FLESH AND IRON

Mankind stumbles on, drunk with suffering, reeling and vomiting but not yet
fallen down. Even in this dying world, small advances are made. Craftwork is the
backbone of civilization, the differentiating point between man and dumb beast,
for while apes can grab sticks and stones for their ends, it takes sapient skill to
craft a tool for a purpose.

So too, in this half-carcass of an earth, tools and craft are yet improved upon,
with what sluggish pace the gaunt smiths and fevered inventors can muster as
entropy seems to close its fist tighter around them. The trip hammer, the black
powder, the secret of steel: such are the small miracles of this time, all of them
almost instantly turned to the goal of killing people.

FLESH AND IRON is an independent production by Ross_Hollander and is not affiliated

with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell. It is published under the MÖRK BORG
Third Party License. MÖRK BORG is copyright Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm
Kartell.
WRETCHED HAMMERER
A mangled body, gray with soot, arms sawed through about halfway up the
forearm and hands replaced with hammer-arms. They are blinded to keep them
docile and hopeless; empty eye sockets gape in their skulls.
HP 5 ARMOR tangled rags n/a MORALE 11
HAMMER BLOW d6, attacks twice
BLIND attacks are DR10 to dodge.

COAL TROLL
Mountainous in size, their broad backs a sea of lash marks. They carry barrels of
coal under each arm, and have an iron plinth screwed into the flesh of their
shoulders for a driver to ride atop.
HP 30 ARMOR scarred flesh -d2 MORALE special*
BARREL DROP hurls one of its brimming coal-barrels, test AGI DR 14 or be
crushed immediately under the huge container.
COLOSSAL FIST d10
DRIVER the yowling taskmaster standing on the plinth implanted in the troll has
6 HP, -d2 ARMOR, and MORALE 9. Kill the taskmaster and the troll will simply
fight indiscriminately, crushing everything until killed. Reduce the troll to 10 HP
or less while the taskmaster is still alive and the driver will count as failing a
morale test, either bringing the troll to heel on a Surrender result or lashing it to
run away on a Flee result.

FURNACE FIEND
The lowliest scum that can be scraped out of Hell, bound inside iron crucibles and
prodded with spears to produce heat for the forges. They are gibbering, spiteful
things that crave the chance to wreak havoc.
HP 10 ARMOR special* MORALE 7
GOUT OF FLAME d3 targets within spitting range, d10
IMPRISONED the fiend counts as having ARMOR -d6 while trapped inside its
furnace but is immobile. Dealing 12 damage total to the fiend while it’s inside the
furnace breaks the furnace, setting the fiend free. It has zero armor in this form
but can also fly.

SOOTWAIF
Children stolen or bought and put to work in the foundries. The smaller the
better for accessing small places and dealing with delicate parts. They try to ‘fix’
everything, even people, carving and jimmying at the flesh with their tools.
HP 3 ARMOR filthy rags n/a MORALE 6
JABBING TOOLS d3
ALLOY DEMON
A sapient, malevolent, infernal inspiration. It seeks out the most fevered
perfectionists among artisans and forces them to construct its physical form so it
may emerge into the world and wreak havoc.
HP 15 ARMOR body of steel -d6 MORALE 10
BLADED TALONS d8, attacks twice
STEEL WINGS it can fly
CONDUCTIVE double all damage it takes from lightning
UNHOLY rusts if holy water is spilled on it; takes d4 damage, ignoring armor, and
gets a cumulative -1 on damage for every time it’s spilled on.

GORE SMELTER
Maniac cultists of an ancient demon, capable of pounding viscera and flesh
harvested from living victims into horrific abominations of the underworld. They
aspire to stockpile enough flesh to craft a hell-god who will reforge the world.
HP 8 ARMOR smeltflesh armor -d3 MORALE 7
SMITH’S HAMMER d6
REFORGE can kill a living, non-demon ally and spend a turn to reform them into:
● HEAVY ARMOR -d6, the smelter becomes DR10 to hit.
● SMELTFLESH BLADE d10
● PATCHWORK REPAIRS regains d6 HP.

