The Near Moon

They spend another week at the Pylon Kraal over the Moon River. Hamish is trying to find a new buyer for the biomancy gear and meets Dalani de Bianco, a cartographer who made a fortune and is willing to gamble it all away. Double or nothing on the flip of a coin. Hamish hesitates but Naida convinces him to be reasonable. The get rich either way. Azure spends a week in Post-Satrap 48’s solarium to get rid of her affliction and Saffron studies the sentient furniture of the Kraal to learn more about transitioning souls to bodies - never losing sight of the task to find a new body for mother.

In the shadow of the Near Moon

They follow a trail of decaying bitumen and ash to the strange sphere that looms on the horizon. Underneath the Near Moon towers and skyscrapers grow like mushrooms on the dank bog that had formed in its continual shadow. Azure performs an oracle and sees before her mind’s eye a pyramid of skin stretched over black iron, follows the calcinated arteries to its core where robed figures sacrifice a Quarter-Ling before a mouth-shaped altar. The mouth opens as the Quarter-Ling is bleeding out.

The Spectrum Lodge

When Azure tells of her vision the others are unimpressed about the prospect of killing innocent Quarter-Lings to gain access to the Moon’s core. They visit the Spectrum Lodge a black orb covered with lichen. Hamish gets into an arm wrestling match with Babeffe, a retired wrestler. He loses the game and some cash but is impressed enough by her grit to hire her as a caravan guard. Naida spots the familiar tattoo of a scope – a member of the Legion called Ostens, who wears a full suit of false limbs: Naida doesn’t ask - presumably to not embarrass him. He tells her about missing caravans at Three Sticks Lake and Naida promises to aid him in his quest.

A Ka-Elemental

They make camp after leaving the Near Moon when the towering whirlwind of an enraged Ka-Elemental attacks. While their henchmen drive away with the Auto-wagons, our heroes try to attack it from the flatbed of the Redlander pick-up truck with Vigo behind the wheel. The bone grenades and plasma projectile barely scratch the insubstantial form of the elemental but Hamish leaps and strikes the creature with his fractal blade that connects and branches in uncountable tendrils, solidifying the monster and crashing it in a devastating blow.

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/uroJYtJDchU

Random Caravan Encounter Table

Enjoying all the comfort on the road

This is a random table for encountering caravans on the road or at locations. Roll d6 for type. Optionally roll another d6 for size.

Type: 1 Trading, 2 Religious, 3 Explorers, 4 Foragers, 5 Patrol, 6 Raiders

Size: 1 – 2 small (1- 5), 3 – 4 medium (6 - 20), 5 big (21 - 100), 6 huge (100+) 

Attitude: 1 hostile, 2 unfriendly and cautious, 3 - 4 neutral and indifferent, 5 helpful, 6 ally on the road

1 Trading Caravan

1 Copper Wire Nomads (L3, ancient laser rifles)

Trading Goods: 50 Antlered Horses (€150 each),

Transport: Horned Horses

NPC: Rabbitpaw Saltat (booming)

2 Great Folk (L2, piercings) 

Trading Goods: Bone Work (€200 per sack)

Transport: Bone Autowagon, Sculpted Skeleton Horses

NPC: Orbit Tahd (deliberate)

3 Spectrum Satraps (L4, far-out)

Trading Goods: Crystal eyes (€6,000/sack),

Transport: Great six-footer

NPC: Satrap 33 "Whitemoth" (confused)

4 Z.I.P. Zwaar Ijzer Patronaat: Redlander Dwarves (L5, organized)

Trading Goods: Printing press (€10,000)

Transport: Solid wagon, 4 mechanically enhanced oxen

NPC: Annemieke Oordveld (short breathed)

5 Third-Lings (L5, Veils hide jeweled eyes)

Trading Goods: Vats of psychedelic toads (€5,000), spider silk (€2,000)

Transport: Two-legged burden beasts, Third-lings ride on howdah carrying, extra long-legged Velblod 

NPC: Szczepan Lazar (whispering)

6 Half-Elf Theatre company or orchestra (L3, hollow eyed) 

Trading Goods: n/a (entertainment)

Transport: Tall wagon drawn by Monitor Lizards  

NPC: Conductor Delfina Laguna (monotone), Director Ramón Menorca (lisps)

A  Black City Church Dignitary

2 Religious Caravan

1 Cogflower Procession (L2)

Transport: Palanquin-carrying slaves

Destination: Travelling to the Vicar’s Ear (Gall Grass, p.85)

NPC: Executive Susa Marduk (intense stare)


