Wyrm wormsThese giant bowel slugs live inside dragons. They do not kill, but merely sap the dragon’s strength.

Hackmandibles. These are like fleas the size of your fist with a bite like a vice (they need it to penetrate the thick scales of their host). Enterprising but naive wizards think to use them as a source of dragons’ blood. In fact it’s harder to kill one of these than a Great Red: their exoskeleton is impenetrable to most blades and they jump up to twenty metres at a hop.

Scalefly. These are flies which colonise the epidermis behind the belly scales (the dorsal scales are too tough). They live long enough to lay hatches of maggots, which lay dormant for a few years, then continue the line. The maggots secrete juices which dissolve the scales and then they reabsorb it as food. When a scale is sufficiently rotted it will flake off. These are the main source of the infamous "weak spots" on a dragon’s belly which are penetrable to arrows.

Firetooth beetles. These are not really parasites, rather they have a symbiotic relationship with the dragon. When a dragon breathes fire it melts and burns the enamel on its teeth. The firetooth beetle eats this residue (the dragon grows more to replace it) and thus prevents the dragon’s teeth from becoming blunt and black.

Description
Hellgate prison is special. It has no official design, no walls or gates. No guards or warden to watch over the criminals who have been sent to spend the rest of their lives in this desolate place. It was a natural event that turned a nightmare of an entire population into the nightmare of the guilty.

History
In the year before the Nightfire, the city of Crystalspire was a prospering city of both culture and art. More a metropolis than a city, it was huge beyond measure. The districts alone were alike to cities within cities. Rumor was you could walk from one end of the city and before you got to the other end the sun would rise and set more than once. The population had many intellects and scholars of many types, viewing everyday as a prize to be learned from and lived to the fullest.

One discovery they uncovered would be their undoing. In their study of artifacts from an underground temple they learned of the dark side of the gods. The uncovered a Demon Gate located in the bowels of the caverns below their fair city. They attempted to study and open the gate, not knowing its full danger until it was too late. Luckily for the world they failed in unlocking the secret of the gate. However, unlucky for them, the gods took notice of their actions and took vengeance out on them to show the rest of the mortals to not intervene in the affairs of the gods.

The day of the nightfire rained down on the innocent and unsuspecting citizens of Crystalspire, crumbling their dreams and their culture down into the depths of the darkness that housed the Demon Gate. Try as the gods did, they could not rain enough destruction down to destroy the gate below. They did however cause enough damage to collapse the city beneath the surface and into the caverns below. The city turned upside down and fell to the dark below.

Nearly four decades later, when the story was no longer fresh in the minds of men a survivor was found wandering the desolate countryside rambling about the darkness. He was found walking a trader route, wasted to nearly nothing from lack of food, heavy with scars, and missing three fingers. He told tales that seemed of stories. Men turned into pack-like animals from their isolation having to relearn to live on their own with no outside help. Scavenging what they could from the rubble and what little grew in the damp darkness. But the wonders he spoke of, detailing countless treasures no one had seen in a lifetime.

Tales of these treasures reached back to the Duke who greedily wanted these treasures for himself. He sent a company of men down into the depths, only to have one again to return near death speaking tales of nightmares at the hands of men that were not men. They were organized into tribal packs, the strong taking what the wanted leaving the weak to die or to fed the others. They told of the vastness of the city below, crumpled and turned upside down. The treasure was not there that they were told, nothing but death.

The survivors told tales of a gate that led to another place, a place where nightmares were real; a place of demons. From the description of what they saw, a demon gate lies within the toppled ruins.

Before finding a way out of the underground hell, they were able to find a relatively hidden area where they set up a magic beacon. This beacon was to be placed to ease the transfer of all the treasure and goods they were hoping to find. This beacon still works today, centuries later. When hearing of the near impossibility of ever getting anything of value out of the ruins the Duke spoke with his advisors and agreed on at least using it to his advantage.

They soon decreed that should anyone break the law by more than a minor offense, they would be sent to the ruins for their punishment with only one stipulation. If they were able to find their way out of the underground prison, then they would be set free and have their name cleared of all crimes in their name, as well as all debts to be cleared. After a few years of hundreds being sent to the underground ruins via the same beacon the Duke had intended to transport the fabled treasure and no one had returned talk began to spread through the streets. Crime nearly stopped over night.

