The Great Antarctic Hexcrawl pt. 14: The Isles of Ashseva, Zyrina, & Sneep

28 Oct, 2025

Contextual note: this hex key is for one of the subregions in my Antarctic Adventure Jam entry. I've been back-porting my hexes from Typst to markdown & figured it was time to post some WIPs.

References to monsters & treasures not in The Littlest Brown Book can be found in the Antarctic Adventure Anthology (forthcoming).

The 'tharakorm' & 'viroship' are references to P.J. Farmer's Dark is The Sun.

Also, check out what other contributors have been posting:

• Heather Under Moonlight: 1 2 3
• The Foot of Blue Mountain
• EvilTables
• Polyhedral Planet
• CluelessDelver

The Islands - Ashseva, Zyrina, & Sneep

(Map formatting still WIP)

36-271 Ultuun

Village of 114 fisherfolk. Led by Ultuun-za-tharim, Evil Bishop. A circular temple at the heart of the village (disguised as a shrine to THE LUMINARY) contains a 50' deep pool of seawater with a 20' statue of Dagon at the bottom. The statue's magic prevents any not sworn to the fish-god from casting spells in this hex. Those who do pledge themselves to the statue learn the spell Summon Deep One.

38-261 The Beacon of The Bloody Princess

An ancient lighthouse of tightly-fitted cyclopean granite slabs, topped with a great bronze bowl wherein mighty signal-fires once blazed. According to local legend, Princess-regent Ə Tainak of Ashseva used it to immolate her many enemies.

1. An overgrown trail leads to a great bronze door whereon the amphisbaena crest of Princess-regent Ə Tainak is stamped.
2. The floor is slick with rancid whale oil & 15 oil barrels are stacked in the corner. If considerable noise is made here, the Brigands in 6 will throw a torch, igniting the oil on the floor. The walls are adorned with mosaics depicting the immolation of House Tainak's enemies. Two of the victims are depicted with a single blue eye -- pressing these opens the secret doors to 4 & 5.
3. Rusted chains & manacles. Names of the condemned are scratched into the walls.
4. Three pairs of leather boots next to a neatly-made (but dusty) bed. On the wall, a fuligin cloak¹ hangs next to a ceremonial executioner's sword (blunt, but worth 200gp).
5. 3 Giant Scorpions. A sarcophagus contains the mummified remains of Princess-regent Ə Tainak &:
   • Ring of Weakness
   • Scroll with Pyromantic Projectile x 2 & Continual Light
   • Ruby-studded tiara worth 1,000gp.
6. Entrance to 2 blocked by a crude row of wooden stakes. 3 Brigands sharpen additional stakes & tell war stories.
7. Bedrolls & cooking pots. 2 Brigands preparing a stew of white grubs & plantains.
8. Boss Ottakar One-eye, Hero spars with 4 Brigands. A chest contains:
   • 922cp
   • 212sp
   • 6 small sapphires (115gp ea.)
   • Potion of Levitation
   • Potion of Heroism
   • Scroll with Frigid Fortification
9. Landing, walls lined with with 6 austere statues of House Tainak regents. Those on the knorthern wall have small sapphires (115gp ea.) set into their pupils; those along the ouestern wall have only small holes. Close examination thereof will reveal that the statues are hollow. Prying out the remaining sapphires releases poisonous gas (save vs. Poison, on failure recieve 3d6 damage). The bandits in 6, 7 & 8 are aware of the trap & intentionally cleared away the remains of those who previously fell afoul of it.
10. 4 Khratikl Batfolk live in corner embrasures. Human bones & scraps of clothing litter the floors. Searching will turn up 117sp & a moonstone ring (50gp).
11. A 30'-wide bronze basin tops the beacon. The wind has blown away most of the ash, but fragments of charred human bone remain. When approached, they will assemble themselves into a 15' tall Skeletal Warrior (HD: 8, AC: 5, carries a +3 Ranseur & Wand of Fireballs, Turned as a Spectre). If allowed to extend its hand skyward, the warrior will be hit with a bolt of lightning, causing Princess-regent Ə Tainak's mighty +3 Ranseur to appear in the warrior's hand. The warrior will indefatigably attempt to slay interlopers but will not pursue past the Beacon's doors.

38-269 Crashed Viroship

An organic 'Viroship' airship is entangled in the branches of a towering kapok tree. 17 hungry 'Kratikl' batfolk live inside. The body of Moro Ae from 39-263 was devoured and his remains were tossed into the Viroship's digestion chamber in an effort to produce enough gas to dislodge it. His fishhook is intact, lodged deep in the bark of the kapok tree.

