ICHOR-DROWNED

version 1.12

Created by Sillion L and Brendan McLeod

sillionl.itch.io/ichor-drowned

An unofficial supplement for HEART: The City

Beneath. HEART: The City Beneath is copyright
Rowan, Rook and Decard. You can find out more and
support these games at rowanrookanddecard.com

ICHOR-DROWNED is an independent production

and is not affiliated with Rowan, Rook and Decard. It
is published under the RR&D Community License.

Cover art by Kate Fairchild.

Interior art by Roz Bessel (pages 4, 10, 22, 34, and 44),
Kate Fairchild (pages 7 and 102),
and Annie Johnston-Glick (pages 91, 96, 105, and 112.)
Print-on-demand softcover physical editions
Additional art and graphics used as public domain available via The Game Crafter at
and/or under the Unsplash creative license. www.thegamecrafter.com/games/ichor-drowned

Fonts used include Alegreya, Angel Seal Glyphs,

Aquiline, Colus, Dicier, Disgusting Behavior, IM Fell,
Kingthings, Mage Script, Voynich, and Yellow
Magician.

Special thanks to the folks whose work and support

have helped make this possible: Gavin Fregeau,
Matthew Guzdial, Juliet Louis, Minerva McJanda,
Clayton Notestine, Scarlet Petrucci, Speak the Sky,
and everyone at Roll +Bond.

Content and safety warnings

HEART is a horror game, and ICHOR-DROWNED
follows in its steps by treading in material which is
often gruesome or horrifying in its depictions or
implications. This book contains reference (but not
explicit detail) about body horror, self-harm, surgery,
organ replacement, mind control, and possession.
There is no rape or sexual assault in this book.
A DROWNED HEART 3

MANALFAR, AN ANCESTRY 5
Elves who sail the starry sky, descending to Destera like moonbeams

RETRIBUTION, A CALLING 7
A delver back from the brink out for bloody revenge

FOUR NEW CLASSES

Castaways and travelers from the lands beyond

THE DJINN QUERENT 11

An artificer learned in the Nujabian craft of demon-bargaining

THE GIBBERWRIGHT 23
A performer given over to pure chaos, and the power that comes with it

THE PARACAUSAL PUGILIST 35

A deadly street brawler with a keen understanding of space and time

THE SOMNAJAC 45
Probably just a weird vagrant, not a cryptid with dream powers

DELVE DRAWS 57
Oracle-deck prompts to help facilitate building delves for your game

VEHICLES 75
A new resource for delvers to use to explore the world (and get into trouble)

LANDMARKS 79
Some new destinations in the godsblood-soaked City Beneath

ADVERSARIES 85
Horrid creatures and people for your delvers to encounter

TESTAMENT, AN ADVENTURE 91
A whirlwind heist down a river of ichor into heaven’s golden casino

FINALLY, APPENDICES FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE 123

Premade characters, a blank character sheet, and a vehicle sheet
 the city beneath, drenched in godsblood

T he Heart has changed. It lies drowned,

deep under a seemingly-infinite torrent of
the blood of the divine. Somewhere,
Here we present a modified version of the
setting of HEART: The City Beneath:
a nautical hellscape filled to the brim with
somehow, a god was murdered—and the possibilities, dangers, and dark rewards.
wound has not stopped bleeding.
Within these pages, you will find options for
Now, the Heart fills to the brim day by day seasoned HEART players and those
with warping, angry godsblood—ichor—and interested in further options for their
the denizens of this nightmare realm are HEART games. Like the world of Heart, your
beginning to change accordingly. story will be twisted and shaped by the
whims and dreams and ambitions of those
Some familiar landmarks are simply who partake in the story’s telling: this
inconvenienced and haunted; others are godsblood-stained material is yours for the
submerged and lost. New boundaries have twisting and shaping as well.
been bashed upon by the hellish tides, and
new allies & enemies have crept in through Look on this work as a source of
the ragged edges of this new, sodden Heart. opportunities: What is the price to be paid
It has been transformed in a sickly dance for demonic power? What does a city dream
with what remains of a brutalized once- about? What thoughts and possibilities lurk
immortal. Psychopomps and godly servitors in the ichor itself? What could have slain a
of every stripe pour in as well, searching for god, and which divine supplies the ichor
bounty and opportunity in this changing from, their very veins? We hope that with
world. these options you will be able to find new,
exciting ways to explore not only this system,
but this kind of fiction as a whole.

AUTHORS’ NOTES
ICHOR-DROWNED springs from two loves: We hope the options presented in this book
one of HEART as a system and story-telling will inspire lots of exciting nautical
platform, and one of the nautical adventures adventures at your table, and that our rule
present in works like Sunless Sea and The Rime variants and classes will also bring a new
of the Ancient Mariner. spark of excitement for the incredible system
that is HEART.
HEART is a wonderfully varied setting, and
drowning it in a sea of godsblood seemed to -Sillion & Brendan
us a very viable way to expand that lovely
realm in lots of exciting ways.

A Drowned Heart — 3
 the moon-elves who lurk in the skies above

M ulti-souled elves that have grown long

and strange in the aether beyond the
sky, leeching off the scraps of Moon Heavens
Answer one of the following questions
when you make your character:

in their aetherships like parasites orbiting a M You fled the aether above willingly.
great beast. What drew you down into the City
Beneath?
High above Destera, these elves have
rejected the heavens and hells of the gods M You were cast from the ships after an
below and instead pass their souls down to unforgivable transgression. What was
their hollow-born children. All soul- this crime and what made you do it?
amalgams present differently: some, a fresh
consciousness every time with only whispers M You never knew your home above, but
of their ancestry, while some operate as you’ve heard whispers of it your whole
active colonies of powerful wills. life. How do you plan to return?

The austere lifestyles required to live aboard

the aethership cities, hovering throughout
dangling nebulae groves, has hardened most
manalfar to a state similar to one the aelfir
once descended from, now found only in a
few hardened corners of Destera.

Some find comfort in the rigid hierarchical

lives of the aelfir and hide, masked among
them, in the Spire, but many more seek the
artful spider-web of cracks in reality that is
the Heart, where access to the guarded
Moon Heavens can be more easily found
than anywhere else in the multiverse.

Example manalfar names: Rupavati, Prabhat,

Vinod, Gopiika, Varali, Sahana

Manalfar — 5
 MANALFAR TRINKETS
When you generate a Manalfar delver, use the table below to
generate trinkets and keepsakes they’ve brought with them
into the City Beneath:

1 A nebulae-knit sweater, well-worn. 11 Robes dyed in bruised hues of nebulae

fruit.
2 A necklace-bound vial of an aether
tincture. 12 A quiver of blessed harpoons, their power
deadened & dulled outside the aether.
3 A luminescent void jelly in a jar (feed once
a week). 13 An insulated poncho, covered with icons
of the Angels Electric.
4 A past life’s marriage earrings.
14 A jar of gravity-defying, wrinkle-
5 A hand-notated scroll on butchery of void preventing salve.
beasts.
15 A headdress of great importance to the
6 An upsettingly-smelly zero-gravity abacus. legal system of the Manalfar (which you
stole).
7 A broken aethership oar with a name half-
legible. 16 Torn rigging of a voidship, wrapped for
wearing.
8 A void behemoth idol worn with prayer
gestures. 17 An Ur-Urn with ashes of many of your
past selves.
9 Sacred arm-wraps with the dregs of a
spirit inside. 18 Crumpled pages from an ancient Log of
Legalities.
10 An stone orb that contains an arcane
codex. 19 The half-rusted jewelry of past-self, highly
revered.

20 The key to a long forgotten Manalfar

family vault-tomb.
 a calling of relentless pursuit and heartless pride

Y ou have been wronged, and your quest to set

things right consumes you. Your people,
your family, your ego—something has been
wounded. Taken. Extinguished. Ripped from your
side without just cause, leaving a bloody gash in
When you create your character, answer
these questions:

M Who wronged you, and how are they out

of your reach?
its place. Only within the bowels of the Heart can
you find a salve: the destruction of those who have M How will you bring about your dark
done this to you. deed?

Core Ability M What have you lost in the pursuit of

revenge?
NO RELISH OF SALVATION IN IT
No one is safe from the fury of your retribution. M Choose another player character.
Gain +1 Blood Protection. Once per session, They have a relationship with those
after you successfully hit, increase your who have wronged you. Ask them what
stress dice by one step. it is and why they’re hiding it.

Retribution — 7
MINOR BEATS MAJOR BEATS
� Find evidence of your target’s � Sacrifice an ally in pursuit of revenge.
whereabouts. � Upgrade a haunt to D12, putting them in
� Project your frustrations on another, your debt.
physically. � Unleash chaos in a haven in pursuit of
� Acquire preparatory materials for your revenge.
revenge (worth at least D8). � Rebuild a piece of yourself in the pursuit
� Find a collaborator of your target and of perfecting your task.
make an example of them. � Take Major Fortune Fallout.
� Deface the public image of your target. � Publicly destroy your target’s image,
� Travel to a dangerous place to find forever.
something of particular interest to your � Abandon your life before and fully adopt
target. your false persona.
� Enlist someone in your plot for revenge. � Protect your nemesis’s life from harm so
� Utter a dark prayer in a Heart-touched that they may survive to see your
place, asking for help in your quest. vengeance properly realized.
� Kill a beast that works in collaboration � Prevent someone from suffering the
with your target’s power. same wrongdoing as you suffered.
� Unmask an ally as a collaborator of your � Sacrifice something or someone utterly
target. precious to you in pursuit of your
� Find the physical location of your target, revenge.
too late.
� Destroy the personal property of your ZENITH BEATS
target in spite. � Reap what you have sown.
� Take Minor Supplies fallout. � Find that which will allow you to abandon
� Expose your true past to your advantage. your vengeance.
� Establish a positive relationship with
someone close to your target.
� Take Minor Fortune fallout.
� Visit the site of your wrongdoing.
� Claim a D10 Resource needed by your
target.
� Gain a reputation using a false identity in
a Haven.
� Reenact the wrongs done to or by you
pathologically.
� Reveal your plot, in detail, to the wrong
person.
� Become entrenched in a blackmail plot .
� Steal away a close ally of your target.
 RETRIBUTION TRINKETS
When you generate a delver that craves Retribution, use the
following table to determine what you carry with you to
mark your calling.

1 A slapdash scrapbook of sketches, descriptions,

and daguerreotype shreds.

2 A single bullet with a name carved into its shell.

3 A face-obscuring hat, wide brimmed & ostentatious.

4 The single stuffed toy you managed to save.

5 A vial of un-coagulating blood (not your own).

6 A sheath of letters, with signs of wear like well-loved

novels.

7 A blood-stained cleaning kit.

8 A torn poster covered in lies.

9 A pair of ceremonial shears filigreed with prayers for

reaping.

10 An empty family scabbard and sword belt.

Retribution — 9
 An extraordinary artificer bound to an infernal pact

A fter winding your way through Demonology’s

many-shadowed avenues, you have struck a
bargain with a Djinn in exchange for
burgeoning, consumptive power.
CORE TRAITS
SKILL Endure

They are bound to an arcane housing known as an DOMAIN Occult

eidolon: a small, crafted device you carry with you.
From this semi-voluntary prison, they can extend RESOURCE Hauntingly-Illuminated
their power and “assist” you in your travels, but Codex
every inch given is a mile taken. D8, Niche

Gnolls of the Southlands are the most likely to find EQUIPMENT Soulstuff Grenades
themselves in the study of the Querent, due to their Kill D4 Ranged, Spread,
wide ranging cultural mastery and application of Limited 3
demonology, but many others walk the path as
well. You can recharge your
Grenades by marking D4
Drow pledges from the Nujabian front, expatriate stress to Supplies.
human retro-engineers with unquenchable thirsts
for knowledge, and aelfir traitors have all found Choose either: Aspergillum-Model
themselves studying in the cosmopolitan colleges of Shotcannon
Al’Marah, forced into Special Operations re- Kill D6, Ranged, Spread,
education, or training in the bloodied cave of an Dangerous
ancient Sorcerer.
or Impossibly-Nested
Demonological ability can come from many Nujabian Doctor’s Bag
sources, but it always leads to the same path: D8 Blood Mend, Potent,
immense power and inevitable ruination. Expensive

or Djinn Memory Sphere

D8 Delve, Distressing
and
Brush Billhook
D6 Kill

The Djinn Querent — 11

CORE ABILITIES
WHERE GLEAMS THE BURNING METAL Ifrit
Your bargain has left you with an inseparable It bangs at the walls of its confines, begging to get
companion bound to the equipment you bear. This out at the slightest glimpse of fire. Its hunger has
eidolon has been key to your survival, but the value when contained—a rarity when dealing
Djinn inside will collect their price, eventually. with flame and the creatures that crave it.

A signature piece of your starting equipment Roll Compel + Desolate to extend your
is granted unearthly power by a bound Djinn Djinn’s power into any nearby flame. It can
and made into an eidolon. Describe it. pass effortlessly from flame-to-flame if the
When building your Querent, choose one of penumbras of light are touching. Flame can
the following varieties of Djinn to which your garner information from that which it burns,
companion is kin: more than mortal senses could, acting almost
equivalent to modern forensics.
Iblis
The roiling shadow-sludge hiding at the edge of If it burns a living creature, it acts as a
your vision leads you to believe your Djinn does Kill D6 Spread tool.
not want to be correctly perceived. You’re inclined
to obey. Marid
You can feel the presence your Djinn presents is a
Roll Compel + Cursed to extend your Djinn’s purposefully obscuring sliver of an unfathomable
power into a corpse for a few minutes. It can bulk. Its breath freezes your blood cold and
gain rough control of the corpse, but cannot clenches your muscles tight, but you know if you
operate vocal chords and fine muscles to any brave it's grotesqueries, it will impart
great degree of human accuracy. Its memory incomparable knowledge.
is inaccessible to your Djinn from a corpse
alone, and they have no insight beyond a Roll Mend + Technology to ask your Djinn—
material scan of the body’s final unpleasant in a tongue you cannot speak—to extend
details. If you push the corpse to its limits, it their power into another piece of technology
can act as a Kill D8 One-Shot weapon. no larger than a person to accomplish a
single task. On a success, they will attempt
Rabisu what you ask of them to their full ability. If
It crouches in the corners of your mind, trailing the device could theoretically do it with its
your mind back to any body of water you pass. It material confines—a suit of armor would
thirsts and beckons you to drink deep. have issues holding together and finding
strength, but doorknobs and levers move
Roll Compel + Wild to extend your Djinn’s easily—it can be done, but your Djinn may
power into a still body of water. Your Djinn entertain itself with the momentary freedom.
has full visibility anywhere near or under the
water, all at once, like a mirror-eyed insect. This can only last for a few moments before
Your Rabisu adds the body of water to its Djinn automatically returns to its eidolon. It
network and can access it from any other may be used to find information on a device
body of water that you cast this spell over. . . . if your Djinn chooses to tell the truth.
GOETIC CONTRACT
Your Djinn demands blood, unequivocally.

By the end of each session, if you have not

wrought the correct hemosigils—the ink
of which must be made with the fresh blood
of a sentient creature, recently drawn—
around your Djinn’s eidolon, then you take
D8 Blood stress as it takes its toll from you,
instead.

Whichever way the Djinn claims its power,

this ritual also clears all Echo stress as your
Djinn lays further claim to you—this is the
only means by which a Querent can heal
Echo stress.

The Djinn Querent — 13

MINOR ABILITIES
A DJINN’S HELPFUL NUDGING JUST A TASTE
The gentle advice of a Djinn is neither gentle nor With your Djinn's assistance, you've replaced your
advice—more like threats, really. It’s for your own tongue with a device far more sensitive than flesh.
good, they claim, but to what end? It teaches you new sensations every day, and your
understanding of that which you taste is
Gain +1 Protection in Blood, Mind, Supplies unparalleled. Yet food you once loved tastes wrong,
or Fortune. You can take this advance more of soot and dirt — eating is forever misery.
than once.
Gain the Discern skill. Once per session, you
BORROWED MEMORIES may roll Discern + Occult to taste a target.
Sometimes your Djinn’s whispers stick like On a success, all Kill rolls against that
barnacles in your mind, eating away at you and individual by the Querent are performed
adding something in return—thoughts and with the Brutal tag.
abilities from another place, another time.
MAKING DO
Gain access to one of the following skills: You come from desperate circumstances. You've
Compel, Delve, Discern, Evade, Hunt, Kill, learned to thrive in them.
Endure, Mend. You can take this advance
more than once. Gain the Desolate domain. Any resource with
the Desolate tag you find is upgraded from
DEMONOLOGICAL NEGOTIATION the initially declared die size by one step.
Your Djinn can help you with your maladies,
though perhaps not as one would expect. MENTAL HARDENING
Whether you spent time with an Incursion Team,
Gain the Compel skill. The penalty for had human sliver-tech implanted, been trained in
GOETIC CONTRACT is reduced from D8 to the ways of the Gnollish Sorcerer or simply been
D6. Once per session, you can shift a Fallout beaten down by your demonic companion, you
to a different Resistance. The first Fallout have acquired a certain resilience that is hard to
reverses as if played backwards and then mistake. Gain +2 Mind Protection.
snaps into the reality of the new Fallout.
POCKET PARTICULATE
ESOTERIC MANUSCRIPTS, NEWLY DECIPHERED Sometimes complicated problems can be answered
The burden of the old world is unimaginable, by exceedingly simple solutions.
through your training and study you slowly crawl
through the texts you’ve managed to scrounge. Gain the Evade skill. You’ve gained the
bizarre habit of collecting loose soil in
Gain access to one of the following domains: various pouches and pockets. A handful of
Cursed, Desolate, Occult, Religion, the stuff operates as a D4 Kill Spread,
Technology, Warren. You can take this Obscuring, One-Shot tool. On a successful
advance more than once. hit, all Evade rolls involving the affected
target(s) are rolled with mastery.
SANDWALKER GRAFTS
You have replaced and reinforced patches of your
flesh with a far more durable material. Your Djinn
relishes the process. Gain +2 Blood Protection.

SELF-TAUGHT ARCANOTECHNICIAN
Your djinn has a way with machines: not a gentle
way, but certainly an effective one.

Gain the Technology domain. Roll Mend +

Technology to alter a Delve, Mend, or Kill
tool. On a success, choose one: upgrade the
tool’s stress die by one step, add a Tag,
remove a Tag, or change the kind of Stress SPECTRUM ENHANCEMENT
healed. Your Djinn claims you won't miss it. The visions
granted by your new sight will make it all worth it.
The tool gains the Limited 2 tag as the object Your blade hovers before your iris, quivering.
begins to succumb to the stressors of There is only one path to true sight — walk it.
demonological invasion. Good or Excellent
quality items add 1 or 2 uses to the Limited Gain the Mend skill. Replace one or both of
tags, respectively. your eyes with an arcano-technological
device—designed with assistance from
SPIDERWEB HEMOSIGIL your Djinn—to make your senses of sight
There are insidious ways to kill, ways detached more similar to theirs. Once per situation,
that require no dignity. Cowardice and precision you can roll Discern + Occult to look for
are the only entry fees. assistance from the in-between realm of
Djinn and demons with the assistance of
Gain the Kill skill. Any explosive you have can your companion. This is physically similar to
be buried and primed with a hemosigil—a the Grey, but it is a separate layer of reality,
bloody rune, unique in design to the user— far more attached to the physical realm than
painted above it. The rune may be no bigger that shadowed place. Here lie answers of
than a large parlor rug; When any of the magical import and subconscious bleed-over
rune’s lines are broken, it will detonate the from those in the material realm.
explosive. Painting the rune only takes a few
minutes, a smidge of blood, and the proper TRENCH REGULAR
lighting. Your time in the Nujabian front has left you with
particular skills: self-taught night after night,
attempting to sleep under the giant footsteps of
artillery fire.

Gain the Warren domain. If you hear an

explosion of any kind, gunfire included, you
can pinpoint its location and rough
characteristics.

The Djinn Querent — 15

MAJOR ABILITIES
A GREAT AND SUDDEN CHANGE
Your Djinn whispers for more and more of you,
and you begin to learn of all the ways you can
invite new power into your life. First, you must
remove that which is holding you back. No longer
do you merely create lifeless devices: You are your
own canvas now.

Choose a limb to remove. You replace it with

a prosthetic designed in tandem with your
Djinn. Gain an additional profile to your core
ability, WHERE GLEAMS THE GLEAMING
METAL.

MINOR: NO TURNING BACK

Replace another limb. Gain another profile to
WHERE GLEAMS THE GLEAMING METAL.

MINOR: DEMONOLOGICAL BYPASS

Replace your heart with a rhythmless pump
that allows you to pass effortlessly as a
corpse. Gain +2 Echo Protection.

MINOR: WHISPERS ON ANOTHER WIND

Replace your ear(s) with a device attuned to
frequencies you never could have
imagined. Roll Endure + Cursed to
attempt to pick up on any language
you do not know, translated at your
Djinn’s whimsical leisure.
DEMONOLOGICAL COMPANIONSHIP MINOR: SLIP OF THE MOCKINGBIRD
Your partnership is more efficient like this, if not Roll Mend + Technology to disguise your
more terrifying. Automaton as a passable masked person.
Close observation will betray the low hum
You create a fully functioning Automaton-of- and quiet creaking of its operations, but it
Burden to house your Djinn. You gain the can pass undetected in most crowds, parties
following tool: and passing social encounters. It cannot
speak of its own accord, but can record and
M Automaton-of-Burden playback any speech it hears.
Delve D8, Kill D8, Loud, Mobile
MINOR: STING OF THE SCORPION
Your infernal contract restricts its capacity to With the addition of artificial venom glands
operate; The Automaton must be within your and an integrated bolt-thrower, your
sight to function. Additionally, it has a stress Automaton gains the Ranged and Brutal
threshold of 10: past that, it is broken and tags.
must be repaired with at least a D6
Technology resource and a half-hour of The venom it has begun to synthesize can be
focused work. removed once per day and added to your
blades, bullets and bolts to add the Brutal,
You can cast any of your spells through the Limited 2 tags. This venom can be saved and
Automaton as if they were you—or attempt applied multiple times to the same object.
any other rolls, for that matter—but can only
use your known skills, not knacks or
domains.

MINOR: SERVANT OF THE QUEEN

Your Automaton can prepare and release its
nested drone of wretched design. All Sneak
and Evade rolls made with this drone are
made with mastery, but it cannot attempt
Kill rolls. It has a stress threshold of 5.

After an hour, the drone must return to its

housing, or the Automaton goes limp
wherever it stands. If destroyed, the drone
may be rebuilt with a D6 Technology
resource.

The Djinn Querent — 17

GUNPOWDER PRAYERS
A casual interest in explosives has been guided by MINOR: FIERY REVELATIONS
your Djinn into an obsession. Your ears ring with Any stress die inflicted on you as the result of
glorious testament to your combined genius, your an explosion is reduced down a step.
fingers are tattered and burnt from catastrophic
worship. Additionally, when you refresh your Soulstuff
Grenades, you may increased Supplies stress
When you refresh your Soulstuff Grenades, die to D6 to choose one of the following
you may choose one of the following alternate profiles:
alternate weapon profiles:
M Sourceborn Razor Shot
M Ash Charges D8 Degenerating, Piercing, Distressing,
D4 Smoke, Obscuring, Spread, Spread, Limited 1
Limited 2
This explosions whips and tears like its
M Frostbite Shell namesake for a few minutes, leaving a
D6 Spread, Limited 2 five-by-five foot area perpetually
inflicting its weapon profile.
Affected targets are frozen on a scale
equivalent to stress inflicted (e.g., M Hill-Breakers
1 stress freezes boots to the ground, D10 Debilitating, Dangerous,
6 stress freezes a person whole until they Spread, Limited 1
can be broken out.)
These bombs destroy all solid matter like
porcelain, inanimate and inorganic
matter takes D12 stress.

MINOR: OTHERWORLDLY SIPHON

If a sentient target has their stress reduced to
zero by a Soulstuff Grenade, your GOETIC
CONTRACT is immediately satisfied for the
day.

MINOR: “THE DIRE-HARE’S LEG”

PERSONAL BOMBARD BLUEPRINTS
Grants access to the Personal Bombard, a
piece of grenade-launching equipment which
can be used to add the Extreme Range,
Brutal & Double-Barreled tags to each
Soulstuff Grenade use.