One man has survived the horrors of the ruins and gave it a name, Hellgate Prison. He spoke of tribes of cannibals that prey on those coming from the beacon. He spoke of an occasional demon traveling the underground preying on everything, leaving nothing in their wake. He was given his freedom as was promised but he was forever changed. He locked himself in a cellar and died of starvation, not trusting anyone he saw or spoke with, and never trusting the food and drink that was brought to him by family and friends.

Additional Information
Hellgate Prison, while being the underground ruins of the ancient city of Crystalspire, no one goes there of their own volition. No guards travel to the depths to check on the condemned. It is completely cut off from the outside world, the inhabitants below caring little for the outside world now, most having forgot that tales of its existence. The occasional newcomer, those condemned to the underground prison, is seen as fresh meat. Both in food and resources.

They are taken and used as labor and entertainment and when they use is no longer viable they are given over to the tribes for food. There is little natural light in the catacombs of the ruined city; however there are magical lighted devices that still function. These are coveted and horded by the powerful and strong.

Food is only a minor problem in that heat vents from deep underground seep warm and rich air into the old gardens of the crumbled city growing new and odd plants that require little to no light that are oddly nutritious and edible. Meat comes in the form of the few underground animals that can be found, mainly the ravaged dog that has evolved in the darkness to protect itself with limited vision. They also hunt in packs other tribes that they use their catches for work and then later food.

It is a nightmare existence that few have ever escaped. The nearly insane tribes of man, if they can be called men, know nothing of a way to the surface and will balk at the suggestion of a above ground. Their lore states that the gods were ashamed of what they made, so they dropped the stars on the world and covered it forever in earth unleashing their tormentors ever few decades. (Demons)

Hellgate
The prison is no more an actual prison than an island is a prison. There are no wall barring their escape and there are no guards or wardens to stop them from running. It is a prison in the sense that, few ever escape period. Having to adapt to a life of near darkness after a life on the surface is usually enough to break someone mentally. With the added grief of the roaming tribes of the natives wanting to use the “Newlanders” for entertainment, labor, and eventually as a source for food, this banishment is enough to send the most stable of men into a realm of insanity.

The crumbled city hanging at every angle from the cavern roofs to the wet limestone floors is a testament to any visitor that they are in a foreign place. Buildings still intact hang solidly from the ceiling, where some of the tribes have chosen to call their bastion of solitude. Others are completely under water in deep death chilled pools of mineral rich water. Keeping any treasure of possible value hidden from prying eyes and coveted hands.

The populace knows little of the history of the original city, with the exception of the Stone Tribe. They tend to know more of the history pertaining to Hellgate than any other, but trying to get them to tell it without killing you is a task that few can manage. What is believed, even among some of the Stone Tribe, is that the original city of Hellgate was the place of gods and heaven. Fabulous above the birth of everything. They walked hand in hand with their gods on paved streets of sun gold and took food with them on every occasion. It is claimed that when one of the gods coveted the daughter of the mortal king, the gods were angered and thrust the sky down on them in fire and stone.

The anger of the gods covered the sky and the world above them and encased them in stone never to see the sun gold paved streets of heaven again. The mortals were thrust out of this life of utopia and covered with their sin of covetous nature. So this is why they are here in Hellgate being tormented by the children of the gods, the demons, sent here to remind them of their insolence and their greedy natures. They accept this and worship this in the hopes that they will prove their worth again and have the stone of their sins removed so they can walk again hand in hand with their gods in heaven.

Factions
There are several different tribes within the belly of Hellgate Prison, most of which are small groups of families that have packed together in a single unit for better protection. Due to the fighting of tribes this has kept the breeding down, along with lack of an abundance of food. A new faction of newcomers has taken up residence in an old watchtower gathering all they can for protection. Where once was a vast nothingness of dead and destruction, the crumbling ruin of Hellgate now plays host to the thirteen factions that strive to survive the darkened horror of their continued waking nightmare.

Stone Tribe
Probably the more intelligent of the groups that have survived in the darkness. They have taken shelter in the large libraries that were turned over when the city collapsed into the earth. Some can actually read, but they do not believe some of the history books to be real, only tales to be told for entertainment. They are the more trusting of the groups, yet will still pounce on an outsider if the need arises.

Mud Eaters
The most feral of the tribes, they are far from the most crazed. They are not a single family, but more of a cast off of the others that loose their minds. They stay toward the narrows as it is called. A series of tight fitting rocks and rubble that allows few to enter without knowledge of traversing the outcroppings of stone and crevasses. Most of them lack the mental ability to evolve should they escape. They are bipedal animals that know survival and basic farming nothing more. They lack the sophistication to mount a viable raid should their numbers allow it which makes them unimportant to the other tribes unless a need for food or slave labor is scarce.

