regenerate (cost 0, next scene), Summoning (cost 3 Abilities: Wilderness Mastery 2; Malus 20
— monsters or humans of some kind, not necessarily
hostile)
Misc: Alertness Modifier +4, Stealth Modifier –3
(when lit)
Refresh Tokens: 1
Description: Will o’ the wisps appear both in the
swamp and in Eversink’s undercity. No one is quite
sure what drives them; they’re impossible to hurt
with physical weapons, easy to disrupt with sorcery
or prayer (using Sway), damn near impossible to
kill, and seem to take great delight in luring
people into danger. They do this with
a sorcerous attack against Morale
that creates great curiosity,
encouraging victims to
follow them long past
the point of safety.
These creatures often
Adversaries

appear in groups of up to
10 individuals, with usually only one wisp
lit and acting as lure at any given time.
Will o’ the wisps are said to love music. Sing
songs of haunting beauty to them, and you
might be lured to lost treasure instead of to your
doom.
Chapter Seven: Adversaries 199

Special Abilities: Extra Action (cost 3), Flight, Strength to mix with Eversink’s social elite. The vampire can
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2, Stealth Modifier +2 use Monstrous Ability to recreate any appropriate
Refresh Tokens: 3 vampiric ability, including turning to mist when
Description: Winged apes may grow as large as three badly injured, and it heals by drinking blood from
meters tall. They are only found deep in jungle ruins, immobilized or willing targets.
usually guarding ancient fallen cities with savage Some vampires are also sorcerers, able to manipulate
ferocity. Rumors persist of winged apes with four or Corruption and cast horrendous spells. Such vampires
six arms instead of the normal two, and of apes who are also often Masterminds, making them unspeakably
know rudimentary sorcery and who worship fallen dangerous.
Serpentine idols.

Vampire
Thirsty, varied, amused, loathsome
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 5 (0
when confronted by bane), Health 10 per Hero
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 3 (0 when
confronted by bane), Morale 10 per Hero
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +3 (crushing
grip or sharp fangs)
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +3 (insinuating
voice)
Abilities: Malus 25
Special Abilities: Fearsome Blow (cost 3), Insubstantial
(cost 6), Monstrous Ability (cost 3), Magical Charm
(cost 3), Regenerate (fully by next dusk if not fully
destroyed), Strength
Misc: Blood is life. Any Health damage inflicted to a
Dazed, Charmed, Unconscious, or Paralyzed target

Adversaries
heals the vampire’s Health by 1 point for every
damage point inflicted. Sunlight, however, acts
like Fire (see p. 88) to a vampire. Vampiric
Armor and Grit are reduced to 0 by the use of
the vampire’s bane, which varies by vampire
and is typically tied to something they loved
or feared in life.
Refresh Tokens: 5
Description: There are near-endless varieties
of vampires, from classic Bram Stoker
bloodsuckers, to deathly cold creatures who
devour Corruption and radiate death, to ancient
stone plinths hosting alien vampiric spirits that
someone foolishly used for bridge construction
materials. These stats show a classic “social” vampire
that preys on humans for blood and who may wish
 200 Swords of the Serpentine

Zombie
Rotting, terrifying, slow
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1 +
Special (see below)
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold Nil, Morale Nil
(zombies are immune to Morale attacks)
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 6
Offense – Sway: +1; Fixed Damage 4 (fear)
Abilities: Malus 5
Special Abilities: Summon (more
zombies — cost 3)
Misc: Can only be destroyed by a
Critical Hit. A normal hit creates
the appearance of superficial
damage and causes the zombie to
lose its action for the next round
(only one round regardless of number
of hits).
Zombies use their Sway attack at a
distance, groaning and moaning in a
terrifying way as they slowly advance.
Unless it Summons more zombies, it typically
uses all of its Malus at once and adds it to a single
Warfare attack, briefly giving it a +5 attack and a 50%
chance to score a Critical Hit on its target. If it scores
a Critical Hit, it rips into the target’s skull in search
of brains. The target and any human observing loses
Morale Fixed Damage 4 out of horror.
Adversaries

Refresh Tokens: 3
Description: A particularly tenacious form of undead,
zombies are typically created by a disease that uses
Corruption to hollow out a living being.
Variations: Fast zombies gain the Special Ability
Lightning Speed and have Malus 12. Infectious
zombies have the Special Ability Infection and can
create more zombies if their victim survives. Stealth
zombies gain a Stealth Modifier of +3. Sea or Swamp
zombies gain the Special Ability Swimming.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 201

Chapter Eight

GM A dvice

Safety During Play

RPGs go in unexpected directions, and no one wants � Place a card with an “X” or “Let’s Not” on it
to accidentally make other players uncomfortable or somewhere on the table where everyone can reach
scared. We recommend you use an RPG safety tool it.
such as the X-Card while playing. Such tools make sure � Anyone can tap or hold up the X-Card while
everyone at the table has a way to easily avoid issues that playing, and the group will edit out or adjust the
would otherwise stop your game cold. scene’s content, no questions asked.
Here’s how to use an X-Card. The X-Card was created by John Stavropoulos. Search
the internet for “RPG safety and calibration tools” for
more information on RPG safety tools.

Setting the Tone for Sword & Sorcery

Swords of the Serpentine cleaves to the ideas of classic and stolen, but when you’re shipwrecked or taken
sword & sorcery, such as the following. If you’re captive you can always rely on yourself.
building an adventure or planning a game, you won’t � The gear that’s most important is the gear that’s
go wrong if you start with these rules. named.
� Adventures are episodic. Months or years may pass � Sorcery is rare and dangerous, and can’t be trusted.
between when adventures are set, and a Hero’s Sorcery corrupts, and has a cost. Its rules and origins
fortunes may rise or fall from one adventure to the are little-known.
next. Adventures may occur out of chronological � Not all secrets in the world should be, or need to be,
order. known.
� The actions of Heroes change the world around � There are few, if any, non-human societies. Those
them in fundamentally important ways. that exist tend to be horrific or alien.
� A Hero’s own abilities are far more important � A Hero’s motivations may start out simple: survival,
than their gear. Equipment gets lost, abandoned, vengeance, and wealth. Motivations and Drives likely
grow more complex and sophisticated over time.
 202 Swords of the Serpentine

� The world is hard and seldom fair. All too � The sly and clever villain is not necessarily puissant
often, “justice” varies based on your wealth and in combat. That, of course, is why they hire
importance. protection.
� The world (and Heroes) are filled with moral � Villains linger, as do their plans.
shades of gray and are seldom black and white. � The unknown conceals horror and is seldom safe.
� The great Heroes carry their reputation before � The boundaries of kingdoms are fluid and are
them. seldom set in stone. They vary based on the actions
� The phrase “mighty thews” shows up way more of the strong.
often than you would probably expect. � The world is old and crumbling, and lost history
� Quests tend to be small, personal, and centered abounds.
around self-interest and small groups instead of � Whimsy lurks in unexpected places, and cleverness
saving a nation or the world. is everywhere.
� Wealth is transitory. Heroes live for today; they
may find great wealth, but they’re impoverished You can (and should) use this game’s rules in a way that
again before you know it. Money slips away or is is most fun for you and your players, but you’ll find
squandered, and Heroes must seek risks to capture that published setting and adventures cleave towards a
more. classic sword & sorcery approach.

Players Help Build the World

Far more than in many games, players in Swords of � “What has changed in the city since the last
the Serpentine are responsible for world-building and adventure?”
description. When a player asks you a setting-related
question and you don’t already have an answer, This last question may be one you want to ask more than
consider saying, “You tell me.” This stretches player one player. It’s then up to you to work some or all of
imagination, gives players tremendous buy-in to the their statements into the adventure and the campaign.
setting and campaign events, empowers players to co- Sometimes you’ll find this easy, and their world-
create fun locations and events, and over time, trains building may take a major role; sometimes it will be
players in improvisational GMing. Some examples: difficult and won’t even be mentioned in the following
� “How tall is the building?” “You tell me. How tall adventure; and sometimes it will contradict something
do you want it to be?” you already have planned, and you will need to gently
ask the player for something else (perhaps giving them a
GM Advice

� “I go and talk to the bartender.” “Sure. What’s his

name, and what does he look like?” hint as to the nature of their coming adventure).
� A typical way of starting a new adventure is going Note that two Investigative abilities allow explicit
around the table, asking each player in turn worldbuilding from the players at times when it
a question about the world at the start of the particularly favors the Heroes. Pool points from
adventure. Forgotten Lore (Sorcerer) and Laws & Traditions
� “What time of year is it?” (Sentinel) can and should be spent to declare something
� “What’s the weather like right now?” in the world to be true. If you think the effect of their
� “What time of day is it?” spend is too powerful, consider allowing it if 2 or more
� “Is it high tide, low tide, or somewhere in between?” points are spent instead.
� “When was the last time you slept in your own You’re under no obligation to accept statements that
bed?” you think change the tone of the game or the nature of
� “Why are you starting this adventure on the run the world, unless you want to — as GM you always have
from the City Watch?” final say over anything, including these rules.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 203

GM Advice
 204 Swords of the Serpentine

Character Construction
Advice on building Heroes can be found in Chapter flexibility, they can always redistribute their points after
Two. Here’s a look behind the scenes, with some GM- the first adventure.
specific advice. Players may want to specialize in an Allegiance
instead. Someone who puts extra Investigative points
into their Allies is telling you that they want a leadership
Analysis Paralysis role (or a lot of influence) in that faction. Reward
them, allowing them to draw on that influence to solve
A danger of character creation in any type of point- otherwise difficult problems. A Hero with 3 ranks of
buy system is analysis paralysis, where players become Mercenaries can legitimately call out her Mercenary
overwhelmed by choice and don’t understand the best troop to fight alongside her or clear out a dangerous
way to optimize their Heroes. This game avoids this in building, so long as she’s willing to take responsibility
several ways: for any injuries or political fallout. Heroes with 5 ranks
� A detailed character creation checklist, walking of Triskadane may actually be one of the thirteen
through the process step by step (see p. 11) secret leaders of Eversink, or perhaps used to be when
� A set of quick-start examples of how Heroes might they were younger, but they still know where all the
know one another (assuming they don’t want to government’s secrets are buried.
decide on their own) (see p. 8) Specialization in General abilities is limited somewhat
� Quick-start archetypes that are ready to play (see p. by the rule on p. 35, but it’s still possible for a Hero
45) to start play with 15 ranks of a single General ability.
� Permission to leave some Investigative points If they do, give them plenty of opportunities to use it
unspent before the first adventure frequently and don’t feel bad about making encounters
� Permission to freely redistribute points after the fun and challenging. A barbarian warrior with 15 ranks
first adventure of Warfare is itching to win a fight that might take down
� Permission to redistribute points after any any number of less puissant heroes, and that deserves to
subsequent adventure, with the GM’s approval and be recognized and rewarded with epic battles.
at a small cost.

Specialization Health vs. Morale

GM Advice

The most flexible Heroes are ones that pick and Character creation rules are designed so that you can
choose Investigative abilities from more than one list start with either a Health Threshold of 4 or a Morale
of Profession abilities. The players don’t get the bonus Threshold of 4, but not both. In just two adventures,
Build point for specializing, but they have complete players who want more protection can use their
freedom to customize their Hero. The trade-off may Advancement points gained from adventuring to
well be worth it. increase both Health and Morale to rank 10.
Some players may decide to be highly specialized, Pay attention to whether Heroes focus on damaging
putting 5 ranks into Command or 4 points into City’s their enemies’ Health (with Warfare or Sorcery) or
Secrets. This is the player’s way of telling you “This Morale (with Sway or Sorcery). This will tell you what
sounds really fun, and I want to do lots of this,” so sort of opponents they’ll have the most fun fighting,
reward it. Supporting characters will acknowledge and what type of encounters they’ll most enjoy.
the Hero as an expert at their specialty, and they may If players seem frustrated that their ranks of Sway
develop a wide reputation due to their skill. Make this or Warfare aren’t useful for the sort of enemies they’re
fun, and don’t punish a player for specialization. If fighting, remind them of the Teamwork Attack rule on
they discover that they haven’t left themselves enough p. 69.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 205

Rarer items can be gained as part of a wealthy or

Gear opulent lifestyle, or purchased in markets or from
particular vendors by spending a high number of
Remind players that Heroes can use Preparedness at Wealth points.
any time to establish what gear they have. With the Encourage players to name their signature gear
Flashback talent, Heroes can even say “Good thing I that they use in every adventure. In the style of literary
was wearing that chainmail!” and use newly established heroes such as Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by author
chainmail to save their own (or an ally’s) life from Fritz Leiber, naming weapons in particular helps define
an incoming barrage of crossbow bolts. That’s not who that sword & sorcery hero is.
cheating; it’s good and clever play.

Judging Investigative Ability Spends

A core mechanic of Swords of the Serpentine is What’s a Reasonable Effect?
encouraging players to make Investigative spends to do
bonus damage. You’re going to ask yourself: what’s a For a 1-point Investigative spend, a Hero can
reasonable spend? What’s a reasonable effect? What are automatically succeed at (or bypass) a standard
the limits? Use these guidelines. Difficulty 4 General ability test. A 1-point spend can
also engineer a reasonable coincidence, pull strings to
Ask the Player, arrange a favor, gain a big advantage for a round, gain
a small advantage for a scene, or make life harder for a
“What’s Your Goal?” Supporting Character. Larger spends should have more
powerful or more meaningful effects. If the player’s
When a player offers a spend, or if they’re staring at goal seems too powerful for a 1-point spend, ask for a
their character sheet instead of telling you their action, spend of 2 or more points instead. Encourage players
ask what their goal is. By telling you what they want to be creative and imaginative; if they can rationalize
to achieve, you can help them make the most fun or how one of their abilities helps them achieve the effect
efficient choice. This is most important for new players they’re seeking, you should agree.
and new campaigns. See p. 51 for examples of effects from spends.

GM Advice
What’s a Reasonable Spend? What Are the Limits?
If it’s to gain information that is a clue or a lead, give You’re the ultimate arbiter of what’s possible and what
them the information they’re looking for with no spend isn’t. When the player wants an Investigative spend to
or die roll required. achieve something that’s flatly impossible, that makes
Investigative spends are used to give a Hero a the game less fun for everyone, or that runs counter to
moment in the sun. Every time a player wants to try the game’s tone, you should decline the spend.
something that seems unrealistic or improbable to You may decide to allow more lenient limits in
you, ask for an appropriate spend instead, with your exchange for success with consequence. For instance,
guideline being “Could a hero in a sword & sorcery you may allow a player’s unlikely attempt to collapse
story accomplish this?”
the ancient temple’s ceiling, because the Heroes would
Outside of combat, spending more than one pool then have to make a desperate Chase to survive the
point to achieve a goal is uncommon. Ask for a multi- collapse and because it might allow the villain to survive
point spend when the player wants to achieve something and take revenge later.
particularly difficult or improbable.
 206 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Success at a Cost

Failure is boring and consequences are interesting. Consider making a failed roll into a moderate success
along with some sort of devil’s bargain that has the player making hard decisions.
This is particularly useful when the Heroes are trying to reach a core scene. The question stops being “Will
they succeed?” and starts becoming “How much trouble are they in?” This keeps the game moving towards
a climax, but never becomes an auto-win in a dangerous confrontation and does not protect Heroes from
Health or Morale loss. You’re encouraged to give players a difficult choice in these circumstances, and then
let the players decide for themselves what is most important.
You can’t confront your enemy because you can’t batter open or pick the lock on a locked door, and no
one has a point of City’s Secrets to spend for the special benefit of a hidden passage. You try one last Athletics
test and fail. Your GM says, “It depends on how much shoulder you put into it. Are you willing to do what
it takes?” You say yes. Your low roll becomes a success but you dislocate your shoulder, raising the Difficulty
of Warfare attacks for the next scene. The heavy door slams to the ground, echoing down the corridor. Now
he knows you’re coming.

How to Run a Fight

Combat works best when it runs quickly. The initiative Effective Adversaries
system helps reduce analysis paralysis by giving players
a few minutes’ notice before it’s their turn so that they
can plan out their action. When it comes down to blows Mooks
(whether verbal or physical), encouraging players not to Tactically powerful Mooks are a “glass cannon”,
dither usually results in more fun for the entire table. able to strike hard before being easily defeated. This
Let the players describe the combat area and any matches genre convention where heroes cut down the
setting detail other than those facts you’ve already faceless minions before engaging with the true villain.
established. That lets them help create the environment Encourage Heroes to use their combat Talents to take
and battlefield, makes it simpler for them to picture down as many Mooks as they can as quickly as possible.
GM Advice

the scene, and frees you up to respond to their world- They may learn the hard way that not doing so can be
building with your own villains. A nice side effect of dangerous in a fight.
this is that you get to react to other peoples’ creativity As such, consider deploying Mooks in waves —
instead of having to create everything from scratch instead of 20 Mooks attacking simultaneously, have 10
yourself. attack in the first round, 5 attack in the second round,
It’s important to remember that fights end when and 5 attack in the third round. You should tweak this
people are defeated (or when they flee), not when distribution and add to or subtract from the quantity of
they’re necessarily dead, and it’s up to the attacker to Mooks to give your players a fun fight at whatever level
describe what happens to a defeated foe. They could be of challenge you prefer. Just remember that if all the
left unconscious, dead, stunned, cowering, transformed Mooks go before a single player in the initiative order,
by sorcery, or something even more creative. you may accidentally defeat the Heroes before they ever
get an action. Split Mooks up into separate initiative
groups so that they don’t all necessarily act at once.
A nameless Mook is usually easily differentiated
from a named Adversary. If the Heroes ask, don’t be
reluctant to let them know which is which. It’s no fun
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 207

for anyone if your player spends 6 Warfare to eviscerate bureaucracies to their advantage, try to get a Hero’s
a lone, nameless minion with a Critical Hit (unless allies to turn against them, and threaten (and follow
that’s what they deliberately want to do). through) dire consequences if the Hero doesn’t do
Rarely, a Mook is worth promoting to a named as they wish. Whenever possible, a named foe will try
Adversary. This happens when they survive improbable to arrange a confrontation on grounds that are most
odds, are surprisingly effective in combat, or someone advantageous to their own cause.
asks you their name. One caution: if foes use high-Difficulty Morale-
based Maneuvers to try to get a Hero to do something
Monsters objectionable, remind the player that they can make
Deadliness varies tremendously from monster to an appropriate Investigative spend to reduce the
monster. Some are easy to defeat if you know their Maneuver’s Difficulty. You always want players to feel
secret; some are robust but not terribly deadly; some are like they have a choice when a foe tries to persuade
lethal and should be feared. The monster’s appearance them, trick them, or possess them.
(and the Investigative ability Know Monstrosities) will
Single Foes
give hints to which is which.
A single monster against an entire group of Heroes Whether it’s with a monster or a particularly deadly
will die relatively quickly. If you want it to put up a human, not all fights involve more than one enemy. If
longer fight, give monsters the Warding special ability designing a single foe for a momentous battle, make
or supplement monsters with additional human or it flexibly deadly, terrifying to observe, worryingly
non-human foes. Mooks are particularly useful for this robust, and clever in its tactics. Extra damage from well-
purpose. organized Heroes with lots of Investigative points to
While it’s become a cliché nowadays, many monsters spend means that a single foe, no matter how dangerous,
(particularly supernatural ones) in traditional sword & may be defeated with surprising speed. Single foes are
sorcery stories are “load-bearing monsters” whose death most interesting and challenging when they have a
triggers a collapse of the structure or area they lair in. way to attack more than one Hero per round, either
You can use this implausible but dramatic tactic in an with Extra Action, Fear, Universal Attack, or multiple
adventure as well, with the monster’s death triggering a actions; and last longer in a fight when they have ways
chase (see p. 59) to safety. to mitigate damage for a time, such as Armor, Grit,
Defense Boost, and Warded.
Named Foes
Just as in a movie, the most dangerous foes are the ones
High Grit and Armor
important enough to have names. They’re typically
cannier, harder to kill, and more deadly than nameless Some enemies are easy to hit but hard to hurt. Foes

GM Advice
enemies. like this favor Heroes with the Spot Frailty ability,
Some named foes only appear once and are no and are best defeated by using Teamwork Attacks or
more powerful than an average Mook, but are harder Investigative spends to boost damage enough to get
to defeat and possess more than 3 Health and Morale. through the protection.
These mid-difficulty combatants survive longer in Add high Grit or high Armor to existing Adversary
combat but are less likely to pull out truly unique tactics stat blocks to make encounters tactically interesting so
when fighting Heroes. that Heroes must try different strategies to take down
When a named foe should be memorable and truly a foe.
dangerous, don’t hesitate to use them to their fullest When Heroes have high Grit or Armor, foes who
potential. Spending 3 Malus can produce the same are aware of it will respond accordingly, thinking out
result as a Hero’s Investigative spend, and named of the box and trying a Maneuver or an unconventional
foes with the capability to do so will seize initiative, attack if possible. Only a foe with no other options
obscure a lie, do extra damage, try to resist a Maneuver, will attempt attacks that have no chance in damaging a
heal themselves, and any other clever tactic they can Hero. In such a situation, most foes will instead attempt
think of to win. They’ll use the law and government to escape.
 208 Swords of the Serpentine

Wards and Healing Effective Tactics

Heroes (and some villains) have the ability to unleash Regardless of their competence, Adversaries in an
true pain on their foes by spending every General and adventure are usually doing their best to succeed at
Investigative point they have on an attack. It isn’t their goals. Your goal as GM, however, is for everyone
unheard of, for instance, for a specialized sorcerer to at the table (including both you and the players) to have
inflict over 30 points of damage on a single momentous fun. Sometimes that means villains are embarrassing
attack. That’s hard for anyone to survive — and it pushovers who are being manipulated and who drop
should be. like bowling pins, and sometimes it means they’re
When you need a foe to survive a little longer than deadly, clever, and terribly effective.
normal, give them the Warded special ability (see p. Adversaries who aren’t smart or experienced enough
165) that allows them to only take half damage until to show good tactics may charge blindly into battle
the end of their next turn. You may also wish to give without thinking twice about their strategy. Cleverer
them higher-than-normal Armor or Grit, even if you opponents have a sense of self-preservation and may
do so with a special ability that causes it to last for only well prefer to keep themselves safe to fight another
a round. This will help keep a single Adversary on their day — they’ll summon minions, engage their hired
feet longer when facing off against an entire group of mercenaries, call the City Watch if they have plausible
Heroes. deniability, and use Sway attacks rather than Warfare
An often-overlooked tactic is for the Adversary to defeat enemies without putting themselves at risk of
bodily harm.
to have minions with the Healing or Bolster Morale
Mechanically, here are methods for improving
ability, using their Malus to restore the primary villain’s
Adversary tactics.
Health and Morale.
� Mooks with missile weapons (such as armor-
piercing crossbows), standing in locations that
are physically difficult to reach and that are far
Fight Locations enough apart for Heroes’ combat Talents to be
less effective. A second Mook behind each archer,
When staging a fight, make the fight scene as interesting
cocking a second crossbow each round, makes
as possible by using the environment to your advantage.
them even deadlier.
Think of the fight location like the scene of a movie; � Crowds of Mooks can be extremely deadly, and
why is it memorable and exciting, and what additions can overwhelm Heroes if not targeted and defeated
might make it more dynamic and fun? A duel on a quickly.
slippery stone bridge during a storm is more interesting � Use Malus spends, Investigative spends and special
than a duel in the middle of a plaza… unless that plaza
GM Advice

abilities for Adversaries to increase damage or

is a Market Square, it’s the middle of a holy festival, and accuracy, just as Heroes might.
there are hundreds of carts and stalls to tip over, run � Use Adversary special abilities or Maneuvers to add
through, and climb. Whenever you have two options, complications such as tripping and disarming into a
pick the one that will make a more interesting story or fight.
action scene. � Seize Initiative, Extra Action, and Universal Attack
When in doubt, go around the table and ask your can allow an Adversary to attack whenever they
players to each tell you something interesting about choose, and then attack more than one person at a
the location or what’s nearby. Then incorporate their time.
suggestions into the fight scene. � Fear (the option that affects more than one target)
is efficient at threatening Morale reserves.
� When an Adversary runs low on Malus, Mooks
with Invigorate can help keep them in the fight.
� Allies of the primary Adversary may be able to use
Healing to heal them, or use Bolster Morale to
restore their Morale.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 209

GM Advice
 210 Swords of the Serpentine

� Armor, Grit and (particularly) Warding help answers so you can use them in later games. Doing so
powerful Adversaries stay alive longer by limiting will slowly weave a network of interesting Supporting
the amount of damage they take in a round of Characters around the Heroes, and will make sure your
combat. group’s adventures ripple far beyond the ruins they’re
� Use societal pressure along with combat; sure, you exploring or the treasure they’re robbing.
can cut down that captain of the guard, but isn’t
she the younger sister of someone near the top of
Using Enemy, Grudge and Low
the Triskadane’s secret police?
� Adversary Sorcerers who aren’t trying to maintain Repute Points
secrecy might use the environment to their
advantage in the flashiest manner possible, pulling Keep a handy list of each Hero’s Enemy and Grudge
down buildings and floors, or summoning up flood factions, and of how many Enemy ranks and Grudge
waters. points they have acquired, using the chart on p. 366.
Do the same with points of Low Repute.
Work to use Enemy and Grudge points against
Tactical Weakness the Heroes whenever plausible, particularly when
encountering Supporting Characters who are also
You can make an otherwise deadly foe defeatable by enemies or allies of that faction. If action gets slow
giving it a tactical weakness, just as you can make during an adventure, consider spending an Enemy pool
otherwise ineffective foes relevant in battle by giving point to complicate the Heroes’ lives in some way. In
them a tactical strength. Two such examples are a horse- Eversink, when in doubt, an old enemy shows up to
borne warrior who is far less effective off her mount, even the score.
or a silver-tongued blackguard who shyly panics when Possible uses of Enemy points to sabotage Heroes,
talking to those he’s strongly attracted to. complicate their scenes or thwart their plans include:
Similarly, a highly effective fighter might be terrified � Suborning or bribing Supporting Characters to
of social confrontation and have low Sway or a low secretly spy on or work against the Heroes
Morale. When confronted by Maneuvers targeting their � Closing off buildings, streets, canals, or other rights
Morale, they may remove themselves from the situation of way just to spite the Hero
as quickly as possible… or they might attempt a more � Planting false information or minor red herrings
violent solution. in an investigation (recommended only if the
adventure is otherwise straightforward)
� Reducing the Difficulty of a Hero’s Maneuver by 3
Allies or more, making it easier to survive
� Hiring an assassin or street gang to ambush the
GM Advice

If there’s one thing that can be said about Eversink,

Heroes at a time when the adventure might hit a
it’s that people know each other by reputation and
slow spot
that debts last until paid with interest. Political and
� Spreading false or damaging rumors about the
family alliances are extremely important, and it isn’t
Hero or an organization they support
uncommon for blood feuds to span centuries. As a
� Setting the law on the Hero for a trumped-up
result, confronting an Adversary with the Allies special
charge
power (see p. 160) or with a strongly established social
� Making a particular item (such as poison or exotic
position may end up with Heroes biting off more than
weaponry) difficult, expensive, or impossible to
they expect.
obtain
Use this to your advantage when running games in
� Adding +3 to the Difficulty of a Maneuver used
Eversink. Ask each Hero what famous or notable person
against the Hero
(if any) they’re related to, and tell Heroes with ranks
� In a fight, inflicting an extra die of bonus damage
in Nobility the possible consequences of thwarting
against the Hero.
or killing socially prominent citizens. Write down the
� Giving one of their foes the opportunity to escape.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 211

Hero 1: Hero 4: Hero 5:

Enemies Hero 2: Pallia Hero 3: Oloch
Kelluska Donato Gadric
Ancient Nobility -1 -1

Church of Denari -1

City Watch -1

Commoners

Guild of Architects

Mercanti

Mercenaries -2 -1

Monstrosities

Outlanders

Sorcerous Cabal

Thieves’ Guilds -1

Triskadane

GRUDGES

Ancient Nobility

Church of Denari

City Watch -1

Commoners -1

Guild of Architects

GM Advice
Mercanti

Mercenaries -1

Monstrosities

Outlanders -1

Sorcerous Cabal

Thieves’ Guilds

Triskadane -1

LOW REPUTE -2 -1 -1
 212 Swords of the Serpentine

At its heart, ranks in an Enemy ability gives you a built- on how a Hero should be inconvenienced. Players
in excuse to complicate a Hero’s life, to tie them further might suggest a narrative downturn, or create a
into the web of Eversink’s political factions, and to let a particularly galling rival in the enemy organization.
particularly egregious enemy become that much more It’s our experience that players often suggest worse
dangerous. consequences for Enemy or Grudge spends than the
More than one rank in the same Enemy indicates GM will ever think of.
that the Hero has a reputation as a notorious foe of that Low Repute pool points give you a method for
faction. The Hero will usually be recognized on sight or thwarting a Hero any time money, status, or appearance
by their reputation, and their enemy will seek them out is involved. Use your pool points of Low Repute to
and stalk them to even the score. thwart the Heroes socially when they interact with
You can crowdsource the use of Enemy or Grudge people who think of themselves as rich, important, or
pool points by asking your fellow players for advice snobbish.

Mysteries and Leads

Sword & sorcery adventures are full of mysteries, leads Even simple questions — how does that trap work?
and clues. Here are some examples. Is this merchant lying to us? — can be considered
� You hear rumors of (cursed?) jewel-eyed idols, as a mystery, a lead, or a clue to greater adventure.
hidden in ancient jungle temples to a fallen snake- This is a category where GUMSHOE games excel.
god, and you want to track them down. With Investigative abilities that always reveal a clue if
� Anonymous blackmailers are trying to force your you’re in the right spot for one to be found, Heroes
mentor to betray you against his will. Who, and move through adventures across many different paths,
why? uncovering the action in whichever way they choose.
� Mysterious beasts (or monsters?) are murdering A classic challenge of mysteries in roleplaying
people on mist-shrouded city streets. Where do games, however, is “What do I do if the players never
they lair, and how did they get here? think to look for the clue?” Perhaps they forget to
� You stumble onto ruins with well-carved statues of check a corpse’s moneypouch, or never follow up on a
a long-dead people. Are the statues more than they promising clue because it slips everyone’s mind. Here
seem, and are they safe to sleep near? are our recommendations when designing and running
� Trained birds are brutally ripping the jewelry from adventures.
the necks and ears of Ancient Nobility. Who’s When assembling a mystery or an adventure, think
GM Advice

behind the crimes, how are they training so many about how clues lead from one scene to the next.
birds, and where are all those jewels ending up? Leads and clues can come from Heroes using their
� You suspect there are hidden secret passages in a Investigative abilities, or from using the knowledge of
long-abandoned mansion. How do you find them, their Allegiances.
and how do you get past the traps?
� A noble’s murder sets off a civil war — who killed
her, and why? Can you stop the war? And equally Core Clues
important, who will pay the most coin for the truth?
� You suspect a prestigious rival family is hiding a The core clue is a special kind of clue that points the
secret history that they’re willing to kill to protect. way to the next scene. They link the scenes of the story
What could be so bad, and can you use it to together, and they ensure that Heroes can progress
engineer their downfall? from one scene to another. Core leads always get found.
� A shapeshifting monstrosity seems to be moving Note that two Investigative abilities, Prophecy and
from home to home, feeding as it goes. How can Ridiculous Luck, can always provide core leads. If the
you find it to stop the murder spree, and who is it Heroes have no idea where to go because they haven’t
imitating right now? yet put their clues together properly, both Prophecy and
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 213

Ridiculous Luck are easy ways to point them towards

the next scene.
You didn’t plan an adventure, so you decide
Every scene in the adventure has one or more core on the fly that one of the Heroes’ allied
clues leading away from it, so that Heroes always have factions is going to hire them to investigate,
at least one clue to follow. and eradicate, the problems of a haunted
house. You aren’t sure whether the house is
actually haunted or not, and you decide to
Defining Clues leave the question open for as long as possible.
When the players start investigating, you tell
To work out the possible clues that Heroes can find, them these clues.
make a list of all the possible Investigative abilities (see
p. 20). �(City’s Secrets) This mansion stands
Run through this list and note down which abilities on roughly the same site as Calieri
reveal useful information. You don’t need to do this for Manor, a long-sunken thieves’ guild
every ability; when you’re done, delete from the list any that was scoured by an angry sorcerer
abilities or Allegiance that won’t provide a clue in this several centuries ago. If they can get
scene. See the sample adventure at the end of this book into the basement, they should be able
for an example. to see if anything from Calieri Manor
has burrowed upwards. (This points the
way to the next core scene, so this is a
Using Multiple Clues core clue.)
It’s easiest for Heroes to track down mysteries when �(Spirit Sight) The pavement here
multiple core clues point towards the next scene, and squirms and boils when seen in the
when those core leads are tied to different Investigative spirit world. If there isn’t Corruption
abilities. Multiple clues help players make the here now, there sure was once. Maybe
distinction between “This is a coincidence” and “This some of it remains.
is important,” and tying these leads to different abilities
�(Felonious Intent) The location of
helps ensure that one player won’t be responsible for
the mansion would make it ideal as
missing the one core clue.
Giving multiple clues shouldn’t hand players the a smuggling waystation, except it’s
solution to a mystery on a silver platter. More than one owned by an elderly and cantankerous
clue might not provide much clarity as to why something retired commander of the City Watch
who everyone thinks would never break

GM Advice
is happening, but it provides indications that there’s
something there to venture out and investigate after all. the law.
It will be up to you what the actual truth is, guided by
the players’ expectations and by what seems the most
Clues on the Fly fun. You can continue to make up clues on the fly that
help point the Heroes to the adventure’s excitement
When making up adventures on the fly, don’t worry deep below ground, with a lot of danger and mystery
about pre-planning clues. Instead, just picture the along the way. Ideally, the truth catches the players off
scenario and consider what logical clues might arise guard by being more complex or interesting than they
from it. Then tell them to players on the fly as their might have expected.
Heroes investigate. So long as you’re consistent, this is
the easiest method of running an adventure with little
or no preparation.
 214 Swords of the Serpentine

Ridiculous Luck and Prophecy are the two “wild

Listen to Your Players card” abilities that circumvent this. In this regard they
can be the GM’s best friend. Ridiculous Luck doesn’t
If they’re facing a mystery, your players are going to tend to provide specific answers and clues, but can
have multiple theories about what’s going on in the point Heroes to the correct location or contact through
adventure. Listen to them, and if their suggestions
an entirely fortuitous chain of coincidences. Similarly,
sound better than what’s actually going on, just change
Prophecy (which can trigger any time you choose, even
your plot on the fly. You’ve learned what your players
if the player doesn’t think to ask) gives Heroes a clue
love, and they’re going to feel particularly clever. For
towards a location or a person where important clues or
even better results, combine one of their theories
information lie. Prophecy doesn’t reveal those clues —
with your own plotting to make your story even more
it’s far more fun for Heroes to explore dangerous sites
interesting.
and talk to Supporting Characters, instead of having
clues handed to them on a silver platter — but using
Write and Summarize Clues Prophecy means that Heroes spend less time debating
and more time adventuring to follow leads.
It’s easy for players to lose track of who’s who, as well As such, don’t discourage the use of Prophecy. You
as of what clues they’ve discovered. Thinking they’ve always have control over how clear and reliable the
hit a final dead end might lead your Heroes to “turtle,” visions are, and you’ll use those visions to give Heroes
hunkering down to exhaustively compare theories
yet another avenue for exploration. That expands their
instead of venturing forth to find the truth. Not everyone
fun and their possible decision tree while helping them
finds longer strategy sessions fun or exciting, so when
avoid gridlock. Better yet, if you’re running an adventure
necessary you should help the players remember details
on the fly and haven’t decided how it resolves, you may
that their Heroes wouldn’t have forgotten.
even wish to ask the player to describe their own vision
To do so, write down names of Supporting
Characters on note cards and encourage players to and base a portion of the adventure’s climax on that!
write down clues or leads as they are discovered. When
needed, give the players a quick factual summary of the Start Adventures as
clues they’ve uncovered. When doing so, try not to Late as Possible
editorialize or draw conclusions for the players; there’s
great fun for your players in putting together the clues Few classic sword & sorcery adventures start with the
and uncovering the truth for themselves. Heroes debating at length what to do and where to go
next, especially at the start of the story. Embrace this.
Location and Start your adventures as late in the story as possible,
“Wild Card” Abilities even if that means beginning with the Heroes in the
GM Advice

process of delving underground or breaking into

Investigative abilities require you to be in the correct someone’s house or in the middle of a fight, and then
location, or with the correct person, before they can use flashbacks to establish how they got there and what
help you get clues. That makes plenty of sense; you can’t information they’ve researched before they started the
learn the desperately needed nugget of information action.
from a rare book until you can get your hands on that When players then ask, “Why did we take this job?”
book and pore over it with Forgotten Lore, even if you then respond, “You tell me. What led to you being
Forgotten Lore has told you what book you need to here?”
find. Different groups of players have different levels of
As the adventure progresses, Heroes can get stuck appreciation for this approach. Talk to yours, and make
on where to go next for more clues. They may have sure everyone finds this “late start” approach fun. If
discounted a lead, or not spoken to a Supporting not, scale back its use substantially. If you’re running
Character. This is okay; it’s traditional for Heroes to an Open World campaign where adventures are wholly
return to previous locations to find additional details or driven by the Heroes’ actions and decisions each game,
gossip they missed. you may want to avoid it nearly completely.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 215

Adventure Construction
Types of Scenes Lead-Ins and Lead-Outs
(and why they’re essential)
Adventures are constructed of several types of scenes.
� INTRO: The first scene of the adventure, this When designing an adventure, always note Lead-ins
starts the Heroes on the path to adventure. (the scenes that can lead to the current scene) and
� CORE: This scene must be played for the adventure Lead-outs (scenes that can be directly reached from
to progress. Core scenes are linked by core clues. the current scene). Along with the plot map, Lead-ins
� MONTAGE: When the Heroes are traveling from and Lead-outs will help you keep track of what happens
one location to another (over several hours or several when, and of how the Heroes can progress through the
days), run a fast montage scene to emphasize that adventure. Without them, things get confusing fast.
the journey had challenges that were surmountable.
Go around the table and have each player describe
one challenge they faced during their travels, and Plot Maps
then the same player describes how the challenge
was solved. For an example, see p. 217. Figuring out how an adventure might flow — especially
� ALTERNATE: Alternate scenes are additional one where you feel like you need to keep track of clues!
ways to get the Heroes excitement or information, — can feel intimidating until you’re used to it. One
but they’re not necessary to completing the easy way to picture the core adventure structure is to
adventure. create a dungeon map where you use scenes instead of
� SUBPLOT: If using both an A plot and a B plot, rooms. It’s basically a flowchart where rooms and door
a subplot scene focuses on advancing knowledge of placement help you quickly see how plot threads might
the secondary plot. be related. This helps you visualize how Heroes might
� DRAMATIC: Dramatic scenes focus on the get from one scene to another.
Heroes interacting with other characters, and often As an example, here’s the scene map for Corpse
play to the Heroes’ backstories. Provide dramatic Astray, the sample adventure included in this rulebook.
foils for your Heroes — a rival, an estranged child, Beware spoilers! If you’re a player who will be playing
a former lover — so that the players have someone this adventure, skip forward until after you’ve played
to play against. the adventure.
� FLASHBACK: Use flashback scenes to establish A plot map flowcharts the adventure to show what

GM Advice
how the Heroes got to where they are now, or how scenes are accessible from what other scenes. For
their Adversaries put an evil plan into action. instance, in Scene 5 of the map for Corpse Astray, it’s
� ATMOSPHERIC: Atmospheric scenes don’t quickly obvious that the Heroes can talk to Antoni,
provide any new information, but help ratchet up learn about Noble House, or enter Noble House in
tension by hinting at the horror or adventure to any order, but they can’t get to Scene 6 until they’ve
come. explored the house. Similarly, depending on what
� HAZARD: Scenes where the Heroes must bypass happens they can reach Scene 7 but bypass Scene 6.
or avoid some sort of risk to life and limb. Your adventure isn’t constrained to just these scenes,
� ANTAGONIST REACTION: The villain is and the adventure might go wildly and delightfully off
reacting to the actions of the Heroes, and they the rails as Heroes pursue an approach you had never
might take steps to stop them in their tracks. This thought of. That’s usually to be encouraged.
sort of scene may be triggered by what the Heroes
have done in the adventure.
� FINALE: The climactic encounter of the
adventure.
 216 Swords of the Serpentine

Scene 1:
Aboard the
Shining
Coin

Scene 2:
Approaching Eversink

Scene 3:
Corpsetakers at
the Docks

Scene 4: Into the Tangle

Follow the Find Noble House

Corpsetakers? on Your Own

Scene 5:
Antoni Valerio and Noble House

Learn
Enter
GM Advice

About Talk to
Noble the
Antonio Explore
House House
the House

Fight!
Scene 6:
Horrible
Rampage

Track & kill the

Scene 7:
fleshtangle!
Aftermath and
Conclusion
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 217

Resources aren’t typically lost in challenge montages

Jumping Around in History unless both GM and players agree it makes sense.

The rules for Fledgling and Sovereign Heroes (see p.

GM: “How many days of trekking does it
225) mean that your adventures don’t need to happen take you before you find the ruins?”
in linear time. You can, for instance, run a three-game Player: “Six.”
series where the first game has your normal Heroes
GM: “Okay, describe a threat for me!”
butting up against a thorny problem; your second
game set a decade earlier, when the Fledgling Heroes Player 1: “On day 3 we have a disagreement
accidentally cause or create that problem; and the third that almost leads to the group splitting up
game using your Sovereign heroes, as they finally track and going two separate directions. We spend
down their recurring enemy and solve the problem a surprising amount of time screaming in
once and for all. anger at each other.”
You can even run more than one time frame in the
same adventure, following this same pattern, jumping GM: “Great. Someone make it worse.”
forward and backwards between scenes to show the Player 2: “We had just drawn our weapons
cause of events or the consequence of difficult choices. when we realized that the huge flowers we
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you need were camped next to were sentient, poisonous,
to run one type of adventure, or an adventure set in and enticing us to murder one another. And
only one time. Heroes can be ageless, and players
that’s when all the grass came alive, too.”
immediately seeing the result of their actions can be the
best reward of all. GM: “Someone else tell me how you resolved
it.”
The Challenge Montage: Player 3: “There’s a reason we carry lamp
Speeding and Summarizing oil. We burned them just in time, but the fire
Travel we started was still burning when we left.
We’re not sure if any of the flowers survived
Whether Heroes are traveling across the city in a few or not.”
hours or across untrammeled jungle wilderness in a
terrifying expedition into the unknown, establish the
flavor of challenge and adventure without spending a
One-Shot Construction
great deal of time on multiple hostile encounters. This
To save time, a one-shot game may work best with
is especially true for shorter game sessions or one-shot

GM Advice
wholly or partially pregenerated Heroes. If you create
adventures. In these cases, go around the table and ask
Heroes for your players, be sure to use Adjectives,
the first player to describe a threat or challenge. Ask the
Drives and Gear to tell the players who those Heroes
second player to then make it worse. Finally, ask a third
really are. Consider leaving one Investigative rank open
player how the group solved it, and whether there were
on every Hero, so that players can fill those in on the fly
any consequences.
during the game.
Such challenges can be interpersonal, diplomatic,
We recommend you don’t explain the game’s rules
combat, logistical, bureaucratic, or any number of other
extensively before you start. Instead, give players the
possibilities; the only rule is that they be enough fun to
basics and then rely on the player cheat-sheets in the
be worth mentioning. Two or three montage sets are
back of this book (and online at www.pelgranepress.
usually enough to capture the feel of a long journey in
com) to help fill in rules on the fly. Don’t pre-explain
just a few moments, but adjust the quantity as you like.
more obscure rules that may not come into play during
As GM, you can also contribute to the challenge
the adventure, unless those rules are immediately
montage if you wish to. If you do, establish the challenge
relevant.
(or make a challenge worse) and let the players describe
how their Heroes solve it.
 218 Swords of the Serpentine

The following guidelines work best for your first few � Change the World: It’s a one-shot, so encourage
one-shots. Heroes use their influence to literally change the
� Strong Premise: Pick an exciting and adventurous world around them. Unbalance power structures,
plot hook for the adventure. seize power, and bring about societal change for
� Start with Action: Starting with a short action good or ill. Why not? In a game where influencing
sequence immediately helps new players focus, and others is a core mechanic, affecting the world
teaches them combat rules in just a few moments. around you in permanent ways is a fun way to show
� Clear Goals: Give the Heroes specific goals for off the game’s strengths.
the adventure. Whether that’s “find the idol,”
“blackmail the noble,” “uncover the Sorcerer,” or Series Construction
“rob the treasury,” starting with a clear goal gives a Like a season of television, a series involves 3 to 10
one-shot momentum. adventures that lead to a satisfying conclusion of themes
� Ignore the Lifestyle Rules: Unless there’s a or plot arcs that run through the series. Like chapters or
particularly compelling reason to include them, individual stories in a sword & sorcery novel, adventures
one-shots don’t need the Lifestyle and Repute in a series can jump forwards and backwards in time to
rules. Ignore them. uncover secrets and establish interesting foes.
� Few, if any, Red Herrings: If your one-shot One particularly effective way to link adventures
involves a traditional mystery, work to keep
in a series is through B plots (see above). While every
deliberate red herrings to a minimum. They eat up
individual adventure has a unique A plot as the focus
time with little return, and new players may have
of that adventure, include at least one reference or lead
a tendency to create their own red herrings and
to an ongoing but less urgent B plot adventure or crisis
distractions anyway as they adventure.
as well. Effectively you’re spreading leads to the B plot
� Strong Roleplaying Opportunities: A complex adventure out over three to ten individual episodes,
network of social and political connections helps
allowing the Heroes to finally put them together and
define Swords of the Serpentine. Take advantage of
solve the B plot in the final adventure or two. The
that and give Heroes interesting and challenging
slow rise in tension helps keep players’ interest, and the
Supporting Characters to interact with, both as
gradual roll-out of the plot allows your villains to learn
allies and enemies. Center adventures around social
and adapt to the Heroes’ tactics.
and political needs, as well as traditional adventure
It’s useful and fun to use the Lifestyle rules in a
hooks such as greed and vengeance.
series. This helps show how the fortunes of the Heroes
� Common Allegiances: The Heroes have a reason
vary across adventures, and it gives Heroes a reason to
to work together when they all have at least one
rank in the same Allegiance, either as Allies or quest for treasure and wealth.
Enemies. A series lets you involve recurring villains (particularly
GM Advice

� A Plot and B Plot: The best adventures have if you use organizations as Adversaries, giving you more
both an A plot — the main goal of the adventure villains even if the Heroes kill their prime Adversary)
— and a B plot, a secondary plot thread that is along with more complicated politics. Enemies have
likely unrelated. This might be about someone’s time to strike at the things that Heroes love, instead of
family, about personal growth, or about a foe or just at the Heroes themselves. They also allow you to
rival who keeps interfering. Having A and B plots create more complicated mysteries, as the players will be
allows you to shift the adventure focus from one able to slowly piece together leads from multiple game
plot to another any time play starts to slow down, sessions.
and quite often the B plot can provide leads to help
solve the A plot as well.
Campaign Construction
� Focus on Needs, not Greed: The acquisition of Campaigns are typically made up of two or more series.
treasure is usually more important in an ongoing Heroes grow, evolve, change their enemies and their
campaign. In a one-shot, emotional motivations, goals, and both establish and consolidate their power.
lurking danger, and infuriating mysteries often Old friends return, and so do old enemies. With
provide greater motivation for Heroes than does additional power comes more responsibilities and more
the promise of loot.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 219

vulnerability; sure, your Hero might be a member of Expanding the World

the Triskadane, but that means she’s responsible for
Swords of the Serpentine is set in a world where most
the welfare of the entire city. Your Hero might be one
of the map is deliberately not filled in. There are
of the most popular commoners in Eversink, but that
scores — possible hundreds — of city-states and small
means your head will be the first on the chopping block
kingdoms not shown. You can use the supplied political
when a noble wants to make an example.
boundaries and descriptions when you wish, and add
Particularly in campaigns, encourage the Heroes to
your own kingdoms, empires, landmarks and history
change the world around them. Throw away aspects of
whenever you’re excited to create.
Eversink that don’t fascinate you and help your Heroes
Similarly, there are islands and Districts in Eversink
put other organizations, power structures or geography
we’ve deliberately not yet detailed. If you don’t like
in their place. Let them travel and expand the world;
creating your own Districts, ignore them; either they’re
embroil them in foreign plots.
part of existing Districts or Denari sank them three
You can control the speed of Advancement by
generations ago. If you do like to world-build, take
slowing down the frequency with which you give
these Districts and make them your own, adding in new
Heroes Advancement points. If it feels like you’re
neighborhoods full of plot hooks. Better yet, ask your
having trouble challenging your Heroes, start giving
players to help.
Advancement points every other adventure or every
three adventures instead.

