This blog entry picks right up from Integrating Adventurer Conqueror King System II (ACKS II) with the legendary, chaotic, and maximum-gonzo DNA of Dave Hargrave's Arduin Grimoires - The Deodanth & The Phraint
Settlement Overview: Obelisk-on-the-Moor
Classification: Borderlands Frontier Town & Planar Trading Post
Market Class (ACKS II): Class VI Market (Small Settlement / Frontier Post)
Demographics: ~600 surface residents (mostly human frontiersmen, loggers, and outlaws); ~150 sub-surface residents (Phraints, Deodanths, and planar anomalies).
Built around the colossal, half-buried arm of a shattered, metallic-blue titan (the "Obelisk"), this settlement is the final stop before civilization ends and the chaotic Wilds begin. To the surface world, it is a hardscrabble frontier town of log cabins and mud. Beneath the floorboards, it is a subterranean bazaar where multi-dimensional reality leaks through ancient, basalt barrows.
[ THE MOORS / WILDERNESS ]
|
===================[ WOODEN PALISADE ]===================
| |
| [THE RAMSHACKLE] |
| Surface Cabins, Mud, Fur Traders, Loggers |
| |
| [THE IRON AXE TAVERN] |
| (Surface Drink / Secret Cellar Trapdoor) |
| | |
| v |
============= [TITAN'S SEAM (CRACK)] ====================
| |
v (Vertical Chimney Shafts) |
| |
| [THE CHITIN VAULTS] |
| Sub-surface Enclave, Hexagonal Basalt Cells |
| - Phraint Nest-Pods (Vertical Access Only) |
| - The Twilight Bazaar (Deodanth Reality-Shops) |
| |
=========================================================1. The Surface Layer: "The Ramshackle" (Barrows & Borderlands Style)
The surface of Obelisk-on-the-Moor is pure gritty, resource-scarce survival. It is damp, paranoid, and fortified against the terrors of the mist.
The Vibe: Thick log palisades, smoky peat fires, and an underlying dread of the surrounding barrows. People here count their torches, salt their beef, and lock their doors at sundown.
Key Location – The Iron Axe Tavern: Run by a scarred veteran named Barnaby. The ale is sour, and the patrons are suspicious of outsiders. However, the large stone hearth in the back hides a heavy iron door leading down into the foundations of the titan's arm—the gateway to the sub-surface world.
The Law: Enforced by a rotating "Moor-Watch" of local volunteers. They care nothing for cosmic politics; their only goal is ensuring the horrors from the wilds don't burn the wall down.
2. The Sub-Surface Layer: "The Chitin Vaults" (Arduin Enclave)
Dropping down through the vertical fissures of the Titan’s Seam reveals a completely different world. The cold, wet mud gives way to geometric, purple-tinted basalt corridors and zero-gravity vertical shafts.
The Vibe: Flickering, bio-luminescent fungi cast strange shadows over sleek, multi-faceted architecture. The air smells of ozone, dried musk, and copper.
The Phraint Nest-Pods: Positioned along the upper sheer walls of the main chasm. There are no stairs or ladders here—only a series of smooth, hexagonal stone shelves spaced exactly 15 feet apart. Human visitors must use ropes and pulleys, but to the resident Phraint Vanguards, it is a highly defensible highway navigated by effortless leaping.
The Twilight Bazaar: A subterranean market square controlled by a cabal of Deodanths. The architecture here feels slightly out of focus, a side-effect of the time-slip energies bleeding from their shops. Here, cloaked time-cats trade obsidian blades, preserved alien organs, and rare tech-flux components harvested from the deep barrows.
3. The Local Economy: ACKS II Market Mechanics
Despite its weirdness, Obelisk-on-the-Moor obeys the rigorous financial laws of ACKS II. Because it is a Class VI Market, it has specific economic constraints that define how characters must operate:
Market Boundaries
Monthly Trade Volume: Max 5,000 gold pieces (worth of silver equivalent).
