The Kitchens of Oishihara Island (GLoGmas 2025)

My GLoGmas recipient for this year was discord user Liches over at Liches Get Stitches, I decided to make a setting location for their Tengoku Isles setting.

Oishihara Island 

    A medium sized island with a city so large it reaches the coastline on three of the four sides. A large tower rises up from its center. Iron and wood banded stone make up the first three tiers, getting narrower each time they step up, topped off with a pagoda.

    An isthmus to the east connects to a smaller connected landmass, made up mostly of a massive crater that's remains wild, and a series of sea-caves on the far shore.

The City 

The people in the city aren't allowed to carry weapons, so they'll be immediately  distrustful of anyone who openly does so. There are also Enlistees regularly patrolling the city, being jerks, and stealing food; as per encounters. Players will be able to find people to sell most things at poor to middling quality with two exceptions: nobody makes or sells any weapons, and all food found will be of the worst quality, while also being sold for a premium.

Every week, any newborns in the city are rounded up by the various thugs in the tower. They then show up months later stumbling around the streets  as a fully grown adult. This is treated as completely normal here. Shinrippā is the elusive Demon Lieutenant of this Isle, though he's known now only by reputation, having not left the tower in over a hundred years. 

Denizens of the City:

You find them wearing a kimono embroidered with patterns of:

1. Mandarin oranges and paper butterflies.
2. A rooster betwixt a tangle of weeds.
3. Cherry blossoms and kusudama.
4. A red crane set before the moon. 
5.  Plum blossoms and fans.
6. Maple leaves and paper lotuses.

And they are:

1. Running from 1d6 Enlistees.
2. Discreetly feeding a stray animal.
3. Following someone else while loudly defaming them.
4. Ushering a small crowd into their cellar.
5. Laboriously carving wooden figurines with a blunted knife.
6. Carrying an armful of fresh but wild and sad fruits. 

 

The Dungeon

    The main iron-reinforced wooden doors to the tower are barred from the inside, If you can scale to the second tier, there's a locked iron bar door on the wall left of the main entrance that leads into the Bellows.

     The level of watchfulness in the dungeon will vary based on any of the following conditions:

        unconscious bodies found - low threat.

        dead bodies found -  +3 encountered enemies.

        intruders reported - increase encounter frequency (however appropriate). 

Tier 1

1. Genkan: doff your shoes and replace them with the complimentary slippers, it's customary.
2. Storage Room: 1d4 drunk Enlistees, racks of barrels filled with cheap booze and fish. Hidden entrance to a narrow vertical shaft terminating at 3. Dry Storage.
3. Armory: Full of equipment for the Enlistees. If worn, it'll fool Finks and other higher-ups, but not other Enlistees. If searching thoroughly, there is a Masterwork weapon belonging to the top-ranked Enlistee, they're the only one allowed to carry their weapon outside the tower.
4. Mess Hall: 2d10 Enlistees and 2d10 Finks, If you move past this room and aren't careful, 2-in-6 chance someone inside spots you walking past. If this room is left along for at least an an hour after entering the dungeon, the rowdy argument taking place here devolves into an all out brawl that distracts from any loud activity on these levels.
5. Quarters: tiny box rooms with cots hanging from the walls. 2-in-6 chance for a sleeping Enlistee, 1-in-6 chance for conscious Enlistee. If you take time to search, find 10 gold worth of items.

Encounters (D6):

        1-4: 1d4 Enlistees (Can just use the die result).

        5: 1d8 Enlistees

        6: 1d6 Enlistees accompanied by 3 Finks. 3-in-6 chance they're already bickering. 

