Twelve labors of...

[Jakob]

Hi to all.

In a few days I'll be starting a PBF set in Hazlan, and in a bout of madness, I chose to make the PCs face a number of "labors", inspired by Heracles' Twelve Labors.
Of, course, being Hazlan a land with many distorted and monstrous creatures (as said in Gazetteer I), my job is quite easy.

That said, I only have a question: Augeas' Stables. I really can't think of something to mimic the stables.
...
Care to help me with a few ideas?

PS: In the case you have no idea of what the heck are these Stables... Here.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Hi to all.

In a few days I'll be starting a PBF set in Hazlan, and in a bout of madness, I chose to make the PCs face a number of "labors", inspired by Heracles' Twelve Labors.
Of, course, being Hazlan a land with many distorted and monstrous creatures (as said in Gazetteer I), my job is quite easy.

That said, I only have a question: Augeas' Stables. I really can't think of something to mimic the stables.
...
Care to help me with a few ideas?

PS: In the case you have no idea of what the heck are these Stables... Here.

So, for years and years and years Baron X has been doing alchemical experiments and chemical experiments and biological experiments, and when everything is finished he chucks whatever is left over down into the castle's "sewer system"--really just a big set of tunnels leading to underground caverns. Unfortunately, things have started to climb back up the pipes...

[cure]

Clean up the opium dens of Toyalis.

[lostboy]

or clean up after Drakovs birthday celebrations.....

One stake for each year....

[Rotipher of the FoS]

How about digging some lost item out of an immense mountain of ghoul-gnawed bones, a la Lovecraft's Vale of Pnoth? It could be swarming with ghouls, toxic mold, and icky scavengers of all sorts.

[Jakob]

Hmmm... I like Nathan's version better. It's more in tune with the original mith ("I have the best and grandest stables in the world, but I'm not cleaning horse poop"), and best suited with Hazlan's magical nature.
I think I'll take a look at Cityscape for some more hints.

Any suggestion on the kind of things coming creeping from the dark?

[lostboy]

Depends on the exact nature of Baron X experiments, however if he's into transmuting or Mordenheim type stuff, then you are looking at a load of diseased or twisted creatures. Think Raistlins failed experiments that he keeps below the Tower of High Sorcery in DL, this link should provide inspiration:

http://www.step.polymtl.ca/~coyote/pict ... ance08.jpg

Alternatively it could be a creature more akin to the blob, mindless and oozy..

I just remembered in Knight of the Black Rose theres a description of the moat at Castle Hunadoara which Gundars son has filled with magical gunk and twisted creatures, that might be useful:

"In turn, a wide moat filled with fetid water circled the walls, its dark surface broken occasionally by a bloated white-skinned corpse or a pale tentacle slithering into the light."
Then into the tunnel form the moat into the Castle
"Cold water swirled above Soths knees, almost reaching Azreals waist. It was coloured by streaks of indigo and yellow, and cerulean form the remanats of discarded potions. Fragments of parchment and half-burned figurines of woood floated against the grates wide bars. Farther up the tunnel, small patches of flame covered the water where two cast-off chemicals had come together.
A large botlle containing a pink, spiderlike creature bumped against Azreals hip. When he picked it the creature rammed itself against the glass trying to get to the dwarf with its long legs and snaking tail. He snarled at the clutching thing, then pushed the bottle out through the grate. The glass bobbed in the moat, then a tentacle wrapped around it pulled it under."

Hope that helps...

[heru]

Any suggestion on the kind of things coming creeping from the dark?

Creatures all twisted and broken are all fine and good, but Markov and Mordenheim have those pretty well covered. Oozes, intelligent plants, and insane (but normal looking) or cannibalistic people tend to work best for me.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Maybe some of these?

[Sylaire]

Am I the only person who immediately thought of Nosos when the Augean Stables were mentioned?

Incidentally, if you're going with the Herculean theme there, consider something in line with the resolution of the original myth. Not necessarily diverting the river, but the point was that the situation had grown so horrifically neglected that no amount of normal human labor would possibly resolve it (consider it this way: cleaning up those stables was considered to be on par with killing a giant lion with pierceproof hide, or a hydra that would grow extra heads when you destroyed those it started with). Thus, whatever the problem is that you ultimately confront the players with, solving it shouldn't boil down to something as easy as killing a few...or a few dozen...monsters, but require the PCs to think outside the box and harness the forces of nature (or unnature, since we're in Ravenloft, after all).

[cure]

Ok, Hazik has his tables and produces abomonations by the wagonload. Those that survive are allowed to fleee into the wildlands to the West. Perhaps a critical denisty of such monsters, with proficent leadership, has been arrived at and the abomonations are mounting not only raids against civilisation, but are moving to overwelm it entirely and wipe it from existence. So Hazlic wants ALL the abmoniations lurking in the badlands wiped out. And if that goes well, the Mulans are next . . .

[Jakob]

Ok, Hazik has his tables and produces abomonations by the wagonload. Those that survive are allowed to fleee into the wildlands to the West. Perhaps a critical denisty of such monsters, with proficent leadership, has been arrived at and the abomonations are mounting not only raids against civilisation, but are moving to overwelm it entirely and wipe it from existence. So Hazlic wants ALL the abmoniations lurking in the badlands wiped out. And if that goes well, the Mulans are next . . .

I'm going to overuse aberrations in the campaign, so I'd rather NOT do it in rishad Domulan's Laboratory here.
One of the aberrations will be a relative of the PCs, transformed by Heleni in the Tables after they failed to kill her and were caught.

As for the "twisted and broken" theme, I felle it fits better in Markovia or Lamordia. I'm looking for aberrations and oozes, here.
I'm thinking about a corrupted ooze that has gained intelligence. At least I'll use the "ooze" entry of the MM... The most underused in my campaigns.

I was going to make good use of corrupted creatures (appeared in recent Dragon magazine, can't recall now the #) and some arcane pollution (from Cityscape). And, of course, I'd like my players to use a bit their head insted of flexing muscles, of course. I'm devising devious plots right now...

[cure]

A wereooze a personal fav.

[Manofevil]

How 'bout some Pokemon?

[Jakob]

How 'bout some Pokemon?

Hmm... I quote your sig.