Notions of Dread Fort:

1) Nightmares happen in the centrality of your beliefs

2) Knowledge is obtained through the abyss
3) A preface to elsewhere seeks to cast your eye peripherally
4) Ordeals, exorcisms are movements of painful encouragement
5) Night of inconveniences is the apprenticeship of delights
6) Song of Death is the great unsearchable poem

In the Land of Magic,

1) Darkness Moves
2) Stillness is a questionable objective
3) Voices cascade through the night
4) Passion is found between center and absence

There Below,
1) Dragons weep tears of mercury
2) Doppelgangers of intimacy follow echoing strides
3) Shadows radiate glittering ice
4) Demons of lore proliferate in the vision’s disruption
5) Apparitions appear always unfinished
6) Walkers of Sleep foretell the rime of the morrow

Elsewhere
1) Silence and Exhaustion are the one indisputable reality
2) Everything stops in a dissolving fog
3) Attempting to wake is the true nightmare

Dread Fort
4) The company of monsters is but an idea
5) Peaceful men sing songs of death
6) Peaceful women sing songs of growth

Songs of Death and Growth In the Land of Magic looms a mountain

1) Come to me from the furthest fog
2) My darling is a dragon without serenity fort exhumed from the black soul of
3) The forest is black with shadow
4) The valley is my darling the first Dream Knight
5) Heroes dwell in villages mad
6) Care for me, oh love, oh vision
Art & text by Perplexing Ruins

