Bo's Blog

I dump thoughts here irregularly. Enjoy!

Optilisks

October 30, 2022

Appearance

A basilisk is a creature that turns you to stone when it looks at you. The optilisk is a cousin of the basilisk, and it is also the opposite of a basilisk.

The optilisk is a man-sized lizard with a whip-like tongue and two eyes that can swivel independently. It is said to be able to walk on two legs, though only when running. This information comes from precious few sources, however, as optilisk sightings are exceedingly rare.

An Optilisk's Gaze

Whereas a basilisk's gaze may turn you to stone, an optilisk may appear to be nonexistant unless it's gaze is trained upon you. The optilisk can only be seen by those it is looking at. Due to the nature of it's eyes, this means that a maximum of two people can observe a single optilisk at a time.

Attitude

Optilisks are shy. They are content to observe what's happening around them, but dislike being observed in turn. Pointing at one almost always invites aggression.

They fight by whipping their tongue at their enemies. They tend to look at and attack the two most interesting things happening around them (someone casting a spell, someone swinging a sword at them, a rock slide, etc.).

The Many Souls of Ozymagrazad the Old

October 19, 2020
edited and reposted October 10, 2022

The Sundering of Ozymagrazad

Ozymagrazad the Old wasn’t the first lich, but he was the first lich who was good at it.

(Digression: He wasn’t the best at it, though. That distinction goes to his pupil, Magnai the Inevitable, who is probably still around.)

But, this isn’t a post about Ozymagrazad’s lichdom. This is a post about the aftermath of his lichdom.

When Addish the Moth thrust the twelfth blessed spear through Ozymagrazad’s body, pinning him to his ruby throne, she triggered his final contingency. In an act of total spite, Ozymagrazad’s soul exploded into 666 pieces (he would have used the word ‘hexahectohexacontakaihexafurcated,’ but he didn’t have time), leaving nothing behind but his mummified corpse, the sacred swords, and the charred bones of Addish and her eleven companions.

The event lead directly to the founding of the Order of Bottle Knights, an organization dedicated to the capture and incarceration of dangerous spirits. In the centuries since, they’ve obtained 257 of Ozymagarazad's souls. They keep them in a cellar deep beneath Ozymagrazad's former lair. Sealed and corked bottles line the shelves of the cellar, harboring the whispering fragments of the lich alongside his priceless collection of still-aging wines.

Communicating in any way with the souls of Ozymagrazad is highly forbidden, punishable via retirement by death. This is a safety measure. At least eight Knight-Wardens and two Knight-Paladins have been retired for breaking this rule.

1d12 Assorted Soul Fragments

1. The Crow Who Called Itself Ozymagrazad – Detained
Ogrymagrazad’s Name was the first of his souls to be captured. It possessed a deceased crow with a broken wing and began to shout things like “OZYMAGRAZAD” and “I AM OZYMAGRAZAD.” The Bottle Knights had it within a week.

2. The Dropped Jar – At Large
Orysh the Butter-Fingered did battle a decade ago with the skeletal host of Ozymagrazad’s Swordsmanship. They fought for three days and nights on the Tall Bridge above of the Bay of Tolm, and in the end, Orysh captured the soul fragment in a jar. The fight finally over, it was all she could do to set the jar down before he collapsed. When he came to, the jar was gone; the wind had gusted it off the bridge, down, down, down to the waters below, and it was taken by the sea. It could be anywhere by now. Orysh searches for it ceaselessly, furious at the wind and intent on earning a better nickname.

3. The Epodic Owl of Jorde – At Large
Ozymagrazad’s Love of Poetry found its way into an owl’s egg. The owl that hatched knows every poem Ozymagrazad ever heard, read, wrote, or spoke. It does not hoot. It recites poetry – much of it lost poetry of a forgotten age. The Order knows of the owl, but cannot catch it, for all who hear its poetry are blinded by tears. By the time they’ve wiped their eyes dry, it is gone.

4. Eyes-Shut – At Large
Eyes-Shut was a student of the Teachings of the Withering Bloom who, as per tradition, mummified herself upon death. Ozymagrazad’s Ruminations on the Nature of Consciousness attached itself to Eyes-Shut’s mummy, who then stopped meditating and formed a splinter sect among the Withering Bloom. This is unprecedented, as Withering Bloom mummies aren’t meant to speak or move until the end of the age. In spite of this, her sect has grown rapidly in popularity in the last two centuries.

