The Citystates: Statues of Ganimyre

The Statues of Ganimyre

The Statues of Ganimyre are a sight to behold.  Along the Rhane River for  just north of Caelix are the remains of eighty-four statues that rise up some hundred-twenty feet in the air made of white stone.  They are the Emperors of Bael Turath and these are their tombs as well as gigantic ego-machines.  In the days of Bael Turath, these statues were painted by the masses of slaves that used by the tieflings.  Now out of the hundred statues, only twenty-three remain standing.  There is something about the stone or the enchantments placed on it, but the thirty-seven seem untouched by the ravages of time.  Even the statues have fallen or destroyed look pristine having been toppled due to wars, undermined or pulled down for the stone and to look for the treasures that are rumored to be buried deep inside the chest.   Ancient legends say that some or all of them  are humungous golems that were under control of the Emperor.

Caelix would like to have them under their control.  The current Emperor Caelix IX, of the Shadowskulls has just put down a slave rebellion and cleared his ziggurat fortress.  However he is stymied by Ganimyre Twin-Tailed, the Queen of the Medusae.  She was a beautiful tiefling woman, the favored concubine of the Emperor of ancient Bael Turath.  When the Emperor died, as was the custom of the time, she was one of the hundreds who was buried inside.  But she was not ready to die for years before, she begged and pleaded and prayed to Suless, the Whore Goddess, to grant her beauty forever.  For years, she was a beautiful concubine, the envy of many among the court of Emperor.  She found out she was immortal when she awoke in the darkness of tomb for Suless granted her wish.  It was many years she was entrapped in the tomb that she became quite insane for when she was finally free of the tomb by robbers seeking treasures, she turned them,  to stone.  Bael Turath was no more.  She was cast adrift in the ruins of the great city where factions and gangs ruled the land.  She looked up and the statue of the Emperor looming above her.

Over the centuries, she has amassed a loyal following of beasts and men.  She wears a great horned mask so enchanted as to let walk among her people without petrifying them and has enchanted other masks so other medusae can follow her.  Seven other medusae follow her and each of them have a particular mask.  A saber-toothed cat, a blood hawk, a human girl, a snow lion, an octopus, a serpent and a dragon.  Each of the masks denotes something about the medusae who wears it. 

Caelix has been stymied by Ganimyre.  She in her insanity thinks that even though Caelix is trying to bring back the glory of Bael Turath, the line she figures ended with her Emperor.  Caelix IX has no claim on the glories of ancient days, a mere pretender to the Black Onyx Throne.

Sebastien Cirrus

GANIMYRE TWIN-TAILED, the Queen of the Medusae

Medium monstrosity, lawful evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)

Hit Points 178 (21d8 +84)

Speed 30ft.

STR 10 (+0)  DEX 15 (+2)  CON 19 (+4)  INT 12 (+1)  WIS 13 (+1)  CHA 20 (+5)

Skills Deception +9, Insight +5, Perception +5, Stealth +6

Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 15

Languages Common

Challenge 9 (5000 XP)

Petrifying Gaze. When a creature that can see the medusa's eyes starts its turn within 30 feet of the medusa, the medusa can force it to make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw if the medusa isn't incapacitated and can see the creature.  If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is instantly petrified. Otherwise, a creature that fails the save begins to turn to stone and is restrained. The restrained creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, becoming petrified on a failure or ending the effect on a success. The petrification lasts until the creature is freed by the greater restoration spell or other magic.

Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can't see the medusa until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the medusa in the meantime, it must immediately make the save.

If the medusa sees itself reflected on a polished surface within 30 feet of it and in an area of bright light, the medusa is, due to its curse, affected by its own gaze.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The medusa makes either three melee attacks one with its snake hair and two with her tail stingers.

Snake Hair. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft ., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6)

poison damage.

Tail Stinger.  Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., on creature.  Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damages plus 21 (6d6) poison damage.

LEGENDARY ACTIONS

Ganimyre can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn . Ganimyre regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

• Attack.  Ganimyre can make one attack with either her Snake Hair or Tail Stinger.
• Animate Statue.  Either she can animate a current statue or create one from the earth and dust around the fight.  She can animate a statue with 30 feet of herself and it can make a single attack.  +6 to hit a single target within 5 feet for 18 (4d6+4) points of bludgeoning damage.  The statue then then either freezes back into place or crumbles back into a pile of rubble.
• Forced Look (2 actions).  One target within 30 feet of Ganimyre are affected by her petrifying gaze as if they have seen Ganimyre.  If a creature naturally blind, they are not so affected.