Item Availability: Only common mundane gear, basic provisions, and low-tier weapons are available on the surface. True plate armor or masterwork steel cannot be purchased here—the local smiths lack the metallurgical infrastructure.
The Black Market Modifier (The Arduin Surge)
While standard medieval goods are scarce, the presence of the sub-surface enclave grants the town a unique custom trait: The Planar Leak.
Characters can locate specialized, high-tier magical components, tech-relics, or exotic services (like Phraint-bolt reinforcing for armor) that usually require a Class I Metropolis.
However, because it is an illegal, unregulated market, all Arduin-tier goods purchased here carry a 30% markup over standard ACKS II creation costs, reflecting the immense danger of smuggling items up from the Vaults.
4. Faction Interaction (B&B Reaction Loop)
Navigating the social friction between the two layers requires careful tracking of B&B Faction Reactions:
The Surface Humans: View the sub-surface enclave as a necessary evil. The Phraints keep the local goblin tribes from overrunning the valley, and the Deodanths bring weird, high-value silver coin into the local economy.
The Phraints: View the surface town with cold, hive-mind utility. It acts as a biological buffer zone against the chaos of the outer moors. They will not lift a finger to save a human civilian unless it fits their long-term tactical calculation.
The Deodanths: Treat the entire settlement as a hilarious, tragic petri dish. They actively enjoy baiting human adventurers into taking high-risk contracts to clear nearby barrows, knowing most will never return.
Hook for the PCs
Barnaby at the Iron Axe is looking for a crew willing to descend into the Chitin Vaults to deliver a shipment of salted pork to the Phraint Hive-Sentry. The Phraints pay in raw silver bullion recovered from a nearby barrow—but a local gang of Deodanth outcasts is planning an ambush in the twilight corridors to steal the metal before it hits the surface economy.
The Obelisk Moors are a bruised landscape of peat bogs, low-hanging mist, and ancient, crumbling stone barrows. Because of the planar leakage beneath the town, the local ecosystem is deeply warped. Standard, decaying restless dead share the fog with multi-dimensional, predatory anomalies.
This d20 encounter table uses the time-and-hazard architecture of Barrows & Borderlands, tracking the immediate danger, the mechanical strain on resources (torches/rations), and the lethal combat variables of ACKS II/Arduin.
The Obelisk Moors: Wilderness Encounter Table (d20)
| d20 Roll | Encounter Type | Description & Mechanical Complications |
| 1–3 | The Damp Mist | No immediate combat. A thick, supernatural fog rolls in. Heavy moisture ruins $1d4$ days of standard iron rations per party member. For the next 3 wilderness turns, mapping is impossible and the chance of becoming lost increases by 30%. |
| 4–6 | $2d6$ Barrow Skeletons | Standard restless dead clad in rusted, Celtic-style bronze armor. They carry heavy iron shortswords. Mechanically straightforward, but their rusted blades inflict lockjaw (tetanus) on an ACKS II Mortal Wounds roll. |
| 7–8 | $1d4$ Wight-Conquerors | Wight-tier undead that retain their tactical memories from life. They actively use B&B flanking and ambush rules. A hit inflicts an immediate Energy Drain (lose 1 level), which directly downgrades the character’s ACKS II Fighting Value. |
| 9–10 | $1d3$ Ghoul Pack | Filthy, weeping humanoids burrowing out of a peat bog. Their claws cause paralysis (Fighter Save vs. Paralysis applies). If a character is paralyzed, the ghouls will attempt to drag them underground on the next round rather than staying to fight. |