Customizing Swords of the Serpentine

This is a game designed to be customized, adapted and No Melee Combat
tweaked by you. Here are a few suggestions that are far
from exhaustive. Create a game where traditional violence isn’t an option
for the Heroes, and where all arguments are settled
More Narrative Play/ through words and posturing instead of bloodshed.
Less Randomness The Dungeons & Dragons™ television cartoon you
might have grown up on is one example of how such
You may have one or more players who are highly bloodless play might appear; more commonly, a game
loss-averse and who dislike the possibility of spending without combat injuries focuses on conniving politics

GM Advice
points on a roll and then failing. If that’s the case, and intricate cons, manipulation and blackmail, with
simply declare that players add General ability points Heroes as clever non-combatants who have to talk their
to a roll after the die is rolled. This approach represents way out of their many problems instead of resorting
the Heroes using their exceptional competence (spent to murder. Allegiances feature prominently because
points) to overcome any vicissitudes of bad luck (the problems often get solved with the threat of force
die roll). This also makes Heroes more capable, so you and blackmail even if the Heroes never touch a blade
may want to nudge the effectiveness of enemies up to themselves.
compensate. To run such a game, remove the Warfare General
ability but keep the number of starting Build points at
Such games have a more narrative feel to them, but
30. Sorcery can no longer inflict Health damage. To
that doesn’t make adventures any less fun or exciting.
raise pressure on the players, you may wish for some
This approach is definitely better than having a player
or all Adversaries to retain the ability to inflict Health
at the table who wouldn’t otherwise enjoy themselves.
damage.
 220 Swords of the Serpentine

If you’re creating your own unique campaign setting,

Change the Setting keep the total number of factions to approximately
twelve or fewer. Their uniqueness depends on the
There’s no reason Swords of the Serpentine has to be set type of game you’re running. If you decide that all the
in Eversink; in fact, when Heroes travel, many times Heroes are thieves and your setting is gang- and crime-
it won’t be! Create your own campaign world and focused, you may focus on thieves’ guilds and decide
setting, adjusting gods, Adversaries, and mythology that a full half of the possible factions are different
accordingly. Just be sure to create appropriate factions criminal organizations. If you decide that the Heroes are
for the Heroes to ally with. pirates sailing the Green Expanse, most factions might
be different nations and city-states. If your Heroes are
diplomats navigating a religious schism between many
Customizing Allegiances gods, the factions may each be a different religion.
Either way, the factions you choose to include should
If you want to change Eversink or set your game represent groups that wield temporal, spiritual, and
elsewhere, customize the factions available for political power over the Heroes.
Allegiances. You can and should swap out factions when the
Don’t simply add a new faction, however. More Heroes leave Eversink. Their old Allegiances don’t
than a dozen possible Allegiances are hard for players go away, but they gain an equal number of ranks to
(and for you) to keep track of. If you’re tempted to apply to the possible Allegiances in each new land they
add a new faction, first see if there’s an existing faction venture into. This allows them to play politics wherever
that you could legitimately include them within. A new they go, without affecting their original Allegiances, all
smugglers’ guild, for instance, falls under “Thieves’ of which return once the Heroes return to their home.
Guilds” and doesn’t need a new entry. This helps keep
the Heroes’ Allegiances relevant even when they aren’t One of your players has a sentinel with
dealing with that one specific group of smugglers. ranks in Allies: Church of Denari 2,
If you decide that the new faction doesn’t fit under and Enemies: Sorcerous Cabals 1. The
an existing category, replace an existing faction with Heroes leave Eversink and head out to sea,
the new one. We suggest you remove the faction that eventually docking at a Tahoran floating
has seen the least use in your game. These people are city. No one in the floating city gives a damn
still out there — monstrosities don’t cease to exist if about Eversink’s religion or sorcerers, so the
you’ve replaced their faction with another — but they Sentinel’s existing Allegiances are set to the
are no longer politically relevant at this point in your side. Instead, the sentinel’s player gets 2 free
game. Ideally, pick a faction to remove that no player
ranks of Allegiances and 1 rank of Enemies
has chosen as their Ally or Enemy. If you can’t do that,
GM Advice

to apply as they meet new political factions

allow this player to select new Allies or Enemies for free,
among the Tahorans. These new ranks are
because the old ones are no longer important enough
(at least for now) to aid or harm them. likewise set to the side when the Heroes return
You may decide (especially when starting a new to Eversink, although they may still come in
series or campaign) that the standard Allegiances are handy if the Heroes run into any Tahorans
too general and non-specific. For instance, you may there at home.
wish to use “The Harbor Knives,” “City Watch House
on Gallows Drop,” and “Carlotta’s Company” instead
of the standard Thieves’ Guilds, City Watch, and
Customizing Sorcery
Mercenaries. Doing this makes Allegiances personal,
The default level of Sorcery in Eversink is that it’s
but you run the risk of relationships not having enough
known and uncommon, dangerous and thoroughly
importance as the Heroes move about the city. When
feared. Sorcery comes either from demons or ancient
needed, start small and personal, and expand to the
Serpentine secrets, and few people trust either. Any
more general category as the Heroes’ influence and
Sorcerer can create Corruption, and it’s assumed they
fame begins to spread.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 221

probably will at any moment. For the average person,

there’s no such thing as a “safe” sorcerer. GM Advice:
It’s common for most adventuring groups to Sorcerers Without Corruption
have at least one Sorcerer, however. As GM, you can
customize Sorcery however you like. The most common One of the tenets of Swords of the Serpentine is
adjustment is to specify or restrict Sorcerous Spheres. that it’s sword & sorcery, and that means — at
For interest, you could run a game where Sorcery is least for us — that magic is dangerous and hard to
entirely elemental and almost no Sorcerer has access control. Sorcerers need to deal with Corruption,
to more than one elemental magic (air, earth, fire, or and if you want magic without that cost and risk,
water) — while all other rules would remain the same, you can use Thaumaturgy and be an alchemist, a
the tone of such a game would be completely different mesmerist, or an expert in rare magical poisons.
than a game where a hero can select Necromancy as a You won’t have as much power or miraculous
Sorcerous Sphere. special effects as true Sorcerers would, because
Another common adjustment is to bring Sorcery Thaumaturgy spends are on par with every other
and Corruption spends down to a power level equal to Investigative spend, but neither will you have the
other attacks and Investigative spends, although this risk.
reduces magic’s cinematic and game-shifting power. As GM, it’s up to you to decide the nature of
A third common adjustment is to make Sorcery your game. If you want to increase the power of
more attractive by removing or lessening the effects of Thaumaturgy to be equal to that of Corruption,
Corruption. If you do so, consider either adding a new consider putting in other trade-offs for those
drawback, using Thaumaturgy (p. 221), or reducing characters so that taking ranks of Thaumaturgy
Sorcery’s power, or else you may end up with an isn’t a no-brainer for every player. Similarly,
adventuring group where everyone has at least one rank if you want to limit or eliminate the negative
of Corruption. That can be quite fun in its own right, effects of Corruption in your game, remove the
but make sure it’s the tone you want in your game. Investigative ability Corruption entirely and use
the less extreme power level of Thaumaturgy
Lower Magic instead (possibly allowing access to all Sorcerous
In Eversink, sorcery is unusual because sorcerers are Spheres).
distrusted and feared. If you want to run a game with Unless you want a Sorcerer-heavy game,
lower magic or even no magic, however, that’s not we don’t recommend you remove the negative
difficult to do. consequences of Corruption while keeping the
� Remove any sorcerous and fantastical items from ability’s power level intact; if you do, you may
the setting that don’t fit your vision. find that all your players want to be Sorcerers,

GM Advice
� Remove the Corruption Investigative ability from and who could blame them?
players, allowing the Thaumaturgy Investigative
ability (see p. 222) instead.
� Keep true Sorcerers and Corruption for Supporting modern fantasy. For one thing, they almost never
Characters and Adversaries only. cast spells. They instead twist magical rings, blow rare
and poisonous powders into their foes’ faces, uncork
Thaumaturgy: an Alternative flasks that contain fire or something worse, and use
intense gazes to send enemies into a hypnotized stupor
to Corruption that may last for hours or even days. In taking these
You may be a player who likes the idea of Sorcery, but actions, they’re possibly called warlocks or magicians or
who doesn’t like the trade-offs intrinsic with Corruption. sorcerers, but they aren’t necessarily using true magic
If that’s the case, this alternative rule is for you. — or as we call it in Swords of the Serpentine, they aren’t
In classic sword & sorcery novels such as Conan, or creating Corruption.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, sorcerers aren’t necessarily There are some sharp constraints to playing a
wizards the way we’ve learned to think of them in character like this, but you won’t need to worry
 222 Swords of the Serpentine

about creating Corruption when drawing on your

knowledge and power. Thaumaturgy is a substitution Thaumaturgy
for Corruption that isn’t more powerful than any other (Sorcerer Investigative Ability)
Investigative ability, so Thaumaturgy spends in combat
have the same sort of effect that a Tactics of Death Thaumaturgy is a replacement for Corruption;
spend might have. you may not take any ranks in this ability if you
The following changes occur if you want to forego have ranks of Corruption, and you may not take
Corruption in exchange for Thaumaturgy. any ranks of Corruption if you have ranks of
� You may no longer choose ranks of the ability Thaumaturgy. This ability unlocks the General
Corruption. Instead, you have access to a unique ability Sorcery, just as Corruption normally
investigative ability named Thaumaturgy. You’ll would, and you can’t gain ranks of Sorcery
only see Thaumaturgy included in the game if you without at least one rank of Thaumaturgy.
or another player prefer this version of the Sorcerer. Gain one Sorcerous Sphere for every rank of
� You choose one Sorcerous Sphere for every rank of Thaumaturgy you possess, but you are limited in
Thaumaturgy you possess, from a short and specific your choices to Spheres specifically permitted to
list below. The themes of these Spheres reflect Thaumaturgy (such as Alchemy, Mesmerism and
“near-magic” effects such as alchemy, mesmerism Poisons). Your GM may add additional Spheres
and rare poisonous powders or drugs. on a case by case basis. Hey, you should ask them,
� There’s no penalty (narrative or mechanical) for you never know.
spending pool points of Thaumaturgy. Ranks in Thaumaturgy give knowledge of
� Thaumaturgy spends allow standard bonus damage alchemy, rituals, hypnotism, poisons and venoms
(usually one d6 per Thaumaturgy pool point spent) (including mind-controlling effects), ancient
and unique but non-miraculous special effects gods and dark traditions.
and Maneuvers. A Thaumaturgy spend might Sample Spend: Use pool points to increase the
duplicate another ability; for instance, feeding a power of your Sorcery attacks or to use your power
captive a truth serum and spending a pool point of in unconventional ways, such as an additional die
Thaumaturgy might duplicate the effect of Liar’s of damage or unique effects dependent on your
Tell for the scene. spheres. See text for suggestions.
� You can also use other abilities and describe them Your Thaumaturgy spends do not create
as coming from your Thaumaturgy. If you wanted Corruption.
to increase your alertness, for instance, you could
spend a point of Vigilance and describe that effect
as coming from a rare alchemical concoction. If you Sorcerous Spheres in Thaumaturgy
GM Advice

wanted to be viewed as nightmarishly terrifying, you When using Thaumaturgy instead of Corruption, the
could spend a point of Intimidation and describe Sorcerous Spheres you have access to are limited to ones
the effect as coming from your Mesmerism. that can approximate magic without being definitively
� You can use Sorcery as normal using these specific supernatural. This sets them aside from standard
Thaumaturgy-based Spheres. Just as a Sorcerer may Sorcerous Spheres that are powered by Corruption.
cast a spell, your Alchemist may describe flinging Your GM may add additional Spheres for Thaumaturgy.
a glass beaker of an unnatural liquid at someone; Here are the basic Thaumaturgy Spheres.
in both cases you make a Sorcery attack and inflict
1 die +1 base damage. The difference is in the Alchemy
Sphere description, and the effect when optionally
spending Investigative pool points to strengthen Affects: Health, Morale
your attack or damage. You stink of chemicals and reagents, and delicate
flasks poke from your pouches like inquisitive cats.
You are teaching yourself the secrets of the universe,
transforming matter into fluids and fogs that affect
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 223

those around you. You transform elements, create acid

and fire, produce gases that control others, customize Poisons
food and drink, and manipulate similar semi-magical Affects: Health, Morale
effects. You can affect the taste of food and the growth
(and nature) of plants, and you have a penchant for You use rare powders from distant lands, vile fluids,
poisons. and mystic vapors to influence or affect the people
Keep in mind that creating gold from base metals around you. Powder blown in the face might allow
undermines the money supply, a sin that will get you suggestibility, salves might briefly animate a corpse
executed or exiled by the church of Denari — so you before rotting it utterly, and special incense might kill a
may want to avoid that. Alchemists can somewhat foe or knock them unconscious. If you can rationalize
transmute gold out of base metals, however, if the GM it as coming from a rare plant or substance, it fits within
allows. This is a game about adventure instead of about this Sphere.
economics, so transmutation automatically sets your Spending Thaumaturgy allows you to duplicate the
Minimum Lifestyle (see p. 127) instead of giving you poison possibilities of Leechcraft, as well as creating
additional Wealth; you can then spend the wealth you’d longer-term effects that you can use to terrify someone
otherwise have spent on your lifestyle to buy other into doing your will in exchange for an antidote.
things. If you make this spend you must do so at the
beginning of an adventure (using up a portion of your
Thaumaturgy pool points for the adventure), and you Customizing Abilities
may mix and match this with spending your Wealth to
reach your final Lifestyle level.
� A 1 point Thaumaturgy spend for transmutation Adding New Abilities
sets your Lifestyle for this adventure at squalid. You may find that your game requires additional
� A 2 point Thaumaturgy spend sets your Lifestyle at Investigative or General abilities, such as adding
struggling. Research or Languages as Investigative abilities for
� A 3 point Thaumaturgy spend sets your Lifestyle games that focus on reading ancient texts. Do so only
comfortable. if you can’t rationalize adding that skill under the aegis
� A 4 point Thaumaturgy spend for transmutation of an existing ability. As written, for instance, both of
sets your Lifestyle at wealthy. these proposed abilities currently fall under Forgotten
� A 5 point Thaumaturgy spend sets your Lifestyle at Lore. You’d likely want a highly focused game to justify
opulent. their addition as separate abilities.
Spending Thaumaturgy might produce particularly For every two Investigative abilities you add, increase
virulent acid or alchemist’s fire, or allow Thaumaturgy by +1 the number of Investigative Build points that new
to be treated like Leechcraft for the purposes of healing Heroes receive. In a five-player game, for instance, new

GM Advice
someone. Heroes would receive 12 Investigative Build points
instead of 10 if you added four new Investigative
Mesmerism abilities. Round down if adding an odd number of
abilities; new Heroes would receive 11 Build points if
Affects: Morale you added three new abilities, or the standard 10 points
You have mastered hypnotism and semi-magical mind if you only add one new ability.
control, and you can put people into trances almost For every two General abilities you add, increase by
instantly. Your eyes are deep, whirling pools that feel +4 the number of General Build points that new Heroes
almost magnetic, and by evoking your power you can receive. For instance, new Heroes would receive 34
sap will, suggest actions, program future events, and General Build points instead of 30 if you added two
send others into sudden sleep where they’ll remember new General abilities. Round down; new Heroes would
only what you specify. receive the standard 30 Build points if you only added
Spending Thaumaturgy might turn an enemy into an one new ability.
ally, if only briefly, and may allow you to hypnotize an
unwitting accomplice into aiding you by programming
their actions.
 224 Swords of the Serpentine

Temporary Investigative and Customizing Foes

General Abilities
Occasionally, unique and temporary Investigative or For advice on customizing Adversaries, see p. 206.
General abilities become useful but aren’t needed
after a particular scene or adventure. For instance, the
Heroes have briefly taken to the sea as pirates, and One-on-One Play
there’s no “Sailing” Investigative ability that allows you
to know at a glance how ships, cargoes, manifests, and You can play Swords of the Serpentine with one player
navigation work. and one GM, with the following suggested changes.
If you need a new temporary ability, create a pool � The player should create their Hero with 14
of limited Ranks that your Heroes can add to their Investigative Build Points (see p. 19), and add
character sheet. These new ranks are in addition to 1 additional rank of Allies (for a starting total of
any Investigative ranks the Heroes already possess, and 3 Ally Investigative ranks instead of 2). Encourage
disappear when you decide they’re no longer needed in the player to draw on their Allies for help in any
the game. Players may apply ranks out of these pools as situation where they need assistance, extra muscle,
needed, so that they have the flexibility of only applying or backup.
ranks when they’re useful. � Remember that a Hero in a one-person game starts
with 14 Build points, as opposed to 10 Build points
You want your next adventure to take place
in 5-player game. That means a Hero built for a
at sea. You tell your group that you are
solo game can dish out more total combat damage
adding one new temporary Investigative than a Hero built for a group ensemble, and is
ability (Seamanship) and making two ranks more capable than you might expect.
available; and adding one new temporary � A solo Hero’s flaws and weaknesses won’t be
General ability (Sailing) and making 12 compensated for by another member of the party.
ranks available. Consider adding a Supporting Character sidekick,
Soon they’re at sea, and one of the Heroes which can be fun for the GM to play while covering
some abilities the Hero is lacking.
needs to make a Sailing test or wreck on a
� Remember that 8+ points of Preparedness allows
reef. There are 7 ranks of Sailing remaining
the player to pull out surprises even when everything
in the pool you provided them. She claims 2 seems bleakest.
ranks and writes them down in pencil on her � Reduce the number of enemies in combat, especially
character sheet, then spends her 2 pool points Mooks (limiting Mooks to approximately 4–5 or
to hopefully avoid the reef. She can refresh fewer per wave).
GM Advice

these as normal, and this leaves 5 ranks for � Remember that defeat in combat doesn’t need to
the group to continue to claim as needed. mean death. Great heroes in fantasy literature are
defeated all the time; they then wake up, break out,
When the adventure is over, these
and teach their captors an unfortunate lesson. It’s
temporary abilities are no longer relevant
worth having a conversation with your player about
and can be erased from character sheets.
this possibility.
� Similarly, it’s worth the player remembering that
Changing Existing Abilities temporary surrender (and thus capture) is sometimes
As GM, you have carte blanche to customize, expand or an option when faced with overwhelming odds,
reduce the scope or focus of any existing ability. Just be especially when it makes the adventure you’re
sure to communicate this to players before they create playing more exciting.
their Heroes, or give them the freedom to redistribute
their points between sessions if you change an ability
after the first game.
Chapter Eight: GM Advice 225

Fledgling Heroes
Fledgling and Sovereign Heroes
A Fledgling Hero isn’t necessarily young, just
Classic sword & sorcery stories often flip back and forth inexperienced. To create a Fledgling Hero, make the
between the hero as a raw and naïve adventurer, a hero following changes.
in the prime of life, and a sovereign and established � Health and Morale share 15 Build Points, not 18,
master of their craft. If your GM wants to do this, after with a minimum of 3 in either ability.
you’ve created your Hero, she’ll ask you to create two � Subtract 5 from the number of starting General
more versions. ability Build Points, from 30 to 25.
The characters need to be recognizable as the same � Subtract 3 from the number of starting Investigative
person, but you have free rein to change aspects of ability Build Points.
your Hero substantially between versions. Perhaps
your Fledgling Hero is brash and foolish, with few Sovereign Heroes
if any social skills. Perhaps your Sovereign Hero is A Sovereign Hero isn’t necessarily old, just incredibly

GM Advice
missing a hand and an eye, is saddled with a legendary experienced. To create a Sovereign Hero, make the
Reputation, and has exchanged adventuring abilities following changes.
for others that help you rule kingdoms. Just as Robert � Health and Morale share 20 Build Points, not 18,
E. Howard’s Conan went from thief to warrior to with a minimum of 5 in either ability.
king, you can create a long-term arc in your Hero by � Add 5 to the number of starting General ability
increasing, decreasing, or trading out abilities to show Build Points, from 30 to 35.
character development. If you’re a Sorcerer, describe � Add 3 to the number of starting Investigative ability
your accumulated Corruption. Build Points. These additional points can also apply
As you adventure, you’ll reflect permanent or long- to ranks in Allies.
lasting changes to one character by updating your � Add 1 rank to an existing Enemy, and add an
Sovereign character’s sheet. If your regular Hero loses additional Enemy at rank 1.
an eye and covers it with a patch, for instance, update � If your GM tells you to, give yourself a single
your Sovereign Hero to also note the loss of an eye — Sorcerous item or piece of exceptional and unique
although it’s up to you whether it’s still covered with gear.
a patch, or replaced by a gemstone or something else
even more interesting.
 226 Swords of the Serpentine

Playing a Ghost Designer Notes:

Alternate Maneuver Rule
Eversink isn’t exactly short on ghosts, and a fallen
Hero’s spirit is going to be loose and wandering until a
The Maneuver rules give the defender a simple
memorial funerary statue is carved or crafted for them.
choice: take some damage, or suffer an effect.
If a Hero just died but the player wants to finish the
We really like this because it speeds up combat,
adventure as a very annoyed revenant, they can possess
requires only one die roll (the attack), and feels
a living person long enough to do so.
cinematic.
Generally, the character won’t return as a ghost
This has less tactical complexity than the
during the same scene in which they died.
original playtest rules, however, so use the rules
� The ghost character starts without a body, but you prefer: these rules aren’t in play unless the
can possess other people using a Morale-based GM decides to use them.
Maneuver (see Possession on p. 163). They You’ll notice that damage is far more variable
cannot possess more than one new body per scene. using this rule: if the target rolls well on the
� The ghost’s Investigative abilities remain as they Health or Morale test, they may take little or
were in life, including the record of any Investigative no damage and still avoid the effect. On the
pool points that the player has already spent. other hand, it’s possible for someone to spend
� The ghost’s Health and Morale ranks stay the same Health or Morale points, roll badly, and also
as they were in life. experience the Maneuver’s effect. This variant
� The ghost’s Morale pool is the same as when they “double jeopardy” rule is swingier and slower to
died (which is how you get angry and unreasoning resolve, but puts more control in the hands of
ghosts, if they died while Broken or Treasonous), the defender.
and can be bolstered normally using Sway. Alternative Maneuver Rule:
� The ghost’s Health pool is that of the person they To perform a Maneuver, roll a successful
are possessing. Sorcery, Sway or Warfare attack (depending on
� The player permanently removes 15 ranks of General what kind of Maneuver you want to perform —
Abilities from their current ranks. Their remaining see the examples below). Your attack result sets
ranks always travel with them to a new body. The the Difficulty. The defender must succeed at a
GM assigns an additional 15 points of General Health or Morale test to resist the Maneuver,
abilities based on the body the ghost possesses. If something that can be quite difficult if you
a ghost possessing a body has a General ability of spend enough (or roll well enough) to set a high
rank 8 or higher, they gain the Talent associated Difficulty. If doing so makes sense, both the
GM Advice

with that ability. attacker and the defender can spend Investigative
� If the ghost’s Health or Morale drop below 0 while pool points to add +3 per spent point to their
in a host body, they are forced out of the body. Results.
� The ghost may lift memories or secrets from their You want to kick your foe into a canal.
host body; if opposed by its spirit, they must use a You spend 4 Warfare and roll a 5, setting
Morale-based Maneuver to learn what they wish to the Difficulty at 9. You spend an additional
know. point of Tactics of Death to add +3 to this,
� The ghost retains the knowledge and (General
for a total Difficulty of 12. Your foe must
abilities aside) capabilities they possessed in life.
make a Difficulty 12 Health test to not get
� The host retains memories of the time when the
knocked into the water. They choose to spend
ghost possessed them.
8 Health, but only roll a 1, for a result of 9.
When a funerary statue is constructed for the ghost, it You watch the bubbles as they start to sink.
will be time for them to pass on to the afterlife, even
if this is against their wishes. Their identity must be
known for the statue to actually be meant for them.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 227

Chapter Nine

The City o f Eversink

Eversink in a Nutshell
Before you understand the detail of a setting, you need The City and the
to understand the big picture. Here are the three most
Goddess are One
important things to know about Eversink.
Except when she takes on human form once a year,
the buildings and islands of Eversink are the body of
The Buildings are the goddess Denari herself. You literally live inside the
Always Sinking Goddess. As the patron of commerce and civilization,
Denari blesses the trade that occurs within her borders.
…and no one knows why. Every coin exchanged is a prayer, and every transaction a
The city was founded almost a thousand years sacrament. Worship her with soft words in the honeyed
ago, and since that time most buildings have sunk darkness of a garden at a masquerade ball, whispered to
into the soil or stone by about 8 centimeters a year a fetching stranger; worship her by outwitting a dullard
(although iconic buildings sink much more slowly and who wouldn’t know the best place in the world to live
unmemorable buildings sometimes sink more quickly). if it invited him in.
That works out to most buildings losing their bottom Denari’s Blessing is what you feel when you literally
floor underground every fifty years. Some buildings live inside of a goddess. It is the name given to the
sink slower than this, some sink faster, and rarely one Goddess’ contractual promise to keep the city safe for a
drops several stories in a single afternoon, but just about thousand years, pending negotiated renewal and review
every building eventually settles out of sight. No one within term limits. It is the firm and unshakable promise
knows why. The Church claims it is Denari’s will, but of her love and protection, along with maximum profit
theological scholars don’t necessarily believe that. Over (the holier your worship, the higher your profit!) so long
the 40+ generations that Eversink has been settled, huge as you pay your taxes and tithes. And whether it’s true or
numbers of buildings have entirely vanished. They’re not — for it sits in your brain as an unimpeachable fact
still down there somewhere, most of them. Know the that can only be challenged when you are outside of her
city well enough, and maybe you can find their ruins. Blessing — it is the knowledge that you are currently in
the best damn city in the world, and you’re lucky to be
 228 Swords of the Serpentine
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 229

there. This is why people stay when they come to visit soul is guaranteed a place in Denari’s heaven. If that
Eversink: the surety and lack of doubt makes people feel statue is ever destroyed, either the soul disintegrates
like they have finally found the home they’ve looked for and ceases to exist — or it returns to the spirit world
their entire life. as a ghost.
Stepping out of Denari’s Blessing into a hole caused This means that in Eversink, statues are everywhere.
by Corruption is like plunging into icy, uncertain Hundreds of thousands of statues. They’re in canals,
water. Most people feel horribly alone, and lost, and on roofs, filling homes and staring out from niches in
afraid. Corruption burns away Denari’s Blessing, and walls. It’s illegal to destroy a funerary statue, because
She cannot hear you while you are there. Enough that could destroy a soul, so families put the statues of
Corruption, and Denari could die. There’s a reason it’s their dead anywhere they can find space. A surprising
one of the Church’s most serious crimes. number of crimes in Eversink involve funerary statues.

Designer Notes:
Statues Are Everywhere, Why Denari’s Blessing?
Because Statues Represent Souls
It isn’t traditional sword & sorcery, but a
Burial in Eversink has always been a problem; you favorite book of ours from the last decade is
can’t bury your dead below ground when floods are Max Gladstone’s Three Parts Dead, in which
commonplace, not unless you want coffins and corpses a large fantasy city’s patron god suffers a most
floating downstream. Nowadays the poor slide corpses unfortunate downturn. We wanted to give
into one of the swamps and the rich opt for air burial Eversink a similarly powerful patron goddess, one
on stone plinths upriver. But what happens to the whose blessing was also her biggest weakness,
flesh isn’t nearly as important as what happens to the just so someone playing this game could find a
soul. As long as a funerary statue is made for someone way to arrest Her eventual murderer.
deceased, whether a tiny statue out of clay or a huge
magnificent statue out of cast bronze, the departed’s

About Eversink

The City of Eversink

The People ‘Sinkish organizations tend towards a matriarchy,
especially in the church; as a rule of thumb in Eversink,
Eversink is full of families who have immigrated over women are in positions of prestige and power as much
many centuries, often intending to visit for a few weeks as or more than men.
and choosing to settle there instead. Appearance varies
amongst the population, with taller stature and darker Location
skin tones prevailing in Eversink’s oldest families and
its Ancent Nobility. Eversink takes great pride in Eversink stands where the vast Serpentine River flows
considering itself cosmopolitan — the citizens may pay west into the Bay of Coins, north of the Great Kingdom
close attention to the appearance of wealth and social of Capria and south of the ruins of Camadi. The city
class, but discrimination based on skin color or gender rises from the Serpentine’s wide river delta, now shaped
identity is considered heretical by the church and is and sculpted by a millennium of human engineering
strongly discouraged by the community. and divine attention. The land here is flat and swampy,
and great salt bogs stretch for days to both the north
and south of the city.
 230 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Racism, Sexism, Architecture

and Class Structure
The city is full of color. It’s a jumbled mess of stone
A fair number of classic sword & sorcery tales spires, wooden shacks, brightly painted manor houses,
are steeped in the endemic racism and sexism of grand open plazas, teeming marketplaces, roof gardens,
the times in which they were written, but those harbors, and soaring bridges over omnipresent canals.
aren’t elements we want to put into Swords of the The tallest noble towers are decorated with ancient
Serpentine. jeweled windows of breathtaking beauty, but that
Eversink includes people of all gender doesn’t necessarily distract from the unevenly sinking
expressions, skin colors, and sexual orientations. hovels of the poorer districts that house many common
There are few taboos regarding what might families in a small amount of space. There are even a
constitute a “traditional” relationship, and there few remaining buildings above ground from ages of
are centuries of law and ecclesiastic tradition that sorcerous wonders, made from unbreakable crystal or
support same-sex and polyamorous relationships. other unspeakably beautiful substances.
This is a society that cares little about skin color Eversink’s architects have a taste for the classical.
or gender preference, but cares deeply about Columns project strength, and strong foundations
social status. Players may play any sort of Hero distract from sinking edifices. Among the clean lines are
they desire and feel comfortable in doing so. overwrought gothic windows accompanied by exquisite
As a result, many of the adventures in Eversink stained glass. The swan motif is everywhere, jumbled
are triggered by individual personalities and social in among gargoyles and thousands upon thousands
class hatreds (including rebellions, invasions, of funerary statues. Embossed swans decorate stone
blackmail, and assassinations). While all races, pathways between marketplaces, enormous stone
genders, and sexualities are welcome in Eversink, swan statues grace the apex of Mercanti rooftops, and
other rivalries, tensions, and intrigues abound. commoners scratch swans into their shacks hoping for a
small taste of Denari’s Blessing.
With land at a premium, locals take advantage of
height. Laundry lines dangle from rooftops 80 feet in
Climate the air. The outsides of solid stone towers become a
warren of rickety wooden ladders, hand-built platforms,
Eversink is temperate. Spring in Eversink is usually and cantilevered walkways as people try to conjure up
rainy, with thunderstorms rolling in every afternoon more space from thin air. Too many commoners live in
and during the pre-dawn hours; especially during high these precariously placed wooden shacks, hoping not
The City of Eversink

tides, Spring is known as the Flood. Summer is usually to crash to the ground during one of the many storms
hot and humid, making locals pray for a breeze off the that sweep in from the ocean. Similarly, there are those
Bay of Coins. Autumns are lovely except for occasional who take advantage of depth. Those with the least coin
rain; the temperature during the fall swells the number often live in moldy and leaking sub-basements below
of visitors to the city, especially for Harvest Festivals. ground, clambering up five or six stories each morning
Winter is mild with cold drizzling rain and lots of mist, just to reach street level. Collapses, floods, and fires in
and about once a decade it gets cold enough for a thin such dwellings are usually deadly.
layer of ice to form on the canals. The canals don’t Public and private gardens are a symbol of wealth
usually freeze solid except when there’s supernatural and power. Those who can afford it prefer roof gardens
influence, such as from a peeved godling of winter of rare and exotic flowers, but you’re likely to come
having an argument with Denari. across small hidden (and well-defended) vegetable
gardens grown on other people’s roofs by those who
need the food most. Hedge animals are currently
fashionable on the estates of the rich; hedge mazes are
so last generation. More than one small island is entirely
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 231

The City of Eversink

 232 Swords of the Serpentine

given over to public gardens, with any building within cantilevered off their sides, have two or three vertical
their borders deemed illegal. stories to allow people of varying social stature to travel
Buildings normally lose about 8 cm to the sink without seeing one another, have breathtaking frescoes
each year, but a sudden sink is not an unheard-of or sculptures commemorating events in Eversink that
phenomenon; if you’re tremendously unlucky, a most people no longer remember, or feature art that
laundry line a comfortable story up today might lie will fill you with delight. They may arc high above the
on the ground tomorrow. Sinking buildings add canal, or squat so low that gondoliers need to duck as
complications, with sidewalks of varying heights and they pass underneath. Bridges might be associated with
stairs leading up to (or down to) a building’s current gallows, or particular churches, or sporting events, or
front door. Architects work constantly to repair, modify heroes, or saints. They’re the perfect place for a fistfight
and reinforce buildings. or a duel. If you’re trying to get directions from one
All but the most recent buildings reach deeper place to another in Eversink, expect the bridges to be
underground than they do vertically above street level. given as landmarks. Honor them as you’d honor the
Descending through usually flooded basements brings Goddess, for they make the city one whole out of many
you back through the building’s history one generation pieces.
at a time. Many such levels are flooded with mud and Due to the original small and chaotic road plan,
murky water, but sometimes good drainage, watertight today most of Eversink’s districts are still a warren of
construction or ancient pumps keep most of the water tiny alleyways hooked together in an incoherent maze.
out. Anything might be forgotten down there, and it Eversink has her share of broad, grand avenues and
isn’t unusual to discover that your supposedly secure sweeping gardens in districts that have been swept by
basements are being used as an underground highway deadly and destructive fires, but you’ll most often be
by smugglers. Paranoid homeowners pay architects to confronted with a bewildering tangle of one-lane roads.
seal off their basements and then live in a state of denial, Some streets in the poor Outlander slums are only
trying to forget that those basements even exist. 1 meter wide, and it’s easiest for thieves and urchins
to leap from roof to roof as they use the tops of the
buildings as natural roads.
Roads, Canals and Bridges Canals are a major architectural feature of Eversink.
Roads are nice if they aren’t too bumpy or choked with
Many cities are planned around a central point like traffic, but canals are faster and more convenient for
a fort and a castle, resulting in clean districts, wide anyone who can afford to own or hire a boat. The canals
avenues, and logical building placement. Not Eversink. are so important to the economic prosperity of the
Eversink simply happened as Denari haphazardly raised city that most markets must have both foot and water
one island after another from the riverbed. access to be viable, and merchants fight as much over
The City of Eversink

As a result, no one planned roads that cross logically their position near a dock or quay as they would over
from island to island. Small canals and winding water proximity to Denari’s nearest shrine. (Some astrologers
sources separate communities, and alleys spin out in and other prognosticators sell desperate merchants
chaotic directions. When they don’t have the money (or maps showing the ideal location for a stall that has
the paperwork) for a beautifully crafted stone bridge, both water accessibility and maximal blessing coverage.
the people of Eversink plop makeshift wooden bridges They’re highly coveted and usually inaccurate.)
wherever it makes sense and extend roads into hard The richest palaces and main government buildings
jags and turns. This is fine for people but terrible for have entrances with access to both their own private
horses, and it all but guarantees overturned fruit carts gondola docks and the street. This causes issues as the
and goods will go flying during a high-speed chase. You grand buildings slowly sink. The next floor up must
don’t see very many horses in the city at all. constantly be reconfigured with street and gondola
Bridges stitch the city together, and when they access, while the floor below becomes noticeably
aren’t makeshift they’re often a work of sculpted art. less useful once it disappears underground. Every
Most bridges are stone, as wooden bridges seem to generation, the staff bricks one entrance up while
keep burning down. Bridges may be wide or narrow; tearing another hole in the wall.
they may have stores and money lenders and food stalls
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 233

Overcrowding and New Building Meanwhile, merchants place market stalls everywhere
the law will allow, including sidewalks and bridges.
The city is in a constant struggle for space. Eversink’s
To keep Eversink beautiful, the Triskadane long ago
success and fame causes people to constantly migrate to
prohibited erecting a building, stall, or market within
the city, which puts pressure on already scant housing.
designated public spaces. This deters no one. Every
Land prices in the most desirable areas like Alderhall or
dawn when the markets open, unlicensed portable tents
Ironcross are completely unaffordable.
and wandering market stalls open on the public spaces.
Commoners build vertically above and below
The City Watch chases them out, but usually not
ground, but they also build horizontally to create new
before merchants have sold all their wares for the day
space out of thin air. Typically, shops are on the first
and camped a new spot. Nothing — not fines, beatings,
floor while subsequent floors are living space. To make
imprisonment, or even threats of exile — deters illegal
more room for more families, second and third floors
markets. Impromptu markets on boats often open on
are cantilevered out to extend over the tiny alley-like
public waterways, and when dispersed by the Watch
streets, creating a sort of arched roof. Walking through
simply return to their spot after the officials have moved
these boroughs can be a claustrophobic experience.
on.

Designer Notes:
Extended Buildings Death, Burial,
and Funerary Statues
Eversink has limited land, so the only way to
make more space is to build up and out. Many of With an ocean to the west and swamps to the north and
the alleyways and winding roads see little sun on south, compounded by a thousand years of inhabitants,
the ground as residents have pushed the floors of Eversink lacks the room for cemeteries. That’s for the
their second and third stories outward to create best; a traditional cemetery would send caskets floating
more square footage literally out of thin air. down the canals the first time it was badly flooded. While
Between the laundry lines, the balconies, and the some mausoleums remain from previous generations,
extended upper stories of most buildings, some Eversink disposes of corpses in a fairly direct manner.
stretches of road and canal are always in dusk. The current tradition is an air burial for those who can
afford it (see p. 279), with corpses opened up on stone
plinths upriver to be consumed by carrion birds. For
The most recent architectural trend for buildings too those of lesser means, bodies are just slipped into one
beautiful or expensive to let sink is to use powerful jacks of the swamps.
to immobilize a building, demolish the sinking first To remember the dead, Eversink’s people use

The City of Eversink

story, then using the jacks to raise the building (now funereal statues. The church teaches that you deserve a
without a first story!) higher in the air before building statue in your honor after your death. As long as your
a new first story that will sink instead. It’s risky, as the statue remains intact, your spirit is ensured a place in the
jacks slowly sink as well, but the most talented Architects afterlife. If the statue is broken or destroyed, either your
have had some luck with the technique. ghost returns from heaven to haunt the nightmarish
People often take advantage of the combination spirit world, or it dissipates entirely. The ‘Sinkish believe
sinking and building horizontally to let roads go straight that it is their holy duty to care for the statues of their
through homes. Should a second floor end up a first ancestors, whether they are tiny handmade clay figurines
floor, people relocate upstairs, build road space right or 15’ tall bronze monstrosities from a reclusive master
through their living rooms, and convert their new first sculptor. The ‘Sinkish place these statues everywhere.
floors into new shops. In their minds, if customers are Some place the statues in decorated shrines within their
going to waltz through ex-living rooms, perhaps they homes, some leave their stony deceased outside their
will spend a few moments checking out a nice selection doors to watch for thieves, some take their statues into
of perfumes or trying on a new hat. their sales stalls to help bless trade, and some leave their
statues on flooded lower levels of their home and hope
 234 Swords of the Serpentine

to forget them. Ancient Nobility reserve special rooms

in their vast vertical palaces for grand collections of their Sports
ancestors.
On the plus side, Eversink’s sculptors are renowned Popular sport varies by social class, although many
as the greatest in the world. sports involve boats and the canals. The nobility prefer
fencing, riding, and hunting upriver; any rumors
that some families hunt commoners are surely just
True Names and Funerary Statues propaganda from the underclasses. The middle and
lower classes compete in roof-running or climbing, easy
Statues with true names inscribed on them are to do in Eversink but less convenient for spectators to
much more difficult to destroy than a standard watch.
statue, gaining Armor 10 against damage. Boat races are tremendously popular, with almost
Families or friends often hide the true name of every neighborhood fielding their own competitive
their loved one on the statue to ensure the soul’s team. Scouring Day (when the Guild of Architects and
place in Denari’s heaven. There’s a risk to this, Canal-Watchers flushes debris from the canals) occurs
however. Those who know a ghost’s true name twice a year, and the most exciting races occur during
can summon it and force it to speak — and it these festivals because that’s when the river’s current
isn’t unheard of for sorcerers to illegally shatter moves most quickly.
a statue and then compel information from the
statue’s ghost once the furious spirit is dragged
out of paradise.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 235

A popular team sport is eelball, a game played in understand Coinish unless they choose otherwise, and
canals with every player in their own small boat. The may choose whether or not they are literate. The GM
floating head-sized ball (made from waxed, inflated may allow fluency in other languages on a case by case
pigskin) can be touched only with paddles, and teams basis according to a Hero’s background. For instance,
work against each other as they flip it towards bridge a barbarian from the far north would also be fluent
arches used as goals. Championships are played every in Caymic, but might speak Coinish only haltingly.
year during the Eel Run (see below), when fatalities just A Hero with ranks of Forgotten Lore is fluent in two
add excitement to the game. additional languages per rank.
A popular competition in Eversink is competitive Other languages are native to Eversink, although
profit-taking, where both combatants start with a single used less often. For instance, the Church of Denari has
coin and a useless item (such as a worn shoe or a chicken a unique and fairly secret language named “Cygnini”
bone, the more useless the better), and the winner is that is supposedly the divine language spoken by
the one who uses multiple trades, wiles and connections Denari herself, and which is now understood only by
to turn the greatest profit within a set amount of time. those with at least 5 ranks split between Forgotten
If you want more gruesome injury, blood-sports Lore and Allies: Church of Denari. For a period of
such as shark-dancing, pit-fighting, and sorcerous duels 700 years all official church proclamations and records
can be found if you know where to look and pay off the were written in Cygnini, although that hasn’t been the
right people. case now for several centuries. The number of people
The best-attended sporting events occur at the fluent in Cygnini has dropped precipitously over recent
Arena, a centuries-old sunken gladiatorial space (at generations, and there is a very real fear that the church
least the third in the city’s history) on the edge of the soon won’t be able to understand its own history and
Tangle that remains open to the sky due to exceptional contracts.
engineering on the part of the Guild of Architects and In fact, Eversink has used three or more distinct
Canal-Watchers. Battles occur here between human languages since its founding, and it’s rare to find
contestants, between beasts, and with human vs. beast; scholars nowadays with enough ranks of Forgotten
and the arena floor can be removed to reveal flooded Lore to know them all. The oldest language once used
basements for fights against sharks, aquatic monsters, in Eversink is the writhing, nameless tongue of the
and scale model war ships. It can seat thousands. long-fallen Serpentine Empire.

Languages Eversink’s Food

Languages from dozens of cultures fill the air in the Eversink opens to a sea that’s rich with fish, eel, shrimp,

The City of Eversink

Temple Market, because that’s where Outlanders from squid, and razor clams. Seafood from the Bay of Coins
around the continent arrive to buy and sell wares. The is the core staple of the Eversink diet: fish cakes, fish
common and accepted tongue of Eversink is Vulgar stew, fish soup, smoked fish on a stick, and so on. The
Caprian, a debased form of Low Caprian that includes lagoon and harbor alone can feed all Eversink and, in
a smattering of words from Caym, Min, and even some times of war and pestilence, has.
phrases dating back to the forgotten language of the The other thing Eversink has natively is salt. Ancient
Great Serpentine Empire. Vulgar Caprian is often Noble families made their fortunes on salt, and the
nicknamed “Coinish” when spoken with an Eversink brackish salt lagoons of the Serpentine’s delta ensure a
accent, and is the de facto trade language of the west. ready supply. After Eversink finishes salting all the fish
Just as in classic sword & sorcery stories, language it catches, it sells salt to its neighbors.
differences in Swords of the Serpentine are generally
ignored unless it would be fun and interesting to
do otherwise. All Heroes are assumed to speak and
 236 Swords of the Serpentine

cinnamon, and cardamom. Sardines in raisins and

Designer Notes: Salt onions seasoned with vinegar are popular. The upper
classes would use spices even more if they weren’t used
Salt is an immensely valuable resource. Salt is so so frequently to hide the taste of poison.
valuable that it can stand in place of coins for Eversink’s population has a sweet tooth. Especially
payment. Salt preserves food, and humans die on feast days, the restaurants sell light dough
without salt in their diet. And yet, edible salt is confectioneries sweetened with molasses. Sugar is quite
only found under specific circumstances. rare; chefs tend toward the easily available molasses and
Eversink, surrounded by lagoons at the edge honey. When sugar is available, the city goes sugar-mad
of vast swamps, has the right geography to for sweets; there’s an ever-popular true confectioner
capture lightly salted water in brackish pools. in the heart of Alderhall who sells candies and treats
Those who own the pools own the underpinning flavored with true sugar.
of Eversink’s economy. As a nod to Eversink’s trade, Outlander dishes are
everywhere. Nominally restricted by law to the Foreign
District where Outlanders build restaurants featuring
Private and community vegetable gardens are common, their home cuisine, Outlander dishes inevitably leak out
even in the city’s poorer areas. As a city always building into the Grand Marketplace via food carts. This would
up, uninhabited roofs are ripe for small vegetable plots. cause suspicion, but food cart merchants are the most
Eversink’s citizens grow everything from pole beans to cunning merchants in Eversink. They simply substitute
various root vegetables to herbs. Rice is grown at the fish wherever the recipe calls for some other meat, and
edges of the swamps, although most of that is eaten by shove it on a stick. Voilà, an Eversink original with a
commoners instead of finding its way to market. touch of Outlander flavor!
Under normal market conditions, Eversink brings
food from the few remaining farms upriver or imports
food from its neighbors. Eversink’s biggest imports are The Menagerie:
grains: wheat, soybeans, and sorghum. The powerful Wild Animals in Eversink
Bakers’ Guild is the biggest morning buyer. The bakers
turn grains into the morning loaves that feed Eversink’s Folklore claims that Denari’s ancient enemy and rival
workforce, as the Tangle’s staple food is sardines on is the spirit of a gigantic rat, and rats are enough of
a heavy black bread. A good percentage of the grain a problem in Eversink that there are official city rat-
imports after the bakers are done gets turned into catchers. The Triskadane puts a bounty on rats in times
alcohol. of plague, but this usually leads to people deliberately
Eversink also imports beef, mutton, and chickens breeding them so as to make more money. Instead,
The City of Eversink

— although illicit chickens also wander the streets official or deputized explorers working for the Guild
of the Tangle and find their ways to dinner tables. of Architects and Canal-Watchers lay traps, put down
Cattle are kept on farms upriver and butchered in the poison, and hunt nests within hostile sub-basements.
slaughterhouses of Sag Harbor. Beef and mutton are It’s a dangerous job, so they’re surprisingly well paid...
both expensive: they grace middle class and rich dinner including guaranteed funeral expenses.
tables but are a once-a-year treat for the poorer end of Rat-catchers are often snake-catchers as well,
the common class. Pigs are everywhere, and salt pork is eliminating infestations of serpents that slither in from
a secondary staple to fish. the swamp and find Eversink’s many basements to their
To alleviate meal (and fish) boredom, residents are liking. The cleverest catchers sell any vipers to alchemists
clever with the many spices and herbs that flow through and poison-mongers for a little extra wealth.
Eversink’s harbor and into her Grand Marketplace; Beautiful white swans are common enough that
there’s a reason that the exclusive Guild of Spices many people secretly consider them a nuisance, even as
has made the Ridolfis one of the richest families of they consider them sacred. Legend says that Denari sees
the Mercanti. Roasted garlic squid is a popular street through the eyes of every swan, but if true, that doesn’t
food. Restaurant dishes are heavy in imported pepper, seem to make them better company. They’re protected
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 237

by church law, and injuring (or, heaven forbid, eating)

a swan is always investigated and severely punished. Divinity and Divine Power
The problem is that swans tend to be large, territorial,
entitled, and aggressive. The city’s rare black swans are This is a world where demons, spirits, and small
even more dangerous and are given a wide berth. godlings abound. A spirit might claim to be the god
Eversink is host to a variety of seabirds, including of a legendary sword, a cause such as a crusading
flocks of carnivorous gulls that have learned to feed mercenary band, an emotion such as vengeance or love,
on human flesh through the custom of air burials. a constructed feature such as a town, or a natural feature
Gulls, ravens, and pigeons are often trained by those such as a river or swamp. Usually the spirit drinking in
with Wilderness Mastery to deliver messages to specific human worship, fear, and prayer doesn’t grow powerful
locations. It’s against the law to kill a messenger bird, enough to influence more than a shrine or a small
not that this stops people who are hungry enough not hamlet, and they generally fall into a state of torpor
to care. when their last worshipper dies (only to reawaken when
During times of migration, the sky above Eversink can anyone remembers them or pays their long-forgotten
be darkened for days by flocks of wild birds in the tens of altars the least bit of attention). This means that there
millions passing overhead, like redwing, swordbills and can be many “gods of the air”, for instance, and a
clumsy, large, honking birds named catchbeaks. Such self-proclaimed “god” might well be inflating their
migratory birds pick rooftop gardens and fishmonger actual stature. When rival gods or godlings meet, they
stalls clean, but they’re usually gone within days. Good either ally with one another or battle through their
thing, too; flocks of that size effectively become avian worshippers, and the winner may well absorb a portion
locusts until they move on. One nice thing about the of the power and prayer once given to the loser.
passing birds is that they also feed on the omnipresent More than one self-proclaimed god has been
insects that breed in the swamps, briefly clearing the defeated not through battle, but through the clever use
air of biting flies and the appallingly large mosquitoes of the ability Scurrilous Rumors to erode their base of
called bloodneedles. worshippers.
And then there’s the pigs. Pigs have all kinds of uses Denari Herself was once a minor swan spirit of the
as both meat and walking trash disposals. They stay on an River Serpentine, but contractually mandated worship
island, they feed the people, and they’re straightforward from a millennium of humanity has turned her into a
to keep. The Sisterhood of Swineherds is a Guild true and powerful goddess, albeit one with weaknesses
taken seriously. Hogs are not allowed everywhere: of her own.
the Government Committees have passed numerous
ordinances about the keeping and management of pigs,
so that the streets don’t swarm with swine. Mind you, Sumptuary Laws

The City of Eversink

there are many in Eversink who claim that’s the natural (and Other Unusual Edicts)
state of rival city districts.
There are plenty of fish in the bay, and like salmon, There are plenty of odd laws on the books in Eversink,
fish may swim upriver to spawn. This fills Eversink’s and which ones get enforced at any given time depends
canals with lost fish for a few days a year. The huge on how knowledgeable the city official is and how much
migratory event, however, is the Eel Run. There’s a they hate you. If an official considers you unpleasant
particular type of sea eel that breeds and is born in the or a danger, you might get any number of implausible
freshwater pools of the Serpentine River, and every year laws, local ordinances, or illegal sins brought to bear
there is a period of a week when the river and canals are against you. On a different day, you may get lucky and
clogged with huge eels heading home to breed. The literally get away with murder thanks to a corrupt or
noise made by the vicious eels is unforgettable, much inexperienced member of the Watch. Either way, look
to most people’s dismay. It’s a good time to fish, but a out for sumptuary laws that are generally designed to
very, very bad time to go swimming. oppress the lower classes (such as only nobility can wear
particular types of fur, Outlanders aren’t allowed in
certain districts, or certain foods may not be eaten by
 238 Swords of the Serpentine

those who don’t belong to the church) that the rich and those laws make repeat appearances in later games.
powerful may use against you. Likewise, you may well When you or the other players create laws, don’t
be able to use these laws against your enemies. worry too much about these being unrealistic. Actual
Heroes can announce laws and traditions on the history is full of improbably ludicrous decrees. Around
spur of the moment by spending a pool point of the the world, it’s been illegal to wear stripes, wear purple,
Investigative ability Laws and Traditions. While the wear fur, wear ribbons, have shoes extending by more
player may be creating these on the spot, in Eversink than 9” (the long toes made it hard to kneel to worship!),
they’ve existed for years and just haven’t previously to have a large gravestone, to knock off someone’s hat,
been mentioned in the game. Keep track of these; while or to not wear a wool cap. Bad laws generally stay on
players inevitably create laws to get themselves out of the books but get ignored until it becomes convenient.
a fix or to bedevil their enemies, it’s always fun when

Eversink’s History
Conveniently for GMs, Eversink’s sinking buildings A Thousand Years of Adventure
mean that you don’t need to describe the architectural
remains of a millennium. At worst you have a few Almost a millennium has passed since Eversink was first
hundred years to deal with, much as if you were in any founded. A thousand years is a very, very long time. As
fairly well-established historical city. Older historical you’d imagine, what’s considered the history of the city
remnants have mostly been swallowed up by the earth is impossibly far from complete.
beneath your feet. There are three types of history in Eversink.
Whether as a player or a GM, create the history you � Commonly accepted history that everyone thinks
need to see. Describe ruined and sunken buildings, they remember accurately: scandals, demagogues,
help map the existing city, explain what your Hero murderers, fires, plague, war, notable floods,
remembers about long-forgotten floods and armed brilliant leaders, golden ages, and dark times. These
conflicts, and give your GM and fellow players plot are historical events that have made themselves into
hooks to then exploit. Swords of the Serpentine gives myth or that people use to mark time. “Knowledge”
you the authority and responsibility to help world-build of these events may be based on historical record,
(especially when spending points of Forgotten Lore or on truth that has since been embroidered, or may
Laws and Traditions), creating ideas from which the be entirely made up now that so much time has
The City of Eversink

GM can then expand. passed. People in Eversink make up history all the
To make this possible, GMs should encourage you time, and within a few generations, who is to say
to create historical events. It’s okay if you don’t know what was and wasn’t true?
exactly where in the timeline this new event or historical � True history that almost no one remembers today, but
artifact fits; that’s something that can be decided over which can be understood if you know how to look.
time. Just be aware that the history you think is true, Funerary statues, engravings on commemorative
and which is commonly believed, may not be the history monuments, spirit sight, prophecy, ancient tomes,
that actually happened. archaeological evidence in long-sunken basements:
Look for snippets of Eversink’s purported history in all of these can reveal history’s actual truth. Whether
adventures, supplements, and web essays. As with all anyone believes your revelations is then up to you.
history in the sinking city, the truth of those events is � Lost history that may well stay lost and
up to the GM. misunderstood. A huge city over many, many
centuries has an untold number of events and
influential people whose stories disappear soon after
their death, even if their actions still linger today.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 239

You’ll find pieces of Eversink’s history recounted in

Swords of the Serpentine books and adventures. Whether The Founding of Eversink
that history is true or not, or whether it’s just what
people commonly think is true, depends entirely on Eversink’s founding history is a soupy mix of pre-
you and your players. Official timelines are dubious in historical legend and truth. No original documents
a game that relies so heavily on players co-creating the about Eversink’s founding remain except the Golden
world. We advise you to not worry too much about Contract itself. Orenzio the Marketpriest wrote the
exact dates and precise historical timelines unless that’s first historical account generations after the city’s
what everyone at the gaming table loves. This is a game founding when Eversink was already an established city
about heroes, not memorized dates, and exact timelines and port named Denaria. Records from the original
can get murky in an age of wonders. And hey, if you Church Fathers were incorporated into religious
decide to add a nearly forgotten golden age of wonder texts. Archaeological remains have long sunk into
and magic (or even a terrifying era of death and plague) the undercity of the marshy islands, lost under layers
that isn’t otherwise mentioned in published adventures, of stone and wood. Little remains of the founding
you’re handling this setting’s history exactly right. except for some grand statuary, the original stones of
the Cathedral first laid when settlers arrived on Temple
Market, and the long memories and longer genealogical
Before Eversink records of the Ancient Noble families.

Before there was Eversink, there was Narissimanitellikul,

or Narissi for short, ancient Serpentine for “the Designer Notes:
emptying of the river into the endless flood beyond”. Eversink’s Origin Story
The half-human traders and soldiers of the great
Serpentine Empire built their spiraling forts and coiled Every great city needs an origin story, and
towers here, harvesting the magnificent fishing while Eversink is no exception. People a thousand years
building fleets of warships meant to conquer the world. ago settled on a chain of islands in a river delta
What happened to those fleets has been forgotten, and and fished for clams and eel. Over time and with
what happened to those people is unknown; but the the blessing of geography, Eversink became a
towers of Narissi had already fallen, and the demons great trading port. But that story doesn’t explain
of their people fled into the great swamps and grown Denari or her Church. Nor does it give the people
tiny from lack of belief, by the time the refugees who of Eversink a touchstone for how and why their
founded Eversink came down the Serpentine River in city is special.
search of a refuge. No humans in Eversink remember And let’s face it, people need an excuse to

The City of Eversink

this today1. throw giant, loud, garish festivals. Founding
stories, with their tapestry of prominent historical
figures, provide terrific excuses.

The best-respected story of Signing Day is from Lord

Sergio Caputo, a 4th century prominent historian of
the ancient Caputo Family, who scoured sources in
unpublished private and Church collections to untangle
the truth behind the tales, legends, and assorted lies.
Caputo takes his version from the originals written
by Orenzio the Marketpriest, but perhaps adds some
interpretation and artistic license of his own in the
1
Other than one woman in Temple Market who just stopped
translation.
aging 1800 years ago and still doesn’t know why. But good
luck getting her to talk.
 240 Swords of the Serpentine

In the Darkest Times, before Eversink even had a history, a Calamity befell the world. The Calamity
swept through town and city. It left dead the poor, the rich and the powerful. The kind and mighty
Old Empire that cared for us, fed us, and clothed us burnt to ashes.
The world died.
Dirty, wet, cold and hungry, our ancestors traveled far and cast up in these swamps, where they
waited to die. The swamp protected them from the Calamity and the slinking things that hunted
them, but it held its own horrors. Our ancestors faced starvation, or worse, and hope fled from them.
Desperate, the refugees fell to their knees on the river’s edge and prayed to any who would listen.
Denari heard, and answered.
The great Swan appeared before them in a golden pool, under a starry sky. “With my blessing,” she
said, “you will build a new empire. This bay will protect you. It will give you fish and salt. You will
launch your ships into the ocean, and you will trade. I will make you richer than you can dream. Your
mortal realm is safe in my hands. Forever. With certain legal conditions.”
For her protection and blessing, Denari demanded eternal devotion, that their souls enter her
Heaven, and a concise list of achievements, growth metrics, and holy deliverables over a mandated
yet specific timetable.
She offered the survivors a Golden Contract for a Thousand Years, Subject to Periodic Term over
Term Renewal and Review.
The refugees — now called the Signers or the Founders — penned their names to the contract.
When Denari counter-signed, the swamp retreated and Denaria’s islands rose from the muck and
the riverbed. “Build my city on these islands I created for you,” she said. “Name it after me. On the
grandest island, Temple Market, build my church.”
The refugees constructed rafts and floated out to the new islands. On Temple Market, they laid the
church’s foundations. Within the new church’s Inner Sanctum, St. Matteo the Founder gingerly laid
the Golden Contract. Then, they sealed the Holy of Holies away from people with smart ideas about
riders and addendums.
The City of Eversink

Every winter the Church celebrates Signing Day, judge the city against all milestones and growth metrics
Eversink’s biggest holiday. They mark it with a and either deem it worthy of another thousand-year
city-consuming Festival in the Grand Marketplace term or leave Eversink to sink back into the swamp.
to remind the people of the Holy Signing and the The official histories of Eversink tell the nobility’s
Coming Renewal. On that day, when Denari’s blessing children that the Golden Contract renewal requires
is strongest, Eversink’s citizens exhibit massive and their blood for the Great Resigning. It’s in the fine
ostentatious financial largesse, settle legal cases, and print. When the last Golden Contract family dies, the
frantically close thousands of contracts in the Church’s contract unravels, renewals do not roll to a new term,
Golden Cathedral of Haven. and Eversink’s islands disappear beneath the waves. The
On the Holiest of days to come — not too long, buildings will fall. All will perish in the new cataclysm.
now! — the Holy Renewal Day, when the Thousand So their families must persist, the matriarchs claim, or
Year term is up, the contract will be up for renewal and Eversink will cease and the ancient calamity will return.
renegotiations between all parties. Then, Denari will With it comes chaos, poverty and death. So eat your
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 241

dinner, be proud of who you are, and pass on your

family’s name and bloodline, else the contract unravels
on the Great Resigning.
City Districts
Is it any wonder the Ancient Nobility consider
themselves important? Eversink is divided into districts. These generally
This is Denari’s Blessing. She walks among her encompass one or more islands (or sometimes quite a
children on the streets of Denaria, now called Eversink, few very small islands), and there are usually multiple
and ensures they keep their side of the bargain. She neighborhoods within one. Districts tend to be linked
expects greatness. Sometimes, people say, she passes out geographically, thematically (“church” or “mercenary
her benediction to those who adore her and embody companies” or “commoners”), and socially.
the Golden Contract’s true spirit. It is fair to say that This book deliberately doesn’t try to name or detail
others in the city have… different beliefs as to how the every single district or neighborhood. This lets you create
city should be run. your own, with whatever features or population you want
within it. You might even wish to ask your players about
the neighborhood and district they live in, and place that
on the map in one of the undetailed islands, so that you
and your players can then bring it to life.

The City of Eversink

 242 Swords of the Serpentine
Eversink map
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 243

The City of Eversink

 244 Swords of the Serpentine

Wide and narrow canals run everywhere within

Temple Market Temple Market, and they’re the most efficient way to
bring goods in from the harbor. Stone bridges arch
Temple Market is Eversink’s largest island, the first across canals to connect the Cathedral’s massive plaza
island settled a millennium ago by refugees from the with the rest of the city. Where and how canals and
crumbling Serpentine Empire. The city was officially bridges interconnect is a bit of hedge wisdom; a tout
founded here on the site where Haven, Denari’s largest will happily guide an Outlander for a bit of coin. The
cathedral, now stands. The cathedral’s vast stone and busiest crossing is the grand Silver Bridge, a massive
crystal dome towers over the sprawling marketplace stone archway lined with stores that connects Temple
that gives this district its name, and perhaps it’s both Market with Ironcross.
faith and money that causes this cathedral to sink more Few have or ride horses or any other draft animal in
slowly than any other building in the city. Temple Market. The streets are choked with humanity
Temple Market is known for the best business deals and there is nowhere inexpensive to keep animals in the
in the world, for sunken mausoleums filled with the tangle of the Grand Marketplace. Instead, everyone but
remnants of Eversink’s founders, for green-ish parks naïve Outlanders ties their horse up at the Waiting Tree
open to all, and for astonishing restaurants tucked near the district’s western edge, and merchants hire
next to sprawling religious complexes. While physically teams of strong men and women to drag or carry their
larger than most other districts, Temple Market is goods from barges to shops. Residents mostly use the
claustrophobically filled with people during the day. readily available gondolas and barges to travel within
Between priests and the Church Militant, Outlander Temple Market.
traders and local citizens, there are close to thirty times The Church owns almost all of Temple Market’s
more people in Temple District during the day than at land, making it the district’s primary landlord. If you’re
night. a member of the clergy and don’t live in a specific chapel
elsewhere, you probably live in Temple Market.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 245

Plot Hooks: Temple Market

� If you want your campaign to stress the busy lifeblood of the city, with people filling the streets and
adventure lurking on every corner, set it in Temple Market. This section of Eversink seldom sleeps, and
there’s always someone needy from any social stratum who’s willing to hire some Heroes to help — even
when the cause isn’t necessarily noble.
� When foreigners picture Eversink, it’s Temple Market they’re thinking of. When foreigners visit Eversink,
it’s Temple Market they get hopelessly lost in. Lend a hand and find yourself embroiled in foreign plots,
mischief, and adventure.

across the city and ensure profit and success for any
Haven and Founders’ Square —
who make deals in Her name. As thanks, the interior
Home of the Church of Haven is filled with treasures beyond imagining
Haven (often nicknamed “The Nest”) is the name of from across the world, all but the most beautiful and
the cathedral and its religious complex. Standing in the tasteful hidden deep in the vaults below. There are also
center of Temple Market, Haven is a grand structure thousands of ancient funerary statues in Haven, some
of soaring swan imagery, shining domes, impossibly displayed prominently, and it’s whispered that in times
perfect spires, and painstakingly detailed crenellation. of need Denari could open the gates of Heaven and
Its foundation stone marks the oldest solid structure in flood the cathedral with the vengeful ghosts of every
Eversink. single faithful whose statue lies within.
Haven’s exterior is stone, crystal, and stained glass. An ancient tradition allows criminals who reach
The interiors are stone, imported marble, lacquered Haven and pay a fee to seek sanctuary from the law for
wood, and gold. A holy fountain within is said to rise a period of three months. During this time they may
from the original waters that Denari stood upon when not leave church property and are expected to worship
she first accepted the worship of the city founders a daily, but are exempted from legal persecution until
millennium ago. Between the main cathedral and the their three months ends. At that point they’re usually
many side chapels, Haven can accommodate tens of frog-marched out of the cathedral and into jail, unless
thousands of worshippers at once. they’ve found someone to legally exonerate them during
It’s said that Denari hears every single prayer uttered their sanctuary. There are members of the Watch whose
within Haven, although She certainly doesn’t deign to sole job it is to try to trick such criminals into leaving
answer all of them. Holy services here carry Her blessing Haven’s grounds, so that they can be arrested.