GORE SMELTER EIDOLON

The smelters gather hundreds of sacrifices, bound weeping and screaming in
chains as they are carved apart. The hot flesh is heaped up on the altar, pounded
from every side by the crazed smiths until it gains a life of its own…
HP 30 ARMOR smeltflesh body -d6 MORALE 13
CLAW d10, test TOU DR 10 or it rips a part of your body off with it and the
eidolon gains d3 HP
VISCERA SPEW hucks high-velocity lumps of loathsome meat at d4 targets within
a spear’s throw, d8
BLASPHEMOUS crosses melt to slag and holy armor and weapons rust in its
presence and Powers are DR16 to use against it.
ABSORB sucks in a smelter cultist and regains d8 HP.

POWDER FREAK
Addicted to the shock and spectacle of explosives and firearms. It makes them
feel powerful. Feel like there’s something they can control or exert their will with
in this dying, spiraling carcass of a world.
HP 6 ARMOR scorched coat n/a MORALE 9
HANDGONNE deafeningly loud, d6, ignores tier 2 or less armor.
 DEMOLITIONIST-INQUISITOR
They preach a doctrine that only absolute
obliteration at the hands of their consecrated
explosives can truly expunge the wickedness
that wracks this world. Their sermons are
reinforced by their miraculous acts of
transforming the sinful into a loud bang and
thin mist.
HP 10 ARMOR blast padding -d3 MORALE 10
INQUISITORIAL STAFF d3
HOLY HAND GRENADE takes 1 turn to burn
down, then explodes to deal d10 damage to
everyone within 6m.
EXPLOSIVE if set on fire in any way, there is a
1 in 6 chance, cumulative +1 per round they’re
burning, that they blow up (d10 to everyone
within spitting distance).

RUST MONSTER
Folklore calls them the reincarnated spirits of primitive tribesfolk, returned to
wreak vengeance on the iron-wielders who slew their people. Like cockroaches
the size of a goat, with corrosive, whiplike antennae. They seek metal to devour.
HP 8 ARMOR tough carapace -d2 MORALE 8
CORROSIVE BITE d4, always reduces metal armor’s tier by 1 on a hit. At tier 0
it’s reduced to useless, blistered scrap.
ACIDIC SPORES hitting it with a metal weapon reduces that weapon’s damage die
by 1 size, to a minimum of d2. Wipe down the monster’s antennae with a rag and
leave the cloth in a bottle of aqua vitae and you will have a vial of acid.

BLAST WITCH
Occultists serving demons of destruction, ecstatic for the world’s end, which they
believe will involve it exploding. They let shrapnel stud their bodies from the
blasts and rejoice in the heady reek of powder.
HP 7 ARMOR embedded debris -d2 MORALE 7
RAMROD d3
BLAST SLING they shoot tiny bombs, d6 and deafeningly loud
GIRDLE OF DETONATION they wear jury-rigged aparati that detonate at the
push of a plunger. 2d8 to everything within 6m. Setting them on fire will set off
the vests.
SMOG WRAITH
Choking smoke from the foundry stacks finds its way into nurseries, strangles
babes in their mother’s arms. When it steals such a soul it keeps it for itself,
becoming more sentient, more corporeal, more malignant.
HP 10 ARMOR semi-corporeal -d6 MORALE 8
SMOTHER test TOU instead of AGI to dodge, d8 ignoring armor
AIRBORNE FORM can slip through any gap as large as a keyhole. However, it can
be dispersed in high winds, during which it will hide in its home chimney or try to
get inside. It’s DR 16 to hit.