LAIR ACTIONS

When fighting inside its lair, the Emperor's Tomb in which she was buried in, Ganimyre can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Ganimyre takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• The statues move or are created from the rubble and dust of other victims to surround a character and prevents the character from moving by either grabbing them or blocking the path.  A target cannot move or be moved for the round.
• She may cast a wall of stone that last for one minute and doesn’t require concentration.
• The area for thirty feet around Ganimyre is littered with rubble form her past victims that make the ground rough terrain for her enemies to move through.

REGIONAL EFFECTS

The region of the Ganimyre's Statues lair is warped by her presence.  With the area of Ganimyre's Statues are the areas along the Rhane River in which the twenty-three remaining statues still stand, roughly a mile from the river and fifteen miles from the Emperor's Tomb in which she was buried. 

• The area of Ganimyre's Statues it seems that all the statues will stare at the party members.
• Mirrors and other reflective surfaces are clouded and scarred, so much so that they cannot be seen in or reflected upon.

The regional effects will remain in play for 1d10 days after Ganimyre's death.

The Citystates: Junkers and the Rubbish Pile

Christopher Clark

The Rubbish Pile is a huge pile of rubbish, trash and refuse that is near Restenford.  Restenford uses this huge junkyard to dispose of their trash as it is several square miles in area with piles of garbage.  There is what used to be a thieves guild, the Junkers there, but they have turned a dirty existence into a profitable one, taking all the garbage that the colony city can spew out, from human waste to whole buildings.

Because of it, the Junkers have grown and they have as many people as a good sized village.  They have taken an old idea from the days of Bael Turath and have gone and captured several otyughs to eat the garbage.  Now they have done something else, as they have been known to dispose of bodies for the local thieves guilds.  They have one queen otyugh, a massive creature who gives birth.  On occasion when she is hungry, the young to not get out in time before she devours them.  But she sits in the middle of the Pile like a giant antlion, devouring anything that the Junkers throw her way.

The Junkers have been around since Nerath fell.  They are as big as a town but still run things like a thieves guild.  The guildmaster is human male named Rigo Carnino.  He has four lieutenants, a Asgorath (tiefling male), Bronhil (dwarf female), Verstane (human male) and his daughter Maraha (half-elf female).  They have countless other people who live and work for them and as such are almost considered a small city in their own right.  They do the hauling trash thing but also protection, kidnapping and they charge exorbitant rates to hide bodies, dispose of bodies and escorting people to and through their lands.  

  

JUNKER

Medium humanoid (any race), any alignment

Armor Class 12 (leather, dex)

Hit Points 11 (2d8 + 2)

Speed 30ft.

STR 12 (+1)  DEX 12 (+1)  CON 13 (+1)  INT 10 (+0)  WIS 10 (+0)  CHA 9 (-1)

Skills Athletics +3

Senses passive Perception 10

Languages any one language (usually Common)

Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

ACTIONS

Club. Melee Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4+1) bludgeoning damage.

This is your average Junker who hauls the trash and hides the bodies.

The Citystates: Hanali

The Citystates, an overview

Lying on the banks of the Rhane River is the remains of the largest city that has ever been seen of the world of Eave.  A massive city the size of current day LA or Tokyo, that covers hundreds of square miles and estimates put it holding over four million people though that number is still contested.  Now a days the whole thing is collectively and commonly known and The Citystates.  Most of the city are overrun with ruins and monsters and is the largest cemetery in known Eave.  The Citystates have been here continually building for millennia.  During the Bael Turath Empire, the tieflings expanded their power and the city expanded to its current size.  Great buildings were erected and massive parks where planned.  The Plains of Marro were one such park, the greatest in all the lands of Eave.  It was after the great war between Turath and Arkhosia that the great city fell to conflict, civil war and saw its eventual downfall.

There are miles upon miles of monster-infested ruins, but that does not mean that people have left, though it makes life a little hard.  Some settlements in the ruins are completely walled off, like Hanali and Caelix.  Life inside the walls are goes on and are good.  Life outside the walls can be quite short, filled with monsters and bandits and worse.  Under the city, a vast cave system that lies miles upon miles runs under The Citystates and goes very deep.  The city was built upon continuously and some archaeological teams have discovered that there are fifteen different cities that lie beneath the streets in certain areas.  Powerful thieves guilds that have claimed great stretches of tunnels and chambers in a maze of trap filled death.

It has been many more millennia since the war and only a dozen cities remain, walled off from the rest of the ruins.  A dozen citystates now claim rulership over the districts that once made up the city.  Slowly, the city is being set to right.