If sold, the Hare's Leg is a D10 Occult

resource, but may be remade with a D8
Occult or Technology resource and a few
days' time.
TRUE NATURE UTILIZED MIND CONTROL
The Djinn come in many varieties, but malicious, Heart is a horror game, and little is more
commanding power is contained within them all. horrifying than the loss of agency and
You have dug into the closest approximation of autonomy, especially at the hands of
truth your companion contains, and found there is someone more powerful or more
power yet unshared—you intend to fix that. manipulative than you. TRUE NATURE
UTILIZED allows a player using a Querent to
You can now attempt to extend your Djinn’s explore the demonic capabilities of their
power into a sentient creature and give a bound spirit, following in the tradition of
single command with a Compel + narratives about madness and possession.
Technology roll. On a success, they will This can be harrowing stuff, and it’s vital to
immediately attempt to do as you say, make sure that everyone at the table is not
heedless of their own will or safety. This is only permissive of its inclusion at the table,
among the most heinous of crimes to any but also willing and interested to have it
sentient creature, true subjugation of will— featured.
even your Djinn does not relish the task.
Querent players should check not just with
MINOR: REFINED the GM, but with the group at large—both
You may now implant more complicated when you choose to take the advances, and
tasks that can be completed within a single when you anticipate using them. Remember
sleep cycle. that no narrative is worth jeopardizing
anyone’s safety, and that players (including
MINOR: CLARIFIED the GM!) have a right to say that they’re not
On a success, the target has no memory of comfortable with having possession or
the task or its implantation, but they could mental manipulation in the game’s story,
remember their encounter with you if the even if they’ve given their assent before. It’s
memory is properly plumbed—make the roll easy to change which advance you took; it’s
Risky to avoid this side effect, but risk not easy to take back something that ruins
permanent brain damage to the target on a the experience at the table. Play with caution.
failure.

MINOR: EXPLOITED
On a success, you may choose to implant a
ruinous fragment of your Djinn into the
target, killing them in an eruption of flame
on completion of the task—unless saved
quickly. You may avoid the possibility of
survival by overcharging the implantation,
but this makes the roll Risky. On a failure,
the fragment detonates with the following
weapon profile: D8 Kill, Degenerating,
Spread.

The Djinn Querent — 19

UNHOLY FURNACE
The magics of Djinn lean on their adaptable MINOR: STOLEN DESIGN
formlessness and their boundless hunger: the more You may choose a Minor Ability from the
they taste, the better their arcane replications Deep Apiarist class with the exception of
become—a clever Querent will learn to feed their Protection Abilities. Your Djinn assist in the
companion to encourage these proclivities. manufacture of the pseudo glyph-bees and
housing. This is among the deepest affronts
Choose a single Major Ability from the to all Deep Apiarists beyond the Heart itself.
Junk Mage class with the exception of
SANCTUM OF THE STONE CHORUS. MINOR: HALF-PLATE
Your Djinn approximates any underlying You may choose a Minor Ability from the
ability or assists in the construction of Vermissian Knight class with the exception
implanted devices to serve the same of Protection Abilities and HELLWALKER.
purposes. Every time you use this ability, you This technology is taken from someone who
garner a little more attention from an entity will want remuneration.
your Djinn is definitely not paying the proper
fealty to: the results and repercussions of this MINOR: FURIOUS RESEARCH
will vary. Choose a single Minor Upgrade to your Junk
Mage ability gained through AN UNHOLY
You must choose a Major Ability when you FURNACE. There is something deeply off
take this move; your Djinn will not deign to about your variant spell—describe what that
replicate the measly magicks of the is— but it gets the job done.
Junk Mage’s Minor abilities.
ZENITH ABILITIES
THE HERALD CALLS, REBUKE IT THE PATHWAY ALIGHTS, MARCH IT
The grip your Djinn has on you can be broken, but Your Djinn can offer knowledge utterly beyond
they are not shackles that will shatter easily. The mortal understanding, on a whim. If you strike the
uncoiling of your Djinn into a shadow of its true right bargain, one more time, you might be able to
form is enough to break the minds of most folk— pull something world shaking from it. Choose
push on. wisely, it is not a price you can afford to pay twice.
The contract is complete and you reap what you
You have found your Djinn’s secret have sown.
weakness: exploit it to destroy its Faustian
grasp on you and free yourself. Once the With the assistance of your Djinn, offer
wards that protect its monstrous core are yourself to the Source and the grand circuitry
removed, it will crash into reality like a within. In return, you gain a few minutes of
beached sea monster, furious but stripped of perfect lucidity—any question answered, any
much of its otherworldly power. If you battle knowledge refined. Eventually, your mortal
it and live, you will have won back your mind is overwhelmed with the actual nature
freedom, but this is exceedingly rare. of Truth and your corporeal form burns
away.
BARE DJINN
DIFFICULTY: Risky The process leaves you integrated with your
RESISTANCE: 30 Djinn: one piece of a gestalt spirit, now
PROTECTION: 2 powered in a place unfamiliar with its
DOMAINS: Occult abilities. You are not dead, but what you once
EQUIPMENT: Manus Pseudo-Dei (D10, were is subsumed into a whole—your price
Degenerating) paid to fuel your Djinn’s unholy life cycle.

THE TOWER BECKONS, BURN IT The barrier between you and your
The metaphorical fire behind you rages and the companion will shatter with the force of the
only way out is forwards—to the end of ends. Ur-Sun, blasting a mile radius into gibbering
A dark ritual dances in your head and its steps will rubble while rendering every soul in its wake
lead to an oblivion, unparalleled. into twisted echoes of what they once were.

Your spite has led you to the mastery of a You are the spike and you will be utterly
dark aelfir ritual used by the most clan- annihilated along with your companion—
destine of Special Operations—an incursion. there is no afterlife for either of you.
This is a failsafe when all others have failed, a Good riddance.
piercing strike equivalent to an arcane
railway spike driven between worlds: drive
too hard and those tenuous barriers break.

The Djinn Querent — 21

 An artist that harnesses the primal forces of chaos

Y ou are an artist, and the Heart is your patron.

You have learned to manipulate your 'kindly'
benefactor in its giving.

You are one who sees the script this broken reality
CORE TRAITS
SKILL Compel

is staged by and shows others its themes & glories DOMAIN Haven
through dark performance. Your body contorts in
pallid imitation of action, and the energy of RESOURCE A folio of poetry, prose, and
unreality that boils within the Heart bends to scene fragments—half
become a sickly scene partner. original, half stolen
D8, Cursed
Via mind-breaking mime, psyche-shredding
musical rendition, avant-garde physical artistry, EQUIPMENT
or ego-crushing oration, your power gibbers out in
a most extreme form of artistry. As your work Choose either: Blessed Robes, Repurposed
settles into the minds and bodies of your audiences, Block (+1 Blood Protection)
you rewrite and reform reality in a haunting echo and
of the Heart itself. Delicate Pistol
Kill D6, Ranged, Expensive

or Hastily Copied & Adapted

Ritual Scrolls
Mend D6 Blood, Expensive
and
Slapstick, Nail Adorned
Kill D6

or False Dagger Made Real

Kill D4, Brutal
and
An Accursed Instrument
Mend D4 Mind, Potent

The Gibberwright — 23
 CORE ABILITIES
SOUND AND FURY
You build rapport with the unreality with the
Heart and stockpile the madness it bestows within
you like a boiling cauldron of potential. When
unleashed, the margins of reality become yours to
nudge.

You can shift reality via your imagination

and your parallels to the Heart’s power . . .
as long as you have ‘fuel’ to burn.

Place a D6 before yourself set to 2: this dice

represents your Chaos. At any time, before
another player makes a roll, you may describe
how you rewrite reality by spending 1 Chaos.
Represent this by turning the die one value
lower.

You can spend Chaos in order to

M increase or decrease a stress dice by a

step (to a minimum of d4 or a maximum
of d12), or

M adjust the highest result in a dice pool by MINOR ABILITIES

1 (to a minimum of 1 or a maximum of
10.) AN ADORING CROWD
Performing is as natural as breathing, and those
To replenish Chaos, unleash your unholy around you can’t help but take note.
performance in whatever manner you see fit
that connects you to raw unreality, then roll Gain the Haven domain. Roll Compel +
Compel + Cursed. Haven with an audience available. On a
success, heal D4 Supplies stress as your
On a success, roll a D6 and add the result to performance draws remuneration for your
your current Chaos. efforts.

If your total Chaos ever exceeds 6, your total AN ARTIST’S THICK SKIN
immediately returns to 2 and you take D8 Gain +1 Protection in Blood, Mind, Supplies
Mind stress as you lose control of the power or Fortune. You can take this advance more
that it barely contains. than once.
BAMBOOZLED FLAKE
Your painted illusions can be surprisingly Your presence is a blessing—or so you tell
convincing, especially to the driven and unaware. yourself—so your exit must be assured against all
costs. When their backs are turned, you’re gone.
Gain the Hunt skill. Roll Hunt + Occult and
describe the entirely-convincing illusion Gain the Warren domain. Roll Evade +
you’ve managed to paint—another exit, a lost Warren to escape from a social situation
lover, an oasis. On a success, if a target unnoticed, no matter the context.
makes contact with this painted illusion,
inflict D6 stress. GENRE FLEXIBLE
Your consumptive imagination has led you to
BEWARE THOSE WHO DANCE WITH MONSTERS many fixations, and value can be found in the
The chaos has seeped into your bones: you are whispers of those phases.
almost one and the same.
Gain access to one of the following domains:
Gain the Cursed domain. Once per situation, Cursed, Desolate, Occult, Religion, Haven,
you can spend 2 Chaos to increase the Warren. You can take this advance more
highest dice in a pool by 2. than once.

CULT LEADER-ESQUE HOLY FOOL

Your charisma is hypnotic—a little too hypnotic. It’s as if nature itself has deemed you unworthy of
suffering. Danger rolls off you like water on duck
Gain the Religion domain. Roll Mend + feathers. Gain +2 Fortune Protection.
Religion when speaking to a single target.
On a success, you instill a desperate need to IN THE RAFTERS
follow you within them. Any Compel checks You have spent many hours hiding away from the
made against this target by you are made piercing gaze of your patrons, implying your
with mastery. presence in grand gestures and overly dramatic
monologue.
DESENSITIZED
The horrors you have witnessed—or perhaps even Gain the Sneak skill. As long as you are in a
conjured—make the worst of the Heart pale in landmark with the Haven tag, gain mastery
comparison. Gain +2 Mind Protection. on any Sneak rolls involving hiding within a
building, as its recesses and alcoves reveal
DOOR SLAMMER themselves to you like an old home.
Doorways are strange things, and your time
maneuvering through them with your craft has
turned you onto a peculiar property they withhold
till the madness of the Heart brushes their frames.

Gain the Evade skill. Once per session, mark

a door with your craft. Any other door frame
you find may lead back to this door, once.

The Gibberwright — 25
LINE FEEDING RAPTUROUS PERFORMANCE
Your impatience is fueled by your understanding Your performative craft is unmatched, and if you
of what should be, of how it all is to be done choose to push your audience to their limits, they
correctly. are pushed.

Gain the Occult domain. Roll Compel + Gain the Kill skill. Roll Compel + Cursed to
Cursed to feed a single line to a sentient inflict your unholy performance as a D10 Kill
being, along with a prompt phrase. This line Ranged, Loud, One-Shot weapon.
may include a single gesture, and is
immediately performed upon the received ROCK BOTTOM
delivery of the prompt phrase by anyone or Gutter-dwelling is nothing new, and you’ve
anything that can repeat. learned to divert pain to your advantage.

MASS PANIC Gain the Desolate domain. Whenever you

As the confines of your mind are blown open by gain a new fallout, if your Chaos is not
Chaos the suffering inflicted upon you now bleeds already at its maximum, gain 1 Chaos.
over like blinding light from an unholy sun.
UNCHECKED CRITIQUE
Gain the Endure skill. When your Chaos Bitterness bleeds out in a weaponized way, few
exceeds its limits, anyone observing you appreciate it properly.
mirrors the stress inflicted on you. Allies are
immune to this effect . . . unless you inflict Gain the Discern skill. Roll Discern +
maximum stress, in which case they must Desolate to allow your self-hatred to funnel
roll Endure + Occult to resist. into unchecked critique towards a target that
can understand you and your ire. If
MEGALOMANIAC TENDENCIES successful, the target’s stress dice is
The Chaos you live with doesn’t always have to be downgraded a step for the rest of the scene.
shared.
WORKSHOPPING
Gain the Mend skill. You may now spend Skill comes from many avenues, and your training
Chaos to alter the results of your own rolls. has been anything but orthodox.

PASTORALIST Gain access to one of the following skills:

You have found rich inspiration among the fields Compel, Discern, Evade, Hunt, Kill, Endure,
and forests of your life before. Now you echo that Mend, Sneak. You can take this advance
world above into the horrendous reality below. more than once.

Gain the Wild domain. Your performances

now enrapture non-sentient creatures, but
only as far as enraptured. You can instill in
them no feelings of true affection.
MAJOR ABILITIES
A DARK SCHERZO
Your ability to infuse the physical presence of MINOR: A PERFORMER’S SPITE
music with something else is unmatched, and your If a nearby allied PC rolls a 1 or 2 as their
listeners are never the same. highest dice in a pool, gain 2 Chaos. This
cannot push your Chaos past its limit.
Roll Compel + Haven to perform a dark song.
Describe it. On a success, any listener is MINOR: MASOCHISTIC BENT
inherently enraptured, and no one and Gain +1 Chaos anytime an incoming stress
nothing captured by it can leave till you are dice inflicted on you or an allied PC rolls max
finished. All eyes focus on you that aren’t damage.
engaged in activity, and you can command
their collective emotions like commanding MINOR: FORTISSISSIMO
an automaton. Nothing can engage you or No sound may be heard in the vicinity of
your allies mid-performance with a stress die your performance but the performance itself.
higher than the current Tier. Anyone with the ability to hear in your
immediate arms-reach takes D4 stress as the
vibrations wrack them.

The Gibberwright — 27
A SIMPLE LAZZO
The lazzo: an improvised comedic scene that SCENE PROMPTS
contains a realm of possibility and chaos. You are
a compelling scene partner—so compelling that Need a prompt for your scene?
few can escape from the ineffable energy of your Make up your own, roll a D8 and use the
presence when at full tilt. result… or, ask your fellow delvers!

Spend 1 Chaos to force another entity to play 1 Chasing a fly summoned by you, like a cat
along with a stock comedic bit that you and a laser pointer
define. You are utterly bound to this bit with
them as well and cannot make other rolls so 2 Summoning an illusory maiden and
long as you keep up the bit. Your opponent making the adversary defend ‘her’ honor
can only focus on you and the scene,
3 A word game of conjugation and
unwavering until its conclusion. Affected confusion
targets have their difficulty lowered one step.
4 Continually offer the adversary chairs
MINOR: A SCENE PARTNER’S FOLLY only for them to dissipate and crumble
You may now attempt other actions during underneath them
the bit, though failures break the focus.
5 Offering the adversary to taste from a
MINOR: SHAME, SHAME! illusory pot of food that keeps changing/
Expose a critical flaw of your opponent escaping
during your bit: describe what it is. Rolls
made exploiting this flaw by anyone gain the 6 Practice a duel with the adversary with
Brutal tag. replaced, absurd weaponry

7 Announce you have made a great

MINOR: A BIT MUCH discovery. Take a terribly long, messy
Your bits now inflict D6 stress onto your time to describe it. Never finish.
scene partner as you ‘playfully’ batter them in
the scene. This may be repeated by spending 8 Say you saw the adversary lose something
an additional 1 Chaos. and then ‘help’ them find it
SCENIC COMMAND
You can command more than other souls, you can MINOR: MULTI-HYPHENATE
command the very physical fabric of reality to set Choose 2 more domains. You may choose 1
the stage for your dark deeds. from your pool of three every time you cast
this spell.
When you take this advance, choose a
domain, even a domain you don’t currently MINOR: THE SPOTLIGHT
possess. You can change focus on your ‘stage’ with
varying degrees of success. Choose a single
Spend 2 Chaos to activate this spell and add target including yourself within a scene
this domain to the current situation as you altered by SCENIC COMMAND.
adapt the environment with the Heart’s
energy. This requires background Any incoming or outgoing stress dice are
concentration, like humming a tune; if you increased by a step for this target. You may
take Blood, Mind, or Echo fallout while shift the spotlight’s target in between rolls as
maintaining it, the spell is broken and must long as you maintain the spell.
be re-established.
MINOR: THEIR EXITS & THEIR ENTRANCES
Your illusory changes are fragile and Once per session, spend 1 Chaos to use the
ephemeral, breaking easily and dissipating unreality of the Heart to remove or place a
once concentration is dropped, but they are character in the scene. You do not choose
solid enough to climb and walk on, but just where they came from, or where they go.
barely—too much stress or violence upon
them and they crumble like the cheap stage The GM has producer fiat over who can be
dressing they are. This will normally require placed in the scene (and may force you to
an Evade roll to avoid. They are also clearly recast them), but you can remove anyone
stage dress, and will be seen as such upon from the stage that you deem appropriate.
close observation by most.
THE DIRECTOR
The megalomania has crept in and is here to stay. MINOR: THE STAGE MANAGER
You can now command others in such a way they Your Chaos now has a maximum cap of 8
can barely tell they’re being commanded—an iron instead of 6.
fist in a silken glove.
MINOR: THE PROPS MASTER
When you take this advance, choose a Skill, You can spend 1 Chaos to give any piece of
even one you don’t have yourself. equipment the Conduit tag for the rest of the
scene.
You may spend 1 Chaos and direct another
delver in that Skill’s proper application; if MINOR: THE PROMPTER
they choose to follow your direction, they can If you witness an ally fail a Compel check,
attempt that roll as if they possessed that you may spend Chaos to allow the ally to
skill. If they already have the skill, they reroll dice in the pool, spending 1 Chaos for
instead gain a knack of your choosing. each rerolled die.
YOUR FOOL, YOUR PURSE
Oh, how useful the hearts of others are to your ends MINOR: HEART ON THEIR SLEEVE
when you do not stop to consider the means. Any Kill rolls made against the target are
rolled with the Piercing tag.
Roll Compel + Haven to break a sentient
target’s heart. Any singular love they have (or MINOR: SUREFIRE QUIBBLE
hope for) is shattered in a staggeringly cruel On command, an affected target will grant
illusion that lasts the rest of the session. Any you the following resource: An Admission
skill checks made to act upon this ‘advantage’ (D4 Haven). This is their ‘newfound’ feelings
are made with mastery. in full, and is perfect for blackmail, or to be
‘accidentally’ found by an interested party.
MINOR: PSEUDO-CUPID
You can replace their broken love with a
desperate lifeline of yearning of your own
choice, even of your own design, lasting the
same length as the spell.

The Gibberwright — 31
ZENITH ABILITIES
MAGNUM OPUS
Of fantasy and majesty we speak Your performance warps and twists the
and in their realm we give ourselves to the whole. world around you into the shape you need it
The boundaries of life we gladly break to be: the show must and will go on, forever.
for purpose in this drought we suffer through. This pocket reality is your own, but you are
Delusion is but fantasy with ache just as much a prisoner to your creation as it
For that which truth can never find in full. is to you.

Give yourself to your greatest performance, Everything caught within the Performance
one so thoroughly rendered from your will fight to the death—spurred on by
horrendous imagination that everyone unnatural substantiation—to see its
bearing witness plays along as if they continuance.
memorized their lines long ago.

AN EXORCISM
Be free of that known to be made of lies, Tap into unreality one final time and write a
the power found and trapped in cages wrought single piece of fiction more—a new self, an
of passion, love and thought set free of chains. empty vessel who you could be beyond your
dark craft. As you ‘wright, your old self burns
Yet within freedom found or forged or fought away, your memories and instincts offered
lies only falsehood hungry and hellbent. up as sacrifices to this dark ritual. You are
Batter your heart for true freedom beyond left free but lobotomized as you return to life
design of foolish, folly-struck mere man. without the crutch of nihilistic chaos.
TWO BEAT AS ONE
To now ascend beyond the binds of form,
so fall the gates of all that once was real.
The Heart, it claims the thing that you once were
and in your stead there lies a fellow king
of power dark and red and full of spite.

Your path once bright now shaded and content

now leads to this your final resting place.
A sibling of a kind, all sick and loud
with voice heard clear that you are now the same.
The unreality you have been harnessing
finally overtakes you, and you overtake it
with your craft.
You gain your final scene partner: the true
power that underlies the Heart's impossible
abilities. The thing it twists you into is a new
focus for the chaos of unreality.
Like sickly conjoined twins, two Hearts beat
in the City Beneath. You have a few
moments of communication as you ascend,
but the destructive warping you incur is no
different than that of the original Heart; once
the transformation is complete, you ascend
beyond consciousness, out of the control of
anyone or anything.

The Gibberwright — 33
 A disciple of time, space, and incredible violence

T he art of the Abyss-Between-All boils within

your body. It was not designed, or so claim
the Teachers, but discovered within an hellish
internal library of all knowledge, found by
tearing backwards into your own mind palace,
SKILL
CORE TRAITS
Kill

hidden within and accessible to all with the right DOMAIN Cursed
study—or so practitioners claim.
RESOURCE Flask of Voidship Oil
High in the void beyond this world’s atmosphere D6, Cursed
hide the greatest practitioners of this brutal art,
the ascetic Manalfar in their aetherships often EQUIPMENT Your Anointed Fists
reluctant to let their hard earned techniques go. Kill D6

Somehow, you have learned of this vampiric

technique and have gained a sliver of its peculiar CORE ABILITIES
fighting prowess.
FASTER, FASTER, FASTER
It is not magic, but a sick sibling. It is not a curse, Force your way through time and strike blows
but one can never be rid of it. It is an art form of faster than air friction can allow.
violence, nullification and willpower. Your limbs,
leaden with sunken anti-power from beyond the Once per situation, you can push your strikes
firmament of Destera’s sky can consume, cancel, to take on the profile D8 Tiring, Brutal or
and control the magic that radiates from the world D10 Tiring, Loud.
around you, enabling you to beat reality into
submission. On activation of the Tiring tag, your attacks
revert to Kill D6.
Wrap your fists in scripture-covered holy cloth,
square off, and hurtle the boundaries between NULLIFICATION
time, space and existence into the mat. Anti-Magic courses from your very being.

Stop any source of magic as long as—and

only as long as—you have your hands on it
(this does not nullify most targets' strength
or pointy bits.)

Any item enhanced with magic is as useful in

your hands as the un-enchanted variant.

The Paracausal Pugilist — 35

MINOR ABILITIES
A COMBATANT’S HONOR COIN-POCKET DIMENSION
Flesh to flesh: the bond between two warriors rides Wrap yourself in ragged reality like a sleeping
a fine line of intimacy. You can exploit this. bag, as escape should always be an option for a
wizened warrior.
Gain the Compel skill. If a character willingly
engages in combat with you, gain mastery Gain the Sneak skill. Roll Sneak + Cursed to
when rolling Compel checks involving them rip a pocket in reality just large enough for
during and immediately after the fight. you to fit into. You can seal it back up,
making you oblivious to the world outside,
AN ATHLETE’S INTUITION but the ragged deformation in reality can still
Bloodsport is an tight-knit world, and within the barely be observed until you exit.
Heart the thirst for that sort of relief grows, and
mutates into forms unseen. DANCE OF INSTINCT
To an untrained eye, your movements are almost
Gain the Haven domain. Roll Hunt + Haven beautiful. Almost. Gain +2 Blood Protection.
to use the marks of experience to find an
underground fighting ring with an open slot. FLOAT LIKE A PHANTASMAFLY
In imitation of a wretched heat-leeching beast
ANOINTED BINDING, BLESSED SHEATH from the void beyond, you can find footing on the
The holy fist-bindings of the Abyss protect the user impossible.
from the energies summoned from their charged
limbs, but only the flesh. Gain the Evade skill. Roll Evade + Cursed to
take a second jump mid-air or briefly run on
Gain the Mend skill. Once per session, you liquids for the rest of the situation.
may ignore or downgrade any Blood fallout
induced while striking an opponent with I SEE YOU
your fists. Your rage leaves a tracer that is unmistakable, no
matter the distance.
AUTODRIROMANCY
The most common method of blood retrieval for Gain the Hunt skill. Upon successfully
this ancient divination is the ritualistic breaking of striking a target, you make mark them: no
one’s own nose. This leads to practitioners having matter the obscurity or level of darkness your
a very distinct profile. fists can always find them.