The City of Eversink

Plot Hooks: Haven

� An accused criminal seeking sanctuary hires the Heroes to find the real criminal — or, more likely, to
manufacture and plant false evidence that gets them off the hook.
� Con artists make humble pilgrims believe they’re addressing Denari Herself. What are the pilgrims willing
to do as a result, and what might make Denari take notice?
� The treasures hidden beneath Haven are beyond imagining, a millennium’s worth of tribute. What kind
of brave but foolhardy individuals would actually take a job stealing some of them?
� The vast library of scrolls and tablets hidden here, including the Golden Contract itself, contain lost
truths about the founding of Eversink. Unfortunately, most are written in Cygnini (see p. 235), a holy
language that only a few scholars can now read. What happens when a translator turns out to have been
making it up all along?
 246 Swords of the Serpentine

Haven’s complex sits in the center of Founders’ Square, The Mausoleum

the largest paved square in Eversink, itself surrounded
The Mausoleum was an early fixture of Temple Market,
by a wide circular canal. It’s illegal to set up a tent or
built many centuries before the Ancient Nobility
shop on Founders’ Square, but that law hasn’t been
moved en masse to Alderhall. Architecturally influenced
enforced for fifty years, so the plaza is now covered
by Haven, morticians at this ornate stone and marble
with incredibly prestigious and profitable merchants.
building once invited the most storied of Eversink’s
Permanent stone church buildings look onto Founders’
population for yearly visits and riotous celebration of
Square from across the canal. These include the
the honored dead. Now the Mausoleum is no longer
Church’s library, an extensive business complex, church
actively used and is falling rapidly into ruin. Binding
housing, an educational center, a monastery, the
contracts ensure that it never fully sinks underground,
Church Militant’s original armory, and a museum to
but it is added to only grudgingly by the government,
Church and Eversink history. Highly prestigious and
and upper levels lack the beauty and architectural
ancient stone mansions, some eclectic storefronts, and a
wonder that lower levels are said to have possessed. An
few restaurants also surround the Square.
average citizen nowadays would be surprised that the
Haven’s above-ground complex is extensive but
best revels in the city were once thrown here.
is tiny compared to the under-cellars, tombs, and
The Mausoleum is full of corpses from the olden
vaults beneath the cathedral. As the oldest building
days before air burials came into vogue, and is filled
remaining in Eversink its basements have generally
with funerary statues alongside or even built into each
been kept clean, dry, and architecturally reinforced.
coffin. A few guards and elderly church morticians still
An extensive warren of guarded underground libraries,
live here, by ancient decree that’s never been revoked.
mysterious locked rooms, interrogation complexes,
While there are famous heroes and military commanders
deadly architectural traps, and long-forgotten secrets
buried here, most of those interred are long-forgotten
sits beneath the cathedral. No one is allowed there
early church leaders and city notables; many noble lines
unless they’re a member of the priesthood or a temple
buried here are long gone. There are long-forgotten
guard from the Church Militant, and even then, only if
secrets hidden in the Mausoleum, carved into walls
they’ve attained the right level of clearance and trust.
and left within tombs, but even the modern Church
Somewhere down there amidst unthinkable riches are
scholars don’t remember what they are.
holy relics, including the Golden Contract itself.

Plot Hooks: The Mausoleum

� A prominent socialite announces a party to be held in the Mausoleum, but she neglects to dedicate the
The City of Eversink

revelry to the honored dead. What happens at the party?

� Con artists need the likeness and true name of a long-dead noble in order to pull off a magnificent scam,
and hire the Heroes to enter the Mausoleum to find and steal their statue. How are they going to pull
this off without getting caught?
� When getting buried in the Mausoleum oddly gains new social status, the workers hired to clean it
discover a hidden passageway that appears trapped. The Heroes can pull strings to get the contract if they
wish, but who needed a secret passage in a tomb?
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 247

The Monastery cellar, and the dinners are five-course affairs. The Church
claims the Monastery is an educational institution and
The monastery attached to Haven brings a new meaning
a fine option for the very wealthy who wish to retire in
to “monastic life,” and not only because it welcomes
devotion to Denari. The most devoted have given their
both male and female members and has a distillery and
lives to finding and making coin; if Denari did not want
brewery attached. It’s a vast above-ground complex
to give them ultimate comfort so they can study Her
with the front entrance opening onto Founders’ Square.
complex tax laws, then why did She bless them with all
The Monastery is warm, comfortable, bright, clean, and
this wealth in the first place?
well-appointed. It has servants and an excellent wine

Plot Hooks: The Monastery

� An entire party of Heroes might be made up of members of the Monastery, elderly and comfortable and
set in their ways, who are then forced out of their normal habits by a terrible threat that only they know
about or can deal with. Such a set-up can be ideal for a humorous one-shot in the tone of fantasy authors
like Pratchett.
� The Monastery is an excellent source for secret societies that stretch back centuries, as generations of
members’ wealth and power may have been used to commit great crimes or hide terrible secrets.

Merchants jockey endlessly for Grand Marketplace

The Grand Marketplace
position. Those furthest out are the poorest and the
The Grand Marketplace is a breathtakingly enormous worst connected: Outlander goods, highly questionable
and complex maze of shops and stalls. It runs across food stands, tents of trinkets and memorabilia. Tinkers
Temple Market edge to edge, densest near cathedrals and vendors push their carts into the outermost ring —
and churches. Anything and everything is for sale in often without a permit — and hope to sell out before
the Grand Marketplace if you know where to look: the City Watch catches on. The poorer tents nearest the
cloth, gems, spices, property, armies, illegal poisons, outer edge mostly sell common home goods — pottery,
and visions of dark fates. It is a crush of tents, flags, pans, everyday household items, homespun clothes.
spectacle, noise, and barter.

Plot Hooks: The Grand Marketplace

The City of Eversink

� There is no better setting for a massive, tumultuous chase than the Grand Marketplace. Carts get
trampled, pack animals stampeded, and vast tables of valuable and fragile pottery shattered. You could
have an entire adventure right there.
� Merchants jockeying for the best and most profitable position can get incredibly territorial and vicious
about their sales location. As they say about academia, the politics are so vicious because the stakes are
so small. Many a merchant is eager to pay a team of adventurers to intimidate, terrify, or investigate a
competitor.
� Trying to find a particular merchant in the marketplace can be as simple as simply asking “Who has ranks
in City’s Secrets?”, but rarely, tracking down someone who doesn’t want to be found can make for a
gripping adventure as you talk to multiple people and stumble across hidden resentments and needs.
� Illegal goods get sold in the Grand Marketplace, and sometimes the purveyors of those goods are
exceptionally dangerous. How do you convince such a person to give you the information or items you
need, especially when they think you work for the Watch or the Church?
� If the villains have a plot requiring many thousands of victims, the Grand Marketplace is where they’re likely
to go.
 248 Swords of the Serpentine
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 249

The City of Eversink

 250 Swords of the Serpentine

Moving past the first tent ring and into the riotous The Parks
madness opens a magical ecosystem of rare imports
The original inhabitants designated areas of Temple
and rarer smells. One long line of tents only sells exotic
Market as green and leafy respites from the hot sun
spices found nowhere else in the city, while another
and briny lagoon, and forbade anyone from building
alley has tents filled with exceedingly strange animals.
in these parks. They erected statues to Denari and the
You’ll find maps and fine printed goods, glorious silks
Church Founders in their centers, added beautiful
and printed cottons, and alluring weapons with their
funerary statues over time, and installed little marble
steel glittering in the warm sun. The closer in, the more
benches for people to come and rest tired feet. Narrow
tax the Church charges, but it’s worth it for the status.
canals now separate most parks from the rest of the
bustling district, even if the canals are symbolic and
small enough for a good athlete to leap over.

Plot Hooks: The Parks

� With no permanent buildings on the parks, that means they’re one of the few areas of the city without a
vast tangle of sunken basements beneath them. Whether this is the reason for their riotous greenery or
not, exotic plants — including poisonous varieties — seem to spontaneously sprout in moonlit parks.
� Parks at night can be a remarkable spot for romantic assignations, bitter duels, or secret deals. Privacy is
easier at such times, but is never assured.

At night the parks are calm ponds in a bustling city, Old Mansions
but during the day most are full of illegal, unlicensed
food carts. The City Watch tries valiantly to throw Before the Ancient Nobility built their homes on
the squatters out, but the squatters simply return. Alderhall, most lived in Temple Market. Many old
It’s entrenched park warfare that more than once mansions have sunk into the mud long ago and
has resulted in burning and bloodshed. Between the disappeared, but a few still stand. There’s Midblossom
vendors and the foot traffic, the parks are in poor shape. House, once home to the Devino family, now converted
With their turf destroyed, statuary defiled, and benches into a Church school for the very rich. Chaldall Manor
broken, the most popular parks today are less an oasis still stands, and the Ancient Vero family continues to
of calm and more a small sea of mud. Groundskeepers live there to this day.
do their best to keep up. The owners rent the few standing ancient mansions
to other entrepreneurs — local restaurants, some Grand
The City of Eversink

A few smaller, less obvious parks are harder to find

or harder to enter; some are sunken, behind walls, or Marketplace shops, and one, Drisherd Manor, is now
raised above the street. These are more peaceful and an upscale inn. The owners plow the profits from the
pristine, and remain free to anyone who can find them. rents into continuous maintenance and rebuilding new
Seek a hidden park if you’re in Temple Market and need roofs as the lower floors sink.
somewhere beautiful to catch your breath.

Plot Hooks: Old Mansions

� These mansions are warrens of secrets. Forgotten rooms, sealed basements, hidden libraries, evidence
of ancient murders, historical artifacts that could rewrite the official history of Eversink if anyone could
just understand their relevance — the old mansions of Temple Market contain archaeological truths that
others would kill for if they ever even knew to look for them.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 251

Temple Market Restaurants

Designer Notes:
With easy access to canals, fresh food vendors, and rare
spices, Temple Market hosts the best (and sometimes Divine Partnership
most expensive) restaurants in the city. Places like
Aroma, the Locket, Chiavacci’s, and The Pillar are local One of the many names for the Church is the
institutions. There’s not much room on the ground Divine Partnership. Since the people of Eversink
for outside seating, since the Divine Partnership rents are joined in a divine partnership with Denari
out almost every square centimeter of the street, so through the Golden Contract, some citizens
prosperous restaurants rent the few stone mansions extrapolate that relationship out as the name for
around Founders’ Square and build up and out onto the Church as an organization.
second and third floor balconies. When their restaurant We like the idea that there have been multiple
sinks, they move the entire operation up a new level. offshoots, cults, splinter religions, saints, and
variants of Denari’s worship over the years. As
Temple Market City Watch House time and fashions change, so does what the
Church considers heretical or iniquitous. People
The beleaguered Watchmen and Watchwomen of the
fight civil wars over tiny differences in official
Temple Market City Watch House start their day by
canon. If this sounds fun to explore, consider
kicking illegal vendors out of the parks, and end it
different names for the Church — like the Divine
with kicking thieves out of the Grand Marketplace.
Partnership — and then have each of those
They also run out of an old stone mansion, but not
represent a different sect that’s competing for
on Founders’ Square proper. They’re on a cul-de-sac
Denari’s favor.
off the Grand Marketplace that the Watch can actually
afford. They’re usually so busy with the makework of
civil management that there’s not much time left over
for solving theft, blackmail, burglary, or murder. The
best way to get justice in Temple Market is to be well
connected politically or know someone who is.

Plot Hooks: Market City Watch House

� Occasionally a new Watch officer is transferred in who is determined to shake up the complacency and

The City of Eversink

exhausted cynicism of the Temple Market Watch. Rarely — and with enough ranks in Command —
they’re able to do so, disrupting the normal routine for months. Those they cross usually try to use
their political authority to get the officer in question promoted elsewhere in the city and out of Temple
Market, after which things gradually return to normal. If such an officer takes charge during a complex
illegal operation, however, politics and law enforcement get very interesting in the district.
� There are a handful of the Temple Market City Watch who care about common crimes and common
people. In order to get problems solved without destroying their career, they often turn to other Heroes
to follow up and solve these crimes, making sure they’re well compensated for their effort. This kind of
partnership benefits everyone, but is usually looked upon poorly by officials who think it makes the City
Watch look weak.
 252 Swords of the Serpentine

Amidst the soaring stone and marble government

Ironcross buildings are blocks of neat and tidy storefronts. Most
are walk-ups with quiet notary offices on the bottom
Ironcross is the second largest of Eversink’s islands. It’s floor and spare middle-class apartments upstairs for
the home of Eversink’s government, courts, bankers, those who work the machinery of commerce but don’t
money changers, and Advocates’ Guild. Ironcross is directly profit from it. If you work in Eversink for the
where the business of Eversink happens, where the Triskadane, work in a Mercanti guildhouse, or work as a
contracts are signed, the money changes hands, and private investigator of any repute, chances are you have
where fortunes grow and fall. your headquarters in Ironcross.

Plot Hooks: Ironcross

� In Temple Market, thieves may steal dozens or even hundreds of gold drakes. In Ironcross, however,
thieves may steal thousands or even hundreds of thousands of such coins. Elaborate con jobs, financial
scams, and perfectly legal maneuvering can make or break fortunes that would stagger a commoner. As
you can imagine, people are willing to kill for such wealth.
� If you want your adventures to feel more like fantasy detective noir instead of classic sword & sorcery,
consider setting your Heroes up in Ironcross. People are loaded down with secret needs and desires, fair
veneers hide foul truths, and just about anyone might backstab you to get ahead in the world.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 253

Interspersed between government buildings and meeting or engagement. The Hermitage is guarded by
blocks of quiet neighborhoods are wide squares, parks, the Church Militant and by nameless secret police.
restaurants, and grandly triumphant public monuments It’s believed that the Triskadane, the thirteen secret
from earlier eras. This district is surprisingly clean rulers of Eversink handpicked by the Goddess Herself,
despite the constant bustling of business, with little meet somewhere within the Hermitage. Either the
rubbish and almost no graffiti. The City Watch is room keeps changing locations or no one can agree on
especially busy here, and they’re willing to eject so- which room they truly use.
called troublemakers from Ironcross at the slightest The Halls of the Cabinet are sweeping, beautiful,
provocation; due to their notably stern (and effective) painted and gold-bedecked rooms where the most
Commander, they’re much less corrupt than elsewhere. powerful committees meet, where Eversink receives
The Silver Bridge connects Ironcross and Temple foreign heads of state, and where the Triskadane’s
Market. edicts are first announced. These rooms commemorate
Eversink’s greatest military and political victories, real
The Hermitage and Court Houses and imagined.
The largest building in Ironcross is the Hermitage, Finally, the Hermitage contains the private and public
home of the courts, committee business offices, and the Court Rooms. These rooms are paneled in rich wood
Triskadane. This ancient and majestic building fronts and leather and are large enough to hold a judge, the
onto Effigy Square and backs onto the canals for easy defendant, the City’s prosecutors, and the City Watch;
water access to Alderhall and the Grand Marketplace. public Court Rooms also have room for a sizable
The Triskadane’s edicts are officially read to the public audience. Eversink has no jury of peers — the judge’s
here. During the day, notaries and clerks spill through decisions are final.
the statue-filled courtyards as they rush to their next

Plot Hooks: The Hermitage

� Rumor has it The Disaster, a soaring ceiling mural painted by the fabulous Pizzimenti, was stolen as
part of an elaborate plot to bring down the City but was later discovered in the sub-basement beneath a
Tangle tenement building. It has since been properly restored. Rumor also has it that the mural hides a
coded map to a vast and wonderful treasure. If anyone has found it yet, they’ve managed to keep quiet
about the discovery.
� The Triskadane actually meet in a dripping cellar near Harbor Approach. Or they meet in the dome of
the city’s third largest cathedral. Or they meet in a spare conference room here in the Hermitage that no

The City of Eversink

one can ever remember how to find. The Thirteen secret rulers might be anywhere, and only one who
holds one of their heavy golden coins knows for sure.
� A huge number of adventures can come from those unjustly (or correctly) accused in the courts who
need evidence found, or illegally placed, before they can be set free. Some Heroes may find themselves a
patron within the courts who’s willing to pay them regularly for their non-traditional assistance.
 254 Swords of the Serpentine

The Well of Tears connects the Hermitage to this medium-sized prison.

Some people claim the bridge has that name because,
A squat and unmarked building stands across from
in Eversink’s early days, judges carried out sentence
the Hermitage, on the other side of a small canal. It’s
right there on the bridge, and that the ghosts of the
solid and well-defended, with dozens of basements that
condemned cry enough tears into the lapping water to
descend deep underground. The Well (as it’s called) is
make it almost briny.
a holding prison where the City Watch keeps prisoners
due to be seen by a judge. The Bridge of Tears

Plot Hooks: The Well of Tears

� Jails usually hold people waiting for their court date, not those who have already been convicted, since
convicts are usually executed, exiled, branded, or conscripted. When they suspect their upcoming trial
isn’t going to go well, many prisoners in the Well’s holding cells would gladly pay through the nose to
arrange their escape.
� Rumors persist that there are people deep in the Well who have been awaiting trial for more than seven
decades, political prisoners being kept out of sight until they die. If this turns out to be true, especially if
they’re one of the incredibly charismatic Commoner rebels who disappeared several generations ago, the
city’s entire balance of power could be upset.

any longer, it would knit itself into a noose overnight.

The Revelation Belltower
Ironcross’ government workers are suspicious of
Standing on the corner of Effigy Square’s center is the the Revelation Belltower. Some won’t walk near it and
Revelation Belltower. This tall, thin structure towers believe it’s cursed. Before the current building, Swan’s
over the Hermitage. It counts the hours in the day and Hall Tower stood in its place until it burned down a
keeps the flow of commerce moving through Ironcross. century ago in a mysterious act of arson. Today, those
The belltower is tall enough that workers can hear the who believe the tower is cursed say standing beneath
ringing bells in the Grand Marketplace and the Arsenal. the Revelation Tower when the bells ring marks a
The bell-ringer climbs 215 rickety stairs to reach the victim with a curse that shrivels the body and shreds the
bell pull; tradition insists that if the bell pull’s rope was soul. Most people believe this is silly.
The City of Eversink

Plot Hooks: The Revelation Belltower

� Historians maintain that acts of horrible cruelty and carnage occurred in the Swan’s Hall Tower that
once stood on this site, although little can be proved nowadays due to an anonymous records purge two
generations ago. For whatever reason, Church acolytes with Spirit Sight who attempt to see the ghost
of Swan’s Hall typically suffer ghostly possession and near-crippling terror and amnesia from viewing the
site in the spirit world. Doing so has been declared improper by the Church, and there is now a law that
declares this act to be a heresy.
� The architecture of Revelation Belltower never seems to be quite right. The tall, thin tower leans oddly
when seen from the ground, and angles slip in and out of sight in a way that encourages viewers to look
elsewhere. Regardless, the tone of the belltower’s bells is believed to be the most perfect and beautiful
in the entire city, perhaps in the world, and many tourists stop in amazement the first time they hear the
tower ringing out the time.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 255

The Guild Houses Hermitage, some claim the Advocates dug a tunnel
between the two so they can pop up whenever they hear
Standing next to the Hermitage are the city’s grandest
someone in the Hermitage’s hallways complaining they
Guild Houses. These stately, multi-floor buildings rival
need contractual or legal assistance.
the mansions of the Ancient Nobility and Mercanti in
The Guild House of Architects and Canal-Watchers
Alderhall. Faced with rare marble and stone, covered in
was gifted to them by the Triskadane in exchange for
arches and swans, they tower over Effigy Square.
preferential treatment on government construction.
These Guild Houses are business buildings as well
There’s said to be more secret passages and hidden
as dwellings. Each has a grand meeting room where
rooms in this building than in any other structure in
guildmasters make their strategic decisions, and where
Eversink’s history. The Guild House is an advertisement
the guild throws massive holiday banquets. Guild
for the guild’s power and reach; some claim it to be the
Houses also host each guild’s financial, contracts,
most beautiful building in the entire city, although they
legal, and logistics offices. Many have their own
don’t usually claim that anywhere a priestess of Denari
libraries, training and testing rooms, and sub-basement
can overhear them.
mausoleums full of the statues and mouldering corpses
Less prominent guilds can’t yet afford headquarters
of ancient Guild founders.
in Ironcross, but the district also hosts Guild Houses for
The two most ostentatious Guild Houses in Ironcross
several merchant shipping guilds, a few prominent and
are the Guild House of Architects and the Advocates’
well-established thieves’ guilds, and the Gray Guard, an
Guild House. Of the two, the Advocates’ Guild House
infamous Mercenary company.
is busier during the day. Located next door to the

Plot Hooks: The Guild Houses

� Trade secrets worth millions of Swans — whether trade routes, supply sources, the identity of spies, or the
only extant copy of valuable exclusive contracts — are hidden within guild houses. Such houses usually
have their own series of waterproof vaults to hold gold, papers, and other valuables. Thieves caught trying
to raid a guild house seldom make it to trial; guilds have a quiet tradition of administering their own
immediate justice.
� By tradition, each guild throws at least one massive ball each year for clients and nobility; using the
opportunity for a gratuitous and confident display of wealth and power. Getting on the guest list is a
must for anyone hoping to embarrass the guild through inside sabotage, or for anyone seeking access to
the city’s elite social class.

The City of Eversink

businesses move one floor up and the Architects add
Counting House Row
new floors.
A few blocks over from Effigy Square is Counting Counting House Row also holds the Counting
House Row. These purpose-built walk-ups and Houses — the various banks and non-Church lending
townhouses hold the essentials of day-to-day business institutions. In the mornings, the bankers put their red-
throughout all Eversink: law offices, apothecaries, clothed benches out onto the cobbled sidewalks. They
leechers, accountants, scribes, alchemists (usually at change money, store and retrieve cash, pen contracts, and
the end of the row, where explosions will put fewer give out loans right there on the street. One can finance
buildings at risk), and other educated professionals. It’s an entire voyage at quite reasonable rates on Counting
a bustling street full of people shaking hands, making House Row before most people get out of bed.
deals, and getting business done. They say one can rent In the evenings, the benches disappear back inside
a warehouse, pay for shipping across the sea, arrange a the townhouses and Counting House Row becomes
shipment of foreign carpets, and land a storefront to sell a well-patrolled ghost town with shutters down and
the cargo in less than four hours on Counting House doors locked.
Row. Whenever an entrance sinks below street level,
 256 Swords of the Serpentine

Plot Hooks: Counting House Row

� Recently, a shadow counting house has sprung up along the Row — only open from midnight to 4am
and managed by heavily hooded men and women of unknown provenance, the shadow bank provides
financing to incredibly illegal deals. The interest rates are punishing and the default terms are lethal, but
if you need capital for a smuggling mission or to pay an assassin you can borrow the money here with few
questions asked. It’s believed that a sorcerous cabal finances the operation, and pays officials to stay away.
� The bankers on Counting House Row are always in need of dependable agents who aren’t afraid to get
their hands dirty. Important deals require constant investigation and enforcement. If the Heroes require
a dependable patron to provide a constant stream of difficult challenges, they’ll be able to find such an
employer right here.

Caprian General and sage who sought greater academic

Imperator University
freedom. Once she and her followers agreed to teach
Over the centuries Eversink has been home to a score or Denari’s theology and train new Marketpriests as part
more of universities, all of which have eventually failed. of their curriculum, the Triskadane granted the military
No one is quite sure why, although theories abound, scholars both citizenship and a collection of buildings in
and their sunken or repurposed campuses can be found Ironcross on Monument Avenue. Imperator University
by those who know where to look. The latest university has taught students at that location ever since.
is less than a century old and was founded by a defecting
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 257

The university has widened its degree offerings military defenses — have so far countered any such
from military science to include theology, contract law, pressure.
astronomy, divination, alchemy, philosophy, medicine The University is open to anyone who applies,
and rhetoric. It’s known for brilliant tacticians, academic pays the hefty admission fees, and passes its rigorous
freedom, and intellectual daring. Conservatives across admission examinations. It is rumored that there’s a
the city consider the university heretical and want it secret curriculum exploring the causes and consequences
gone, but the university’s tithes to the Church and of Corruption and Sorcery, but that’s never been
government — and its contributions to the city’s proved.

Plot Hooks: Imperator University

� You could easily set an entire campaign at Imperator University, mirroring fiction by authors such as
Pratchett and Rothfuss, playing either students or professors at the university in times of hardship.
� Given its origin, Imperator University arguably holds the greatest store of military history in Eversink.
In times of armed conflict, a bidding war may occur for the University’s expertise — and that military
knowledge may well be declared a state secret. What are rivals willing to offer to gain the University’s
tactical expertise?
� The University’s Forbidden Book room contains librams and grimoires that are literally chained to the
shelves to keep librarians safe. What lost secrets are hidden therein?
� Rebellious students may well delve into forbidden topics. When student projects inadvertently threaten
the city, how can Heroes navigate the bureaucracy and tradition to prevent catastrophe?

The Sages’ Guild

The Sages’ Guild controls an ancient library much Designer Notes: Church Canon
more extensive than Imperator University’s collection.
Originally an enormous and ornate storehouse for the An idea we had for the Church was one whose
Church’s canonical and legal texts, the library now canon was literally an infinitely growing law
includes non-religious texts and serves as a government library. Commerce is governed by laws, and the
document reference for the Advocates’ Guild. The Church is all about commerce, so in a thousand

The City of Eversink

Guild Library does host galleries of other works: years the Church wrote down every ruling,
local and foreign books of philosophical and scientific every rule, and every passing thought for what
thought, an extensive map reference room, and a brand was or wasn’t a law. The only complete copy of
new (and quite exciting!) fiction shelf. Some say that this activity is kept in the Sages’ Guild on many,
unspoken Eversink truths and sorcerous texts lie hidden many, many library shelves. But very few if any
among the dry treatises on shipping law and accounting have ever read the entire corpus, so no one is
books about sheep. They’re correct. quite sure what the Church’s laws actually are.
The Library is not open to the public and is
accessed by appointment, with a hefty fee (2 Wealth
per visit) paid to the Sages’ Guild. Visitors are always
accompanied through the stacks by one or more sages,
although a small number of visitor passes that allow
unlimited access are held as family heirlooms in Ancient
Noble vaults. The post of High Librarian is hereditary.
 258 Swords of the Serpentine

Plot Hooks: The Sages’ Guild

� There’s old and terrible Corruption in the lower levels that the sages have been covering up for centuries.
There’s a book shelved near it that they need, however, and no one is willing to risk their own life to
approach. Will the Heroes handle it, and why don’t the sages just ask the Church, anyway?
� A sage discovers a terrible secret in one of her books, comes to the Heroes for help, but is killed or cursed
before she can tell them — the classic murder mystery set-up. What’s the secret, and who cares enough
to keep it quiet? Is she really dead, or faking it to manipulate the Heroes?
� Cartographers make a tidy sum selling copies of ancient maps to those who want to navigate the undercity.
They slowly realize that several sections of the undercity are so dangerous that no one who ventures near
them ever returns. The Church is willing to pay well — including funeral expenses — to anyone willing
to investigate why.
� A shelf of library books has become sentient due to ancient Corruption in the floors below, and starts
running a crime ring out of the Sages’ Guild by possessing librarians and then wiping their memory of
any illegal activity.

notables who want to live in quiet away from the Grand

Ironcross’ Housing and Restaurants
Marketplace and outside the Church’s dormitories.
Ironcross houses an extensive army of advocates, Ironcross doesn’t have the cachet of a great eating
notaries, and clerks. It also has rowhouses and or shopping destination outside of core business
apartments for middle-class guild merchants and high services, except for some notable locations. Timmer
artisans. While government and business buildings and Rice Clothiers, around the corner from the
dominate most of Ironcross’ streets, a turn can take University, has been dressing the rich and famous for
a visitor down quiet alleys and canals alive with the 223 years — having been rebuilt now twice. Lankows’
common sounds of middle-class life. Cabinetmakers furnishes the various government and
Most of the apartment buildings are tall stone clerical offices around Ironcross. Cook’s Weapons and
towers. Landlords maintain contracts with the Guild of Fashionable Metals commissions custom-made swords,
Architects and Canal-Watchers to continuously build daggers, dirks, and knives. And Eversink’s first tourist
new roof levels. When basement level leases come up, company, Mayweather’s Ships, sits on the corner of
the residents are offered an opportunity to move to the Monument and Jubilee Streets.
newest top floor at a premium.
The City of Eversink

The Iron Bridge connects Ironcross and Alderhall.

A few apartment buildings are ancient converted Standing next to the bridge is Gunther’s Chophouse,
fortified towers, old palaces, and other eccentric, trendy excellent for its steak menu, wine cellar, port selection,
old buildings. Apartments in these buildings come and discreet tables.
at a premium for their excellent locations, upscale
addresses, and interesting interiors. Those living in
here are up-and-comers: merchants hoping to become
Mercanti, rich advocates, and even some rich Church
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 259

Plot Hooks: Ironcross’ Housing

� Reputation and social standing are important for almost anyone living and working in Ironcross; the
locals definitely feel that they have a certain standard to maintain. Any adventure involving blackmail,
financial betrayal, and social embarrassment can easily be set here.
� For years, an unknown sorcerer embezzled fortunes by cursing bureaucrats and only removing the curse
once they funneled coin to her. She’s been inactive for decades, but that’s bound to change once her ill-
gotten funds run out.
� A plethora of demons and small gods dedicated to wealth, coin, and self-importance seem to spring into
life in Ironcross every year. Most are exorcized by Inquisitors or absorbed by Denari, but a few inevitably
escape when they’re protected by people who crave wealth. The godlings’ plans and dreams almost
always involve get-rich-quick schemes and plots to subvert or weaken the Church’s influence, and they
like using Heroes as catspaws to do so.

Alderhall the last in the city to flood during vicious storms — and
well-staffed gates keep out undesirables.
Alderhall is the district of prestige. The wide, perfumed The Mercanti try frantically to buy their way into this
lanes wind along gardens, parks, theaters, museums, status and wealth, but it isn’t easy. Land in Alderhall
and past the Ancient Nobility’s towering and gated is scarce and has been built up since the early days of
estates. The main street known as the Promenade of Eversink. The stately mansions and towers are old; the
Swans wends its way past hedge animals, wandering only real way in is to mortgage an existing building’s
musicians, peacocks, jeweled towers, lovely exotic roof or to buy out a failing Ancient Noble family, and
flowers, gurgling streams and elegant bridges. The air these aren’t sold to just anybody. The locals join forces
is lyrical with soft music, and the smell of the swamp is to keep out the wrong sort of people, which they define
far away. Thanks to Alderhall’s low hills, this district is as everyone who doesn’t have as much social prestige
as they do.

The City of Eversink

 260 Swords of the Serpentine

The graceful mansions constantly sink despite the advantage of controlling access to the neighborhood.
district’s hill and firmer soil, a fact that confirms sages’ The City Watch patrols Alderhall’s streets
belief that Eversink’s slow descent isn’t natural. The aggressively. Anyone looking the slightest bit suspicious
Ancient Nobles with the most money can best keep is stopped, questioned, patted down, harassed, and
their towers built up. It’s a tell on which families are escorted toward the nearest bridge leading them out of
succeeding and which are failing. Cunning Mercanti the District. Visitors, tourists, Outlanders, and under-
can choose a victim simply by counting the remaining dressed Eversink citizens are not welcome. Alderhall’s
stories. The Vesco mansion has a full twelve luxurious City Watch House is the largest in Eversink, not
stories, while the poor Garibaldis are down to a mere counting the City Watch presence in the Hermitage, and
five. Maybe a quick infusion of neo-riche cash will get has the largest staff. It also has the justified reputation
them to a sixth, in exchange for future favors… for raw corruption; Watch Officers who serve here gain
Meanwhile, a warren of back alleys and canals the majority of their income from nobles demanding
behind the mansions lead to the servants’ quarters and special favors.
the mercenary garrisons. Deliveries from the Grand On the rare occasion that you need a Watchman
Marketplace never saunter up the Promenade. They’re and there are none around, almost all noble families
carried by gondola along the many canals winding maintain their own small private army of mercenaries.
through Alderhall to the mansions’ private docks. A family is considered weak if they don’t, and social
Goods are unloaded discreetly and brought up back status is sometimes derived from the size of a house’s
stairs. Many Alderhall bridges rise and lower so they can militia — even if those soldiers do little more than act as
hang picturesquely over the water in the day and rise bodyguards and stand up impressively straight in public.
for frantic commerce at night. This has the additional

Plot Hooks: Alderhall

� When you want an adventure to focus on the Ancient Nobility, chances are the Heroes will be making
a visit to Alderhall — assuming they can bribe or talk their way past the gate guards, who may want
something unusual. A meal from the best food cart in the Tangle is much more popular than simple coin.
� Nobility tend to forget about their servants, merchants, and guards. For anyone with ranks of Servility,
the “secret population” who service Alderhall families have a robust gossip network and relatively private
canals or lanes to move on. Whether you’re saving a servant’s career or a noble’s reputation, the people
who actually do the work in Alderhall may have an important role to play.
� Alderhall towers may often be neglected, but you’d never be able to tell from the outside, even if the
The City of Eversink

upkeep is bankrupting the noble family who owns it. That means carpenters and stonemasons are
common in the district. They sometimes find inexplicable or remarkable things when working on noble
towers: rooms or items they’d rather ask the Heroes about than show to the family who owns them.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 261

The Opera House Balconies and back stairs make for a bewildering but
beautifully decorated navigation experience. The
A gem of the gilded age of architecture, the Opera
Triskadane have a box that is always left empty, as does
House was built on pilings so that it would withstand
the Goddess herself — just in case. Nobility’s boxes are
the ravages of time and swamp. A few more generations
passed down through families, paid for in perpetuity
and it will finally sink into the ground, but its coiled
when the Opera was built. The wait for the Mercanti to
and polished marble steps lead up from a grand plaza
buy a box is decades, and bidding is ridiculously high.
to an acoustically perfect performance space. Hundreds
Opera companies vie and compete for the best
of statues grace the Opera Hall — and legend says that
stages. The graft to be accepted as a featured company
they move about and change places to hear the best
is astonishing. The church decries companies that use
performances.
sorcerers for illusory effects, and have Inquisitors on-
Many marriages happen in the plaza and on the
site to check for Corruption, but few sorcerers are ever
steps, and the view of the bay from the highest towers
that stupid.
is unmatched. Inside, the main performance hall (and
there are smaller theaters) seats more than a thousand.

Plot Hooks: Opera House

� It’s said that a statue somewhere in the Opera House has the Sultana’s Ruby hidden inside it, a stolen
gem the size of a seagull’s egg with a supposed curse and a long and storied past. If it’s there, legions of
thieves have so far failed to find it — and it’s possible that the City Watch spreads that rumor just to set
up a successful thief-trap.
� When commoners and artisans wish to humiliate members of the nobility or members of government,
they typically do so by producing seditious or humiliating plays that are full of allegory, performances
that stay just this side of plausible deniability. Mechanically, this is represented by spending pool points
of Scurrilous Rumors. The flurry of duels that erupt from such performances seldom stop reputations
from rising or falling. It’s an excellent method of undercutting nobles too powerful to attack otherwise.
You won’t usually find the Church attacked in such a manner, though; heresy isn’t something the Opera
House tolerates as “artistic expression”.
� Despite the best efforts of the Church’s Inquisitors, the Opera House remains haunted. There’s a sizable
reward for anyone who can fix this problem.
� If you want a cinematic location for a dramatic encounter, you can hardly ask for a better location than

The City of Eversink

the roofs of the Opera House. Astonishing views, lethal falls, multiple levels, and an eager audience of
patrons who watch from the ground below.

new to amaze and delight. Only once (but memorably)

The Glass Garden
have the exhibited plants been carnivorous, sentient,
The Glass Garden is a massive, multi-floored glass- and motile.
enclosed hothouse dedicated to growing and exhibiting The Alderhall Botanical and Adventurers’ Society
rare, exotic, and alchemically enhanced flowers. Inside, runs the Glass Garden. It charges a hefty “donation” (1
paths wind between elegant manufactured waterfalls Wealth) at the door for a quiet stroll through the rare
and along constructed cliffs. Small charming streams botanical joys, and hosts a High Society Gala every year.
and ponds filled with ornamental fish gurgle among Special exhibits from artists appear regularly.
ferns. Hidden stairs and ladders take flower enthusiasts The largest challenge facing the Society is theft.
through “secret passages” and into unlabeled rooms Visitors, botanists, and even hired guards smuggle out
with botanical delights. Quarterly, the staff moves every extra seed and bulb they can filch. Many of the rare
plants to different rooms so there’s always something plants are used in the manufacture of banned alchemical
 262 Swords of the Serpentine

reagents and highly addictive substances. It’s up to the door. The Alderhall Botanical and Adventurers’ Society
buyer to grow their own supply from the stolen seeds, refuses to acknowledge this as a problem, as bad press
but most buyers seem to be successful; the City Watch would ruin its reputation and the carefully planned
traced breakouts of new virulent drug addictions in annual gala.
the Tangle and Sag Harbor to the Glass Garden’s back

Plot Hooks: The Glass Garden

� A generation ago, one of the exotic plants turned out to be remarkably effective for mind control when
dried and powdered. All of the Garden’s samples were seized and burned, but if any seeds survived, they
should be flowering any time now.
� There’s little doubt that some members of the Society will buy any rare plant presented to them. This
opens them up to charges of receiving illegal and smuggled goods, making them vulnerable to blackmail.
Heroes might need to defend them — assuming they’re not the ones perpetrating the blackmail
themselves.
� In recent decades members of a guild of Eversink’s assassins have challenged one another to complete
their assignments at the annual High Society Gala, without getting caught. Security at the Gala is now
ridiculously high — as you’d expect at a party where every year guests seem to keel over unexpectedly —
which makes the challenge that much more interesting.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 263

The Goddess’ Blessing keeps most of the water in

Sag Harbor Eversink clean, but not here. Water flowing into Sag
Harbor is quickly polluted, and canal locks shunt this
The swampside docks off the upriver end of the city are pollution towards the swamp instead of into the city
in the worst industrial section of town. This is the area center. Drinking from the canals and harbor here leads
where the unmentionable businesses are: the tanneries, to a swift and terrible death from throat leeches or
the slaughterhouses, the nightsoil collections. It’s where something worse. Instead, the local citizens employ
sludge from dredging finds a temporary home, mostly rain barrels for fresh water. Rarely is enough water left
because there’s a surreptitious market for people who over after cooking and drinking to bathe; most of Sag
want their enemies’ homes filled with the stuff. Claimed Harbor reeks. The very lucky find ancient wells drilled
(usually by being branded) and feral pigs root around in the sub-basements under their tenements, but once
in refuse piles like mobile trash disposals, and pigs are outed, local gangs of thieves move in quick to control
notoriously good at disposing of unwanted bodies. The the water supply. In Sag Harbor, clean water is power.
district is called Sag Harbor because many buildings are The Sag Harbor City Watch House is a building
canted, leaning into other buildings at crazy angles as under siege. Most Watchmen here are corrupt and on
their foundations slip. The Architects have been paid the take from one, two, or sometimes five local crime
not to fix these; they’re just marking time until urban families simultaneously. They’re paid well to look the
renewal. other way and they couldn’t care less about Outlander-
Sag Harbor itself is shallow and badly silted as river on-Outlander violence out in the slums. A few brave
mud washed downstream piles up against Eversink’s Watchmen take a stand against the endless criminal tide
southernmost islands. Smugglers dock here, as do but all too often they end up floating face-down in the
people who don’t want to pay the dock fees of the good brackish harbor, or they burn out and are transferred
docks in Harbor Approach. People come to Sag Harbor up-harbor. If you need a crime solved in Sag Harbor,
for the anonymity; there’s a local tradition that noticing you may be better off going to a private Sentinel or
a stranger’s face is likely to get you shivved. The poor an honest Watch officer in a different District who’s
live here alongside orphans, dockworkers, and those willing to bend the rules on territory.
who are taboo or hope to hide. Bodies are dumped here Sag Harbor hosts numerous small chapels and
to float away, be eaten by hogs and rats, or disappear shrines, as well as one larger local parish church and
into the stew pots of the truly starving. a parish Marketpriest, Leo Montalbo. He is a good

The City of Eversink

 264 Swords of the Serpentine

man in a bad town. His mission is to treat the hopeless The inhuman rattakan have routes to the surface in
addicts and homeless criminals who end up on his Sag Harbor. So do other things too horrible to mention,
stoop, one painful victim at a time. Frustratingly, his and even the many thieves’ guilds headquartered here
faith forbids him charity: he cannot treat the desperate use caution. People disappear at night and no one is
without extracting a blood price. the wiser.

Plot Hooks: Sag Harbor

� There’s a secret war going on between a band of local orphans and a nest of rattakan. It’s just a matter of
time before the monstrosities catch and devour the children, but the ones who still survive have become
remarkable at keeping themselves safe while trying to get adults to believe them about the rat-folks’
existence.
� Some people believe that this District is riddled with underground spots of buried Corruption, open
sores that attract ghosts and lead to nightmares or insanity. Only the bravest of Inquisitors go looking,
and they usually hire local help to do so.
� There’s a movement on to dredge Sag Harbor, knock down the sinking tenements, and have Mercanti
guild-families claim the islands as their own once they rebuild the streets for their own use. No one has
thought about where all the poor would go, but it’s a serious threat that some would kill to stop… or kill
to have it happen.

The Governess of the House, Valentina de Prefetti,

The House of Broken Wings
is colloquially known as the Silent Swan, or the Broken
While the Hospital in the Tangle holds the broken in Swan by the impolite. In her youth Valentina was a
body, the House of Broken Wings hosts those with messenger for the Triskadane and, as is customary, her
broken minds and little wealth. The House of Broken tongue was removed. Despite her inability to speak,
Wings is a surprisingly bright and clean building where she runs the House professionally and well, and all the
Eversink locks away the poverty-stricken deranged for Broken Wings are well cared for. Valentina possesses a
the safety of themselves... and others. Eversink calls the gift of serenity — a soothing presence, an aura of calm
mad “Broken Wings,” and the House is their home. — and even violent inmates are less agitated when she
The Church and government both take madness is nearby.
extraordinarily seriously. Madness is cracks in the mind In spite of her saintly reputation, rumors persist
that Corruption and spirits can exploit. If the mad aren’t
The City of Eversink

in certain circles that Valentina is not as pure as she

locked away, no one knows who, or what, will wind up appears. While all of the Broken Wings are demonstrably
in charge of the body in the end. The Church has its damaged or disturbed, the whispers maintain that not
asylum, and plenty of private sanctuaries exist, but the all of them were that way prior to being remanded into
House is the only major facility focusing on the poor. the care of the House.

Plot Hooks: The House of Broken Wings

� Someone has taken great care to excise the history of the House from any official documents and
government records. It was used for something before Valentina arrived, but no one seems to remember
what.
� Occasionally someone kidnaps broken people from the House. When this happens, it’s usually because
the kidnapper needs a host for a possessing ghost — a crime the Inquisitors take seriously and punish
harshly, even if they seem to care far more for catching the criminals than helping the victims.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 265

Rospo’s Fight Club the sunken ruin of the old colosseum. Mercenaries,
local thugs, fantastic beasts, and coinless Outlanders
Four hundred years ago, Eversink built an elaborate
compete in mortal combat for the delight of spectators
colosseum. It sank.
and, more importantly, gamblers.
Nunzio Carbone is a mid-level boss in one of the
There are two unbreakable rules for attendees of
city’s criminal fraternities. He is universally known as Il
these gladiatorial events: 1. Cash only, no credit; and
Rospo, “The Toad”, because of his gross corpulence and
2. Everyone wears a domino mask issued at the door.
amazing collection of warts. He has been investigated
While Il Rospo is scrupulous about tithing for any
by Inquisitors on suspicion of sorcery on no fewer than
profits he garners from his enterprise, he leaves it to the
five occasions, and they have concluded that either he
discretion of his patrons as to whether they report their
is a practitioner of surpassing subtlety, or else he really
winnings to the Church. The rules permit him to claim
is that ugly.
ignorance with at least a veneer of plausibility should
Il Rospo has something of a reputation as an
anyone ever make official enquiries as to the identities
information broker, but his primary income is from
of his customers.
the Underground (literally) Fight Club he runs in

Plot Hooks: Rospo’s Fight Club

� Death and spilled blood attract unsavory attention from the spirit world, and Il Rospo has no idea that
his simple fights are weakening the veil for something to push through.
� It’s become fashionable for slumming nobility to attend and — Goddess forbid! — actually fight in the
gladiatorial combat. Il Rospo doesn’t forbid it, but he hates the idea. If an important noble gets snuffed,
he’s going to have to call in a lot of favors to have the whole thing shushed up.

This is all an elaborate ruse. The surface Night

The Underground Night Markets
Markets are for the rich (and brave) tourists trolling for
Daytime Sag Harbor is a sprawl of slums and unsavory a good time while slumming. The real Night Markets
neighborhoods. Nighttime Sag Harbor (at least along are underground among the sunken foundations of
the edges of the District) is a riot of Night Markets. Eversink’s tallest buildings.
Every night when the sun goes down, the lanterns light Accessing the Underground Night Markets isn’t
and market tents pop up intertwined with the harbor for casual visitors. The path requires connections,
docks and the sprawls of fishmongers, tanners, dyers, knowledge, bribes, and an accurate map. The way down

The City of Eversink

outlanders, and other low-lives. Roving pubs pitch their changes almost every night and it’s extremely dangerous.
tents and tap their kegs. The Night Market’s denizens don’t welcome visitors.
They say anything is for sale in the Sag Harbor Night Down there, in the Underground Night Market,
Markets: items of great magic, forbidden alchemical disfigured masters from the Guild of Architects
reagents, banned sorcery books, contract assassins, exchange sorcery, maps, ancient and recently procured
taboo alcohols. Vendors roll out stalls with offal soup knowledge. Crime bosses meet with aged and horribly
and platters of deep-fried crickets, centipedes and disfigured sorcerers. Alchemists purchase still-warm
silkworms. Thieves pop up mobile casinos with rigged organs for their concoctions. Rattakan bribe mercenaries
games of chance. Raucous musicians battle on corners to look the other way. Everything imaginable can be
for Sag Harbor musical supremacy. The Tangle might had — drugs, real magic, souls, lives, deaths — for a
be where many common families live, but Sag Harbor’s steep price. Unlike the surface Night Market, these
Night Markets are where they go for entertainment. items are the real deal, not wax facsimiles.
 266 Swords of the Serpentine

Plot Hooks: The Night Markets

� Someone claims to have an honest-to-Goddess Triskadane coin to sell, one that when owned allows you
to co-rule the city. Everyone who is anyone is descending on the Night Market to buy, steal, or claim the
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the confrontation is bound to be messy. But who’s selling the coin,
how did they get it, and is it even real?
The City of Eversink

� A new poison vendor has come to the Night Market, one who sells concoctions of such unthinkable
lethality that even the antidotes are usually poisonous. Unfortunately, she’s the only link to an assassination
that needs to be solved. Is there any way to convince her to help?
� Alchemists get short shrift in the city, but their power can be astonishing — unique and beautiful plants,
astonishing new flavors and colors in exotic dishes, and the possibility of new addictive drugs to impress
one’s friends. A decadent Mercanti has demanded an alchemist work exclusively for them, and isn’t going
to take no for an answer. You’ve been sent to the Night Market, either to protect the alchemist or to
convince them to hire on before things get really ugly.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 267

Downwind Warehouses being drowned in those lagoons is the worst possible

death most people can think of.
Far from the well-tended world of the Harbor Approach
Worse than the meat-packing warehouses are
warehouses, Sag Harbor warehouses are home to
the dyers, fullers and tanneries. While finely worked
Eversink’s messier industrial output and production.
Eversink leather and wool are major exports, no one
These men and women work daily in muck up to their
wants to live near the production. The stench inside
knees. These warehouses, and people who work in
those warehouses at the height of summer is so intense
them, carry a distinctive stench. The warehouses were
the tanners no longer have a sense of smell. Some dyers,
placed so the smell doesn’t carry across the island to the
working next to the tanners and fullers, are also in the
elites of Alderhall or Ironcross. Thus they’re called the
poison production business for the Thieves’ Guilds. The
“downwind” warehouses.
work horror provides a cover for delicate alchemical
One cluster of warehouses is dedicated to slaughter,
science. No one is going to inspect a dyer’s chemicals.
butchery, and meat packing for the Grand Marketplace.
The warehouses are guild shops run like criminal
Cattle and pigs enter one end via flatboat before the sun
sweatshops. Orphans scurry to and fro, getting into
rises, and out comes packaged meat fresh for the day’s
corners where adults cannot reach. Guild strongmen
market... along with rivers of blood. Organized crime
“Masters” own and operate these warehouses. They
bosses dispose of their victims in those meatpacking
maintain order with club-wielding enforcers and they
houses and no one is the wiser. Don’t ask about the
tolerate no issues on their work floors. An interloper
lagoons holding fecal matter and slurry from the
sneaking in on the sly to make a bit of under-the-table
livestock; when you really anger someone important,
coin in the morning is often found floating face-down
that evening.

Plot Hooks: Downwind Warehouses

� There are numerous small gods who battle over the stockyards, begging butchers to offer prayers and
growing infinitesimally stronger with each animal sacrificed to them. Denari sends Inquisitors and the
Church Militant in every few months to exorcise whatever foreign cults are starting to take hold.
� Trying to chase an enemy through the Downwind Warehouses is an adventure in itself. Just hope they
don’t set off a stampede of released livestock, sending thousands of cattle, hogs or goats flooding across
bridges into neighboring districts while they try to run fast enough to give you the slip.

The City of Eversink

Over the centuries Outlanders from multiple nations
The Foreign District
have built vibrant immigrant communities within the
The best way to avoid invasion is to welcome Outlanders Foreign District. Immigrants bring their cultures
in, tax them, give them a neighborhood full of people with them, but different cultures seldom intermingle
they’ll understand, and before you know it the invader successfully. People being people, immigrants subdivide
is just another tax-paying citizen with an odd accent themselves into different communities with loosely
and some weird food preferences. Outlanders fleeing defined borders. Turn a corner in the Foreign District
distant wars and oppression, or simply seeking economic and it’s like stepping into another country with a riot of
opportunity, usually settle near their countryfolk in the foreign languages, smells, tastes, building architecture
Foreign District. The government generally doesn’t styles, markets, and faiths. Foreign temples tower
forbid the worship of non-Denari gods if proper permits (and sink) over tiny winding avenues full of unfamiliar
are first obtained, and Outlanders are encouraged to markets and street vendors. Turn another corner, pass
wear their native dress in order to spark the occasional some gates, and you’ll stumble on another burst of
fashion trend and resulting sales boom. foreign civilization from a completely different nation.
There’s even a military neighborhood here, where
unemployed mercenaries barrack and drill.
 268 Swords of the Serpentine

These blocks are also healthy power centers of foreign them to implant into new soil. They carry centuries of
gangs and organized crime. The Outlanders brought historical wrongs and sworn vengeance. When news
their cultures, and they also brought their rivalries and of two distant countries declaring war on each other
political loyalties. Criminals escaping foreign justice reaches the Foreign District, local gangs play out
often set up in their neighborhood’s warehouses and miniature versions of the same war in the streets “for
tenement buildings, happy for the chance to start anew. honor.” It consumes blocks and innocent bystanders.
It makes for a complex and exciting mix of local politics Usually the City Watch just throws up its hands, erects
and adventuring opportunities for anyone brave enough barricades around the affected blocks, and warns locals
to challenge the local power structure. away until the street fighting burns itself out. Once
When Outlanders settle into their designated everyone involved is dead, new immigrants move into
district, they also might bring their old grievances with newly emptied buildings.

Plot Hooks: The Foreign District

� Archeological evidence you need (whether it’s a forgotten funerary statue, a Corruption-filled site of
ancient mass slaughter, or a long-dead criminal’s bank vault) is in the same building as a foreign god’s
local shrine, and it’s a religious week of festival and feasting for the locals. Can you get what you need
and get out without getting caught, and without angering the local spirits for being disrespectful?
� In a riff on Romeo and Juliet, a same-sex couple from two prestigious families in feuding nationalities
have fallen in love. Their families don’t know, or don’t care in their determination to take each other
down, and it’s up to the Heroes to make sure they survive without their families’ rivalry burning down
the Foreign District around them.
� The Heroes’ favorite restaurant in the Foreign District has had its chef kidnapped, possibly by the
Mercanti family who had already tried to hire them away. Is it really that simple, or is there more at
stake… and judging from the remnants of poison you found in their home, are they actually involved in
murder?