Hanali

Hanali is a large city run by Daecis Half-Elven.  Daecis, also known as the Glass Wizard, is a powerful spellcaster, a cleric of Corellon and warrior of great skill.  He has ruled over Hanali ever since Nerath fell, over a hundred years ago.  He does not look that old even with white hair and goatee that he keeps neatly trimmed.  He has a small Magic Conservatory and over the years has trained many great and powerful spellcasters (examples).  He is a skilled tactician and has ruled over his city and strengthened it to not to be trifled with.  Deacis does has not taken another wife since the death of his first well over a hundred years ago, but that has not stopped him from taking mistresses from time to time.  He has a number of progeny though, though none from his mistresses, all from his wife.  Currently, at home, he is watching some six great-grandchildren  The oldest is Daelia Stormfrost, a 16-year old magical prodigy with the families noted white hair.  Daelia has somewhat of a rebellious streak in her, but is generally a good kid.

Hanali is walled off and continually manned.  The General of the Guard is a half-orc warrior name Gualar Glaivestrike, a huge man, almost seven feet tall who uses a glaive in combat with great skill.  Because he is so large and he has a ill-mannered bearing, many think of Gualar to be a brute, but that is far from the truth as he is glib and very convincing with his incredibly deep voice.  The city is a cosmopolitan city.  All races are welcome within their walls, and as long as they obey the laws of the city.  Besides Gualar, the laws of the city are overseen by the red-robed and staff armed Justicars.  They are a small order of guardsmen of many races, that bring law and order to the people of Hanali.  These minor judges are set up in every quarter of the city and people bring to them their disputes from grievances of merchants to thieves caught by the guard.  Higher offences are taken care of by one of the three High Justicars who handle the big cases such treason and murder.  Mylon Highscale (dragonborn male), Hydee Wiseacre (halfling female) and Jordaan Spree (human male) are the current High Justicars.  The army of Hanali isnt a true army.  Part of the city guard, the army is several Stands (100 men) of beings trained in city fighting and guerilla tactics.  With one Stand divided into Fists (5 men teams, so 20) of specialists that include mages, priests and specialized warriors.  The army usually guards merchant caravans and takes out large gangs of monsters that have taken up residence near Hanali.  Many great heroes of Hanali have come from the many Fists that make up the Specialist Cadre.

People often grow their own food in small gardens that they have, a practice that has gone on to many of the other cities.  Food is one of the many items that the people will have stored and many people in a particular quarters in the city store any extra food in communal storehouses that the Justicars have in their offices.  Merchants can make money growing and bring in food.  The Rhane River splits into three tributaries within the area that Hanali controls.  The northern tributary is known at the Eiker River, and flows out to the Adarac Ocean and the rest of the Shattered Coast.  It is the only tributary that doesn't flow through Restenford, a colony city of the Emaan Empire.  The Empire has a very strong navy and due to a variety of contracts, the Empire doesn't blockade The Eiker.  They have a seriously guarded highway that goes south to The Plains of Marro, where it skirts the dangerous plains and continues south and out of The Citystates.  Hanali controls four Roadside Stations that act as mini strongholds to protect the many travelers that pass through The Citystates.  The largest one crosses the river to the south that splits off the Rhane at the Cathedral of Erathis, The Pretkel River.  Called Griffonstone, it host a large stable of hippogriffs (and a smaller number of actual griffons) that are used to scout the highway through the other three castles as well as all the way back to Hanali.  A full Stand and two Fists of specialists guard Griffonstone at all times.  Ten Fists of the army guard each of the other Roadside Stations. 

Other cities to come

• Jurkenfell is a martial city that lies in the western part of the Citystates.  It is ruled by Hydankol the , a powerful hobgoglin warlord.
• Restenford is a colony city that is claimed by the Emaan Empire.  Restenford was the sight of Nerath's expansion into the area.
• Caelix is a city run by teiflings seeking the greater glories of Bael Turath.  It is run by a cruel and evil Emperor Caelix IV for whom the city is named for. 
• The Grand Cathedral of Erathis lies in the center of The Citystates.  They are very powerful and seek to return The Citystates to their full status.
• Osgath controls the Rhane River in and out if The Citystates to the east.
• Burkan is a poor citystate being ruled by The Islands as a buffer state to combat the growing shadow of Jurkenfell.
• The Islands is a large section of the North River tributary of the Rhane.  A vastly rich citystate.
• The Tower of Zarphan.  A small city ruled by wizard of considerable skill who conjured demons to do his bidding.  Controls the entrance to the North River.
• Nhepru is a city that is controlled by an aberration of great power, the real evil of The Citystates.
• Corduha is a partially sunken city that is ruled by a cabal of sahaugin.
• The Curse, originally known as Highmount is a leper colony.

Notes

• Make the Urban Ranger for the specialist cadre.