2 Ascetic Chrome Druid Commune (L3)

Transport: Gargantuan Tortoise

Destination: Following a daily oracle

NPC: Moonface Bilded (ripped)


3 Blue God Cultists (L4)

Transport: On foot / Dragging a giant bust on a sled

Destination: Nexus of Cables (Dark Light Path, p. 113)

NPC: GeeGee Marina (insidious)


4 Radiant Wizard Aurelia Materazzi (L5, prickly)

Transport: Speed Demon

Destination: Cave of the Iron Worm (Ribs of the Father, p. 95)


5 Half-Elven Vile Cultists (L4)

Transport: Two-legged lizards

Destination: Three Sticks soul mill (The Gall Grass, p. 84)

NPC: Paloma Alcantara (silky smile)


6 Black City Priests (L4)

Transport: Ostrich drawn Chariot

Destination: Returning to the Black City with a Vile liver

NPC: Father Ruberg (lofty)

Botanical Exploration

3 Explorers

1 Electro Wizard Giovanni de Udine (L4, exalted)

Transport: Huge Electric Mono-wheel

Destination: Red River (Three Sticks Lake, p. 80)


2 Lime Nomad Astro-Shamans (L3)

Transport: Broken Wicker & Bone Sky Chariot drawn by donkeys

Destination: The Solar Dragon Roads (Terranova, p. 99)

NPC: Rattle Sorbet (bedazzled)


3 Redland Golem Engineers (L3)

Transport: Steam-powered steel autowagon

Destination: Porcelain Citadel

NPC: Henk van de Vliet (touchy-feely)


4 Spectrum Satrap Anthropologists (L4) 

Transport: Clockwork Autowagon shaped like a Disco Ball

Destination: Iridescent Mushroom Hall (Fractal Trees, p. 93)

NPC: Satrap 86 “Feinstoff” (curious)


5 Greenland Aristocratic Vome Hunters (L4)

Transport: Harpoon Mounted War Rig

Destination: Waystone (hunting the Machine Wyrm, p. 42)

NPC: Lady Aurelie de Bourbonne (brusque)


6 Extra-dimensional Armadilloid Structural Linguists (L5)

Transport: Solar powered Felt Autowagon

Destination: recording language samples wherever they go

NPC: Niniks (creative sentence structure)

Electro Wizard Giovanni de Udine on his Mono-Wheel

4 Prospectors

1 Yellowlander Fungus Foragers (L1, diligent)

2 Great Folk Bone Farmers (L2, taciturn)

3 Civilized Porcelain Prospectors (L2, well mannered)

4 Lime Nomad Radiothermal Rod Dowsers (L3, hyperactive)

5 Dwarven Black Goo Drillers (L3, industrious)

6 Ultra-Possessed Karma Dust Collectors (L4, obscure)

In crosshairs

5 Patrol

Attitude: 1 - 2 hostile, 3 - 4 unfriendly and cautious, 5 neutral and indifferent, 6 helpful 

1 Spectrum Satraps (L2)

Transport: Six legged Prismatic Walker w/ Laser Guns

Looking for: Contraband

NPC: Satrap 42  "Fulcrum" (aloof)


2 Porcelain Princes (L3)

Transport: Two legged Security Walker w/ mounted Flamethrower

Looking for: Rebels

NPC: Gilt Lacquer 17-Corpus (nitpicking)


3 Cogflower Inquisition (L3)

Transport: Armored autowagon w/Railgun

Looking for: Ultra-possession

NPC: Witch Hunter General Sabbettai (tired of your bullshit)


4 Great Folk (L3)

Transport: Bone Wagon

Looking for: Trouble-makers

NPC: Fibia Fifte (distrustful)


5 Ashwhite Lime Nomads (L4)

Transport: Wild mono-horn horses

Looking for: Illegal viddy crystals, alcohol

NPC: Searcher Nikdat (austere)


6 Half-Lings (L4)

Transport: Swift Snails

Looking for: Collecting taxes, bribes, food

NPC: Toll Master Jossip (glutinous)

Fierce Raiders

6 Raiders

Attitude: Roll 3d12 on the generic encounter table (UVG p. 151)

