Scoundrel adventures
CHAPTER 6
Legendary Sites
Legendary sites, similar to magical locations (a concept introduced in Dungeon Master’s Guide II), are areas with special properties or effects from which a character might gain a significant benefit. Magical locations are areas that have been crafted by mighty magic or imbued with ancient power. They are hard to find and harder to use, and confer their powers but rarely. Legendary sites, in contrast, are places where great works have been wrought and where seemingly impossible deeds have occurred. These locations have a lesser kind of power. A site such as a sandy beach where an explorer stepped for the first time, or a plaza where a long-fallen marvel once towered, pulses with its own renown, if not with true magic. The stories that inspire these places and make them famous lend them reputations that can be shared by those who brush with such a site’s notoriety. Characters who visit these sites of historical import, incredible acts, mystery, and great danger come away changed, not just in the eyes of the public but in their own hearts as well. Such legendary sites need not be unique. Their inspirational effects might develop wherever a spot becomes imbued with a momentous event or spectacular achievement.
Legendary Site Descriptions
The legendary sites described below are presented in the following format.
Name of Legendary Site
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The entry begins with a description of the location. Lore: This portion of the description provides any information available to characters about the location, along with the relevant Knowledge check DCs necessary to acquire it. Bardic knowledge checks can be substituted for any of these checks at the same DCs. Description: This entry offers a physical description of a typical example of such a location and includes more details about the place (including sounds, smells, and tactile sensations) and details of how its effect or special ability looks once activated. Prerequisite: Any prerequisite needed to gain the legendary site’s special ability is detailed here. In addition to meeting this prerequisite, a character must visit the location physically to have any chance of acquiring the special ability it confers. Location Activation: These paragraphs describe the rules for acquiring and using the special ability that the location bestows. Any command words or activities needed to activate the location’s power are also noted here. Recharge: Some legendary sites confer their benefits only at intervals; this section details the time that must pass before the site’s power can be used again. Legendary sites such as those described here often confer their
benefits repeatedly, though certain conditions might apply as described in this entry. Special Ability: This entry describes the special ability conferred and gives the rules for using it. Unless otherwise specified, no creature can gain the benefit of a legendary site’s conferred power more than once. Duration: This section gives the ability’s duration or number of uses. Aura: This line describes the type of magical aura, if any, that surrounds the location. (Legendary sites, including those described here, typically have no magical auras.) Variation: Since legendary sites can arise in multiple places, this entry (if present) suggests similar situations or areas for placing the location. Ability Value: This entry provides the gp value of the conferred ability. Although these abilities can never be bought or sold, they can be substituted for treasure of like value and count toward the benefiting character’s overall wealth.
Bussengeist Haunt
Tragedy follows calamity, disaster follows catastrophe, and a lifetime of death leads to an afterlife of mourning. Or, at least, such is the way of the bussengeist haunt. Spawning wherever some foul action or gross inaction leads to a catastrophe of life-shattering proportions, these dim towers, fallen gatehouses, broken dams, and similarly gloomy locales are infused with an almost palpable regret, a weight that saps all levity and dampens the soul. Yet despite such a place’s ill nature, those bearing a lesser burden of misfortune might cast their weight away in such a place, like tears into a lake. Often neglected and abandoned to its own unnatural gloom, a bussengeist haunt might appear anywhere that has fallen under the shadow of tragedy. The specific locale described below is just one example. Lore: Characters with ranks in Knowledge (history) or Knowledge (religion) can research a bussengeist haunt to learn more about it. When a character succeeds on a skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs. DC 10: Decades ago a great misfortune occurred at Nereid Dam, causing the dam to break and wipe out a nearby town. DC 15: Nereid Dam now lies in ruins, a crumbling watchtower on one shore being the only evidence that it ever stood. This tower is rumored to be haunted. DC 20: A cruel black dragon shattered Nereid Dam. Supposedly a guard saw the monster as it approached, but rather then alerting the defending garrison, he attempted to flee. He died with the rest. DC 25: Some places resound with the gravity of the actions that occurred there. A bussengeist haunt is such a place, infused with the results of a tragic action or inaction. Bussengeist haunts often attract mournful ghosts and other regretful or tortured undead.
