The Skeletons Lamia Variant AP

image from ArtBreeder

filed under actual play on 05 Aug 2017
tagged misc and the skeletons

You know I had to make a variant for The Skeletons; I had this vision of a lamia, trapped in a cave, awaiting challengers and petitioners in search of an oracle.

I don’t feel comfortable releasing it until I know it’s okay with the author of the base game, but I’ve asked so we’ll see.

I ran a game for myself and it was just as much fun as the original. Not as bleak and inexorable but still fun, in a different way.

tomb at start
the cave of the moon

Okay, let's try the Lamia variant. I choose Tattered Cloak; my lamia is serpent from the waist down, scaled everywhere else but with just a scattering across the face.

Her scales, skin, and hair are the color of sand, with patches of dark red here and there.

She carries a battle-scarred sword.

I draw my map as before, adding a tunnel and a cave. I mark the edges of the mountain and the desert, too.

The seven niches along the southern wall each hold a knight sworn to the service of the high king; legend says they will rise again to life when he calls for them.

I'll choose a question to ask about the cave since I'm playing solo; I pick the one about fabulous treasure and mark it on the map.

It's a star sapphire as big as two fists; it was buried to keep it safe but now it is forgotten.

The Unsealed Tomb...

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 2 ] 2

Bandits.

I am roused from my slumber in my warm, dark cave by the sound of squabbling. Bandits; they have built a fire at the entrance to my cave and are arguing about who will be the first to enter.

I kill those who come near enough; after the first few, the rest flee. I amuse myself arranging their corpses around the dusty, unused table I find near one wall of the cave, but I am soon sleepy and must dream.

I wonder if I am here justly; some part of me finds this revolting. I decide I must be.

[One Options] fades, laughs

[Choice] laughs

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 2 ] 2

So a memory proves false.

I only have one recovered so there you go.

As I drift to sleep I remember that I was a woman of peace, not murder, and I know that those impulses come from the serpent half.

Time passes.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 2 ] 2

Just a day.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 5 ] 5

A merchant and guards.

I have scarcely dozed off when my slumber is once again interrupted; three men, two armed, the third the leader. They are fleeing a dust storm, and carry sacks of spices and dried foodstuffs. The leader begs the pardon of the corpses at the table before realizing that they are mere corpses.

Their terror amuses me and I suffer them to live, as long as they do not approach the tunnel. They flee as soon as the storm breaks, abandoning one of the sacks.

The scent of spices transports me to a distant time, when I was a mortal and had many lovers in a gilded palace.

[One Options] fades, laughs

[Choice] fades

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 1 ] 1

I can now travel, as long as I don't lose sight of the cave's mouth. It's a desert so that's fairly far. I explore and find an oasis at the base of the slope to my cave.

Time passes...

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 5 ] 5

A year later...

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 3 ] 3

The Time of Dust

Hoplites!

I awaken, uncoiling from the shadows as the stuff of nightmares. The grim-faced soldiers ignore me!

They are intent upon their goal, to march down the tunnel and steal what I am here to guard. I kill all but the leader; he reminds me of one of my lovers, now lost to me.

I leave him alive for a long while, to tell me who might follow and to amuse myself, and to stave off the sleep that must come. He eventually asks my name, and I consider, and remember, and tell him.

[One Options] fades, laughs

[Choice] laughs

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 1 ] 1

... that makes sense; offspring.

The child that results from this dalliance is human; I allow him to take it and flee, on pain of death should either return.

Time passes.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 1 ] 1

Just a month this time, things are moving very slowly.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 5 ] 5

Oooh, an adventuring company!

I murder them all for waking me; one of them, a thief, escapes down the tunnel into the tomb, and I discover that I cannot pass into the tomb proper.

It makes no difference, for there is no other exit. I wait and watch for many days, until the Sleep returns, signalling his death.

... I may merge that with the Lost Travellers and put something else in its place.

My Lamia has yet to do any foretelling.

[One Options] fades, laughs

[Choice] fades

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 1 ] 1

That's already marked, so the next up -- is something I remember a truth or dream?

The memory of my name is thrown into question, as I dream of being both a feared sorceress and a simple peasant girl.

Time passes.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 1 ] 1

Just another another month, ha.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 2 ] 2

A dragon.

It is not long before another guest arrives, this one a serpent as myself but much greater.

My Gift tells me that it knows the key to my curse, and I ask it the price; it demands that I spare the life of one who will come in the future, and in return, it tells me that that one will set me free.

I know it tells the truth, for my serpent half is drawn from its flesh, and it wishes to be whole again -- but it is patient.

Since we're in the final phase, both charts should be rolled on.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 3 ] 3

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 1 ] 1

So that's "my gift of prophecy becomes erratic"; it now can only see outcomes that result in death.

The next unchecked on the other chart is "a rediscovered area of the tomb contains something precious to me".

I spend the time until sleep comes again pacing the length of the tunnel, wearing a groove with my tail.

As I become drowsy I notice that the ceiling of the small room that separates the two ends of the tunnel has been painted with the portrait of a beautiful woman with an uncompromising stare, holding a serpent in one hand fearlessly.

Time passes.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 5 ] 5

An age passes!

So that's both charts.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 2 ] 2

A section of the cave crumbles, revealing a small cave system.

Within is the treasury of the one I am guarding, all of the treasures save the most important -- those lie interred with the body.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 4 ] 4

And the carved friezes have lost their paint.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 2 ] 2

A wayward god in search of something.

My sleep is interrupted a blink of an eye later by a youth, beautiful and fearless, who demands that I tell him where the human he has lost has gone.

He is not pleased with my answer, for I may See only those things that belong to death, and I See his love clearly.

I am not afraid, and I remember that once, before I was this, I spoke freely with his kin, and was known for this.

I offer him the star sapphire that hides beneath my sleeping place; it is imbued with my powers and will help him see his path, should he pursue it. His reward is a boon that I may claim when I need it.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 4 ] 4

I find that my scales are shedding, and my skin is smooth beneath, though still serpentine.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 5 ] 5

He tells me a secret before he goes; that the thief I thought dead before my last sleep did not die, but rather escaped, carrying a sword that renders the one who carries it impervious to me.

Time passes.

This is the last sleep, and the last intruder.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 6 ] 6

An epoch...

I'm not sure if "three time on either or both" means six times total or three times total; I'll go with the latter.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 4 ] 4

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 4 ] 4

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 2 ] 2

Thick dust, until we appear to be statues.

A city arises, just within sight of the cave's mouth.

Ephemeral things decay away; metal rusts and tarnishes.

And the final intruder.

Rolling 1d6 1 times.
[ 1 ] 1

A ruler-in-exile, here to claim the tomb's contents as proof of right to rule.

When I awake, I find I am enshrouded in dust, and I am too lethargic to move. A man I recognize instantly as the one the dragon foretold strides confidently through my cave, and the skulls of those I have slain crumble to dust as he passes.

He carries the sword, and wears the sapphire on a chain. I demand to know why he is here, and what business he has in my cave, but it is all a formality, for I can See my death approaching.

His words are bold; he will seize a throne that should be his by right, and that I will not bar his path for he has undergone many trials and his people are counting on him.

And then he hesitates, and asks me a question of his own. He wants to know how he can help me.

I laugh with joy as an act of unforced kindness, the first in my long servitude, ends my curse.

I cannot See what will happen next, but I have hope.

tomb at end
the cave of the moon, an epoch later