Harbor Approach barrels and rolled into storage and examination by tax
officials, before stamp and transfer via gondola or flat-
Harbor Approach is often referred to as the Upper bottomed canal boat to the Grand Marketplaces. Pigs
The City of Eversink

Docks. This swamp-adjacent District is the home of are sometimes offloaded here from bountiful cargo holds
Eversink’s military capabilities and works as a general before being ferried to the Sag Harbor slaughterhouses
goods storage bay. It is a long, rough, and somewhat and tanneries. The fish arrives before the sun comes
undifferentiated stretch of harbor island, boat launches, up and is whisked to Eversink’s fish markets. Even
boat repair, boat storage, bars, run-down inns, mercenary companies unload here in Harbor Approach
smuggler refuges and the occasional pleasure-house. and pass through harbor inspection before entrance to
This working-class district is where many laborers toil more populous districts.
during the day before returning to their home district The second biggest feature of Harbor Approach
in the evening. is the ship builders. While most shipbuilding happens
The main feature of Harbor Approach is the in the Arsenal under the city’s watchful eyes, private
warehouses. Almost all warehouses have a harbor jetty companies prefer Harbor Approach. The local non-
out front and a canal in the back for quicker routing military shipbuilders sell everything from rich pleasure
and logistics. Goods are unloaded from ships in huge craft to huge ocean-going shipping vessels. They also
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 269

produce the gondolas and flat-bottomed boats so bar putting together jobs and looking for easy marks.
essential to the city’s economy. Smugglers sit in tavern back corners and game out
Outside of the trendy new community Stormhall, their next move right under the watchful eye of the
few people live in Harbor Approach. It’s a passthrough, taxman. The comfort men and women start walking the
a government installation, and a taxation office. Most boardwalk looking for lonely sailors with a bit of coin
who work in Harbor Approach live in the Tangle or Sag at twilight, and disappear when the City Watch shoos
Harbor across town, and overladen ferries carry workers them away in the morning. More than one optimistic
back and forth all day. Lower-class tenement buildings coup has been hatched in a shadowy corner of a Harbor
are tucked in and around the oceans of warehouses, and Approach bar.
those who do live in this district like it quiet and lonely. Harbor Approach has a few famous taverns in and
Harbor Approach is all business during the day and around the jumble, like Bertha’s Mussels, the best
all pleasure at night. Stretches of sailor bars hang out tavern in Eversink. And then there’s the Horse You
their lights and open their doors once the sun goes Came In On Tavern, all the more ironic because no
down. They fill quickly with sailors in for the day and one in Harbor Approach comes in on a horse.
out the next morning. Thieves wander from bar to

The City of Eversink

 270 Swords of the Serpentine

Plot Hooks: Harbor Approach

� When someone is angry at the Mercanti, it’s their warehouses in Harbor Approach that get burned first.
The island is full of charred remains that have sunk beneath street level, and not all those ruined and
buried warehouses are necessarily empty. There are unlooted valuables and smuggled rarities, sure; but
somewhere down there is also a collapsed warehouse trapping the sorcerously reanimated corpses of
thousands of angry hogs. At the time the Triskadane found it most expeditious to solve the problem by
burying it. That might not have been a good idea in the long run.
� If you’ve stolen something large, like a huge cargo shipment or thousands of Wealth worth of spices from
a very angry guild, Harbor Approach is usually the easiest place to hide it. Local freelance investigators
tend to see which law enforcement officials get bribed, then work backwards from there by finding the
stolen shipments and selling them back to the original owner for a price. They’ll often hire on additional
muscle for these recovery ventures.

months, a new crew comes out to build a layer of brick

The Arsenal
and mortar to replace the lost centimeters of protection
The Arsenal is a complex of former shipyards and around Eversink’s main military production complex.
armories clustered together at the northwestern tip of Inside, different areas produce different parts of a
Harbor Approach, alongside a huge lighthouse. It’s an ship: rope, rigging, sails, or wood planks for hulls in
industrial compound dedicated to projecting Eversink’s a raw assembly line. Management dedicates groups of
naval military strength over her neighbors far and near. laborers to each step in the process. At the line’s end,
The laborers of the Arsenal can assemble a complete sailors sail a ship into the harbor ready for gunboat
fighting vessel from rope, rigging and boards in a single diplomacy, commerce, or war.
day if necessary. Working in the Arsenal is a hard job with few
A huge wall surrounds the Arsenal to shield it from breaks, long hours, and oppressive conditions under
public view and keep unauthorized people out of the war footing, but it is Eversink’s biggest single employer
shipworks. Guards stand on ramparts at evenly spaced of the poor. When one laborer dies in an accident, five
intervals keeping an eye out for intruders. As a priority, are standing in line ready to take their place. For an
the government pens contracts with the Architects and Outlander or a Commoner coming out of Sag Harbor,
their subcontractors to ensure they continually replace there are not many other dependable employers who
the Arsenal’s wall as the building sinks. Every six pay a consistent wage.
The City of Eversink

Plot Hooks: The Arsenal

� It’s rumored that vaults beneath the Arsenal contain enough weapons to arm a citizen army, and they’re
waiting there for the day when Eversink needs to defend herself in actual hand-to-hand combat. That
makes subverting the Arsenal a priority for any foreign power hoping to conquer Eversink. It’s also
possible that the Triskadane spreads this rumor precisely so hostile entities will make conquering the
Arsenal a foolish priority they waste time on.
� Someone anonymous in Harbor Approach is letting it be known that they have important secrets to sell
about the Armory to one buyer only, and they aren’t too fussy about who that is as long as they’re willing
to pay. That’s treason, pure and simple (unless this is the Triskadane’s secret police trying to trap foreign
agents), and potential customers are killing each other for the privilege of buying the information.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 271

The Old and New Foundry Eversink still needs metal goods. The New Foundry
is an upgrade on the Old Foundry in every way. It
Eversink isn’t a big iron town because iron rusts in salt
has dedicated docks for metal imports. An Architect-
air. It must import 100% of all its metals from abroad.
designed waterwheel feeds constant intake from the
But Eversink does have a need for high-quality iron and
lagoon and drives the bellows. New furnace technology
steel weapons, armor, fittings, tableware, pots, pans,
heats metal up to highly tempered steel temperatures.
and horseshoes. It is far cheaper to import raw material,
Water-powered automatic hammers beat hot metal
craft it onsite, and sell in the Grand Marketplace than it
into shape much faster than a human ever could.
is to import finished items.
Metallurgists and Alchemists aren’t experts in metals
Eversink’s settlers built the Old Foundry soon after
but in creative thinking; they’ve been at the forefront
the city’s founding. It still squats at the edge of the
of metal-based experimentation right there in the New
harbor for easy metal and water intake. This large, ugly,
Foundry’s offices.
rectangular building is heavily scarred inside and out by
Work in the New Foundry is hot, dirty, and
dozens of fires. It’s been rebuilt both from sinking and
dangerous. People trip, fall, and disappear into the vats
fire dozens of times. It doused its furnaces when the
of steel all the time (something to be discouraged, as it
new Foundry opened a century ago.
can ruin the steel). Guild bosses run the floors in here
Today, the rat-infested Old Foundry is the home of
— the work pays too well for just anyone wandering
the Government’s Harbor Committee. The building is
off the street to pick up a hammer. You’re not working
now a warren of cubicles, offices, paper, pens, notaries
here unless you’re a member. As you’d imagine, the
and government functionaries all handing out berths
slowly sinking foundation makes keeping the building
and collecting import taxes. They say that while the
stable and in good repair the highest priority, lest the
Triskadane decides on Eversink’s economic direction,
furnaces explode and burn down half the city.
the Harbor Committee out of the Old Foundry
executes the Triskadane’s whims through a bureaucracy
of papers and arcane stamps.

Plot Hooks: The Old and New Foundry

�The alchemists and metalworkers in the New Foundry are occasionally willing to take on hand-crafted
side projects for a patron, such as meteorite-iron swords or glorious suits of armor. There is a fortune of
trade secrets locked in the foundry’s offices and vaults, and rumors persist that evil sorcerous items that
just can’t be destroyed get trapped in cubes of solid iron before being locked in the Foundry’s basement,
where they can’t do any harm. Presumably.

The City of Eversink

� The rattakan have thoroughly infested the Old Foundry, where they spy on the Harbor Committee and
send word to smugglers when valuable cargos are being shipped. The time is ripe — overripe, really — for
someone to root them out and destroy their network of spies.
 272 Swords of the Serpentine

The Old Summer Palace The richest and least dangerous prisoners live in
relatively posh cells on the upper levels. They receive
The Old Summer Palace was originally the home
two meals a day, occasionally cleaned chamberpots,
of the Morello family, an Ancient Noble line tracing
and sunlight. Illegal sorcerers (usually with tongue and
their blood heritage back to Eversink’s founding. The
hands removed), city traitors, and scammers are left to
building was the belle of the City long before the rich
rot in underground cells.
concentrated in Alderhall and before Eversink land sold
The building has fallen on hard times. The City
for a premium. The Morellos entertained and awed the
doesn’t invest in repairs beyond basic maintenance to
people with their massive displays of wealth. Debts and
keep the old building from sinking entirely. They don’t
the palace’s upkeep eventually bankrupted them; the
see the point in making a prison comfortable and safe.
Morellos sold the Old Summer Palace to the Zunino
Inside, the Old Summer Palace is a ghost of its ancient
family, and they sold it to the Modicas, and then the
finery with rotting hangings on the walls, broken
Modicas simply vacated the huge, rambling building
furniture, and rusted fittings.
when it became too much. Instead of allowing the land
A small crew of City Watch employees run the
to consume the old, noble structure, the City claimed
prison. The warden is Commandant Fazio Ugolini of
eminent domain over the Old Summer Palace and
the Ugolini family of Alderhall. Some say his position
converted it to a prison.
is punishment for some dark family crime, but none
Today, the Old Summer Palace holds Eversink’s
know what it is. All anyone knows is Warden of the Old
most notorious criminals — the ones too dangerous to
Summer Palace comes with a nice fat paycheck. The rest
exile and too politically well-connected to execute — in
of the guards are working stiff City Watch out of Sag
its deep, sinking, dripping bowels. They say those who
Harbor and the Tangle, probably corrupt to the bone
go in don’t come out. At least, not sane.
but still trying to make a difference.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 273

Plot Hooks: The Old Summer Palace

� Secrets riddle the old building. Old tunnels let people sneak in and out — if they’re willing to crawl
through Harbor Approach’s fetid sewers and wander through unlit underground passages filled with
horrors. Some lucky prisoners use their cells as a place of safety, continuing to run criminal enterprises,
and leave when they please.
� Thieves hide their take in forgotten Old Summer Palace treasure vaults, long sunken under the city and
accessible only through convoluted passages. They take a particular delight in using a supposedly secure
building full of prisoners for their own illegal purposes. No one wants to break out a prisoner, though;
rumor is that curses are involved for anyone who frees an inmate.
� Some say the Inquisition runs dark operations out of the prison’s basement. But no one has proved this.
Yet.

up and down their admittedly short promenades. Sarti

Stormhall, the New Alderhall
is rumored to be building Stormhall’s first exclusive
The Mercanti, frustrated with their inability to buy into park on a recently procured block she intends to level
Alderhall, aren’t so easily stopped by something as simple first.
as money or legacy or a lack of space to build. Calissa Stormhall feels like an up-to-date Alderhall with
Sarti, the Queen of Copper, already owned concerns some small, pointed improvements. The buildings
at the Upper Docks and the New Foundry. Believing were built on sunken pylons so they sink more slowly.
that Alderhall needed a little market competition, Street level has been raised enough that it’s unlikely to
she sank her vast profits into buying up warehouses flood during storms. The architectural tastes are more
gone dormant, tracts of housing, and storefronts. She modern. Stormhall feels more fashionable and young
gentrified the neighborhood and pivoted from metals compared to the aging ancestry of Alderhall. Art,
to real estate. The result was a six-block area Sarti fashion, music, it’s really happening in Stormhall. And,
christened “Stormhall.” of course, the entire six-block area is gated, walled, and
Sarti sold out of her first round of units in a week. viciously guarded around the clock.
In a jarring stretch of landscape against the bellowing With the success of Stormhall, Sarti plans to buy up
clamor of the foundries, the warehouse stench, the other neighborhoods all over Eversink. Real estate is
harbor salt, and the constant hammering of the Arsenal, much more lucrative than selling copper. Sure, the little
Stormhall is a spot of shiny cleanliness. New glittering people might feel a pinch as she displaces them from

The City of Eversink

mansions tower over manicured lawns and pleasant their homes, but isn’t it worth it so the new rich have
avenues. Musicians play violins on brightly paved places to live?
sidewalk corners while white horses pull open carriages

Plot Hooks: Stormhall

� When the commoners rise up in rebellion, Sarti expects that she’s going to be one of the first against the
wall. As a result, she pays a sizable force of mercenaries to keep Stormhall — and herself — safe, almost
to the point of paranoia. Clever con artists might try to use that fear to acquire some of her vast fortune.
� You can level blocks and build on top of them, but ancient sunken buildings still exist deep down
beneath. Mercanti living their dream life in Stormhall do so with their basements regularly inspected or
bricked up, and with a constant nagging fear of what may lie below them.
 274 Swords of the Serpentine

Not all the cargos were unloaded. Not all the

The Tangle valuables were removed.
Lack ranks in City’s Secrets and you’ll find that
The poorest part of native Eversink was once the upriver navigating the Tangle by foot or boat takes twice
harbor. The ships of immigrants arrived, and people too as long as you expect it to. It is full of blind alleys,
poor to afford land housing packed their ships next to closed courts, narrow canals, leaning buildings, and
one another and settled in, sure that they would never bewildering curves. Gangs of thieves control districts
sail again. Some were deliberately scuttled, but most and wage war, but they prey on the rich elsewhere in
became a forest of masts and rigging that spawned aerial town — not on the commoners who dwell here. The
housing. Over generations the ships turned slowly into Tangle looks out for its own.
buildings, and what used to be open water turned into a Visitors are strongly advised to pay a tout. These
nearly-impossible-to-navigate slum. Delve down deeply guides cluster around the bridges into and out of the
enough and you can still find the husks of those original Tangle. They’re cheap, only a few coins a day, and more
sailing vessels that literally created new land between or less guarantee getting you where you want to go...
islands. even if they might pick your pocket in the meantime.
It’s still probably cheaper than the alternative.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 275

Plot Hooks: The Tangle

� Denari help the drunken rich noble who decides to wander into the Tangle while slumming it… because
no locals are going to help him, that’s for sure. There’s an undercurrent of bitterness and anger in the
Tangle that usually stays buried, but the entitled would be fools to taunt commoners in their own turf.
� It’s hard to get people to trust you in the Tangle, especially if you come from money. This is one area
of town where High Repute works against you, and Low Repute works in your favor. People here try to
look out for their own.
� Never underestimate people in the Tangle: great warriors, folk heroes, and near-legendary adventurers
have come from here, even if you haven’t heard of them. Genius might be hidden right around you; the
teenaged girl trying to barter a cart of day-old fish she stole somewhere may be one of Eversink’s greatest
artists in centuries, if only she’d have time to sit and sculpt. The most valuable people in the Tangle are
those who can recognize that hidden potential and make it possible to fulfill it. Just remember that other
more established artists might push back in very illegal or unorthodox ways.

St. Zizzo’s the Leper is a small parish church deep in

Living in the Tangle
the Tangle, one of many too small to be remembered
Slums and hard, working-class neighborhoods make up uptown. Assignment down here is punishment up in
the Tangle. It’s a mess of tenement buildings, hanging Haven, but the current pastor, Marketpriest Evandro,
laundry lines, winding back alleys, and various half- believes in social justice. Sure, there’s crime and death
empty establishments all in various states of half-sunken outside, but the Goddess blesses us all, even the
decay. No one here has the scratch to pay Architects. hardworking Tangle laborers. Marketpriest Evandro
When buildings sink, the locals hammer another ministers to the poor population as best he can while
wooden floor on the rooftop and carry on. reminding the locals that the core of life is commerce.
Animals and children play in the street. Gang He’s popular, and the religious appear like clockwork
members linger in dark alleys and count their day’s for services.
take. Prostitutes stand on street corners doing what The Tangle feels like chaos to a new visitor, but it
prostitutes have done since streets developed corners. makes internal sense to established residents. Different
The homeless lurk on stoops and watch the workers blocks tend to attract specific products or crafts. One
trudge to the forge as the morning sun rises. block are leathermakers. The next block over are
It’s a hard life, but the Tangle’s residents pull weavers. Over there are stonemasons. One up and to

The City of Eversink

together as a community. They look out for each other. the left are the tailors who produce specialty silk trousers
They worship the Goddess together. They’re born, get for the very rich. Around the corner are the artists. It’s
married, and die together. Gang member, haberdasher, not perfect, but memorize the crafts and you memorize
Marketpriest — they’re a proud part of the Tangle and the route through the Tangle.
their local culture. The rich are out there in Alderhall or Homes, crafts, and markets have easy access to
the Grand Marketplace. The Tangle is here. The Tangle canals. These canals whisk finished crafts from Tangle
is real. workshops at night to Grand Marketplace tents in the
An overworked City Watch House sits up on Bell early morning. The canals are more than ways to move
Avenue. The Tangle’s City Watch are more interested people and commerce: they’re also the Tangle’s sewers.
in shooing thieves away from the warehouses and The Tangle smells better in the spring and autumn than
businesses than stopping any crime. They know they’ll the summer and winter, but only slightly.
never make a dent. The entire Tangle is crime. The only Bridges across canals are rarely permanent fixtures.
way to stop it is to burn the place down and start over. They’re often only a few planks of wood shoved across
It’s a little nihilistic, but those who work for the Tangle the water to make a pseudo-bridge and then pulled back
City Watch are community-focused and dedicated to to allow gondolas and flat-bottomed boats through.
making life better in the slums.
 276 Swords of the Serpentine

Boats flow through the Tangle at all hours of the day an abandoned storefront, a small parish shrine, a back
— commerce, legal or otherwise, never stops. table at Amone Barra’s Bar and All-You-Can-Eat Fish
The best helmsmen and gondoliers in Eversink come Fry. These are fly-by-night organizations with similar
from the Tangle, and the Pilots’ Guild knows it. Not locations.
only can locals navigate at night, they can memorize The Tangle is also home to more established, richer
complex maps and directions through switchbacks of guilds. Ones with traction and not a little political power.
confusing watery passageways. It hasn’t escaped the notice of the locals that there’s no
difference between the Bakers’ Guild wanting “tax” on
Lesser Guild Houses and grain shipments and the local Mob running protection
rackets. These guilds have infested the last of the older,
Chapterhouses larger buildings in the Tangle that have not yet sunk.
In the Tangle, everyone comes together in communities They have money extracted from dues to pay for pylons
— communities of trade, or crime, or craft. Most thieves’ and new floors on their sinking buildings. As they gain
guilds, trade guilds, and mercenary brotherhoods keep prestige and money, these organizations grip harder on
their special meeting places down in the Tangle. People the Tangle while renovating their plush meeting rooms.
need a place to be, an organization to belong to, a team Most guild houses and chapterhouses are somewhere
to root for, and a color to wear. The guilds fill this need, in between. They possess small, established buildings.
and sponsor some of the most exciting (and vicious) Inside is a meeting room, a few rooms for members
athletic events in the city. down on their luck, and a shrine to the Goddess. When
For small thieves’ and trade guilds, the meeting they sink, the Guild abandons the building instead of
places are catch-as-you-can: someone’s living room, fixing it and finds a new place to rent.

Plot Hooks: Guild Houses

� Guild wars can be legendary in their no-holds-barred sabotage and subterfuge. If two rival guilds run up
against each other, expect skulduggery and economic backstabbing that rises to an art form until one of
the guilds submits and is either disbanded or absorbed.
� Knowing a craft means belonging to a guild, and belonging to a guild means prestige and better wages.
Guild houses in the Tangle often act as impromptu community leaders and judges, navigating tricky
neighborhood issues and adjudicating problems that no one trusts to the Watch or the Triskadane. Guild
houses often hire independent investigators or adventurers to scout problems, strongarm someone who
The City of Eversink

needs a gentle reminder of their loyalty, or to solve problems when the guilds can’t be seen as impartial.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 277

The Hospital and the Orphanage The Orphanage is not much better than the
Hospital, and it sits several doors down on Bell Avenue.
The rich of Alderhall can afford to have doctors attend
This building was a mansion in an earlier life when
to them in the comfort of their homes. For serious
the Tangle was still a harbor, but now is a dilapidated,
illnesses that local folk remedies can’t help with, the
rotting, sinking wreck. Most orphaned in the Tangle
poor of the Tangle have no choice but the Hospital.
at an early age find themselves adopted by thieves’
The Tangle’s hospital is less a place of healing than a
guilds, the Church, older siblings, other relatives, even
gateway to death. Overcrowded wards fill this low and
neighbors. Anyone who can pitch in and help. Only
squat building sitting on the corner of Bell Avenue and
those children unfortunate enough to find themselves
Copper Street. Leechers trained by the university in
without anyone end up in the Orphanage.
Ironcross perform surgery without anesthesia here —
The Orphanage provides food, shelter, clothing, and
and not for free. Everything in Eversink costs coin, and
some minimal education to its unfortunate boarders.
the leechers expect contracts signed upon admittance
The scant education provided prepares the orphans for
to the Hospital and later payment in full, regardless of
lives as dockworkers, tanners, servants or childminders.
treatment. Harried nurses move between patients and
Children at the Orphanage are subject to malnutrition
keep them from screaming too loud.
and neglect, even as they run up a bill that they must
Most die of infection in the Hospital. But, given the
start paying off the moment they matriculate and leave
choice of people rotting in the Tangle’s streets or dying
for the streets at age 17. Many who leave the Orphanage
screaming in the Hospital, the Tangle’s poor drop the
carry this financial burden the rest of their lives as they
injured, the bleeding, the sick, and the dying off at the
pay off their childhood in installments.
Hospital’s door. The poor simply cannot afford people
Both the Orphanage and the Hospital are nominally
dying in the streets, not if they’d risk entire blocks
run by the Church. Marketpriests fill the administrative
dying from disease. Unlike most hospitals, the Tangle’s
posts. While the Church does not believe in charity, it
Hospital is not a charitable institution, and the staff will
does believe that commerce in the eyes of the Goddess
turn away the truly destitute at the door.
is best executed by healthy bodies who can carry out
work for their betters.

Plot Hooks: The Hospital and the Orphanage

� If there are any monstrosities or spiritual entities out there that feed on pain, sadness and hopelessness,
they’d find great strength at both the Hospital and the Orphanage. The question is: if they exist, why
hasn’t the Church taken steps to exorcise or destroy them?

The City of Eversink

� A local thieves’ guild pays the Orphanage excellent money to identify children with good potential for
becoming thieves, and those children are “adopted” silently in the night with little fuss and no paperwork.
Even more interestingly, at least one Mercanti family pays the Orphanage director to identify children
who are naturally trustworthy and charismatic… and at least one sorcerous cabal tends to “adopt” random
children as well, although as agents or sacrifices no one is quite sure.
 278 Swords of the Serpentine

Famous Pubs, Inns, and Food Carts filled with crab meat? That delicious-smelling greyish
The City of Eversink

thing out of the old woman’s pot? The Tangle is the

The best food and pubs in Eversink, hands down, are
place.
in the Tangle. Nothing else holds a candle to them.
The restaurants are hidden among the jumble of
Alderhall has elegant and expensive dining establishments
tenements, workshops, and corner markets. It takes a
with famous chefs. The Grand Marketplace has fresh
local to find the best places. Sometimes, it takes a local
food and patio eateries. But the Tangle has authenticity.
even to find the mediocre places.
The Tangle’s residents are the poorest in Eversink`,
For example, everyone knows di Bacco’s corner bar
but they’re the richest in culinary delights, and they’re
brews this heavy wheat beer that pairs perfectly with this
proud of this fact. The Tangle is home to Eversink’s
off-menu lamb and black bread sandwich and he’s only
brewers, bakers, and fishmongers. It’s where the real
open for two hours around noon — but no one is quite
“Eversink” cuisine lives. Want a terrific beer? A mind-
sure where di Bacco’s is, other than at least two blocks
blowing sandwich off a nondescript food cart? A bun
away up the street. But di Bacco’s is not to be missed!
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 279

on a round base that acts as the lightkeeper’s home,

Other Major Features although with a very large lighthouse the lightkeeper’s
in Eversink home is an adjacent building. The lanterns shining
through the night are continuously lit.

The Goddess’ Isle The Pillars of Flight

There’s a heavily wooded island in the city that seems
Upriver on the Serpentine, a series of tall jagged stones
to move around randomly, even if its current location
rise up out of the slow-moving river. Ten to fifty meters
always seems like the only possible place it could be.
high, mostly flat-topped and covered with natural
This land is contractually deeded to Denari herself.
niches and crevices in the stone, these pillars were once
Nearing the island uninvited is a great heresy punished
thought to be the ruins of some great construction.
by exile and excommunication, and those who swim
Nowadays they’re used by the Church for air burials.
to the island without permission are never heard from
Assuming you wish it and can afford the nominal cost,
again. There is a golden domed pavilion just barely
it’s believed that your spirit reaches Denari faster if
visible over the small island’s trees. People assume that
your corpse is brought to the pillars and opened up
this is the house or true shrine of their Goddess.
by funerary priests. You are then gradually consumed
If you could speak to those who vanish, perhaps they
by flocks of seabirds who roost here. Outlanders often
could tell you that there’s an entire continent hidden on
consider the tradition barbaric, but the faithful believe
that island, and pushing through the ring of trees you
that it returns the body back to nature without the risk
find yourself on the shore of a vast unknown land many
of a swamp burial.
thousands of kilometers across. Or perhaps they would
tell you that they emerge in an adjacent world inhabited
only by gods and spirits, where humans’ health and
The Salt Lick
sanity inevitably fail but where true shapes and entities The salt lick is a marshy wasteland hugging the coast
can be seen. Or perhaps they find themselves literally between Eversink city proper and the lagoon. Tiny
in Denari’s heaven, doomed to forever swim while the wooden ramshackle huts line the solid areas of the Salt
blessed dead fly on white wings overhead in the endless Lick. That’s where the salters live, those who work in
vault of sky. Sadly, we’ll probably never know. the thrall of the Ancient Nobility’s salt houses. They tie
People whom Denari wishes to reward find their flat-bottomed boats to tiny docks and ferry their
themselves drawn to the island instead. With Denari’s precious salt output between the cultivated salt ponds
permission, pushing through the ring of trees brings and Eversink’s Sag Harbor.
them to anywhere in the city — including locked vaults This outskirt of Eversink is crushingly poor, but
and forgotten secrets. Those who try to talk of what quiet and peaceful. The salters who work the lagoons
have pride in their craft. Many families have lived on

The City of Eversink

they saw on the island start coughing up coins as their
words turn to currency; too many words and those their lonely marsh islands for generations. Extracting
coins fall inwards, into the lungs and stomach, instead good, pure, edible salt from the salt marshes and
of outwards. A gift squandered can be a curse. brackish water is a trade with its own secrets passed
down from parent to child.
Eversink’s Lighthouses The salt lick is home to unique salt-resistant plants
and rare species of fish and fowl. They say dolphins come
One cannot have a maritime city without lighthouses.
so close to the shore that the locals form friendships
These lighthouses are universally made of stone to
with stable schools. Sometimes, strangers arrive in the
withstand the pummeling of storms and weather;
night and search the islands for rare plants, herbs, and
because buildings sink here, the lighthouses are mostly
tree bark. Once they find a rich area of moss or lichen,
towers of old beacon rooms that have been built on top
they quickly strip the supply clean — taking the local
of one another over the long years. One lighthouse is
ecosystem with it. But the delicate ecosystem is key to
located in the Arsenal, one in the outer fort that guards
salt production, so whenever the herbalists pop up the
the lagoon, one upriver to guard the city’s approach and
locals chase them off the salt lick with yelling, curses,
to warn about swamps, and two are located on islands in
and torches.
the lagoon. Lighthouses are typically two to five stories
 280 Swords of the Serpentine

There’s a small parish church here, with a single Most of the fiercely territorial Chuggut tribes (see
Marketpriest. She pretends not to know about the p. 185) live in the Golden Swamp to the south,
strange shrine out near the salt pools, or the serpents it a particularly primal and unchanging bog full of
seems to venerate. surprisingly ancient plants that have never died out like
they have elsewhere. Naming it the Golden Swamp
The Swamps hasn’t changed it from the dismal, miserable morass of
Denari pushed back the swamps to the north and south mud and water and quaking bogs that it is. There are
when she first raised Eversink’s islands from the bed of ancient Serpentine ruins in the Golden Swamp, almost
the River Serpentine. Ever since they have bordered all hidden by tall marsh grass or still pools of black
the river but not extended into it, leaving a surprisingly water. Tiny gold coins washed down the Serpentine
clear delineation between river and fens. Those swamps from an unknown source tend to find their way to the
don’t contractually belong to the city, and the swamps Golden Swamp, tempting brave children to go diving
act like they know it; they seem surprisingly hostile to for treasure. Not all return.
‘Sinkish residents who venture into their depths for Calcia’s Reach to the north is named after a famous
smuggling, hunting, or exploration. mercenary company who all died there defending the
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 281

city several centuries ago, but prior to that was called Swan’s Vault
the Grasping Bogs. It’s full of quicksand, giant toads,
Swan’s Vault is a misnomer; there’s no vault, and
surprisingly pernicious insects and some of the best
indeed no buildings at all. The string of small islands
fishing you can ask for (assuming you survive the trip).
near Harbor Approach have been used as a final resting
Demon stones squat here, unthinkably ancient altars to
place for funerary statues that people no longer want.
dead gods who only require a prayer or two to spring
Perhaps it’s a statue you found, or uncovered, or
back to life. Not everyone who enters Calcia’s Reach
hate, or simply don’t have space for; since it’s illegal
comes back the same.
and a mortal sin to destroy it, instead take it to Swan’s
In Eversink, most people don’t even think of the
Vault and leave it with the thousands of other funerary
swamps as a survivable location. That means people
statues big and small that have been left there over the
fleeing the law may be able to use them as an easy refuge,
centuries. They’re packed together in a mish-mash of
assuming they can find safety before they succumb to
styles and ages, occasionally rearranged by secret artists
environmental dangers and local fauna.
to tell stories or create wonder. More than one stolen
statue has been hidden here, under the theory that the
best place to hide a stolen book is in a library.

The Spirit World

When someone smashes a funerary statue and ghosts return to the world, they have to go somewhere. But
where? Similarly, people with Spirit Sight — if they’re powerful enough — can walk out of our world into
a spirit world where the ghosts of ancient buildings rise and fall around them as they walk through history.
What’s going on here?
Scholars don’t agree. Official orthodoxy claims it’s another plane of existence that overlays our own, where
ghosts abide and where Eversink is reflected as if in a cloudy mirror. Current thinking (considered heretical)
is that dead souls don’t return, and what does return is Denari’s memory of the departed person. Similarly,
there’s no actual “spirit world”, but some humans can literally see or walk into Denari’s memories of the city
itself. When they see ancient buildings rising and sinking as they walk through time, they’re actually walking
through the Goddess’ memories of the city across different eras.
No one is sure. Many people hate the “memory” theory because it means that their loved ones are gone
forever other than a barely remembered wisp recalled by the Goddess, but some religious scholars (usually on
the run from Inquisitors) claim to have proof.

The City of Eversink

Either way, gazing or walking into the spirit world is dangerous to sanity and health. If you immerse
yourself there and start feeling confused or short of breath, get out quickly. You’re probably in the process
of dying.
If you risk it, you can use the spirit world to effectively walk backwards in time, seeing the city as it
appeared in the distant past. The ghosts of buildings rise and sink as you traverse ghostly canals, and you may
be able to talk directly to small gods and powerful but long-lost ghosts.
 282 Swords of the Serpentine

Eversink’s Government
Eversink is an anonymous oligarchy. The city-state is Most government business is handled by bureaucrats,
ruled by the Triskadane, thirteen anonymous citizens commissions, and far too many pages of rules and
of any age or social class who rule through summary rulings. The Triskadane assembles when Eversink
judgments, decrees, the Church, intelligence services, faces a major crisis such as a war, financial calamity,
The City of Eversink

and a dense, committee-laden bureaucracy. All thirteen sorcerous intrusion, or government-shaking judicial
anonymous rulers are usually handpicked by the decision. They supposedly assemble at the Triskadane
Goddess Herself on Signing Day, the one festival a year Hermitage, located in Ironcross’ heart, but that hasn’t
when she’s known to walk the city in human form, and been confirmed in several generations.
members serve the city for 13 years unless the Goddess The Triskadane’s decisions are both secular and religious.
chooses to replace them sooner. The disguised Goddess They issue judgments that range from appointing a
hands them a heavy gold coin embossed with Denari’s new Church Leader or declaring a Mercanti’s actions
swan on one side and a crown on the other, and treason, to invading a coastal neighbor or setting
grasping the coin imparts knowledge of the role, the elaborate import border taxes on ship-quality wood.
government, and any state secrets Denari wishes them They decide on major criminal matters facing the state.
to understand. Thirteen coins are always in circulation, They take the country to war and back out again. Their
no more, no less, and membership in the Triskadane decisions are final, absolute, and canon law. When their
travels with ownership of the coin and not the person; decisions are made public, the Great Swan Bells in the
stealing a coin or (more rarely) inheriting one can give Sanctuary’s belfry ring out over the city and criers are
someone membership for as long as they own the coin. sent forth to announce their edicts.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 283

Player Advice: Eversink’s

Join the Triskadane! Powerful Committees

With your GM’s approval, there’s no reason you A powerful city-state cannot be run by only 13 people.
can’t be one of the secret 13 members of the Eversink must collect harbor taxes, execute wars, write
Triskadane. In fact, because even the Triskadane laws, toss a few sorcerers into crow cages, hang a pirate
doesn’t know each others’ identities (at least or two as an example, and pay the City Watch. Individual
ostensibly), multiple heroes in the same group power consolidates in the hands of the various factions,
could be members. Perhaps you stole someone but the state must run. Under the Triskadane is built
else’s coin, or the Goddess picked you herself, a complex and undocumented warren of ministers,
but the city’s future is in your hands. cabinet posts, councils, committees and bureaucracies.
You’d model Triskadane membership by The Committees are where the day-to-day temporal
having ranks in Allies: Triskadane, with more power of Eversink’s government lies. The Committees
ranks indicating more influence amongst the were originally established to carry out the Triskadane’s
other members and within the city itself. One wishes after an issued decree; over many years the
rank means that few people will go out of their Committees grew, multiplied, and became ministerial
way to help you; three ranks means that you have power bases with their own private mercenaries and
sway on the council and can easily influence city secret police.
events; five ranks makes you a master influencer Some Committees — like the Taxation Committee,
within the city and the council. the Harbor Committee, and the Intelligence
This sort of game can be incredibly exciting, Committee — are old and powerful, and function like
dodging assassins while influencing policy within the Triskadane’s Cabinet. They write and pass mundane
the city itself, but make sure the GM is entirely on laws, stamp decrees with the Triskadane’s seal, have the
board before you go this route. They may have power to tax and spend in their respective areas, and
another style of game in mind than one focused hold judicial powers with the ability to imprison, exile,
on kingdom-building. or execute at will. Mercenaries on official business who
If you do become a member, remember that hold loyalty to different committees regularly battle
the Goddess might (and probably will) take away over jurisdictional disagreements; more than one short-
your coin at any time if your GM thinks it would lived “civil war” was just mercenaries loyal to different
make for a good story and adventure — and that committees settling their differences very, very publicly.
you’ll probably make a lot of fun enemies during The government maintains no formal approved
your tenure as secret ruler. list of committees. Large committees create working

The City of Eversink

groups, and those smaller committees then wield

Designer Notes: Triskadane’s Decrees

The Triskadane issues decrees on whatever matters interest it. It does not publish any sort of agenda or
telegraph what matter it is considering. It can consider matters of any size, from war to an issue affecting a
single person. The Triskadane simply does.
It’s up to the committees and the bureaucracy of Eversink to enact these edicts however these committees
see fit. As powerful citizens of Eversink sit on these committees and they also have their own interests, the
absolute nature of the Triskadane’s rulings often become more subjective. The Triskadane’s edicts are always
enacted within a matter of interpretation. Rarely, official decrees are bitingly specific in order to ensure that
there is very little room for improvisation when enforcing the law.
 284 Swords of the Serpentine

bureaucratic powers over their narrow scope of Taxation Committee

governmental function. For example, the Taxation
The Taxation Committee is the ultimate hand pulling
Committee oversees a Committee on the Taxation of
the levers of Eversink’s economy. The committee meets
Seashell Imports, originally formed to deal with a rash
twice a month in the Hermitage to review requests to
of highly illegal purple “dyes” that did not dye, but no
change Eversink’s enormous and convoluted taxation
one ever dissolved it and its members like getting paid
code. They have the power to collect taxes, to set and
— so they find other bureaucratic ways to justify their
remove tariffs, to set taxes on goods or services, or to
existence.
remove taxes. They also oversee the books on the city’s
The problem is, without a clear and documented list
treasury and manage city coffers.
of who has what Triskadane-approved governmental
and legal powers, anyone can pop up a committee and
start issuing new laws and decrees claiming Triskadane-
Intelligence Committee
approved powers. A group of young Mercanti heirs The Intelligence Committee controls the secret flow of
can meet in a pub and claim powers as the Committee information into, and out of, Eversink. It works closely
for Standardization of Sufficiently Red Hats2 or the with the Defense Committee to protect the City, and
Committee for Proper Pickling Barrels. Thieves steal meets daily to review the newest whispers from the
old underwear off laundry lines for papermills and homeless buskers, trader reports, external and internal
claim they’re government bureaucrats in the employ threats to the City, and City Watch reports. People
of the Rag Paper Committee. The Judiciary commonly quite correctly fear this committee, but members are
finds itself dissolving, combining, or admonishing remarkably good at sniffing out treason and disloyalty
government committees. Seasoned con artists use within their own ranks.
“official government committee” as their trusty, reliable The Intelligence Committee has its own army of
cover story, and far too many people fall for it because spies, enforcers, and saboteurs known as the Black
they’ve been conditioned to do so. Most normal citizens Swans. No one wants a 3 am visit from one of the Swans.
try to stay out of the government’s way, and to let the These secret police are rumored to use memory-altering
committees do their job and move on. alchemical and sorcerous devices on their informants,
which means you wouldn’t remember even if they did
pay you a visit. Their calling card is a quill made from a
Designer Notes:
long black swan feather. According to rumor, any secret
Government Standardization you write down with the quill will somehow be read by
the Black Swans. If you wish to inform on someone,
The people of Eversink simply don’t have the there’s a reason that cowardly or anonymous informers
interest or time to make a nice, neat, orderly and are sometimes called “quillkeepers”.
The City of Eversink

predictable government. Government gets in the

way of commerce, and commerce is what Denari Eversink Defense Committee
is all about. Outside the big cabinet committees,
While Eversink has no formal standing army or navy,
any efforts to make navigating the government
the Triskadane entrusts the Defense Committee with
sane or simple have been thwarted, over and
the protection of the City and the protection of trade
again, by the government itself.
routes from external threats. It makes decisions from
information given by the Intelligence Committee,
The Cabinet Committees hands final orders to the City Watch and the Church
Militant, and coordinates with the powerful rich families
Dozens of committees derive their power from the
of Eversink to leverage private armies. The committee
Triskadane to effectively govern Eversink, but a few
may tap into the treasury to raise mercenaries for the
are more powerful than the rest. Their word carries the
city in times of danger.
force of law and they wield resources to back up their
power.

2
“And about damned time, too!” - Lorenzia Crimson-Bonnet
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 285

Committee for Law and Diplomacy

Designer Notes: Incite Rebellion!
The Committee for Law and Diplomacy is Eversink’s
diplomatic arm, comparable to a Department of State.
Every few centuries someone manages to
They speak for the Triskadane and greet powerful
overthrow the bureaucracy for a time and declare
rulers and religious leaders from outside Eversink.
themselves King or Queen. They usually do so
The Triskadane charges the Law Committee with
with a vast military backing and the support of
writing treaties and steering the City away from war
a corrupt church leader. This hasn’t worked
entanglements. Some say the Triskadane staff the
out too badly overall: the monarchy is crushed
Committee with rapacious Mercanti who spend their
within a few generations by the city’s heroes;
time leveraging treaties into business deals to enrich
the Triskadane (which usually calls itself a
themselves and their families. If it glorifies the Goddess
Parliament during the illegal rule) stops using a
and doesn’t get Eversink into a war, does it matter?
royal figurehead and returns to secretly running
the government on its own; and the allure of
Harbor Committee all those disenfranchised princes and princesses
The Harbor Committee literally controls the harbors. brings a surge of wealth into the city from curious
The Committee meets once a month in the Old Foundry Outlanders looking for royalty to marry. Denari
at the Arsenal in Sag Harbor, where it apportions herself usually stays quiet on the subject unless
berth assignments around the city. This is surprisingly the new royal family tries to bring the worship of
powerful — a good berth assignment improves profit a different god onto Her turf; that doesn’t end
by controlling the dockable ship size, the price of well for the usurpers at all.
labor, the speed of unloading and loading, and the If Eversink’s government as written here isn’t
ease of access to the Grand Marketplace. The Harbor to your taste, burn it down. Burn it all down!
Committee coordinates with the Defense Committee And replace it with a King or Queen, good or
and the City Watch to protect berthed ships at night. wicked, whose family has managed to topple
It’s common knowledge that the Harbor Committee is the bureaucracy at least temporarily. You’ll have
incredibly corrupt and is easily bribed. a huge amount of fun thinking through the
changes, and you can customize the city to fit
Committee for the Courts your own campaign’s exact needs.
The Committee for the Courts oversees the docket
of ecclesiastical and secular cases brought before the
Courts in the Hermitage. This Committee also works
closely with the Guild of Advocates to support the
‘Sinkish Law

The City of Eversink

Judges who sit on the bench. Since they have a writ from
Swords of the Serpentine isn’t going to give you a
the Triskadane to staff the Courts, and the Triskadane
laundry list of laws in Eversink, because those laws
rarely takes a personal hand in placing or removing a
are incredibly mutable and inconsistent. That’s what
Judge itself (not never, rarely), this Committee has the
you get when you’re adventuring in a city with a
far-reaching power of deciding who oversees justice
millennium of conflicting legal rulings and regulations.
in a city full of litigious trade houses. That means that
The law remains fairly straightforward and common
the Committee for the Courts has indirect power over
sense, except when it would be fun for players and
the winners and losers in Eversink. With a change of
GMs to dictate otherwise. There are parts of the city
membership in this committee, a Mercanti House can
where a murder will be closely investigated by multiple
go from unimaginable wealth to scrabbling for housing
authorities until the perpetrator is run down; there are
in the Tangle almost instantly. Committee membership
other parts of the city where a person can get shivved in
is tightly controlled, and if the membership of the
the middle of the street in broad daylight, and everyone
committee is corruptible, the cost of the bribes they’d
looks the other way as the nameless corpse is loaded
demand would be truly astronomical. onto a mortuary cart or tossed into a canal. Similarly,
what one can legally wear for clothing (including color,
 286 Swords of the Serpentine

cut, and type of fabric) is very different in Alderhall than bad” and “people shouldn’t steal” they can enforce the
it is in the Tangle. law they know.
This is complicated even more by the fact that Most of Eversink’s law practices are not concerned
Heroes with one or more pool points of Laws and with criminal law. Instead, they expend most of their
Traditions can literally make up new laws on the spot, time with civil and contractual law. In the bright daylight
regulations that (at least at that moment) are currently of Ironcross’ iron and stone bridges, Eversink’s richest
in effect and enforced by local constabulary. There are go to war with one another, not with ships or guns but
probably exceptions and loopholes that will eventually with advocates, words, documents, and agreements.
be found, but players get to build the world along with Ironcross hosts a thriving scribe-and-notary-and-legal
the GM, and that means helping establish the laws by industry to keep pace with the constant change in
which everyone must live. This is actually more realistic law and lawfare that no one outside the very wealthy
than you might think; throughout history sumptuary completely pays attention to. It’s not unusual for
laws and ridiculous legal rulings have annoyed people Eversink’s most blessed and silver-tongued advocates
all over our world, lasting until they’re forgotten, or to find themselves wealthy and appointed as a Judge
mutually ignored, or until another lawmaker thinks to to Eversink’s bench by the Committee for the Courts,
annul them. where the corruption merrily trickles down.
GMs are encouraged to tell players what’s reasonable
and what isn’t, and then let them violate those laws and
face (or manipulate) the consequences. How strictly Designer Notes: How the Rich War
laws are enforced depends a lot on the social class and
allegiances of the Heroes in comparison to the social While the rich will occasionally sic their
class and allegiances of the law enforcers. mercenaries and goons on an opposing party,
that’s a route of last resort. Bodies lead to
Law and Advocates questions and inconveniences. The rich prefer
Eversink is an incredibly litigious city. With a goddess to bleed their enemies dry, tangle them up in
who defines her religious obligations by contract, knots, ruin their reputation, and wrap them up
the law is as much the blood of Eversink as fish, salt, in blackmail, bribery, and extortion complaints
trade, and backstabbing. Because the law is not strictly through the legitimate law. No reason to get
codified, no one entirely knows the fine details of what is blood on anyone’s hands when penury works
legal and what isn’t — except one guild, the Advocates’ equally well. Ask them, and they will say that
Guild, whose remarkably ornate Guild House stands going the legal route is the Eversink way of doing
proudly in Ironcross next door to the Hermitage. business.
Eversink is the city-state of opportunity, trade,
The City of Eversink

contracts, and Byzantine, half-understood legal codes.

In steps the Guild of Advocates. These glib, charismatic The Language Crisis
bonded guild members offer their services to the rich Eversink’s existence, and the charter and contract that
and poor to help navigate the twisting paths of the lets the city flourish, is based on the Golden Contract
nearly infinite canon law. No matter what the situation signed by the founding nobility of the city and by the
is, from “caught casting spells in the High Church Goddess herself. It’s unfortunate, then, that there are
Foyer” to “found clipping or otherwise debasing few people nowadays who could read it. Language
coinage,” advocates can at least avoid a prisoner’s exile changes, and over a millennium language changes
and cajole the judge into giving a lower sentence. a lot, both in terms of calligraphy, writing style, and
The common people are confident on broad strokes vocabulary. The original Golden Contract was written
of the law, but the fiddly parts elude those who don’t in the language Cygnini, a divine language originating
keep up with the constant changing decrees. This with Denari herself. The common tongue has changed
doesn’t help the City Watch who are charged with several times over the centuries, and there are few
keeping the peace and enforcing the ever-changing law. scholars nowadays who are fluent enough in Cygnini to
They figure if they know the big items, like “murder is understand the legal subtleties in the Golden Contract
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 287

and in other contracts and charters from this era. The Long-Con Scam Artists
number of forgers and con artists who attempt to
Long-con scams aren’t welcome in Eversink. At their
use this to their advantage has risen steadily over the
core, those scams make promises and contracts with
centuries.
unwitting innocents in deliberate bad faith. Fake
See p. 235 for more detail on languages.
contracts are equally as bad as counterfeit scams. Long-
con scam artists make deals knowing full well they
The Most Heinous Crimes of don’t intend to honor the deal at the end. Denari and
Eversink the Authority preach that salesmen can write tricky
Even with the loose (although large) definition of law contracts, contracts with confusing small print or
in Eversink, the city still has a clear set of the worst random escape clauses, but they cannot directly scam
criminal crimes and misdemeanors. These are crimes people.
so terrible in Eversink that they not only involve the Typically, con artists first annoy the local thieves’
government but also the Church’s Inquisition. guilds because they’re not tithing to the local
brotherhood. Then, they’d infuriate the nobility
Sorcerous Corruption because no one likes to wake up and discover they’re
a mark. Finally, the Inquisition comes calling because
Sorcery is not technically the worst crime anyone can
fraudulent contracts are intrinsically a heresy. A clever
commit in Eversink, but spreading Corruption (p.
con artist pays their tithe to the Church, though, so at
117) without any thought to the consequences is.
least their soul is more secure.
Sorcerers found guilty gain a punishment in direct
relation to the seriousness of their crimes, and how
well-connected they are. While one truly guilty sorcerer
Everything Else
might have her hands and tongue removed before being Serial killers are heinous, as is sexual assault. Perpetrators
put in the crow cages overhanging the harbor, another are not welcome in Eversink. Casual murder isn’t
better-connected (and less offensive) sorcerer might be acceptable either. But the law deals with offenses as
quietly exiled or extensively fined. offenses come, based on the commonly held order of
Note that sorcery and casting spells is not technically severity and punishment, and many law enforcement
illegal (at least usually), but externalizing Corruption officials have a soft spot for vigilantes and heroes who
is. Known sorcerers are treated with suspicion by the actually make their jobs easier by defeating criminals.
Inquisition and the City Watch, but a sorcerer usually Theft is serious but is considered a crime instead
faces no legal consequences until they actively cause of a heresy if the thief pays their tithe to the Church.
external harm. How important the theft is largely depends on who the
victim knows, and how much trouble they’re willing to

The City of Eversink

Counterfeiting stir up until the crime gets solved.
Outlanders are not exempt from Eversink’s ideals of
Everything in Denari’s Blessing is about equal contracts.
law and order. Outlanders running afoul of the city’s
These contracts might use tricky language, and
laws can find themselves standing before the judiciary in
Advocates might use language to lay traps, but contracts
the Hermitage as quickly as any citizen, but usually with
and the exchange of coin are prayers to the Goddess,
a lot more confusion.
and those who make false contracts are committing
heresy. The worst are the coin counterfeiters, since
they put fake currency into circulation and adulterate
the downstream transactions to force innocents into
heresy. Counterfeiters and those who knowingly create
false contracts are typically branded and exiled, if they
aren’t imprisoned or executed.
 288 Swords of the Serpentine

Allegiances: Who Matters in Eversink?

At its heart, there are twelve main factions with powerful Description
political sway within the city. These groups vie for
control of Eversink’s power, whether overtly or subtly. The Ancient Nobility are the original aristocracy of
Heroes start play with at least one of these groups as an Eversink, some families dating back to the signing of
ally, and with one of these groups as an enemy. It’s up the Golden Contract nearly a thousand years ago, and
to you and the GM (influenced by how many ranks you the nobility believe that they are essential to the very
have in Allegiances) as to how prominent a role you play survival of Eversink (see below). They know that they’re
in the faction, and how that faction operates politically. important, and they insist on being treated as such. Once
If you agree, it’s perfectly possible in the rules for you wealthy beyond comprehension, most families are now
to lead a faction or a group within a faction (such as a rich only in social status — not that they would ever
Merchant House, a Mercenary company or a guild of admit this. With no consistent military power (other
thieves)… and the more ranks you have in those Allies, than a family’s hired mercenaries) and less political and
the less your political foes will be able to limit your economic power every passing year, reputation and
influence. nobility is everything. Their status informs how they
See p. 53 for details on Allegiances. act, how they dress (usually in beautiful clothes several
hundred years old, because such well-made clothing is
still perfectly elegant and serviceable, thank you very
The Ancient Nobility much), and with whom they deign to speak. Every
action they take is informed by the knowledge that
they have generations of ancestors whose reputations
Ranks they need to live up to. For some families with skeletal
If you have 1 rank of Allies: Ancient Nobility, you’re advisors or extremely elderly great-grandparents, the
either from a minor noble family, a trusted ally of burden of history is very real indeed.
nobles, or you have close and influential friends who
are nobles.
If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Ancient Designer Notes:
Nobility, you have significant sway among the city’s On the Golden Contract
social elite. You’re either very prominent in a minor
noble family, a member of an already well-known and The Golden Contract is a direct nod to the
The City of Eversink

socially influential family, or you’re known among Golden Families of Venice who claimed descent
the nobility as “the right kind of person” who can be from the city’s original founders.
depended upon. Denari’s power flows from the heartbeat of
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: Ancient commerce, so we decided the city’s founding
Nobility, you’re considered an untrustworthy enemy moment was the signing of a literal contract
of the upper class because of something that you, your between Herself and a small band of bedraggled
allies, or your family (including long-dead ancestors) refugees in a stinking swamp long ago. The
have done. Any noble who gives you the polite time of Ancient Nobility built this singular event up to
day is probably doing so expecting to be betrayed, and one of epic proportions because their ancestors
has already taken that into account. were in position to take economic advantage and
Use your Ancient Nobility ranks to gain leads about were first to capitalize on the new city. Therefore,
social status, ancient history, and high society events. these ancient noble families feel entitled to
the citizenry’s enduring obsequiousness. But
Eversink doesn’t work that way. Ever.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 289

Most noble families built their family’s ancestral or identified. Mind you, they may be rivals or ancient
tower or estate in the district of Alderhall, where most family enemies, but at least you’re being noticed. You
families spend what little money they have on upkeep can use this status to insinuate yourself into the most
and appearances. The nobility tends to have the best important and prestigious events in the city. With
ancient libraries in the city, even if no one has bothered that benefit is the knowledge that public mayhem or
looking at them for several generations, and children (goddess forbid) visible signs of poverty will start rumors
learn to read by memorizing the family tree and family and possibly lower your family’s social status. Members
history (along with the family’s long list of rivals and of the nobility are saddled with the knowledge that they
old grudges). It’s exceptionally rare for members of are always representing their family’s honor and lineage
the Ancient Nobility to not have ranks in the Nobility with everything they do, even when that’s the last thing
Investigative ability; after all, good manners matter. you may want.
Being a member of the Ancient Nobility carries Take this faction as an Ally if you want old, deep ties
privileges and burdens. Anonymity becomes more to the city of Eversink and its social structure of secret
challenging; if you have 2 ranks or more of Allies: influencers. You should take it as an Enemy if you think
Ancient Nobility, and you’ve decided that you’re a that those stuck-up, rude fops deserve to be put in their
member of the nobility yourself, your family is socially place — or if you’ve accidentally crossed some people
prominent enough that you’ll regularly be recognized who are very important socially.

