0509 The Pelloryons

Balmy clearings of towering sunflowers and dazzling poppies. Summer reigns year round.

• Terrain: Hilly forest (3), High Wold / Dwelmfurgh
• Lost/encounters: 2-in-6
• Ley line crossing Chell/Ywyr: Arcane spell-casters perceive the curious dual sensation of balmy heat and biting cold. (See p20.) The energies of the Ywyr are siphoned into Chell at this nexus, so visitors feel no additional effects from its presence.
• Within the Ring of Chell (p20): True fairies are afflicted with a spiritual malaise; teleportation and summoning are ineffectual; magic of illusion or charm has a 2-in-6 chance of failure.

Woods of Perpetual Summer

The arcane energies of the nodal known as the Pelloryons, which lies at the centre of this hex, keep the surrounding woods trapped in nigh-perpetual summer.

Distracting drone: Bees buzz here, often and loudly, with a slow, almost hypnotic drone.

The Warding Maze

From the safety of a hidden fastness among the roots of the woods, the Pelloryons’ guardian, the Audrune Cadraigaunt, oversees and maintains a series of wards to confound wanderers and destroy intruders.

Common travellers: Walk about three miles into the hex before realizing they have ended up back at whatever edge they entered from.

Those who seek the Pelloryons: Feel the woods slowly closing in on them, eventually transforming into a twilit, phantasmagoric labyrinth haunted by gibbering spirits and mocking, human-faced trees. Characters must Save Versus Spell. Should all in the party succeed, the labyrinth vanishes; otherwise, the interlopers are attacked by 3 invisible stalkers (per the arcane spell— DPB). The maze evaporates if the stalkers are defeated.

The Pelloryons

Beyond all the wards, in a glade nestled between hills at the hex’s centre, stand the Pelloryons (the “three sisters”). They comprise the most crucial node of the warding ring.

Guardian: Should intruders reach this point, the Audrune Cadraigaunt immediately arrives to dispatch them.

Appearance: The Pelloryons consists of three towering pillars of chalky limestone, approximately 10′ around and 18′ in height. Each is carved with figures representing members of the Triple Compact (p17), as follows.

King stone: Carved on one side to resemble an ancient king and on its reverse to resemble a crone holding a chalice.

Friar stone: Engraved on one side with a gaunt friar holding a flaming Chapes holy symbol, and on the other with a screaming elfin form locked in eternal torment.

Drune stone: Carved in the crude likeness of a Drune’s hood, while on its reverse is the sculpted form of the stag- headed Wood God Howawi (p38).

Inscribed spell: Drunic runes around the stones’ base describe the arcane spell Invisible Stalker. See Ley Lines and Standing Stones, p18 for details on learning this spell.

Touching the stones: The stones’ surfaces are warm and balmy to the touch, while the areas around the figures’ eyes and mouths are unearthly cold.

Destroying the stones: Toppling them by brute force brings about the disastrous consequences detailed under The Ring of Chell, p20.

The Audrune Cadraigaunt

An ancient, hunchbacked Audrune who has guarded the Pelloryons for nigh five centuries, clinging to life by sheer force of purpose. An eye-like flame burns beneath his cowl and bees flit menacingly around him.

Demeanour (Chaotic): Ruthless, joyless, single-minded, gleeful in hunting and destroying those who trespass on his lands. The cruellest of the Drune.

Speech: A sinister rasp, underpinned by the eerie buzzing of insects. Woldish, Old Woldish, Drunic, Liturgic.

Desires: Above all, to maintain the secrecy of the Pelloryons. To wrest the soul of his friend Hemlack (former guardian of Sargstone) from the clutches of Atanuwë (see hex 0904).

Combat stats: Audrune (DMB) with the ability to cast additional spells: Dweomerlight, Polymorph, Dweomer fire, Geas, Word of Doom.

Insect swarm: Cadraigaunt’s symbiotic insect swarm (DMB) of bees and stinging insects can attack foes.

Staff of Mellification: Cadraigaunt wields a gnarled staff oozing with honey. A victim hit must Save Versus Doom (with a +2 bonus) or collapse into an oozing, honey-filled husk. The staff is worth 35,000gp.