Tier 2

1.  Hub: 1 Fink. The main access to this level terminates into a hub with doors on 3/4 sides. Its the same staircase that runs from floor one to floor two, but the staircase going from floor 2 to floor 3 is demolished, the walls greased, and has a rope ladder bundled up at the top. If the players are too loud while using the staircase the Fink here will hear it and investigate. The fourth wall in this room has the heads of multiple former Enlistees mounted on it.
2. Walk-in: Large steel door requires a strength check or combined strength score of 30 to open. 2 Finks inside. A muffled bassy thrum can be heard from this room in any room adjacent to it including between levels. In the center of the room, a massive frozen heart hooked by a girthy chain beats coolant through tubes keeping food on all the wall racks cold. The food stored in this room is very high quality.
3.  Dry Storage: Storage for all the high quality dry goods.
4. Storage Closet: disorganized cleaning supplies as well as 3 partially shredded, twitching, harmless papermen from Tier 4. If mended properly, can be made fully functional by and loyal to a magic-user.
5. Bellows: d6+5 Finks. Twin engines blast heat through pipes into the room above, kept alive by the Finks here. If these aren't running for any reason, the Chef in 6. Kitchen becomes unable to use any of its special meal-based attacks.
6. Kitchen: 4 Finks and the Chef. A metal cage on a pulley leads into The Cells above. The chef's chasyaku is used to extract the adolescence from a person and age them artificially. Used as a sweetener that surpasses all others but is horribly addicting.
7. Staging Room:  A series of dishes are being plated to be presented to Shinrippā by 6 Finks. If eaten grant benefits according to your favorite potions table.

Encounters (D6) 

        1-4: 1d6 Finks

        5:  2 Finks bringing either a fresh prisoner to the cells, or carrying a use-up one to dump outside in             an alley.

        6: A lone Enlistee trying to be as sneaky as possible. 

The Cells

     A narrow walkway mazes around this whole tier, good chance to use this procedure for labyrinths. The cages have captives in various stages of adolescence, all in a stupor as if drugged. 

    The Jailor, which wanders these corridors, is simpleminded and has orders to attack anyone not delivering food or prisoners. Carrying food will draw attention from the imprisoned youths, but this is not out of the ordinary. In certain circumstances however it would make it difficult to pass through the maze both sneakily and safely.

Encounters (D6):
        1-4:  2 Finks escorting a prisoner toward the cage, or a dish toward the staircase leading up.

        5-6: The Jailor. 

TIER 4 

    A table at the top of this staircase (3-in6) has a dish waiting on it. Of the two rooms in this section, Shinrippā will either be in the Youshitsu during the day, or the Washitsu if it's night. Each paper-walled room is on its own floor surrounded by a hallway that wraps fully around, with windows allowing natural light inside.

    The Papermen servants patrol this area in both their hostile and harmless variants. The hostile ones fold flat onto the paper walls and will peel off to attack if they sense intruders. Shinrippā will notice the silhouette leaving the wall or, failing that, the subsequent sounds of combat. The harmless papermen look like upside-down octopodes but with tiny waddling feet. Their upper limbs used to carry dishes into the Youshitsu room. wearing one of them like a hat will ward off the hostile papermen.

1. Youshitsu: A low table rests in the center of the room, and a pile of empty serving dishes lie astrewn near the door. A perfectly preserved and flayed Fink stands at attention in the back corner serving as a lamp after death.
2. Washitsu: A simple tatami room, with a tokonoma containing art pieces worth 500 gold to the right investor, an bone Orb with a domain over Midnight, and a cursed sword with a bound sheathe. If you peel off the mats and test the floorboards, one of them can be removed to reveal an additional cache of 500 gold.

 

 

 Monk Order - Drifting Feather style

A) Spend a chi to make yourself weightless for one round, must move by pushing off of surfaces.

B) Touch someone on their chest and you can feel by the weight of their heart whether or not they are lying or harboring guilt. 

C) Signature Move: Swap the apparent weight of two objects you can touch. [1 chi - hand size, 2 chi - Armful, 3 chi - Dragged, 4 chi - immovable]

D) Carried on the Winds: Spend 1 chi while weightless to fully avoid a blow, the slight breeze pushing you away just outside the blow's reach.

Live underground in the caves to the east of the island. They cover their faces with shrouds and drink goo from a cave under the meteor. This dissolves and replaces their tongues with goo rendering them unable to speak. The incorporeal Master of the order knows the name, but will not be able to say it.