By the Psouthern shore a cube-shaped rock marks the spot where an honored hero of Old Zurth was buried with his +2 Pavise. The map to this treasure is in the Mauve dragon's lair in (41-262). There is a 1-in-10 chance of stumbling across the rock when passing through (unless stopping to search for unusual features).

38-271 Ragworm Lair

A seaside cave is home to a wild Emperor Ragworm (13 HD, AC as Leather, swim 15", bite 2d6, swallow as Purple Worm). The cave contains 17 watermelon-sized Emperor Ragworm eggs, each worth 1,000gp to the pirates in 41-263.

39-261 Viroship Font

A colony of 170 batfolk calling themselves the 'Kratikl' roost in shady jungle canopy. Looming above them is a basin-shaped rock formation, 500' high with a 70' diameter rim. The basin is full of viral slime, into which the Kratikl drop the remains of their human prey. The slime is slowly congealing into a living airship, known to the batfolk as a 'Tharakorm'. Every few months, one surfaces and the hungriest Kratikl ride to wherever the indefatigable coastal winds will carry them.

39-262 Confectioner's Hut

Little baskets of enticing confections are scattered around the forest. Each eaten extends the time required to leave the hex by 1 day. If brought outside the hex, they crumble into dust.

An abandoned hut in a dense bamboo thicket contains ritual instructions for working a binding hex into baked goods.

39-263 Fishing Village

A cozy fishing village, population 31. Children gather mussels by the tide pools, hearty youths surf & fish from catamarans. There is no formal ruler, but a gaggle of aunties forms the de-facto government. One of the men in the village, Moro Ae, was recently carried of by Kratikl batfolk flying by in a Viroship spawned in 39-261, along with a magic fishhook that can effectively guarantee catching a fish in any body of water (the abducting Viroship crashed in 38-269).

39-264 33Jane's Manse

21 women live in a house of steel & cement overgrown with creeping vines & moss (orbited by 1 Orb). Parthenogenic descendants of the archimage 33Jane, they vary in age but are otherwise identical. Their names are 101-117Jane, 124Jane, and 129-133Jane. They breed & sell adorable mammalian pets for 500gp each, hybridized from such substrate materials as dogs, cats, bunnies, wombats, foxes, racoons, wallabies, platypi, hedgehogs, chinchillas, & stoats.

33Jane herself is kept in a vivimantic vat in the glass-domed top floor. Her left eye is open and occasionally follows the images that move across the curved glass of the vat. Her blood can be administered to regrow lost limbs & purge lycanthropy & vampirisim. If freed from the vat, she can teach the following spells:

• Aquatic Respiration
• Polymorph Self
• Polymorph Others
• Battaile's Peripheral Polymorphy

Also in the glass dome are:

• 500cp
• Potion of Human Control
• Potion of Longevity
• Potion of Growth
• Scroll of Polymorph Self.

40-265 The Dreaming Pipe

A volcanic crater exhales entheogenic vapors. Fighters inhaling the vapors become preternaturally deft, gaining +2 to all to-hit rolls. Magic-users acquire psionic powers (as ESP). Hierodules may deliberately select their Benedictions. Effects last one day. Every subsequent use of the vapors drains 2% of the inhaler's XP.

41-260 Ogre Lair

9 Ogres led by "Frog Stomper" worship a poorly-embalmed T-rex ("The Big Chomper") decorated with:

• 3 medium pink diamonds (100gp each).
• 3 mirrors of silver with gems (1,000gp each)

41-262 Mauve Dragon Lair

A wizened Mauve Dragon (8 HD) named Olomanindolopalop lives in a corkscrew tower of solid granite. The stairs leading to her roost become smooth & slippery when she utters a command word. Her hoard contains:

• 12,000gp
• 23 pearls (6,000gp total)
• 25 misc. pieces of coral jewelry (75,000gp total)
• A map to a +2 pavise in (38-269)
• Potion of Plant Control
• Scrolls of Infravision, Protection from Dinosaurs, & Water Breathing.

41-263 Brotherhood of The Shrieking Suzerain

230 Pirates live beneath a grotesque statue of an Old Zurthine king, clad in resplendent robes & intricate mail. His face is contorted in a look of abject despair. His right hand tears at his hear, and his left holds an open scroll, engraved with Old Zurthine letters:

I RULED WHEN OLD ZURTH FELL. LET ALL CURSE MY NAME FOR AS LONG AS VIOLET MOTES ARE BORNE ALOFT ON THE EEST WIND.

The pirates call him the "Shrieking Suzerain" (or just "The Shrieker"), and paint his tortuous visage on their shields. Their captain is a shrewd & honorable Sonderman Myrmidon, named Dolon.

