Saturday, March 31, 2012

Sallow Stains (Corruption Trade/Wermspittle)

Sallow Stains form wherever a Loathsome Mass dies and a Wet Spot dries out to leave behind a foul residue. Gritty alchemical salts, fetid drifts of strange dust, even bizarre crystalline formations can be found in the attics, cellars and abandoned properties of the Burned Over District or the deserted sections of the city where the Foragers are reluctant to go and only roving gangs of Feral Children and prowling Jellies know what lurks behind the boarded-over windows of the old shops.
Sallow Stains (D10)
  1. A smallish clump of granular gray-white matter is lodged in the cracks and crevices of the slightly warped floor-boards. If disturbed, it puffs a small cloud of arsenic-laced White Powder into the air, enough to poison a space roughly in a 10' radius.
  2. There is a strange pattern scrawled onto the floor, it looks a lot like a wild series of overlapping chalk-smears. Maybe it is someone's attempt to scratch some diagram or the like into the floor...using the coagulated corruption of a still-writhing Loathsome Mass. The whole thing reeks of unhealthy magics. In fact, there is a large (6HD) Loathsome Mass suspended within the diagram, outside normal time. The victim did not fully succumb to the Vile Transformation, at least not yet, and they are attempting to take control of the process and direct things towards a different outcome. Disturbing the diagram will drop them back into normal time. This thing can still cast a few spells, at least for the next 2d20 minutes...after that, they'll be just another Wet Spot.
  3. The wall shows signs of extensive water damage, but with a dark green tinge to it. The stain grows thicker, more lurid and even begins to curdle off of the surface as it travels down towards the floor. The greenish matter at the base has a thin skin that is easily broken. The inner-stuff is foul-smelling, putty-like and incredibly corrosive to most metals. It does 1d4 damage per minute of contact and can only be removed with a borax solution or extensive scraping (inflicting another 2d4 damage).
  4. A dried pool of iridescent blue pustules has solidified in the middle of the floor. It emits a low grade vibration that causes nausea and disorientation (Save or suffer effects of Confusion). This effect cannot penetrate glass or wax, but it is intensified by the presence of silver in any form. There is about (1d4) pounds of this stuff. It crunches, cracks and chips away with a typical scraper, pry-bar or chisel/blade-edge. However, doing so takes 20 hit points of damage to the stain to break off about a  pound of usable fragments. (Roll Wandering Monster Check for every half-pound collected.)
  5. The off-white streaks of a crude mass of White Powder trails down the ceiling towards the far wall. It appears to have been colonized by a peculiar orange and pink fungus that drips a clear, sweet, syrupy liquid that forms a thin, slippery layer across the entire floor below the stains (Dex Check or fall). The fluid is exceptionally slippery and is harmless for 1d4 minutes, after which time it begins to oxidize exposed flesh, literally causing it to smoke, sizzle and burst into flames. The fluid itself is not flammable. The fluid will retain this effect if removed, as long as it is not exposed to lead or antimony, both of which will render it inert. The oxidization effect will also destroy leather, but it only dissolves wood, cordage or cloth, etc., reducing those sorts of things to jumbled masses of soft fibers that will harden into lumps within 2d4 hours.
  6. All the surfaces of this space are covered in a flaking, noxious coating of phlegm-like material. It is toxic (causes 1d6 damage per minute of breathing-in the dried-flakes). It is a semi-petrified slime-mold that tried to colonize a deposit of White Powder and failed. If properly prepared, it can be used to create a poison that will cause the rampant growth of a fearsome slime-thing that will devour the victim from the inside within 2d4 minutes. The stuff is also explosive and every 10 points of impact damage done to it will require the roll of a D20, any result of a '1' or '20' results in an explosion for 2d4 damage within a 20' radius. The stuff will not burn; it only explodes when jarred abruptly.
  7. Gritty gray powder coats the floor and part way up the walls. It has a tough crust at the edges, but once the center area is broken, it collapses into a swirling mess of lacerating gray dust that will remain in motion for 2d4 hours. Exposure causes 1d4 damage per minute caught within the swirling powder's 20' radius of effect. The powder will settle into the victim's hair, clothing and lungs, where it will slowly feed on their dead cells and grow into a larger mass of gray powder over time.
  8. Black crust of bubbled remnants of a White Powder deposit that someone destroyed with a common low-level fire-spell.
  9. A Galvanic Prod is jammed into the bulbous, burnt central lump of a warped and buckled section of the wall. A fine black ash covers everything. Touching the ash delivers a 1d2 jolt of electrical damage. The Prod holds this stain in-place and keeps it dormant. Removing the Prod will allow the stain to roll back in upon itself and form into a granular black slug-like mass of charcoal-like matter that will spew clouds of blinding ash and strike victims for 1d4 damage as it tries to escape. It leaves a sooty trail behind it.
  10. Thick, green grit clings to the ceiling and upper walls. It is hard, crusty and gives off a metallic scent. If broken, the fragments exude a noxious ammonia sort of smell. It dissolves in water and is highly poisonous, inflicting paralysis and 2d4 damage if ingested (Save for half-damage/duration usually lasts 3d4 minutes). Contact also causes a greenish rash that will persist for 1d4 weeks. The rash will create open sores during the course of a given week that the afflicted fails to make a Save, once it runs its course the victim is marked with green traceries that swirl just beneath their skin and the schlera of their eyes, but they are immune to this substance from that point onward. It might have some anesthetic applications, if someone could refine it and eliminate the rash-effect.

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