| 11–12 | The Ghost-Flux | A localized temporal distortion appears as a floating, weeping spectral figure. Any character who approaches within 30 feet must save vs. Spells. Failure: They are aged $1d10$ years instantly, shifting their physical attributes on the ACKS II age tables. |
| 13–14 | $1d2$ Rogue Deodanth Exiles | Cruel time-cats hunting for sport. They hide in the heather (requires a specialized B&B Scout roll to spot). They utilize their Time-Slip ability to ambush the party’s rear ranks, targeting spellcasters with poisoned obsidian daggers. |
| 15–16 | Phraint Foraging Star-Vector | A patrol of $1d4+1$ Phraint Drones led by a Vanguard. They are hunting for subterranean macro-fungi. If the PCs contain a Phraint, their reaction roll is highly favorable. Otherwise, they demand a "tactical toll" of 50sp per traveler to cross their path. |
| 17 | The Hell-Spid (Arduin Horror) | A single, massive, multi-legged arachnid anomaly with a human-like face that speaks in fragmented telepathic math equations. Its bite injects a volatile psycho-toxin; failing a save vs. Poison causes the PC to attack their allies for $1d6$ rounds. |
| 18 | $1d3$ Void-Wraiths | Terrifying, featureless silhouettes of absolute darkness that bleed into the moor-mist. They are completely immune to non-magical steel. Their touch deals cold damage that completely bypasses physical armor (targets must rely on Dexterity or magical AC). |
| 19 | The Techno-Barrow Leak | The party stumbles into a collapsed barrow where a piece of ancient magi-tech is malfunctioning. A pulse of radiation washes over the party: every character must roll on the Arduin Mutation/Glow Table (or face permanent blindness if using basic ACKS rules). |
| 20 | The Doom-Wight of Hargrave | A unique, ancient warlord wielding a sputtering, ancient energy-blade (counts as a +2 longsword that deals an extra $1d8$ fire damage). It commands a personal guard of 4 Barrow Skeletons and will actively challenge the highest-level Fighter to single combat. |
Running the Encounters: Systems Integration
1. The Survival Friction (B&B)
Encounters 1–3 (The Damp Mist) show why Barrows & Borderlands is critical here. It turns the environment itself into an adversary. Ruining rations forces players to make hard choices: do they head back to the safety of Obelisk-on-the-Moor and lose their exploration momentum, or do they push forward hungry, risking exhaustion penalties to hit-points and saving throws?
2. The Tactical Lethality (ACKS II & Arduin)
If you roll a 13–14 (Deodanth Exiles) or a 20 (The Doom-Wight), the combat should immediately shift gears into high-tactical dread:
Use the Deodanth's Backstab rules from our previous design: if they surprise the party from the mist, their first strike hits with a +4 bonus and deals double damage.
If a PC takes a critical hit from the Doom-Wight’s energy blade, roll on the Arduin Critical Table. A result like "arm severed by plasma" instantly translates into an ACKS II severe mechanical impairment, forcing the party to immediately abort their trek to seek high-level magical or surgical treatment back at the settlement.
Here is an alternative d20 wilderness encounter table for the Obelisk Moors, focusing on different tactical challenges, environmental hazards, and a distinct mix of classic undead and Arduin anomalies.
This table uses the exploration and resource-tracking pulse of Barrows & Borderlands, backed by the high-lethality combat frameworks of ACKS II and the unhinged weirdness of Arduin.