1 Translucent Scavengers (L1, luminescent), Lightspear d6

Transport: Crystal floating discs

Intention: Collecting shiny things


2 Cannibal Nomad Connoisseurs (L2, salivating), Butcher knife d6

Transport: Armored antelopes

Intention: Fresh meat


3 Dwarven Motorcycle Centaurs (L3, ), Bolt thrower d6+2

Transport: n/a

Intention: Rob them blind


4 Flickering Void Riders (L4, enigmatic), Antimatter Blade d6+2 (+necrotic)

Transport: Trained Bat-Lions

Intention: Demand a Sacrifice


5 Screaming Phosphor Ghosts (L5, unnerving), Phosphor Touch d6 (+burning)

Transport: n/a

Intention: Revenge on the living


6 Vome-infected Machine Humans (L6, relentless), Wand Gun 2d6+2,

Transport: Faceless metal snakes

Intention: Extinction protocol 

Vome infected Machine Humans

Lurid Pines V: The Magical Testing Site

Hamish collapses the crack in the cave wall from where the cannibal hamsters emerged with a well-placed bone grenade. Down in the ballroom a wave of Ka-Zombies washes over the heroes’ henchmen, killing Eyetooth Ten and Eyetooth Ven – brave but foolish Great Folk bone farmers  - while Katusha drags the critically injured Amberto to safety, luring the Zombies into the line of fire from the Gatling gun.

Saffron sniffs out the last remaining hamster in the ballroom. Grenades are thrown, mirrors are shattered and a precious organ destroyed before their foe is finally slain.

They explore the magical testing site: giant alembics and pipes ooze neon green goo, two hazard protection suits hang from the ceiling, a mysterious machine on wheels sits in the middle of the room. There are two summoning circles one of which has a stone slab at its center, the other – protected by a force field – holds a fractal sword on a pedestal.

Add caption

Saffron and Naida feel weakened and dizzy and climb into the suits. They decide to overcharge the machine to blow up the force field. Saffron grabs the stone slabs that are inscribed with binary code (that executes the program Astral Projection when read) and Hamish snatches the sword.

Back at the Behemoth Shell they bury the dead: The grieving relatives are personally compensated by our Greenland Folk Hero. Naida visits Shiver Urbert who dreamwalks the stories Naida wrote to Mencia, the shock peddler. Saffron studies their cybernetic shell to learn about a safe way to transfer “Mother” to a new body.

They leave the Behemoth Shell. After two uneventful weeks they arrive at the Moon Facing Ford. From the banks of the river they can see for the first time the mysterious Near Moon hanging low over the horizon. Two other caravans wait to cross the river: Tangerine Nomads in bronze masks herding mono-horned horses and monks in robes dragging a covered statue on a sled. Their enigmatic leader GeeGee Marine speaks of the Nexus of Cables, the pilgrim’s destination. In the middle of the Moon River is the Pylon Kraal, a colorful dryland coral Toll-House between two crumbling pylons that once held a bridge. They cross the river and enter the Pylon Kraal.

After a week of talking and dining Hamish seemingly strikes a deal with Post-Satrap 48 but the deal falls through after a party that went out of hand. Hamish has a new friend, though: Satrap 48, a network of interlocking symbiotic eels in a triple-sealed suit of Naples yellow.

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/f6hZdDgKZYM

Lurid Pines IV: Saffron’s Return

Johnny-7 tries to impose himself on Saffron in a battle of will to become dominant in the new emerging personality but when Saffron wakes up in the circuits of the autofac they are almost entirely themselves with only fragments of Johnny-7 still lingering. They search the hard drives for useful information about the autofac’s purpose: The only available blueprint produces cybernetic prairie dogs. Naida suggests to assemble a cybernetic prairie dog in order to transfer Saffon onto its positronic brain.

Saffron's new body

A young sessile fern is trained to clean the outward facing cameras of the factory while the cyberbody is wielded together. It is equipped with a double brain in a transparent dome, laser eyes and extendible limbs. Before Saffron personality is transferred they get a glimpse of a room full of dancing rats and a door reading “Magical Testing Site”.

Sessile Ferns (artist impression)

Saffron is soon welcomed by the other dogs. They broker a mutually beneficial deal between the prairie dogs and the Great Folk of the Behemoth Shell.

They decide to venture deeper into the caves lead by Aphra the smartest of the prairie dogs. In the ballroom down the stairs they are approached by sophisticated rats dressed in feathers and foil. Azure checks out the carved wooden door that supposedly leads to the magical testing site but gets distracted by a Zombie before it is killed by Naida. Saffron returns to the fern cave and spots a hamster trying to jump Aina who operates the Gatling gun. Others emerge from a crack in the tunnel wall. Firing laser and throwing bone grenades they withstand the first wave of the cannibal hamsters but Katusha shouts from downstairs: “They are coming!”

Ominous figures emerging from cracks in the wall

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/XhYiO1NQPZ8