DMing Chemistry

  Old Man Death is the colloquial name of an huge and ancient dragon that lives near the eastern side of the mines of Caeledor . While the old beast is quite temperamental, he has been known to on occasion help the locals in exchange for vast amounts of gold and iron. This help comes usually in the form of him sniffing around for new tin deposits (he boasts that his nose can smell all sorts of metals, and judging by the fact that he can tell the grade and purity of metals offered to him without even looking), but he sometimes lets humans use his fire for melting metal. On at least one occasion he even used his gigantic claws to dig around for tin, but that came at such a gigantic price, that no.one has attempted to ask such a thing from him ever again.  Of course dealing with a dragon is never easy, but especially one as old and bad-tempered as Old Man Death. The locals will tell you that even if you bring unimaginable wealth to his doorstep, he's just as likely to eat you th...

 One of the easiest ways to deal with a demon or malevolent spirit is to trap it in an incantation bowl and bury it in the ground. However that is not not the only way evil can get buried underground. Powerful sorcerers can trap various entities in other items (usually statues of the entity in question), or cursed items can get buried deliberately. Sometimes these buried dangers are older than anyone can remember, and indeed some are even said to have been left behind by Those Who Came Before .  Needless to say, this makes mining, sapping, or digging any kind of tunnel or even just a particularly deep ditch potentially quite dangerous, and usually before starting such works, it is customary to perform animal (sometimes even human or other sentient creature) sacrifice, both to seek the help of the more benevolent gods in protecting the diggers from these dangers, but also to the buried things themselves, in order to placate them. The other common way to mitigate these dangers ...

  Incantation bowls are a common magic item sold for relatively cheap in most markets. As the name suggests, they are simple bowls with written incantations on their inner surface. They are used to trap demons  and other spirits by slapping the bowl on top of the creature. Unless there is a large gap between the bowl and the ground, the demon or spirit cannot leave.  Incantation bowls come in different sizes and can be made from various materials, depending on the creature they are meant to trap. Larger entities obviously require larger bowls, though it must be noted that only the entity's original size counts for trapping purposes. Spirits or demons who have shapeshifted into larger sizes will shrink down to their original size when they come into contact with the bowl. Stronger entities require stronger incantations, which require the bowl to be made out of different materials than the standard clay or wooden bowls.  Incantation bowls can be made for general use, ...

 In the far northwest, in the lands of Caeledor, the land overflows with tin. While the frequent storms make it extremely difficult to sail to the island, it is also a very lucrative endeavor, since the tin brought from here can be used to make the highest quality bronze , when combined with an appropriately good grade of copper. A large boatload of the stuff can make a person rich enough to never have to work again in their life, and even just a few ingots can fetch a nice price on the many markets of the southern empires. Of course the locals have begun extensive mining operations, with various kingdoms vying for control of these lucrative mines. As of now king Hebras of Wynnig runs most of them, but with southerner traders coming less and less frequently, he is losing ground to various upstarts, who don't quite know or in some cases care that revenue from the mines just isn't what it was in the days of their fathers and grandfathers. Hebras is looking for allies, but the gr...

  It is said, that on the island of Karsos, in the mountains lives a tribe of Orcs , among whom the most strange custom is observed. Every year, on the night of the first full moon after the spring equinox, a man or woman who has come of age that year is chosen by lots. The young person must come down from the mountains, take off their clothes, and swim to the neighboring island of Niktea. Once there the young Orc is transformed into a wolf, and they must remain on that island for nine years. After the nine years are up, they can swim back to Karsos, and if they haven't attacked anyone during their years as a wolf, they turn back into an Orc, and can rejoin their tribe. Otherwise they remain a wolf forever.  Of course some people are skeptical about this tale, saying that nine years is much too long of a time to be away from home, and asking what kind of idiot would harm someone under these circumstances. But it is worth noting, that the Orcs of Karsos do have many rather larg...

 It is said, that after the Gods made the world, they watched the People grow, and they were content. Until one day, when the People became too numerous, and the noise they made threatened to wake Gar . The Gods knew this was dangerous, so they bid the People to build an ark of metal, while they thought about what could be done. After much deliberation, the Gods decided to take away the Sun and the Moons, and all the stars and planets of the night sky, and to unleash a wave of darkness that shrouded the land, so that if Gar woke, he would think nothing else existed, and would hopefully go back to sleep. Meanwhile the Gods labored to remake the world better than it was, so that Gar would not wake again, even with more People living on the Land. While this was going on, the People were bade to live in the metal ark, without coming out, without looking at the sky, and without eating anything from the outside world. After ninety-nine days and ninety-nine nights, the Gods were finished...