Gate Watchers
They are the worst of the many tribes. They stay closest to the gate and worship the beings that come out of them. They sacrifice their enemies to the gate in the hopes that by doing so will please their god figures and release them from the ill fated hell they are in. They don’t believe of the outside world, instead they think the Demon Gate is the way out and in order to leave this hell they must ascend into another.

Lurkers
They are the smallest group among the tribes. Their ranks are filled with only those who have been sent here from the surface. They are heavy handed with those who would get them killed, but open their doors to anyone, like them, that was sent here as punishment. There are a few who were sent here unjustly and they speak the loudest in the group to try and return to the surface but they are usually quieted by the leaders who have been stuck in this living hell for years.

They do not work well with the other tribes, often finding ways to pit the others against each other to bring unwanted attention off themselves. They are away from family and friends in a hostile world that would rather choose to put them on a spit as to greet them with open arms. They keep the others like them comfortable and give them a feeling of home, recounting tales of adventure and foods that are missed. The leaders of the lurkers want to return home but know that if they left most would die and they do not want to leave any of the weak behind to die at the hands of the insane population.

Demons
They are not part of the gods plan. The gate was placed under the city of Crystalspire decades before the city was destroyed. Locked away in a forgotten temple it was found and opened again by the survivors of the fateful date of the nightfire. The few times a demon can escape and get through the gate they torment the survivors some to gain their strength, but are soon off on their own errant task to try and find the keys to unlock the gates permanently and unleash the rest of their kind on the world.

Plot Hooks

• The PC’s are charged for a crime they did not commit, or did they? None-the-less, per the law they are given a choice, the headsman or Hellgate Prison. If they are not from the area, and have never heard of the prison before, they may choose it thinking to escape not realizing their peril.
• The PC’s are hired to travel to Hellgate Prison to return a man, or woman, who was falsely imprisoned. Perhaps the victim is even nobility hence the need to travel there quickly and rescue them.
• A spell gone awry sends the PC’s and possibly a villain they are confronting at the time to Hellgate Prison. They must then join forces with their nemesis to escape the confines of the darkness alive.

Appearance

In his actual form, he is truely frightening to behold. His form is that of a massive tentacle like that of a Kraken, but made of seawater and half a mile long, with the width of the largest seven masted ship in the Company’s navy. His head is in the shape of a crococodile, and it is made of seafoam except the eyes and teeth, which are composed of large chunks of glowing amythest, each of which is large enough, were it in the hands of a wizard or witch of Acqua, for a major spell to be cast.

He rarely takes this form however, as it is both tiring for him, and might well bring down the anger of the Great God Jove upon his head. Whilst he prefers to send water elementials to do his bidding, he can also appear as a man or a black stallion without saddle or bridle. In either form, he leaves small puddles of water behind with every step he takes.

He likes sacrafices of all birds and beasts of the air and most of all humans-most highly prized amongst them, are virgin females.

He hates dry land of any kind, and the dry land dwellers, although he has no dislike for the peoples of the sea.He hates ships and their passengers and crews,who he sees as tresspassers, and he constantly shakes the seas to try and sink them with storms and incites sea creatures and the undead to attack them, which is why the seas of Acqua are so dangerous to shipping. The only humans he does not hate are those few who worship him in secret and keep him fed with sacrfices of various kinds.

History/Background

According to the early myths of both the Jovian and Ulmanian worshippers, Ma-O was the second child of Jove and Ulmania, and almost from the start he did not get on well with Acqua, constantly teasing and tormenting him. When Jove discovered that Acqua was homosexual and turned red with rage, Ma-O thought the time was right to murder his brother.

Jove was not that angry, however, and ordered Ma-O to stop. When Ma-O refused, Jove beat him badly, shrinking him and stripping him of most of his powers, and hurling him into Acqua to live as a deamonic parasite within him.Since then Ma-O has lived in secret, hoping one day that he will regain enough strenth to fight Jove and slaughter Acqua.

Only once in the past thousand years has he arisen from the seas in his true form, when the Archmage Bela Kun, who lived on Rothar Isle, perfected a long spell that would uncover every worshipper of his to the public gaze. Ma-O was only in his true form for five minites, but it was enough to submerge the island below the waves and exterminate the Archmage and all the people and animals who lived there. He allowed some people on a nearby ship to escape unharmed, so they could spread the story of what he had done. Since then no mage or witch has tried to cast that spell.