5. The Ghast of Port Gont – At Large
The Ghast of Port Gont, also known as the Ghast Who Ate Port Gont, or simply Gont, is Ozymagrazad’s Hunger. It possessed a sickly wolf, which devoured an entire forest before stumbling upon the small city of Port Gont. It then devoured the entire population of Port Gont. Now it is a massive amalgam with a thousand faces and at least as many mouths. Dozens of brave knights and confident adventurers have attempted to capture it, but all have been eaten.

6. Golem the 48th – Detained
Ozymagrazad’s Compassion inhabited the derelict 48th Golem of Syrioc (which, of course, can only be inhabited by a being of Virtue). It acted as the protector of a small fishing village for centuries before it was discovered to be a fragment of the lich. The villagers begged the Bottle Knights not to take it away, but the knights are steadfast in their mission. This is the Order’s most recent acquisition.

7. Grinning Visage’s Heavy Bottle – At Large
The demon whose name is typically translated as “Grinning Visage Reflected in the Blood of Innocents” captured one of Ozymagrazad’s Secrets in a bottle centuries ago. Nobody knows the secret but Grinning Visage, though the Order has known that the Heavy Bottle contains a fragment of Ozymagrazad’s Soul for decades. In fact, everyone has – Grinning Visage is unbearably smug about it. There’s never been a good moment to retrieve the bottle, however, as it is so prized by Grinning Visage that it never leaves the grasp of the demon’s fifth hand.

8. Knight-Paladin Lǫ – At Large
Lǫ willingly accepted Ozymagrazad’s Tendency to Secretly Murder His Rivals into her being in an attempt to take it captive. She believed that she could resist it long enough to make it back to the vaults and martyr herself (for the cause). She was wrong. Now, she assassinates her fellow Bottle Knights in an attempt to climb the ladder. The Order has yet to catch on (she tends to murder the suspicious). She was recently bestowed the title of Knight-Paladin. Her mother cried at the ceremony.

9. The Librarian – At Large
The Librarian is Ozymagrazad’s Lust for Knowledge. It possessed the blackened skull of Addish when the lich exploded, hoping to find some residual knowledge where Addish’s brain used to be. It found nothing. Nowadays it stalks the halls of a dungeon and hoards books that it never reads (it has no eyes), forcing kidnapped literate people to endlessly copy and preserve them.

It’s just nice to have books; they look good on the shelf, one supposes.

10. The True Plate of Queen Rolo the Tall – At Large
Ozymagrazad’s Fury bound itself to the armor of the beloved Queen Rolo. An entire wing of the royal palace has been barricaded to keep the walking armor from going on any further rampages. The Order has requested entrance to this wing no less than 78 times from no less than four different monarchs. They are always denied as, in the words of the Royal Advisors of King Kormud IV, “it’s being handled.”

11. Zinn the Squire – House Arrest
Zinn was the son of a bottle maker from Godsroot. Ozymagrazad’s Memories of His Childhood Dog incorporated itself into Zinn as he was born. At first, his parents assumed he was referring to an imaginary dog. It got suspicious by the time he was 30, however, and he was interrogated by the Order. After a year of questioning, the Order told him he was lich-free and offered him a squireship. He’s served faithfully for nearly 60 years now, though he is still strictly forbidden from talking about dogs.

12. The Final Breath of Ozymagrazad – Detained
Ozymagrazad’s Desire to Return to Life Once More haunts the air around Ozymagrazad’s body. It attempts to suffocate anyone who attempts to approach the body. It wails a lot. You can hear it in nearly every wing of the Order's headquarters, which is why it is colloquially known as the Screaming Keep – a name the Order refuses to recognize.

Catching Souls

Anyone can catch a soul in a bottle. Once the soul is free of its host, all there is to do is scoop it up into the bottle before a psychopomp arrives (which usually happens within a minute). Like catching a firefly. Of course, this is a simpler task if the would-be soul catcher can see the soul, which is not something everyone can do. Anyone blindly waving a bottle around in an attempt to catch a loose soul has a 20% chance of success.

Adventurers who surrender a captured soul to the Bottle Knights are rewarded with a lot of gold and the favor of the Order. Members of the Order are offered less gold and a promotion.