The City of Eversink

 290 Swords of the Serpentine

Most priests are Marketpriests, attached to a

The Church of Denari particular place of worship and responsible for the
spiritual well-being and wealth of parishioners. They
Ranks have local responsibilities but great freedom to run their
If you have 1 rank of Allies: Church of Denari, church, shrine, or market as they see fit. Other priests
you’re either a working member of the church, are are assigned as Trade Missionaries, sent into the city
known to represent church interests, or you have close and the lands beyond to observe, act as diplomats,
and influential friends who are members of the church encourage trade, and to spread the faith of Denari.
bureaucracy.
If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Church Designer Notes: Marketpriests
of Denari, you have significant influence within the
church’s bureaucracy. Important officials in the church The title Marketpriests describes the priest’s
trust you, and indicate to their subordinates that you role within the Denarian Church — of literally
are worthy of this trust. The church expects that you protecting markets and marketplaces in the
will consistently act in its best interest, and rewards you Goddess’ name. As Denari is a goddess of
with information and advantage accordingly. commerce, and commerce often happens in
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: Church the market, the market is as holy a place as
of Denari, you’re probably considered an infidel or a any Temple. Marketpriests encourage their
heretic of some sort. The church worries about the state parishioners to work, sell, and spend so money
of your immortal soul and will not trust you for church circulates and nothing is ever accepted for free.
business. Inquisitors pay far more attention to you than This is how they minister to the souls of the flock.
you’d like them to.
Use your Church of Denari ranks to gain leads about
the Goddess, religion, foul sorcery, history, prophecies, The mother church retains its own collection of divine
funeral statuary, or the spirit world. prophets and oracles who have generally managed to
separate themselves from the stigma of sorcery. The
Description official church-sponsored Guild of Prophecy gives daily
There are more than 200 individual churches to Denari recommendations to the Triskadane and will prophesy
in the city, from humble neighborhood shrines in the for other people as well, for enough money. Just don’t
poorest districts to the cathedral Haven in Temple practice unsanctioned prophecy if you don’t wish to be
Market, and each is supported by a neighborhood or forcibly recruited.
community. Denari holds sway in Eversink, and foreign The Church Militant are the enforcers, investigators,
and soldiers of the religion, the ecclesiastical equivalent
The City of Eversink

religions and cults are tolerated only if they pay near-

crippling taxes. There are branches of the religion of the City Watch. Both Inquisitors and pious warriors
with slightly different dogma, although congregations make up these troops, and they stand forth to represent
who stray too far from official orthodoxy are quickly the strength of Denari (or to deliver punishment) when
identified and labeled as heretical cults if they can’t be it best serves the Goddess’ purposes. Church Inquisitors
quietly re-educated. often have a special knack for sensing Corruption; the
The church and the Goddess are part of everyday Church Militant is known to forcefully recruit non-
life in Eversink. You can’t paddle down a canal without ecclesiastical members who show the same gift of Spirit
seeing and hearing constant reminders of Her power Sight.
around you. There’s no separation of church and state Take this faction as an Ally if you want close ties
here, and anyone who agitated for it might well be exiled to the vast and influential religious bureaucracy or to
as a heretic. The citizens generally support this: the Denari Herself. Take them as an Enemy if you worship
church teaches that true civilization and culture springs someone other than Denari, if you have crossed a
from the Goddess, so the government helps ensure that church bureaucrat in some way, or if you are a known
Eversink has the best music, the best festivals, and the or suspected sorcerer.
greatest success in trade.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 291

Watch Houses to help protect local neighborhoods,

The City Watch though nothing officially recognized.
On the plus side, few criminals want to directly
Ranks assault a Watch officer: they know that the Watch looks
after its own, and if they do every City Watch officer in
If you have 1 rank of Allies: City Watch, you’re either
Eversink is going to be hunting for them. You can often
a past or present member of the Watch, someone with
spend pool points of Allies: City Watch as if they were
enough dirt on Watch officials that you can blackmail
points of Intimidation when confronting lawbreakers or
them into giving you information, or someone that the
someone threatening to hurt you.
Watch sees regularly and trusts.
Take this faction as an Ally if you want to be a current
If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: City Watch,
or former member of the City Watch, if they owe you a
you have significant influence over the City Watch. You
favor, or if you’ve helped them solve crimes in the past.
may be a member of the government who controls their
Take them as an Enemy if you’re currently wanted by
funding, or an important Watch officer. Either way, the
the law for past crimes, or if you’ve deliberately worked
City Watch knows and trusts you, and you’re likely
against them to undercut their prestige, influence, or
to be given the benefit of the doubt if (when!) you’re
funding.
caught breaking the law.
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: City
Watch, try not to get arrested, because the Watch The Commoners
has it in for you. You may be wanted for a crime, be
considered untrustworthy and unethical, have someone
in your family who is already a notorious criminal,
Ranks
or be a bullying member of a rival law enforcement If you have 1 rank of Allies: Commoners, either
organization such as the Intelligence Committee’s you’ve been born poor in a poverty-ridden part of
Black Swans or the Church’s Inquisitors. town, or you’re a trusted friend of a local folk hero who
Use your City Watch ranks to gain leads about will vouch for you.
crime, known criminals, safety, city locations, prisons, If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Commoners,
disease, and social unrest. your neighborhood will look out for you and yours.
You’re probably a local folk hero, someone who nearby
Description kids pretend to be when fighting each other with sticks
in alleyways, or you consistently treat commoners with
Charged with keeping the city safe — an impossible
kindness and respect even when you don’t have to.
job, given their low manpower and nearly insignificant
Many commoners will recognize you when you pass
political status — and reporting directly to representatives
them (especially in your own neighborhood), and they

The City of Eversink

of the Triskadane, the City Watch do the best they can
look up to you as a source of hope and respect. Even
in a city that frankly doesn’t give a damn. They lean on
some commoner criminals get treated like minor royalty
the law and the authority that’s been vested in them,
by their own people, especially if their so-called crimes
even if no one else seems to pay much attention. The
are against the Ancient Nobility.
Watch maintains that no one is above the law, and they
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies:
tread the damp and uneven streets and canals of the city
Commoners, you may not want to go wandering
to prove it.
around the Tangle or Sag Harbor by yourself. You’re
The Watch works out of Watch Houses, of which
considered a traitor to the common people, or an
there’s at least one per District. The richer and more
oppressor, and commoners assume you look down your
prominent Districts tend to boast the more politically
nose at them whether that’s true or not. Decide why
important (and well-funded) Watch Houses, and
commoners dislike and don’t trust you, then make sure
there’s clearly rivalry between Districts. Guard in more
to remind them of it every chance you get.
prominent Watch Houses tend to look down their noses
Use your Commoner ranks to gain leads about
at the Guard in more dangerous, poorer areas of the
servants, working-class neighborhoods, regular people,
city. Certain thieves’ guilds have agreements with local
beggars, folk heroes, and good honest labor.
 292 Swords of the Serpentine

Description when interacting with people who are often treated

unfairly by those richer than they are.
Riches are traditionally gained on the backs of the
Take this faction as an Ally if you come from the
workers, and no one works harder in Eversink than its
poor or lower classes, or you treat them like people and
commoners. These are the poor, the disenfranchised,
like friends. Take them as an Enemy if you wish they’d
the laborers and craftspeople who turn the wheels of
go away, or if you’ve taken steps to keep them poor and
religion and commerce. Rarely they can rise above their
biddable.
The City of Eversink

station for a time — but far more often, someone of a

higher social status steals what’s theirs and slaps them
back down.
No wonder many commoners — the ones in a
The Guild of Architects
position to afford to, at least — are dangerously bitter and Canal-Watchers
and seething with rebellion. If a true leader arose,
someone trustworthy and charismatic with a number of Ranks
ranks of Allies: Commoners, it wouldn’t take much for If you have 1 rank of Allies: Guild of Architects and
them to raise an army and incite rebellion. Unfortunately Canal-Watchers, you’re someone whom the Guild’s
for the commoners, there are a lot of other people in membership looks on favorably. You may have a friend
Eversink who try to corrupt or co-opt anyone from the who works there and isn’t afraid to let a few Guild secrets
lower classes who shows leadership potential. slip, you may be influential in making the Guild’s job
Most Heroes with ranks of Allies: Commoners easier, or you may be a member of the Guild yourself.
also have at least one rank in the Investigative ability If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Guild of
Servility. Knowing how to be humble goes a long way Architects and Canal-Watchers, you are knowledgeable
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 293

about Guild business and know how to pull strings to In the past there have been rumors that some
direct the Guild’s business. That means you’re either members of this guild practice sorcery, but Denari must
a trusted member of the Guild (likely specializing in not approve of such rumors, because those who believe
either construction or waterways), or you’re someone them seem to find an early accidental death. They
the Guild turns to regularly when it faces challenges. aren’t the only ones. Architects and canal-watchers have
The Guild has an extensive bureaucracy, and you know remarkably dangerous jobs, and their life expectancy is
how to use it to your advantage. low.
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: Guild of Take this faction as an Ally if you want direct ties to
Architects and Canal-Watchers, the Guild considers people who know Eversink’s architectural secrets. Take
you a risk to either their Guild business or to Eversink’s them as an Enemy if you’ve learned a terrible secret
architecture. You may have knocked down a building, about the Guild that they want silenced, or if they have
threatened an architect, or stolen secrets. If you need wronged you (or you’ve wronged them) in some way.
something built, don’t expect quality, and certainly all
those canal closures when you needed to be somewhere
five minutes ago are just coincidence, right? Say what Designer Notes: A Sleeping Power
you want about the Guild, they know how to raise
passive aggressiveness to an art form; their revenge is Want to feel important? Be the person in charge of
usually in the form of long and grinding inconvenience unilaterally deciding whether a historic building
instead of bloodshed. stays upright or whether goods can freely travel
Use your ranks with the Guild to gain leads about to market through the city’s canals. The Guild’s
accurate maps, neighborhood politics, city locations, current leadership is conservative and responsible,
building and demolition plans, road and canal closures, but change is in the air, and a corrupt Architects’
and in-depth details about what’s been found in Guild would have an economic stranglehold on
otherwise sunken and forgotten basements. the city that puts all other organized crime to
shame. Greed is going to push a guildmaster over
the edge sooner or later, and it isn’t going to be
Description
pretty when it happens.
The most powerful mercantile guild in the city, this
guild keeps its secrets hidden behind a close-knit
organization that resembles a secret society to outsiders.
The guild engineers keep canals clean and safe, plan and The Mercanti
organize construction, handle demolition, and keep
existing buildings from collapsing. Their mechanical or
Ranks
(rarely) sorcerous pumps help keep a structure’s sunken

The City of Eversink

levels (relatively) dry, and they shore up buildings and If you have 1 rank of Allies: Mercanti, you have friends
demolish those that need removal. The maps of the or informants in at least one minor or major guild, or
Canal-Watchers go back for many centuries and are you’re a member of that guild yourself.
known to be the most accurate maps of the city as it If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Mercanti, you
once stood, including secret underwater passages and have significant sway among the guilds and Eversink’s
the location of now-vanished buildings. Any rumors new money. You’re either very prominent in a minor
that the guild is paid handsomely by thieves’ guilds for guild or business, a member of an already well-known
access to this information are surely false. Any rumors and particularly prosperous guild, or you’re known
that the guild is actually responsible for the constant among the rich (in money, if not in social prestige) as a
sinking, and could stop it if it wished, are even less likely. person who can be depended upon. Members of guilds
The guild wields huge economic power, even if its you’re involved in will typically recognize you on sight
leaders are reluctant to throw their weight around. as someone important, and may attempt to curry favor.
They seldom need to do so. Most other factions are If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: Mercanti,
quick to appease their requests, and no one wants to Eversink’s rich and powerful consider you a risk, an
face the consequences of getting on their bad side. enemy, or a threat. They’ll devote resources to tracking
 294 Swords of the Serpentine

you down and making your life miserable if you so much Arranged in guilds and with each guild typically
as hint at confronting them, and your involvement may led by a family, the Mercanti spread Denari’s worship
ruin otherwise successful business deals until you are as much as they betray, connive, and double-deal to
removed. Chances are they’re angry because you’ve earn more money and power. Their largest frustration
cost them profit or success in the past. is Eversink’s problem with smuggling, and they often
Use your Mercanti ranks to gain leads about feel beset by enemies on every side. The Mercanti are
trade, the guilds, the richest people in Eversink, and seizing political power, but often lack the social clout
international dealings or diplomacy. and social graces that should come with it.
As a result, there are huge opportunities for ambitious
Description Heroes in the Mercanti. High rewards usually require
These are the up-and-comers, the guild-leaders and the high risks, and adventurers love risks, right? So hitch
master architects of commerce who are carrying Eversink yourself to whichever Merchant Prince seems like your
into its next gilded age. Their money and influence rising star, keep your eyes open for opportunities, and
might be relatively new (in Eversink terms, that’s within make audacious adventures pay off in the best possible
the last few hundred years), but they’re systematically way.
stealing political power and even respectability away Take this faction as an Ally if you want to immerse
from the Ancient Nobility as they forge Eversink’s yourself in the political and economic skulduggery that
future. If you ask a Mercanti, there’s nothing this city money and trade guilds bring. Take them as an Enemy
needs more. As Eversink changes and transforms, the if you’re actively working against them, if you’re of the
Mercanti will be leading the way... assuming the rest of Ancient Nobility, or if you’ve crossed each other in the
the city can’t stop them. past.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 295

will pay them, or specialize in a particular social class of

The Mercenaries client. Mercanti, Ancient Nobility, and the Triskadane
are their largest clients. The Church Militant can’t
Ranks stand them, and usually looks at them as troublemakers
unless a war is on.
If you have 1 rank of Allies: Mercenaries, you are a
Most mercenaries live in their own neighborhood
former Mercenary, or you have employed Mercenaries
of Eversink’s Foreign District when they aren’t on duty
in the past (and paid them!), or you have a friend who
or on campaign. It’s one of the safest parts of the city,
is influential with Mercenary companies.
except for assaults committed by bored and out-of-work
If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Mercenaries,
sellswords. Mercenaries typically group people into the
you’re a known and respected figure among the
categories of “fellow soldier”, “potential client”, and
Mercenary companies. You may be an officer in a
“never a client.” If you’re in that last group and aren’t
mercenary company, a popular or reputable employer
willing to pay, it’s hard gaining a merc’s assistance or
of mercenaries, or someone reliable who soldiers can
trust.
come to when they need a favor. Mercenary soldiers will
Take this faction as an Ally if you want to serve or
often recognize you or your armor on sight, and may
command a troop of mercenaries, or if you’ve done
know your reputation in battle.
so in the past and left on good terms. Take them as
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies:
an Enemy if you’ve cheated them out of their pay, or
Mercenaries, you’re probably considered a traitor,
been involved in a battle where they thought they were
a coward, or someone who doesn’t pay his bills.
cheated or betrayed.
Mercenaries won’t work for you and will go out of their
way to accost you or ruin your plans. They typically
consider you a disgrace or a threat; you can decide
which, and why.
The Monstrosities
Use your Mercenary ranks to gain leads about war,
armed security, military threats, military history, and Ranks
about the sort of people who hire mercenaries to do If you have 1 rank of Allies: Monstrosities, you’re
their dirty work. aware of the secret demimonde that exists at the edges
of human civilization in Eversink, and you have at least
Description one informant who lives in that world. Perhaps you did
With no standing army other than the Church Militant, them a favor once, or maybe you were raised there and
everyone in Eversink who needs protection hires are technically non-human yourself. Best not to let the
mercenaries, and those sellswords stay exactly as loyal as Church know either way, eh?

The City of Eversink

they’re paid to stay. Noble houses hire them for private If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Monstrosities,
armies, and merchants hire them for protection against you get along well enough with the non-human
smugglers or for when debts need to be paid. They communities living hidden beneath Eversink that they
protect the city (paid by the Triskadane, much to the consider you a useful asset. Or maybe a friend? It’s hard
City Watch’s annoyance) and guard the docks. They to tell, but either way, chances are you can spend pool
get drunk and start brawls, they stick together in an points of Allies: Monstrosities to stop a fight dead in
unwritten code of honor and loyalty shared with other its tracks because the monstrosity doesn’t want to risk
mercenaries, and occasionally they die horribly on old harming you. It’s even possible that these creatures
stone altars deep in the swamp when they’re lured there treat you as part of their own world, giving you access
by conniving cultists and sorcerers. Mercenaries are the to hidden communities that seldom have humanity’s
arm of martial power in Eversink, and the city couldn’t best interests in mind.
function without them. It’s just a shame no one can If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies:
ever tell how loyal they are at a glance. Monstrosities, one or more communities of inhuman
Bands of mercenaries typically have their own predators have it out for you. They likely consider you a
flag, unique name, color, and coat of arms. They vary risk, or a pest, or a tool to be easily manipulated. Good
tremendously in size, and either freelance to anyone who luck convincing anyone of what you think you know!
 296 Swords of the Serpentine
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 297

Humans are notoriously willfully ignorant when some

bit of information threatens their comfortable little Designer Notes:
worldview. And if you try, everyone you speak to may The Monstrous Demimonde
have a bad habit of ending up dead, and who do you
think is going to get framed for their murders? The humans in Eversink live in a state of active
Use your Monstrosity ranks to gain leads about denial, desperately trying not to think about those
sorcery, inhuman threats, forgotten history, ancient centuries and centuries of basements and sunken
power, and ridiculous conspiracies. buildings honeycombing the earth beneath their
feet. Monsters live there, and you can bet they
Description aren’t all content to squat in a muddy hole when
Don’t be silly! There are no non-humans living in there is music, light, and food so tantalizingly
Eversink. Fabled creatures such as the Rattakan, the nearby. As a result, there are two or more
fungal Drowned, or the snake-like Serpentine were civilizations living right on top of each other, and
created in the Age of Monsters and died out long before only one is aware of the other. Good luck if you
mankind ever came into its own. They’re tales told accidentally stumble onto the secret nightlife of
to scare children and the gullible. Your home’s deep the near-human monstrosities; that’s information
basements are safe. Perfectly safe. What a ridiculous they’d much rather keep hidden, and they’ll kill
idea. Forget you ever had it. It’s easiest to forget when to keep it to themselves.
you lock and board over the door to the basement stairs.
You may not want to venture too far out into the
bogs, though. Who knows what lives out there? There
are rumors of toad-people, of dead things beneath the
The Outlanders
water, and of lost and confused small gods.
And really, people would notice if monstrosities lived Ranks
right alongside (or beneath) humans in Eversink. You If you have 1 rank of Allies: Outlanders, you have
can’t hide whole societies of predators who keep their access to information and rumors about local Outlander
own markets, their own politics, and their own secret politics and important foreign events. Either you have
sources of power. The Inquisition would announce a trusted seafaring friends, or you’re an immigrant
purge and would wipe them out. Unless the Inquisition yourself and you maintain ties to the old country. Pick
was willfully turning a blind eye, that is. And what’s the a foreign culture (see p. 310) as your primary point of
chance of that? contact.
Take this faction as an Ally if you are a traitor to If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Outlanders,
humanity, if you crave inhuman power, or if you have you either immigrated to Eversink as a member of a

The City of Eversink

some sort of tie to a whispering voice in the deep prominent family, or you hold an influential social role
shadows under your childhood bed. Take them as in one or more of the Outlander communities within
an Enemy if you know the truth about how tenuous Eversink’s Foreign District. It’s possible you have
humanity’s existence and safety really are. diplomatic ties to foreign locales, or you regularly came
into contact with many foreign visitors to the city. You
may even be a local folk hero in your community. Either
way, most Outlanders know you by sight or reputation.
Pick one or more foreign cultures (see p. 310) as your
primary points of contact.
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: Outlander,
you may want to think twice before leaving Eversink
(why would anyone want to do that?) or even before
wandering the Foreign District. You’re considered a
spy or traitor to any political nation that isn’t Eversink;
whether it’s true or not (and you should discuss this
 298 Swords of the Serpentine

with your GM), rumors have gotten around, and there interests. Other members of Sorcerous Cabals are likely
are plenty of people ready to even the score for what to have heard of you, by reputation if not by appearance.
they think you did. If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: Sorcerous
Use your Outlander ranks to gain leads about trade, Cabals, you have a much higher chance than normal
war, foreign politics, cultures, and international travel. of coming down with a nasty curse when it’s least
convenient. You have crossed a sorcerer somehow,
Description and their cabal is just biding its time. It’s good that
They come from outside Eversink, foreign freelancers most revenge schemes are convoluted, interesting, and
unbeholden to any traditional faction within the city, diabolical, instead of simply an ambush and a fast death.
and the city doesn’t always know what to do with them. Most cabals prefer to make examples of their enemies,
They can ally with or work for anyone; they can be instead of just having them disappear mysteriously in
assassinated to prove a point, and probably only the the night.
Watch will notice or care. Charge them more money, Use your ranks in Sorcerous Cabals to gain
point them towards the Foreign District, and treat leads about sorcery, unnatural power, conspiracies,
them with caution. Corruption, spirits, and ancient artifacts of power.
An Outlander may be a tourist, a new immigrant, a
visiting merchant, or a wandering adventurer. They lack Description
most local knowledge and contacts, and may have fewer It isn’t illegal per se to be a sorcerer in Eversink, but
rights than citizens (depending on who they speak to sorcerers create Corruption, and that’s very illegal.
and how much they bribe). Sometimes chained-in-a-cage-with-your-hands-and-
Take this faction as an Ally if you’re new to Eversink, tongue-cut-off-overhanging-the-harbor-until-you-die
if you have a reputation as a friend to people new to the illegal. So powerful Sorcerers often have their minions
city, or if you have many friends who are Outlanders. in Eversink run errands for them, and they flex their
Take them as an Enemy if you’re hated outside of political muscles behind the scenes. The Sorcerous
the city or if you make a habit of taking advantage of Cabals cleave together for mutual protection and
Outlanders you meet. power, and their representatives guard their interests
without (usually) having much sorcery themselves.
Cabals tend to inspire paranoia. No one knows who
The Sorcerous Cabals could be a sorcerer and who isn’t. Neighbors turn each
other in, and the Church Inquisitors come a-calling.
Are the Inquisitors sorcerers themselves? Are church
Ranks
officials? How can one tell? And if you have crossed
If you have 1 rank of Allies: Sorcerous Cabals, you them, how could you possibly hope to survive?
The City of Eversink

have the means to contact one or more cabals and Cabals are tightly organized but keep their secrets
petition them for wisdom or favors. It’s wise to do so from other, rival cabals; memories might even be erased
respectfully, mind you, and not when the Inquisitors to ensure that sorcerers can’t remember more than one
are watching. You may even be a low-ranking member or two contacts in their own organization, just to keep
of a Sorcerous Cabal yourself. the cabal safe. That said, when someone shows up on
If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Sorcerous the Sorcerous Cabal’s list of enemies, word is somehow
Cabals, it’s extremely likely that you’re a sorcerer passed from member to member and the enemies don’t
yourself or that you somehow serve one. The cabal survive particularly long.
has likely initiated you into at least some of their Sometimes confident (or politically well-connected)
inner mysteries, and you have met other known and sorcerers act as figureheads and guild spokespeople,
hidden sorcerers. You know your cabal’s secret signs attracting the attention and ire of the inquisitors, hoping
of recognition, which bureaucrats in Eversink can be to shine so brightly that their fellow practitioners can
trusted to be sympathetic, and how (or where) to best sneak past in the shadow. It’s all about misdirection and
channel Corruption so that it serves your cabal’s secret power.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 299

Two primary traditions exist in Sorcerous Cabals: If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Thieves’
those who learned their sorcery from the teaching of Guilds you have power and influence with at least
forgotten demons or small gods, and those who learned one thieves’ guild. You may be a trusted ally of truly
it from the ancient and forgotten lore of the Serpentine powerful guild leaders, a notable thief yourself, a feared
snake-folk. They differ considerably; in particular, enforcer, or a respected former thief who maintains
cabals centered around small gods and demons tend to their friendship even in retirement. It’s even possible
take on the characteristics of those entities. A cabal who you’re a local legend due to jobs you’ve pulled in the
learned their sorcery from a small god of deception, for past, so that new thieves look up at you in awe before
instance, will have different traditions than those who they’re stupid enough to try to steal your purse.
learned their sorcery from a small god of rot and decay. If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: Thieves’

The City of Eversink

Take this faction as an Ally if you are a sorcerer Guilds, you’re considered a danger to the thieves’
yourself, or if you’ve chosen one as an employer or guilds for something you’ve done. They have a
mentor. Take them as an Enemy if you have acted to tendency to stay clear of you unless they have no choice,
root out or inform on sorcerers, real or imagined. but individual thieves might be foolish enough to try to
thwart you when given the opportunity. If they’re truly
angry at you, beware; the guilds have eyes everywhere,
The Thieves’ Guilds and there’s no shortage of would-be assassins willing to
risk their life for a healthy reward.
Use your Thieves’ Guilds ranks to gain leads about
Ranks
poisons, illegal goods, thefts, burglary, blackmail,
If you have 1 rank of Allies: Thieves’ Guilds, you smuggling, and corrupt or bribed officials (especially in
have friends or informants who are guild thieves, the City Watch and Triskadane).
you’re a low-profile guild thief yourself, or you’re
someone known for being sympathetic or helpful to the
underworld.
 300 Swords of the Serpentine

Description spies. Almost anyone you meet might have allegiances

Attempting to infiltrate thieves’ well-trapped guild halls within a thieves’ guild, and gang wars between them
is notoriously a death sentence, and there are scores over real or imagined slights aren’t unknown. Every
of illegal thieves’ guilds within the city, big and small. decade or two a Lord of Thieves brutally carves their
Perilously few of them can be trusted. way to the top of the heap and makes all other guilds
Guilds often specialize, with one guild marshaling pay obeisance to them; then someone takes them down
scores of urchin pickpockets, another specializing in in a bloody fight, and the scramble for power begins
challenging assassinations, a third in smuggling goods again. The City Watch frankly prefers the organization
through the swamps, and so forth. Guild hall locations and understanding that comes with a Lord of Thieves,
vary: some thieves may have elite social clubs where because at least that way taxes get paid and fewer people
blackmail secrets, rare wines, and rarer forms of poison actually get hurt.
are bartered or traded, while others gather in a repulsive You’re encouraged to work with your GM to create
sewer, debating which noble’s house to ransack at the the primary guild that you’re allied to (or hated by).
new moon. Many guilds maintain specific territories, The more interesting you make them, the more fun
and woe betide any thief who picks a pocket in another you’ll have later when everything goes to hell and
guild’s territory without giving them a cut. you’re caught in the turmoil.
Thieves and smugglers might be of any age. Take this faction as an Ally if you have underworld
Orphaned children are apprenticed to thieving contacts who trust you, or if you belong to a thieves’
schools who train them — often brutally — how to be guild yourself. Take them as an Enemy if you have
incredibly effective in crime. Ancient, toothless beggars betrayed or abandoned a guild, if you’ve made enemies
still pick pockets, pass rumors, and act as nearly invisible with thieves, or if you’ve acted to have criminals exiled
or arrested.
The City of Eversink
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 301

The Triskadane Traditionally there is one member of the Triskadane

from every faction in the city, but that is highly variable
based on the politics of the moment and the Goddess’
Ranks choices. When the goddess Denari walks the city in a
If you have 1 rank of Allies: Triskadane, you work in disguised mortal form one day a year, she occasionally
a government position or you have friends on one of chooses one or more people to join the Triskadane,
the many government committees that manage the city. a fact that replaced members of the Council tend to
If you have 2 or more ranks of Allies: Triskadane, resent.
you’re either involved in the government yourself Far more commonly encountered than the Triskadane
or you can manipulate people who are. You have an themselves, this category also includes the bureaucracy
information source who can find out varied confidential of city government and the myriad committees that
rumors and facts for you, and you can pull enough keep Eversink running. Any time you run up against
strings to have the bureaucracy work in your favor now a snooty and officious bureaucrat, or a sinister assassin
and then. With enough ranks you might actually be a attempting to eliminate a threat to city infrastructure,
key minister in the bureaucracy or a secret member of you’re butting heads with the Triskadane.
the Triskadane yourself, one of the city’s true rulers Take this faction as an Ally if you have close ties to
who anonymously decide its fate! any branch of government, or if you’re friends with
If you have 1 or more ranks of Enemies: someone who can pull a few strings for you. Take
Triskadane, the government — from the legal system to them as an Enemy if you’ve ever worked against the
the permitting committees to the tax collectors — seems government or tried to thwart a bureaucrat, or if you
to have it out for you. Expect inconvenience and lost have been accused (justly or not) of treason or other
paperwork when interacting with government officials. significant crimes.
Most likely you made an anonymous government
enemy somewhere along the way, and they apparently
delight in complicating your life with bureaucratic red Designer Notes:
tape and inconvenience. Hopefully they don’t dislike Government by Random Selection
you enough to try to arrange your death, but that’s
certainly a possibility. Eversink is a form of oligarchy called a demarchy: a
Use your Triskadane ranks to gain leads about city government by the randomly selected. Although,
history, politics, permits, legal matters, the Black Swans and this is the important thing, no one has
(the secret police), taxation, government committees, proof Denari selects citizens to serve among the
city planning, traditions, and any sort of civil disputes. Triskadane randomly. It simply appears random
In a city where knowledge is power, this is where the to Eversink’s citizens. Throughout Eversink’s

The City of Eversink

real money lies. history, the Triskadane have uncannily been the
right people at the right time and in the right
Description place.
Thirteen women and men control the city of Eversink. What’s tricky about the Triskadane is the
No one knows who they are, as their identities are secrecy and privacy around their membership
traditionally kept secret, and they rule over Eversink — even to each other. The Goddess desires that
with exactly as much or as little of an iron fist as they none of the members recall the identity of any
wish. If you wish to report treason or heresy, you other member, and that generally holds true.
can whisper a secret into one of the many stone swan To effectively rule the city, the Triskadane must
sculptures carved into buildings throughout the city. work through people who can carry out their
No one knows how, but those secrets are heard and rulings, and those people must both be well-
acted upon. People who report secrets are rewarded. known and run well-known government offices.
The Triskadane seem focused on maintaining wealth This makes Eversink’s government entertainingly
and control of Eversink, and most other concerns are bureaucratic and byzantine.
relegated to their many committees.
 302 Swords of the Serpentine

Economics and Trade

Eversink is a city of motion and faith. It seems like for a small change fee. Brokers sit in bars, pool their
everyone is on the take; if there’s a buyer, it’s probably capital and sell shares to build far-away caravans. Buy in
for sale, no matter what it is. for a price! Cheap! It will pay off big this time, really!
Everyone has something going on: a business, a job, The government doesn’t recognize patents or
a side-job, a way to get paid. Someone is firing and intellectual property, so inventors typically guard their
someone else is hiring. The suspicious guy at the end of creator rights with swords, pain, threats, overpaid
the bar has a naggingly illegal job for whomever wants advocates, and freelance arsonists. An invention is only
to make quick coin. Walk up and ask: the job might pay yours as long as you protect it.
out big. Or walk up and hire him for your own job. If
he can’t do it, he’ll know someone who can.
Most don’t worry about the law. For those making a Designer Notes:
living in the Tangle or Sag Harbor, laws are for rich folk; Eversink’s Trade Power
just don’t get caught or piss off someone important.
They’ll betray you to someone nasty right quick: the Eversink is, as designed, a great trade city whose
Watch, the Inquisitors, the Triskadane’s secret police, biggest power is her economic prowess and reach.
a Mercanti’s private army, or a crime boss’ goons. If While she has a mighty naval fleet to allow her
you’re seriously unlucky, the City Watch will find you to project force worldwide, Eversink will never
floating face-down in a canal the next morning. You’d mount grand land armies that march majestically
be a fool to cross the Church, though. It’s particularly over mountains and lay siege to cities. Instead,
unhealthy to anger the people who hold dominion over she’ll give loans to those armies to buy weapons
your immortal soul and your profits. and charge those armies ridiculous interest. Trade
While fraudulent contracts are heresy, the city’s is Eversink’s lifeblood and it’s also her deadliest
economy is a free and open market. The government weapon against her enemies.
doesn’t regulate truth-in-advertising on products sold While most of the stories about Eversink are
in Eversink, and sales are reputation-backed. Yes, a conceived on Eversink’s streets, some stories are
sword is a sword. But that miracle cure for sale in the about Eversink and the world, and they’re born
Grand Marketplace might be either an actual cure or in foreign lands. With her wealth she can build
bone-eating acid. How much do you trust that vendor? up a nation, or tear it down again.
Meanwhile, the rich have knives out for each other’s
The City of Eversink

cash flow. Once a good is in the Grand Marketplace

there’s no stopping it. The rich war with each other
through their advocates and sue each other with
What Is For Sale?
open abandon. They bribe the Committees to pass
Eversink’s wide harbor and the deep, protected bay is
monopolistic, protectionist laws and tariffs to halt each
perfect for shipping. Boats cram into every available
other at the harbor berths. They pay adventurers to
berth. Little single-masted fisherman skiffs float next to
light each other’s shipments on fire. And while that’s
enormous foreign caravels that haul tons of goods from
all going on, the common people gleefully set up tents
exotic locales to Eversink’s markets.
selling cheap knock-offs and bad reproductions to
Eversink’s merchant fleet focuses on lightning speed
Outlander tourists right outside their homes.
and nimble maneuverability over size. Rare and exotic
Money is cheap, easy, and everywhere. The Church
spices, gemstones, and dyes, with their high price tag
aggressively offers secured loans, big and small, where
and small footprint, don’t require enormous vessels to
you offer them servitude if you can’t pay them back.
make profits. And smaller ships slip out of port, past
Merchants with red-draped tables sit in Ironcross’
enemies and pirates, much easier than slow and hulking
squares and offer banking and coin-changing services
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 303

ships of the line. The great Mercanti families and trading Trade guilds work with whoever gives them a contract,
houses have no problems crewing their ships. Eversink’s and they become homicidally irritable when contracts
locals have always traded by water. disappear. To the Ancient Nobility and Mercanti,
Eversink is a bonanza of trade. Everything is here if they’re “paid labor.” The trade guilds supply the
it’s for sale anywhere in the known world. In the Grand manpower to support the city’s economy. Without
Marketplace, here are things an enterprising buyer can them, the Ancient Nobility and Mercanti would
find, on any given day. be forced to hire Mercenary or Outlander labor —
� Staples: Salted seafood, salt pork, wine, beer, exotic expensive and unreliable. With them, the trade guilds
spices, gold, silver, jewelry, uncut gemstones. keep the other two power centers of trade vulnerable.
� Raw Materials: stone, granite, marble, and wood No labor, no goods. No goods, no sale. No sale, no
cut and delivered from the mainland. money. They’re in the position to negotiate and extract
� Fashion: Peacock feathers, furs, silks, printed concessions from their masters.
cotton, pearls, heavy brocades, and perfumes. This is also true for the Guild of Architects and
� War: Leather goods, exquisitely crafted metal Canal-Watchers, which is important and skilled enough
weaponry, personal armor, contracts for siege to be a power unto itself. That’s because this guild
engines, and steel ingots. effectively controls architectural investment and the
� Medicine: Salt, drugs, dyes, and alchemical most efficient routes through the city. Without its
reagents. approval, travel to Eversink’s markets becomes slow and
� Navigation: Paper, maps, navigation supplies and undependable. The trade guilds and the Mercanti both
books printed in a dozen languages. court the Architects, hoping for their favor.
� Craftwork: Clockwork and delicate porcelain The Ancient Nobility want the world to stay
plates. static. They’re willing to put all their political and
� Services: For the body, the mind, and the soul. financial muscle behind making it so. They’ll bribe
harbor officials, finagle tariffs passed, orchestrate
This is a small sampling. If it can get through Harbor Mercanti goods seizures, sue, and harass their younger
Approach (or be smuggled through the swamps competition while greasing the skids for themselves
or down the River Serpentine) and into the Grand and their like. They’re a constant drumbeat of subtle
Marketplace, it’s for sale. Here, gold is the great universal corrupt pressure on the entire city. It’s good for Trade
communicator. Merchants speak any language. They Guilds who rely on the Ancient Nobles never changing,
cross any class boundary if the cash is good, the item is but not good for new and unusual circumstances. The
for sale and the transaction completes with a handshake. Nobles are slowly losing their battle and drifting toward
extinction.
The Mercanti are forces of chaos in an otherwise
The Balance of Trade Guilds,

The City of Eversink

stable system. Some are taking over the dying Ancient
Mercanti and Ancient Nobility Nobility’s old business, but most take huge risks for
possible huge gain. They are investing in new and
Eversink’s trade is carefully balanced on the edge of dangerous ventures, and letting people give them
a knife, a deliberate choice by the Triskadane to play money in exchange for a share of the prize. They’re the
different factions against each other for the greater first to equip their ships with new inventions, ride to
good of the city. Three power centers control most of new lands, and bring back new, unknown goods. Every
the trade into and out of Eversink’s harbor: once in a while, one Mercanti is wildly successful and
� The Ancient Nobility, who desire stability and the kicks off a new craze that bubbles, bursts, and falls over.
status quo It’s difficult for Trade Guilds to build their business
� The Mercanti, who want neither stability nor the solely on Mercanti boom and bust cycles, but they
status quo must as the Ancient Nobility fade. They do anything
� The Trade Guilds (at least the ones who aren’t and everything they can to find leverage — without
Mercanti-owned), whose commoners control raw them, Mercanti discoveries cannot get to the Grand
material production and transportation. Marketplace.
 304 Swords of the Serpentine

This is Eversink’s pumping economic heart, always Eversink’s merchants, especially the ones who trade
driven forward by the Goddess’ inspiration. A fading in large goods like ships, are inured to the randomness
stability, a growing chaos, and scrabbling trade guilds of Eversink’s free market. They keep enormous books
left picking up the pieces. of banker rates and banknotes behind their counters.
During the day, runners dash from the Grand
Marketplace to Ironcross and back with the newest
Banks and Coinage exchange rates. Merchants update their logs. Whenever
a customer makes a purchase with script, merchants haul
As Outlanders from across the known world come to out their books and make a gold-to-script conversion to
buy, trade, and sell in the Grand Marketplace, Eversink work out pricing.
needs a universal monetary language. Merchants cannot The merchants would insist everyone goes back
simply accept any random coinage — who knows what to using ‘Sinkish coinage, except they’d lose out on
it’s worth unless it’s made of gold? And gold is the kickbacks.
thing. Eversink’s cunning bankers of Ironcross have
worked out their answer. Bank script! Of course!
Eversink does have an overly complex system of Foreign Trading Partners
coinage only Denari could love (see p. 126). It
involves convoluted random coin denominations, a The political stance Eversink projects to its trading
religious ceremony, the Church’s mint monopoly and, partners is a blend of political neutrality and ‘Sinkish
sometimes, a fish. (A 3 and a half? A 3 and a half what?) selfishness. In foreign politics with trading partners,
But that system is for the pious and the poor, not for Eversink is out for Eversink and her goddess. Eversink
the up and coming elite businessperson with overseas wants the entire world to sell in her marketplace,
trade agreements. change money with her bankers, and take loans from
Eversink’s bankers exchange gold for their own her Church.
paper script for a small exchange fee. The bankers will These political pressures keep the city out of most
hold onto the gold in their vaults (until they invest it wars. Direct conflict with equal powers makes a dent
in some small company scheme and lose it all). They in trade. Unless the City sees a clear, positive profit-
will then give the investor a piece of paper good for motivated outcome from fighting a war, Eversink
the equivalent gold. The investor then uses that script avoids foreign entanglements. War jeopardizes trade
to buy goods and services throughout Eversink. The relationships, contracts, and balanced treaties. This
merchant later returns to the banker for the equivalent doesn’t keep Eversink from playing her enemies off each
gold, and the entire process is ostensibly protected other. If Eversink’s enemies are busy fighting each other,
against fraud and theft. Eversink owns all the trade routes. Strategic diplomacy
The City of Eversink

This is great for Outlanders wandering around is an essential trade, and there’s a solid living to be had
with a pocket of foreign currency no one accepts. The in encouraging overseas war without being caught and
banker will weigh the foreign currency right there as hanged for it.
the Outlander watches — no highway robbery here! — Eversink has gotten tangled up in wars in her
and hand out script for equivalent gold weight. And past when it served her purposes. If she sees profit in
this system is terrific for merchants who don’t want to colonial expansion or if a trading partner purposefully
cart around wheelbarrows of gold through Eversink’s undermines the flow of money into the city, Eversink
streets. will enter a hot conflict to protect its rights. And as
What it’s really great for are the bankers who always, when the Triskadane declares war it’s because
make a mint on exchange fees. But Eversink lacks a the mercenaries are getting their cut (along with a little
central bank. Instead, Eversink has a dozen bankers in side looting).
Ironcross whose script is worth subtly more or less than
the others depending on the time of day and flow of
business. More than one con artist has been paid by
business rivals to ruin a bank’s reputation at exactly the
right time to destroy an important deal.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 305

are quick to dump an unstable property and colonize

Trade as Invasion someone else’s holdings through carefully applied
finance, especially if they can make a profit during the
The Mercanti of Eversink have their fingers in transition.
everything: trade, diplomacy, duplicity, intelligence,
and banking. The Mercanti dream of colonizing and
controlling foreign markets with a light financier’s Trade as Intelligence
touch. They find an outlander ruler in financial trouble
or two small cities at war. They arrive on foreign shores, Trade doesn’t merely carry goods along its routes.
evaluate the current war in progress, and offer the local It carries a wealth of geographical, economic, and
ruler a little cash. Mercenaries are expensive. Sieges demographic information about foreign targets. A
more so. smart trader knows they cannot sell cheese into foreign
The Mercanti offer the Outlander ruler a Church of markets during religiously mandated dairy-free months,
Denari-backed loan with completely reasonable rates but they can sell olive oil as a butter substitute at a
(the Church of Denari is good for it). In exchange, they substantial markup.
ask the Outlander government to put up something This kind of intelligence informs more than market
useful, like grain stores, high-quality dyes, or gold conditions, although foreign market conditions are
mines, as collateral. The Mercanti throw in their own Eversink’s top interest. Trade carries information about
mercenaries to help win the local war completely free. who is at war with whom, who is experiencing famine,
The local ruler, bankrupt from war, takes the or drought, or foreign invasions simply through the
deal. They have no choice lest they lose their seat. amount of goods to market and migration levels. If
The Outlander ruler hires mercenaries with Mercanti a country supplying substantial silver to the market
money. Mercenaries fight. suddenly stops, then either the mines dried up or the
The Mercanti wait the conflict out in comfort. country collapsed. This presents an opportunity to
After the fighting, the Mercanti call in the debt. either invade the silver-supplying country, invade the
When the Outlander government defaults on the loan country’s friends, or hire mercenaries, invade a neighbor
(and the Outlander ruler always defaults), the Mercanti with a silver mine, steal the raw ore, and get the silver
make understanding noises. Surely, the Outlander to market before someone else equally ruthless fills the
ruler simply needs more cash. This time, the Mercanti void.
demand a meatier service as collateral. They’re taking Mercanti and Ancient Nobility spend a lot of
over local tax collection. Local security? Now manned money installing spies in the Grand Marketplace and
with the Mercanti’s private mercenaries. foreign markets to bring them market reports (the
The end comes fast. The Mercanti use mercenaries Scurrilous Rumors ability becomes a must-have in such

The City of Eversink

to oust the broke local government under the aegis of informants). Oracles with Prophecy, usually hired from
debt collection and collateral seizure. The Mercanti the Church, help point them to the right places. The
crown themselves the new rulers and declare Denari spies gather this exact information so rich merchants get
the new state goddess to be venerated by all during notice of where and when a market floods or shrinks.
business transactions. All outstanding conflicts end Then the merchants can place big financial bets with
swiftly. Church Actuaries arrive and cajole the locals some expectations they’ll pay off.
into building a satellite Church to guarantee Denari’s This methodology expands to the Eversink
Blessing. The Church serves as a new banking center for Government Committees who also spend on spies
‘Sinkish merchants. Goods flow to Eversink’s Harbor for the exact same reports to inform the Triskadane
Approach warehouses for processing and sale in the on foreign political conditions based on market
Grand Marketplace. conditions. The jockeying between political spies and
Eversink’s borders quietly expand without Eversink market spies creates a lively environment for double-
formally expanding. dealing, backstabbing, and falsified reports. More than
Some outlander realms throw off the financial yoke once, Eversink has sent an exploratory fleet away from
after a while. Uprisings happen. If the place is unsafe, the a lucrative market while merchants raid it based on
Mercanti leave for the next opportunity. The Mercanti carefully placed “bad” reporting.
 306 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Advice: Do I Need to Use This?

You may be reading this economics and trade section and be thinking, “Oh my gosh. Am I out of my
depth? I thought this was a game about barbarians raiding decadent nobles and thieves hiding in sunken
ruins, stabbing people in the back to steal their purse!” And it can be! Sword & sorcery novels have some
astonishing cities in them to act as the focus of adventure. You can use Eversink as an anonymous background
for your northern barbarian to stalk through; you can embroil Heroes in local politics; or you can have
Heroes literally change the way the world works by manipulating wars, markets, and governments. Take what
you love, ignore the rest.

Internal and External

Threats to Eversink
Sometimes you’ll want to challenge both your Heroes and the Mercanti vie with each other for power and
and the city itself. A few suggestions, far from a prestige, with the mercenaries pulled into the struggle
comprehensive list, follow. as paid muscle and the commoners used as pawns.

The Chuggut Corruption

A hostile and reclusive swamp people known as As noted on p. 119, powerful sorcery can leave
the Chuggut live out in the vast fens that surround Corruption that lasts for centuries unless the Church is
Eversink. They have a swamp cast to them, and people brave enough — or foolhardy enough — to try to seal
often describe them as appearing (and acting) as it. Not only does such Corruption injure the Goddess
toadlike as the swamp god they supposedly worship. and lower profit from transactions, it attracts spirits and
Their sorcery affects swampwater, darkness, plants, and opens portals between the physical world and the spirit
insects. It’s unclear how primitive they actually are, and realm. Foreign sorcerers try to kill Denari by creating
The City of Eversink

their deadliness and sophistication may vary between Corruption in key locations, and the Church pays
tribes. handsomely for Heroes who are willing to seal such rifts
The Chuggut are usually hostile to outsiders — before they grow out of control.
not surprising considering how many times Eversink
has tried (and badly failed) to wipe them out over the
centuries. While they’ve never directly attacked the city, Disease and Plague
they are known to help smugglers, imprison captives,
and work actively against Eversink’s wealth, safety and If you want to panic an entire district, show signs of
success. Few ‘Sinkish residents trust them. a communicable disease. The Triskadane takes plague
seriously and would rather seal off an entire district,
possibly burning whole neighborhoods, than let the
Class Warfare plague spread. The Guild of Architects and Canal-
Watchers seals entrances and exits, bricking them
Class warfare (whether subtle sabotage or all-out civil up if necessary, and the City Watch has strict orders
war) threatens to break out constantly, particularly in to shoot to kill anyone trying to escape from a sealed
bad weather or in times of scarcity. The Ancient Nobility neighborhood.
Chapter Nine: The City of Eversink 307

Fire Refugees and Immigration

Over the centuries, out-of-control fires have remained When war or harsh environmental conditions threaten
one of the most effective tools for wholesale urban nearby populations, Eversink gladly welcomes new
renewal. If there’s a part of Eversink you don’t know citizens, usually for a fee. The Church trusts that Denari
what to do with right now, burn it down during Herself will raise more islands from the riverbed if more
an adventure and have your Heroes deal with the space is required. As a result, extreme immigration
aftermath. Fires also kill hundreds or thousands of seldom causes more than a momentary disruption
people and destroy Districts without any proper respect in housing; the city isn’t going to turn away new
for avoiding the houses of the rich. When the bells of worshippers and taxpayers.
Denari call out the alarm for fire, it’s all hands on deck This becomes more of an issue when new immigrants
to stop it before it grows out of control. bring challenging new religious or cultural views that
locals won’t accept. The Church preaches inclusion
and acceptance, however, and if there isn’t crime and
Flooding and Weather aggression involved, only those who have something to
lose from the new arrivals end up bitter and afraid.
As a low-lying coastal city, Eversink is highly vulnerable
to storms and high tides. Abnormally cold weather can
freeze the waterways, and drought can drive animals out Religious Crusades
of the swamps and dramatically lower the water supply.
Denari’s Blessing results in gentle weather for most of There are religions in the world who decry Denari
the year, but any number of exceptions (conveniently, as cold, unloving, and profit-focused. Such infidels
most solvable by adventurers) exist that could put the have sworn to overthrow the goddess and liberate
city at risk. her people. As you can imagine, the Church Militant
Floods, storms, and particularly high tides persecutes and exiles missionaries from these religions
sometimes entice monsters up out of the ocean. When without a trial, and takes strong steps to prevent them
that happens, people who don’t stay inside and lock from ever establishing a following amongst Eversink’s
their doors tend to disappear. commoners.

Non-human Threats Small Gods

The City of Eversink

The Inquisitors of Denari strive to destroy demons, Whether nature spirits or forgotten demons, unlicensed
all while keeping the risk of ghostly possession under small gods constantly attempt to establish a foothold in
control in a way that won’t drive down profits. Any the city in the hopes of gathering their own believers.
monstrosities who dwell in the undercity may be Accumulating enough power may well turn them into a
hatching secret plans, something that’s difficult to credible threat. Even more dangerously, already strong
combat when the Triskadane won’t even officially small gods sometimes enter Denari’s domain for reasons
acknowledge the existence of non-humans. of their own.
 308 Swords of the Serpentine

Smugglers and Counterfeiters Trade Wars and

Speculative Bubbles
In a city where every business exchange is a prayer,
anything that devalues the economy or the money Prices for a particular commodity occasionally rise
supply (such as smuggled goods and counterfeit coins) absurdly high — whether there’s a shortage due to
is literally heresy. The Triskadane have no hesitation disease, such as a hog parasite several generations ago
in responding to such miscreants with exile or death. that raised pork prices; a shortage due to a trade war
Priests in the country of Caym believe that Denari’s with a former trading partner, such as when forest-
stranglehold on trade can be weakened with enough folk upriver stopped sending down timber; or investor
counterfeit coins, so Eversink’s moneylenders are alert speculation, such as when certain rare spices saw their
for their sabotage. prices skyrocketing thousands of times higher than
normal before collapsing. Such occurrences can leave
great merchants destitute and shuffle the balance of
Sorcery power, tremendously disrupting the city’s merchants
for a year or two.
Corruption literally burns away Denari’s essence. There
are few crimes in the city more serious than creating
Corruption. Deliberate attempts to injure the Goddess Treason
are few and far between, but would be disastrous if not
caught in time. It’s rare for Eversink’s residents to try to betray the city
of the Goddess Herself, but it does happen: some fool
opens the way for foreign gods, foreign navies, or even
Supply Chains more underhanded schemes intended to disrupt and
ruin what makes Eversink unique. When this occurs,
Eversink’s survival depends on fresh water flowing criminals are punished without mercy or pity, and the
down the Serpentine, and on food and supplies arriving city comes together against outsiders in a way that’s
daily. If ports are shut down for more than a few days never seen at any other time.
due to bad weather, war, plague, or another reason, the
poor begin to run the risk of starvation. There are a
great many bureaucrats and church prophets whose job War
is to make sure this never happens; if they see even a
hint of it, specialized troubleshooters are dispatched to Eversink pays a great amount of money to make sure that
The City

solve the problem before it ever actually occurs. The it never goes to war directly. It will purchase the loyalty
Goddess never benefits from plague and starvation. of mercenaries, use negotiation and trade to make sure
The of

allies get highly preferential prices (and enemies get

ruinous price increases or supply shortages), and use
City

propaganda to skew public opinion against any country

Eversink

that opposes it. Small invasion forces periodically attack

of Eversink

Eversink regardless, and the city must adapt or be

overrun.
Chapter Ten: The World 309

Chapter Ten

The W orld

Heroes need vast overland (or seaborne) treks to distant

wilderness ruins and mysterious foreign cities; it’s Designer Notes:
practically a tradition. This chapter gives you a glimpse Describing the World
of the world outside of Eversink.
You can and should change aspects of this world These descriptions of foreign powers aren’t
map as your Heroes explore the world. National extraordinarily subtle, detailed, or differentiated.
borders shift, new countries spring up overnight, old That’s deliberate. We’re leaning towards classic
countries are conquered, and cartographers have a nasty tropes and painting with broad strokes here,
habit of missing whole continents, countries, cultures, because we want to give you easy hooks to latch
and island chains that you might want your Heroes to on to when you think about the world beyond
explore. Eversink. You can safely assume that every
location in the world is potentially as interesting
and full of adventure as Eversink itself, so if you
set your own campaign there you’ll know just
where to start.
 310 Swords of the Serpentine

Map of the World

Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle
The World
Chapter Ten: The World 311

The World
 312 Swords of the Serpentine

The Great Kingdom of Capria

A classic, diverse fantasy nation on the brink of change In the north, Capria’s might stretches almost to the
Capria is an old kingdom of high and low nobles, Serpentine itself.
factions, land armies, heraldry, and knighthoods. Its The Kingdom is a patchwork of duchies, trade cities,
rolling hills, old-growth forests and vast farmlands host and powerful consortiums. It delegates the King’s rule
many different cities, municipalities, and peoples all tied directly through his Dukes and Barons. The hereditary
together under the King’s banner. Walking along the nobility wields temporal control over wide swaths of
leafy roads, travelers might come upon a quaint village, peasant-inhabited land. Meanwhile, city mayors and
a trade town, an armored knight, or a peddler on her powerful trade guilds have power over their populous
way to the nearby fair. trade-minded cities. Mayors and Dukes are often in
contention in Court, where they argue over lines of
control and jurisdiction.
Government While King Ceolwulf is mighty and has reigned long
and peacefully, the great King grows old. Spies report
Capria is a monarchy. From his seat in Torith, the King is becoming feeble and forgetful. Political
Capria’s sprawling capital city, King Ceolwulf XIV’s enemies are plotting and scheming. When the King
uncompromising iron rule forces competing factions in dies, Torith will elect a new King from among the peers
the Kingdom to bend to his will and keep the enduring and high nobility instead of hereditary succession. The
peace. The King’s reach stretches from the Moonlit Sea peers are already sharpening their knives for the coming
in the west to the Dancing Run River in the eastern lands election.
commanded by the distant trade center, Hohenach.
The World
Chapter Ten: The World 313

People and Society Torith

No one kind of “people” defines Caprians. The realm Torith is Capria’s elegant and sprawling capital, and the
is so large, and the people here are diverse. They seat of the King at Whitehaven Palace. This great city
worship thousands of small gods and genius loci that occupies Capria’s westernmost reach on the coast of the
have tremendous power in one location and almost Moonlit Sea. Boasting an extensive trade fleet, Torith is
no power beyond it. The most popular local gods an active rival to Eversink’s trade might.
improve weather, farming, and fertility. Class better The city wins international acclaim for her sprawling
distinguishes Caprians from one another. Most of the university and library complex. The University of Torith,
population are land-holding free peasant farmers who known for its research capabilities, draws researchers
never stray far from home. Capria’s powerful but thinly and the intellectually curious from all over the world.
populated noble class are rich in land, gold, and military Torith’s librarians claim to have tomes stretching back
might. The people believe rigidly in class hierarchy and to the time of the Serpentine Empire. They pay well for
don’t dare cross boundaries. rare books.
However, a new class is rising in Capria. The realm is Power is in the grip of Torith’s mayor and its
urbanizing. The trade cities grow in population, wealth autocratic city council. The city chafes at Kingdom
and power. Her urban citizens are cosmopolitan and rule. The King’s spies are concerned the city may one
politically inclined. The cityfolk are fond of free thinking day revolt and demand its independence from Capria.
and education, with a keen sense of scientific discovery Recent disappearances from the University faculty staff
and their own destiny. Money and sophistication are are chalked up to accidents and not sudden death at the
the signs of a Caprian trader working their way through hands of the King’s agents.
the ports and marketplaces of the world to sell their
eclectic wares.
Hohenach
Friends and Enemies Hohenach, on the world’s edge, is a rough, dusty, dirty
trade city on the far eastern border of the Kingdom
Torith is Eversink’s trade rival on the Moonlit Sea. They where the green grass and rolling hills turn into salty
are at each other’s throats economically and politically, desert at the foot of the Salt Mountains. Situated on a
and see each other as an existential threat. Whenever fork of the Dancing River, the city is a hub of trade with
something suspicious happens on the international the Theocracy of Erebos and various mountain trade
stage, both are quick to blame the other (even when caravans. Hohenach is also a hub of active alchemists
Min is likely at fault). who fuse the thinking of East and West to create
The Theocracy of Erebos and Capria outwardly have something not quite sorcery and not quite science.
a friendly trade relationship. However, the Caprians Beyond Hohenach, they say there’s nothing but
resent Erebos trying to convert people to their Fire the empty Salt Mountains full of marauders and half-
religion on Capria’s border, as they’re steadily swinging civilized highwaymen until one reaches Omuzaphur.
towns under the Theocrat’s control. Should Hohenach Those who brave those empty wastes come back richer
convert en masse, that friendly trade relationship will but fundamentally changed people — and carrying
The World

turn into hostilities and war. rare reagents for alchemists willing to pay chests of
The Caprians want to retake the Destroyed Plateaus coin. There’s fear that the Fire God’s missionaries
on their northern border. They send a stream of heavily fill Hohenach’s streets and soon the city will declare
armored platoons into the wastes to recover destroyed independence from Capria or, worse, declare for the
cities. Only a few ever return. Theocracy.
 314 Swords of the Serpentine

Republic of Caym
Cold, hard lands of terrifying warriors, with a surprising cooled before drinking. The three resources Caym has in
amount of steampunk technology abundance are coal, iron and caribou. Cold desperation
The Republic of Caym inhabits the cold and hard lands has led to the use of steam for heat and even primitive
in the north. Caym’s original founders were various pneumatics, but only in Cachain. Northern towns
criminal elements exiled from the Serpentine Empire cleave to the old ways.
to freeze, starve and die in snow and ice. Instead of
dying, the people of the northern reaches built a fiercely GM Advice:
independent state. The Caym are never good at doing
what they’re supposed to do but quite good at doing
Steampunk Swords of the Serpentine
what they want to do.
The default technology level in Swords of the
While modern Cachain in the south has a cold
Serpentine doesn’t assume machinery much
elegance, the true north is still wild. Neat, tidy and
more complex than siege engines and clockwork.
empty paved roads connect coastal fishing villages like
If you want to use these rules in a steampunk
a string of lights. The Caym interior is empty except
setting, however, you could easily set your game
for the hunters, the reindeer herders, and the monsters
in a world where the Alchemists and sorcerers
(such as giants) they’re trying to avoid. The northern
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle

of Caym have harnessed steam to make truly

mountains are loaded with active volcanos which are
marvelous devices. Add “Tinkering” to General
very pleasant when they produce mountain hot springs,
abilities and treat remarkable mechanical devices
and deadly when they erupt.
as Sorcerous Spheres, describing them on the fly
Steam is everywhere in Caym, where water often
as you exercise your power, and have fun with it.
comes out of the ground boiling hot and has to be
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Chapter Ten: The World 315

Government Friends and Enemies

The Republic of Caym is a true parliamentary republic. Caym and Eversink would be at each other’s throats if
No king or emperor shall ever rule over them. They feel the Serpent’s Neck didn’t separate them. But it does,
everyone’s views should be represented and monarchies so instead they focus on mastering their own domains.
are ludicrous. The Caym have a strong anti-authoritarian The Caym and the Vontavni war over control of the
streak and spend more time taking power away from Serpent’s Neck isthmus. They both believe whoever
their government than granting it. owns that piece of land controls the world, both in a
The Caym Parliament is led by a Speaker, effectively mythic and tactical sense.
a Prime Minister. They hold elections for parliamentary The Caym toy with the idea of developing
seats every four years or whenever they lose confidence enough alchemical and steam technology to reclaim
in their Speaker, whichever comes first (the latter can the Destroyed Plateau. They haven’t had any major
be quite often). The Caym have a party system, with breakthroughs but they believe with grit, technology
parties encompassing the range of Caym political views. and steam, they can make inroads to claiming the
former Serpentine Empire. It’s not that they want it;
they just don’t want anyone else to have it.
People and Society
The Caym have acquired a reputation as fierce, nigh- Cachain
insane, warriors. They also have a reputation as hard-
nosed traders and cunning accountants. They’re a Cachain is the ancient capital and home city of the
precise, methodical people who never allow a penny Caym. Surprisingly elegant, this city has come a long
to escape their double-entry bookkeeping pens, while way since its time as a dirty prison colony. Now it is
always having a very sharp knife handy. Precision and a city of prim little row houses and brick-paved roads
planning keep them alive. on the mouth of the Serpent Sea. Steam is everywhere
The Republic has never truly shaken its reputation as in Cachain. From heating kitchens to running steam-
a penal colony, although no one has shipped criminals belching mechanized passenger transports down the
to Caym in thousands of years. They are proud of this center of its main street, the coal-fired furnaces and
reputation and often boast of their far-off criminal underground steam vents are unavoidable.
ancestors who murdered this or that famous person Despite its small footprint, Cachain is an important
in history. Even the thinnest bespectacled Caym trade and banking hub and growing bigger by the day.
accountant keeps the family axe hanging, polished and Cachain’s banks have led the way in novel monetary
sharp, over the mantelpiece. innovations and new ways to gamble on trade. Some
fear that Cachain will soon rival Eversink’s sheer might
for trade. Luckily, the city also has the reputation of
being run by criminals, whether that’s still true or not.
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 316 Swords of the Serpentine
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle

The Vontavni Horse Lords

and the Great Flatlands
When you need endless plains and notoriously independent Government
mounted troops, come to the Great Flatlands
The Great Flatlands is a grand vista prairie of the west The Great Khathor is the center of the universe. They
that runs for a thousand miles in all directions before are the Center of All. All roads in the world lead to their
reaching a city or an ocean. One can ride for weeks tent. All will bend the knee to their might.
without seeing another person. It’s a land of huge skies, The first Khathor rose from the cattle herders and
oceans of high grass, and very suspicious horselords the sheep herders. From a single horse and a single
who detest or scorn nearly everything about Eversink. bow, she brought together the clans. From the clans,
The Vontavni Horse Lords are a wandering, she forged a people. The people are called Vontavni.
The World

warring, herding and trading society that lives out of All who live within the clans, regardless of where they
large round tents. They don’t believe in material wealth. came from at birth, are Vontavni. They care not from
Their armed horsemen are terrifying. They use flocking where one came, but where one is going. As such the
tactics and they’ve been known to overrun a city in a Vontavni have a poor memory of history, an unusual
matter of hours. sense of time, and their prophets are particularly skilled
in seeing the future.
Chapter Ten: The World 317

The Great Khathor delivers their words to the Okat, Men and women are more equal here than in other
the clan-leaders, and the Okat deliver the words to the societies, even enlightened societies like Eversink and
Clans. The Clans deliver the words to the people. The Caym. Constant travel, hunting, herding and war leaves
people then live as one, the Vontavni. no breathing room for one to be greater or lesser than
When the Great Khathor passes into moonlight, the other. The Great Khathor is traditionally a woman,
the Okat fight with bow, knife and fist at the center but men have also achieved that honor, and no one
of the Tent City of Surharnil. All are invited to come thinks twice because the selection process ensures that
and watch — it’s a great spectacle! Whoever survives their leader is not weak.
is the one the gods blessed. They become the new Families live together in small tent cities where
Great Khathor, and the newly appointed Okat swear the hunting is good. When the herds move with the
allegiance to them. seasons, the Vontavni pull up stakes and follow the
herds across the steppes. Few Vontavni are interested in
settling down and pursuing agriculture. They’d prefer
People and Society to trade or take from neighbors if they have a need.
Immediate family, the Clan, is the most important
They say the Vontavni are born astride horses and are organizing influence. Clans fight each other for hunting
deadly shots with a bow. These long, tall, fierce people grounds, and grudges are carried for centuries. When
live their lives on the move taking only what their horses it’s time for war, clans put their historical feuds and
can carry in a complex net of saddlebags and containers. animosity aside. One clan at war is terrifying; a thousand
They’re known for their harmony with the land and clans together is an unstoppable war machine.
their ability to create a home wherever they are on the
steppes.