Gain the Delve skill. Once per session, you JUST NUMB
may choose to self-inflict D6 Blood stress to There’s only so much more you can be hurt.
yourself to do an equivalent amount of stress Words will not achieve it. Gain +2 Mind
to a delve. Protection.
LEADENED STOMACH SILVER-ANOINTED FISTS
A drink is a drink. Gain the Warren Domain. There are beings that exist in realms half-outside
No matter how wretched, you can drink any the physical who believe themselves beyond the
vaguely alcohol-esque substance to heal D4 reproach of a belligerent fist. Prove them wrong.
Mind stress.
Gain the Religion domain. Roll Mend +
LIKE A CORNERED ANIMAL Religion to bless your fist-bindings in an
At the edge of consciousness lies a beast waiting to ancient ritual, allowing you physical
be uncaged, don’t run from it anymore. Use it. purchase on the spectral and spiritual.

Gain the Desolate Domain. You gain mastery THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
on unarmed Kill rolls when suffering from a Your path has led you places many wouldn’t
Major Blood fallout. expect, but they should never expect anything of
you to be circumspect.
OVERWHELMING MUSCULATURE
Your refinement of your body has led you to Gain access to one of the following domains:
unparalleled sculpture of your form, nigh Cursed, Desolate, Occult, Religion, Wild,
perfection. Warren. You can take this advance more
than once.
Gain the Endure skill. When using FASTER,
FASTER, FASTER, you may fail once more UNBRIDLED
before returning to the Kill D6 profile. The prison of your anti-magic can be released,
briefly, with focus and training. Dozens of tragic
PERSONAL TECHNIQUE romances have relied upon this painful exertion.
The Art of the Abyss Between runs deep, but you
have still found room for improvement. Gain the Occult domain. Roll Kill + Occult to
release your NULLIFICATION for the rest of
Gain access to one of the following skills: the situation to handle magic items and
Compel, Delve, Evade, Hunt, Kill, Endure, creatures as per usual.
Mend, Sneak. You can take this advance
more than once. VIOLENT ACCLIMATIZATION
Anything can be adjusted to, in time. Gain +1
PREDATORY BENT Protection in Blood, Mind, Supplies or Echo.
You have an aura that the beasts of the Heart This advance may be taken more than once.
know to respect—often, more thoroughly than the
more ‘thoughtful’ meatbags in your way.

Gain the Wild domain. Wild animals now

show deference to you until provoked.
MAJOR ABILITIES
CHRONO-SHUNT SUPLEX
The fabric of time is uneven and pock-marked.
With “clever” negotiation and enough momentum,
you can force a combatant out of the timestream
itself . . . for a moment.

Roll Endure + Occult on a target you have

restrained to suplex them out of time for a
few moments, allowing for a handful of
actions before they reappear.

MINOR: PARACAUSAL POWERSLAM FLYTRAP STEP

When your target reappears, they take D8 You can dilate time in small ways: the regular
stress. capture of projectiles for practicality &
performance is among the most expected, but the
MINOR: REALITY-BAR odd pendulous movements required for the ritual
You can hold the target out of time for are not.
longer, but risk further Endure checks.
Roll Evade + Wild to establish a arms-length
MINOR: HEEL TRICK sized warp of slowed space-time affecting
You can pinpoint exactly where the target friends & foes alike. No projectile may pass
will reappear. When you attempt to sabotage or harm you while you maintain the warp,
their reappearance, roll with mastery. the mental exertion of which still allows you
to act as per usual within the warp
unimpeded.

MINOR: PERSONAL ARENA

You can expand your warp to the size of a
small chamber. Any interactions with
combatants foolish enough to enter the
warp are rolled with mastery.

MINOR: DEFENSIVE FIRE

You can return projectiles that enter the
warp with a charged throw: treat as a Kill
D8, Ranged, Limited 1 weapon.

MINOR: TRANQUILITY
Allies may enter the warp unimpeded. All
stress inflicted on you and your allies within
the warp is downgraded a dice step.
 TIMESIDED
As your fists strike an opponent true, you gain an
unearthly sense for new directions to strike,
backwards and forwards in time. Brimming with
the spirit of violence like static charge, the power it
offers threatens to tear you apart.

After two successful unarmed strikes on a

single target, your 3rd becomes a finishing
move and takes on the following profile:
Kill D12, One-Shot, Dangerous.

Upon activation, the Dangerous tag deals

D8 Blood stress (rather than the normal D6.)

MINOR: INWARD REFLECTION,

OUTWARD RESULT
INTERDIMENSIONAL GRIP Your finishing move gains the Brutal tag.
You have found purchase between time and space.
Now you have begun to master crumpling that MINOR: DRAG INTO FOCUS
tenuous fabric of reality like bundling a duvet. You You only require a single strike to activate
may drive your fingers in-between reality at any TIMESIDED, rather than two.
time, pinning them there.
MINOR: CHRONOLOGY-WELTED GLOVES
Roll Mend + Occult to squash or stretch Remove the Dangerous tag from your
reality like an elastic fabric with your hands finishing move. Additionally, any unarmed
for as long as you maintain focus. strikes—both failures and successes—count
towards building up to the finisher.
This can draw spaces closer to you, or
lengthen space between you and another.
Anything caught within the deformation
returns unchanged when you remove your
hands.

MINOR: FOLDING TECHNIQUE

Your deformation will remain for a few
moments after you remove your hands, and
will slowly warp back into shape.

MINOR: MICRO-RIPS
Any adversary caught within the
deformation takes D8 stress.

MINOR: RUBBER-BONES
You may use this ability on yourself.
WRESTLING WITH LESSER ANGELS
Pain, mutation, suffering— all potential punching FALLOUT TRAITS
bags with the proper rites.
What does a fallout made manifest look like?
Once per session, roll Compel + Cursed to Roll a D8 for inspiration!
summon the personification of an ongoing
minor Blood, Mind, or Echo fallout and Blood Fallout Traits
remove it.
1 Ropes of ever-unspooling muscle.
It is a wretched half-thing, intent on nothing 2 Too many bones, endlessly snapping and
but returning from whence it came. knitting back together.

MINOR: BEAST OF TRUE BURDEN 3 Covered in bruises, and bruises anything

Your reach expands; you can now summon it touches.
Fortune fallouts in addition to the others.
You can now summon Major fallouts. 4 Gasping, extruding windpipes.

Additionally, you can summon the 5 Hauntingly comforting smell; what is it?
personification of other delvers’ fallouts. 6 Scoured by bleeding gashes, each of
which allows them to hunt you.
MINOR: I BROUGHT YOU INTO THIS WORLD
You gain mastery on any Kill or Evade rolls 7 Ribbons of flesh flow behind.
against the personification.
8 Looks like you, covered in blood from
MINOR: EPHEMERAL HARVEST head to toe.
After defeating a personification, you gain Mind Fallout Traits
+2 Blood Protection for the rest of the
session.
1 Brain exceeds carrying capacity of skull.
2 Nerve clusters flail and slither away.
3 Invisible except in certain, inconvenient
conditions.

MINOR FALLOUT MANIFESTATION 4 Gibbering something from your past

DIFFICULTY: Standard over and over.
RESISTANCE: 6
PROTECTION: 1
5 Splinters into mirror images.
EQUIPMENT: D6 6 Takes the shape of a fragment of a
cherished dream.
MAJOR FALLOUT MANIFESTATION
DIFFICULTY: Risky 7 The version of yourself you want to be,
RESISTANCE: 10 tauntingly.
PROTECTION: 1
EQUIPMENT: D8 8 Looks like someone familiar and
friendly, begs you to see reason; Who?
 Echo Fallout Traits Fortune Fallout Traits
1 Several dozen more eyes than normal. 1 Tinged by ash, rot, mold, and decay.
2 Speaks with a different recognizable 2 Howls only in discordant static, trying
voice each time they open their mouth. desperately to be understood.

3 Each time they’re struck, a cavalcade of 3 You can see more coming. Soon, they will
screams erupts, as if you were in the be here, and it will be too late. How are
middle of a stadium. there so many of them?

4 Surrounding area warps and shifts to 4 Cracked down the center; not clear how
look like another place from your past for it’s not falling apart, frayed vitals
the rest of the situation; where? peeking out of the seam.

5 Constantly melting. 5 Bugs falling out of it with every step.

6 Limbs sprout, are used for a couple of 6 Bleeds coins that never stop burning to
minutes, and wither off as they’re used. the touch.

7 It seems to be pupating: destroy it before 7 Stumbles, trips and fails at whatever it

the next thing is birthed. attempts to the exact needed result.

8 Looks like someone familiar and 8 Looks like you, at your lowest moment;
friendly, cackling as they try to murder What was it?
you; Who?

The Paracausal Pugilist — 41

ZENITH ABILITIES
A LEASHED BUTTERFLY EFFECT REACH HEAVEN THROUGH YOUR FISTS
Your temporal abilities only shift moments End it how you always knew it would end: the
backwards and forwards ever so slightly, but there shock buckling up your joints one last time, filled
exist rites and steps that allow for travel through with the power you’ve been chasing since the first
the stream of time to elsewhere. Little is known strike.
about the realities of these rites, as no one has ever
returned to tell of them. Follow in their footsteps; Activate this ability to kill an opponent with a
shift the world with the strength you’ve won. single, perfect punch. A punch you’ve studied
and trained for innumerable times—the
Step backwards or forwards in time and perfect angle, strength, follow through and
change one thing about the present. You can moment.
change anything within reason you can
justify via butterfly effect. The universe The perfection of it kills you where you stand,
drains you to make the adjustments to time, frozen in that final pose of strength,
and your existence is wiped from all embodied.
timelines as payment for this shift.
VOID BEHEMOTH CALL
The Teachers claim the ones who taught of the
Archives themselves are the Void Behemoths,
the constellation-strewn silhouettes that
dominate the universe on a scale that
reduces the creatures of Destera to
amoeba in a cesspool. With their
blessing, you could end it all, and
return all to the Void.

Activate this ability to doom all

life on the planet.

The Void Behemoths have noted

you, and a single tendril is snaking
through the effervescent planes of spheres
to bless you personally. The tip of the tendril
intended to make contact with you is the
scale of another planet, and the Behemoth
will probably have a fairly loose grasp on
gentility.

The Paracausal Pugilist — 43

 Is it a person? A monster? Maybe it’s just a bad dream…

H old fast to your dreams," whisper parents to

their children, "or the Somnajac will for you."

They’re half-right—a Somnajac doesn’t have to go

anywhere to find dreams to take. There’s dreams
SKILL
CORE TRAITS
Sneak

everywhere—rising from the gutters, soaked into DOMAIN Warren

the stones, nestled in the nooks and crannies of the
world where most people don’t like to look. RESOURCE A rune-etched candle,
intended to ward away
The Somnajac, sleeping rough in tatters and rags, evil spirits (other spirits,
can hear what a place itself is dreaming about, not you)
and then sneak in and carve off bits for themselves. D6 Occult
They hear the things that people and places say to
themselves when they think no one is listening. EQUIPMENT Street-scrap Shiv
They know things that no one else is supposed to Kill D6 Brutal, Debilitating
know, and they relish the hidden knowledge, the
secrets and surprises, the muttered memories that Choose either: A pigeon: loyal, blind, and
they bottle and save. unerring
Delve D6, Trusty
It’s not clear where they learn they trade, or even if
it’s a thing that can be taught: a Somnajac does or Vial of Mandragora esoterica
not come from circumstance or hardship the same extract, a reliable sleep aid
way that normal vagrants do. They are simply Mend D6 Mind, Potent
there, wandering the streets, singing a quiet tune
and tipping their hat to those that treat them
kindly.

They are kin to dirt paths and worn bricks. Their

bodies are made up of rumor and hearsay. The
vengeance they visit upon the cruel and the proud
is the stuff of nightmares.

The Somnajac — 45
 CORE ABILITIES
DREAM-THIEF WHIRLING-IN-RAGS
People and places both talk in their sleep; you just Your body is more like the suggestion of a body:
happened to be good at listening. Close your eyes, there could be anything under that tumble of
put your ear to the wall, and drink in the secrets scraps and strips and laughing eyes.
that spill forth.
Whenever you take Blood stress, you may
Roll Sneak + [Domain] to steal a dream from choose to instead take it to any other
a person or a landmark within the Heart, Resistance instead. The first time you choose
using a Domain appropriate to the target. to do this each session, gain +1 Protection to
The target doesn’t need to be asleep, the chosen Resistance for the rest of this
although trying to steal a dream from session.
someone who’s aware of you is Risky.

Rare is the target that takes kindly to having

their things pilfered: people will flinch and
places will shudder as you take tiny bits from
them. Take too much, and the target will see
you for what you are: an infection that needs
to be inoculated.

When you steal a dream, choose

the following based on the success
of your roll:

6-7: one choice from

the list below,
8-9: two choices;
10, three choices

DREAM-THIEF RESULTS:
M Ask the GM any one question about the
target
M Witness an event of the GM’s choice as if
you were present
M Allow yourself or an ally to gain mastery
on their next interaction with the target

Don’t pick an option more than once without

your GM’s permission. Some Minor
Advances give you new options to add to
this list!
MINOR ABILITIES
BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL GRIFTER
Nothing’s below you. Good at being bad, and better at getting away with
it.
Gain access to one of the following skills:
Delve, Discern, Endure, Evade, Hunt, Kill, Gain the Evade skill. Add the following
Mend, Sneak. You can take this advance option to the DREAM-THIEF results table:
more than once.
M Get out quietly—the target won’t realize
BINDLESTIFF what’s happened
You have a habit of picking up things that aren’t
yours. Gain +2 Supplies Protection. HALF-LIGHT
You cannot be hurt in a way that matters.
CAMPFIRE CANARDS
What else is there to talk about, late at night, Gain +1 Mind, Echo, or Fortune Protection.
huddled for warmth? The only thing that’s really You can take this advance more than once.
interesting—other people, and the awful things
they’ve done. OVERLAND
You’ve lost count of the places you’ve been, but each
Gain the Haven domain. Whenever you enter of them has left their mark on you.
a landmark, declare two rumors you’ve heard
about the place: the GM will tell you which Gain access to one of the following domains:
one is true. The first time you act on either Cursed, Haven, Occult, Religion,
rumor, regardless of its veracity, roll with Technology, Warren, Wild. You can take this
mastery. advance more than once.

CHIMNEY-ASHEN ROUGHNECK
You and bad luck are well acquainted, but you Never pass up a chance for sleep when it’s
make it a point not to let your relationship grow available. Who knows when it might come again?
any closer than that. Gain +2 Fortune
Protection. Gain the Endure skill. You can sleep in even
the most intolerable circumstances. Once per
session, you can fall asleep, instantly. If
you’re in a high-stakes situation, you can
wake up automatically after another round of
actions, at the GM’s discretion.

So long as whatever wakes you up isn’t

incoming stress, you refresh D6 when you
wake up.

The Somnajac — 47
SCROUNGER THE END IS NIGH
There’s lots of stuff to eat, especially when you have Not everyone wants to hear the truth, but that
a libertine definition of “food.” doesn’t stop it from being true.

Gain the Wild domain. Once per session, you Gain the Cursed domain. Once per session, if
can always manage to find something to eat, you pronounce a dire portent or scrawl it for
allowing you (or anyone else brave enough to all to read, the GM will name one person who
eat what you’ve found) to refresh D4 Blood. believes you sincerely.

SLEEP NO MORE THOUGHT-HARVEST

Death and dreams are kith and kin. If they didn’t want to hold onto these memories,
then maybe they shouldn’t have been so careless
Gain the Kill skill. Add the following option with them in the first place.
to the DREAM-THIEF results table:
Gain the Occult domain. Add the following
M Deal D4 stress to the target. option to the DREAM-THIEF results table:

SKID ROW M Shape part of the dream-stuff into a

Being truly destitute invokes a kind of invisibility, physical stone of Oneiric Essence, a D4
even here in the Heart. They avert their gaze, not Occult resource. With time and effort,
wanting to reckon with their relative good fortune. you can weld two Oneiric Essences
They quicken their pace, lock their eyes ahead, and together to form a D6 resource (and so on
will themselves to ignore you. Fine. There is an and so forth.
advantage in being invisible.
WHISPER
Gain the Desolate domain. People prefer not Talking with unusual things isn’t the hard part—
to look at you, and you prefer not to be the hard part is listening to the unusual things
perceived. Once per session, you can go which are as obstinate as real people.
completely and utterly ignored until you take
direct action that forces people to reckon Gain the Discern skill. Once per session, you
with your presence. can hold a brief conversation with something
that could not ordinarily be questioned: an
object, an animal, a dead body, a landmark, a
concept, a piece of clothing, furniture, the
moon, anything. It will answer you honestly
(but perhaps not straightforwardly.)
MAJOR ABILITIES
NIGHTMARE MADE REAL
You’ve spent a long time learning how to enter a
dream carefully, thoughtfully, quietly: immersing
yourself in its unreality step by step, letting your
mind acclimate to the deep end. It takes much less
practice to push someone in and watch them
drown.

Once per session, you can plunge a target’s

mind into a nightmare of your own
authoring. Describe it. The target’s physical
form is stunned; the next action taken
against it can be taken unopposed, but any
stress dealt to the target will wake it back up.

If left alone, it will wake up automatically

(but traumatically) at the end of the
situation.

MINOR: SOMNIC BACKLASH

Regardless of how the target
emerges from the nightmare,
whenever it wakes, it takes
D6 stress as it jolts
back to the waking
world.

MINOR: SOMNA-MASOCHIST
Whenever you use this move, refresh D4.

MINOR: FALSE AWAKENING

The first stress dealt to the target no longer
wakes it up, but is instead incorporated and
justified by the nightmare; any subsequent
stress will definitely wake it up.

The Somnajac — 49
RAGS TO RICHES
Lots of places are stopovers; few of them are truly MINOR: ONE MAN’S TRASH
destinations. When you find a place that’s truly Increase the resource size you receive from
worth your time—by dint of its history, its drama, visiting the landmark to D8.
or simply its pure gumption—well, what greater
compliment is there than to move in and make it MINOR: REAP WHAT YE SOW
your home? Gain +1 Mind Protection for each haunt you
or your party has upgraded (up to a
When you take this ability, choose a maximum of 4.)
landmark you’re familiar with. Whenever
you visit that landmark, you can MINOR: TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP
automatically gain a D6 resource with a Using DREAM-THIEF against targets in or
domain of your choosing suitable to the from your landmark is no longer Risky even
landmark—describe what it is, and who or if they’re aware of what you’re doing.
where you got it from.

Additionally, whenever you

and delvers associated with you upgrade a
haunt in this landmark, you each do so at
twice the normal rate (two ticks rather than
one for using the haunt; six ticks rather than
three for contributing a resource of
appropriate value.)
SCRAPS AND TATTERS
Banners and flags! MINOR: AMBUSH PREDATOR
Ribbons and prayers! If you make an attack roll against a target
The tatterman’s come to town! that hasn’t yet perceived you for what you
Oil and salt! Parchment and pen! are, you can choose to return to your normal
The tatterman’s come to town! form as part of the attack. If you do, your
Cast your cores and bones aside outgoing stress die is not reduced, and this
Drop your spades and run inside attack gains the Piercing tag.
Little children run and hide
The tatterman’s come to town! MINOR: DEEP DIVE
Gain mastery on Discern and Hunt checks in
You can choose to transform, disappearing this form; your senses are not just available,
into the scraps of cloth and fabric that make but magnified, allowing you to smell faint
up your outfit, and becoming a whirling, sounds, see in total darkness, and taste the
tumbling cloud of fluttering garbage that can tiniest details of hidden paths.
fly through the air and fit easily through tiny
gaps. If you sit perfectly still, there’s no MINOR: APOSEMATIC DISPLAY
telling you apart from any other mass of Gain +1 Echo Protection. You can now
garbage. You still possess your senses, but communicate clearly in this form; not
not your voice. vocally, but using the bits and scraps of
yourself to signal warnings, issue
While in this form, roll with mastery on commands, or deliver portents.
Sneak and Evade checks, but Kill rolls can
only ever deal D4 stress at most. You can shift
back to your normal form at will, so long as
the disparate pieces of scrapcloth aren’t
prevented from finding one another.

The Somnajac — 51
SECRETS LAID BARE MINOR DREAM-DELVE
The dreams of the living are not merely crafting A quick jaunt through someone’s thoughts.
material: they are places, wild and ornate, filled STRESS: D4
with haunted memories and well-kept secrets. RESISTANCE: 6
REWARD (Pick one):
Roll Sneak + Occult to infiltrate the dreams
of people or other sentient beings. M Learn something useful about the
Infiltrating the dream of a target while it’s target, giving you or an ally mastery on
aware of you is Risky. You can bring any a roll
number of willing targets along with you by M Deal D6 psychic stress to the target
marking 1 stress to either Mind or Echo per M Implant a distracting notion, lowering
target brought along. the target’s difficulty by 1 for one action

A dream acts like a Delve in miniature; the MAJOR DREAM-DELVE

GM will present obstacles and opponents A deep dive into the target’s memories.
appropriate to the interior landscape of the STRESS: D6
target. When you begin, choose whether it’s RESISTANCE: 8
Minor, Major, or Zenith; harder delves yield REWARD (Pick one):
greater rewards.
M Learn something vital about the target,
The domains for a Dream-Delve are based on giving themselves or an ally mastery on
the target: infiltrating a Moon-priest’s dreams the next three rolls
will probably feature obstacles with Religion, M Deal D8 psychic damage to the target
while a Cleaver’s sleep is tinged with Wild. M Implant a harrowing distraction,
Delve equipment doesn’t implicitly help with lowering the target’s difficulty by 1 for
Dream-Delves. the rest of the situation

Your are both rendered unconscious as you ZENITH DREAM-DELVE

plunge into your target’s psyche; taking An inexorable plunge into someone’s inner psyche.
physical stress will end the Dream STRESS: D8
prematurely. You wake up automatically RESISTANCE: 12
when the Dream-Delve is complete. REWARD (Pick one):

MINOR: IN MEDIA RES M Expose a critical weakness in the target,

Mark D4 stress against the Dream-Delve as giving you and your allies mastery
soon as you begin. against the target hereafter
M Deal D12 psychic stress to the target
MINOR: NIGHT TERROR M Implant an inescapable idea, lowering
Delve rolls made as part of a Dream-Delve the target’s difficulty by 2 for the rest of
are Trusty. the situation

MINOR: LUCID DREAMING

If incoming stress would wake you from a
Dream-Delve, you may roll Endure + Occult
to shrug it off and remain subconscious.
URBAN LEGEND
The strange man in the woods.
The creature that hungers
beneath the streets. The shape
that lives in window-glass. Every
place has a bogeyman, whether they
admit it to themselves or not. Every
place has secret signs and rites, secret
habits and sayings, that they use to ward
off the evil that lurks in their community,
that haunts their homes, that preys on
their fear.

Roll Sneak + Occult to take on the

aspect of a legend feared by a nearby
mind. Discuss with the GM what this
legend is called, how it’s described,
and what its nightmarish behavior is.
Describe how you incorporate those
details into your own haunted,
tattered form. Anyone familiar with
what you’ve taken on will regard you
as its living embodiment; roll with
mastery when you live up to the
legend.

This transformation lasts until

the end of the current situation.

MINOR: BEYOND BELIEF

Whenever you use this ability,
you may choose one target who
is particularly overwhelmed by
your presence. Lower their Difficulty by one MINOR: NIGHTMARE FUEL
step to a minimum of Standard until the end Whenever you successfully cast this spell, you
of the situation. You don’t have to choose the may mark D4 Echo stress. If you do, your
target right away. attacks gain the Brutal tag while
transformed.
MINOR: JUMP SCARE
Once per situation, you can appear
somewhere you shouldn’t have been, even if
it’s physically impossible for you to have
somehow arrived there. Increase the
outgoing stress of your next attack by one
step.

The Somnajac — 53
ZENITH ABILITIES
CULT OF PERSONALITY FEAR ITSELF
You have done too much, and succeeded too well. No longer will you cloak yourself in the rumors
Now others seek your guidance, and burden you and features of other nightmares. The dread you
with responsibility. inspire is uniquely yours—now is the time to
unleash it on the world.
You’re not sure when they started following
in your wake—just one, then a few more, You begin your final transformation into an
then a crowd, gathered to hear your tales by urban legend—something new, something
the fire and learn how you’ve thrived within perfect, distilled from years of soaking in the
the world. These disciples are raw, but eager, fears and dreads of other people’s psychoses.
and they hang on your every word. You teach Describe your new form: consider giving it
them how to listen and how to dream. only one truly specific detail, as befits a
creepy legend. All who look upon you give in
To use this ability, describe a simple but to despair and drop to Standard difficulty.
audacious goal that you direct your horde of You gain mastery on all rolls for the
believers to accomplish. Whether they remainder of the situation.
succeed or not, they cause raucous chaos as
they attempt the goal with the knowledge Afterwards, you vanish into folklore and
you have imparted and the fervor of true legend, returning to haunt the truly unlucky
believers. and the ill-fated of Heart. Ask each of the
other players and the GM for a brief story of
Afterwards, your following begins to take on your legend that’s whispered over campfires
an unprecedented degree of organization in the years ahead.
and hierarchy, turning from your followers
into your benevolent captors. You are
enshrined as this new organization’s leader;
name the organization and describe how it
uses your teachings. Heart (and Spire, and
Nujab, and the rest of Destera) are forced to
take note of your organization’s presence as
it grows in power.