SUMP SERPENT
Decrepit and poisoned from the factory runoff tainting its water to a vile sludge,
they still remain huge masses of sinuous, predatory muscle. They only grow more
reckless as the agony of their contaminated flesh increases.
HP 30 ARMOR peeling scales -d4 MORALE 10
CRUSHING BITE 2d10, test AGI DR 14 or it devours you whole (lethal).
THRASHING throws its colossal bulk against a target in a brutal sidewind, d10
FRENZY at HP 15 or less, if it hasn’t failed a Morale test yet, it starts making one
Thrashing and one Crushing Bite attack each turn.
WATER BREATHER suffocates in a quarter-hour if it can’t submerge itself.

SIEGE CULTIST
Some armies have been camped outside crumbling
fortresses and bleak cities for so long that The Victory
becomes a kind of messiah. They follow orders of
generals long dead and kill for a war from a past age,
hoping for its arrival.
HP 6 ARMOR dented cuirass -d3 MORALE 9
PIKE d6, long reach- they get to attack you for free if
you try to charge them from the front but it’s DR-4 to
avoid their attacks if you get within knife range.

SIEGE CULTIST GENERAL

Clad in tattered officer’s finery or rusted armor, proclaiming they receive messages from
kings who rot in their mausoleums, sketching out holy stratagems for the howling fanatics
who follow them- always promising The Victory.
HP 12 ARMOR battered finery -d4 MORALE n/a, unbreakable
COMMANDER’S RAPIER d6
AIR OF AUTHORITY siege cultists who can see the general can’t fail Morale tests.
COMMANDER’S CALL issues orders and large amounts of spittle in a frenzied tirade. Can
either command a focus fire (one target it chooses has +2DR to dodge attacks from the
cultists until the general dies) or a staunch defense (all siege cultists are +2DR harder to
hit until the general dies).
 ARSENAL OF THE END TIMES
● Hangonne. Tube on a stick, descendant of ancient fire lances. Stuff in the
powder, then the ball, then touch it off and it goes bang. D6, ignores armor
of -d4 or less, rock throw range. 55s.
● Blunderbuss. Stick which is a tube. Stuff in the powder, then just about
anything, add the smoldering rope and it goes boom. d10, spear’s throw
range. 60s.
● Arquebus. Probably the last innovation in the field of firearms that will get
made before this world crumbles. d8, ignores armor of -d4 or less,
slingshot’s range, 70s.
● Blast Arrows/Blast Bolts. A crude kind of missile, hollow arrowhead with a
priming charge in the small bulbous tip and a larger payload in the body of
the arrowhead. Explodes on impact, theoretically (1 in 7 chance it doesn’t).
d10 damage. 15s each.
● Cartridges. 20s for a box. Shot and powder wrapped in paper, old rags, or
whatever the gunsmiths could get their hands on. After each fight you fire a
firearm in, roll a d6. On a 4+ you’ve still got some left; lower than that,
you’re in need of more.
● Silver Bullet Cartridges. 50s for a box. +1 damage against the undead and
unholy. Kill other things just fine too.
● Pike. The favored weapon of the last, ragged armies, marauders in tatters
plungering for food and wine. d6, has a long reach- free attack against
anyone charging you from the front but +4DR to hit people who are within
knife-range from you. 30s.
When you were young and eager and one mouth too many for your parents to
feed, they shipped you off to the guild, there to learn a trade and earn
your own keep. Others went on to be journeymen and even masters; you
remained a lowly apprentice, too oafish to advance. And there you
remained, until by shame or despair you decided the guild was no longer
the place for you, and that you’d try making your way in the world outside.

BOON: HAMMER AND TONGS your whole trade is in pounding one heavy slab of
metal with another. You roll Strength as 3d6+2.

BURDEN: INDELICATE you work with all the grace and precision of a falling anvil.
You roll Agility as 3d6-2.

HP: IRON-HARD years of grueling manual labor and sucking in soot-tainted air
have gnarled your body into toughness. You have d8+TOU HP.

