Ofalth

Today, we speak about something offal. Awful offal. Despite the terrible wordplay, I do quite love the concept of the Ofalth. A giant literal shit-trash monster to almost kill/disgust your players with? Sign me up.

There's a lot of ways to use an ofalth in your game, though you do have to bear in mind that it is a very powerful creature! At level 10, the ofalth remains a threat through level 12, when PCs become truly greek-myth-level powerful.

One may find an ofalth in the refuse room of a long-abandoned-now-resettled dungeon, as well as in major urban areas as a vital part of the fantasy ecology therein. Wherever you decide to use it, the Ofalth comes with some evocative abilities that tie to its central theme—being a living dumpster pile.

The ofalth can appear as a pile of garbage/refuse, its presence is physically sickening, and getting struck by the thing can cause you to just... bleed to death. Slowly. Fun!

When considering its use, try to think of how the ofalth fits into the world itself. As an aberration, they could be summoned by a particularly foul practitioner of magic, created for some purpose related to their environment, or drawn to sources of filth. All are perfectly valid options, just remember to consider how disgusting your description to your players is, don't want someone to lose their lunch onto your GM screen (or keyboard)

- Reece

Hook 1 (Max) - Down the Drain

The city of Netters is looking for mercenaries willing to get their hands dirty. Figuratively and literally. The rulers of the metropolis have a little bit of a problem with their sewers; they are getting clogged more and more often. Someone offered up a solution, but carrying it out requires highly skilled warriors.

In the grand capital of the kingdom, it's said the sewers are never clogged. Officials in Netters only know that some sort of cleaning organisms have been deployed in the capital. And so, the job is quite simple, if a tad unsavory.

Get into the sewers and bring one or two of these critters to Netters. Nice and easy, right?

Hook 2 (Reece) - Foul Play

Uvringin Palefinger liked collecting magical artifacts but did not like the work required to obtain them. When the skeevy little man stumbled upon a long-abandoned castle with a sprawling undercroft, a dastardly idea occurred to him: Why go and get the treasure himself when he can make the treasure come to him?

While loathe to travel, Palefinger has a keen mind for magical, alchemical, and mechanical arts. He constructed a lab within the depths of the castle, creating all sorts of terrible monstrosities that he could use in his devious ploy. Once his many traps were laid, he spread rumors through surrounding cities that a powerful staff was hidden within the castle.

Should one make it into the bowels of the place, they would find a beautiful length of wood that appears to be a Greater Staff of Healing, mounted on the wall behind an enormous pile of trash. In actuality the staff is a fake and the room is actually where Palefinger has been throwing the refuse from his failed experiments, feeding it to his pet Ofalth. Anyone foolish enough to mistake the pile for a simple dump will be quite shocked to find otherwise... And Uvringin will be quite happy to add to his collection should the unfortunate adventurer fail in their quest for the false staff.

Hook 3 (Max) - Secret Ingredient

The secret to the world-famous fermented wyvern egg is a well-guarded secret of the Jakus family. For generations, they have sold this very special dish to the rich and adventurous, building a fortune from the delicacy.

There are those who would love to unveil the secret and steal it for themselves—perfectly understandable. There is a good reason, other than protecting their wealth, for the Jakus to protect it.

The fermentation process is conducted in the vast caverns beneath their grand mansion by most unsavory beings.