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 318 Swords of the Serpentine

and unsettling architecture. People travel thousands of

Friends and Enemies miles to learn the ways of sorcery and magic in Yrans’
academies. They accept few and turn away everyone else
The Vontavni’s biggest enemy is the Caym. They’ve at the gate. A small city surrounds the academies and
been in perpetual war with the former outlaws over caters to sorcerous needs.
dominion of the Serpent’s Neck for an age. They are Known mainly as a hub of black magic and oily
blood enemies. Even meeting in bars in far-off cities, alchemy, the people of Yrans also supply well-trained
the Vontavni and the Caym are immediately at each horses to the Vontavni and craft the world’s finest
other’s throats. leatherwork.
They’re also keen to destroy the Min who lurk on
their easternmost shore. The Witch-Queens of Min are
a blight who will bring another Age of Darkness to the The Tent City of Surharnil
world. As long as the Witch-Queens live, the Vontavni
will never stop trying to end the pirates. All roads end at the Great Tent City of Surharnil, home
For all else, all roads lead to Surharnil, no matter of the Great Khathor. All are welcome to come, to
where it stands. The Vontavni guarantee the safety of all worship, and to give supplication to the Center of All.
traders who come to their glorious tent city. Surrounded by thousands of tents, the Great
Khathor holds court in the cavernous central pavillon.
Surharnil has no fixed location; the entire city of a
Yrans hundred thousand (or more) horse warriors picks up and
relocates to somewhere new on the Great Flatlands with
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle

A council of three ancient kings, immortal and undying, the seasons to follow the hunt. When it re-establishes
rules the haunted Sorcerer City of Yrans. They trace itself, Surharnil transforms into a giant, multi-year long
their rule to before recorded time, and do not consider open-air marketplace and fair. The Vontavni Horse
themselves part of the Vontavni. Yrans remembers the Lords cart back goods from their conquests across the
Serpentine Empire well but speaks nothing about it world and deposit them for sale next to roasted goat
except that which was once lost can be found again. and yak-hair coats. Mercanti agents from Eversink make
Situated on a long, thin mountainous outcropping their way to Surharnil to acquire unearthed gems found
over the Moonlit Sea, Yrans is a city of great sorcery and discarded in heaps.

Pirates of Min
We’d call these backbiting, suspicious, lawless pirates theft when they find nations who are resistant to the
rabble if they didn’t effectively control the seas idea of open trading with bloodthirsty pirates.
The Min are pirates, mobsters, smugglers and fishers
living in a loose confederation of pirate settlements,
Government
The World

fishing villages, and flotillas thrown up along the rocky

coastlines and islands of the Moonlit Sea. Treacherous
crags and shallow mountains protect the Min from Min is an autocratic government of tyrants. Whoever
Vontavni Horse Lord raids, otherwise they’d have been wins the most sea battles, kills the most people, stockpiles
wiped away centuries ago. Their home city — and only the most gold and forces the most cities under their
city — is Min, a vast flotilla of sunken and still floating flag gets to set the rules, and the rules are inevitably
naval craft bobbing in a protected cove. “you follow the rules of the current autocratic tyrant.”
The Pirates of Min are surprisingly pro-trade when Currently, the winner of the Most Ruthless Pirate in
they find nations to trade with them. They’re also pro- Min is the ancient Witch-Queen and her coterie of
Chapter Ten: The World 319

storm sorceresses on board the ship Rose Lust. The but quiet peasant fisherman in a coastal village. People
Witch-Queen claims to originally hail from Mieng in try hard for the quiet life because living as a pirate is
Senggon and wield the kind of terrible sorcery not seen a notoriously brutish and short existence. But Pirate
on the Moonlit Sea since the Serpentine Empire. It’s Lords need crew, and quiet peasants know how to sail,
not clear if that’s true, but the Pirates do fear her and so it’s not uncommon for pirates to go raiding their
the sea seems to obey her. Don’t call her “ancient” if own coasts — along with everyone else’s coasts — for
you’re unfortunate enough to meet her; she maintains crew to press into service.
the illusion of glorious youth by draining vitality from For those who achieve status among the pirates, life
those who displease her. It’s rare that she looks older is good. Unlike Capria’s strict hierarchy or Eversink’s
than twenty. Ancient Nobles, anyone can become a pirate king if
Under the Witch-Queen’s withering gaze, exiled they’re ruthless and murderous enough. Until they
kings, infighting petty lords, pirate captains, rogue draw the Witch-Queen’s gaze, that is, and then it’s all
sorcerers fleeing ‘Sinkish justice, and anyone with a over.
criminal gang gobbles up power at a local level. They
tussle among themselves for fishing village and pirate
fleet control. They plot and scheme while trying not to Friends and Enemies
draw the Witch-Queen’s gaze, since she runs a network
of sorcery, spies, murder and fear. Those who grow too The Min pirates have no international friends. They’ve
powerful often disappear, and someone more palatable been a thorn in Eversink’s side for hundreds of years, if
to the current regime replaces them. not longer. The Caprian city of Torith sends a stream
of patrols to hunt Min pirates and sink their ships. The
Min once shot down a Caym airship over the Serpent’s
People and Society Neck and have yet to hear the end of that incident.
The World

They’re constantly under threat of a Vontavni raid from

Min is a huge melting pot and a society of immigrants. the west. Their closest, weakest ideological allies are
It’s the kind of place people fleeing the law and exiles those who flee from the Border Lands, but even then
on the lam end up. People from every nation, religion, the Destroyed Plateau separates them.
and disposition live among the Min. No one asks too But the Min are useful. They make terrific
many questions. Asking questions isn’t healthy. mercenaries in international proxy wars. They’re superb
Min is a rough place. You’re either climbing the foils when covering up big international crimes (the
social pyramid on a pirate ship or living as an exploited Min are always at fault!). Everyone wants to defeat
 320 Swords of the Serpentine

them... but not to the point of actually defeating them, Min is thousands of anchored and sunken ships
because that would take away their usefulness. The Min lashed together with chain and rope, almost a mile
continue to survive in a world of much stronger, more wide. It’s a chaotic maze of decks, broken ship interiors,
aggressive enemies. dinghies, rafts, hidden treasure rooms, forgotten secrets
and nighttime floating markets. The locals build homes
from driftwood, broken ship slats, abandoned sails and
Min whale bone. Enormous docks shoot out into the bay at
crazy angles. At night, whale oil lamps burn bright and
The “city” of Min wasn’t so much founded as it accreted float in the darkness like fireflies.
over time, like barnacles on a ship’s hull. A trick of The city is currently in the hands of Pirate King
rocky coastal geography and a run of notorious storms Calhoun “Shifty” Xander and the bloodthirsty mobster
rammed pirate ship after ship against the deceptively crew of the Cruel Howl. He walks a careful edge
hidden shoals in an otherwise protected cove. The cove between a merciless grip on Min and not irritating the
gained notoriety as a dangerous place to sail and a good Witch-Queen and her sorceresses. Meanwhile, Shifty
place to hide from pursuers, especially from Eversink Xander is scheming both to destroy the Witch-Queen
and Torith. After a while, pirates started deliberately of Min and to date her. He’s not sure which he would
anchoring their prizes in the cove over the shallows. prefer.
Eventually, Min was born.

Theocracy of Erebos
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle

A distant land of astonishing learning and culture, so Erebos is also a land of contradictions. To the west
long as you’re willing to worship their god are the dusty and deadly Salt Mountains of Lut which
Erebos is a far-off desert country on the far eastern side cough up endless metals and gems from the mines.
of the Salt Mountains of Lut, where they speak liquid Meanwhile, the southeastern coast is a vast rainforest
tongues rarely heard in Eversink. Erebos is a land of full of exotic animals, mythical beasts, rare reagents,
plenty known for its gold, grapes, gems, red wine, and and small gods desperately trying to find followers to
unusual weapons. Here, the nameless God of Fire and believe in them.
Flame holds absolute power.
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Chapter Ten: The World 321

trusts that they will be granted greater leniency than less

Government important missionaries would.
The Great Malik has also riled up the Caprians and
Erebos is an absolute theocracy and worships the God the Grand Prince of Irilev, who have their own gods and
of Fire and Flame, whose only true name sounds like don’t need another. While the Caprians do active trade
the crackling of burning flesh. The Great Malik sits at with the Theocracy of Erebos through Hohenach, they’re
the head of a religious hierarchy that stretches through a concerned their city will “flip” its worship and allegiance
complex weave of priests, missionaries, scholars, judges, to Erebos. If that happens, the Caprians will declare war.
sorcerers, and religious police. Everyone follows the
dictate of the Great Malik absolutely, attends religious
service, and never speaks out against their Priest-King Omuzaphur
or their God. The Great Malik fashions himself as a
father of all the people. He hopes to be the father to all Omuzaphur is a great, ancient walled city sitting on
the people of the world. His many children travel the the crossroads at the foot of the deadly Salt Mountains
continent in disguise, spying for their father and acting of Lut. The dusty roads head in all cardinal directions:
as diplomats and missionaries. Each of his children north to Irilev, west to Caym, south to Capria and east
makes it a point of pride to visit Eversink at least once. to the Theocracy of Erebos.
All sorts of people wander through Omuzaphur to
buy and sell at its enormous central marketplace. The
People and Society market nearly rivals Eversink’s for its sheer variety of
goods for sale, from exotics to furs, spices, cloth, and
While religious, the people of Erebos are nowhere near rare weapons. As a crossroads city, it buys and sells the
as rigid as their government. While everyone worships best and worst the world has to offer. If it’s for sale, it’s
the God of Fire and Flame, they also keep little shrines findable in Omuzaphur’s booths for a price.
to the Gods of Jaguars, Elephants, Crocodiles, and Omuzaphur is as corrupt as they come. Everyone is
other smaller gods. They are a spiritual people who on the take, from the tax collector assessing tariffs at the
remember their old gods before the zealots came. They city gate to the religious police to the local politicians
are mentally flexible in private where their government to the local bartender. If you come to the crossroads of
demands absolute obedience in public. the world to trade in exotics, you’d better be prepared
The people are warm and welcoming. They love to to pay a little extra on the side.
sell their wares to strangers and they enjoy the thrill of
striking the difficult bargain. They also aren’t big on
paying taxes and know every way to cheat the local tax Dezhakos
collectors — information they’re happy to pass on for
a small bribe. Dezhakos is a port city in the heart of a rainforest,
Some people of Erebos serve in the long-range travel the home of the Great Malik, and a massive religious
caravans that wander the long roads from Dezhakos to complex. The city smells of lily and honeysuckle.
Hohenach. Others wander the dangerous rainforests The Bet Hurasu, an enormous ziggurat dripping
in search of that one rare reagent or gem, or know with hanging gardens and vines, stands at the city
the secrets of the Salt Mountains of Lut. Others still center. Leading up to the Bet Hurasu are wide
become sorcerers in the government’s service. boulevards festooned with statuary and greenery.
Smaller, lesser temples and religious buildings surround
The World

the Bet Hurasu like they’re supplicants coming to

Friends and Enemies pray. Religious functionaries rush to and fro, randomly
scolding bystanders before rushing off to their next
Erebos is quietly, aggressively expansionist while obligation.
espousing peace through open trade. The Great Malik The people are as remarkable as the locale. They
wants all the people of the world to worship his god wear brightly dyed silks, woven grasses, animal skins,
and come under his banner. Eversink has expelled more and loops upon loops of gold. They trade in the world’s
than a few Erebosian missionaries from their city for most exotic goods — bananas and other fruit, black
proselytizing and sorcery. By sending his own children pepper, cinnamon, cloves, handfuls of rare glittering
into the world as spies and diplomats, the Great Malik gemstones, and furs — from their stalls along the roads.
 322 Swords of the Serpentine

The Kingdom of Irilev

A frigid land of terrifying legends and folk tales, most of The Irilev rule their kingdom more through the
which are probably true expansion of thinly populated land than through iron-
Irilev is where it’s cold, icy, dark, and strange. The fisted military rule. It is a loose confederation of small
Grand Prince of Irilev rules over vast, far-eastern, near- principalities loyal to the Grand Prince. The Grand
mythical lands known for witches riding flying bowls, Prince’s strength waxes and wanes. Sometimes he’s a
dark old gods, gigantic wolves, and anxious soul- prince among princes and the dukes run their own Rech
hungry undead. Sorcerers practice in the open. The (seat) autonomously. When all is threatened, he acts as
people believe Irilev is big, empty, and trying to eat a king.
you. They’re probably not wrong. The people are not serfs or slaves — they are free to
Irilev has long, hard winters and painfully short move around and settle at will. Normally, the Irilevian
summers. Vast, empty tracts of land separate the cities people stay where they’re born since it’s safer, but
(called Rechs). Most people live in small, close-knit occasionally some will break off to form a new village
villages on the edges of civilization, and stay away from out on the periphery.
the trees. Irilev is far from Eversink, but huge, fur-
wearing, big-laughing traders show up to sell rare furs, People and Society
metals, gems, and alchemical reagents in Eversink’s
Grand Marketplace. The locals don’t trust them. The Irilevian people are big, easy-going and friendly
once they consider you trustworthy. They are mostly
Government farmers and traders, with some professionals like local
witches and small-time alchemists. Most live in small,
Prince Stepan I Zhurov (Zhurov Stepan Artemesovich) close-knit villages outside the Rechs. Because of the
is the current Grand Prince of the Irilev. He’s young and terrors outside in the forests, they have ready hospitality
recently ascended to the princedom after his mother, for visitors on tap — eat, eat, eat! Food, drink, warm
Grand Princess Teresa II, came to a sudden and violent beds — they open their doors and homes to strangers.
end at the hands of dark things in the forest. It’s part of their culture, their religion, and their internal
philosophy.
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Chapter Ten: The World 323

But the Irilevian people are extremely superstitious.

Anything can bring evil spirits and dark gods out from Luz Rech
the forests or from under the floorboards. They festoon
their clothing with amulets and cards to ward away Luz Rech is Irilev’s cold capital city on the River Ilys
the evil eye. They cover their homes in statues, prayer Illan. Known for its furs, metals, and alcohol, Luz Rech
niches, candles, and holy relics to hold the monsters at is also home to the Red Tower, a place of wizardry and
bay. They are careful how they talk because even loose sorcery. The Grand Prince lives in marvelous Zolotoy
comments bring doom. Palace, built on the Ilys Illan.
Always watch what you say or do around the For a place so isolated from the rest of the world, one
Irilevians — they take evil seriously. wouldn’t expect the kind of culture Luz Rech offers.
High culture is here: the ballet, the symphony, writers,
artists, great food and better drink. The buildings are
Friends and Enemies architectural marvels and the roads are paved. The
grand princes invested heavily in Luz Rech and it paid
Irilev is a bit isolationist. It will sit politically dormant for
off in this glittering ice gem.
centuries and then a prince decides he wants to raid the
But Luz Rech is also incredibly corrupt. It requires
Border Lands or take land from Erebos. Armies appear,
bribes to get anywhere or to get anything done. While
gobble up more territory, and move people in. Then it
the people are universally hospitable, the government
goes dormant again and returns to its isolationist ways.
expects payment for any service. But they’re nice people
The Kingdom does most of its trading with the
here, so they expect to get paid with a smile.
Caym. Rumor has it the Caym have started mapping
and mining Irilev for their own special steam-and-coal
projects.

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 324 Swords of the Serpentine

The Empire of Senggon

Insular and ancient, with astonishing art and little Upon hearing the Divine Will of Heaven, the
patience for new ideas God-Emperor or God-Empress consults the Mages
The Empire of Senggon is on a far-off island continent of Senggon, a powerful inner circle of courtiers. They
accessible only by ship across the icy cold Wasting offer the ruling couple their best learned opinion on a
Deep. It is an ancient empire with history going back matter from watching the stars, consulting gods, and
thousands of years. Senggon is unique among all the speaking with ghosts. Then, the God-Emperor and
known world’s societies as it was untouched by the God-Empress issue a decree.
Serpentine Empire and the Demon Wars. When the Center of the Universe speaks, a sprawling
This exquisite land is known for its elegant bureaucracy acts. The bureaucracy reaches from the
architecture, bilateral symmetry in buildings and town highest governors through the military and down
layout, tall temples, and upturned roofs. Senggon has to the towns. Like a perfect wind-up music box, the
crowded towns and peaceful misty mountain tops, bureaucracy moves with precision and speed. The God-
alchemists and sages, terraced rice paddies, water Emperor’s and God-Empress’ dictate touches all. The
buffalo and industrialized fishing. It’s a place where Will of Heaven is the will of the people of Senggon.
the people’s dearest and most important cultural unit Should the Embodiment of the Gods block trade
is their town, and people strive for understanding and with a country, or enter war, or refuse a diplomat, this
inner peace in the midst of violent wars. is the Will of Heaven. And it is so and is how it shall
ever be.
In some faint ways, the Empire of Senggon looks
Government and acts disturbingly like the ancient Serpentine
Empire. No one ever lays eyes on the God-Emperor,
Senggon’s God-Emperor and God-Empress are the the God-Empress, nor their Mages. Some Eversink
Center of the Universe. They and their children are traders spread the rumor that the Divine Will of Heaven
descended from the gods. They translate the Divine and their inner circle of Mages are Serpentine. It’s not a
Will of Heaven into the will of the people. safe rumor to repeat if you don’t like assassins.
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Chapter Ten: The World 325

People and Society Mieng

The people of Senggon are rigidly bureaucratic but not Tucked up between a lake and the sea, Mieng is a great,
rabidly inflexible. They’re always aware of their place powerful, sprawling city of art and chaos. It is broken in
in the vast pyramid between themselves and the God- two — the Inner City and the Outer City.
Emperor and God-Empress, from the highest diplomat The Inner City is centered around the thrones of
to the lowest peasant. This is how they frame their lives. the Divine Family, the Imperial Ebony Palace. No
They’ll pay careful deference to those they believe are expense is spared for the Palace, for it takes up multiple
above them and throw scorn on those below. city blocks. Enormous crenelated walls surround the
It is impossible to change one’s place in society or tall, bright yellow buildings with the gabled roofs. Elite
one’s fate unless one studies hard, understands the Palace Guard watch every entrance around the clock.
writings of the Sacred Ancestors and the Thoughts of No one enters or leaves the Ebony Palace without the
the Gods and passes governmental exams. Through God-Emperor’s or God-Empress’ personal and explicit
meditation, inner strength, and proving one is worthy, knowledge. Only the Divine Family, their children, the
one can rise from any place in society to the feet of the personal household staff and the Mages of Senggon
Divine Will. Why, Governor D’eng came from lowly live within the Palace. Everyone else, even the most
buffalo herders. powerful courtiers, lives in the Imperial Quarters of the
While society is neat and orderly to those of Senggon, Outer City.
it is frustrating for foreigners. For example, Senggon The Outer City is a mad riot of people, buildings,
traders will make a deal with Eversink traders to sell sound, noise, the calls of barkers and the smells of
a rare tea. Then, a message from the God-Empress’ cooking food. Crowded and busy, Mieng is a prosperous
bureaucrats arrives. That day, the trader closes shop. A port city trading on the far side of the world. One
military escort sends the foreigner to their ship. No one moment, one is walking down a packed market street
hints why. It just is. jostling shoulder to shoulder with hagglers, and the
next, one comes upon a tall, graceful temple pagoda
in a circle of quiet and peace. At the next corner hulks
an ugly government taxation building. The city has its
own rhyme and reason, but one must be Senggon to
understand it.

The World
 326 Swords of the Serpentine

The Border Lands

If you’re setting out to conquer a kingdom or carve out A few established towns — notably Milktown — have
your own empire, here’s where to start strong crime bosses who carved out minute kingdoms
The Border Lands are a lawless place of savages, from the endless waste. These places sustain themselves
barbarians, wanderers, thieves, and murderers bordering on local food, fresh water, and fear. The rest pop up,
the Destroyed Plateau. Endless scrubland stretches for scrabble for survival for a while, and then collapse again.
hundreds of miles between the Plateau and the dark Outside the stable city-states it’s pure anarchy. No
old-growth forests of Irilev. laws. No one to help you. No one to save you. Good
Travelers consider the Border Lands as a crossing luck.
place between the civilized empires and the Destroyed
Plateau left behind by the Demon Wars. Thief Kings
have carved out small single-town kingdoms for People and Society
themselves through sheer grit, and forced civilization
The World

on the population. The kind of people who live in the Border Lands are the
kind of people who will not and cannot live anywhere
else. These people are attracted by lawlessness. They’re
Government outcasts and exiles. They think Min is too controlling
and too lawful, and that should tell you something.
The Border Lands has no organized government. Out There aren’t any laws. People live by their wits. The
here, it’s everyone for themselves. The strongest rule. few cities are lawless hellholes. People do what they
It’s a land of people who live by strength, wits, bribes, want out here.
and open naked graft.
Chapter Ten: The World 327

Milktown wandering its sorcery-mandated path on the plateau.

But such riches hide here! The secrets of the
Milktown is a run-down town on the edge of the Serpentine lurk below the surface waiting for the brave,
Border Lands, run by the iron fist of “Mayor” Viltevar the bold, and the foolish. To the adventurer go the
Kearel and his band of enforcers. It’s a hard place spoils — at least those who escape deadly water, soil,
mostly known as a trade crossing, whorehouse, drug air, demons, monsters, and undead.
bazaar and local saloon for adventurers and mercenaries
crossing through to the Destroyed Plateau in search of
treasure and death. No one settles in Milktown, at least Camadi
not for long.
Rumor has it Mayor Kearel’s brutes like to kidnap Camadi is one of the many ruined cities that dot the
adventurers passing through and make them fight in destroyed and blighted plateau. It was a wealthy and
the Death Pits for entertainment. He posts the odds in powerful trading metropolis of nearly a million souls.
the local saloons. Bookies collect after every fight. Human slave labor built its white boulevards, gleaming
palaces and towering temples for the Serpentine
Empire’s greater glory.
The Destroyed Plateau Now Camadi is nothing but miles of rubble. The
winds howl through broken arches. Half-human
Deadly beyond imagining, with lost riches incomparable, scavengers and mutated animals inhabit the few
and uninhabitable until someone brave proves otherwise functional buildings left. The water and air are poison.
Death emanates from the soil. Demons lurch along
The Destroyed Plateau was the seat of the Great broken streets, following a path forced on them by their
Serpentine Empire. Currently dotted with destroyed sorcerous masters thousands of years ago.
cities, monstrosities, and roaming demons still chained Despite the danger, Camadi lures adventurers. The
to their summoning zone, nothing lives here anymore.
The World
books tell lurid stories of the spectacular fall of Camadi
Nothing but death. and artifacts of power left behind. Sorcerous mysteries
The Destroyed Plateau is a vast and empty blight lie hidden in that city somewhere. But no one has
on the continent. Nothing grows in the soil except plundered the Serpentines’ darkest secrets and survived.
lichen and some twisted shrubs. The water here is One Serpentine artifact will make an adventurer
contaminated. Twisted mutant creatures wander in richer than their wildest dreams, so people still come to
endless pain looking for a victim. Ghosts howl and feast this place of death. Few escape.
on the souls of the living. The land gets sicker as one
approaches one of hundreds of tethered demons still
 328 Swords of the Serpentine

Salt Mountains of Lut

Isolated mountain-folk in quiet lands where gods still Tens of thousands of people live in the valleys
walk between the peaks, separated almost entirely from
The Salt Mountains of Lut form a range extending like outside civilization. These migratory people have
a ridge between Capria, Irilev and Erebos. The range created their own place in the Salt Mountains, with
has the world’s highest peaks, eight more than 24,000 their own local cultures and beliefs. They say the gods
ft high. The world’s major freshwater rivers, including still wander the mountains like they did in the Ancient
the Serpentine and the Ilys Illan, have their beginnings Days, before the Serpentine. They aren’t wrong.
as spring flows high up in the Salt Mountains; some Sacred areas abound. The temple complex Mulgai
salty rivers even flow from this range, although they’re is a holy place and a destination for pilgrimage and
quickly diluted by rainfall. The mountains have a meditation. The Shining Father, God of the Peaks,
profound effect on climate, breaking up the monsoons lives within. Another is the Parshan Grove, where the
and hurricanes during the rainy season. Serpent Gods dwell. Many come here in search of inner
peace.
Chapter Five: Wealth and Lifestyle
The World
The World
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 329

Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Corps e stray
A

An Introductory Adventure
Corpse Astray is an introductory adventure that has fairly GM Advice: It’s Okay to Go Big
uncomplicated investigation, interesting negotiation,
and a very memorable fight. It’s designed to show you Not every adventure should shake the city, but
how to read and run scenes, how investigating leads in it’s great fun to thrust the Heroes into situations
the game works, and how fights are designed. It can be where they’re bound to offend or draw the
played in 3–4 hours. attention of at least one faction. It’s also fun
to have adventures that in some way destroy or
change the physical infrastructure of the city:
Adventure Premise houses sink, neighborhoods catch on fire, or (in
this case) a massive undead monstrosity crawls
An embittered (and ensorcelled) Commoner named across the city destroying everything in its path
Antoni Valori seeks vengeance for how the nobility unless the Heroes and others stop it.
mistreated his late mother, but he’s being manipulated If you don’t want to go big in this adventure,
and encouraged by his confederates to strike back in a make the fleshtangle more difficult for Antoni
way that’s far out of proportion to the offense. Will the to successfully animate. The Heroes can have a
Heroes pull him back from the brink before he does chance of stopping him before things get really
something unthinkable? Will his conspirators put his bad. Then they’ll just have to decide what to do
plan into effect, even if he recants? with 60 or so hideously merged corpses.
One thing is for sure: if Antoni’s plan goes through
and no one stops it, hundreds of people will die in a
sorcerous assault that then invites retribution upon the
commoners, probably killing thousands more and even Setting
triggering a civil war. If the Heroes step in to stop it,
they may be able to make their mark on Eversink in a This adventure takes place in Eversink, although it starts
way that people remember. on a ship headed for Eversink’s harbor. The primary
confrontation will likely occur in the Tangle, Eversink’s
primary working-class neighborhood full of close-knit,
tight-lipped commoners.
 330 Swords of the Serpentine

any factions. Heroes with ranks in Allies: Commoners

Tone will find some advantages; Heroes who have ranks in
Enemies: Commoners will find the adventure more
Corpse Astray leans towards classic sword & sorcery, challenging.
focusing on gritty fighting and investigation mixed with
a horrific undead monstrosity that the Heroes may have
to fight. Unless the Adversary rallies his Commoner Hints for Running the Game
neighborhood against the Heroes, any political
manipulation from Allegiances is likely triggered by Players are soon going to get confused whenever you
the Heroes themselves. The goal is to introduce the have multiple Supporting Characters and unfamiliar
game while focusing on the core rules; if you’re already names. Use index cards to write out known leads or
familiar with Swords of the Serpentine, you may wish to clues, people’s names, and to identify factions within
expand the adventure using the suggestions provided. Eversink that the Heroes are encountering.
This adventure can accommodate Heroes allied with

Plot Summary
At the start of the adventure, the following
things are true.
Antoni Valori is a Commoner with an
unusual Noble lineage: his late mother
was from a prestigious family but had
been disowned when she eloped with a
Commoner. Antoni was recently spurned
by his grandparents when he attempted
to have his mother buried in the family
crypt, and it hasn’t been good for him.
His plan for justice (as he sees it, anyway)
is well underway.
Antoni has turned from diplomacy
to sorcery to accomplish his misguided
goal. He invited a weak small god
named Uxorioth into him, planning to
use that sorcerous power to change his
grandparents’ minds — but he’s also
found a fabled sorcerous libram (Zelgrieb’s
Notebook of Dissection — see page 142)
that has leached away his good judgment
and filled him with obsession. Antoni’s
new plan is to construct a fleshtangle, a
monstrosity made of corpses, and use it to
kill every other member of his bloodline.
Corpse Astray

Once they’re dead, he figures, interring

his mother in the family crypt should be
simple.
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 331

Look, we didn’t say it was a good plan. to make any investigator or rabble-rouser forget entirely
Antoni’s obsession has taken over his common sense, about the odor.
much to Uxorioth’s frustration and annoyance. The If the Heroes do nothing, within a week Uxorioth’s
small god is using every trick at its disposal to distract stall tactics will fail and Antoni will sacrifice someone to
or stall Antoni from animating the fleshtangle, but its power the fleshtangle. He will shatter the three funerary
effectiveness is failing. statues he’s stolen, and the scent of those spirits will
Antoni hired a dangerous and unprincipled woman guide the monstrosity through sewers and canals and
named Donastra to obtain corpses for him. Donastra streets towards Alderhall, killing everyone it meets
and her minions have also stolen three Valori family along the way. If not stopped, it will rip apart the Valori
funerary statues from the church niches where they’ve tower and kill Antoni’s blood relatives. Then it will
been for decades — statues that will be used to set the disappear into the undercity and become free-willed.
fleshtangle on a hunt for members of the Valori family. Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection will disappear soon
Donastra and her minions have also been stealing or after the fleshtangle is animated, eventually showing up
purchasing corpses from everywhere they can find elsewhere in the city in some future time and place.
them. Donastra has hired pirates to prey on incoming Over time (likely many adventures), the horror and
vessels, she has her gang steal corpses from legitimate slaughter caused by a successful revenge scheme will
morticians, and she and her gang even manufacture a cause the commoners to be persecuted by almost every
few corpses themselves. Antoni doesn’t know about other faction in the city. That in turn will raise political
these murders and would be appalled if he did. tensions enough that civil war might erupt. Any Heroes
Donastra’s gang pretend to be official corpse- or factions associated with publicly defeating the
collectors (much to the frustration of the local fleshtangle will receive acclaim and recognition as city
morticians), and they gather bodies in tarp-covered heroes, whether that’s deserved or not.
carts, load them into canal boats, and sneak them into If successful, Antoni will eventually inherit the Valori
Antoni’s home in the Tangle once it gets dark. They fortune and (shattered) estate if no one identifies him
then toss the corpses over a balcony railing down onto as the perpetrator (unlikely at best; he’s bad at hiding
the lower floor, where the corpses slowly merge into the evidence). Once he inherits, Donastra will murder
fleshtangle. Locals in this block of the Tangle notice a him, steal his newly acquired wealth (less than she’d
foul smell, but Antoni is using sorcerous persuasiveness expected), and flee.

Primary Adversaries
Antoni Valori from her birthright. He’s popular in his neighborhood,
and the locals remember both of his parents fondly.
Antoni Valori is the son of a woman named Lady Salia Antoni is now 24. His father died a decade ago and
Valori, a member of Eversink’s Ancient Nobility until his mother just passed away a few months ago. He
25 years ago when she defied all proper protocol to fall wanted only one thing from his grandparents: for his
in love with (gasp!) and marry a Commoner stonecarver mother to be interred in the family crypt on their estate
named Bellari. Her family disinherited her, of course, in Alderhall. His grandmother, Lady Ansala Valori,
but Salia didn’t mind. She was drawn to art, and her refused and had her guards throw Antoni off the family
marriage to Bellari brought her tremendous joy. Antoni property. No commoner (and here her words dripped
Corpse Astray

was their only child and he grew up in loving but meager with spite as Antoni was dragged away) was part of her
surroundings in their beautifully carved home in the family.
Tangle. His whole life he has not-so-secretly resented
his grandmother’s cruelty in cutting his mother off
 332 Swords of the Serpentine

Okay, thought Antoni, after he recovered from the But from Antoni’s twisted perspective, the memory
misery and depression of his broken morale. We’ll do of his mother Salia has suffered a mortal insult and the
this the hard way. remnants of their ancestral family are going to pay.
He could have gotten his friends to break into the Technically, they’re all going to die. And then Antoni
Valori crypt and smuggle in his mother’s corpse; who will inherit the estate, and he can reward his friends
would have noticed? But that was no longer good and inter his mother wherever he wants. He thinks of
enough. The Valoris needed to be punished for their himself as a dutiful son doing what is right and proper,
pride and haughtiness1. not as a villain with a huge mound of twitching corpses
So Antoni sought power anywhere he could find it. in his basement.
He bargained with an immortal entity that now shares Antoni works out of his childhood home in the
his soul, a coldly smiling small god named Uxorioth Tangle, a gorgeously carved building nicknamed
who Antoni incorrectly thinks of as a demon. He fell “Noble House” by others on the block of stone-carvers
in with Donastra, who is bad company and is riding his and sculptors. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings
coattails to power. And he unexpectedly came across in the neighborhood and is a landmark that will be
Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection, an ancient book — immediately recognizable by anyone familiar with this
oh, such a book! — that promises to give him exactly part of the Tangle. For more on Noble House, see p.
the sort of revenge for his mother that he now craves. 345.
With all of his new allies’ help, he will soon create an
unnatural and horrific undead monstrosity that will seek
out and destroy every other member of his family. Donastra
This is, unquestionably, an awful idea that will inflame
hostility towards the commoners and the nobility both, This wild-haired thief is as morality-free as they come.
and possibly start a civil war if it occurs. The worst part She’s a commoner who hates the Ancient Nobility (and
is that the small god giving Antoni sorcerous powers the Mercanti, and the City Watch, and the mercenaries,
knows it. It had settled into Antoni’s soul expecting and the Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers… okay,
a lifetime of growing power and manipulation, and she likes dogs, but she hates pretty much everybody
now it’s stuck inside someone who won’t listen to it else) with every bone in her body. This is the latest
and who wants to do something that is going to get and most interesting scheme she’s come across and she
them both very, very destroyed by Denari’s Inquisitors. loves its temerity.
The small god Uxorioth is thus actively working against Donastra is canny and cruel, and gladly directs her
Antoni and delaying his plan for revenge by turning team of 20 minions that is scouring the streets for
Antoni into a perfectionist, so that he can’t move corpses. She figures the faster they get corpses, the
forward until the fleshtangle is “just right”. This sudden sooner Antoni can put his plan into action and she can
tendency towards being a perfectionist is driving his steal his newly acquired money. She has no loyalty to
unstable confederate Donastra into fits, and she’s at the him, and Antoni’s reluctance to animate the fleshtangle
point where she is considering killing Antoni and just and put his plan into action is stretching her very short
animating the damn fleshtangle herself. patience to the limit. Donastra is highly interested in
If Uxorioth gets destroyed or cast out while Antoni keeping herself alive; if someone crosses her and she
lives, possibly by the Heroes themselves, Antoni’s can’t immediately kill them, she’s most likely to retreat
tendency towards perfectionism will disappear and he and catch them off guard later.
can move forward with his plan again. The results might
be very bad indeed.
Uxorioth
Corpse Astray

1
Don’t be shy about finding inspiration in your favorite
cultural sources, even when they’re seemingly unrelated to
Originally a small god of unctuousness and persuasion
classic fantasy. Corpse Astray’s starting premise (up to this who has nearly been forgotten in Eversink, Uxorioth
footnote, at least) is deliberately drawn from the wonderful grants its host sorcerous abilities that attack an enemy’s
movie Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), starring Dennis Morale. It can chat silently with Antoni and make
Price and Alec Guinness.
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 333

him more persuasive, but only another person with

the Investigative ability Spirit Sight can hear or see it The Fleshtangle
directly inside his body.
The relatively weak small god has no physical form, The sorcerous grimoire Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection
but appears to Spirit Sight as an entity made of yellow (see p. 142) has possessed Antoni and is instructing
light with no facial features other than a wide and him to gather the ingredients for a fleshtangle. This
smiling mouth. Its form overlays Antoni’s real body for horrific monstrosity is a Corruption-powered amalgam
those that can see it. If somehow driven from Antoni, it of merged flesh and unliving hatred. It gains 1 Health
will be unable to possess another mortal unless invited from every human or animal body within it; currently it
in. It will fade in days if it goes without daily prayer and is made up of roughly 45 human corpses and 15 dead
will eventually vanish into forgotten memory when no pigs (increase or decrease this quantity based on the
one remembers to venerate it. It may even try to bribe size of your group; for a longer and particularly fun
the Heroes into honoring it with prayer as well. fight, its Health should average 15 Health per Hero in
Uxorioth will gladly converse with someone who your party, or 20 Health per Hero if you want a greater
can speak to it (typically using Spirit Sight) and is challenge for your group).
extraordinarily convincing. That’s one of the reasons At the adventure’s start, the fleshtangle is immersed
it’s so frustrated that it can’t pry Antoni away from in the Notebook’s aura and the flesh of all the corpses has
Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection: it’s convinced it could merged into a revolting tangle of naked torsos, limbs,
solve his problem on its own without any other outside and partially exposed heads. It twitches and shifts but is
help if Antoni would just trust it. not yet sentient or able to move.

Corpse Astray
 334 Swords of the Serpentine

Thanks to the influence of Zelgrieb’s Notebook of To fully animate and launch the fleshtangle, Antoni
Dissection, Antoni treats the fleshtangle like a close will have to follow the instructions in the notebook.
friend or a member of his family and sees nothing odd He’ll need to spend all points of Corruption at once and
in this (his revolted confederates more or less humor externalize that Corruption so it can be channeled into
him). He plans to train the fleshtangle to sorcerously the twitching heap of merged corpses through a human
seek and destroy other members of the Valori family sacrifice. If he can do so, the fleshtangle will animate.
by attuning it to the smell of their souls. His minions It’s worth noting that what a “sacrifice” consists of isn’t
have stolen several funerary statues from the Valoris, especially specific; if the Heroes kill Antoni or anyone
and Antoni will shatter them and use the scent of the else after he externalizes the Corruption, that’s enough
souls they’re associated with to guide the fleshtangle’s to awaken the fleshtangle.
hunger.

Involving the Heroes

The Heroes may pursue the adventure out of vengeance � City Watch: The undermanned Watch is getting
for almost being killed by pirates in Scene 1, annoyance multiple reports of stolen corpses, probably all
at missing out on the reward for capturing or killing stolen by the same people, and they’re trying
Captain Precia Cointongue if her body goes missing in to track the thefts down but don’t have enough
Scene 3, or out of a sense of doing what’s right. If that officers right now to follow up leads. They’re
fails, they will be hired by the corpse-taking morticians willing to hire some temporary deputies for field
whose corpses keep getting stolen by Donastra and her work.
gang. � Commoners: Antoni Valori’s best friend Pietro is
If these leads don’t catch the Heroes’ attention by worried. Ever since Antoni’s mother died he’s been
the end of Scene 3, you can use their Allegiances to distant, and now he’s just acting strangely: weirdly
recruit them into the adventure. Here are some options. charismatic, smells bad, and he’s hanging out with
� Ancient Nobility or Church of Denari: The really the wrong type of people. The friend has
Valori family have had three funerary statues stolen been shunned by Antoni, but perhaps the Heroes,
and they think they know who is responsible: their as strangers, can intercede?
estranged grandson. Since they want this solved � Sorcerous Cabal: A mysterious sorcerer (possibly
without being embarrassed, they want to hire a patron of one of the Heroes) gains an inkling
discreet strangers to assist and mediate. that something is wrong in the Tangle, and the
� Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers: The Heroes are hired to track down the trail of missing
Guild is receiving reports of a foul smell in the corpses before some neophyte damages the Cabal’s
Tangle and no one has been able to find it (actually, reputation even further.
Antoni is sorcerously convincing them this isn’t a � Triskadane: Prophets working for the Triskadane
problem). The Guild suspects something odd is have determined that there’s an undefined problem
afoot and wants more muscle to track down the with some stolen funerary statues that’s worthy of
minor problem. following up. Bored bureaucrats are willing to hire
the Heroes as agents, and the Heroes are referred
to the Valori family.
Corpse Astray
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 335

Plot Map

Scene 1:
Aboard the
Shining
Coin

Scene 2:
Approaching Eversink

Scene 3:
Corpsetakers at
the Docks

Scene 4: Into the Tangle

Follow the Find Noble House

Corpsetakers? on Your Own

Scene 5:
Antonio Valerio and Noble House

Learn
About Enter
Talk to
Noble the
Antoni Explore
House House
the House

Fight!
Scene 6:
Horrible
Rampage

Track & kill the

Corpse Astray

Scene 7:
fleshtangle!
Aftermath and
Conclusion
 336 Swords of the Serpentine

Expanding the Core Adventure

This adventure is more linear than an average adventure, The irony and sheer stupidity of this is lost to him,
with no red herrings and fewer branches than normal. purely because Uxorioth is keeping him as confused
That’s by design in case you want to fit this into a 3–4- as possible. Antoni is fun to roleplay with, and
hour game session or use it as a one-shot adventure to Heroes might somehow exorcise Uxorioth (with
learn the rules. If you’re interested in expanding Corpse terrible consequences), befriend him (causing him
Astray, here are a few ways to do so. Pick and choose to invite them to Noble House), kill him (leaving
the options that sound fun. Donastra to take over immediately and put the plan
� Before the Heroes even reach Eversink, follow into immediate action), or have him imprisoned. If
Captain Precia Cointongue’s treasure map to dig up the latter, Antoni and Uxorioth will talk their way
buried and cursed pirate treasure from a mysterious out of jail nearly immediately so that the Heroes
island in the Bay of Coins. can encounter him again.
� Precia’s personal sorcerer, a withered and bitter � If any of the Heroes create externalized Corruption
weather manipulator who is wanted by the law, in Eversink, a dogged Church Inquisitor will start
has sworn to avenge Precia’s death. He gathers tracking them down as a personal nemesis.
his apprentices and minions and tracks the Heroes � Antoni is being used. A different (unsavory)
through Eversink, complicating their actions and political group has heard rumor of the fleshtangle,
thwarting them whenever possible. and wishes to pay the Heroes to steer it towards
� Scene 3 becomes a combat scene when Donastra their assassination target instead of Antoni’s. To
herself joins the four corpsetakers. Once her cover do so, the Heroes will merely need to swap out
is blown she’ll try to do as much damage as possible Antoni’s stolen funerary statues for some that
before she escapes by diving into the bay and this organization will provide, then sit back and
swimming for it. They’ll meet her again at Noble do nothing. Will the Heroes accept this evil but
House if she survives, but this time she’ll be ready. profitable bargain? If the Heroes won’t help, the
� The use of Prophecy steers the Heroes to talk to organization will just have to go around them… or
Antoni’s grandparents, Lady Ansala Valori and through them.
her young third husband Tellio. She’s an elderly, � The Heroes can turn the fleshtangle to their own
bitter old woman who still feels personally betrayed advantage once they learn about it, by allowing it
that her favorite daughter (whose name she’s still to be animated and steering the monstrosity to a
too angry to speak after 25 years) abandoned her trap in a public place, where the ensuing combat
birthright to run away with some commoner. will be observed by the most important groups in
Lady Ansala will hire the Heroes to reclaim family the city. If they are brave (or foolish) enough to do
funerary statues that she’s sure her grandson (whose this, the Heroes might garner massive fame from
name she also refuses to speak) recently stole. He their heroics.
did in fact steal them, planning on using the statues � Worshippers of the dead Sorcerer-King Zelgrieb
to steer the fleshtangle towards the Valori estate want his notebook back — yeah, that can’t be a
before killing everyone else of his bloodline. bad thing at all — and aren’t looking at the Heroes
� Encouraged by his “demon”, Antoni seeks out the as allies in this process.
Heroes to chastise them for killing his employees.
Corpse Astray
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 337

Starting the Game

Start the game by going around the table and having the � What sort of cargo is this ship carrying, and for
players introduce their Heroes. This generally has them whom?
also describing what their Heroes look like. Establish � Why are you working together as a team?
which members of the group have previously met.
Then go around the table again, asking questions Questions like these set the tone for the adventure’s
like: start and remind the players that they have significant
� What time of year is it? narrative control over the world. Scene 1 might occur in
� What time of day is it? the dead of night, in a snowstorm, during an especially
� What’s the weather currently like? high tide, or at high noon on a beautiful day.
� Why are you currently on a ship returning to If you prefer, you can establish certain facts. Perhaps
Eversink? the Heroes are the guards for the ship, or passengers, or
� You’re currently on a ship named The Shining Coin. are on a special mission for the ship’s Mercanti owners.
Do you like the captain and crew? Set the boundaries, and then allow the players to world-
build within that.
Once you’re ready, proceed with Scene 1.

Scene 1: Aboard The Shining Coin

1.1 Opening the Scene The ships have been bound to each other with
grappling hooks. Some crew members have already
Scene Type: INTRO been killed, as have a few pirates. The Heroes start
Lead-In: None the fight at full Health, Morale, and capabilities.
Lead-Out: Scene 2 As the game starts, three nameless pirates are on
deck for every Hero, but may be scattered across
the deck in the melee.
The Heroes are on a ship named The Shining Coin, a
Ask each player where on their ship they wish
20-crew cargo vessel bound for Eversink. Its master is
to be, and how many pirates they wish to be close
Captain Otto Barani, a competent Mercanti tradesman.
to as the fight starts. It’s fine if they say “none”,
It’s a solid ship and a reasonable crew. Unfortunately,
especially if you ask them to roll a Difficulty 4
few of them are warriors.
Stealth test to have not yet been noticed; they’ll
The game starts in medias res, with a pirate attack
be spotted by pirates as soon as they start making
already underway. The Shining Coin has been boarded
a difference in combat, and subsequent waves of
by the bloodthirsty pirate crew of the Squandered Hope,
pirates will target the most effective Heroes.
a ship captained by an infamous Pirate of Min named
� Tactics of Death: There are a lot of pirates, and
Precia Cointongue.
more still on the pirate ship. Killing or defeating
� Felonious Intent: Precia Cointongue, the Captain them as quickly as possible is the best way to avoid
of the Squandered Hope, has a price out on her head
Astray

being overwhelmed.
(Wealth 5), dead or alive. She’s infamous for always
�
The World

Spot Frailty: Defeating their Captain or First Mate

putting a coin under the tongue of those she kills,
is likely to demoralize the rest of the pirates, causing
just before she slips their corpse into the waves.
most of them to retreat.
Corpse

People say it’s a tithe to unknown ocean gods.

 338 Swords of the Serpentine

� Ridiculous Luck (requires a spend): Precia

Pirates a-plenty (Mooks)
Cointongue turns out to be a childhood friend
of the Hero. She’ll spare her old friend’s life Bloodthirsty, stereotypical
and is willing to talk, but she’s reluctant to stop
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1
slaughtering everyone else.
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 1
Use the pre-game questions to set the scene (including Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 3 (filthy saber)
weather and light level) and describe the roar and chaos Abilities: Malus 3 (used for Athletics or added to their
of the battle. Then pass out Initiative markers (see p. +1 attack modifier for greater accuracy in a pinch)
65) to players and set them out for the groups of Refresh Tokens: 1
Adversaries, explaining that players might not want to
The pirates are a surly, murderous lot from a dozen
let a group of Adversaries go last. Pick a player to go
different countries. The ship holds more than 40,
first; one with ranks of Vigilance or Tactics of Death is
but not all will attack at once (and some are dead or
a good choice.
attacking other sailors). While the fight goes on, waves
In this scene, tell your players flat-out that unlike
of 1–4 pirates per Hero (depending on how challenging
most encounters, if they survive they’ll get all their
you wish the fight to be) swing or leap over the rail to
General ability pools refreshed before the next scene
board The Shining Coin.
(not the Investigative pools, however, which don’t
Don’t let this combat drag, and keep the fight
refresh until the end of the adventure). Narratively
moving — two waves of pirates are about right before
that’s because time will pass before they reach Eversink,
encountering Captain Precia Cointongue or her first
but really it’s because we find that new players have
mate Kossos. If Precia and Kossos are both defeated,
the most fun when they don’t start off hoarding their
surviving pirates suffer 1 point of Morale damage and
points. The goal of this scene is to teach players how the
are defeated; they will retreat, surrender, or flee. Heroes
Talents (see p. 35) for 8+ ranks of Sorcery, Sway or
might spend Investigative points to announce previous
Warfare can defeat more than one foe at once, so don’t
relationships with Precia or Kossos, and this might stop
feel bad encouraging players to take out Mooks with
the fight in its tracks or delay it during parley.
big spends before collecting Refresh tokens.
Here are some rules reminders.
� The number of pool points you spend on an attack Precia Cointongue, Captain
is your minimum damage rolled on the die. of the Squandered Hope
� Any Health or Morale damage at all will defeat a
Mook. Charming, swashbuckling, sarcastic
� If your result is 3 or more over the Target Number, Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1
and you have the combat Talent for the ability (handmade and very stylish leather), Health 20
you’re using to attack, you will also hit another foe Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1
within range. (delighted self-assurance), Morale 12
� When fighting foes who aren’t Mooks, you might Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (dagger)
instead want to spend enough to Critical Hit by or +2 (rapier, cleverly customized for her own hand)
exceeding the target’s Health or Morale Threshold Offense – Sway: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (suggestive
by 5 (see p. 68). This inflicts an extra d6 Damage. taunt)
� You can spend Investigative ability pool points to Abilities: Malus 15
inflict an extra d6 damage per point spent, or to Special Abilities: Defense Boost (cost 6), Extra
create fun special effects, but those points are then Action (cost 3); Precia is lucky, and will somehow
spent for this adventure. survive if knocked overboard
Corpse Astray

� Every Mook defeated immediately gives the table Misc: Precia loves to use her Malus to score Critical
one Refresh token that can be claimed and used to Hits and to raise the Difficulty of particularly stylish
refresh a General ability by 1 point. Every named Maneuvers.
enemy defeated provides 3 tokens, except for the Refresh Tokens: 5
Captain who provides 5 tokens when defeated.
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 339

Description: If Precia finds a man or woman attractive,

she’ll flirt with them through sword fighting. She’ll 1.2 Running the Fight
use witty rejoinders for Sway attacks and Maneuvers
If a Hero has a combat Talent for 8+ ranks in Sorcery,
to disarm, trip, or otherwise gauge her opponent’s
Sway or Warfare, encourage them to try spending many
skill. She’s not stupid, though; if her opponent is
(or all!) points at once when fighting Mooks. The Hero
trying to kill her and has a chance to succeed, she’ll
will kill or defeat one Mook with an attack Result of
sigh, buckle down, and do her best to break their
3, two with a Result of 6, three with a Result of 9,
heart literally instead of figuratively.
and so on. That means spending 8 points in a single
Precia is originally from Eversink, exiled for crimes attack can take out three or four unnamed pirates at
more than a decade ago. She’s in her late thirties, once, immediately gaining the table one Refresh token
and the life of a pirate definitely agrees with her: even for each pirate defeated. It’s a great way to improve the
with all the murder and the plundering, she seems to odds before the enemy even has a chance to attack. As
be having a great time. She believes that having great always, the player gets to describe how they defeated
personal style is equally as important as being deadly, their foes.
and her reputation reflects this. Precia carries a sack of Remember that in a pinch, Investigative pool points
small copper coins to put one under the tongue of every that are thematically linked can be turned into a pool
corpse she and her pirates create. of 3 General ability points. This can boost an attack
enough to take out an additional Mook; not usually
worth it, but useful in an emergency.
Kossos, first mate Maneuvers (see p. 72) can be used to disarm
or shove pirates about, and Mooks are automatically
Stupid, cruel, intimidating
defeated if they resist a Maneuver’s effect.
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 2 Unnamed pirates or crew knocked overboard are
(battered chainmail), Health 12 assumed to drown or get eaten by sharks. Any Hero
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 1 knocked overboard can make a Difficulty 4 Athletics
(stupidity), Morale 10 test to try to cling to the rail; failure means falling into
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +2 (heavy the ocean. The Difficulty of Athletics tests to swim back
maul) to the ship depends on how the players have described
Abilities: Malus 10 the weather and may vary between Difficulty 3 and 6.
Special Abilities: Strength (cost 3 to knock someone Note that chain armor incurs a penalty to Swimming
back and double Damage Modifier for 1 round) tests.
Misc: Kossos’ armor gives him a –4 penalty to The fighting is chaotic and swirls around the deck,
Athletics tests while trying to swim with pirates fighting both the surviving crew members
Refresh Tokens: 3 and the Heroes. Don’t bother to roll attacks for any
Description: Kossos has a square head, pretty much melee a Hero isn’t directly participating in, as the pirates
no neck, and his biceps are the size of most people’s will win if the Heroes do nothing. It’s up to the Heroes
thighs. Originally from Caym, he has pale skin, pale to win the day and rally the crew. The pirates will leave
cropped hair, and some remarkably obscene tattoos. the most dangerous-looking Heroes to Kossos and
He’s good at following orders and knows how to sail Captain Precia herself if they can possibly manage it.
a boat or whip a sailor, but cleverness or independent If the Heroes are captured by the pirates (unlikely
thinking are not his strong points. He’s particularly but possible; remember that –10 Health means that
prone to humiliation; ignore his Grit if an attack you’re defeated, not dead), the remaining crew will
against his Morale humiliates him in front of the crew. largely be killed. Following roleplaying, any surviving
Corpse Astray

Heroes and a few crew members will be set back on

the now-raided Shining Coin and allowed to proceed to
Eversink. The pirates will load the ship with the corpses
of everyone, pirate and crew, killed in the battle. They
won’t explain why.
 340 Swords of the Serpentine

port. It may not be captured, however;

if the Heroes are winning, the pirates
still aboard the Squandered Hope will
abandon their Captain and first mate to
try to escape, cutting the grappling lines
and sailing away. There are still roughly
20 or more pirates aboard when this
occurs; any Hero with Tactics of Death
knows that their chance of success
if they chase the pirate ship are not
particularly good. Should they pursue
regardless, make the resulting combat a
memorable and exciting one.
If Captain Otto Barani perishes
during the fight, the Heroes don’t
inherit his ship. It belongs to the
Mercanti family who sponsored the
voyage. He also has official ownership
of the pirate ship if it is seized, although
when it is sold the Heroes and all
of Barani’s crew will receive shares
(Wealth 3 each, awarded at the end of
the adventure).
The Squandered Hope currently has
an empty hold; they recently buried
their accumulated treasure on a deserted
island. (Which sounds like tremendous
fun to seek out, but is beyond the scope
of this adventure. Feel free to provide
the Heroes with a difficult-to-decipher
treasure map to fuel a future adventure.)
� Scurrilous Rumors: Captain Precia Cointongue
built her entire reputation on killing people and 1.3 Following the Combat
then pushing the corpses overboard. How come
she hasn’t been doing that, and instead has left all In the aftermath of the combat, the Heroes can rest,
corpses onboard the ships she’s been attacking? question surviving pirates, and notice some odd
inconsistencies. Core leads point to other core scenes.
It’s most likely that the Heroes will win the combat.
� Charm (core lead): If she feels like she’s in a
For simplicity’s sake in this adventure, it’s easiest if
position of power, the captain of the Squandered
the Heroes don’t get distracted with an extra ship en
Hope might find a Hero attractive. The first person
route to Eversink2. If it is captured, Captain Barani can
to use Charm will cause Precia Cointongue to give
put crew aboard the Squandered Hope to sail it back to
them kinder treatment, and in private she’ll reveal
secrets to impress them. She’ll brag that she’s been
Corpse Astray

2
Alternatively, your Heroes may want to partner with Precia hired by a ‘Sinkish woman named Donastra who
or seize the Squandered Hope themselves and embark on a life wants a lot of corpses, fast, and doesn’t want to do
of piracy. Yarrr! Have fun, read about the Pirates of Min on p. the dirty work herself. Precia was happy to oblige,
318, and save the rest of this adventure for another group although it bothers her not to sink the corpses
of Heroes. instead. As far as she knows, Donastra has some
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 341

way of collecting the corpses herself. � Servility: Someone servile can get close to any
� Command (core lead): Useless on the Captain, captive pirates without being noticed and will
but any other pirate commanded to confess will overhear that they expect someone named Donastra
admit that they’ve been hired to kill as many people to orchestrate their rescue and escape once they’re
as possible on in-bound ships to Eversink so long as back in Eversink.
the ships can still make it back to port. Rumor says � Taunt or Trustworthy (core lead): The same
that they were hired by a thief named Donastra. information found through Charm or Intimidation
� Intimidation (core lead): If threatened by can be discovered by making a pirate furious
someone who knows their actual mission, and enough to talk, or by being someone they feel they
who has power over her, the Captain or her pirates can trust to help them escape.
will reveal that she was hired by a notorious street
enforcer named Donastra to produce corpses…
fast. She doesn’t know why, but she’s having fun 1.4 Closing the Scene
with the assignment.
� Prophecy: In a sudden vision they hear the squeak The scene ends once the Heroes have survived the
of cart wheels and smell both the docks and the pirate raid and questioned any survivors. If no one is
strong stink of death. Remind them of this prophecy alive for them to question, don’t worry; leads in future
when they see the corpse cart in Scene 3. scenes will point towards Antoni Valori’s plans.