Inspired by and occasionally borrowed from Henri Michaux

 Fcobble
used with the dark earth and pine forest of the Onyxian Hills, the ever winding
streets and narrow alleyways of the Forgotten Town rise through mists
and strange sounds to the very gate of the citadel. Abandoned over a century ago,
the Dread Fort is only visited by the desperate, the intrepid, and the exiled. The
many tall half-timbered homes may contain any number of discarded mundane
items, treasure, or threatening denizens. Home to the half corporeal Dream
Knight and his contingent of remaining knights (Dread Skulkers), it is a place of
rot, decadence, fear, and oppression.
Leading to the Dread Fort
Six street levels gradually bring the party
closer to the Fort itself
Streets of
1 flagstones covered in moving lichen
2 cobblestones stained with dried blood
3 black mold visibly releasing spores
4 rusting and splintered shields
5 glowing ferns and vines, boulders
6 dust, millions of beetle carapaces
Sounds of
1 a full choir performing ancient hymns
2 a whimpering wounded dog
3 vibrations of chattering teeth
4 repetitive screech of a giant owl
5 clanging bells and laughter
6 nothing, PCs are temporarily deaf
Courtyard & Alley Encounters
(each entry corresponds to street level)
L1 Reflecting pool, drowned knight,
perfectly preserved; wearing full
ornate armor; attacks if disturbed.
L2 Marble statue covered in patches of
fur, touching the fur will cause the
statue to animate and step forward,
revealing a spiral staircase to a
chamber below; find opened
sarcophagus with 1 Treasure
L3 Cacophonous ravens emerge from bell
tower and harass party (consuming 1
will replenish 1 HP; consuming more
than 1 at a time will permanently
reduce HP by 1); find d6 scrolls in a
large nest covered in shit and feathers,
but still legible
L4 Greenhouse with broken glass, full
orange trees visible inside, Fern Slig
nesting with 1 frond wrapped around
each tree
L5 Guard house; inside 3 Dread Skulkers
argue over a phosphorescent lantern
L6 A camp of d12 Exiled Ramblers sit
around a fire, singing an eerie tune,
tossing detritus into the fire; one
brigand sits on a chest with 3
Treasures
2d6 Random Encounters
2 d8 Dread Skulkers eating a centipede
3 d6 Exiled Ramblers harvesting weeds
4 d6 Skulkers searching for treasure
5 camp of d20 Exiled Ramblers praying
6 Giant Centipede attacking d4 Exiles
7 2 Exiles running towards you
8 Ghost tracks the party through walls
9 2 Fern Spig are fighting over territory
10 d4 Centipede(s) devouring a Skulker
11 d6 Skulkers drag living Spig by fronds
12 d6 Ramblers track the party from
within alcoves, whistling and
laughing
Bestiary
Dread Skulker [HD:2; AC:12; HP:4;
DMG: Weapon d6; ML:8]
Exiled Rambler [HD:1; AC:11; HP:5;
DMG:1d4; ML:6]
Fern Spig [HD:3; AC:13; HP:12;
DMG: Frond Slice 2d6; ML: 9]
Ghost [HD:4; AC:14; HP:16; DMG:1;
ML:9]
Giant Centipede [HD:2 AC:14; HP:8;
DMG: Bite 1d6; ML:7]
Dream Knight [HD:5; AC:15; HP:20;
DMG: Two-Handed Sword 1d6 + 3
Dread Fort was not always thus. The
Dream Knight was once a prince of great
prestige, but a coalition of treacherous
landholders and their contingent of
cultists sought to pursue his removal
from power. Their murder of his bride to
be was the catalyst for two years of
bloody and horrific civil war.. After the
Prince claimed victory, he sought the
very occult powers used against him to
ensure he would never leave his enemies
behind. His revenge and wrath
continued beyond the conflict and until
his half-death he removed all rival lines,
burned their lands, and became a living,
decadent plague on the region.
1 Gate stands open to front courtyard,
three Dread Skulkers are playing a
form of tennis with clubs made of long
bones and a ball of a tiny animal skull.
Dread Fort
One of them wears a golden bracelet
worth 100gp.
2 Top of stairs is an empty guard-
house; search inside to find 1 bag
of fine lock-picks and a key 5 6
Well: wailing heard from the bottom;
traitor was tossed there many
years ago; loot corpse to find a
beautiful long sword and a solid gold
necklace with large ruby inset; 4
party can follow stream to the
bottom of hill to escape; 60’ deep
Small storeroom: find 5 loaves stale
bread; a ceramic vessel hides 200 cp
Large storeroom: find Treasure chest
3
with d6: 1-2 (Giant Centipede)
3-6 (1 Treasure)
3 Roll Random Encounters
Imposing statue is corroded with a few
small holes; peek to see glint; smash
hollow statue to find 400sp
Armory: wall covered in rotting 2
tapestries depicting hunt and battle
scenes; find many rusted, broken and
useless weapons (can salvage small
random parts); Wooden Chest: find roll
of clean linen
4 Eerily quiet space; nothing
Banquet Hall: smell of decomposition,
earth, and blood. Giant Fern Sprig has 1
set up a nest; see skeletons
everywhere; loot half-alive Exile to
find 5 gold pieces. Find in opposite
corner chest with 2 Treasures
5 Roll Random Encounters
Heaps of trash, neglected gear; moss
and ferns growing everywhere. Locked
door (key in lower guardhouse)
6 Spike pit (DMG: d4) hidden under
Treasure
large elaborate rug (can see faint wear 1 Infinitely Warm Boots
and holes in center of rug) 2 Pots of fine crimson and black paint
Throne room: Dream Knight sprawled 3 Elixir for ghost/undead speech
on floor; helmet removed; face is
desiccated and pock marked, playing 4 Scroll for portal gate
chess against two elaborately dressed 5 Pouch with magical-rigged dice
Skulkers. They each have silver
necklaces worth 40sp; dirty cups and 6 Book of elaborte decadent poems
food plates everywhere; stench of rot
7 Large pearl that requires polishing
and death; beneath black & blood red
throne find alcove with pile of 200gp, 8 Vial of mercury
400sp, 173cp, 2 rubies, 1 elaborate 9 Five skeins of fine fabric
silver dagger worth 250sp.
If the Dream Knight dies in battle, the 10 Scroll of Random Spectacle
hand(s) holding the two-handed sword
11 Talking candle with portentous
will never let go, even if severed. Only
occult magic can dissipate the grasp. tendencies
12 Cursed Ring of Nightmares