You live on, but you are trapped at the center

of the gathering of dream-delving vagabonds
who worship you as a living god. You have
adoration in spades, but a delver’s freedom is
no longer yours.
TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM
When the dream is all that’s left, who’s to say it’s
not real?

Your somnic power has grown to the extent

that you can affect wide ranges of people,
places, or aspects of the Heart itself. To
activate this ability, enter a chosen landmark.

As you pass through it, its inhabitants

uniformly fall into a deep sleep. All who dwell
here are overtaken with exhaustion and fall
asleep in the nearest possible place, their eyes
closing for the last time.

When the whole of the landmark has fallen

asleep, you find a comfortable place and lay
your own head to rest, taking control of the
Dream as its master and overlord, never to
leave. This landmark soon vanishes from the
Heart, a place barely remembered, like a
fleeting dream.

The Somnajac — 55
 let the whims of fortune decide your fate

T his is a pseudo-Tarot system done with a

traditional 52 card deck (and as many
Jokers as you desire) to help with on-the-fly
design of Delves to-and-fro within the Heart.
M The card above will flavor that which is
fortunate, positive, and hopeful: the
lights at the ends of tunnels and more
literally: your potential allies, resources,
boons and Haunts.
There are two recommended kinds of Delve
Draws, one a modified version of the other: M The card below will flavor that which
destroys and hinders, the Heart itself and
M The traditional is 3 cards drawn, left to as well the Adversaries, banes and
right, representing the Beginning, obstacles the Delve will consist of.
Middle, and End. These will give you a
vague design for the path between two Listed beneath the card descriptions are a
places within the Heart. series of potential options for the card
drawn. Rolling a D6 on each option will
For longer Delves, 2 more cards may be clarify the cards drawn even further, though
drawn and placed above and below the three inventing new interpretations of the card’s
card spread. theme in context with the full spread is
encouraged.

Delve Draws — 57
 TWOCORAZON THREECORAZON
A familiar , A
resurfaced folly

1 Caverns like blood vessels, 1 A sprawling lake, haunted by 1 A wretched marketplace with
threatening to flood. an uncouth Rabisu. even more wretched deals.

2 A great kraken of flesh, 2 A jaunty Incarnadine or three 2 A throne of rust in a kingdom

overeager for friends. with an interest in your debt. of trash.

3 An old battlefield; the bodies 3 Your old nemesis, back from 3 A caravan of Gutterkin pirates,
blooming with strange life. the grave. eager for riches.

4 Cages of sharp bones, picked 4 A squad of Hounds, convinced 4 Slave-drovers armed with
clean. of your crimes. barbed whips.

5 Roving Hungry Deep disciples 5 A Gnoll incursion team, 5 A princely estate, overgrown
search for sacrifices. desperate not to be found. with green.

6 A great device scours the 6 An occultist’s burnt-out shrine, 6 A font of spireblack, free-
tunnels, keeping things clean. still smoldering. flowing.
 FOURCORAZON FIVECORAZON SIXCORAZON
A cosmic lovers’ slips A dead of a dead A
in from beyond the veil world, untouched

1 Two differently-Domained 1 An inscrutable factory, its 1 Warrens, heady with

passageways vie for the same workers alive but frozen in a corruption and decay.
place in reality. single moment.

2 Rips in space carry infectious 2 The massive hammer of an old 2 Pilgrims returning from the
arguing; all who hear it begin god, still red-hot from its last God of Corpses, their garments
bickering. use. filthy.

3 A pair of dragons, fighting, 3 A graveyard of gears and 3 A marsh of Ichor; sinkholes

threaten to bring the sprockets, all turning listlessly, filled with mad dreams.
catacombs down. producing nothing.

4 A river-barge of traveling 4 Bees, building an new enclave 4 A meticulous Doctor insists on

Elsewhere nobles, voices polite, of wyrd and wax, intent on analyzing your humours.
dripping with hatred. protecting it from you.

5 Witch-thralls hunt for a neutral 5 The Labyrinth sickness 5 A hot spring, occupied by a
party to judge a deeply spreads, with new walls and territorial heartsblood
esoteric disagreement. alleys taking shape. hippopotamus.

6 A rain of arrows, shooting from 6 Haven-exiles on the search for 6 Clinically-bare walls filled with
the sky itself, as you cross the a home and a leader. the hum of machines.
meadow.

Delve Draws — 59
 SEVENCORAZON EIGHTCORAZON NINECORAZON
A deeply, deeply An to an The
entangled unseen machine

1 Enormous eels, enmeshed, 1 Leftover Vermissian 1 The ichor is up to your chest,

electrified, tumbling right mechanisms. Are they fleeing, here. Up to your chin. You can
towards you. or invading? taste it.

2 A swarm of Harpies in the 2 An aelfir-sponsored prototakos 2 An unlit passage, carved in

middle of ravenous mating. device, long abandoned. Is it rock, and without clear steps.
dangerous?

3 A sleepless deadwalker and her 3 A single Apiarist guards this 3 The only path ahead lies into
visible, joyous death, following listening post. What do they the maw of this sleeping
behind. hear? godwhale.

4 A fae warden of the wilds, 4 A junkyard, filled with junk, 4 The river’s not that deep. We
intent on playing pranks. and hungry junkyard dogs. can ford across no problem.
Right?

5 A mated pair of heartsblood 5 This train crashed long, long 5 A towering hill. You could go
mustangs, on the prowl. ago—and it is still crashing. around, but … someone is up
there, waving.

6 Signal-box cultists welded 6 The Works, as seen in Spire. 6 An elevator. The doors open for
together, speaking as one (if What’s it doing down here? you. It only goes down.
you can call that speaking).
 TENCORAZON JACKCORAZON QUEENCORAZON
The Awakes: A Vermissian The peaks
intelligence in the walls through the cracks

1 You’ve entered a device; its 1 Someone you know, but from 1 From the Depths, a funeral:
gears and walls and devices another reality, is on the run. The smell of kelp and the
activate all around you. Who? sounds of eulogies.

2 A valley of miners, digging 2 You, but from another reality, 2 From the aetherships, a fight
technology from out of the looking for you. Why? club: The glint of ship-steel and
rock. the crunch of Pugilists’ bones.

3 Bees. Bees. Bees. Bees. Bees. 3 Vermissian Sages, looking for 3 From the Red Moon, a ritual:
you, with innumerable the smell of copper and the
(seemingly inane) questions. screams of saints.

4 A Signal-Box cultist parade. 4 Someone you know from 4 A Paladin from the City Above,
another reality appears, on the come to cleanse this wicked
run. Who? realm.

5 An Automaton-of-Burden, 5 You, from another reality, 5 A broken-down shrine to the

aware and desperate for a looking for you. Why? Moon Beneath, laid waste by
purpose. her enemies.

6 BEES BEES BEES BEES BEES 6 A perfectly-working train 6 The corpse of a drow, face
crossing that signals the frozen in fear. In their hand,
passage of the Grail Road a note with your name on it.

1 A haven in turmoil. A shriek of red. It is already too late.

2 A beast that should not be. A warrior of iron. A battle of titans.

3 A mighty egg of viscera; the angel will emerge presently.

KINGCORAZON
THE COMES 4 The Hounds, ready for a desperate last stand.

5 A Cleaver, intent on ascension to their most holy form.

6 A great, gaping hole. It leads two Tiers down. It does not lead back up.

Delve Draws — 61
 TWOTREFLE THREETREFLE
A pleasant , The leaks in
closely guarded

1 A forest with trees dipping in 1 Druids, looking for greener 1 The ground desaturates and
ichor: Each puddle whispers a pastures, not keen on disappears into a sandy bank
curse. competition. along an ichoric river.

2 A Godsbeast’s grave, and its 2 Seven deep-goats stare silently, 2 A connection begins to rot,
manic attendants. waiting for tribute. fragment, and crumble.

3 A trio of deadwalkers, bound 3 A Cleaver Lord has marked this 3 An important guide given over
by a singular, mighty death. as her private hunting ground. to apathy and inertia.

4 An entire settlement is dead— 4 An intoxicating species of flora 4 A deadwalker bounty-hunter,

but still hustling and bustling, lives here; wandering through ready to ambush their target,
in ghostly fashion. causes stumbling and stupor. plunging them into the Grey.

5 Ghost wardens search for prey 5 Every rock here gets bigger and 5 One of your most valuable
with wands of electrical power. angrier each time you look at it. items has become haunted.

6 A loved one returns from the 6 An offshoot of the Carotid 6 One of your most valuable
grave to issue a dire warning. Forest, eager to consume. friends has become haunted.
 FOURTREFLE FIVETREFLE SIXTREFLE
A , A and its A of the self
baffled & fixated protesting captive serving variety

1 A deadwalker’s death that’s lost 1 An Incarnadine and their 1 A technologist has activated an
its partner. It wails and writhes indentured servant, making a Angel of their own creation.
in its search. pilgrimage to the market.

2 A Hound, scared literally to 2 An aelfir skald, hauling 2 A demagogue and their cult,
death, rooted to the spot its imprisoned souls back to Spire intent on dragging everyone to
body fell. for interrogation. heaven.

3 An enormous cavern of 3 A blooded witch, taking the 3 A gaping, whispering pit,

calcified ghosts, softly spirit of her sister to be buried offering salvation for sacrifice.
moaning. at Hallow.

4 A skeleton toll-keeper, 4 A ferryman with a surprisingly 4 Two guards: one that always
monitoring and cataloging all comprehensive menu of lies, and another that always
who pass. destinations. screams.

5 Morticians from the City 5 A gregarious mage with a 5 A frantic prophetess, unable to
Above, searching for a runaway sinister demon to sell you. give voice to her visions.
phantom.

6 A ferocious hyena with a taste 6 A Hound and a thief, hand- 6 A mirrored maze that offers
for ghosts. cuffed together and power, but contains only
weaponless. spiders.

Delve Draws — 63
 SEVENTREFLE EIGHTTREFLE NINETREFLE
An old , rekindled calls: a door to its An reluctant to part
against nature avenues swings open with their portents

1 An ever-smoldering Cleaver, 1 The Cartographers, desperately 1 A priestess from the Moon

intent on devouring everything trying to map the local area. Beneath who’s lost her escort.
in their path.

2 A simulacrum of a long-lost 2 A crowbar gang, using a portal 2 Devotees of the Swanfall cult
love; nearby, and in-danger. to secure valuable weapons and looking for someone to throw
resources for their crew. off a cliff.

3 A lake of flaming ichor, filled 3 Market illusions spill out, 3 A laconic Hellionite who claims
with carnivorous fish. bewildering the local wildlife. his gun can tell the future.

4 Desert sands, endless light, and 4 The lights of this path begin to 4 An ancient shrine, abandoned
no water for miles. snuff out as the Interstitial by its congregation, but still
creep forward. producing miracles.

5 A simulacrum of a long-lost 5 Hounds intend this door to be 5 A set of standing-stones, and a

love: armed, and dangerous. theirs and theirs alone; by enormous godsbeast frozen at
discovering it, you’ve forfeited the center.
your liberty.

6 Ash falls from the sky like 6 An aelfir-led squadron of Spire 6 A Vermissian Sage searching
snow; take cover before the fire militiamen came through a for the Last Train.
pours down. portal, and they’re spoiling for
a fight.
 TENTREFLE JACKTREFLE QUEENTREFLE
A in an A of a The of
old, sickly way long-dead court a guarded oasis

1 Stolz-cultists getting married 1 A Heretic honor-bound to 1 A spacious mansion, home to

in Heart to prove their love. deliver the mail. an Idol and her admirers.

2 An ancient gazebo, still witch- 2 A Gibberwright with a chaotic 2 A powerful exile from the
blessed and patrolled by new act to put on. Home Nations, intent on
bloodbound beasts. rebuilding their power.

3 Hunted by a newly wed pair of 3 A skeleton courtier, on their 3 A heartsblood stag, faster than
aelfir on their big-game way to find—or create— any arrow.
honeymoon safari. incredible stories.

4 An intersection of old train 4 A deadly carrion-pig which ate 4 A Somnajac lurking in a

lines, lined with poachers’ its whole Haven. hillside of garbage.
traps.

5 Statues of petrified aelfir 5 An emaciated drow languishes 5 Cannibal-kings and their

couples, embraced in desolate from Mummer’s Pox. emergency bunker.
union.

6 Two marauder gangs, newly 6 Ancient animatronics spring to 6 A hermit in a log cabin, held
united, celebrating with a life, intent on entertaining prisoner by a cult of knives.
rampage. you—or else.

1 A shrouded enclave, ruled by foul blood-witches.

2 A dreadful shrine to Our Hidden Mistress.

KINGTREFLE 3 A sprawling pyramid linked to the Source.
The ,
beautiful 4 A network of catacombs, buzzing with Apiatic activity.
and horrible
5 A great machine, worshiped by all who pass through its systems.

6 A Lekolean battlefield, covered with chattering skulls.

Delve Draws — 65
 TWOSPADES THREESPADES
New , A silent , waiting
fresh & ravenous for its last arrival

1 An oasis of kind individuals, 1 A pair of ‘friendly’ Cleavers, 1 A sacrificial ritual that still
huddled for safety. hungry for prey. requires a soul.

2 A barely guarded treasure, 2 Two heartsblood beasts, fleeing 2 A Vermissian Conclave, hungry
pushed out of the walls of the a much larger predator. for the Rail Liturgy.
Heart.

3 A repository of ancient 3 Mermaids in love, chased by 3 A budding Apiary, hunting for

knowledge, seeking learners. the consequences of eloping . an agent of chaos.

4 A broken fragment of your 4 Incarnadines drunk on their 4 A bloodthirsty Heart-Cult

past, filled with dark secrets. latest reaping. seeking a quart of fresh blood.

5 A half-dead god, desperate for 5 An pair of angels fleeing from 5 A summoning of a dark god,
a single bearer of their liturgy. the Heart itself. it’s awaited head-priest dead.

6 A dead delver, hands clenched 6 Half-transformed Delvers 6 A Masquerade with need for an
around a secret-rife journal. craving blood to fuel their unmasked sacrifice.
metamorphoses.
 FOURSPADES FIVESPADES SIXSPADES
A with his An , The attempts to fix what
gibbering flock quiet & secret has been broken

1 A shepherd of dimension- 1 A pristine cottage with a 1 An Angel mid-combat with a

hopping reptilian beasts. puffing chimney, its residents pack of hunting Deep
immolated in-place. Apiarists.

2 A grand servant of the Red 2 A bustling hive of piratical 2 A Heartseed being pruned by
King and a wriggling mass of vacationers preparing for a heavily armed gardeners.
wyrmlings. hunt.

3 A Cleaver and a pack of 3 A lodge nestled in a wall, its 3 A Deep Apiarist sect righting
bloodbound wolves. owner darkly fixated on the wrongs of a Heart-changed
destroying a nearby rival lodge. haven.

4 A blind seer and a raving mad 4 A warm campfire with kindly 4 A Heartsblood beast fleeing
cluster of acolytes. fellow travelers tending the from hunters who’ll pay a
flames. handsome reward.

5 A priest of Brother Hellion and 5 A decrepit tower, its top floor 5 A group of jailers descended
his bandoleer of semi-sentient pristine and maintained by from the Hive in pursuit of an
firearms. automatons. escaped legendary convict.

6 A pastoral scene of shepherds 6 An occupied and stocked 6 A ragged rip in reality with a
and the bloodthirsty sheep who bunker, open for a price. cadre attempting to stitch it
run the operation. up.

Delve Draws — 67
 SEVENSPADES EIGHTSPADES NINESPADES
An ancient with The , on break at a A ,
signs of rebirth bloodied project-site fresh from the harvest

1 A seemingly safe hunting 1 A group of masons rebuilding a 1 A Hound with a pack covered
lodge, haunted (and kept tidy) temple grounds for a in strange skins for sale, each
by previous owners. mysterious benefactor. with a story and a curse.

2 A precious, protected cabin, 2 Loggers bloodied and fresh 2 An ex-Cannibal trying to

tucked away from danger. from the Carotid Forest. perfect a new craft, a mediocre
kill just before him.

3 A marina with a single 3 Plumbers from the Tunnels of 3 A beast surrounded by the
unharmed boat moored to its Wet Filth, hardened like war fresh corpses of the last delvers
planks. veterans. to challenge it.

4 A cult sacrificial altar chamber 4 A Tradesguild excursion of 4 A blood-streaked Incarnadine,

with freshly spilled blood punished members seeking guns smoking and money-
adorning the walls. redemption. pouches full.

5 A House Gryndel hunting blind 5 Jewelers extracting a enormous 5 A Sourceborn Construct

with guns still hot on racks. gem, corpses of their fellows dragging Vermissian
littering the dig-site. machinery back to the Source.

6 An Gnoll Incursion Team 6 Miners fresh from the skull of 6 A kraken, its tentacles pulling
outpost. titanic beast, mining its apart a once-sturdy vessel.
dreams and nightmares.
 TENSPADES JACKSPADES QUEENSPADES
A attuned A hot in pursuit of a The , who can
to the land, unwillingly prized bounty tailor beyond fabric

1 A Cleaver bound to a 1 An escaped servant with their 1 A witch with a penchant for
Heartsblood stag guiding for a master’s treasure in tow. warping flesh into new forms.
fee.

2 A Druid melded into a fungal 2 A huntsman with a corpse on 2 Madame, an arachnid master
forest who can sense his back in hot pursuit of the of many who can makes ties of
everything in their roots. corpse’s ghost. many kinds that truly bind.

3 A child with a preternatural 3 A golem stomping after the 3 A outfit tailor with exceptional
bond to an Angel. owner of its control-poem. abilities woven in the threads.

4 A thrall to an Incarnadine 4 A Hound hunting down a 4 A Ministry spymaster with

trying to deliver a message and haven burning arsonist. connections across Destera.
failing to interpret directions.

5 A Haruspex Albatross apostate, 5 A Damnic Inquisitor hunting 5 A god of old, making her will
willing to guide you to the down heretical higher-ups in known by her scissors and
ichor’s places of power. the Moon Beneath. thread wielding devotees.

6 A sentient blade crying out for 6 A personified Death in pursuit 6 An Aelfir matchmaker looking
blood, offering the path to its of their escaping Deadwalker. for a lover for very, very
master’s treasure in trade. particular client.

1 A Magister with secrets on the Ministry’s next moves into the Heart.

2 An Elsewhere Cartographer with intel on gateways to other worlds.

KINGSPADES 3 A retired psychopomp who knows the way to the Heavens and Hells.
A with a high
price for what they 4 An Angel hunter who has tagged one of the mythic creatures.
know
5 An delver with a lead on an untapped trove of Prokatakos treasure.

6 ‘One’ of L’Enfer Noir’s Gentlemen, offering to spirit you away.

Delve Draws — 69
 TWODIAMANTE THREEDIAMANTE
A , the bare ,
minimum . . . barely a false treasure

1 A sliver of the Red King’s 1 A threatened Gutterkin with 1 A treasure-chest mimic, not
hoard. knowledge of a secret passage. particularly violent and a
possible friend.

2 A gilded automaton, a single 2 A half-rusted blade with an 2 A pile of gold that dissolves
key piece missing. inlaid hilt. into ash when grasped.

3 An emperor’s halberd 3 A dying delver begging for the 3 A gilded suit of armor with a
embedded in the skull of a safety of his lost party. Heartsblood hermit crab
living beast. cluster within its many pieces.

4 A piece of Prokatakos 4 An errant Druid with a 4 A beautiful grove, a ring of

technology, half redesigned depleted reserve of narcotics. seelie stones waiting to trap
with galvanics. those who enter.

5 A palanquin borne by Paladins. 5 Carrion Pigs escaped from 5 A false king begging for
their handler, and a reward for someone to help him find his
their recapture. lost ‘kingdom.’

6 The helm of a fallen hero, wisps 6 A broken Aelfir, hands clutched 6 An isolated tree, body warping
of their soul still clinging on. on the remnants of his family’s poison coursing through its
name. fruit.
 FOURDIAMANTE FIVEDIAMANTE SIXDIAMANTE
A with a taste for A , strange in A ,
strange debt taste and attendance just out of reach

1 A body-shaping Witch with a 1 A slain hundred-foot Wyrm, 1 A collection of mummified

hunger for new and strange and a feasting hunting party delvers, all clutching the same
blood. roasting it over hellfire. artifact.

2 A dimension hopping arms- 2 A masked soiree with 2 A glistening amulet of meat,

dealer with weapons for loan. inexplicable foods being whispering in the mind of
offered intensely. those who touch it.

3 A vehicle-borne tradesman 3 A Druid festival around a rare, 3 A trove of coins, all minted in
with a shifting stock of edible blooming crop. languages no one has ever
oddities. read.

4 A forgotten god plying for a 4 An Undead feast upon the flesh 4 An armory of cursed weapons
single acolyte more. of an bound, infinitely designed to harm the user as
regenerating giant. well as the target.

5 An ancient sorcerer with a spell 5 A flock of megacorvidae 5 A crumbling temple complex,

to offer in exchange for feasting on a swarm of with both the final tithings and
something intangible: a sliver heartsblood locusts. a watchful spirit within.
of soul, a dream, a wish.

6 A usurer with an automaton 6 The crew of an ichor-borne 6 A jewel encrusted skeleton, the
army of debt-collectors. vessel selling a haul of anatomy of which is of no
‘mystical’ crustaceans. obvious ancestry.

Delve Draws — 71
 SEVENDIAMANTE EIGHTDIAMANTE NINEDIAMANTE
A with a wretched A : forbidden smoke A
performance to give and song fill the air in terrified flight

1 Gibberwrights performing a 1 An Aelfir rager that has popped 1 A sect of Switch-Box cultists
dress rehearsal of a reality through a very, very fleeing a train-construct
warping tragedy. unfortunate cursed doorway. they’ve accidentally enraged.

2 A torture opera’s aftermath. 2 A Gnollish rescue team 2 Incarnadines rushing from

celebrating a successful those they’ve ripped off.
recovery.

3 A Skald and their apprentices 3 A masquerade in an 3 A procession of adherents

searching for targets to ambulatory hotel. carrying a half-transformed
practice their craft on. believer to the Moon Grove.

4 A Gutterkin puppet show 4 A Vermissian summoning 4 Swanfall Cultists with new,

performed for a pack of little ritual in desperate plea for a ‘coerced’ believers, fragments
ones. train along the tracks. of their old lives in pursuit.

5 A Damnic religious pageant 5 A seelie intrusion of Sky Court 5 A water caravan heading to a
performed by Moon Beneath air fae seeking hedonistic haven, pursued hotly by
heretics. pleasure. desiccated husks.

6 A Gnollish Djinn Querent who 6 A pack of Butchers reveling in a 6 Heart-warped thieves laden
will perform incredible feats finished hunt. with treasure from Cairnmor,
for a price. courtiers hot on their heels.
 TENDIAMANTE JACKDIAMANTE QUEENDIAMANTE
A pleasant, wordless A cursed , The , sealed and
, recently scorned laden with new riches jealously guarded

1 An Aelfir haberdasher with 1 Blood-thirsty cannibals with an 1 A legendary brigand brigade’s

poor direction to their client. untouched crop. bounty.

2 A headhunter with a 2 Burglars fresh from one of the 2 A dead god’s sealed temple,
particularly slippery mark. heavens, psychopomps in surrounded by undying
pursuit. servants.

3 A Drow relic-hawker recently 3 Fugitives from up-Spire, 3 A shattered heaven with a

robbed. carrying materials sensitive to crumbling gateway, held aloft
the Aelfir ruling class. by a zealous order.

4 A traveling surgeon sick with a 4 Gutterkin laden with treasure 4 A gilded prison with inmates
patient’s illness seeking the magnitude of which they running the show.
retribution or a cure. have no idea.