Scene 2: Approaching Eversink

2.1 Opening the Scene resolved at least two threats during the journey back to
Eversink, move to Scene 3.
Scene Type: MONTAGE
Lead-In: Scene 1
Lead-Out: Scene 3 2.3 Closing the Scene
When the players have narrated the challenges overcome
during their travel montage, move to Scene 3.
2.2 Travel Montage
Travel montages (see p. 217) underscore two things:
the hazards and dangers of travel, and how your Heroes
are more than competent enough to overcome them.
Go around the table. Have one player detail a risk or
threat when sailing back to Eversink, have the next
player tell you why the threat is actually worse than
that, and have a third player narrate how their group
overcame the crisis. You don’t need to play these out or
roll any dice, although you may want brief roleplaying
Corpse Astray

when appropriate.
These challenges might involve bad weather, sea
monsters, a supernatural effect, piratical vengeance,
a traitor, mutineers, illness, a sorcerous curse, or
something different. Once players have established and
 342 Swords of the Serpentine

Scene 3: Corpsetakers at the Docks

3.1 Opening the Scene 3.2 Enter the Corpsetakers
Scene Type: CORE Before the Heroes disembark, four menial laborers with
Lead-In: Scene 2 a creaky-wheeled cart hail the ship from the pier. They
Lead-Out: Scene 4 explain that they’re here to collect the bodies of those
who passed away during the voyage. They’ll express
humble sympathy and will promise to get the dead to a
If the Heroes haven’t already done so, enough days have
local mortuary before any funeral services are conducted
passed that they can completely refresh their Health,
or funerary statues get made. They won’t ask for a list of
Morale, and all General ability pools. Spent Investigative
who’s who, claiming that their boss who can read and
points are not refreshed until next adventure.
write will be by shortly to gather that information.
Whether The Shining Coin returns to Eversink
� Felonious Intent: These corpsetakers seem
victorious, or it limps into the docks with a skeleton
nervous, like they’re watching for something. They
crew, the Heroes and any surviving crew will return
also don’t have the correct permits nailed to their
to the city several days after the encounter with pirate
cart or boat. They’re probably not legitimate.
captain Precia Cointongue. Chances are that their hold
� Liar’s Tell: The corpsetakers are trying to sound
is filled with corpses from the pirates and crew members
legitimate, but they don’t seem to be telling the
who died in the pirate attack, but even if not, the fake
truth.
(and real) corpsetakers show up anyway.
� Prophecy: Upon seeing the corpsetakers’ cart, the
The purpose of this scene is to give the players their
prophecy from Scene 1 will recur. Something about
first glimpse of Eversink and, most importantly, give those corpsetakers isn’t proper.
them a clue that someone is stealing large numbers of � Vigilance: There’s a lot of stone grit in the
bodies; if the payoff doesn’t happen as below, the Clue corpsetakers’ cart, the kind that accumulates when
Summary on p. 344 explains how to proceed. you move stone for years, or have your cart near
Ask the players what time of day it is, and what where stone is shaped
the weather is like, when The Shining Coin sails
into Eversink’s outer harbor at the base of the River These corpsetakers aren’t official; they are Donastra’s
Serpentine. Describe the city accordingly, with sensory minions, attempting to gather more corpses for Antoni
details added where they make sense. Scents (swamp, Valori’s revenge scheme. They want to get away quickly
smoke, cooking odors, unwashed humanity), sounds because they know the official mortuary corpsetakers
are probably half an hour behind them. They want
(bells rung from steeples, sung prayers, shouts from
to be well away before their ruse is discovered. The
eager vendors on shore and in small boats), and the clear
Harbormaster has been bribed to look the other way,
excitement of the crew will underscore the importance
so he tries not to get involved (and not to incriminate
of their return.
himself for bribery if he is).
The Shining Coin will dock along one of the long
If the Heroes mention that Captain Precia
piers extending from the harbor quay. As usual, the
Cointongue is worth a sizable reward, the laborerers
Harbormaster and tax assessor will be the first people on
will worriedly explain that dock bylaws require every
board, officiously asking to speak with Captain Barani,
corpse to be transported, but that they can come by the
and with whoever is in charge if the Captain is not. The
mortuary for a receipt. They won’t insist if the Heroes
Captain will release the remaining crew once the goods
prefer to keep the body, however. Their priority is to
Corpse Astray

(whatever they are, as decided by you or the players)

get as many corpses as possible away from the ship and
are hauled off the ship with ropes, wooden cranes, and
into their smaller canal-boat. The weighed-down boat
hours of labor. The Heroes will probably depart before
full of covered corpses will then make its escape back
that’s decided.
into the Tangle. Once darkness falls, the corpses will be
delivered to Antoni Valori at Noble House (Scene 5).
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 343

Donastra’s Minions (four of them) � Allegiance: Ancient Nobility or Scurrilous

Rumors: A generation ago, the Valori family
Nervous, servile, odiferous disinherited their daughter for marrying a
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1 commoner. It was a big scandal, and she hasn’t
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 1 been heard from socially since.
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 3 (long If all the fake corpsetakers are killed before they are
dagger) questioned, the following leads might be useful.
Offense – Sway: +0; Fixed Damage 3 (brutish � Vigilance (core lead): The Heroes might notice
insistence) that there’s a large amount of stone grit on the
Abilities: Malus 5 (usually used to boost attacks) floor and in the crevices of the corpsetakers’ boat,
Refresh Tokens: 1 the kind that accumulates when you move stone for
They’re outclassed and probably outnumbered as years or moor a boat near somewhere near where
combatants and they know it. They do not wish to stone is shaped. Other than that, the boat is well
fight to the death; if threatened they’ll bluff as long as maintained and patched carefully, as if by someone
they can, and then surrender and try to escape later. without much money but with skill.
They’ll try not to lose the corpse-cart or their boat if � City’s Secrets, Forgotten Lore, or Allegiance:
they can avoid it, and will try to avoid being arrested by Mercanti (core lead): There are a huge number of
the City Watch (possibly trading information for their places in the city where stonemasons and sculptors
freedom). If any of them try to lie, a Hero with ranks in practice their trade, but most of those would be
the Investigative ability Liar’s Tell will notice it. able to afford a newer boat. For commoners with
� Command or Intimidation (core lead): The fake a skilled trade, the number of likely locations is ten
corpsetakers work for a woman named Donastra, and or fewer. The most likely location is in the Tangle,
they figure she’s going to kill them if she finds out in the neighborhood of stone-workers.
they talked, so they’ll want to escape, please. About � Spirit Sight (core lead): One of the ghosts
20 people gather corpses for her. Donastra works of the dead corpsetakers is still present in the
for and lives with some Commoner named Antoni world. Three of the four have vanished into
Valori, but they try not to ask too many questions. the spirit realm, but one remains nearby. He’s
He lives in a pretty famous building in the Tangle furious about being murdered, and the Hero
named Noble House, because it’s carved all fancy. will need to use Servility, Trustworthy, or
When they come back with corpses they’re paid for something similar to coax information out of him.
each one, and they just dump them over an interior The ghost whispers that he worked for a woman
balcony onto a big pile in the basement below. named Donastra, who works for and lives with
They’ve stolen and dumped three or four dozen some Commoner named Antoni Valori in a
corpses so far. They don’t know why he wants building named Noble House. He begs that they
them. To feed some animal, most likely. not bring his body there. With that, he fades away
� City’s Secrets (core lead, after hearing the name deeper into the spirit realm.
of Antoni’s home): Noble House is a beautifully
carved stone building deep in the Tangle in the 3.3 The Real Corpsetakers
block of stonecutters. It’s a landmark, so they
should be able to find it easily. “Noble House”
Arrive
is called that because it’s a normal stone house
sarcastically carved to look like a noble’s mansion. The actual corpsetakers will arrive shortly after the fake
� Nobility: The name “Valori” is a well-known ones have left or been defeated. They’ll be angry and
name in Eversink. The Valori family made their frustrated that someone is poaching corpses from them
Corpse Astray

fortune many centuries ago by mining and farming with no possible value, and they know that this isn’t the
salt. For a long time the Valoris maintained a near- only group. If the Heroes are at all friendly to them,
monopoly, but their star has faded in the past two they’ll offer to pay the Heroes Wealth 1 each — not
centuries, and now the Ancient Nobility family has much, but as much as they can afford — to track down
far more social prestige than it does wealth. and stop the thefts.
 344 Swords of the Serpentine

3.4 Clue Summary 3.5 Closing the Scene

At this point the Heroes might know all or part of the The scene ends when the Heroes have learned that the
following. If needed, help the players summarize the corpsetakers who wanted the bodies are not the people
information they’ve learned. who should have the bodies, and when the Heroes
� The pirates who tried to kill them were hired by a decide where to head next. If they do something clever,
much-feared woman named Donastra, who works such as spending Investigative pool points to establish
for someone named Antoni Valori. an existing relationship with Donastra or Antoni,
� They are collecting corpses as quickly as possible congratulate them and run with it.
for an unknown purpose. The Heroes may head to a tavern or an inn to find
� The twenty commoners working for them are somewhere to stay for the night. If they’re not sure
dumping these corpses each night into the basement where to go, encourage them to rely on their Allies
of Antoni’s home. for a location to bed down. Roleplay this as desired,
� Antoni lives in a poor part of town that’s hard to describing the nature of whatever part of the city the
navigate, The Tangle, in a well-known landmark Heroes find themselves in, including bridges, sinking
named Noble House. buildings, swans, street vendors, funerary statues,
� Antoni might be related to a Valori family in and crowds. If you have time, make the tavern visit
Eversink’s Ancient Nobility. memorable, even if that means Donastra tracking them
down. Who doesn’t love a good bar-fight?
If your Heroes accidentally haven’t picked up on the
adventure leads, use Allegiances to involve them further
in the plot. See “Involving the Heroes” above.

Scene 4: Into the Tangle

4.1 Opening the Scene p. 58. If no Heroes have Skulduggery and the Stealth
test isn’t successful, they can still follow the boat but
Scene Type: MONTAGE the false corpsetakers will be aware that they’re being
Lead-In: Scene 3 followed and will lay a trap for the Heroes.
Lead-Out: Scene 5
4.3 Travel Montage
See p. 274 for descriptions of the Tangle. Summarizing
this for players will help set the mood as they try to find Getting into the Tangle when you’re not from there is
Noble House. confusing and dangerous. If the Heroes aren’t trying
to follow anyone without being seen, ask one of your
players to describe a challenge your group faced, ask
4.2 Following the another player to make it worse, and ask a third player
Corpsetakers? how the challenge was solved. The challenge doesn’t
have to be hostile, but it should be interesting enough
It’s possible that one or more of the Heroes to remember. One or two of these is plenty for flavor.
Corpse Astray

surreptitiously follows the false corpsetakers into the If this is your first game of Swords of the Serpentine, this
Tangle to see where the boat full of corpses ends up. becomes much more difficult because players don’t
To do so without getting caught, one or more Heroes know the setting yet! You’ll benefit from tossing out
must have 1 or more ranks of Skulduggery or make a some examples. These challenges might involve:
successful Stealth test using the Piggybacking rules on
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 345

� Pickpockets If the Heroes are surreptitiously following the boat

� Getting lost of corpses piloted by the false corpsetakers, examples
� Flooded canals might include:
� Bad weather � Almost getting spotted
� Physical threats � Stealing a boat
� Enthusiastic moneylenders � Losing your boat
� (Soon to be) recurring enemies � Blocked canals
� Enticing taverns � Gate guards
� Encounters with interesting strangers � Poor weather
� Over-eager members of the City Watch. � Congestion
� Hostile strangers.
You don’t need to play these brief scenes out or roll any
dice, and each player has responsibility for stating both Only run montage scenes when you and your group find
the challenge and the solution. You can decide solutions it fun. They’re an excellent way to quickly summarize
cooperatively if the player framing that solution wishes. a long or dangerous journey, and don’t use up party
resources, but they should be limited to one or two
occurrences per adventure.

Scene 5: Antoni Valori and Noble House

5.1 Opening the Scene where many stonecutters have set up shop (there’s dust
in the air and blocks of stone or funerary statues nearly
Scene Type: CORE everywhere you look), but there are also food carts, bars,
Lead-In: Scene 4 and a small chapel to Denari. The locals will be rude to
Lead-Out: Scene 6 or 7 anyone using Nobility to communicate with them, as
well as to anyone with ranks in Enemy: Commoners.
They’ll be friendly to anyone talking to them using
Noble House is deep in the Tangle, but it’s easily Servility or Trustworthy, or who has ranks in Allies:
recognizable once you get to the stonecutters’ Commoners. They’ll be cautious with anyone else. The
neighborhood. The tenement is expertly carved to look following information can come from one particularly
almost a dead ringer for the Valori mansion in Alderhall, chatty person or a number of individuals, as long as the
an insult immortalized in stone. With craftsmanship Heroes aren’t acting socially superior and aren’t being
of this nature it’s no wonder that the house serves as hostile to the locals. If the locals are friendly, a Hero
a landmark for the neighborhood. It’s also clear the doesn’t need the specified ability to gain the lead.
Valori noble family has never deigned to enter the � Scurrilous Rumors or Trustworthy: Antoni
Tangle; if they’d seen the similarity they’d move heaven Valori had a father named Bellari who was a
and earth to have the house condemned and destroyed stonecutter and a mother who left the nobility to
by the Guild of Architects. follow her heart. Antoni’s father carved the outside
Heroes investigating Noble House have several tasks of Noble House to look like the Valori mansion
ahead of them. They might wish to learn about Noble where his wife had grown up. Isn’t it beautiful?
House, talk to Antoni, enter the house, and explore It’s nicknamed Noble House because the carving
the house. mimics the towers of the nobility, a tribute to his
Corpse Astray

wife Salia and a poke in the eye to the Valori family.

5.2 Learn about Noble House � Scurrilous Rumors: Antoni’s a Commoner, of
course. His mom Salia Valori was disinherited and
The Heroes can learn about Noble House by chatting apparently caused a huge scandal. She’s dead now,
with other people in the neighborhood. This block is poor thing. Antoni tried to have her buried with
 346 Swords of the Serpentine

those nobles, and apparently they threw him out on odd to anyone that they carry this belief. Antoni’s
his ear. The nobility are awful people, aren’t they? supernatural persuasion has convinced anyone who
� Charm: Everyone likes Antoni. He used to be has complained to him.)
a stonecutter and sculptor like his father, but he
doesn’t seem to be doing that much anymore. Other leads can be learned through observation.
Nowadays he mostly sits in his front garden, drinks, � City’s Secrets: It looks from the outside like the
and talks to people walking by. He did have a few ground floor has mostly sunk below ground level,
funerary statues brought in recently, though. but there are two more stories left before the house
� Scurrilous Rumors: No one likes that Donastra sinks below canal level completely. The house is
woman who’s staying with him, and they have well constructed; even if no one builds onto the
workmen in and out of the house at all hours with roof, it’ll probably be above-ground and upright
all sorts of loads and burdens to deliver. for several score of years to come.
� Trustworthy: Antoni used to be really shy, but � City’s Secrets or Vigilance: There don’t appear
he’s definitely blossomed over the past few months. to be many ways into Noble House. Currently,
He’s had a falling out with his best friend Pietro, the only clear ways to enter the building are by a
though. They used to be inseparable and they 2nd story canal-side door with an outdoor balcony
haven’t talked in a month. that’s reachable from the dock by improvised
� Vigilance: There’s definitely been the smell of stairs (Burglary 6 to unlock); and probably by
something rotting in the area, but it’s not coming a locked trapdoor on the roof (Burglary 4 to
from Noble House. (No one knows why they believe unlock). There used to be a ground level door
this, but they’re convinced of it, and it doesn’t seem opening into the street, but this has sunk below
Corpse Astray
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 347

ground and is no longer accessible. If one could

gain access to the cellars or sewers nearby, a
Antoni Valori
Hero with City’s Secrets could probably find Popular, obsessed, charming, talented, persuasive
a way into the house’s sub-basement as well.
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1
Several boats are usually tied up alongside the canal-
(father’s worn leather), Health 18
side stairs. (These are used to bring in corpses and
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 6 (happy
are owned by Antoni, Donastra, or their minions.)
and confident indifference, only while possessed
� Corruption: Although there’s no noticeable whiff
by Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection; 1 otherwise),
of spent Corruption from inside of Noble House,
Morale 6
something unnatural and very bad is inside of there.
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +0
You can feel it, throbbing like a rotten tooth. (This
(untrained flailing)
is Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection.)
Offense – Sorcery: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (vs.
� Vigilance: If this adventure takes place in summer,
Morale in Persuasion Sphere, or vs. Health in Death,
there is a noticeable problem with flies near
Decay, and Flesh)
the house. There are also noticeably fewer feral
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2
pigs in this neighborhood than in other blocks
(extraordinarily persuasive)
of the Tangle. (That’s because Antoni and his
Abilities: Malus 30
confederates have been secretly killing them and
Special Abilities: Special (persuade others within
adding them to the fleshtangle, although this
earshot, cost 6), Spellcasting (4 uses; cost 3 —
isn’t known to anyone outside of Noble House.)
Persuasion or Death, Decay, and Flesh Spheres),
In addition, there is definitely a smell of putrefaction
Universal Attack (cost 6), Warded (cost 6)
coming from Noble House, as if some large animal
Misc: When Antoni uses his special Persuade ability,
is rotting inside.
anyone within earshot must take 3 points of Morale
� Felonious Intent: Antoni spends most of his days
damage or believe what he has just said, their choice.
outside, sitting in the tiny garden in front of the
This costs him 6 Malus.
house, very slowly working on a funerary statue
Refresh Tokens: 5
for his mother that he keeps in the garden, and
Description: Antoni is handsome in a quirky sort of
chatting with anyone who strolls by. The Heroes
way, skinny and neatly dressed with a good smile.
are welcome to speak with him — and he may come
He’s also shy, making it difficult for him to use his
to say hello to them either way, just to be friendly.
recently acquired sorcerous powers of persuasion.
He finds it easiest to interact in small groups. He’s
5.3 Talk to Antoni bright and tends to be kind, but he is currently fixated
on getting justice for his mother by obsessively
Antoni is easy to approach; he spends much of his days acquiring scores of corpses to animate. His sudden
(in good weather, at least) in his front garden, working quirk of perfectionism may stop him from completing
on the funerary statue of his late mother (“It has to any project he doesn’t think is good enough. He’s
be perfect!”) and chatting with passers-by. He wears popular in his home block of the Tangle; in an
clean but shabby workman’s clothing. The statue of emergency when he’s somewhere his neighbors
his late mother that he’s carving looks like it will be a could help, Antoni will use his Persuasion to rally the
masterwork, but it is far from done. Antoni’s “demon” neighborhood to his defense.
Uxorioth delays him in part by making him into a
perfectionist, so that he can’t move forward until a
project is just right.
Astray
The World
Corpse
 348 Swords of the Serpentine

Uxorioth, small god of GM Advice:

Unctuousness Roleplaying Antoni and Uxorioth
Frustrated, desperate, persuasive, convincing, needy
Talking to Antoni is a fun interaction because
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Armor Special even though Antoni is the Antagonist, he’s
(see Insubstantial; Health cannot be injured), Health initially friendly and not at all hostile. Antoni
3 doesn’t want to hurt anyone, he just wants
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 3 to create a horrible undead monstrosity from
(egotistical), Morale 15 stolen corpses and use it to take revenge on
Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (smoothly his grandparents while killing dozens of people
convincing) along the way. Is that so wrong?
Abilities: Malus 15 The following things should be remembered
Special Abilities: Insubstantial, Magical Charm when roleplaying Antoni.
(cost 3), Possession (cost 3 — must be a willing � Antoni used to be a genuinely nice person,
volunteer) but is manipulated by multiple entities and is
Refresh Tokens: 3 obsessed by grief and vengeance.
Description: Although Uxorioth can grant access
� Antoni is possessed by Zelgrieb’s Notebook
to Corruption in those it possesses, along with the
of Dissection, and it drives his need to create
Sorcerous Spheres of Persuasion and Doubt, it can’t
a fleshtangle.
cast spells or manipulate Corruption itself. As a nearly
forgotten small god of Unctuousness and Persuasion, � Antoni doesn’t know that Donastra has hired
it interacts purely through Sway and manipulation pirates to provide him with corpses more
(such as the Persuade Maneuver and the Magical efficiently, and he’ll be furious if he finds out.
Charm special ability). Uxorioth is furious and terrified � The Notebook gives Antoni an almost
that Antoni has been possessed by the Notebook, but impossibly high Grit 6, protecting him from
it is unable to break the Notebook’s thrall to convince many Morale-based attacks. Heroes will
him to abandon this. Uxorioth does whatever it can quickly know that something is odd if they
to obviously “help” Antoni while secretly working try to Sway him.
against him and trying to destroy Zelgrieb’s Notebook � Antoni has also become an obsessive
of Dissection. perfectionist due to Uxorioth’s attempts to
Uxioroth is most interested in its own survival, and counter the Notebook’s influence.
that means finding someone who can stop (and help) � Antoni is supernaturally persuasive when he
Antoni without hurting him. wants to be.
� Antoni is an ineffective combatant, and
knows he can’t put his plan in play if he’s
dead — so he’ll let others do his fighting for
him, and will do whatever he can to retreat
instead of fight.
� Uxorioth can only be trusted when keeping
its promises is in its own self-interest, and it
is delighted to scuttle Antoni’s plans if doing
so keeps Antoni alive, safe, and out of jail.
Corpse Astray
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 349

Antoni may seem distracted to talk to; that’s because � Trustworthy: Antoni will discuss his childhood
he is. The obsession caused by Zelgrieb’s Notebook of and his late parents, including how his grandparents
Dissection keeps him focused on acquiring corpses, and were so cruel to his mother’s memory.
he’s always half-watching the canal landing to see if � Spending Charm or Trustworthy: A 2-point
more have arrived. spend in either or both abilities (these can come
� Felonious Intent or Vigilance: Antoni seems from multiple Heroes) along with a friendly
distracted and keeps glancing back at the canal demeanor will make Antoni more pliable to their
landing by his front door. This seems like an suggestions, including explaining that he needs to
ingrained nervous habit that he isn’t aware of. get vengeance for his mother, and even inviting
� Leechcraft: Antoni has a cut on his forehead, as if them inside (only if he thinks they might be
from broken glass. If asked about it, he’ll brush it interested in his pet project).
away and claim to be clumsy. (He’s lying; Donastra � Certain topics will cause Antoni to become
lost her temper at him last night and told him to particularly (and sorcerously) persuasive if asked by
finish his plan for revenge now. She emphasized this someone he doesn’t consider trustworthy.
with thrown crockery, which was probably better � Asking about why the house smells will cause
than stabbing him out of impatience, which is what Antoni to respond, “No, that’s something else.
she wanted to do.) It doesn’t smell at all.” He spends 6 Malus. All
� Spirit Sight (core lead): When Antoni speaks, within earshot must either take 3 points of Morale
there’s a strange echo, as if two people were actually damage (reduced by Grit) or stop smelling the
speaking at the same time. One of those voices stink of decay. Heroes with Spirit Sight will hear
is Antoni’s, and the other is deep, charming, and both Antoni’s voice and a deeper, richer, more
particularly persuasive. No one else can hear it other persuasive voice saying the same thing at the same
than the Hero with Spirit Sight. If the Hero opens time. Other Heroes detect nothing odd whether
up their sight to the spirit realm (see p. 24), they they succeed or fail. Antoni doesn’t seem to think
will take 4 points of Morale damage and will see he’s done anything wrong, odd, or supernatural.
Uxorioth superimposed on Antoni’s body, a small � If asked about corpses or anything he has done that’s
god of yellow luminescence whose only facial feature illegal, Antoni and Uxorioth will both say “No, I’m
is a wide and smiling mouth. The Hero can now talk sorry. This has nothing to do with me.” He spends
directly to Uxorioth. Everyone will hear the Hero 6 Malus. All within earshot must either take 3 points
speak, and Uxorioth will reply through Antoni’s of Morale damage (reduced by Grit) or realize that
mouth. Antoni won’t remember these exchanges. they’re mistaken, their choice. Antoni will begin
Apart from Uxorioth, there is a squirming coil of oily to fade in their memory as if he wasn’t important.
vapor connecting Antoni’s soul to something inside Heroes without Spirit Sight detect nothing odd
Noble House. This is the spiritual manifestation of whether they succeed or fail. Heroes with Spirit
Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection. Sight hear Uxorioth and Antoni speaking together,
� Corruption or Forgotten Lore: This clue is and will remember this even if they fail their Morale
available if Spirit Sight has been used by a Hero. test. If a Hero looks into the spirit realm, follow the
The luminescent creature sharing Antoni’s soul is guidelines on p. 24.
likely a demon, a small god, or some other sort of � Liar’s Tell: Antoni is genuinely surprised to hear
spirit. It means that Antoni is a sorcerer. The coil of about pirates and knows nothing about this. He
squirming vapor suggests that his soul is connected thinks all the corpses are being acquired from
to something else as well. already-dead people, and doesn’t realize that
Donastra has arranged to mass-produce corpses she
If the Heroes are kind or polite, Antoni will gladly chat
couldn’t otherwise obtain. Learning otherwise will
Corpse Astray

with them about any number of topics. He’ll discuss

make him furious, and he’ll resolve to chide her —
the house, his assistant and workman Lugo, his friend
even as he’s guiltily pleased that her plan was so
Donastra (he’s a little vague on their relationship), and
successful.
the like. He doesn’t mention corpses.
 350 Swords of the Serpentine

If Heroes resist his persuasiveness and continue to

be kind to him, Antoni may continue to treat them 5.4 Enter the House
in a friendly manner; he’s used to his Persuasiveness The Heroes can sneak into Noble House, be invited in
automatically working. He’ll be less forthcoming if by Antoni, or fight their way in.
they are rude or hostile, and will retreat to safety (either
inside his own house or into a neighbor’s) if threatened. 5.4.1 Sneaking In
He won’t attack them; it’s not really in his nature, and There are three entrances to Noble House: the main
he’s saving his Corruption to animate the fleshtangle. entrance, the roof, and the sub-basement. Since they’re
Antoni thinks he has a demon inside of him, and
seeking leads, Heroes with Skulduggery (and the
he’ll deny it poorly; he’s ashamed of turning to heretical
Heroes who accompany them) may not need to make
actions while in search of power, and he wishes he could
Stealth or Burglary tests when first sneaking into the
get rid of Uxorioth entirely. For its part, Uxorioth
house so long as they use their Investigative abilities to
thinks Antoni is a gullible fool who makes a poor
describe how they’re dealing with the barriers in their
host, especially when he still doesn’t understand that
way (such as the armed guard on the balcony).
Uxorioth is the god (albeit a small god) of unctuousness
and persuasion.
The Main Entrance
There is a reasonable chance that the Heroes
The main entrance is a 2nd story door leading in from
might converse directly with Uxorioth. The entity —
an outside balcony; that balcony overhangs the canal
speaking through Antoni’s mouth with its unctuous,
and has a set of makeshift stairs leading up to it from
smooth voice — will explain that its master is trapped
the canal dock. There’s also a makeshift winch to
by a horrible sorcerous grimoire and needs help. Use
haul any heavy loads (currently corpses, previously
Uxorioth’s information on p. 348 to roleplay this
sculpting or stoneworking supplies) up into the house.
interaction. If the Heroes try to exorcise Uxorioth,
It’s possible to reach the canal dock and these stairs
allow any reasonable plan (probably using Forgotten
from the cobblestone lane in front of Noble House, but
Lore, Spirit Sight, or Corruption) to succeed. Antoni
only by navigating a makeshift bridge fashioned from
will be freed of Uxorioth’s influence, will stop being a
a plank (Difficulty 5 Athletics test to cross if moving
perfectionist, and will immediately put his fleshtangle
quickly). This second story door is normally locked
plan into effect once the Heroes have departed.
Should the Heroes try to remove the influence of with a solid lock. Heroes without ranks in Skulduggery
Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection from Antoni in the same (or not pursuing a lead) require a Difficulty 6 Burglary
way, it will immediately choose Donastra as its new test to open the door without alerting anyone inside.
host, and she will immediately head to the basement If the group lacks any Heroes with Skulduggery, or
and animate the fleshtangle. the players fail to explain how they distract Antoni, a
If the Heroes threaten violence, Antoni will raise his Difficulty 6 Stealth test is required to sneak in by this route
persuasive voice and call out his neighbors to come help without Antoni noticing if he is outside in the garden.
him with these hostile interlopers. Dozens of unarmed Piggybacking the Stealth test (see p. 58) is allowed.
neighbors (all good people, more or less) will come out Even with Skulduggery, sneaking in by this route is
to defend one of their own, and the Heroes will quickly almost impossible if Lugo is guarding the door from
be surrounded by commoners who suggest that this the balcony; Heroes may need to describe how they
might be a good time for them to move along and not first lure him away. The door is unguarded when Lugo
come back. isn’t there. The easiest way to sneak past Lugo is to
� Laws and Traditions: Attacking the neighborhood pretend to be carrying one or more corpses that need to
commoners who come to Antoni’s aid is murder, be brought inside; a Morale-based Persuade Maneuver
pure and simple. can easily trick him.
� Tactics of Death: The Heroes are probably strong
Corpse Astray

enough to kill all the commoners surrounding The Roof

them, but the protective mob includes children, The roof of Noble House has a wooden trapdoor
the elderly, men and women; if the Heroes retreat leading into an unfinished attic. The roof is flat, and
without attacking Antoni, it’s unlikely the mob will Heroes must climb up with a Difficulty 4 Athletics test
attack. if not using Skulduggery. The lock on the trap door
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 351

can be opened with a Difficulty 4 Burglary test, or pennies. He’s not particularly loyal to Antoni, but
automatically with Skulduggery, but a large funereal he’s grumpily enthusiastic about any plan that injures
statue is propped directly underneath the trap door to the Valoris.
impede access. Heroes must make a Difficulty 4 Stealth
test to enter before the statue has been moved; failure The Enforcers
means they knock the statue over and alert the house Donastra has a crew of Mooks who collect corpses, haul
to intruders. The statue can be moved without risk by things, and fight for her (and for Antoni, more or less).
two Heroes working together and a 4-point Athletics The number varies; there are about 20 men and women
General Spend. total, usually moving about in five groups of four when
sent out to gather corpses. Most commonly two or
The Sub-Basement three groups (8–12 Mooks) are at Noble House at any
A Hero with City’s Secrets, or a Sorcerer with Corruption one time to act as guards. If Heroes raid Noble House,
and the Stone sphere, can find a route through the these Mooks attack in waves as they rush to the combat
sewers into Noble House’s sub-basement. This route from wherever in the house they were. Donastra keeps
is unguarded, but it’s disgusting, and requires some these minions ignorant: they know there’s a big pile
quiet chiseling to tunnel through a retaining wall into of corpses in the basement, but they don’t know why.
the sub-basement. This approach avoids both Lugo They’re paid well enough not to ask.
and Antoni, as well as any Mooks on the upper stories.
Still, when they arrive the Heroes won’t be the worst- Donastra’s Minions (20 total)
smelling thing in the basement…
Servile, tough
The Lookout Defense – Health: Health Threshold 3, Health 1
Lugo is an elderly man who acts as lookout and guard.
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 1
He’s not the brightest person you’ll ever meet, but he’s
Offense – Warfare: +0; Fixed Damage 3 (long
unobtrusive. He sits out on the balcony all hours of
dagger), or Fixed Damage 4 (crossbow)
the day and night, sipping from a bottle and greeting
Abilities: Malus 5 (usually used to boost attacks)
the boats poling by, looking like nothing more than a
Refresh Tokens: 1
nosy neighbor. He knows almost everyone on the block
without anyone really knowing him.
5.4.2 Getting Invited In
In a pinch, Lugo is a capable combatant — good
with a crossbow and able to hold his own with a club — If the Heroes are able to forge enough of a friendship
and if trouble arises, he knows enough to warn anyone with Antoni (possibly with the aid of Uxorioth,
inside before drawing attention to himself. assuming the small god thinks that the Heroes can
prevent the fleshtangle and defeat Donastra without
harming Antoni), Antoni will simply invite them in.
Lugo He doesn’t comprehend how disgusting the smell and
Bitter, greedy, loyal appearance of the merged corpses truly are, so he’s less
hesitant than one would assume. He treats the mass of
Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 14
merged corpses as if it were an old family friend.
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Morale 6
Lugo and the minions treat the Heroes suspiciously,
Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (club)
expecting them to turn and attack at any moment.
or Damage Modifier +2 (crossbow)
Antoni isn’t as suspicious — if he trusts the Heroes
Abilities: Malus 5
enough to invite them inside and introduce them to his
Misc: Alertness Modifier +2
fleshtangle, he must be certain that they’re safe.
Refresh Tokens: 3
Once inside, Antoni will give them a tour with
Corpse Astray

Description: Lugo is a wiry old man who worked his

the minions following closely behind, with Uxorioth
whole life gathering dried salt in the salt pools owned
making sarcastic commentary. Antoni will be surprised
by the noble Valori family. He’s bitter and ready
by any negative reaction to the fleshtangle. Don’t his
for anything that pays that family back for taking
new friends understand that this is the perfect tool for
his whole long exhausted life and leaving him with
revenge?
 352 Swords of the Serpentine

5.4.3 Fighting Your Way In only as limited as the players’ imaginations and the
number of Allegiance points. As always, default to
When stealth and friendship fail, force of arms might
saying “Yes, and…” If the player suggests a tactic
prevail.
that you think is unrealistic or overpowered, charge
If Lugo sees attackers, he’ll shout back inside to
a spend of more than 1 pool point for it.
alert the 8–12 confederates in the house, and he’ll try
to hold the attackers off with his crossbow. When that Also remember that any ranks of Enemies: Commoners
fails, he’ll retreat inside and lock the door. They’ll send should be used against the Heroes at every opportunity.
four guards up to the attic to watch, and the rest will The Adversaries and locals will spend these points to
cluster around the main doorway, waiting to shoot the inconvenience, harass, or hurt the Heroes who have
first person who appears. these ranks. If you need an unfavorable coincidence
If Antoni is caught outside when this happens, he’ll for the Heroes during the adventure (such as someone
summon his friends and neighbors to help defend his appearing at the worst possible time), this is a perfect
home; this will give him a force of about 20 Mooks, reason to spend a Hero’s Enemy pool point.
although they’ll take 1–2 minutes to all gather. Antoni
will trust to his persuasiveness and other magic to get
back into his home safely. Once home, he’ll sneak
5.5 Explore the House
downstairs to try to animate the fleshtangle. With luck,
Noble House is laid out as follows, from top to bottom.
Donastra won’t have seized control of the Notebook and
Attic: This unfinished space is used for storage
have done it first. If she has, the monstrosity will kill
and is covered with dust. In a few decades when the
Antoni first before it goes after his family in Alderhall.
building has sunk too far, it will probably be converted
5.4.4 Other Ways to Get Inside to living space and another few stories will be built on
top of it. Hundreds of large, black, slow-moving cluster
Your players are endlessly inventive and might consider
flies buzz about the space and the floor is scattered
options like the following. If they are struggling with
with dead flies. A large funerary statue of Bellari’s
tactics, discussing these strategies with them will help
great-great-grandfather blocks easy access to the roof
them understand what their Heroes are capable of.
trapdoor. There’s an old brass church bell up here,
� Using Flashback and spending an Investigative
lying forgotten in the corner.
point to make one of the people inside Noble
Third Story: This is the sleeping space for Antoni,
House (perhaps Lugo, perhaps one or more of the
Donastra, Lugo, and whatever minions are in the house.
minions, perhaps even Donastra) a friend, a spy, or
A toilet feeds down into the sewers through a vertical
a hired associate. They might even establish Antoni
pipe. There used to be Lady Salia’s art studio here (the
or his parents as old family friends.
room gets beautiful light in the early morning), but it
� Spending a point of City’s Secrets to announce that
has been converted to a large rough bunkroom. At least
there’s a secret door no one else knew about.
8–12 of Antoni’s minions will be biding their time here,
� Spending Corruption to literally rip the building
technically on guard duty but actually sleeping, eating,
open (or perhaps something more subtle), assuming
playing cards, complaining about the smell, or lying to
they have appropriate Spheres.
each other. Heroes might need a Difficulty 4 Stealth
� Pretending to be inspectors from a city agency, such
test to sneak past them without being discovered;
as the Guild of Architects and Canal-Watchers.
piggy-backing is allowed. Locking the minions into this
� Spending Allegiance points to literally have their
room requires a Difficulty 5 Burglary test, and will delay
Allies help them or open the way for them; this
them by two minutes (the length of time it will take
might mean summoning a squad of mercenaries for
them to batter down the door) once they realize they’re
backup, having the Triskadane order everyone out
locked in.
of the building on some bureaucratic technicality
� Leechcraft: Food and alcohol supplies are easily
Corpse Astray

that will likely be solved in a week, having the

accessible. It would be simple to poison these
thieves’ guilds help blackmail Antoni, or (in the
people, most easily by spending one or more pool
case of Allies: Monstrosities) having non-human
points of Leechcraft.
denizens of the city tunnel upwards into the
basement and show the Heroes in. Options are
� Tactics of Death: There’s been a disagreement in
Antoni’s and Donastra’s bedroom. Someone lost
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 353

Third Floor
KEY
1. Antoni
bedroom
2. Sleeping
room
3. Old art
studio
4. Toilet

Attic
KEY
1. Bell
2. Rooftop
trapdoor
3. Big statue

Corpse Astray
 354 Swords of the Serpentine

Ground Floor (Sunken)

KEY
1. Corpse
2. Statues
3. Rotting
mound of
corpses
4. Toilet
5. Sitting room
6. Sealed doors
7. Entrance to
sub-basement
under stairs

Second Floor

KEY
1. Outside
balcony
2. Common
room
3. Library
4. Toilet
5. Parlor
6. Kitchen
7. Dining hall
8. Balcony
9. Dock
Corpse Astray
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 355

their temper enough to throw many ceramic vases, � Laws and Traditions: A giant pile of rotting, stolen
plates, or cups at the other person, shattering them corpses? Yeah, that’s not legal. That’s definitely not
on the floor or in the hearth. Based on their pattern legal.
and the height of the assailant, Antoni was the � Corruption or Forgotten Lore: The corpses
target. appear to be deliberately interwoven in some sort
� Wilderness Mastery (core lead): This many flies of unspeakable pattern that sanity shies away from.
and the stink of putrescence means that nothing � Corruption: There’s terrible power down there,
is eating those corpses that must be downstairs. but no externalized Corruption yet.
They’re just rotting. � Felonious Intent: If Antoni is with the Heroes,
this doesn’t seem odd or disgusting to him at all,
Second Story: This floor, with its high ceilings, is now nor to anyone he has sorcerously persuaded.
the main living space. A kitchen, a dining hall, a common � Leechcraft: Weirdly, in this light it looks like there
room, a parlor, and a mostly empty library are arrayed aren’t distinct bodies down there, but instead all the
around a central octagonal balcony overlooking the first corpses have somehow merged into one connected
floor. A toilet feeds down into the sewers through a form. That can’t possibly be true.
vertical pipe. If Lugo and Antoni aren’t outside, they’ll
be on this floor. If the alarm is given, eight minions or The stairs down to the first floor are blocked by a locked
more will spill down the stairs from the third floor. door, Difficulty 4 Burglary test to open.
� Nobility or Allegiance: Ancient Nobility: A First Story: Once an entrance hall and workspace
beautiful portrait of Antoni’s mother Salia Valori, with smaller rooms off it, now the sunken ground floor
costumed as if a Queen, hangs over the fireplace. is covered with at least 60 corpses of humans and pigs
� Forgotten Knowledge: There is a small shrine (adjust as needed to total approximately 15 Health per
where odd sacrifices — a lady’s handkerchief, a few Hero). The corpses have merged into one another,
coins — have been made to some spirit or small creating one huge mass connected by skin and sinew
god. The shrine is not holy to Denari. and bone. It is crawling with flies and occasionally
� City’s Secrets (core lead): A rough and almost twitches and shifts, sending all the insects on it swarming
unintelligible map drawn on parchment in the upwards into a buzzing mass before settling back down.
library turns out to be a route between this block It is not yet sentient or dangerous. However, any
of the Tangle and the Valori estate in Alderhall, Heroes who did not lose 4 Morale while seeing it
with a detour through some highly inhabited upstairs will do so now, unless offset by Grit.
areas such as Temple Market. Oddly, it appears to � Corruption: You can feel it trying to greedily drink
vary between streets and canals and underground Corruption from you; any externalized Corruption
passages, and ignores bridges entirely. (This is the in the area will probably feed it and bring it to life.
route the fleshtangle will take, with detours to pick � Forgotten Lore (2+ ranks): There’s a legendary
up as many new corpses as possible.) grimoire from a long-dead sorcerer that is rumored
The canal-side door to the outside opens onto the to be able to create monstrosities like this. You’ve
balcony on this level. It is locked. Lugo and Antoni never seen it, nor has anyone you know.
both have a key, as does Donastra. The minions don’t. � Know Monstrosities: This is called a fleshtangle,
When corpses are delivered, Antoni has his minions and they were first created as weapons of war by
a Sorcerer-King named Zelgrieb. They’re most
simply toss them over the balcony railing, down into
dangerous in large crowds because they heal
the darkness of the sunken ground floor, where they
by absorbing dead bodies. That’s unfortunate,
land in a heap and are later dragged into a rough circle
because they’re incredibly hard for a small group to
around Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection.
destroy. It’s likely to be resistant to Morale attacks
Everyone who looks over the edge of the balcony
that aren’t prayers.
loses 4 Morale (minus their Grit) the first time they see
Corpse Astray

this. The first floor below appears clogged with many

� Leechcraft: It’s almost certainly carrying horribly
infectious diseases.
dozens of human and hog carcasses. It’s a good thing
the area is so poorly lit; you can hear the buzzing of flies
� Prophecy: You gain a vision of this rampaging
through Temple Market, killing hundreds or
devouring the many dead.
thousands, before heading to the Valori estate in
 356 Swords of the Serpentine

Alderhall. Hidden somewhere within it, you gain Morale 15

an image of a thin leather-bound book. Offense – Warfare: +1; Damage Modifier +1 (jagged,
� Scurrilous Rumors: Defeating this somewhere splintery blade or well-worn shortbow)
that other people can see will bring the victors Abilities: Malus 20
tremendous prestige and reward. Defeating it Special Abilities: Armor-Piercing (cost 3), Defense
somewhere there are no witnesses won’t bring Boost (cost 6), Extra Damage (cost 3), Seize
these benefits, but is definitely safer. Initiative (cost 3)
� Tactics of Death: Try to stay out of its reach by Misc: Stealth Modifier +3
putting barriers between you and it. Something Refresh Tokens: 5
this size is probably very hard to dodge and very Description: Donastra is an obnoxious blur in combat,
dangerous. Hit it as hard as you can from a distance, launching herself off walls and ledges and generally
working as a team and thinking creatively, and you striking hard while keeping herself just out of others’
may survive. reaches. She’s an excellent swimmer, and often dives
In the same room are three funerary statues stolen from into canals rather than be captured. She has no interest
a Valori mausoleum. They will get shattered when the in dying for her cause, figuring that if she escapes she
fleshtangle is animated, giving the monstrosity a psychic can always return when her enemies least expect it.
scent to seek out. It won’t attack its creator, however,
so Antoni is only in danger from it if Donastra is the
person who finally brings it into existence.
5.6 Closing the Scene
A small alcove off the main room holds the This Scene ends either when the fleshtangle animates,
respectfully displayed (but rotting) remains of Antoni’s or when the Heroes have defeated Antoni, Donastra,
mother Salia, awaiting interment in the Valori family and the rest of the Adversaries without having triggered
crypt when all this is over. It sure would be an ironic the fleshtangle.
pity if her corpse was accidentally absorbed into the
fleshtangle, wouldn’t it?
In a different side room blocked by a heavy black GM Advice: Controlling the Finale
velvet drape, Donastra is reading and attempting to
bargain with Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection. One of her Donastra’s presence allows you to control the
minions is sitting with her and acting as her guard. As climax of this adventure.
you prefer, she will either sound the alarm (by ringing a Want the fleshtangle to animate, forcing the
bellpull), attack the Heroes along with her allies, or try heroes to fight it either in Noble House or in a
to animate the fleshtangle herself. If the Notebook feels public space like Temple Market? Either Antoni
threatened, it will teleport Antoni to it (or teleport itself overcomes his perfectionism and animates it
to Antoni) regardless of his wishes. himself (perhaps crediting the Heroes for his
Sub-basement: Ignore this room unless the Heroes new-found resolution), or Donastra seizes
enter Noble House through the sewers. The sub- the loyalty of the Notebook and animates the
basement is partially flooded and muck-filled, and was fleshtangle herself while the Heroes are arriving;
emptied of anything but stone rubble a generation ago. all she’ll need is to sacrifice her bodyguard.
The Heroes can find their way to stairs rising upwards Prefer to end the adventure with horror
to the first floor where the quiescent fleshtangle waits. instead of a brutal fight? Donastra and Antoni
In Scene 6, the fleshtangle will flee by this route. assault the Heroes as they explore Noble House,
realizing that their cards have been seen and
Donastra it’s now or never. They will try to use a death
or deliberately sacrifice someone to animate the
Sadistic, conscienceless, efficient, stylish, cautious
Corpse Astray

fleshtangle, but this gives the Heroes a chance to

Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Armor 1 disrupt the ritual before it is completed.
(stolen leather), Health 25 Pick whichever of these options seems like the
Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 4, Grit 1 (deep most fun to you, deciding on the fly and based on
unresolved hatred for pretty much everyone), how roleplaying goes with Antoni.
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 357

Scene 6: Horrible Rampage

6.1 Opening the Scene Fleshtangle
Scene Type: ALTERNATE Horrifying, squamous, shrieking, mind-breaking
Lead-In: Scene 5 Defense – Health: Health Threshold 4, Health 60
Lead-Out: Scene 7 (adjust as needed to total approximately 15 Health
per Hero)
This scene only occurs if the fleshtangle has been Defense – Morale: Morale Threshold 3, Grit 6 (0
animated by Antoni or Donastra during the end of vs prayers), Morale 40 (adjust as needed to total
Scene 5. Adjust this description based on how your approximately 10 Morale per Hero)
game plays out. Offense – Warfare: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (flailing
limbs and teeth while trapped beneath its crushing
weight)
6.2 A Hideous Awakening Offense – Sway: +2; Damage Modifier +2 (mind-
numbing horror of this monstrosity bearing down on
The fleshtangle wakens after someone (either Antoni or you, ready to absorb you)
Donastra) externalizes 3 or more points of Corruption, Abilities: Malus 20
almost certainly while creating a hideous spell that Special Abilities: Infection (cost 0 — infects any victims
who survive with a rotting disease that won’t show up
focuses on the Spheres of Death, Decay, and Flesh,
until a future adventure), Lightning Speed (cost 3),
and then kills a sacrifice. That sacrifice will most likely
Monstrous Ability (cost 3), Regeneration (cost 0 —
be one of Antoni’s minions, but could even be Antoni
heal 1 Health and 1 Morale for every human defeated
himself if he feels driven to suicide. The fleshtangle
and absorbed), Special (cost 0 — uses Fearsome Blow
swallows and absorbs the Corruption, becomes sentient
and Universal Attack every round, attacking everyone
and mobile, and shudders horrifyingly to life. Anyone
within Point-Blank range with both a Warfare and
who views this process must make a Difficulty 6/Loss 6
Sway attack), Spider Climb, Strength, Swimming.
Morale test. It’s worth reminding players at this point Misc: Stealth Modifier –3, mostly due to the screaming;
that they can use Sway to bolster their own or someone depending on how many corpses it comprises, the
else’s Morale (see p. 41). Fleshtangle is massive and takes up an area equal to
Upon the fleshtangle’s awakening, Zelgrieb’s a large room. It can reshape itself (with much bone-
Notebook of Dissection teleports to the hands of the cracking) to fit into smaller areas. As the fleshtangle
sacrifice, and the sacrifice becomes the heart of the takes damage, its corpses are gradually sloughed off
fleshtangle, sitting within the mass of squirming corpses and destroyed.
like a King or Queen upon their (hideously undead) Refresh Tokens: 7
throne. This corpse cannot be injured and will be Description: Take four or five dozen mostly naked
the last remaining body before the fleshtangle is fully corpses, have their flesh grow and merge together in
destroyed. If the book can somehow be wrested out of horrifying patterns, then animate it and have all the
this corpse’s bony clutches, the fleshtangle’s 6 Grit (0 heads simultaneously shrieking in horrified awareness
vs. Prayers) will drop to 3 Grit (0 vs. Prayers). and pain as its hands, teeth and feet tear into
If they didn’t already learn them, give the Heroes trampled victims. At the center of the fleshtangle,
with relevant abilities any leads about the fleshtangle the sacrifice — the creature whose death finished
Corpse Astray

listed above at the end of Scene 5.5. the incantation — directs the creature and clutches
Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection. That individual
corpse remains invulnerable until all other individuals
in the fleshtangle are destroyed.
 358 Swords of the Serpentine
Corpse Astray
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 359

A clever Hero might spend Investigative points to

6.3 Running the Fight hamper the monster somehow, such as restricting its
movement or making it more vulnerable.
6.3.1 Heroes’ Strategy And when worst comes to worst, remember that –10
When fighting pirates back in Scene 1, the goal was for Health and –10 Morale doesn’t kill a Hero, it defeats
Heroes with a combat Talent to take out as many pirate them, and that doesn’t always mean death.
Mooks as possible as quickly as possible. The goal now
is different. With only one very hard foe, the goal is to
gain Critical Hits and to pump as much damage into it 6.4 First Actions
as possible. See p. 68 for detailed suggestions, a few
of which we’ll summarize here. Once awoken, the fleshtangle reacts as follows.
Critical Hits occur when an attack exceeds a Health � It automatically destroys the nearby funerary
or Morale Threshold by 5 or more. For the fleshtangle, statues when it awakens. If Antoni woke it, it uses
that means attacks reaching 9 or higher are Critical Hits its Lightning Speed special ability to burrow into
and add an extra die of damage. It’s good for players the sub-basement and from there into the sewers.
to remember their Heroes’ Drives, because getting a � If Donastra or a Hero woke it instead of Antoni,
+1 bonus from one of their three favorite things in life destroying those funerary statues puts it on Antoni’s
might be the difference between a Critical Hit and a trail first. It surges towards him, wherever he might
normal attack. As always, the number of points spent be, and kills him first. It then absorbs him and sets
on the attack is the minimum possible damage that can off after his relatives in Alderhall via the most direct
be rolled on the first damage die (not for the critical hit route.
dice). � If not prevented from doing so, it will try to follow
Teamwork attacks are another way to boost damage, the path on the map found in the old library in
allowing Heroes to assign their Morale or Health Scene 5.5. This gives the Heroes an advantage,
damage to another Hero in a single high-damage attack. because they know where it will appear.
Where bonus damage really comes from, however, � If a Hero has at least 1 rank in City’s Secrets, the
is spending Investigative pool points; each one adds +1 Heroes can move more quickly across the city than
die of damage to a successful attack. Only one type of it can underground, so they can clear people from
Investigative point can be added to any given attack, its path or ambush it at a point when it must surface.
but if you have 3 ranks of Tactics of Death, you might Ask your players to describe this spot, along with
as well spend all three to inflict +3d6 on the fleshtangle. any environmental advantages or disadvantages
Heroes get to describe their attacks once they know they might have while attacking it there.
how successful they are. � The monster will defend itself when attacked. If
Heroes with 8+ ranks in Preparedness have access blocked from its route, it will attack and attempt to
to the Flashback ability, and this can be tremendously kill anything living in its way. Each absorbed corpse
effective at saving a friend’s life or at laying a trap for heals 1 Health and 1 Morale.
the fleshtangle. � Heroes may spend their Allegiance points to aid
The Heroes will need to be brave to close with it; them in the battle; as long as they can rationalize a
it attacks everyone in Point-Blank range with both a way to ask for help, each spent Allies pool point can
Warfare and Morale attack each round, with an attack gain them an advantage such as an evacuated area,
modifier of +2 to hit on both. It won’t be missing a military backup, barrels of flammable oil, priests to
lot, so the average Hero will be taking on average 5–6 help with prayers or healing, and the like. Show
Health and 4–5 Morale damage every round they’re the players that spending points of Allegiances can
in range. That adds up quickly. Heroes will need to provide significant advantages, although doing so
Corpse Astray

use Bind Wounds and Sway to keep their Health and then draws that group’s attention to the Hero.
Morale above 0.
 360 Swords of the Serpentine

If it sets off after Antoni’s family, and he is still alive, asking your players to describe them instead). It’s
the obsessive daze placed on him by Zelgrieb’s Notebook worth remembering that the scars of this combat will
will vanish. He will suffer massive Morale loss and likely mar the city for adventures to come, so go all-out when
become Broken unless Heroes try to help him using describing the massive destruction the huge fleshtangle
Sway. Donastra, however, will either escape or try to kill inflicts. Crumbled buildings, ripped-up streets,
the Heroes, whichever makes the most sense. screaming and broken inhabitants, the works. Describe
its anguished keening and the nightmarish sound of its
6.4.1 The Fleshtangle’s Strategy many fingers and toes skittering its bulk along the side
It mostly ignores Sway attacks (thanks, Grit 6!) unless of buildings. If the Heroes are going to get credit for
Heroes narratively describe those attacks as prayers; leading the attack against the fleshtangle, they should
doing so bypasses the monstrosity’s Grit entirely. The be accomplishing something memorable.
fleshtangle will always try to defeat people using prayers By the time it’s down to a Health or Morale pool of
as quickly as possible. Once it reaches the streets it 0 or below, the ground will be covered with portions
will use the environment to its advantage, scuttling up of twitching and crawling corpses, and only the one
buildings and into canals to move most effectively. It remaining sacrificial victim holding Zelgrieb’s Notebook
rears up, uses Lightning Speed to charge into people of Dissection will be fully standing. Destroying them will
who thought they were a safe distance away, and shatter the binding and release all of the dead corpses
remains genuinely terrifying. from their enchantment. The scattered flesh will harden
When injured, the creature changes its focus to kill into something approaching iron and fix itself to the
as many nearby Mooks as possible as quickly as possible. spot where it lies. For years to come, this area in the city
It absorbs each dead Mook into its mass, healing Health will be marked by the petrified remains of the defeated
and Morale by 1 point per dead victim. This can help it fleshtangle, and locals will eventually name this square
stay alive even after being battered, even as it makes the or street after the heroes who defeated it.
Heroes feel a little guilty that they weren’t able to save If the Heroes can’t or won’t stop it, the fleshtangle
those people. gets to Alderhall and levels the Valori estate. After
It’s worth noting that anyone who is injured but devouring and absorbing everyone on the property,
survives (and this likely includes the Heroes) is infected it will burrow into the undercity, hide, and gradually
with a slow rotting disease. You can use this as the basis become fully sentient. It will appear in future adventures
for a future adventure where the Heroes seek a cure, as a prime mover in Eversink’s Monstrosities faction.
use it as background color where scarred survivors turn If you think it would be fun and interesting for a
to crime to survive, decide that this triggers a plague Hero to possess the Notebook for up to three adventures
that wipes out half the city because you really want (after which it disappears), the Heroes may recover and
societal change, or simply ignore it because disease isn’t deal with its Corruption themselves. If not, the most
necessarily fun or heroic (especially when it comes to interesting resolution may be for the Church or the City
the Heroes being infected). There’s no wrong way to Watch to seize the book, as this lets you corrupt the
handle it. new owner in a future adventure. Otherwise Zelgrieb’s
Notebook simply disappears, to reappear somewhere else
in the city when or if you choose.
6.5 The Final Confrontation
As guided by you, the players can decide where the 6.6 Closing the Scene
final confrontation against the fleshtangle occurs. If
it has had time to find and kill innocents en route, it This scene ends when the fleshtangle has either been
will have healed from all or most Health and Morale destroyed or it achieves its goal and escapes.
Corpse Astray

damage that it took when escaping Noble House (see

its Regeneration special ability).
Make this as cinematic as is appropriate, describing
environmental effects and nearby architecture (or
Chapter Eleven: Corpse Astray 361

Scene 7: Aftermath and Conclusion

If the final confrontation with the fleshtangle was in � Keep Antoni alive: Wealth 2 per Hero (arranged by
a public location, the aftermath is likely brutal and Uxorioth’s persuasiveness).
filled with the dead and broken. If it wasn’t, or if the � Kill Antoni: Wealth 2 per Hero (a reward from
fleshtangle was never animated, the aftermath will be Antoni’s estranged grandmother). (Figuring out
much easier to keep quiet. how to claim the rewards for both situations?
Go around the table and ask each player to say Priceless.)
one thing that will change in the city based on this � Kill Antoni: Each Hero adds Grudges: Commoners
adventure. Then write these changes down and weave 1.
them into the next adventure you run for these Heroes. � Lead a public attack on the fleshtangle, whether or
Grant each Hero 1 Advancement point to improve not it was destroyed: Wealth 3 per Hero (civic and
their Hero, or 2 points if the game’s conclusion felt church reward for heroism).
particularly momentous and meaningful. � Lead a public attack on the fleshtangle, and it was
destroyed: Each Hero adds Favors: Triskadane 1.
� Lead a public attack on the fleshtangle, and it
7.1 Possible Rewards wasn’t destroyed: Each Hero adds Grudges:
and Penalties Ancient Nobility 1.