Since then he has largely left it to the cult known as the Children of Ma-O to cause as much trouble on land and sea as they can, in the hope that he will gain enough strength to kill Acqua and fight Jove on an equal level, and finally get his revenge for what was done to him. He gains strength from death, misery and pain, but (apart from that of his few followers) happyness, good health and new life weaken him at the same time.

Special Equipment

His sword, although he gave it to humans a long while ago because they could do more harm with it then he could.

Roleplaying Notes

Ma-O has a dislike of women in paticular that he finds it hard to conceal, whatever form he is in. He is rich with the unclaimed treasure of the seas. He is also arrogant and bad tempered.

Plot Hooks-Please could you get me a…?

The PCs are offered a huge sum of money for an artifact. Unknown to them Ma-O sent them on the task, so that he has the vital object he needs to take his true form and ascend to the heavens to fight Jove, destroying Acqua in the process along with all life on it.

Clear the beach!!

The PCs learn somehow that Ma-O is going to destroy an island, and they have X amount of time to try and get everyone to evacuate. This can be played in *real time*.

It was a drear age, during the elder days, when man was left to survive under the iron talons of the dragons. Man was at best accorded the status of cattle, or menial slaves to the great beasts who even deigned to acknowledge their pathetic existance. The elves and dwarves endured that age, and from them, the humans learned the arts of metal working and that of magic.

It was such that the great wyrms were beyond death, immortal in the sense of even the gods, theyt were so mighty. There could be no hope against such terrible beasts, and it seemed that the world was destined to forever live in the shadow of their greedy wings. In those days, there came about a hero, a wanderer who was exiled from his home, and from his people.

Wandering, he discovered a holy place, a sacred shrine to a god as dark and terrible as the dragons themselves. The hero beseached the dark one for respite from the terrible beasts, for there was nothing but despair for man should the great wyrms rule. The dark god stirred, and was moved by the plea of the man, and the hard edge of his desperation. He sent thusly a message in the form of a blazing bolt from heaven.

Seeing his gift, the hero took the stone that fell from the heavens and for seven days and seven nights he worked the stone until the dross was removed, and there was naught but the black iron that fell from the heavens, pounded pure by the weight of his hammer. To this he affixed a shaft, and created a large, and powerful spear from the iron.

The hero by great stealth and guile sought out the lair of the Golden Dragon, the eldest and most cruel of the serpents, and took up the spear, and with a mighty strike, he smote the breast of the dragon, and did it a grevious wound.

The dragon, thus wounded, was wont to escape, but found itself bound by the terrible will of the meager human, and his pact with the god of the darkness. The dragons were laid low, one by one, and banished into the shade world of the Dark God for a span of eight millinia. Many hands bore the Black Spear, and its fame was great in the eyes of the Kasmir people.

The tale of the Empire of Kasmir is not unique. For that empire rose on the backs of the heros who banished the dragons. They were lauded as kings among kings, and were decorated in gold and bearskins for their great deeds, for more than one hero bore the spear to its destiny. The Kingdom grew mighty, and they were greatly learned in the arts of magic and sorcery, necromancy and the other esoteric arts. They grew corrupt and wicked, and in the end, their kingdom fell.

Kasmir was looted of its great stores of gold and its talents of jade, and silver stolen. The great libraries were pilfered and burned, and the armories were broken open, and the relics were lost to thieves and tomb raiders. Save for one, the Black Spear. For in those days the age of the Dragon Kings was long since passed from memory, and the iron spear was accounted little worth compared to the wealth of jewels, adamant and mithril that was stored with it.

The time draws nigh to the end of the Dragon’s imprisonment. Shall the black spear be taken up again, or shall it lay forgotten as the terrible wyrms once again consume the world in shadow and flame?

Magical Properties:

Formed of star iron, the black spear is an innately magical weapon. It doesnt radiate magic of any sort, as it was never the subject of enchantment. The weapon is a leaf-bladed spear, with a rough wrought-iron look to it, as it was hammered out, and not heated in its shaping.

Against dragons, and draconic creatures it ignores their natural armor, and inflicts grevious wounds upon them. Lesser draconic creatures (wyverns, drakes, etc) are often slain outright, while the more powerful, godlike wyrms are banished to the underworld for a long span of ages, lest they choose immediate death.