5 A money-lender seeking 5 A pack of Sodden, broken away 5 An ancient engine, its

revenge for a bounced bill. from their Haruspex Albatross caretakers meticulously
master, a relic of the god of the keeping its innards.
ichor closely held.

6 A chef-errant lost after a failed 6 The escaped thralls of a Wyrm, 6 A suspended aethership,
ingredient hunting venture. a fraction of its hoard in tow. crashed through the
boundaries between worlds.

1 A half-living wyrm on a hoard of thralls.

2 A serpentine creature defending a prokatakos mystery.

KINGDIAMANTE 3 A lion’s pride, warped beyond recognition, prey in tow.

A broken
atop an alien hoard 4 A warlord and their defeated vassals.

5 A treasure-laden Incarnadine caravanning to ‘safety.’

6 A gardening Angel, busy replanting a crop of Heartseeds.

Delve Draws — 73
When you draw a Joker, invoke the power of the Heart Itself.

Depending on your game, your players, and your own

inclinations, you might immediately think–“Aha! I know
EXACTLY how I want to do that.” If so–spectacular! Carry on.

If not: here are a couple of ideas on how the Heart Itself

might manifest on a delve.

COMPLICATION: Set up a delve obstacle as normal, but

invoke a Pulse at the same time (Heart pg. 125).

CONFRONTATION: Something that a delver or delvers have

been putting off, avoiding, or have otherwise been anxious
about is made physically manifest in front of them. The Heart
draws upon their fears and their worries to force the issue
and see what happens. A wronged loved one, an old nemesis,
a betrayed confidant, a job left undone. Is it the real thing?
Just a meaty illusion? Does it matter?

INVOCATION: Take a moment to make the experience at the

table truly weird (within the bounds of the safety mechanics
used at your table.) Invite the players to trade character
sheets for the remainder of the delve. Play the rest of the
game outside. Set HEART aside for a brief moment and play a
another short game to dip into some new aspect of the
delvers’ experiences. Don’t force the issue, and take your
players’ interests into account, but consider what you might
do to make this particular moment truly different.
 new tools to assist the enterprising delver
MAINTAINING A VEHICLE
A Vehicle primarily acts as a hive of shared
Equipment with an ever-expanding
(and reducing) suite of possibilities.
Whether your world is drenched in ichor or
The size of a craft is tracked as:

M Personal (roughly a single person)

not, a Vehicle gives delvers a new vector with M Medium (a group of delvers)
which to explore its cursed paths. M Large (a big party or a lot of cargo), and
M Gargantuan (no limits)
USING A VEHICLE
All Vehicles are—at minimum—a Delves can be marked with limitations for
D6 Delve tool. the size of vehicles that can pass, making an
opportunity for the delvers to find another
An improved vehicle can become a Kill and route or to alter the circumstances of the
Mend tool as well, along with the ability to landscape before them with explosives,
transfer Supplies, Fortune and Blood magics or otherwise.
fallouts to the vehicle while operating it.
A vehicle’s condition is tracked via Fallout
Delvers can improve a Vehicle by expending Slots. Fallout Slots track of how many Minor
resources at a haunt that could plausibly and Major Fallouts a vehicle can accrue
make adjustments. Purchasing (or repairing) before they’re incapacitated. For example, a
equipment for a Vehicle costs +1 dice size at vehicle with the 2 Minors, 1 Major designated
for what the haunt offers. can absorb 2 Minor Fallouts and 1 Major
Fallout and remain seaworthy. Delvers with
Of course, this assumes, assuming the abilities that effect Fallouts (preventing or
services you are require are not particularly downgrading them, for example) can use
rare—in the Heart, technicians with their them on the Vehicle.
proficiency intact are few and far between.
Severe Fallouts always take vehicles out of
MANAGING A VEHICLE commission. The Vehicle Equipment
There is a blank Vehicle sheet in the back of becomes unavailable until the Fallout is
this book which can be used to manage the removed.
details of your Vehicle.

Vehicles — 75
 EXAMPLE VehicleS
Owl-Pulled Sled Delve D4, Unreliable [3 Minor / 2 Major / Personal]
A slap-shod sled used by those brave enough to shackle the flightless
owls found within the depths of the Heart. Shaky, cheaply constructed,
and screeching–in a few different ways.

Spireblack Tugboat Delve D6 [2 Minor / 1 Major / Large]

A workman’s vehicle and one of the most common sights atop the
ichor. Built for the movement of cargo and whatever else needs
tugging through the warping influence of the godsblood waves.

Tarantacular Delve D8, Loud [2 Minor / 1 Major / Medium]

Crawler A multi-legged ambulating craft with the ability to seal its crew within
and descend below the ichor. With a light enough load, the Crawler can
ascend along a ceiling, at risk of the structure above you giving way.

Godsblood Corsair Delve D8, Expensive [3 Minor / 2 Major / Gargantuan]

A ‘sailing’ ship that uses a contract with air-fae to navigate the more
open waters of the ichor drowned sea. Name the captain of your
contracted air-fae and the context under which they will be released.

Crystal-Tipped Delve D10, Smoke [3 Minor / 2 Major / Medium]

Subterrene A drill-tipped vehicle that tears new passageways through the walls and
surfaces of the Heart with a grinding lurch. Any creature hit with the
crystal-tipped drill that leads the subterrene takes D10 Blood stress.
 EXAMPLE VehicleS
Articulated Delve D10 [2 Minor / 1 Major / Large]
Zeppelin A segmented zeppelin meant to fold and fit within the crevices of the
Heart. If flame is introduced to the gaseous, segmented balloon that
carries it forwards, expect an explosive result.

Galvanic Air-boat Delve D8, Distressing [3 Minor / 2 Major / Personal]

A small hovercraft meant to skim waters quickly and dangerously.
Typically comes strapped to a larger vessel for quick excursions.

A Knight’s Lost Delve D4, Trusty [2 Minor / 1 Major / Personal]

Rowboat A rowboat from the North Docks in the Spire above. It’s marked with
the icon of one of the many pub-related knightly orders: name it and
the Knight from whom it was stolen.

Adapted Aethership Delve D10, Expensive [4 Minor / 2 Major / Gargantuan]

An airship running off condensed aether, adapted from its usage of
sailing the void beyond Destera’s sky. It contains a multitude of
mysteries from the Void Elves still trapped within itself.

Prokatakos Delve D8, Dangerous [3 Minor / 2 Major / Medium]

Submersible A salvaged small craft that can descend ichor and light your way with
mysterious arcological technology. Can easily be housed in another
larger craft.

Stolz-Blessed Delve D8, Tiring [3 Minor / 0 Major / Personal]

Vintage Ornithopter A pretty chancey-looking hang glider. Probably been in storage for a
while, yeah? You sure that thing works? When was the last time you
tried it out? What, me? No, I’m not using it. YOU use it.

Furious Motorcar Delve D6, Loud, Smoke, Bloodbound [3 Minor / 2 Major / Medium]
Get in, loser, we’re driving to Tier 4.
 Vehicle Equipment
Any vehicle equipment able to be removed from a vehicle can
be used as one dice size lower.

Mounted Kill D6, Spread

Blunderbuss

Heartbound Increase the vehicle’s Delve dice by one

Compass step

Half-Trained Mend D6
Automaton of
Burden

Well-Stocked Increase the dice size of any Mend

Infirmary-in-a- equipment on-board
Box

Winch Harpoon Kill D4

On a successful hit, the target is attached
to the vehicle until the line is pulled in or
cut. Endure checks may be necessary to
winch in stronger targets.

Salvaged Kill D10, Spread, Expensive, Loud

Protokatakos
Gatling Gun

Fire-Hurling Kill D6, Dangerous, Spread

Trebuchet

Reinforced Nets Kill D4, Spread

On a successful hit, anyone caught within
the net is captured until untangled.

Rigged Diving Delve D4

Bell Allows for exploration under the ichor
without repercussion.
 new destinations awash in godsblood
A dozen expensive tents are over-crowded
TIER I with journals, alchemy equipment, and
personal stashes of supplies. Outside, interns
THE WEST DESTERAN DISTILLATION OUTPOST compete for prime sleeping bag space during
DOMAINS: Haven, Cursed, Technology the few hours they have to themselves. Every
STRESS: D4 alchemist has a competing theory about what
HAUNTS: ichor is capable of, and are each eager to
M Edgar Chirgwin, chief mixologist, has a distribute samples in exchange for reports on
variety of ichor-crafted tonics available to results and side effects.
relieve one’s humors (D4 Mind, probably
no lingering side effects of any kind) POTENTIAL PLOTS:
M The Chief, a stoic quartermaster who is M Doctor Mazer Penhaligon is the single
diligently hoarding camp goods and proponent of an unpopular theory at the
hawking them at every opportunity (D4 Outpost—that the ichor is actively
Supplies) harmful, rather than curative. He’s
crafted several ichoric grenades (Kill D6,
RESOURCES: Brutal, Wyrd) to prove the theory, and
M Ichoric “Health” Capsule (D4 Cursed) will gladly hand them over to anyone who
M Peer-Reviewed Ichor Experimentation promises to report back on how
Results (Inconclusive) (D6 Technology, dangerous they were.
Niche)
M The Outpost is churning through
Ichor is dreadful, scary stuff, full of hirelings and interns at an unexpectedly
mysterious properties. The West Desteran high rate, with ichor exposure sending
Distillation and Distribution Company was many of them to the overcrowded
formed to exploit those properties, whatever medical tent with dizziness,
they might turn out be. Funded, supplied, hallucinations, and a preponderance of
and dispatched in a rush, the Distillation eyes. The company desperately wants to
Outpost’s alchemists and their over-worked, hire someone to haul them off to the
underpaid hirelings scurry between Tunnels of Wet Filth (Heart pg 146)—
enormous stalactites trying to capture some ostensibly to partake of Aster’s curatives,
of the dripping ichor for experimentation but really, in the hopes of just getting rid
and commodification. of them. More gentle-hearted delvers
might suggest taking them to the Temple
of the Moon Beneath (Heart pg 141)
instead; the company is fine with either,
so long as they’re taken somewhere else.

Landmarks — 79
TIER 2
COINGULT COVE
DOMAINS: Haven, Warren The Red Market has drowned. It has become
STRESS: D6 a hollow shell of what it once was—
HAUNTS: a soggy bog of red silk and once-great
M The Pyrite Marina, a market of moored lenders. Now the seat of Incarne’s power in
ship-shops (D8 Supplies) the drowned Heart lies in Coinglut Cove, a
M Incarne’s Collection, a holy treasure grand port city extending into the ichor via
hoard (D8 Echo) overlapping piers owned by cutthroat,
M Mermaid’s Folly Opera House (D6 Mind) swashbuckling Incarnadines.

RESOURCES: No one has benefited more from the

M Collected debtor’s fingers & toes drowning of the Heart than the
(D6 Haven) Incarnadines: their wealth and control of
M Jewel-encrusted, jittering bones debt leading to repossessions of vessels and
(D8 Haven, Mobile) sailors alike. Their floating collections have
all found their way at least once to this hellish
port town, centered around a mountainous,
ever-growing hoard of treasure dedicated to
Incarne herself.

POTENTIAL PLOTS:
M The Trepanned Skull was a treasure-
seeking schooner that disappeared off
the coast of the Cove with none of its
sailors returning. It has been spotted
again, repeatedly, with whispers of
moans and howls echoing in its wake.
Now its previous financier, Sir Cadswain,
is looking to pay a party of delvers to
recover his schooner and discover the
fate of its passengers.
THE CORMORANT Now, the Cormorant picks up passengers on
DOMAINS: Haven, Technology a regular loop and descends with them to the
STRESS: D6 lowest depths of the ichor—at least, as deep
HAUNTS: as it’s possible to descend without utterly
M Old Mahooney, an ancient, shaky snapping. Portholes clap close and rituals are
surgeon, one limb replaced with a led throughout its iron halls to maintain
complex, shifting surgical array he wields sanity as it sails its way where very, very few
with shocking deftness (D8 Blood) delvers can still be found.
M The Galley, a resting place in the belly of
the Cormorant where grub can be SPECIAL RULES:
acquired and goods can be hawked by its M You must pay for entry onto the
roving array of passengers. Head chef Cormorant. Entry starts at D4 for a single
Grundle has little in the way of stories to delver and goes up one step for each
tell, but makes a mean stew. (D6 Mind, additional delver in the group (D6 for
Supplies) two, D8 for three, etc.) Once aboard, you
may add a possible stop within Tier 3 to
RESOURCES: the Cormorant’s route.
M A hauled salvage bundle (D6 Desolate)
M Captain Ironbough’s ‘Keys’ (D10 POTENTIAL PLOTS:
Technology) M Captain Ironbough claims he’s looking
for something in particular in the Tier 3
In what once was Highrise, a vessel has made of the Heart: a cosmic cork to be pulled
a reputation for itself—a massive, segmented that will begin draining the ichor away,
thing with claws and propellers that puts awe thereby freeing Highrise to once again
in anyone in view. Little do they know it’s a become an assured passage to the
slap-shod, barely-seaworthy vessel clinging Swanfall cult’s afterlife. His crew believes
to life by the donations and efforts of all who he is insane. They’re probably right, but
come aboard. that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

This is the Cormorant, a combination M There was a new piece of salvage pulled
research-and-mercenary vessel consisting from the depths during the Cormorant’s
largely of ex-Swanfall cultists who have last descent, a pulsing, fleshy thing that is
realized-with the ichor overtaking almost all half-metal and half-living being. When
the diving range of their assured afterlife- touched, it calls out to something in the
there must be something else waiting below. depths, showing you a path towards
wherever its home may be. No one
aboard has the gall to follow this route,
but one of the new passengers brought
on is willing to pay handsomely to do
exactly that.

Landmarks — 81
 RESOURCES:
TIER 3 M Teeth shards (D10 Cursed, Niche)
M Tender nerve clusters (D8 Cursed)
THE PHYODONT REEF M Scuttling calcium creatures (D8 Wild,
DOMAINS: Wild, Cursed Mobile)
STRESS: D8
HAUNTS: Horrors await below the ichor, unfathomable
M The Crescent Bell houses the only sane to even delvers of the old Heart. The
delvers left near the Reef. Their makeshift Phyodont Reef is no exception. A twisting,
headquarters is an enormous diving bell pallid horror show of enamel and exposed
once attached to an even-larger vessel. nerves, it isn’t clear if the Reef is the maw of a
The bell sits about halfway between creature unimaginable in scale, or just the
surface and sea floor, siphoning air from Heart’s normal fleshy visage, warped by the
the pocket above the reef. The soggy ichor itself.
delvers within can offer mechanical
repairs and medical assistance in Either way, visitors to this hellish place can
exchange for supplies to continue see spiraling jetties of tooth and bone
their search for their lost comrades. swarmed by gangling creatures that have
(D6 Blood) developed ecologies boggling the mind, new
M THE ABYSS can be found deep, deep blood smearing the pearlescent landscape
under the waves. The teeth and meat of and mingling with the ichor.
the Reef may be a much larger creature
than fathomable, belying a larger Treasure has been found (and hidden) here
intelligence or purpose. Deep within by the creatures of the Reef. Many have
the valleys and passageways of the reef’s attempted to dive into its depths to make
complex structures lies a space that is their fortune, but few have succeeded. Some
shockingly easy to find if looked for with say that the old Maw is at the bottom of the
intent. It is a shore of a kind, stretching Reef, and if pursued, a direct path to the
to the edges of the horizon. Over the Heart itself lies at the very bottom of it all.
‘shore’ the ichor plunges into an abyss
seemingly without end. It is not infinite, SPECIAL RULES:
but it presents itself as such, somehow M Above the Reef, there is a pocket of air to
looping, stretching out, offering breathe. Delvers can set foot on the
blessings to those who sacrifice to its breaching islands of enamel to avoid the
endless maw. (D10 Fortune, Mind) whirling ichor, but to reach the majority
of the Reef’s mysteries, you must be
equipped with a properly-insulated
diving suit.
 ROGUE
THE STORY-NEST
DOMAINS: Haven, Occult
STRESS: D6
HAUNTS:
M The Campfire (see below) is nourished by
stories, but visitors are still expected to
contribute an appropriate resource to the
POTENTIAL PLOTS: camp if they use it. (D8, Mind or Echo)
M The members of the Crescent Bell M The Stewpot (D6, Blood)
expeditionary force have been searching
for their lost comrades for a long, long RESOURCES:
time now, and they’re close to giving up M Can o’beans (D4 Haven)
hope. Yet—a letter has recently been
found (via corked bottle) that claims, in Deep in the briar-bogs, through miles of
an unknown handwriting, that the lost ankle-deep ichor, old wooden footpaths,
members are still alive somewhere, at the there is a small dry island. On the island,
bottom of the Reef. The Crescent Bell no through the tangled masses of mangrove and
longer has the resources to go that deep, great gossamer webs, there is a clearing. In
but they are willing to assist anyone else the clearing, there are great empty
who can. Vermissian containers and cable cars, turned
into makeshift homes, huddled around a
M There are whispers of mermaids living warm, bright fire.
within the Reef: toothy, terrifying things
that scare off any who get close, but who Each evening, around the fire, gather
secretly crave contact with other sentient wayfarers and wanderers, vagrants and
creatures again. Their home lies in the vagabonds, ne’er-do-wells and drifters.
heart of the Reef, and THE ABYSS is a Anyone can find succor here—a safe bed, a
result of their religious communion with spot by the fire, and a warm meal—so long as
the Reef itself. Only a few ichorlogged they offer a story.
corpses point to their existence, but a
massive bounty lies on bringing a single
real specimen back to Derelictus—alive,
preferably, but a reduced rate is available
for a corpse.

Landmarks — 83
 The stories told here feed the flame, and the SPECIAL RULES:
flame feeds those who gather. The characters M When you leave the Story-Nest, roll a D6
and events come to life in the licks of fire and to determine where the Story-Nest spits
plumes of smoke, dancing across the air as you back out:
the storyteller weaves the tale. All who sit by 1-3, Tier 1;
the flame are nourished, and all are expected 4-5, Tier 2;
to feed the fire in turn—newcomers must tell 6, Tier 3.
a story their first night at the Story-Nest if
they’re capable. POTENTIAL PLOTS:
M Bound to an oath they swore countless
It’s extremely difficult to find the Story-Nest years ago, a cabal of Somnajacs plan to
reliably; it moves around the Heart without reunite at the Story-Nest and tell tales of
intention or aim. Travelers will stumble into what they’ve seen. But one of their
it when they’re lost, when they’re most in number, Keen-The-Knife, disappeared
need, or when they’re headed off with no into Derelictus years ago and hasn’t been
particular goal in mind. Once you’ve been seen since. Find Keen, bring them to the
there once before, you stand a better chance Story-Nest, and reap the eldritch
of being able to find your way back, largely rewards.
through sensory cues.

Those who know of the Story-Nest keep to an

unspoken agreement not to spread tales of
its recuperative, benevolent power. This
encampment is a rare safe place for those
without their own permanent homes; the
people who use it will defend it—and one
another—to the death.
 monstrous foes from the inky deep
A SCHOOL OF WRETCHES
The fish found within the ichor are largely NAMES They’re fish; don’t burden
non-consumable things: gnarled, flopping, them with such things.
fleshy masses filled with nothing but bile and
already-rotting meat. Yet something bizarre DESCRIPTORS A wriggling, dripping mass
can happen within their ranks when enough of fish begins to protrude
of a particular breed are gathered together in itself from the ichor, a few
some form of camaraderie. Filled with dregs gnashing vanguard
of the holy spirit suffused in the whole of ejecting themselves off the
ichor-sea, a new nature worms its way into top of the mass to rejoin
their rotting minds. beneath the waves.

Moving as a singular entity, the Wretches MOTIVATION To pursue, and to eat

work together to build pseudopods and
appendages out of themselves, fins and DOMAINS Wild, Occult
maws locked onto each other, their scales
and teeth tearing at any prey that come near DIFFICULTY Standard
the shoreline or hapless sailors aboard the
godsblood sea. The tentacular nature of their RESISTANCE 10
new locomotion even allows them to pull
their mass onto dry land in an attempt to PROTECTION 0
sate their endless hunger.
RESOURCES A handful of razor-sharp
teeth (D6 Wild)

EQUIPMENT Their gnashing numbers

(D6 Spread); A hurled,
brave few (D4 Ranged)

SPECIAL When the school loses half

its Resistance, its attacks
lose the Spread tag as their
numbers dwindle.

Adversaries — 85
HARUSPEX ALBATROSS
Those that find They are the Angels of
themselves drowned in this new sea, afraid only of
ichor do not find death their heartsborn
easily: godsblood clings to the counterparts. Albatrosses
slivers of soul left, finding use crave nothing more than the
in these newfound thralls. The confrontation and drowning
half-dead god of the ichor of sailors aboard the waves,
instilling this servitude can warp adding to the ranks of their
the freshly minted thralls, but the soggy servants.
captains of its growing army have a different
kind of power. Worse yet, slaying one of them only seems to
mark you to the other Albatross found
Wherever a mass of Sodden (pg 89) can be hidden throughout the Heart’s crevices and
found, an Albatross can be found as well, corridors, as if they seek vengeance for their
pulling out their guts ostensibly for omens fallen comrades. Their echolocation clicks
from the beyond. Towering birds that appear and cries inspire universal fear.
somewhere between avian and eyeless bat,
the Albatrosses feast on Sodden flesh as they Few dare face them when outnumbered—
see fit and command them en masse. they hunger like little else on the dark sea.

NAMES A rapid-fire series of RESISTANCE 8

screeches and clicks, half
decipherable when PROTECTION 1
ichorlogged.
RESOURCES A shock of surprisingly
DESCRIPTORS An unholy, iridescent elegant plumage (D8 Wild,
amalgam of albatross and Beacon)
bat, clicking and screeching
like a horrific sentinel of the EQUIPMENT Razor-sharp beaks (D6), A
seas; an awful briny smell of harrowing call (D6, deals
its pack of Sodden close stress to Mind)
behind, the ichor rising and
sloshing in response to SPECIAL When harming delvers, the
their disturbance. Albatross may summon
Sodden to join the fray,
MOTIVATION To serve the bidding of the their soggy forms sloshing
ichor and slay its foes; to out of the nearest reservoir
command the Sodden and of ichor. When slain, their
their mindless hunger. blood marks the killer for
pursuit by other Albatrosses
DOMAINS Wild, Occult in the future, the ichor
never forgetting their
DIFFICULTY Risky names.
ICHOR-TROLL NAMES They’ve lost their original
The ichor flooded the Heart in a deluge. names; locals often refer to
Some people who were dragged down in the a troll with a scornful label
undertow found themselves twisted and like “The Scarred One” or
gnarled beyond recognition. When they “The Horned Beast” or
finally surfaced, they were cast them out as some other tripe
monsters, battered by their neighbors with
with stones and blades and whatever came to DESCRIPTORS Tall and lanky; wet skin
mind. Left with only ichoric whispers for that’s hardened like rock;
company, trolls frequently return to the site growing a pair of hooves
of their transformation and lurk at the out of their shoulder;
water’s edge, attacking passers-by for lumbering on many limbs;
trinkets, baubles, and other keepsakes to face dripping with ichor.
remind them of the home they lost.
MOTIVATION To take violent revenge on
Ichor-trolls are easy to hurt and very hard to those the world that cast
kill: the ichor that pumps through their veins them out
scabs over with zeal, turning a cut or a bruise
into a big knobby bulb of horn and flesh DOMAINS Cursed
within minutes. This constant regrowth
makes them look more and more inhuman as DIFFICULTY Standard
time goes on.
RESISTANCE 10
HOW DO YOU KILL A TROLL?
Who knows! Fantasy games often uses fire as PROTECTION 1
a solution to troll regeneration, but it’s much
more interesting if it’s your game demands RESOURCES Ichoric bile (D6 Taboo)
something specific and weird. Here are some
ideas, but come up with your own—or better EQUIPMENT Hands like tusks (D6
yet, ask your players and use their answers. Brutal)

M Stabbed in the heart with a blade from SPECIAL Ichor-trolls regenerate at a

their childhood home, stained with loved- rate of roughly 1 Resistance
one’s blood healed after every delver
M Strangled by a rope signed action. The regrowth is
by their whole immediate and visceral:
hometown flesh begins to knit and
M Fire, but only fire rebuild across wounds.
burning from rendered This will continue even if
ichor, which is surely not its Resistance is reduced
dangerous to use at all to zero: it’s possible to have
M Shot with a thrice- a troll at your mercy, but
blessed bullet made not for very long.
from their own horns

Adversaries — 87
LIVING NIGHTMARE
Dreams don’t belong in the waking world, NAMES AaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaa
but sometimes, somehow, they spill out.
Most of them, if not bottled properly, DESCRIPTORS Full of loud static, unreal
disappear in a flash of electric sensation. geometry and hideous
Every now and then, a dream persists, and shapes, bounding across
goes insane, tapped in the desert of the real. dimensions without
regard to perspective,
These wandering, formless phantasms want screaming in many voices
nothing to do with the world of the Heart,
and take out their rage by attacking anything MOTIVATION To pry their way back into
that crosses their path. If they meet someone the subconscious realm
with enough sapience to dream, they’ll (usually by attacking those
become a prime target—the nightmare will with the capacity to dream,
howl and scream as they try to make their inevitably killing them)
way back into the dream realm. This is
impossible, and their violence is inevitably DOMAINS Occult, Desolate
fatal to their potential host, driving the
nightmare even further into madness. DIFFICULTY Risky

RESISTANCE 12

PROTECTION 1

RESOURCES Oneiric residue (D4

Occult)

EQUIPMENT Discordant howl (D8,

Ranged, Piercing)

SPECIAL Any attacks made against a

Living Nightmare gain the
Distressing tag.
THE SODDEN
Those taken by the ichor do not simply Commanded by the whims of the Haruspex
drown; they are reclaimed. The Sodden are Albatross, the Sodden hunger for fire and
what become of those lost to the Ichor, heat like nothing else. Their puffy, soaked
bloated beasts frozen in time with minds claws grasp at any creature that comes close
broken by the master of new seas. Some are and pull them to the depths to share in their
‘lucky’ enough emerge ichor trolls, still in misery and expand their numbers. A few
control of their faculties and filled with a Sodden are rarely a threat for those atop the
new, tumorous ability to grow and change. ichor seas, but en masse they are a force to be
Those whose minds are utterly taken by the reckoned with, especially when paired with
ichor live in servitude of new masters, an auspicious Albatross seeking revenge for
mindlessly, for the rest of their days. slights to the seas.