� Help Captain Barani bring the Squandered Hope 7.2 Closing the Scene
back to Eversink (unlikely but possible): Wealth 3
per Hero.
� Claim the reward on Precia Cointongue: Wealth 4 The adventure ends when you’ve awarded treasure,
(total). discussed what’s changed in the city due to this
� Help the actual corpsetakers and their Mortuary adventure, and settled any loose ends. Congratulations
stop the fake corpsetakers: Wealth 2 (total). — and welcome to Swords of the Serpentine.

Corpse Astray
362 Swords of the Serpentine

Appen dices

Swords of the Serpentine 101: How to Play

� If you can rationalize how spending an Investigative
The Basics point might boost your attack, it gives you +3 on
an attack roll. (p. 51)
� Use Investigative abilities you have rank 1 or
more in to find leads and gather clues. (p. 18)
� Is your attack ability rank 8 or higher, and you
exceeded your roll by 3 or more? If so, you
� Spend Investigative ability pool points to get
automatically attack more than one nearby foe.
powerful effects. (p. 51)
(p. 68)
� You have political Allegiances who can give you
information or lend you a hand. (p. 33)
� You can use a teamwork attack instead of leaping
in to attack yourself, giving an ally your attack’s
� Use General abilities to take actions. Roll a d6
damage; this lets you use Morale damage when
(before you roll, you can spend points from that
attacking Health, or vice versa. (p. 69)
General ability’s pool) and try to match or exceed a
Difficulty number (usually 4). (p. 35)
� Spending Corruption lets you cast powerful spells To Damage
or inflict exceptional damage, but corrupts either
your body, or your friends’ Morale and the world
� If your attack hit your target, you normally inflict
1d6 +1 damage. That damage may vary a bit if
around you. (p. 117)
you’re using a weapon. (p. 68)
� If you spent enough Wealth at the start of the
game, you may have High Repute you can use to
� Your minimum result on that damage die roll
is the number of points (up to 6) you spent while
buy your way out of trouble. (If you didn’t, your
attacking. (p. 70)
Low Repute might cause you some trouble!) (p.
� If your attack exceeds the target number by 5 or
127)
more, you score a Critical Hit and do an extra die
of damage. (p. 68)
To Attack � You can boost that damage by another 1 die or
more by spending Investigative points, if you can
� To attack someone, tell the GM you’re using
explain to the GM how that ability can help hurt
Warfare (to attack someone’s Health), Sway (to
your target more. (p. 71)
attack their Morale), or Sorcery (which targets
either Health or Morale) (p. 65), and whether
� The damage you inflict (and inflicted on you)
is reduced by Armor (for Health) or Grit (for
you want to spend points from that combat ability
Morale). (p. 75)
to add to your attack roll.
� Roll a d6. You’re trying to meet or beat your
� Use Maneuvers for combat stunts or manipulating
people: the target takes damage if they don’t allow
target’s Health or Morale Threshold, usually
your Maneuver to affect them. (p. 72)
a 3 or 4. That means by spending 3 points from
your ability, you’ll automatically succeed in most
situations. (p. 57)
Appendices 363

Creating a Character
Quick Reference
Follow these steps for making a character in Swords of the Serpentine.

1. Choose a character Profession (p. 13).

a. Sentinel: likely trained in law and the subtleties of detecting crime, you’re adept at knowing how crimes
are committed... which may well make you an expert in committing them yourself.
b. Sorcerer: whether you’re possessed by a demon or you’re the heir to ancient Serpentine secrets, you
manipulate fell and forbidden magic.
c. Thief: you may be a lowly street thief or a charming con artist, but you’re skilled in taking what other
people possess — secrets, influence or wealth.
d. Warrior: you focus on dealing death through warfare, whether you’re a mercenary, an outlander
barbarian, or a suave duelist.
e. Mixture: mix and match Investigative Profession abilities to create your own combination.

2. Note a few Adjectives to describe your Hero and write down your Drives, which are your three favorite
things in life (p. 17).

3. Assign Investigative Build Points according to the number of players and choose Investigative Abilities (p.
19).

4. Decide your Allegiances (p. 288) – assign 2 Build Points to Allies (both to the same Ally, or one each to
two Allies) and 1 Build Point to an Enemy. Your Ally and Enemy can be the same faction!

5. Assign 30 General Build Points (p. 35) to your General abilities.

1. 6. Assign Health and Morale (p. 77), splitting 18 Build Points between the two, with a minimum of 3 in
each.

7. Give yourself Health and Morale Thresholds of 3; if your Health or Morale is 10 or higher, that threshold
will be a 4.

8. If you have any ranks of Corruption, decide whether your Sorcery targets your enemies’ Health or Morale.
Pick one Sorcerous Sphere (the theme and appearance of your spells) for every rank of Corruption you
possess. See p. 103.

9. Write down 5 or more pieces of minor, iconic gear that help define who you are (p. 42).

10. Give yourself 1 point of Grit (p. 75). Grit helps reduce Morale damage.

11. You start with no Wealth (p. 125) and you’ll start with No Repute (see p. 128) for the first adventure.

12. Name yourself. Most people in Eversink have fantasy names based on medieval Italian names (there
are plenty of lists online), but there’s nothing magical about that naming scheme, so name your Hero
something you love.

You’re ready to go!

Name Character Portrait

True Name?
Check if True Name is known

Profession What is Best in Life?

Adjectives

INVESTIGATIVE ABILITIES

Social Sentinel Sorcerer

Charm Felonious Intent Corruption
Command Laws & Traditions Forgotten Lore
Intimidation Spirit Sight Leechcraft
Liar’s Tell Vigilance Prophecy
Nobility
Servility Thief Warrior
City’s Secrets Know Monstrosities
Taunt
Ridiculous Luck Spot Frailty Health
Morale
Trustworthy
Scurrilous Rumors Tactics of Death
Skulduggery Wilderness Mastery

GENERAL ABILITIES ALLEGIANCES

Athletics
Dodge

Bind Wounds
Plenty of Leeches

Burglary
Fast Hands

Preparedness
Flashback

Stealth
Where’d She Go?

Sorcery
Blast Wealth
Sway
Play to the Crowd
Lifestyle
Warfare Cleave

Threshold Armor

Health -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Morale -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Threshold Grit

GEAR SORCEROUS SPHERES

5+ items of character-defining gear grants 1 point of Grit Affects: Health Morale
Appendices 365

Sorcery Quick Reference

Here’s a quick summary of the Sorcery and Corruption mechanics.
To start:
� Decide whether your Sorcery attacks your foe’s Health or Morale (p. 102)
� Decide how you learned Sorcery (p. 102)
� Decide what your Sorcerous Spheres are (p. 103)
Sorcery (p. 40) is a combat General ability that targets either Health or Morale. You can:
� attack with it normally (Damage Modifier +1) (p. 65)
� describe any unopposed, regular activity that most people could do as coming from Sorcery
� use any Investigative ability, or spend any Investigative pool point, and describe the standard effect as coming
from Sorcery
� create standard Maneuvers (p. 72)
Corruption is the Investigative ability that gives your magic its true reality-bending power. The more ranks of
Corruption you have, the more powerful a Sorcerer you are.
Spend pool points of Corruption to:
� affect lots of targets or do exceptional damage (p. 113)
� trigger target area damage (p. 115)
� create non-standard unique spells (p. 115)
� create Maneuvers (p. 72) that aren’t covered by an ability you already possess
� level a Curse at a foe (p. 122)
Every time you spend a point of Corruption, you must address it either by:
� internalizing it (p. 117):
• Make a Health test, Difficulty 3 + Corruption points spent
� externalizing it (p. 118):
• All allies nearby must make a Morale test of Difficulty 3 + Corruption points spent; they each lose 4 Morale
if they fail.
 366 Swords of the Serpentine

GM Enemies, Grudges & Repute Quick Reference

Hero 1: Hero 2: Hero 3: Hero 4: Hero 5: Hero 6:
ENEMIES
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________

Ancient Nobility

Church of Denari

City Watch

Commoners

Guild of Architects

Mercanti

Mercenaries

Monstrosities

Outlanders

Sorcerous Cabal

Thieves’ Guilds

Triskadane

GRUDGES

Ancient Nobility

Church of Denari

City Watch

Commoners

Guild of Architects

Mercanti

Mercenaries

Monstrosities

Outlanders

Sorcerous Cabal

Thieves’ Guilds

Triskadane

LOW REPUTE
Appendices 367

Investigative Abilities Quick Reference

Ability Name Type Description Page #
Charm Social People like you, or find you attractive 21
City’s Secrets Profession/Thief You know the back streets and hidden truths of cities 29
Command Social People listen to you when you give them orders 21
Profession/ You can tap into the foul source of sorcery
Corruption 26
Sorcerer for knowledge and power
Profession/
Felonious Intent You can spot warning signs of crime and criminal behavior 24
Sentinel
Profession/
Forgotten Lore You know facts, legends, and trivia others have long forgotten 26
Sorcerer
Intimidation Social Others find you terrifying 22
Profession/ You know legends or secrets about non-human creatures,
Know Monstrosities 31
Warrior including their tactics and motivations
Profession/ You know the (often obscure) laws and traditions of wherever
Laws & Traditions 24
Sentinel you live
Profession/ You can diagnose ailments and know how to cause or heal
Leechcraft 27
Sorcerer diseases, injuries and poison
Liar’s Tell Social You usually know when you’re being lied to 22
You fit in with the upper crust, who treat you with special
Nobility Social 22
privilege
Profession/
Prophecy You can prophesy secrets from the past, present or future 27
Sorcerer
You’re far luckier than most people, and stumble on leads
Ridiculous Luck Profession/Thief 29
others might miss
Bribery, gossip, and whispered secrets help you learn what
Scurrilous Rumors Profession/Thief 30
others have done
You fit in with common people, and tend to fade into the
Servility Social 23
background
You can find out hidden information through reprehensible
Skulduggery Profession/Thief 30
methods such as blackmail, spying, and shadowing
Profession/ You can see into the spirit realm, and may sense
Spirit Sight 24
Sentinel ghosts or Corruption
You notice and exploit weaknesses in armor, objects, and
Profession/
Spot Frailty structures; and you might even see weakness in people’s 31
Warrior
personalities, allowing you to manipulate them emotionally
Profession/
Tactics of Death You can read fight scenes and understand military tactics 32
Warrior
Taunt Social You can make people angry enough to monologue at you 23
Trustworthy Social People want to trust you unless you give them a reason not to 23
Profession/ You notice tiny details others might miss,
Vigilance 25
Sentinel making you seldom surprised
Profession/
Wilderness Mastery You can navigate, survive, and even thrive outside of cities 32
Warrior
368 Swords of the Serpentine

General Abilities Quick Reference

Page
Ability Name Description Talent
Number

Covers physical activities such as You have the opportunity to dodge or parry
Athletics 37
running, jumping, and climbing. Warfare attacks.

Spend 1 point to heal someone

Bind Wounds Heal yourself as efficiently as you heal others. 37
else 2 Health points.

Pick pockets, open locks, sleight

Burglary Pick pockets as a free action. 38
of hand, steal things.

How hard you are to kill or

Health defeat (and believe us, many 38
things would like to kill you!)

How long you stay in a conflict

Morale 38
before surrendering.

Roll to have what you need, Set up Flashbacks where, on the fly, you
Preparedness 38
when you need it. establish your schemes and plans.

Use your Sorcerous Spheres

You may injure more than one target on a
Sorcery to attack someone’s Health or 40
high attack roll.
Morale.

You can disappear and pop up wherever and

Stealth You move unseen. 41
whenever you want to.

Use fear or persuasion to attack You may injure more than one target on a
Sway 41
someone’s Morale. high attack roll.

Use a weapon to attack You may injure more than one target on a
Warfare 42
someone’s Health. high attack roll.
Appendices 369

Health Quick Reference

Health: 0+ Health: –1 to –5 Health: –6 to –10 Health: Below –10
SERIOUSLY
HEALTHY HURT DEFEATED
WOUNDED
� You aren’t � Immediately make a � Immediately make � You’re removed from
physically Difficulty 4 Health test another Difficulty 4 the conflict. The attacker
injured in any to stay conscious. Health test to stay decides in what way you are
meaningful � Difficulties of all General conscious. defeated.
or lasting ability tests increase by � Healing is only half � Investigative spends (when
way. You may 1 until at or above 0 as effective on you as conscious) are sharply
look bruised Health. normal. limited.
or battered, � Can be healed normally � Lose an additional � You may no longer take
however. with the Bind Wounds Health point every half actions during this scene.
ability. hour until stabilized. � If slain, hope that your loved
� Difficulties of all General ones have a funerary statue
ability tests increase by crafted for you, so that your
2 until at or above 0 soul isn’t denied the afterlife
Health. (see p. 229).
� Difficulties for General
ability tests remain raised
by 1 for the rest of the
adventure as you heal.

Morale Quick Reference

Morale: 0+ Morale: –1 to –5 Morale: –6 to –10 Morale: below –10

RESILIENT UNSTABLE PANICKED BROKEN

Able to think Immediately make a Immediately make another Choose one:

and act as Difficulty 4 Morale Difficulty 4 Morale test to
If you don’t become
normal. test to stay active in remain active in the scene. If
Treasonous (see below),
the scene. If you fail, you fail, tell the GM why you
you’re removed from the
tell the GM why you are no longer active (fainted,
conflict. Develop mental
are no longer active afraid, etc.).
and spiritual instabilities that
(fainted, afraid, etc.).
plague you going forward.
Using Sway to bolster your
Difficulties of all Morale is only half as effective
Investigative spends (when
General ability tests as normal.
conscious) are sharply limited.
increase by 1 until at
or above 0 Morale. Difficulties of all General
You are forever more
ability tests increase by 2 until
vulnerable to possession by
Morale can be at or above 0 Morale.
ghosts.
bolstered normally
with the Sway ability. Difficulties for General ability
tests remain raised by 1 for
the rest of the adventure.
370 Swords of the Serpentine

Difficulty Number Quick Reference

Difficulty Number Level Example
3 Easy Sneaking past a sleeping guard
4 Normal (default) Sneaking past an awake guard
6 Hard Sneaking past an awake, alert guard
8 Very Hard Sneaking past an awake, alert guard with a guard dog
Sneaking past a well-lit watch-post full of alert guards,
10 Exceptionally Hard
watch dogs, and vigilant geese1

As per Difficulty 10, except they have a prophet

12 Nearly Impossible
or they’ve been warned you’re coming

1
Throughout actual history, geese turn out to make superb guards, and that’s true in Eversink as well. No, seriously! Go Google
it, and see p. 173.

Damage Calculation Quick Reference

+ Investigative + Teamwork
Base Damage + Damage Modifier + Critical Hits
Spends Attacks
+1 bonus damage
1d6; minimum die per every 5 Damage given to
Sorcery: +1; Sway: +1 bonus
damage is the points that your you by an ally,
+1; Warfare: from damage die per
number of points attack exceeds the excluding Damage
weapon (usually +0 Investigative point
spent on the attack Health or Morale Modifiers, if you
to +2, see p. 133) spent (see p. 71)
(max 6) Threshold (see p. hit (see p. 69)
68)
Bonus targets from
combat Talents
Corruption
take 1 die +1
spends may inflict
damage, with no
exceptional damage
other modifiers; or
(see p. 117)
4 damage if you
want to save time

Spending Corruption Quick Reference

When you spend points of Corruption (p 117), you must either Internalize or Externalize
the inhuman essence you channel.
Externalize (p. 118): you sicken the world around
Internalize (p. 117): make an immediate Health
you. Your allies (and only allies) within Medium
test with a Difficulty of 3 + 1 per point of Corruption
range or closer must make a Morale test with a
spent.
Difficulty of 3 + 1 per point of Corruption spent.
Success? Write down something small that changed
Success? No further consequence.
about your Hero’s physical appearance.
Failure? Write down something noticeable that
Failure? Each ally who fails the test loses 4 Morale.
changed about your Hero's physical appearance.
Index 371

In d e x

Alertness Modifier 57–58 armor-piercing (weapon modifier)

A surprise 77 132
allegiances (character) 53–55 The Arsenal 270
active leads 51 customizing 220 assassin (character template) 45
adjectives (character) 17 description 33–34 Athletics (General ability) 37
advancement 98–99 factions in Eversink 288–299 Talent: Dodge 37
adventures ignoring 53 atmospheric (scene type) 215
contructing as GM 215–219 Allies (Adversary special ability) 160, 210 attacking 65–70. See also combat
Corpse Astray (introductory Allies (character) 33, 54 attacking a foe 65–68
adventure) 329–361 ranks in Ancient Nobility 288 attacking with Malus 158
one-shots 217 ranks in Church of Denari 290 attacking with Sorcery 65–66
Adversaries ranks in City Watch 291 attacking with Sway 66
Alertness and Stealth Modifiers ranks in Commoners 291 attacking with Warfare 66–68
157 ranks in Guild of Architects quick rules 49, 362
armor and grit 157 292–293 teamwork attacks 69–70
building 155 ranks in Mercanti 293 without abilities 70
choosing Investigative abilities 159 ranks in Mercenaries 295
combat balance 156–157 ranks in Monstrosities 295
combat effectiveness 156
combat survivability 155
ranks in Outlanders 297
ranks in Sorcerous Cabals 298 B
effectiveness 155, 208–209 ranks in Thieves’ Guilds 299
ranks in Triskadane 301 Badge of Office (gear) 134
Health and Morale Thresholds
alternate (scene type) 215 bank script (currency) 126
155–156
ambush. See surprise barbarian (character template) 45
List of Adversary Special Abilities
Amulet of Spiraling Agony (sorcerous Beastmaster
160–165
protective gear) 146 echoing in play 33
Malus 158–159
Anchor Knife (sorcerous weapon) 147 beggar (character template) 46
monstrosities 183–200
The Ancient Nobility 288–289 Beggar’s Rags (sorcerous gear) 142
nomenclature 153
sample characters 166–167 Belief (sorcerous rune) 145
sample humans 166–182
Animal (Sorcerous Sphere) 104 bell (currency) 126
special abilities 159–165
Animated Statue (monstrosity) 184 Bet Hurasu (ziggurat in Erebos) 321
survivability 155
antagonist reaction (scene type) 215 Big Damn Adventurers
unique abilities 156
antidotes 90 (game frame) 8
Advocates’ Guild 286
architecture (of Eversink) 230–232 Bind Wounds (General ability) 37
Guild House 255
The Arena 235 Talent: Plenty of Leeches 38
Aging (Sorcerous Sphere) 104
armor 75 The Black Company
Air (Sorcerous Sphere) 104
armor penalties 136 echoing in play 10
Alchemist’s Fire (gear) 134
mundane protective gear 136–137 mass combat in 32
Alchemy (Thaumaturgy Sorcerous
armor-piercing (Adversary special Blackjacks (sorcerous token) 151
Sphere) 222
ability) 160 Black Swans 148, 182, 284, 291, 301
Alderhall 259–262
Intelligence Committee 284
372 Swords of the Serpentine

PCs working with 9 King Ceolwulf XIV sample spend 29

Blades (Sorcerous Sphere) 105 (ruler of Capria) 312 City Watch 291
Blast (Sorcery talent) 40 Cestino’s Cameos (gear) 135 game frame 9
blindness 84 chainmail armor sample characters 170
bloodneedles (large mosquitoes) 237 (protective gear) 136 class warfare 306
Blood (Sorcerous Sphere) 105 Chantry (sorcerous heavy mace) 147 Cleave (Warfare talent) 42
bodyguard (Adversary Chaos (Sorcerous Sphere) 106 Close range 63
special ability) 160 character 7–48 clues. See leads
bolster Morale (Adversary advancement 98–99 Coinish (language). See Vulgar
special ability) 160 cooperation 58 Caprian (language of Eversink)
Bookhounds of Eversink generation. See character coins in Eversink 126
(game frame) 8 generation banks and coinage 304
The Border Lands 326–327 nomenclature 153 cold (hazard) 89
bridge (currency) 126 piggybacking 58 combat 63–77. See also attacking; See
Broken (Morale 10 or lower) 83 during chases 62 also cover
Broken Rules (sorcerous token) 151 character generation Adversaries in 155–157
broken wings (the mad) 264 adjectives 17 Alertness Modifiers 57–58
brute (character template) 46 allegiances 33 armor 75
buckler (protective gear) 136 creating your group 8–10 attacking a foe 65–68
build points drives 17 attacking without abilities 70
allegiances 34, 55 for the GM 204–205 cover 74–77
character templates 45 General abilities 35–42 critical hits 68
for fledgling Heroes 225 Investigative abilities 18–21 initiative 64–65
for sovereign Heroes 225 minor, iconic gear 42–44 Maneuvers 72–74
General abilities 35 niche protection 28 multiple foes 68–69
Investigative abilities 19, 21 Profession Investigative abilities no melee combat variant rule 219
per number of players 19 24–33 order of actions 63
burglar (character template) 46 professions 13 Preparedness as a combat
Burglary (General ability) 38 quick reference 11 ability 39
Talent: Fast Hands 38 quick-start templates 45–48 range 63–64
burials 233–234 sample character 12 Stealth Modifiers 58
Buzzing Acolyte (monstrosity) 184 samples character-defining gear 44 surprise 77
Social Investigative abilities 21–23 tactical mass combat 32
Charm (Social ability) teamwork attacks 69–70
C description 20–21
sample spend 21
using miniatures 64
weaponry 68
chase rules 59–62 Command (Social ability)
Cabals and Covens (game frame) 8 and Malus 158 description 21
Cabinet Committees 284–285 example 60 sample spend 21
Cachain (city in Caym) 315 fleeing 60 Committee for Law and
cadia juice (poison gear) 138 piggybacking 62 Diplomacy 285
Calcia’s Reach 281 racing to a location 59–62 Committee for the Courts 285
The Calcifex Manuscript Chuggut (monstrosity) committees in Eversink 283–285
(grimoire) 141 as a threat 306 Committee Diplomat
Camadi (city on the Destroyed Golden Swamp 280 (character template) 47
Plateau) 327 hunter 185 Commoners 291–292
campaign swamp shaman 185 sample characters 171–173
constructing as GM 218–219 Church Inquisitors 120, 182, 196, Companions
Great Kingdom of Capria 312–313 290, 298 building a Companion 154
Low Caprian (language) 235 Church Militant nomenclature 153
Vulgar Caprian (language of character template 47 Conan the Barbarian
Eversink) 235 religious crusades 307 mass combat in 32
captivity (PCs) 80 Church of Denari 290 sorcery in 14
Sergio Caputo (historian) 239 Church Canon 257 The Phoenix on the Sword 29
Carbone, Nunzio 265 sample characters 168–170 What three things are best in life
catchbeak (bird) 237 City’s Secrets (Profession/Thief See drives
Caymic (language) 235 ability) Constricting Serpent
Republic of Caym 314–315 description 29 (sorcerous token) 151
Index 373

Contests 58–62
Cook, Glen D tidal plague 86–87
wetlung 87–88
heroes of 10
damage Disease (Sorcerous Sphere) 106
Cooperation (character action) 58
area damage 115 disguise
core clues. See core leads
boosting with Corruption Adversary special ability 161
core leads 51
table 114 theatrical disguise (gear) 135
core (scene type) 215
boosting with Investigative spends Divine Partnership. See Church of
corruption
examples 71 Denari
affecting an Adversary 116–117
damage calculation table 70 Dodge (Athletics talent) 37
affecting the environment 116
exceptional damage 113 Dogbane (gear) 135
area damage 115
extra damage - Adversary special Do-Gooders (game frame) 9
as a crime 287
ability 161 dramatic (scene type) 215
as a threat 306
fixed 79 drives 17
basics 49, 362
from Malus 158 The Drowned (monstrosity)
bloodlines and 118
Melee and Ranged Weapons Table 187–188
curing corrupted locations 120
133 drowning (hazard) 88
exceptional damage 113–114
quick rules 50, 362 drugs. See poisons (hazard)
externalized corruption 118–120
weapons 132–134 from The Glass Garden 262
how it works 113
death 80–81 duelist (character template) 47
internalized corruption 117–118
scarring a location with 118–120 burial and funerary statues
Thaumaturgy as an 233–234
alternative 221–223 death curse E
unique spells 115–116 Adversary special ability 160
Corruption (Profession/ Heroes special ability 124 Earring of Truth (sorcerous gear) 143
Sorcerer ability) Death (Sorcerous Sphere) 106 Earth (Sorcerous Sphere) 107
description 26 Decay (Sorcerous Sphere) 106 eelball (sport) 235
sample spend 26 Defeated (Health -10 or lower) 79 Eel Blade (sorcerous saber) 148
counterfeiting 287, 308 defense boost (Adversary special abili- eel (currency) 126
Counting House Row 255–256 ty) 161 Eel Run (event) 235, 237
cover 74–76 Defense Committee 284 Effigy Square 254–255
against Sorcery and Warfare Demogogue (sorcerous staff) 150 encumbrance 131
attacks 74 Demonic Counsel (monstrosity) 185 Endless Prayer (sorcerous protective
against Sway attacks 74–75 Demonology (Sorcerous Sphere) 106 gear) 146
armor 75 Shadow Demon (monstrosity) 196 Enemies (character) 33, 54–55
grit 75 Denari 227–229 ranks in Ancient Nobility 288
last-minute protective wards 76 Cygnini 235 ranks in Church of Denari 290
protective wards 75–76 Denari’s Blessing 227–229 ranks in City Watch 291
shields 75 The Goddess’ Isle 279 ranks in Commoners 291
crime in Eversink 287 working against 9 ranks in Guild of Architects 293
critical hits 68 working for 10 ranks in Mercanti 293–294
currency in Eversink 126 Denaria. See Eversink ranks in Mercenaries 295
banks and coinage 304 Denari’s Blessing 227–229 ranks in Monstrosities 295–297
curses 122–124 Denari’s Book of Truths and Tax ranks in Outlanders 297–298
Adversary death curse 160 Code (gear) 135 ranks in Sorcerous Cabals 298
death curses 124 Denari’s Singer (monstrosity) 186 ranks in Thieves’ Guilds 299–300
escape clause 123 Destroyed Plateau 326–327 ranks in Triskadane 301
mechanics 122 Dezhakos (city in Erebos) 321 using as a GM 210–212
power of 123 dice 2 Entropy (Sorcerous Sphere) 106
Curses (Sorcerous Sphere) 106 using different colours 66 Theocracy of Erebos 320–321
customizing Swords of the Difficulty (usually 4) 56–58 escape clause (for curses) 123
Serpentine 219–226 Difficulty number table 57 Eversink 227–229
steampunk Swords of the quick rules 49, 362 animals 236–237
Serpentine 314 diseases 84–88, 306 architecture 230–232
cygnet (currency) 126 scabral 85–86 climate 230, 307
Cygnini (divine language) 235, swamp rot 86 committees in 283–285
286–287 throat leeches 86 crimes 287
374 Swords of the Serpentine

districts of 241–281 from Prophecy 28 about 35

economics and trade in 302–306 flashback (scene type) 215 adding new 223
food 235–236 Great Flatlands 316–318 customizing 223–224
government of 282–287 fledgling Heroes 225 customizing for less randomness
history 238–241 fleeing 60. See also chase rules 219
infrastructure 232–233 Flesh (Sorcerous Sphere) 107 describing use of 41
languages 235 flight (Adversary special ability) 161 descriptions 37–42
laws 285–287 Flock of Carnivorous Seabirds hidden leads 52
location of 229 (monstrosity) 188 initial build points 35
map 242–243 flooding and weather 307 limit 35
overview 4 floodlung (poison gear) 139 list 36
people of 229–230 fluid (Adversary special ability) 162 scale for 35
scenes from 4 foes. See also Adversaries; spending 57
sports 234–235 See also monstrosities; talents 35
statues in 229 See also mooks tests 56–62
threats to 306–308 attacking multiple 68–69 using investigatively 52
experience points. See advancement named 207 Generosity (sorcerous rune) 146
externalized corruption 118–120 single 207 ghosts
extra action (Adversary special food 235–236 playing a 226
ability) 161 The Foreign District 267 The Spirit World 281
extra damage (Adversary special foreign trading partners 304 stats for monstrosity 188
ability) 161 trade as invasion 305 using in game 26
Forgotten Lore (Profession/Sorcerer Ghosts (Sorcerous Sphere) 107
ability) The Glass Garden 261–262
description 26–27 gluggut (poison gear) 139
F protective wards 75–76 glyphs 124
sample spend 27 GM advice
Faceless (monstrosity) 187–188 Founders’ Square 245–246 about Sorcery 113
factions in Eversink 288–299 The Foundry (old and new) 271 adventure construction 215–219
The Falcon’s Eye (sorcerous crossbow) framing (the game) 8–10 alternate Maneuver rule 226
148 Freelance Slinks (game frame) 9 building a Companion 154
falling (hazard) 88 funerary statues 233–234 character construction 204–205
fallow weed (poison gear) 138 Fury (sorcerous rune) 145–146 chase example 60
Family Business (game frame) 9 choosing Adversary Investigative
Fast Hands (Burglary talent) 38 abilities 159
Favors (character) 33, 54
fear (Adversary special ability) 161
G customizing abilities 223–224
customizing Swords of the
fearsome blow (Adversary special Serpentine 219–226
ability) 161 Gamemaster advice. See GM advice deciding who goes next in
Fear (Sorcerous Sphere) 107 Game of Thrones combat 65
feasting (venom gear) 138 playing heroes of 10 describing use of General
Felonious Intent (Profession/Sentinel gear. See also weapons abilities 41
ability) cost 131 designing disease symptoms 85
description 24 grimoires 141–142 Difficulty numbers 56
sample spend 24 how much you can carry 131 eliminating Repute 127
Fiella’s Ring of Terrible Distraction minor, iconic gear 42–44 Guaranteeing a minimum lifestyle
(sorcerous gear) 143 miscellaneous 134–135 130
fights. See combat miscellaneous sorcerous 142–145 Heroes with disabilities 85
finale (scene type) 215 mundane protective 136–137 how to run a fight 206–212
firearms 134 poisons, toxins and venoms ignoring allegiances 53
lethality of 132 138–140 judging Investigative ability
fire (hazard) 88–89, 307 runes 145–146 spends 205
Fire (Sorcerous Sphere) 107 sorcerous protective 146–147 jumping around in time 8
fish (currency) 126 sorcerous staves 150–151 lethality of firearms 132
flashback (Adversary special ability) sorcerous weapons 147–151 luck may swing both ways 29
161 tokens 151–152 making mooks matter 154
Flashback (Preparedness talent) 39–40 General abilities 35–42 note the leads 51
Index 375

One-on-One play 224 blindness 84 Infidels (game frame) 9

Racism, Sexism, and Class death 80–81 initiative 64–65
Structure 230 Defeated (Health -10 or lower) deciding who goes next in combat
safety tools 201 79 65
seeing ghosts 26 disabilities 85 strategy 65
setting the tone 201 diseases 84–88 using markers 65
Slaughterer’s Sword 149 drowning and suffocation 88 injuries 78–79
success at a cost 206 hazards 88–89 healing 80
training players towards healing injuries 80 inquisitor (character template) 47
improvisation 202 Healthy (Health 0+) 78 Inquisitors (game frame) 10
trap design 93 Hurt (Health -1 to -5) 78 insubstantial (Adversary special ability)
using Enemy, Grudge and Low poisons and venoms 89–91 162
Repute Points 210–212 Quick Reference Table 78 Intelligence Committee 283–284
The Goddess’ Isle 279 regaining 79 trade as intelligence 305
God-Emperor and God-Empress (rul- Seriously Wounded internalized corruption 117–118
ers of Senggon) 324–325 (Health -6 to -10) 78 Intimidation (Social ability)
God of Fire and Flame 321 tests 77–79 description 22
The Golden Contract 240, 286–287 Health Threshold 77 sample spend 22
designer notes on 288 Healthy (Health 0+) 78 Intro (scene type) 215
Golem (monstrosity) 189 heat (hazard) 89 traps
Government Agents (game frame) 9 The Hermitage (court house) 253 and Investigative abilities 94–96
Grand Marketplace. See The Grand Heroes Investigative abilities 18–33
Marketplace fledgling Heroes 225 about 18, 49, 362
items for sale 303 nomenclature 153 adding new 223
Grasping Bogs. See Calcia’s Reach sovereign 225 customizing 223–224
Grease (sorcerous token) 151 hidden leads 52 initial build points 19
grimoires 141–142 high Repute 127–128 judging spends as GM 205
grit 75 history of Eversink 238–241 limits 18
Grudges (character) 33, 55 hivemind (Adversary special list 20–21
using as a GM 210–212 ability) 162 Profession Investigative abilities
Guild Houses 255 The Hobbit 24–33
Lesser Guild Houses and Chapter- echoing in play 31 scale for 18
houses 276 Hohenach (city in Capria) 313 sentinel Investigative abilities
Guild of Architects and Canal-Watch- Hollowed (monstrosity) 190 24–26
ers 292–293 hollowing (poison gear) 139 Social Investigative abilities 21–23
guild house 255 The Hospital 277 sorcerer Investigative abilities
sample characters 173–175 The House of Broken Wings 264 26–28
guns. See firearms Howard, Robert E. 8 spending points 51–52
gutsplash (poison gear) 139 The Phoenix on the Sword 29 during chases 62
playing heroes of 8 thief Investigative abilities 29–30
Humiliation (sorcerous rune) 146 warrior Investigative abilities
H Hunger (sorcerous greataxe) 148
Hurt (health -1 to -5) 78–79
31–33
invigorate (Adversary special
ability) 162
halfeel (currency) 126 invisibility (Adversary special
halfswan (currency) 126
Harbor Approach 268–273 I ability) 162
The Kingdom of Irilev 322–323
Harbor Committee 271, 283, 285 Iron Bridge 258
Haven (Cathedral) 245–246 Ice (Sorcerous Sphere) 107 Ironcross 252–259
hazards 84–91 Illusion (Sorcerous Sphere) 108
hazard (scene type) 215 Ilys Illan (river in Irilev) 323
The Head of Goffredo Zetticci (sor- immigration 307
cerous gear) 143–144 Imperator University 256–257
healing (Adversary special ability) 162 Imperial Ebony Palace (palace in Seng-
Health 38, 77–80. See also gon) 325
diseases infection (Adversary special
and Bind Wounds 37 ability) 162
376 Swords of the Serpentine

lightning speed (Adversary special Mesmerism (Thaumaturgy Sorcerous

K ability) 162 Sphere) 223
linger (Adversary special ability) 163 Mieng (city in Senggon) 325
Kearel, ‘Mayor’ Viltevar (ruler of Milk- Littlefinger Milktown (city in Border Lands)
town) 327 echoing in play 10 326–327
Great Khathor (ruler of Vontavni) locations mind reading (Adversary special
316–318 curing corrupted 120 ability) 163
Know Monstrosities (Profession/ scarring with Corruption 118–120 miniatures 64
Warrior) lockpicking. See drives; See Min (ship city) 320
description 31 Burglary (General ability) Misbegotten Soldiers (game frame) 10
sample spend 31 The Lord of the Rings Misdirection (sorcerous token) 152
mass combat in 32 The Monastery 247
Lord Varys money in Eversink 126

L
echoing in play 10 monstrosities 154, 183–200, 295–297
loss (health) 77 using effectively 207
loud (weapon modifier) 132 monstrous ability (Adversary special
Lackey, Mercedes Love (Sorcerous Sphere) 108 ability) 163
playing heroes of 8 low Repute 127 montage (scene type) 215
Lament (sorcerous sword) 148 using as a GM 210–212 challenge montages 217
Languages 235 Luck (Sorcerous Sphere) 108 mooks
laws in Eversink 285–287 Luz Rech (city in Irilev) 323 attacking with Cleave 42
Laws & Traditions (Profession/Senti- Lycanthrope (monstrosity) 191 making mooks matter 154
nel ability) Lynch, Scott nomenclature 154
description 24 inspiration for Repute 128 using effectively 206–207
sample spend 24 playing heroes of 10 Moonlit Sea 312, 313, 318, 319
Lead-Ins 215–216 Morale 38, 81–84
Lead-Outs 215–216 bolstering with Sway 83
leads 50–53
active leads 51
M Broken (Morale 10 or lower) 83
Panicked (Morale -6 to -10) 82
finding hidden 52 regaining 84
passive leads 51 Mages of Senggon (Senggon court- Resilient (Morale 0+) 82
using as a GM 212–214 iers) 324 tests 81–83
leather armor (protective gear) 136 magic. See Sorcery Treasonous (Morale 10 or lower)
Leechcraft (Profession/Sorcerer magical charm (Adversary special 83
ability) ability) 163 Unstable (Morale -1 to -5) 82
antidotes 90 The Great Malik (ruler of Erebos) Mulgai (temple complex in Salt Moun-
description 27 321 tains) 328
poisons and venoms 89–91 Malus (Adversary wild card ability) Music (Sorcerous Sphere) 109
sample spend 27 158–159
leecher (character template) 47 Maneuvers 72–74
Leech (sorcerous short sword) 148
Leiber, Fritz map
alternate Maneuver rule 226
N
playing heroes of 8 of Eversink 242–243
Liar’s Tell (Social ability) of the world 310–311 Narissimanitellikul 239
and fallow weed 138 The Grand Marketplace 247–250 Necromancy (Sorcerous Sphere) 109
description 22 marketpriests 290 The Nest. See Haven (Cathedral)
sample spend 22 character template 47 niche protection 28
The Library (Sages’ Guild) 257 mastermind (Adversary special ability) Night Markets 265–266
Lich (monstrosity) 191 163 nightstones (gear) 135
The Lies of Locke Lamora The Mausoleum 246 Nobility (Social ability)
as Repute inspiration 128 Memory (Sorcerous Sphere) 108 description 22–23
echoing in play 10 Mercanti 293–294 sample spend 23
Lifedrinker (sorcerous mace) 149 sample characters 175 Nolio’s Coin (sorcerous gear) 144
lifestyle 127–130 Mercenaries 295 Non-Player Character. See
lighthouses 279 sample characters 176–177 Supporting Characters;
Lightning (Sorcerous Sphere) 108 mercenary (character template) 48 See Companions; See
Adversaries
Index 377

No Repute 127 safety tools 201 Possession (Sorcerous Sphere) 110

NPC. See Supporting Characters; stock up on a combat ability 35 Potion of Fluidity (sorcerous
See Companions; See three uses of Sway 66 gear) 144
Adversaries trying the wrong ability 24 Pratchett, Terry
using different colored dice 66 playing heroes of 8–9
you tell me 4 Prefetti, Valentina de 264
O Play to the Crowd (Sway talent) 41
Plenty of Leeches (Bind Wounds
Preparedness (General ability) 38–40
Talent: Flashback 39–40
talent) 38 Professions (character) 13–16
Obsessed Cultist (monstrosity) 191 plot hooks
obvious (weapon modifier) 132 Investigative abilities 24–33
Alderhall 260 Sentinel 13
Old Mansions 250 The Arsenal 270
The Old Summer Palace Investigative abilities 24–26
Counting House Row 256 Sorcerer 14
(prison) 272 Downwind Warehouses 267
Omuzaphur (city in Erebos) Investigative abilities 26–28
The Foreign District 268 Thief 15
313, 321 The Glass Garden 262
One-on-One play 224 Investigative abilities 29–30
The Grand Marketplace 247 Warrior 16
one-shots. See adventures: Guild Houses 276
one-shots Investigative abilities 31–33
The Guild Houses 255 Prophecy (Profession/Sorcerer ability)
The Opera House 261 Harbor Approach 270
The Ophidius Parables (grimoire) description 27–28
Haven 245 sample spend 28
141–142 The Hermitage 253
oracle (Adversary special ability) 163 prophet (character template) 48
The Hospital and the
Oracular Knife (sorcerous gear) 144 Orphanage 277
Orenzio the Marketpriest The House of Broken
(historian) 239 Wings 264 Q
origin story (of PC group) 8–10 Imperator University 257
The Orphanage 277 Ironcross 252 quick-start
Outlanders 297–298 Ironcross’ Housing 259 attacking a foe 65
sample characters 177–178 Market City Watch House 251 character templates 45
The Mausoleum 246 creating a character 11
The Monastery 247 how to play 49–50
P The Night Markets 266
The Old and New Foundry 271
your group’s origin 9
quill (currency) 126
Old Mansions 250 quillkeepers (informers) 284
Panicked (Morale -6 to -10) 82
The Old Summer Palace 273
The Parks 250
Opera House 261
passive leads 51
Penanggalan (monstrosity) 192
The Parks 250
The Revelation Belltower 254 R
penny (currency) 126
Rospo’s Fight Club 265
persuasive (Adversary special racing to a location 59–62
The Sages’ Guild 258
ability) 163 range
Sag Harbor 264
piggybacking (character action) 58 Close 63
Stormhall 273
during chases 62 Long 64
The Tangle 275
The Pillars of Flight 279 Medium 63–64
Temple Market 245
Pirates of Min 318–320 Point-Blank 63
The Well of Tears 254
Plants (Sorcerous Sphere) 109 Very Long 64
plot maps 215–216
plate armor (protective gear) 136 rank
Point-Blank range 63
player advice General abilities 35
poisons (hazard) 89–91
distributing Investigative build how ranks work 21
mundane 138–140
points 19 Investigative abilities 18
Poisons (Thaumaturgy Sorcerous
initiative strategy 65 rank of 5 in Investigative
Sphere) 223
Join the Triskadane! 283 ability 22
pool points
love magic 108 spending 21
refreshing. See refreshes
note the leads 51 ratcatchers 236
spending. See spends
playing low Morale 83 Rattakan (monstrosity) 193
possession (Adversary special
quick-starting your group’s recovery. See refreshes
ability) 163
origin 9
378 Swords of the Serpentine

refreshes 97–98 Salt Mountains of Lut 328 Singer in the Swamp (monstrosity)
Allies 54 scabral (disease) 85–86 197
Enemies 54 Scampering Blade (sorcerous Skeletal Giant (monstrosity) 197
Favors 54 token) 152 Skulduggery (Profession/Thief ability)
General abilities 97–98 scenarios. See adventures description 30
Grudges 55 scenes sample spend 30
Health 79 scene types 215 Stealth Modifiers 58
Investigative abilities 97 alternate 215 Slaughterer’s Sword (sorcerous great-
Morale 84 antagonist reaction (scene type) sword) 149
refresh tokens 97–98 215 slinks (investigators) 9
refugees 307 atmospheric 215 small gods 307
regenerate (Adversary special core 215 in Erebos 321
ability) 164 dramatic 215 snake, giant (monstrosity) 189
reload (weapon modifier) 132 finale 215 Snake’s Eye (protective gear) 137
Reputation Charm (sorcerous gear) flashback 215 snapback (poison gear) 140
144–145 hazard 215 sneak thief (character template) 48
Repute intro 215 Social Investigative abilities 21–23
eliminating 127 montage 215 sorcerer (character profession) 14
Resilient (Morale 0+) 82 subplot 215 character template 48
restaurants scorpion, giant (monstrosity) 189 Investigative abilities 26–28
in Ironcross 258 scorpion shield (protective gear) 137 Sorcerous Cabals 298–299
in Temple Market 251 Scouring Day 234 sample character 48
in The Tangle 278 Scurrilous Rumors (Profession/Thief Sorcerous Spheres 103–111
The Revelation Belltower 254 ability) Aging 104
Ridiculous Luck (Profession/Thief description 30 Air 104
ability) sample spend 30 Alchemy 222
description 29 Sea King’s Blessing (poison gear) 140 Animal 104
sample spend 29 secret police. See Black Swans Blades 105
rituals 120–121 Secrets (Sorcerous Sphere) 110 Blood 105
Rospo, Il (crime boss) 265 seize initiative (Adversary special abil- Chaos 106
rules ity) 164 Curses 106
attacking a foe 65 The Empire of Senggon 324–325 Death 106
basics 49, 362 sentinel (character profession) 13 Decay/Entropy 106
chases 59–62 Investigative abilities 24–26 Demonology 106
contests 58–59 series Disease 106
cooperation 58 constructing as GM 218 Earth 107
piggybacking 58 Seriously Wounded (Health -6 Fear 107
racing to a location 59–62 to -10) 78 Fire 107
retrying a failed test 58 Serpent Folk (monstrosity) 193–194 Flesh 107
simple tests 56–57 Serpentine empire for Supporting Characters 178
runes 145–146 sorcery 102 Ghosts and Spirits 107
running away. See fleeing Serpentine Monstrosity 194 Ice 107
Serpents (Sorcerous Sphere) 110 Illusion 108
Servility (Social ability) in Thaumaturgy 222–223
S description 23
sample spend 23
Lightning 108
Love 108
Seskie (monstrosity) 195 Luck 108
safety tools 201 Shadow (Sorcerous Sphere) 110 Memory 108
Racism, Sexism, and Class Struc- The Shambling Staff (sorcerous staff) Mesmerism 223
ture 230 150 Music 109
The Sages’ Guild 257 shape-shift (Adversary special ability) Necromancy 109
Sag Harbor 263–268 164 Plants 109
Saint Velendo’s Reliquary (sorcerous shield (protective gear) 137 Poisons 223
protective gear) 146–147 shields Possession 110
salt 235–236 and cover 75 Secrets 110
salters 279–280 Signing Day (holiday) 240, 282 Serpents 110
The Salt Lick 279–280 simple tests 56–58 Shadow 110
Index 379

Statuary 110 ability) bolstering Morale with 83

Swamp 110 and ghosts 26 Talent: Play to the Crowd 41
Transformation 110 description 24 three uses of 66
Transmutation 111 sample spend 25 swimming (Adversary special
Transportation 111 Spirits (Sorcerous Sphere) 107 ability) 165
Trickery 111 The Spirit World 281 Swordbreaker (sorcerous rapier)
Water 111 sports 234–235 149–150
Worship 111 Spot Frailty (Profession/Warrior
Sorcery 40, 102–103. See also ability)
Sorcerous Spheres; See
also corruption
description 31
sample spend 31
T
advanced Sorcery 120–124 Statuary (Sorcerous Sphere) 110
attacking with sorcery 65–66 statues in Eversink 229, 233–234 tables
curses 122–124 staves 150–151 attacking a foe 65
customizing 220–223 stealing. See Burglary (General ability) boosting damage with Investiga-
glyphs 124 Stealth (General ability) 41 tive spends examples 71
grimoires 141–142 Talent: Where’d She Go? 41 build points per number of players
how it works 112–113 Stealth Modifiers 58 19–48
miscellaneous sorcerous gear surprise 77 character templates 45
142–145 Steampunk Swords of the Corruption spends 114
prerequisites 40 Serpentine 314 creating a character quick
protective wards 75–76 stony (Adversary special ability) 164 reference 11
quick reference 101 Stormhall 269, 273 curse powers 122
rituals 120–121 Stormtoss’d (sorcerous staff) 151 damage calculation table 70
runes 145–146 streaming 5 Difficulty number table 57
sorcerous protective gear 146–147 strength (Adversary special ability) externalized corruption effects
Sorcerous Spheres 103–111 164 119
sorcerous staves 150–151 stun (weapon modifier) 132 firearms 134
sorcerous weapons 147–151 subplot (scene type) 215 health Quick Reference Table 78
Talent: Blast 40 suffocation (hazard) 88 list of Adversary Special
tokens 151–152 summoning (Adversary special Abilities 160–165
traps 124 ability) 165 list of Investigative abilities 20–21
true names 121–122 Supporting Characters Repute Spend Table 128
sovereign Heroes 225 bullying with Intimidation 22 scale for General abilities 35
spellcasting (Adversary special ability) examples of 166 scale for Investigative abilities 18
164 generic stats for 166 Swords of the Serpentine 101: how
spends nomenclature 153 to play 49–50
advancement points 98–99 Sorcerous Spheres 178 Tabriel’s Favor (sorcerous gear) 145
Allies 54 using Charm on 21 Tactics of Death (Profession/
Corruption 113 Tent City of Surharnil (city in Great Warrior ability)
during chases 62 Flatlands) 318 description 32
Enemies 54 surprise 77 sample spend 32
Favors 54 surrender (PCs) 80 Talents (General abilities) 35
General ability 57 Swamp Ogre (monstrosity) 197 The Tangle 274–278
Grudges 55 swamp rot (disease) 86 targeting. See range
Investigative ability 51 Swamp (Sorcerous Sphere) 110 Taunt (Social ability)
judging Investigative ability spends The Swamps 280–281 description 23
as GM 205 swans. See also Black Swans sample spend 23
Repute 128 Broken Swan. See Prefetti, Valen- Taxation Committee 283–284
Sorcery 112 tina de teamwork (attacks) 69–70
wealth 125–126 gold currency 126 telepathy (Adversary special
spider climb (Adversary special ability) Great Swan Bells 282 ability) 165
164 in Eversink 236–237 teleport (Adversary special
Spider’s Web (game frame) 10 Silent Swan. See Prefetti, ability) 165
Spiraling Darkness (sorcerous token) Valentina de Temple Market 244–251
152 Swan’s Vault 281 tests 56–62
Spirit Sight (Profession/Sentinel Sway (General ability) 41–42 chases 59–62
380 Swords of the Serpentine

contests 58–59 The Old Summer Palace

Health tests 77–79 U (prison) 272
Morale tests 81–83 The Well of Tears (prison) 254
races 59–60 undercity Watch whistle (protective gear) 137
retrying a failed test 58 archaeological remains 239 Water (Sorcerous Sphere) 111
simple tests 56–58 engineer refuge 174 wealth 125–126
Thaumaturgy 221–223 monstrosities 154, 307 from Prophecy ability 28
as an Investigative ability 222 navigating 29, 38 weapons 68, 132–134
Sorcerous Spheres in 222–223 will o’the wisp 198 melee and ranged weapons table
theft. See Burglary (General ability) universal attack (Adversary special 133
Thick as Thieves (game frame) 10 ability) 165 modifiers 132
thief (character profession) 15 Unstable (Morale -1 to -5) 82 sorcerous 147–151
Investigative abilities 29–30 Upper Docks. See Harbor true names 122
Thieves’ Guild 299–300 Approach The Well of Tears (prison) 254
Thirst (sorcerous knife) 150 wetlung (disease) 87–88
throat leeches (disease) 86 What three things are best in life? 17

V
tidal plague (disease) 86–87 See drives
tokens (sorcerous gear) 151–152 Where’d She Go? (Stealth ability) 41
Tolkien, J.R.R. Wilderness Mastery (Profession/War-
echoing in play 31, 41 vampire (monstrosity) 199 rior ability)
Torith (city in Capria) 313 variant rules 219–226 description 32
toxins. See poisons (hazard) venom (Adversary special ability) 165 sample spend 32
Transformation (Sorcerous Sphere) venom (hazard). See poisons (hazard) winged ape (monstrosity) 198–199
110 Very Long range 64 Shadow Wisp (monstrosity) 197
Transmutation (Sorcerous Vigilance (Profession/Sentinel ability) Will o’ the Wisp (monstrosity) 198
Sphere) 111 Alertness Modifiers 57–58 Witch-Queen (Pirate of Min) 318–
Transportation (Sorcerous description 25 320
Sphere) 111 sample spend 25 world-building
traps 91–97 Vontavni Horse Lords 316–318 with Forgotten Lore 27
as chases 62 Worship (Sorcerous Sphere) 111
deactivating with Burglary 38
examples 96
W
and General Abilities 96
notation 96 X
sorcerous 124 warded (Adversary special ability) 165
trap design 93 Warding Charm (sorcerous Xander, Calhoun ‘Shifty’ (pirate king)
Treasonous (Morale 10 or protective gear) 147 320
lower) 83 wards X-Card (safety tool) 201
treasure. See also wealth; See also cur- last-minute protective wards 76 XP See advancement
rency in Eversink protective as cover 75–76
assigning 130 warded (Adversary special
trembleroot (poison gear) 140
Trickery (Sorcerous Sphere) 111
ability) 165
warding charm (sorcerous
Y
tripenny (currency) 126 protective gear) 147
Triskadane 282–283, 301 warehouses Yrans (city in Great Flatlands) 318
messengers for 264 in Harbor Approach 268–269
true names in Sag Harbor 267
and funerary statues 234 Warfare (General ability) 42
attacking with Warfare 66–68
Z
as weapons 122
benefits 121 Talent: Cleave 42
Zelgrieb’s Notebook of Dissection
learning another’s 122 warrior (character profession) 16
(grimoire) 142
learning your own 121 Investigative abilities 31–33
Zhurov, Prince Stepan I (ruler of
Trustworthy (Social ability) watch house 291
Irilev) 322
description 23 in Alderhall 260
Zolotoy Palace (palace in Irilev) 323
sample spend 23 in Sag Harbor 263
zombie (monstrosity) 200
in Temple Market 251
in the Tangle 275