The Obelisk Moors: Wilderness Encounter Table (Variant B)
| d20 Roll | Encounter Type | Description & Mechanical Complications |
| 1–3 | Sinkhole Peat-Bog | Environmental Hazard. The lead character must make a B&B Hazard Save (or a Reflex save) as the earth gives way. Failure: They sink into quick-mud. Extraction takes 2 wilderness turns, ruins all non-sealed equipment (scrolls, spellbooks), and triggers an immediate wandering monster check. |
| 4–6 | $1d6$ Bloated Drowned | Waterlogged corpses that rise from the miasma. They possess a high natural Armor Class due to rubbery, preserved flesh. When reduced to 0 HP, their bodies rupture, releasing a cloud of toxic gas (Save vs. Poison or suffer $1d6$ rounds of violent choking, losing all actions). |
| 7–8 | The Screaming Cairn | Stationary Haunting. A pile of ancient stones vibrates with a high-pitched, psychic shriek. Every character must save vs. Spells. Failure: The character becomes deafened and disoriented, suffering a -2 penalty to Initiative and a -4 penalty to avoid surprise for the next 24 hours. |
| 9–10 | $1d4$ Shadows of Chaos | Insubstantial, undulating silhouettes that drain physical strength instead of hit points. Each touch drains $1d3$ points of Strength permanently until cured. If a character’s Strength hits 0, they dissolve into a new Shadow. |
| 11–12 | A Phraint War-Caste Outpost | A camouflaged clay redoubt containing $1d6+2$ Phraint Shock Troopers. They are highly disciplined and suspicious. If the PCs cannot communicate in their rigid, mathematical dialect, the Phraints assume they are dynamic biological threats and deploy their Leaping Strikes to eliminate them. |
| 13–14 | $1d3$ Deodanth Flesh-Merchants | A pack of heavily armed time-cats leading a small string of enslaved human frontiersmen. They are willing to trade rare Arduin narcotics or silver-steel weaponry with the party, but if the PCs look weak or low on resources, the Deodanths will attempt to capture them instead. |
| 15–16 | The Chrono-Vortex | A shimmering tear in reality drifts across the moor. If touched, the target is blinked $1d4$ rounds into the past or the future. Mechanically, they are removed from play entirely for that duration, returning with no memory of the missing time but fully conscious of their surroundings. |
| 17 | The Khyre-Beast (Arduin Horror) | A multi-headed, multi-limbed chimeric predator made of fused, chitinous muscle and crystalline teeth. It attacks three times per round and tracks by sensing the heat of burning torches or lanterns; hiding from it requires extinguishing all light sources instantly. |
| 18 | The Silver-Weep Fog | A glittering, metallic mist descends. It deals no harm to humans, but any Deodanth in the party must save vs. Poison every turn or suffer intense burning pain (halving movement and combat values) due to the airborne silver particulate. |
| 19 | The Crashed Sky-Sloop | The skeletal, metal ribcage of an ancient Arduin flying vessel is buried in the peat. It is guarded by $2d4$ radioactive skeletons. If cleared, a search of the wreckage (taking 3 wilderness turns) may yield a highly unstable, uncharged technological relic or power cell. |
| 20 | The Lich-Revenant of Dave’s Grimoire | An ancient, undead sorcerer-lord clad in rusted power-armor (Base AC 6). It retains the ability to cast $1d4$ random low-level Arcane spells, but its primary attack is a rusted, two-handed executioner’s sword that forces an immediate roll on the Arduin Decapitation/Critical Table on any natural 20. |
Mechanics in Motion: Navigating the Hybrid Loop
1. The Resource Squeeze (B&B)
Encounter 1–3 (Sinkhole Peat-Bog) highlights how environmental attrition functions. It doesn't drop a monster on the board; it steals Time and Equipment. In a Barrows & Borderlands campaign framework, losing two wilderness turns means consuming more rations and burning through valuable torches while standing completely still in a high-danger zone.
2. High-Stakes Tactical Grid (ACKS II)
If the party triggers 11–12 (Phraint War-Caste), combat requires absolute precision. Because Phraints scale efficiently using the ACKS II Fighter progression matrix, their Cleave capacity is devastating against low-level retainers or hirelings. If a Phraint Vanguard downs a 1st-level torchbearer, they immediately gain a free swing against the player character standing next to them.
3. The Arduin Twist
Encounters like 18 (The Silver-Weep Fog) showcase the asymmetric design of Arduin elements. It transforms a simple environmental flavor text into a targeted tactical crisis if a player is running a custom Deodanth character, forcing the rest of the party to adapt, defend their incapacitated ally, or burn resources to alter their exploration route.