NAMES Whatever they once had, DIFFICULTY Standard

though now no longer
remembered beyond the RESISTANCE 4
scarce name-tag or
heirloom clinging to their PROTECTION 0
ichorlogged flesh.
RESOURCES A rusted locket, what they
DESCRIPTORS Bloodlines bloated and once were barely visible
ichor-stained beyond (D4 Haven)
recognition. Their mouths
and eyes leak ichor EQUIPMENT Their soggy limbs (D4), A
whenever pushed or mace rusted beyond
prodded. They gurgle half recognition (D6,
formed syllables and Unreliable)
screech through throatfuls
of choking liquid. They SPECIAL Sodden rarely appear
instill a deep sense of pity alone, and when a
and dread in all who linger Haruspex Albatross is
their gaze too long. present they are
commanded in ever-
MOTIVATION To obey the will of the increasing numbers.
ichor, channeled by the
Albatross

DOMAINS Cursed
 a whirlwind heist in the golden depths of heaven
Content warnings: Death, substance abuse, torture The cunning aelfir Incarnadine
Steel-Dancing-in-Hatred believes he’s found

F or many, the Palace Multifaceted is the

most straightforward of the Eight
Heavens—a carnival of delights, a feast of
sights and sounds, a resort where you are on
a means of ensuring that the party never
ends once he dies. A cleverly-worded last will
and testament, “witnessed” by several of his
closest business associates, has ensured their
vacation, forever … for as long as you’ve paid ongoing contribution to his stay in the Palace
up, anyway. Multifaceted, from the moment of his death
into the foreseeable future. As far as the
Access to the Palace requires payment to the temple of Incarne is concerned, Hatred’s
twin gods Azur and Incarne, and long-term accounts are balanced, and he can rest easy
residence requires ongoing payment far in knowing his place in heaven is assured.
excess of what any individual could hope to
amass in their lifetime. Which is good, because he’s just died.

Testament — 91
WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?
Renowned Azurite Domon Blight has
suffered a grievous loss. His business
partner, the crafty aelfir Incarnadine Steel-
Dancing-in-Hatred, recently met an
untimely end on a business call to Derelictus.
But it’s not his partner’s death that he’s
mourning—it’s the death of his own fortune.

At the moment of the aelfir’s death, his last

will and testament kicked into effect. The
document, witnessed and co-signed by a
half-dozen business magnates (Blight
included) was painstakingly crafted to mask
its true intent: funneling their current and
future profits to the temple of Incarne in
Hatred’s name, ensuring that the
Incarnadine leads a long and prosperous
existence in the pay-to-play paradise of the
Palace Multifaceted, the capitalist heaven
where he now plans on spending his eternity.

Hatred doesn’t want their business to

collapse outright—his funds would run out—
so his patsies have been left with some
money of their own to continue operating.
Most of the victims have simply shrugged
and seen it as the weird cost of doing HOW DID HATRED DIE?
business in Spire.
1 Knowingly ate a toxic fish: a local delicacy,
Not Blight. Blight feels betrayed and out- imprecisely prepared
played, and he is determined not to let his
former partner have the last laugh. The 2 Run-of-the-mill mugging turned lethal
Azurite has bent the whole of his remaining
resources to get his hands on the original will 3 Mistaken for someone else and
and testament from the Incarne temple—a summarily assassinated
document which cannot be undone or
destroyed except with by the act of the 4 Kicked in the brain by a startled mega-
original signatory. For that, he needs the goat
person of Hatred himself, seized from
heaven and brought back to the land of the 5 Improbably-precise falling debris from
living, where Blight plans on nullifying the the City Above
contract, restoring his own riches, and
keeping Hatred alive for a long, long time. 6 Sudden onset of dancing plague
 MORE! MORE!
OVERVIEW Want to turn this adventure into something
more? You could very easily expand
This adventure puts the players in the employ TESTAMENT into a short campaign frame by
of vengeance-seeking Azurite Domon Blight, adding linked adventures to the front or the
who wants them to break into the Palace back end of what’s presented here, including:
Multifaceted through a perilous backdoor.
He’s secured much of what he needs to see M Break into the Temple of Incarne in
his revenge brought to life: the contract that Derelictus to secure the original copy of
ties his fortune to Steel-Dancing-in-Hatred’s Hatred’s infernal contract
afterlife, a ritual to open a secret path to the
Palace through the Grey, and an M Stealing a tugboat for Simon Laskaris,
experimental Vehicle that can be piloted Blight’s hired Vermissian Sage, to
across the Grey into the Palace proper. transform into the Vessel

This adventure assumes that the party has M Escort Hannalore, Blight’s blood-witch
already accepted the contract, and has agreed paramour, from Hallow to Sedgemark to
to acquire the last ingredient necessary to get perform the ritual
where they’re going: the heart of a
heartsblood mustang, a carnivorous horse M Hauling Hatred back to Derelictus in
found in the Redcap Wilds. order to amend the contract in the
Temple of Incarne
Once the beast’s heart is secured, the delvers
must pass through the Gravebog, a desolate LESS! LESS!
swamp where predators and bandits lurk. Need or want to run less of this adventure
Beyond the bog, in the dying riverside town than is printed? It’s okay! We’ve all been
of Sedgemark, they can rendezvous with there. Here’s some options.
Domon Blight.
M Skip the delve from the Wilds to
Using the heart, Blight’s hired witch while Sedgemark; fast forward to the players
bless the Vessel, a magically-reinforced simply reporting to Blight with the heart.
riverboat, allowing it to sail safely down the
Rhithron, a choppy river that flows through M Start the adventure on the Vessel and the
an interdimensional backdoor into the voyage down the Rhithron. Consider
Palace Multifaceted. bringing Blight along to give context.

Landing at Grifter’s Jetty, a suitably M If you really need to pare down, consider
extravagant port in the Palace, the delvers JUST running the City of Gold heist on its
can gather information and plan their attack own.
on The City of Gold, a casino where Steel-
Dancing-in-Hatred is living out his best READY TO PARTY
afterlife. Once they get inside, the delvers There is a selection of four premade
will have to move fast to secure their target characters in the section following the
and escape heaven’s clutches. adventure that you can use if you need quick
player characters for Testament.

Testament — 93
 NPCs
DESTINATIONS M Old Breck, an emaciated druid dressed in
gross furs, is slightly more unhinged than
REDCAP WILDS the usual mushroom-gangster. Breck
For details on the adjacent Redcap Grove, lives on his own out here in the forest,
see Heart pt. 140 communing with the great towering
mushrooms and getting high.
Landmark, Tier I
DOMAINS: Wild, Cursed He’s eager for conversation (mostly to
STRESS: D6 talk, not to listen) but he can tell passers
by about the mustangs (he refers to them
Mushrooms grow to the height of redwoods each by name) and their fondness for
in this quiet, eerie forest. No birds sing, no fresh bones. He’s deeply bothered by the
insects hiss. Great grey stalks reach high into profusion of ichor that’s flooded the
the sky, with narrow caps periodically Wilds: the one thing he’s crystal clear
dusting the floor with translucent spores. about is that the delvers should stay out
The land smells of grime and decay; many of the ichor.
creatures that wander into this place fall into
a kind of lethargy, unable or unwilling to RESOURCES:
escape from the dangerous predators that M Heart-blessed sweetsap (D4 Wild)
lurk in the dense rows of fungus. M Noxious mushroom caps (D6 Taboo, see
below)

SCENES
M AS THE DELVERS ARRIVE, there is an
eerie sense of being watched, as if they
are players who’ve walked onto an empty
stage only to discover an audience of
thousands, peering in silent expectation.
The mushrooms towering above seem to
murmur to one another, with sounds like
chimes in the soft breeze. Every now and
then, a shower of dusty white spores
drifts quietly down from above.

M AS THEY EXPLORE THROUGH THE

FOREST, they discover leftover remains
of animals, large fish, and other delvers.
The mustangs have killed these with
sharp bites and sucked the bones clean
out, leaving behind flat fleshy piles that
serve as breeding grounds for all manner
of mushrooms.
M A Discern + Wild roll allows a delver to NAVIGATING ICHOR
safely harvest a cluster of mushrooms as The ichor is nothing like the oceans and
a D6 Taboo resource. A failure still nets rivers of the world above; it is a sickly thing
the resource, but they wind up with some with inscrutable motives of its own—much
good old fashioned mushroom poison in like the Heart itself.
their system as a result (D6 Blood or
Mind.) Anyone getting caught with Those who find themselves submerged in
mushrooms by one of the Redcap druids this opaque godsblood feel its presence—a
(including Old Breck) is in for a bad time. slow creep into the mind, then the thing
echoing between, then finally the body. The
M A GREAT LAKE OF ICHOR lies in the deeper the Tier, the more energized the ichor
middle of the wild forest. Great grey becomes, and the stronger its effects gain
tangles of weeds line the lake-floor. purchase on its victims.
Meter-long salmon lurk in the dark. The
heartsblood mustangs can swim easily Delvers who spend more than a few
through the water, and will often hide moments or a single action within the ichor
just under the surface like an alligator, unprotected must roll Endure using a
waiting for a target to approach for a Domain appropriate to the situation; failure
drink. incurs stress to Mind appropriate to the
current Tier. Submerging your body in the
FALLOUT: WHISPERS FROM THE DEEP godsblood prompts a Endure check that
[Minor, Mind] deals Blood stress.
That which once contained the ichor is still
spread across this new sickly ocean. If you become fully immersed—underwater,
Sometimes it sings out in agony: its voice is saturated, enmeshed in the oily stuff—make
now clearer to you than ever. Any time you another Endure check; failure incurs Echo
touch the ichor, the stress dice is increased stress at a die size upgraded from the current
one step. tier. The same goes for anyone who—for
whatever reason—imbibes the stuff.
FALLOUT: ICHORLOGGED [Minor, Blood]
The ichor has taken hold of you and your
body is sodden and tinged in a way that will
not leave, pruned by the blood of gods. Any
further checks to endure the ichor are made
with increased difficulty.

FALLOUT: FORCED ACOLYTE

[Major, Echo]
The one who dies but is not dead has taken
hold of your heart, and your worship is no
longer an option. You must make an
offering to the god who once was by the end
of the session—if not, you incur another
Endure check against Echo.

Testament — 95
ADVERSARIES

HEARTSBLOOD MUSTANG
While their long heads give away their origin
as horses, these massive beasts look and
move more like great caterpillars. The
Heart has extended their rib cages out into
a great mass of wiggling bone legs, allowing
it to slither overland and underwater with
ferocious speed. There are a bonded pair of
mustangs in the vicinity of the delvers. The
two are devoted to one another: if one is
caught in an ambush, its cries will quickly
summon the other to its side. If one dies, the
other will fly into a fury.

NAMES The Lord of the Grove,

the Queen in Dark

DESCRIPTORS Horses, but wrong

MOTIVATION To defend their hunting

grounds and one another

DOMAINS Wild, Cursed

DIFFICULTY Standard, Risky if its mate

has been killed

RESISTANCE 8

PROTECTION 1

RESOURCES Meat and hide (D8 Wild);

Rows of sharp teeth (D10
Niche), a heart the size of a
backpack (D6 Cursed)

EQUIPMENT Great claws on wet

eponychium hooves, long
rows of sharp teeth for
shredding prey open, a
tongue capable of tearing
bones out of their sockets
with suction alone (D8)
WHAT IF THE PLAYERS SCOTCH IT?
What if the delvers lose to the mustangs, or
defeat them but destroy or lose their hearts
in the process? There are other mustangs in
the wilds, and hunting down a new one could
prove to be an interesting challenge—a
successful Hunt + Wild or Hunt + Cursed roll
could lead them either to the mustangs’
brood-cavern, to one that’s entered a
symbiotic relationship with the gangster-
druids of Redcap Grove, or one that’s being
chased by another hunter—one of the Heart’s
massive Butchers.

They could also try and find something else

and try to pass it off as a mustang’s heart.
Depending on their skill-set, they might even
try to make one out of Heart-stuff. Neither
Blight nor his accomplices have actually seen
a mustang’s still-warm heart before, so
passing off their fake as the real thing is
entirely possible, but it should have some
kind of side effect on the blood-blessing of
their vehicle for the next leg of the journey.

Testament — 97
GROVE TO SEDGEMARK - THE GRAVEBOG
With a mustang’s heart in their possession, As the landscape gives way to Tier II, the
the delvers will need to make their way to proximity to the Grey becomes more
Sedgemark, a nearby haven where they’ve pronounced, turning the moss into dry,
agreed to rendezvous with their employer, brittle bramble, choked by dust and bitter
Domon Blight. Connections exist—for salt. Ghost towns dot the pale shoreline, filled
example, from back wherever they came with restless dead and desperate, gibbering
from before they got to the Redcap Wilds— highwaymen.
but the potency of the mustang’s heart is vital
to the ceremony, so it behooves them to get Delve, Tier I > II
to their destination sooner rather than safer. DOMAINS: Wild, Desolate, Warren
STRESS: D6
That route takes them through the Gravebog. RESISTANCE: 12
The hilly thickets of the Redcap Wilds give
way to overgrown, sloshy fields of moss, filled
with sharp spines and slithering predators.
EVENTS:
Disturbed pockets of swamp gas erupt from
the bog, attracting horrid birds; Spiny
vegetation actively moves to intercept the
delvers as they trudge through the muck;
Sightless eels nip at their heels; The bog
topples down the side of a cliff, spilling onto
the next Tier and freezing into dust halfway
down; An Albatross leads a legion of Sodden
from the deep; A windstorm threatens to
cake their gear with grave-dust; Awful dead
corpses crawl towards the living, tethered to
chunks of masonry that drag behind them;
Bandits leave awful caricatures of the delvers
skewered with rusted knives to unnerve their
psyches; Bandits lie in wait to skewer the
delvers themselves with rusted knives.

RESOURCES:
M Heartsblood-infused gastroliths, still
reeking like guts (D4 Cursed)
M Salt-crusted maps of the shoreline DELVE ACTIONS: THROUGH THE GRAVEBOG
(D8 Haven, Fragile)
M Finding a path through the bog without
CONNECTION: disturbing the pockets of gas: Delve +
M Strike down Vandal Mire, the cruel Wild
deadwalker that holds the bandits in
thrall (+D10) M Throwing the predatory vegetation off
the scent: Sneak + Wild
SPECIAL:
M Establishing a Connection by defeating M Clamber down the side of the frozen dust
or chasing away Vandal Mire and their cliff: Delve + Desolate
mad band of brigands raises the delvers’
esteem in the eyes of the residents of M Soldier on in the face of billowing dust
Sedgemark, whose borders have been storms: Endure + Desolate
plagued by the bandits for months.
M Finding the high ground, away from the
If the delvers accomplish this and heavily-laden undead: Discern + Desolate
capitalize on it, all resources spent in
Sedgemark count as one dice size higher. M Steering clear of the predatory bandits:
Evade + Desolate

M Finding the bandit hideout: Hunt +

Desolate
SEDGEMARK
Landmark, Tier II The folks who remain are a quiet, dour lot—
DOMAINS: Haven, Desolate not actively hostile, but content to mind their
STRESS: D6 own business. They’re not ignorant to the
HAUNTS: difficulties posed by the bandits of the
M Stalwart Pipkin, a passable medic and the Gravebog or the ever-closer realm of death,
only Hound left in town (D6, Blood) but most simply smile a tight smile and carry
M The calming shores of the grey river, as on.
seen from the White Pier (D4, Mind)
M Mallet, a gnoll carpenter with several RESOURCES:
half-repaired ships in his yard (D6, M The catch of the day: albino spiny lobster,
Supplies) kept alive on ice (D6 Wild)
M Scrimshaw covered in abstract, dread-
Sedgemark is a fishing town nestled against inspiring patterns (D4 Desolate)
a great river, filled with dusty streets and
empty houses. Much of it has been
abandoned as the town’s connection to the SCENES:
Grey has grown stronger: whole families M Nothing happens in Sedgemark. Domon
have either vanished, or set off in search of Blight and his cohort of weirdos is the
more saturated places to live. most that’s happened to this town in a
long time, and once their business here is
concluded, the town itself might just
disappear.
NPCs
M Domon Blight, Azurite, has the nervous
energy of an inexperienced actor on
opening night. He has spent a
tremendous amount of his money in the
hopes of making good his retribution on
Steel-Dancing-in-Hatred.

If something goes wrong—the wards M Hannalore, Blood Witch. A student of the

don’t work, the boat crashes on the power of death, Hannalore pursued her
journey, the defenses of the Palace prove investigation into the Grey while selling
secure, Hatred dies on the way—then his drugs to Spire’s well-to-do, which
plans will have been for naught, and he’ll brought her into contact with Blight.
be even more ruined than before. Blight Now, she’s not only his supplier, but she’s
has turned to narcotics in order to try agreed to use her arcane talents to bless
and temper his mood (he will eagerly buy Laskaris’s strange device, enabling it to
any mushrooms the players have pierce the veil of the Grey.
scrounged from the Redcap Wilds, if the
offer is made.) The trials of their journey have led
Hannalore and Blight to enter what could
The Azurite has moved into an charitably be called a romantic
abandoned home by the sea with a large partnership; Hannalore worries that
yard and its own dock, where Simon Blight will move on once his vengeance is
Laskaris and Hannalore have constructed realized.
their extraordinary ship.
Hannalore and Laskaris refer to the boat
M Simon Laskaris, a wiry, exuberant drow, simply as “the Vessel”—the delvers can
was kicked out of the order of Vermissian and should give it a proper name before
Sages once they discovered his penchant they set sail.
for stealing and experimenting on
corpses from other dimensions.
Nonplussed, Laskaris descended to the
City Beneath and continued his WHERE’S MY MONEY?
investigations into the world of the dead It’s very likely that the delvers will expect
and how its tendril-thin tethers linked to some degree of payment on delivery of the
our world. Heartsblood Mustang’s heart. Blight will
insist that the job is not yet done.
With Blight’s sponsorship, he’s
If pressed, he’ll to give up a small pouch of
constructed a vessel that he believes can
sten (D4 Haven) which gets deducted from
bridge the gap between life and death. It’s
their final payment. He doesn’t have much
anyone’s guess what plans he has for the
left, after traveling from the City Above and
dead once he ferries them back across.
securing the Vessel.

Testament — 101
HELPING OUT
If there’s a Deadwalker in the delvers’ party, If the Deadwalker wants to help Hannalore
they might very well claim “hey, I could just with the ritual to bless the vehicle before it
take us to the Grey.” That’s absolutely true, embarks upon its journey, then absolutely let
and they could—but the path leading into the them—a success preemptively deals D4
Palace Multifaceted would require much progress to the delve.
more time and investment without the
vehicle provided by Blight. Riding in the A Witch in the party could reasonably make
Vessel prevents the delvers from having to this offer as well, but Hannalore will take it
worry about the effects of prolonged time as doubt in her abilities, and require some
spent in the Grey (Heart p. 170). convincing.
SEDGEMARK TO THE PALACE - THE RHITHRON
There is no blinding portal, no whirling gate RESOURCES:
into the Grey from the harbor of M Chunk of gem-encrusted coral (D8 Wild)
Sedgemark—there is only the steady roll of M Massive corpse of a hex-laden seabird
the ichoric river, through the pale mists, (D10 Occult, Taboo)
further and further into the cold, grey realm
of the dead. CONNECTION:
M Explore the abandoned lighthouse in the
This is the Rhithron, an enormous river that midst of the Rhithron, eliminate the
winds through the Grey and into the sewers wretched Siren that lives at its shore, and
and moats of the Eight Heavens. It is clogged light the beacon (+D12)
with the gods’ detritus, and even with their
strange vessel, the delvers will have to fight SPECIAL:
off hungry ghosts, meddlesome spectres, and M Making a Connection on the secret path
creeping ennui to reach their destination. between Sedgemark and the Palace
Multifaceted has the potential for
Delve, Tier II > Fracture enormous hijinks, but eventually, Azur
DOMAINS: Desolate, Occult and Incarne’s devotees will find the leak
STRESS: D8 and exact karmic retribution against
RESISTANCE: 16 anyone who’s played them for fools.
EVENTS:
M Ghostly harbor otters, skeletons visible DELVE ACTIONS: SURVIVING THE RHITHRON
beneath their translucent ghostly filigree,
sneak aboard the vessel from the water in M Chasing phantom otters off of your ship:
search of blood and treats; Storms of dust Hunt + Desolate
make seeing or hearing where you’re
going extremely difficult; the Siren’s call M Tying down loose supplies in the face of a
drifts across the wind, driving delvers to windstorm: Endure + Desolate
manic distraction; wolf-sized seagulls
circle the boat, their droppings smearing M Resisting the Siren’s call: Endure + Occult
hexes onto the deck; the still of the
endless, grey river begins to inspire M Shooting down a gull: Kill + Occult
existential dread; refugees from the Grail
Road cling to flotsam, begging for M Ridding the ship of their hex-soaked
passage to the road’s apex; sharp reefs of spoor: Mend + Occult
gold-and-jewel coral threaten to rip open
the hull; turgid drain water from the M Charting a path through the sobbing
Palace’s many resorts pours down from Grail pilgrims: Evade + Desolate
above, threatening to flood the vessel.
M Watching for crags of coral: Discern +
Occult

M Steering the vessel clear of the eruptions

of drain water: Delve + Desolate

Testament — 103
ADVERSARIES FALLOUT: CONVINCED
[Minor, Mind]
THE SIREN The imitation that the Siren has put together
Far more living people enter the Grey than has won you over, and you’re determined to
ought to. Many of them are looking for keep them safe from harm.Whenever you
something, or someone—someone taken can protect your loved one but don’t, take D4
before their time, someone lost unjustly, or Mind stress. Can be upgraded to
something held more dearly than any other. ENSORCELLED. [Ongoing]
This obsessive, orphic search for souls in the
Grey leads many to wander the Rhithron’s FALLOUT: ENSORCELLED
shores, lured by the call of the Siren to their [Major, Mind]
doom. This is your last chance to save your loved
one from doom. Whenever you can protect
The Siren is an enormous sea anemone that your loved one but don’t, take D8 Mind
lives in an underground lagoon beneath a stress. Whenever you take action to defend
once-mighty lighthouse on the Rhithron’s your loved one from harm, roll with mastery.
banks. The tentacles of the Siren resemble [Ongoing]
scourged, emaciated people from every walk
of life; dozens of miserable lost souls, bound NAMES The Lurker, the Melody in
to the central polyp where their legs and feet the Mist, the Song-You-
merge with the base. Know