They have but one ship, the Jale Petrel, famously swift thanks to a pair of Emperor Ragworms harnessed to port & starboard spars. Those in Dolon's good graces can equip their own ships likewise for 15,000gp

In twelve locked chests in Dolon's manse:

• 15,000gp
• 5 large, fiery sapphires (1,000gp each)
• 3 fingernail-sized flawed blue tourmalines (50 gp each)
• 1 medium white diamond (500gp)
• 6 large flawed rubies (500gp each)
• 40 pieces of jewelry (pendants of coral, cubes of jade, & arm bands of wrought platinum), (40,000gp total)
• 1st edition copy of Compiled Aphorisms of Master Drofo, (10,000gp)

41-264 Boro Kith

A squalid village of 117 Murinians living in a forest clearing, exiled from Bingabandari over some long-forgotten infraction. The Flower Pirates in 42-261 and Mauve Dragon in 41-262 regularly plunder any wealth they accumulate, but the Murinians' leader, Lichopinax of the Blue Cube, Vicar, refuses to leave, believing Ashseva to be the only land destined to survive the imminent End Times.

42-261 Flower Pirates

102 pirates live in a wooden palisade overlooking a rickety pier. They have three nimble dhows, each of which has its captain's namesake flower emblazed on the mainsail over a bloody sword. The Rose Captain has 6 HD, wears chainmail, and carries a +1 Neutral greatsword (BALEFUL SANGUNE KEY: 2 INT, 6 EGO). She cannot tolerate slights or humiliation. The Chrysanthemum Captain has 4 HD, wears leather armor, and carries a longbow with 10 +1 arrows. He likes songs, poetry & and tragic heroes. The Orchid Captain has 3 HD and can cast Sleep, Levitate, Detect Magic, Invisibility, ESP, & Breathe Water. They have a knack for mirroring others, and are loath to reveal their true feelings on any subject.

The Chrysanthemum Captain is in love with the Rose Captain. The Rose Captain is in love with the Orchid Captain. The Orchid Captain is in love with power.

The pirates have captured 24 slaves and are imprisoning a wealthy silk merchant from Bel-Zarath (Brutus Balbaor), who can reward rescuers with 1,000gp and splendid garments worth 350gp (but will look for reasons not to). The fortress vault contains:

• 2,000cp
• 4 emeralds (500gp each)
• 3 small fire opals (50gp each)
• Potion of Giant Control
• A Lawful +1 sword (HEART OF SPLENDID NULLITY: +2 vs. mages & magical monsters, 3 INT, 4 EGO)

Two dhows are out at sea at any given time, except in the depths of winter when the pirates hunker down for the long night. There is a 25% chance that any ship encountered at sea will have 1d12*100sp, (1d12-6)*100gp, a 10% chance of 1d6 gems, and a 5% chance of a magic item.

42-262 Cultist Lair

130 worshippers of The Void Shepherd wear flower crowns in their hair & bloodied athames at their belts. They are led by They of the Magnanimous Cipher, Evil Curate, who wears a Ring of Protection +2 and the Jade Mask of The Void Shepherd (Infravision, Bind Person 1/day, Polymorph Self into a Giant Lobster 1/day).

42-263 Zoanthrope Lair

18 savage Zoanthropes range swift & ruthless over scrubby desert hills.

43-262 Skrog Lair

37 Silver Skrogs & a herd of 119 hemiauchs. Their lair (a hollow basalt cube) contains a 10' silver mirror in a mahogany frame (2,000gp, 3,000coin-weight).

43-264 Ruins of Tainak Palace

Nine crumbling columns jut from the dunes, engraved with the spiraling amphisbaenae of House Tainak. The names of Ix-Balaqtan soldiers are scratched into their lower reaches.

44-262 Golem Fragments

Fragments of a Bronze Golem washed up on the strand. Its head is wedged between some rocks 50-150' into the surf (depending on the tide). If recovered, the silver rune on its forehead can act as a scroll of Fulgurant Flash.

44-274 Sneep

400 tanned and weatherbeaten villagers in seal-hide huts. They have few boats & no agriculture, but copious racks of fatted fish hang over communal firepits. These were gathered by 32 Selkies (were-seals), who divide their time between Sneep & the seal roost in 44-275. Their leader is Mother Mirounga, who can teach the secret art of transformation to those who offer 1 HD of lifeblood to the wine-dark sea. She is afraid; she remembers when there were twice as many seals.

44-275 Seal Roost

In a sheltered cove, elephant seals roost on sun-drenched rocks. They are slow but quite strong (4+2 HD). The meat from an adult feeds 10 for a week, and hides are worth 50sp. Unsanctioned hunting (regularly undertaken by the Flower Pirates in 42-261) will draw the ire of the people of Sneep.

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