OMENS: FATE REFORGED when you’ve had the most dire need of your skills
they’ve always come through just by a hair. You have d3 OMENS.

BELT: PACKING STEEL you’ve no lack of fine metalwork to brandish. You roll a d3
on the Armor table and a d8 on the Weapons table. You have 2d4x10s.

AS IGNORANT DOES. What horrendous habits held you back in the hierarchy?
1. Despite being in a swordsmith’s guild you spent most of your time shaping
ornate filigree or metallic flowers.
2. You would spend all your supply allowances on cheap rum and companions,
then try to hammer the assigned item out of random scrap.
3. You adhered to the philosophy of ‘work smarter, not harder’, which you
interpreted as ‘construct increasingly ludicrous labor-saving devices
instead of actually learning how to do any of the work yourself’.
4. Ruthless embezzlement of your supply allowances and guild materials to
line your own pockets eventually caught up with you when it emerged that
with all your racketeering you’d never bothered to actually learn the craft.
5. You drank the nights away and were forever too hungover to actually pay
attention to the lessons your instructors vainly attempted to give you.
6. Endless, lecherous flirting with clients and their spouses always took
precedence over actually doing any of the work you were given.
Tools of the Trade
1. BLOODIED HAMMER. Crushed the skull of the guild master artisan who rejected
your thousandth craft. To this day seems to bear a grudge against anything of fine
quality or workmanship. Deals d6 damage but d8 against armored enemies, and on
a crit it shatters 2 tiers’ worth of armor.
2. ARTISAN’S JOURNAL. Stolen in disgrace off the nightstand of a genius colleague
when you seduced them into a one-night stand in their grimy guild bunk. Contains
a great deal of knowledge, little of which you actually turned out capable of
fathoming. Spend 10 minutes reading and comparing to grasp the nature, trigger
and effects of one mechanism or trap. You can dismantle the thing with a further
10 minutes’ work, and simple tools, testing AGI DR 14 or setting it off in the
process.
3. BIZARRE CONTRAPTION. One of your many attempts at a revolutionary craft, built
in a drunken, fevered blur. You aren’t even sure what it does. Wind it up for 1
minute and it will (d4, rolled after you decide to use it):
a. 1. Throws razor-sharp shrapnel at everything within line of sight, d6.
b. 2. Fastens onto whoever you throw it at or whoever’s closest, becoming
equivalent to a shield (including being able to be broken to stop an attack)
except it doesn’t need a free hand to use.
c. 3. Causes an unholy racket that could wake the dead from the plague pits,
everyone does everything at DR+2 for one round if they aren’t deaf or
wearing earplugs.
d. 4. Turns into a strange, whirring weapon whose blades spin crazily for 1
minute. It deals d8 damage, shredding straight through armor, no damage
reduction. Once that minute is up it reverts to regular form.
4. OCCULT APPARATUS. The results of a half-wit apprentice (you) fuddling around
with alchemist’s wonder-metals and crumpled old diagrams from deranged smiths.
For the next 6 rounds, any power used within 66m of the device will have its power
doubled (multiply targets, damage, duration, etc. by 2, where applicable).
5. COMMISSIONED BLADE. Meant to have been the sovereign’s blade of a kingdom
that plague and ruin obliterated days after you finished it. It sat rusting in the
storehouse after you’d poured endless sleepless nights and the most precious
materials into its construction, and no money was coming from the dead land in
recompense. Fine craft quality makes it re-roll fumbles but the weight of useless
ornamentation makes it re-roll crits too, d6+1.
6. BUCKET OF SCRAP. The odds and ends of half-baked ideas and unfinished projects
that you tote around in a battered pail. You can rummage through it to find a
suitable shard of scrap to substitute for lockpicks, strike sparks to a fire, file out of
rope or manacles, or throw at stuff on a DR 11 PRE check. (On a failure you spill
the thing, making a horrible racket audible for 66m around).