No one has yet determined if these wretched DESCRIPTORS She looks just like you last
creatures are the trapped souls of real people, saw her, the day she died.
or simply convincing homonculi—whichever
is true, they moan and writhe incessantly. In MOTIVATION To eat, without discretion
the face of someone who might actually be
able to help them, they whip up into a frenzy, DOMAINS Desolate, Cursed
begging to be spared from their fate, clawing
and clutching for freedom, invariably DIFFICULTY Risky; Dangerous if you’re
dragging their would-be rescuer into the in the water
gaping jaws of the beast.
RESISTANCE 12
This Siren can mimic the sound of any dead
person, allowing it to imitate the lost loved PROTECTION 2
ones of those who wander near its den. How
it can sense who is most dear to that person RESOURCES Lure filament (D8 Occult,
is unclear, but it takes full advantage, Fragile), Deep oil (D6
creating a near-identical mimic of someone’s Occult)
long lost friend, luring desperate travelers to
the edge of its pool. (Resisting the call might EQUIPMENT Teeth as big as railway
well be an Endure + Desolate roll.) Those spikes (D10, Brutal),
entangled by its frantic polyps are dragged Discordant scream
into the water, where it devours them whole (D8, Ranged, Spread,
with its many needle-like teeth. inflicts Mind stress)
Testament — 105
THE PALACE MULTIFACETED: GRIFTER’S JETTY
For the official details on the Palace Multifaceted Landmark, Fracture
writ-large, see Heart pg. 172 DOMAINS: Haven, Religion, Occult
STRESS: D8
The Palace Multifaceted is a splendid realm HAUNTS:
of delight and degeneracy. You can have There are shops and services for your every
anything, do anything, and enjoy need in the Palace. However, your resources
everything—for the right price. The literal count as one die smaller than normal, thanks
cost of admission into this heaven makes it a to the Palace’s abundance of wealth.
difficult place for even the most prosperous
Azurites and Incarnadines to stay for very These haunts are close at hand in Grifter’s
long, but those that wind up here find the Jetty:
time to enjoy what they can.
M Currents & Eddys, the perfect dive bar
The sprawling architecture is connected with (D12 Mind)
corridors, courtyards and walkways revealing M La Fontaine de Jouvence, an extortionate
above a false sky of an impossibly sized but enticing day spa (D12 Blood)
vaulted ceiling dotted with the distant M Azurlight Grotto, an outdoor shrine that
silhouettes of further personal heavens, as if doubles as a lovely cafe (D12 Fortune)
the many chambers of the Palace are M Sandara Square, a large forum filled with
contained within a greater chamber of an street performers of all sorts, with
unimaginable scale. The skies rain coins that different seaside sunsets in different
dissolve like snow. The many occupants of directions at all times of day (D12 Echo)
the Palace are overseen by a menagerie of M Grifter’s Tackle and Surplus, a “fishing”
‘natural’ guards with steadfast, mindless store with all manner of other equipment
devotion to Incarne and Azur. available to discerning buyers (D12
Supplies)
The Palace itself is an enormous demiplane
of existence, and this adventure won’t RESOURCES:
attempt to account for the whole of it. The M Anything and everything can be bought
Rhithron spits the Vessel out near a here (D12 Haven), but…
neighborhood ominously called Grifter’s
Jetty. From there, the delvers can make their SPECIAL RULES:
way into the Palace, suss out Steel-Dancing- M Any item stolen from the Palace
in-Hatred’s location, and make their move. Multifaceted will quickly crumble to dust
and gains the Deteriorating tag upon
being taken out of the fracture; the place
cannot abide theft. If you make a deal
and buy something – even at a greatly
reduced cost – it endures.
SCENES NPCs
M AS THE DELVERS ARRIVE, if they don’t M Huxley, the ever-present bartender at the
take pains to dock their boat somewhere Current & Eddys, lived a long and
inconspicuous, a small contingent of successful career as an Incarnadine in the
weekend-holidayers gather to gawk at Red Market. They’ve spent their afterlife
their strange, bloody boat. living out their dream of being a classic
tavern-keep: serving good drinks,
M AS THE DELVERS EXPLORE, the polishing mugs, spreading gossip, and
tourist-and-yacht-club-district of generally being a good host. Despite their
Grifter’s Jetty becomes quickly good reputation and success, their
apparent—outdoor patios, pop-up bars, investment in the Palace Multifaceted is
and impromptu dance floors are filled due to run out quite soon, and they’re
with well-dressed vacationers looking for becoming increasingly manic about
a good time by the banks of the mighty finding a way to add more time to the
river. Different music blares from each clock.
new corner, but passers-by can still be
heard chattering about Steel-Dancing-in- M “Lord” Timon is the chief masseuse at the
Hatred and his great fortune. Fontaine de Jouvence: legendary for his
ability to knead out knots in his clients’
M IF THE DELVERS LINGER in one place muscles—and tease out every secret they
for too long, or spend a while without have in the process. Timon has no
dropping some coin, a fresh-faced interest in additional wealth for the
Auditor (pg 108) in red-and-purple-silks information he acquires—he loves secrets
appears at their side and strikes up a themselves, and insists on being paid in
lively conversation about something that kind for what he knows.
they could buy—the perfect shirt, a tasty
drink, a new haircut—with subtle hints M Sass and Zazz are twin
that trouble awaits if they don’t start harlequin street performers
spending. who busk in Sandara
Square; their current
repertoire features a re-
enactment of Steel-
Dancing-in-
Hatred’s
getting one
over on
Domon
Blight.
ADVERSARIES

AUDITOR
The Auditors look like everyone else—but
they are not like everyone else. Newcomers to
the Palace quickly learn to identify these
soulless beings by their gold-plated noses.
These servants of the Palace can smell the
absence of transactions, and they gracefully
patrol heaven to ensure that people here are
spending at a reasonable rate.

Those who aren’t making routine purchases

are gently encouraged to step it up, lest they
find themselves in violation of the Palace’s
policies. The hooked man-catchers they hide
under their elegant coats are feared by any
Palace resident who has come up short on
their regular payments.

NAMES Number Eight, Number

Twelve, Number Five-Two

DESCRIPTORS Dressed in modest finery,

a wide-brimmed hat, a
half-full shopping bag with
a single rune embroidered
on, excited to see what the
specials are, teeth
gleaming as bright as their
gold-plated nose

MOTIVATION To guarantee that RESOURCES A coupon for exactly what

transactions continue you’re thinking of buying
(D6 Haven)
DOMAINS Haven
EQUIPMENT A deeply modular voice,
DIFFICULTY Standard capable of focused assault
(D6, mark stress to Mind)
RESISTANCE 6 or creating a siren-like
distress call that alerts
PROTECTION 1 nearby locals that
something is wrong; a
hooked man-catcher (D6
Blood)
FINDING HATRED REFUSING THE CALL
Steel-Dancing-in-Hatred has made a The delvers might balk at the idea of barging
particular casino his base of operations. This into the City of Gold in order to lay hands
casino, the City of Gold, is a spacious, upon Steel-Dancing-in-Hatred. Why not,
raucous destination with fountains of gold they may well reason, find some opportunity
coins, myriad games of chance, and enough when he dares to poke his head out of the
song and dance to last several lifetimes. large, crowded, well-established casino?
Hatred has taken up residence in a fine
penthouse suite, and spends his afterlife If this is the case, you’ll need to improvise a
alternating between sumptuous feasts in his little, but here’s a handful of scenarios that
quarters, lavish stage shows rife with where Hatred could reasonably be expected
extravagance & bloodshed, and spirited to leave the casino:
gambling on the casino floor. Incarne be M Every tenth day’s morning, Hatred takes
praised! a leisurely stroll to a decadent bakery,
intent on enjoying the first croissant that
Luckily for the players, everyone in the Palace comes out of the oven. He’s accompanied
is talking about the aelfir’s marvelous by a trio of bodyguards, at a discreet
scheme, thanks in no small part because distance.
Hatred won’t stop bragging about it. Anyone
who’s anyone can tell the players that Hatred M A secret admirer sends a note to Hatred,
has set up shop in the City of Gold, and that inviting him to a rendezvous at a nearby
he spends his days surrounded by hangers- luxury spa, La Fontaine de Jouvence.
on and sycophants on the casino floor. Lots M The Night of Jewels, an outdoor festival
of folks in the Palace are eager for the chance marked by music, dancing, and shooting
to buy Hatred a drink (and then spend the stars, is right around the corner, and
next year boasting that they bought Hatred a Hatred has paid a premium price for
drink), so no one is particularly suspicious admission to the VIP area. He’s well-
about delvers asking after his whereabouts. guarded on the way there, but isolated
and vulnerable once he arrives at the
KEEP MOVING! viewing lounge.
Delvers aren’t supposed to be in the Palace
Multifaceted. Even the greenest rookie will
understand that security won’t look kindly on
them if they’re caught dallying.

The festive atmosphere of the Jetty makes it

relatively easy for the players to blend in, but
obvious outsiders (undisguised Apiarists and
Witches, for example) or anyone that goes
too long without spending money might find
themselves getting suspicious looks from the
Auditors. The best strategy is to spend money
and keep moving.

Testament — 109
THE CITY OF GOLD
There are other casinos in Heart with higher
stakes and more grievous losses, but none is
more extravagant than the City of Gold.
Housed in a wondrous ziggurat that rises a
dozen stories into the sky of the Palace, every
inch of it is covered with finely-worked,
bright-gleaming gold. Gossamer-winged
servants flutter across it, rearranging the
precious gems set in its side to create newer,
more brilliant light displays each and every
evening. Inside, the upper crust of heaven’s
faithful gamble away their afterlife’s savings,
eagerly risking it all on the roll of a dice.
Otherworldly libations, glamorous
performers, and monstrous VIPs intermingle
with Azur and Incarne’s finest.

The City of Gold can be run as a single-

location delve. The goal is to get in, get
Hatred, and get out.

However, the events of the adventure might

be very different indeed based on how the
players decide to get in, get their hands on
their target, and leave the premises.

Three approaches are outlined here, based on

three probable cases that they might utilize:
a social approach, where they walk in like
they belong and deal with Hatred semi-
openly; a sneak approach where the delvers
sneak in and stage a covert kidnapping, and
an assault approach where they storming the
casino and take Hatred captive by force.

Vitally: these sections are full of possibilities,

not requirements. They should not dictate
the players’ course of action, nor your
expectations for what the players should do.
Provide the players options, and lean into
what they’re interested in doing.
 Delve, Fracture FALLOUT: RUNNING HOT
DOMAINS: Religion, Occult, Haven [Minor, Fortune]
STRESS: D8 Through some action of yours, you’ve
RESISTANCE: 18 managed (whether deliberately or not) to win
one of the casino’s strange games of chance.
The delvers’ expedition into the City of Gold Hooray! But now you’ve got the bug. Why not
will vary wildly depending on how and where go again? Pick one: Waste some time playing
they make their approach: see each of the the game and mark D4 Supplies Stress, or
following sections for descriptions of what resist the urge and move on by taking D6
they can expect if they sway, stealth, or Mind Stress. [Immediate]
smash their way into the casino.
FALLOUT: ON TILT
Suggested “delve” actions are likewise [Major, Fortune]
provided in each of the three sections. The casino’s got its hooks in you, now. All you
need is one big win to turn it around. Until
RESOURCES you completely succeed (8+) on a roll, you
M Stack of casino chips (D8 Haven, Niche) can’t assist delvers with rolls.
M A single cocktail (D6 Haven) [Ongoing]
FALLOUT: BUST
[Major, Supplies]
The house always wins. Pick two belongings:
something valuable, and something deeply
personal. The GM will pick one; it belongs to
the City of Gold, now. [Immediate]

THE CITY OF GOLD Rooftop Gardens

Penthouses

Guest Suites

Guest Rooms

Private Gaming Theaters Dining Hall

Beach Resort Main casino floor Entrance hall

Kitchens, Laundry, Utilities

THE MAN OF THE HOUR
Steel-Dancing-in-Hatred abandoned an
aelfir’s life of luxury to pursue the path of the
Incarnadine. In both life and death, he has
thrived.

His easy, charming way and put-upon

humility—an aelfir, serving the god of debt!
What a lark!—led him into the confidences of
many of Spire’s rich and powerful merchant
lords —lords whose hubris led them to
believe that this dandy in red robes was at
their beck and call. Now, by dint of Hatred’s
deviously-worded last will and testament,
they bankroll his afterlife. He is more than
pleased with himself, and has been
celebrating profusely in the City of Gold
since he got here. HATRED’S SCHEDULE
On any given day, players can find Hatred at
Hatred spends the majority of his days (and these places and times. The delvers should be
nights) on the gaming floor, not from any able to get their hands on this information
love of gambling, but because it’s a secure relatively easily before they decide on their
place to solicit admiration from others, most approach: anyone who’s been to the City of
especially with his braggadocious losing Gold could probably tell them, whether it’s
streaks. What’s he going to do, run out of over a drink at the bar or a rough back-alley
money? (He tells this joke this at least one a interrogation.
night to a crowd that laughs uproariously
with him, every single time.) M Sleeps in until roughly mid-morning,
eats breakfast in his suite
Even in the short amount of time Hatred’s
been here, however, he’s grown bored with M A turn about the gardens for an hour
run-of-the-mill praise lavished upon him by
the Palace Multifaceted rank-and-file: any M Noon to evening: drinks, socializing, and
guest (or delver masquerading as a guest) gaming on the casino floor
who can introduce some novelty into his
routine is sure to capture his attention. M Dinner in a private box in one of the
theaters, taking in whatever
PLAYING HATRED entertainment is currently in-house
Hatred is, above all, a weasel. He can’t quite
believe that his scheme worked, and tries to M Evening to past-midnight: high-stakes
mask his nervous paranoia with loud gaming, usually back on the casino floor
confidence and big purchases. He’s a (better to see admirers) or in a private
nervous, talkative rascal of an Incarnadine. gaming suite (to better socialize with
particular individuals)
 MAKING AN ENTRANCE
SOCIAL At the base level of the City of Gold, smiling
Concierges (pg 120) welcome guests and
Many delvers, when given the opportunity to notables, acting both as welcoming
visit an extravagant casino in heaven, will committee and as fashion police: they’re
want to walk right in the front door. responsible for making sure people who
come in look like they belong there.
DRESSED TO KILL
Odds are good that the delvers did not arrive If the delvers have gone to lengths to make
in the Palace Multifaceted ready to dress sure they fit in, then the Concierges wave
their best. If the party declares their intent to them right in; otherwise, it may take some
walk right in, let them know they’ll probably fast-talking or fast-bribing to continue
need to spend at least a bit of effort trying to inside.
look the part. Thankfully, they’re in the
Palace Multifaceted, and there’s an The main hall of the casino floor is jam-
abundance of ways to make it look like you’re packed, not merely with people in similarly
rich and important. See the Delve Actions list expensive clothing, but with tables, money,
below for some ideas. and games of all kinds. Massive Valets (pg
121) periodically rumble through the hall,
IMPORTANT: If the delvers dress up in fancy serving drinks and making sure that some
outfits, they must describe their outfits for semblance of order is maintained.
the table. This is a requirement for playing
this adventure; if your group fails to do this, WHAT GAME IS HATRED PLAYING?
then the adventure is over.
1 A card game, akin to baccarat, which
Hatred does not know the rules to.
DELVE ACTIONS: GETTIN’ FANCY
2 A dexterity game played with drinking
M Breaking into someone’s apartment to glasses and sten, found in dive bars across
steal their nice clothes: Sneak + Haven Destera.

M Applying glamorous runes as makeup: 3 Liar’s dice.

Mend + Occult
4 Some kind of table-shuffleboard game,
M Borrowing a majestic but unruly mount which seems to have new rules arbitrarily
to arrive for the evening (what is it?): added or changed in response to invisible
Compel + Wild criteria.

M Incapacitate a newly-arrived celebrity 5 Harvest, a tactics game using tiny

and impersonate them: Kill + Religion miniature armies. Half the table is just
painting their little figurines instead of
M Put on an elaborate performance at playing.
Sandara Square and get invited to play at
the City of Gold: Endure + Haven 6 A trick-taking card game originating in
Nujab, currently all the rage in Spire.

Testament — 113
MAKING AN EXIT WHO ELSE IS AT THE TABLE?
Convincing or cajoling Hatred to depart
from the table requires dangling something Hatred’s table is typically surrounded by
else more enticing in front of him, whether it admirers and sycophants of all shapes and
be a more intimate venue for conversation— sizes, but your delvers may find themselves
the private gaming suites or Hatred’s wondering who else is at the gaming table.
personal box in the casino’s theater are prime
candidates. M Sequin Sanguine, a beautiful elf of
uncertain origin who, if they are not a
Actually, the main obstacle the players will vampire, are doing a very convincing
probably run into with a social approach is imitation of one
the other players at the gaming table: they’re M Holstead, a person encased in what looks
down a fair bit and insist that Hatred gives like an old-fashioned diving suit,
them ample opportunity to win their money polished to a golden-mirror sheen
back.
M Jarka, some kind of capybara-gnoll,
That said, as long as the game is still going, dressed in tuxedo-black with a top hat,
the crowd is willing to go where Hatred monocle, and pocket watch
goes—it’s reasonable to think that the whole M Melody Martinaise, an impressively
affair gets moved to a private gaming hall, or muscular Azurite who has food delivered
even out of the City of Gold entirely. With a to the table every fifteen minutes, all of
lot of success, the delvers could convince which is devoured promptly but politely
them to move their entire game out onto The
Vessel. Boat party! M Tephragandrix, an actual goddamn
dragon. They are an avid fan of whatever
DELVE ACTIONS: THE CASINO FLOOR game is currently being played who
wishes everyone else at the table took the
M Charming the Concierge who approaches game more seriously
you on the red carpet: Compel + Religion
M Patience, a quiet but courteous
Concierge, the table’s croupier
M Making your way to an open seat at
Hatred’s gaming table: Sneak + Haven
Getting Hatred alone may require either
M Playing along with whatever game’s getting him to lose everything he’s currently
being played: Discern + Haven brought to play with for the night—or, taking
the other table’s players for all they’re worth,
M Cheating your way through whatever ending the game for the night. Either
game’s being played: Evade + Haven circumstance might giving the players an
opportunity to whisk Hatred away without
M Bluff when you’ve got absolutely nothing: the other gamblers breathing down their
Endure + Religion neck. Of course, if someone at the table’s just
lost all their cash to a delver, they’re likely to
M Make friends with the dragon: Compel + be on the lookout for ways to upset the
Cursed delvers’ evening.
 SNEAK
The security at the City of Gold is relatively
light, all things considered. Any resident of
the Palace Multifaceted who gets caught
doing something they shouldn’t know that
their afterlife fortune is forfeit—this threat is
enough to keep the locals at bay, and when
does the Palace Multifaceted ever receive
outsiders?

It’s not a walk in the park, either. The ever-

present, ever-smiling Concierges monitor
the obvious entrances to attend to their
guests, and the hulking Valets prowl the halls DELVE ACTIONS: SHADY BUSINESS
and corridors to ensure proper conduct is
maintained. Delvers who want to make a M Determining the casino staff guard-shift
clandestine infiltration would do well to stay schedule: Discern + Haven
out of sight.
M Clambering up the side of the ziggurat:
CASING THE JOINT Delve + Haven
Even a cursory survey of the City of Gold
reveals three non-standard entrances: M Ambushing someone in the gardens:
Sneak + Wild
M A neglected artificial beach and patio in
the back. It’s perfectly nice, but most M Pretending to be a guest as you saunter
attendees at the City of Gold prefer to up into the beach: Compel + Religion
spend their time on the casino floor. A
bored Concierge tends the tiki bar. M Salvaging old Valet parts from the
dumpsters out back: Sneak + Haven
M Ground floor entrances around the side
lead into the underbelly of the casino, M Building a Valet costume out of scrap
where Valets tend the kitchen, laundry, parts: Mend + Technology
and other services that keep the City of
Gold running. They’re no less dangerous M Impersonating a Valet: Compel + Occult
than their hall-stalking brethren, but they
are devoted to their duties. M Poisoning Hatred’s dinner to give him
indigestion: Kill + Haven
M The open-air gardens on the roof are
filled with tropical palms and ferns, M Putting on a grand performance in the
making it easy to sneak through and get theater to grab Hatred’s attention:
inside the building. All you have to do is Compel + ??? (Use a domain relevant to
scale the ziggurat. your chosen performance)

Testament — 115
BLADES IN THE HEART WHAT’S PLAYING AT THE THEATER?
Once the delvers are inside, they’ll likely want
to figure out the best place to kidnap the 1 Gibberwright diva, playing someone
erstwhile Incarnadine. Steel-Dancing-in- else’s heart out.
Hatred can be found on his own (or at least,
with significantly fewer hangers-on) in the 2 Desang theater, with the audience
gardens, his private box at the theaters, or his furiously debating the current choice
penthouse suite.
3 A mundane magic show that is
The gardens cram an unreasonable diversity nonetheless very good. The kind of good
of trees, brushes, and other lovely vegetation magic tricks that make you mad when you
into one place, heedless of biomes or see them, like, you were dead set on not
compatibility. It is a combination of being impressed but now you are
overgrown boutique greenery and pockets of impressed and you don’t want to show it
wasted, rotting woods that has fallen prey to
more aggressive neighboring flora. 4 Some sort of stand-up comedy
Concierges will periodically direct a Valet or competition: seven different performers
three to rip out some of the dead plants and are all on-stage at once, each trying to
replace them, but it’s grimy work and they shout their jokes louder than the rest
put it off as long as they possibly can.
5 Acrobatic japery
Far removed from the ground floor of the
Palace Multifaceted, the gardens are quiet 6 Just a fight, just two people really going at
and easy to be alone in, with ample hiding it with whatever is at hand
spots for anyone who doesn’t want to get
caught doing something. Hatred is only in Hatred’s penthouse is a mansion of an
the gardens for a short while each day and apartment, spanning two floors of one
has a favorite route; ambushing him will take corner of the ziggurat, with enough room for
careful observation. 20 regular people (or five aelfir) to live
comfortably.
Hatred’s spacious theater box, high in the
theater’s auditorium, has a dining table for Concierges let themselves in to tidy up each
up to eight guests, along with reclining seats day. If Hatred calls for one while inside the
with spectacular views to the stage. The door apartment, they appear at the door, as if
is not locked, but is guarded by a pair of they’d been waiting there the entire time.
Valets round the clock.
There’s lots of extravagant luxuries in
The aelfir will invite people to dinner here Hatred’s penthouse: many of them have been
fairly frequently, but routinely ignores them used exactly once before being cast aside in
in favor of whatever is happening on-stage. A favor of some new distraction or the allure of
talented (or simply outrageous) performer is public adulation or private performance. If
likely to get an invitation to share a drink in you can think of an obnoxious apartment
the box once their set is done. accessory, it’s probably here.
A CLEAN GETAWAY
Getting out with Hatred in-hand has as Getting back out through the kitchens and
much to do with his condition as the delvers’. other service tunnels might attract some
If the delvers convince him to walk out the attention if Hatred is conscious and
door with them, take a look at the SOCIAL unconcealed—on the other hand, stuffed
section approaches for finding an exit. This under a blanket on a hotel trolley, he might
section assumes they’re manhandling just go unnoticed.
Hatred’s person.
Getting out through the beach is perhaps the
Delvers who scaled up the side of the most direct route—the players can disembark
ziggurat might be inclined to find some kind from the beach to head straight to their
of similar route as an exit: in fact, if the Vessel. Enterprising delvers will perhaps
players are in Hatred’s penthouse, they can drive the Vessel right up to the beach for
go out the windows instead of climbing all ease-of-getaway.
the way to the gardens with Hatred in-tow.

WHAT PRIVATE LUXURY IS HATRED ENJOYING?

1 Indoor geothermal hot spring

2 Billiards room equipped with rifles

instead of cue sticks; Concierges replace
the bullet-marked table after each use

3 Library whose books, when flung open,

project a magical diorama of their
contents

4 Wine cellar filled with empty bottles:

whispering any combination of words
into a bottle while in the cellar will
manifest a unique (but not necessarily
good) blend of wine inside based on the
words uttered

5 Clawfoot bathtub with taps for hot water,

cold water, hot mud, hot citrus, and
room-temperature gold coins

6 Roll twice; Hatred is currently trying to

combine the enjoyment of one amenity
with the other

Testament — 117
 ASSAULT
This is the least advisable of the approaches,
but it’s also perhaps the most likely to take
place in some capacity—if the players’ cover
gets blown in either a Social or Sneaky
situation, they’ll probably wind up getting in
a brawl with whoever found them out.

GOING LOUD
Barging your way in is sure to get the
attention of the Concierges, who will call for
a Valet to deal with the situation
immediately. However, the Concierges are
neither omnipresent nor omnipotent, and
alerting one is not the same as alerting the
whole building.

If a disturbance does break out, a

complicated system of bells is used to signal
the need for assistance in particular areas of
the casino. If a Concierge needs help, they’ll
make their way to a panel and pull on the
strings that sound the bells for their area,
which will summon whichever Valets can
hear the racket.
DELVE ACTIONS: STORMING THE CASINO
Most guests, unless attacked, will assume
that violent delvers are some kind of M Breaking down a barred door: Delve +
improvisational entertainment act. Haven

M Deactivating the alarm: Mend +

Technology

M Finding Hatred in the chaos of the

casino: Hunt + Religion

M Dodging the crowds of amused casino

guests who think you’re putting on a
show: Endure + Haven

M Fighting a hulking Valet: See the

Adversary section following this one!
SECURING THE TARGET WHAT IF HATRED DIES? AGAIN?
Hatred is a valued guest at the City of Gold,
and will receive every inch of protection that Hatred is a fink, but he’s not a fool. His
the Concierges and Valets can spare. untimely death in Derelictus—a genuine
However, he’s also a local celebrity renowned accident—nearly caught him off-guard. He’s
for pulling a clever scam on someone. not going to make the same mistake twice.

This could have one of two effects, Indeed, as soon as he got to the Palace
depending on what your situation calls for: Multifaceted, he made arrangements for
another contract to be signed—a sort of
M Eager to gain Hatred’s favor, fans and heavenly life insurance that pays
would-be associates might rally to his automatically on his untimely demise here in
defense, flinging themselves at the the afterlife.
delvers to try and accomplish some
daring rescue. They probably can’t If and when Hatred dies (or indeed, anyone
accomplish a lot without weapons laid to who dies in the Palace Multifaceted who’s
hand, but there’s a lot of them and they’ll supposed to be there), then his soul will be
probably slow the delvers down. reincarnated somewhere in the living,
unaware of his past life, accomplishments, or
M On the other hand, this is the Palace crimes. But the terms of the insurance
Multifaceted, and the devotees of Azur contract ensure that the benefits are paid out
and Incarne might be just as amused by to his new self, accompanied by a self-
Steel-Dancing-in-Hatred getting what he recorded message from himself to himself,
deserves as by his original scam. The whoever he might wind up being, in the real
wheel of fortune is always turning. It’s world.
unlikely they’ll intervene on the players’
behalf, but if the delvers reveal that Whoever Hatred becomes, they’ll have a
they’re in Domon Blight’s service, the wealthy benefactor looking out for them,
City of Gold’s guests might well laugh guiding them back to the path of the worship
and stand aside. of Incarne, and reclaiming their place within
the Palace—and exacting revenge on whoever
GETTING OUT ALIVE set them back on this path.
If the delvers make a loud exit from the City
of Gold, they might well wind up with Valets However, the original contract will be null
chasing them all the way to the harbor. If and void. In some ways, this is about as
they have a safe-house set up somewhere in merciful an ending as is possible: Domon
the palace, they could conceivably lie low for Blight’s financial burden has been lifted, and
a short while, but getting out of the Palace Hatred escapes being handed over for a long
Multifaceted entirely is probably a good idea. life of torment at Blight’s hands. Maybe
Hatred will even become a newer, better
person once they’re reincarnated. But Blight
will still be furious, and will cut the delvers’
pay accordingly.

Testament — 119
ADVERSARIES
NAMES Elegance, Joyeux, Luxuria
CONCIERGE
“Service with a smile!” These charming, DESCRIPTORS Spotless uniform, short-
handsome, androgynous hosts serve as the cropped hair, a sly smile, a
hosts, staff, bartenders and croupiers for the knowing look, a single
City of Gold, ready to direct guests to the earring, a wrist tattoo, an
nearest source of wonder and delight. understanding that you’re
not like the other guests—
Each mixes a combination of celebrity charm you’re special.
and serpentine cunning. When they sense a
disturbance, they ring small golden bells to MOTIVATION To ensure that paying
alert nearby staff, and then close in to keep customers get what they
the target occupied until the Valets arrive. paid for, and that those
without proper bona fides
are dealt with accordingly.

DOMAINS Haven, Religion

DIFFICULTY Standard

RESISTANCE 8

PROTECTION 1

RESOURCES Loose change for bribes or

emergency purchases (D6
Haven); a communique
from Incarne’s right hand,
detailing the cosmic
movement of debt (D10
Religion, Niche)

EQUIPMENT Razor-sharp penknife,

either hidden up their
sleeve or wedged in the toe
of their shoe (D6 Brutal),
Poison perfume spray (D4
Point-Blank, makes the
target’s next action Risky)
 VALET
NAMES Brass, Pewter, Terne, Invar It’s not clear whether these towering suits of
polished golden armor are occupied by
DESCRIPTORS Face completely covered by conscious servants, or are simply animated
a sheer platemail mask, golems—either way, they remain deathly
arms weighed with quiet as they attend to the menial labor
clusters of chips in nets, needed to keep the City of Gold running:
ready to make change, serving meals, washing dishes, folding
wearing a roulette table on laundry, hauling briefcases of chips, and
their back, trailed by dealing with unruly guests. As intimidating
gamblers; holding a large as they look, they’re not often pitted against
stack of pre-heated things that can actually hurt them—so when
courtesy towels, standing they do get hurt, they fly into a stupefied
perfectly still as patrons rage.
use the slot machine
embedded in its chest

MOTIVATION To come when called, to be

seen and not heard, to
protect and serve

DOMAINS Haven, Technology,

Religion

DIFFICULTY Standard, but increases to

Risky when they’ve been
damaged

RESISTANCE 8

PROTECTION 2

RESOURCES Golden plate piece (D6

Technology)

EQUIPMENT Enormous morning star

with a pair of dice for
spiked heads (D8, Tiring),
a shotgun that fires a spray
of gold coins (D6, Brutal,
Spread)

Testament — 121
 AND SO THEY WENT HOME
ENDING THE If the game is running long and you need to
wrap up, or if the delvers are well and truly at
ADVENTURE their wits end and you want to be merciful,
consider simply describing the journey back
Alright, so—the delvers have made it into the in montage, without worrying about making
Palace Multifaceted, laid hands on Steel- them testing their mettle on a delve.
Dancing-in-Hatred, and they’re ready to get
the Incarnadine back to Sedgemark as Ask them each what they’re doing on the
promised. What now? Vessel as the adventure winds down to a
close, and how they secure Hatred to make
Here’s three solutions you might use, either sure he doesn’t screw things up, but take it
as-written, or as inspiration: for granted that they get back to Sedgemark
without much trouble. You can always drop
BACK THE WAY WE CAME some consequences on them later.
If the players want to leave the way that they
came in—down the Rhithron, out the FINISHING BUSINESS
heaven’s back door—then they can play the If and when the players deliver Hatred to
delve that they took to get to the Palace in Sedgemark, Domon Blight is practically
reverse, using the Vessel. drooling with rage and excitement. He has all
manner of torments in mind for his old
This might be considerably easier than the business partner, and he can’t wait to get
first time if they made a Connection, but started. Hatred may well plead for mercy
depending on how much noise they made from the delves—yes, he fooled Blight, but
when they left, they might also have to deal does he really deserve a life of torture for
with pursuers from the Palace Multifaceted that?
dogging their trail.
The players each receive a heavy bag of gold
ON SECOND THOUGHT, NOT THAT WAY and sten from Blight (D12 Haven, reduced to
The players might leave the Palace in some a D6 if Hatred was killed) for their troubles.
other way—through the “front” door,
perhaps, or by virtue of some other plane WHAT ABOUT THE BOAT?
shifting, like the Deadwalker’s ability to take Once he’s got his hands on Hatred, the
folks with them into the Grey. Vessel is the last thing on Blight’s mind.
As far as he’s concerned, the delvers are
In this case, it’s entirely possible the party welcome to have it instead of the reward (or
winds up somewhere interesting in Heart, negotiate for some combination of the two.)
and then has to embark upon a new delve
from that location to Sedgemark. WHAT’S NEXT?
The delvers have almost certainly upset
This is a great option for an ongoing either the Temple of Incarne or the
campaign, if you’re interested in dropping administration of the Palace Multifaceted
them somewhere interesting and seeing how writ large: their next task might be dealing
they find their way back. with the consequences of their actions.
 APPENDICES
In the following pages, you’ll find premade characters that
you can use to quickly outfit a party of players
to play TESTAMENT—or another HEART adventure!

You can find printer-friendly versions of the premade

characters, as well as blank character sheets and Vehicle
sheets, at sillionl.itch.io/ichor-drowned

Appendices — 123
 PROTECTIONS
BLOOD ������ ������ �����
MIND ������ ������ �����
ECHO ������ ������ �����
FORTUNE ������ ������ �����
SUPPLIES ������ ������ �����

NAME Tarbane FALLOUT

CLASS Djinn Querent

ANCESTRY Gnoll

CALLING Adventure

ACTIVE BEATS (Pick two:)

MINOR: Help an important or influential
figure in a haven
MINOR: Refuse to back down when it would be
beneficial to do so
MAJOR: Acquire a rare of powerful (D12 value)
item, preferably magic
EQUIPMENT
Soulstuff Grenades
Kill D4 Ranged, Spread, Limited 3
Djinn Memory Sphere
Delve D8, Distressing
Brush Billhook
Kill D6
RESOURCES
Hauntingly Illuminated Codex
D8, Niche

SKILLS KNACKS DOMAINS KNACKS

� Compel � Cursed
� Delve � Desolate
� Discern � Haven
�
� Endure �
� Occult
� Evade � Religion
� Hunt � Technology
�
� Kill � Warren
�
� Mend � Wild
� Sneak
STARTING ABILITIES GUNPOWDER PRAYERS
When you refresh your Soulstuff Grenades, you may
LEGENDARY choose one of the following alternate weapon profiles:
When you gain a minor advance, refresh D6. When
you gain a major advance, refresh D8. M Ash Charges
D4 Smoke, Obscuring, Wyrd, Spread, Limited 2
WHEREGLEAMSTHEBURNINGMETAL(MARID)
Roll Mend + Technology to ask your Djinn—in a M Frostbite Shell
tongue you cannot speak—to extend their power into D6 Wyrd, Spread, Limited 2
another piece of technology no larger than a person to Affected targets are frozen on a scale equivalent
accomplish a single task. This can only last for a few to stress inflicted (e.g., 1 stress freezes boots to
moments before Djinn automatically returns. the ground, 6 stress freezes a person whole until
they can be broken out.)
GOETIC CONTRACT
Once per session, you must paint a sigil of sacrifice FIERY REVELATIONS
with the blood of a recently slain sentient creature, or Any stress die inflicted on you as the result of an
you take D8 Blood stress at the end of the session as explosion is reduced down a step. Additionally, when
your Djinn takes its toll. Whichever way the Djinn you refresh your Soulstuff Grenades, you may
claims its power, this ritual also clears all Echo stress increased Supplies stress die to D6 to choose one of
—this is the only way you can heal Echo stress. the following alternate profiles:

SPECTRUM ENHANCEMENT M Sourceborn Razor Shot

Gain the Mend skill. Replace one or both of your eyes D8 Degenerating, Piercing, Distressing,
with an arcano-technological device. Once per Wyrd, Spread, Limited 1
situation, you can roll Discern + Occult to look for This explosions whips and tears like its namesake
assistance from the in-between realm of Djinn and for a few minutes, leaving a five-by-five foot area
demons with the assistance of your companion. perpetually inflicting its weapon profile.

SPIDERWEB HEMOSIGIL M Hill-Breakers

Gain the Kill skill. Any explosive you have can be D10 Debilitating, Wyrd, Dangerous,
buried and primed with a hemosigil—a bloody rune, Spread, Limited 1
unique in design to the user—painted above it. The These bombs destroy all solid matter like
rune may be no bigger than a large parlor rug; When porcelain, dealing D12 stress to inanimate and
any of the rune’s lines are broken, it will detonate the inorganic matter.
explosive.

ADVANCE ABILITY SUGGESTIONS DEMONOLOGICAL COMPANIONSHIP [Major]

You craft an Automaton-of-Burden (Delve D8, Kill D8,
SELF-TAUGHT ARCANOTECHNICIAN [Minor] Loud, Mobile) to house your Djinn which can move
Gain the Technology domain. Roll Mend + Technology and act independently, although it must be within
to upgrade a tool’s stress die by one step, or—change your line-of-sight to function. It has Resistance 10,
the properties of an tool. The tool gains the Limited 2 and can be fixed by spending at least a D6 Technology
tag as the object begins to succumb to the stressors of resource for parts. You can cast any of your spells or
demonological invasion. Good or Excellent quality attempt any other rolls through the Automaton—but
items add 1 or 2 uses to the Limited tags, respectively. can only use your skills, not knacks or domains.
 PROTECTIONS
BLOOD ������ ������ �
�����
MIND ������ ������ �����
ECHO ������ ������ �����
FORTUNE ������ ������ �����
SUPPLIES ������ ������ �����

NAME Dendera Unbreakable- FALLOUT

Autumn-Light
CLASS Paracausal Pugilist

ANCESTRY Aelfir

CALLING Retribution

ACTIVE BEATS (Pick two:)

MINOR: Expose your true past to your advantage
MINOR: Project your frustrations on another,
physically
MAJOR: Sacrifice an ally in pursuit of revenge

EQUIPMENT
Your Anointed Fists
Kill D6

RESOURCES
Flask of Voidship Oil
D8, Niche

SKILLS KNACKS DOMAINS KNACKS

� Compel �� Cursed
�
� Delve � Desolate
� Discern � Haven
� Endure � Occult
� Evade � Religion
� Hunt � Technology
�
� Kill � Warren
�
� Mend � Wild
� Sneak
ABILITIES INTERDIMENSIONAL GRIP
Roll Mend + Occult to squash or stretch
NO RELISH OF SALVATION IN IT reality like an elastic fabric with your hands.
Gain +1 Blood Protection. (This is already for as long as you maintain focus. This can
marked on this premade sheet!) Once per draw spaces closer to you, or lengthen space
session, after you successfully hit but before between you and another. Anything caught
you roll damage, increase your damage dice within the deformation returns unchanged
one step. when you remove your hands.

FASTER, FASTER, FASTER RUBBER BONES

Once per situation, you can push your strikes You may use this INTERDIMENSIONAL
to take on the profile D8 Tiring, Brutal or GRIP on yourself.
D10 Tiring, Loud. On activation of the Tiring
tag, your attacks revert to Kill D6. ANOINTED BINDING, BLESSED SHEATH
Gain the Mend skill. Once per session, you
NULLIFICATION may ignore or downgrade any Blood fallout
Stop any source of magic as long as—and induced while striking an opponent with
only as long as—you have your hands on it your fists.
(this does not nullify most targets' strength
or pointy bits.) Any item enhanced with AUTODRIROMANCY
magic is as useful in your hands as the un- Gain the Delve skill. Once per session, you
enchanted variant. may choose to self-inflict D6 Blood stress to
do an equivalent amount of stress to the
delve.

ADVANCE ABILITY SUGGESTIONS

I SEE YOU [Minor] CHRONO-SHUNT SUPLEX [Major]

Gain the Hunt skill. Upon successfully Roll Endure + Occult on a target you have
striking a target, you make mark them: no restrained to suplex them out of time for a
matter the obscurity or level of darkness your few moments, allowing for a handful of
fists can always find them. actions before they reappear.
 PROTECTIONS
BLOOD ������ ������ �
�����
MIND ������ ������ �����
ECHO ������ ������ �����
FORTUNE ������ ������ �����
SUPPLIES ������ ������ �����

NAME Yaro Kavit FALLOUT

CLASS Gibberwright

ANCESTRY Manalfar

CALLING Enlightenment

ACTIVE BEATS (Pick two:)

MINOR: Succeed at a task that someone else has
recently failed to achieve.
MINOR: Take Minor Mind fallout.
MAJOR: Take Major Supplies fallout.

EQUIPMENT
Blessed Robes, Repurposed
Block (+1 Blood Protection—already marked!)
Delicate Pistol
Kill D6, Ranged, Expensive
Brush Billhook
Kill D6
RESOURCES
A folio of poetry, prose, and scene fragments;
half original, half stolen
D8, Cursed

SKILLS KNACKS DOMAINS KNACKS

�� Compel � Cursed
� Delve � Desolate
� Discern �� Haven
� Endure � Occult
�
� Evade � Religion
� Hunt � Technology
� Kill � Warren
� Mend � Wild
� Sneak
ABILITIES SCENIC COMMAND
Pick a Domain upon choosing this Advance; when you
SOUND AND FURY activate this spell, spend 2 Chaos and add this domain
Place a D6 before yourself set to 2: this dice represents to the scene as you adapt the environment with the
your Chaos. At any time, before another player makes Heart’s energy. This requires background
a roll, you may describe how you rewrite reality by concentration, if you take a Blood, Mind, or Echo
spending 1 Chaos. Represent this by turning the die fallout while maintaining it the spell is broken and
one value lower. must be re-established. Your illusory changes are
fragile and ephemeral, breaking easily and dissipating
You can spend Chaos in order to increase or decrease once concentration is dropped, but they are solid
a stress dice by a step (to a minimum of D4 or a enough to climb and walk—too much stress or
maximum of D12), or adjust the highest result in a violence upon them and they crumble like the cheap
dice pool by 1 (to a minimum of 1 or a maximum of 10.) stage dressing they are.

To replenish Chaos, unleash your unholy performance THEIR EXITS & THEIR ENTRANCES
in whatever manner you see fit that connects you to Once per session, spend 1 Chaos to use the unreality of
raw unreality, then roll Compel + Cursed. On a the Heart to remove or place a character in the scene.
success, roll a D6 and add the result to your current You do not choose where they came from, or where
Chaos. they go. The GM has producer fiat over who can be
placed in the scene (and may force you to recast
If your total Chaos ever exceeds 6, your total them), but you can remove anyone from the stage that
immediately returns to 2 and you take D8 Mind stress you deem appropriate.
as you lose control of the power that it barely contains.
THE SPOTLIGHT
DOOR SLAMMER You can change focus on your ‘stage’ with varying
Gain the Evade skill. Once per session, mark a door degrees of success. Choose a single target including
with your craft. Any other door frame you find may yourself within a scene altered by SCENIC
lead back to this door, once. COMMAND. Any incoming or outgoing stress dice are
increased by a step for this target. You may shift the
spotlight’s target in between rolls as long as you
maintain the spell.

ADVANCE ABILITY SUGGESTIONS

RAPTUROUS PERFORMANCE [Minor] THE DIRECTOR [Major]

Gain the Kill skill. Roll Compel + Cursed to inflict your When you take this advance, choose a skill, even one
unholy performance as a D10 Kill Ranged Loud you don’t already have. You may spend 1 Chaos and
One-Shot weapon. direct another delver; if they choose to follow your
direction, they can attempt that roll as if they
possessed that skill. If they already have the skill, they
instead gain a knack of your choosing.
 PROTECTIONS
BLOOD ������ ������ �����
MIND ������ ������ �����
ECHO ������ ������ �����
FORTUNE ������ ������ �����
SUPPLIES ������ ������ �����

NAME Ottilie Alban FALLOUT

CLASS Somnajac

ANCESTRY Drow

CALLING Heartsong

ACTIVE BEATS (Pick two:)

MINOR: Let your curiosity lead you into danger.
MINOR: See something from your dreams in the
real world.
MAJOR: Deliver a crucial message on behalf of
the Heart.

EQUIPMENT
Street-scrap shiv
Kill D6 Brutal, Debilitating
Vial of Mandragora esoterica extract, a reliable
sleep aid
Mend D6 Mind, Potent

RESOURCES
A rune-etched candle, intended to ward away evil
spirits (other spirits, not you)
D6 Occult

SKILLS KNACKS DOMAINS KNACKS

� Compel � Cursed
� Delve � Desolate
�
�
Discern
Endure
��
�
Haven
Occult
� Evade � Religion
� Hunt � Technology
�
�
�
Kill
Mend
��
�
Warren
Wild
�
� Sneak
STARTING ABILITIES WHIRLING-IN-RAGS
Whenever you take Blood stress, you may choose to
DREAM-THIEF instead take it to any other Resistance instead. The
Roll Sneak + [Domain] to steal a dream from a person first time you choose to do this each session, gain
or a landmark within the Heart, using a Domain +1 Protection to the chosen Resistance for the rest of
appropriate to the target. The target doesn’t need to be this session.
asleep, although trying to steal a dream from someone
who’s aware of you is Risky. URBAN LEGEND
Roll Sneak + Occult to take on the aspect of a legend
Rare is the target that takes kindly to having their feared by a nearby mind. Discuss with the GM what
things pilfered: people will flinch and places will this legend is called, how it’s described, and what its
shudder as you take tiny bits from them. Take too nightmarish behavior is. Describe how you
much, and the target will see you for what you are: an incorporate those details into your own haunted,
infection that needs to be inoculated. tattered form. Anyone familiar with what you’ve taken
on will regard you as its living embodiment; roll with
When you steal a dream, choose the following based mastery when you live up to the legend. This
on the success of your roll: transformation lasts until the end of the current
situation.
6-7: one choice from the list below,
8-9: two choices; JUMP SCARE
10, three choices Once per situation, you can appear somewhere you
shouldn’t have been, even if it’s physically impossible
DREAM-THIEF RESULTS for you to have somehow arrived there. Increase the
M Ask the GM any one question about the target outgoing stress of your next attack by one step.
M Witness an event of the GM’s choice as if you were
present CAMPFIRE CANARDS
M Allow yourself or an ally to gain mastery on their Gain the Haven domain. Whenever you enter a
next interaction with the target landmark, declare two rumors you’ve heard about the
place: the GM will tell you which one is true. The first
SLEEP NO MORE time you act on either rumor, regardless of its
Gain the Kill skill. Add the following option to the veracity, roll with mastery.
DREAM-THIEF results table:

M Deal D4 stress to the target.

ADVANCE ABILITY SUGGESTIONS NIGHTMARE MADE REAL [Major]

Once per session, you can plunge a target’s mind into
WHISPER [Minor] a nightmare of your own authoring; describe it.
Gain the Discern skill. Once per session, you can hold The target’s physical form is stunned; the next action
a brief conversation with something that could not taken against it can be taken unopposed, but any
ordinarily be questioned: an object, an animal, a dead stress dealt to the target will wake it back up.
body, a landmark, a concept, a piece of clothing,
furniture, the moon, anything. It will answer you If left alone, it will wake up automatically (but
honestly (but perhaps not straightforwardly.) traumatically) at the end of the situation.
 CHARACTER SHEET
PROTECTIONS
BLOOD ������ ������ �����
MIND ������ ������ �����
ECHO ������ ������ �����
FORTUNE ������ ������ �����
SUPPLIES ������ ������ �����

NAME FALLOUT

CLASS

ANCESTRY

CALLING

ACTIVE BEATS (Pick two:)

EQUIPMENT

RESOURCES

SKILLS KNACKS DOMAINS KNACKS

� Compel � Cursed
� Delve � Desolate
� Discern � Haven
� Endure � Occult
� Evade � Religion
� Hunt � Technology
� Kill � Warren
� Mend � Wild
� Sneak
 VEHICLE SHEET
DELVE
KILL
MEND

FALLOUT (List your vehicle’s fallout slots here:)

NAME
Minor ___ / Major ___

SIZE Personal / Medium

(Circle one:)
Large / Gargantuan

EQUIPMENT

ILLUSTRATION
(Draw your vehicle here:)
Appendices — 135
This is the Heart, changed.
THE TWISTING HALLWAYS AND CORRIDORS OF THE
CITY BENEATH HAVE DROWNED IN AN OCEAN OF
GODSBLOOD. THE CURSED FLOOD OF ICHOR HAS
CREATED A NEW, WARPED WORLD.

CONTAINED WITHIN THESE PAGES IS MATERIAL TO

SUPPORT THIS ICHOR-DROWNED HEART,
INCLUDING FOUR NEW CLASS OPTIONS, AN ORACLE
SYSTEM FOR DESIGNING DELVES, VEHICLE RULES,
AN ADVENTURE DOWN A RIVER OF THE DEAD INTO A
PALATIAL HEAVEN, AND MUCH MORE.

DIVE INTO AN OCEAN OF ICHOR AND COME OUT

CHANGED. A NEW WORLD AWAITS BENEATH THE
GODSBLOOD WAVES.