Bestiary - 

• Enlistee - Stats as bandit. armed with truncheons and man-catchers instead if they're patrolling the city.
• Fink - Stats as bandit. Armed with oversized kitchen implements. Man-sized demonic creatures, they are prone to having random mutated features; the most consistent being wings for every 2-in-6.
• The Jailor -  4 HD, Stats as bear. Wide as two men and a head taller, head is covered by an iron dome with just enough holes to see out of. fights with caged and spiked fists and headbutts, can attack up to 2 times per round. He attacks anyone not carrying food or escorting prisoners.
• Hostile Paperman - in the shaped of various origami animals, move as the appropriate animal, with slicing papercut attacks. 2HD appearing in medium to large sized groups. If they get well saturated they are effectively incapacitated.
• Chef - Stats as bear, stands behind a horseshoe griddle preventing melee combat without having some kind of reach. Holds a 2-foot-long cleaver in one hand and a chasyaku in the other. preps a variety of dishes during the fight which can cause a variety of effects. (e.g. Tempura Calamari: Save vs Blindness until you can clean out your eyes). Posesses a Headband with the following special move: When knocked prone or successfully grappled, the swordsman can make 7 free attacks against the target. If you have witnessed this technique, you can save to instead be dealt one free attack.
• Shinrippā - 6 HD, stats as ogre. eight-and-a-half feet tall. Big war club deals double damage to its system equivalent, as his arms swell up with muscle. If he picks you up and you don't break free by the start of his next turn, he swallows you whole before taking his normal allotted actions.

The Devouring Gourd

 When somebody has taken on a pact from the Great Gourd, they become marked by him. This mark takes the form of a dark cavity in the individual's forehead. Other acolytes of the Gourd will recognize this mark, and generally react at the very worst neutrally to any person bearing it.

On death, however, a curious process takes place on one marked by the Great Gourd. Their body doesn't decay, rather, it hardens and begins to change in shape to a form more pleasing to the Gourd. as this happens, the opening on the forehead of the deceased begins to grow into a gaping maw, and a Devouring Gourd is born.

I'm starting to draw stuff too!

Devouring Gourd

HD 8 Attack Swallow, Seed Sputter, Squash Defense 2 Move 8 Morale -* Save 16

Swallow The Devouring Gourd chooses up to three spaces around it at random, slamming the top of it's neck onto it and swallowing the first object it catches in this way.

Seed Sputter The Devouring Gourd flails it's neck about wildly, flinging large seeds out from the hole on the end of it, and dealing 2d6 damage to anything within 20 meters of it.

Squash The Devouring Gourd  springs it's legs and leaps 10 meters in any direction, dealing 4d8 damage to whatever it lands on, and pushing back anything else nearby.

*Behavior Devouring Gourds are completely mindless, they are hollowed out husks fueled by the Great Gourds destructive rage, as such, many of their actions are decided on a whim as they flail about breaking things. This can be modeled by deciding it's actions through dice rolls. This makes it a dangerous opponent for players to fight, as there is no real reason for it to do anything, and approaching it to attack is a gamble.

Farewell and may the Gourd be with you.

Rainforest Creatures - Ccoa, Suuri Snail, and Jokaihdin

 Ccoa

HD 5 Attack 1d10 lightning (1d6 burst) Defense 2 Move 15, fly 24 Morale 16 Save 15

Lightning The lightning selects a random target among creatures or certain objects within a 10 meter radius of the Ccoa, dealing burst damage to all creatures surrounding the target.

Hailstorm As it moves, the Ccoa drops hail behind it dealing 1d4 damage to creatures it hits.

Description Grey cats with fluffy tails and slightly oversized heads. When threatened, they turn into dark, grey stormclouds with yellow eyes piercing through.

Suuri Snail

HD 5 Attack Rasp 1d8 Defense 6 Move 4 Morale 5 Save 14

Rasp On a hit, deals 1d8 as normal, but on a miss, reduces the attacked creatures AC by 1.

Acidic Touch The suuri snail can choose to use it's turn to excrete a layer of acid on it's skin which deals 1d4 damage to anything touching the suuri snail's foot.

Stasis By sealing itself in it's shell, the suuri snail becomes inert and temporarily immune to damage until it leaves stasis. If it's shell is broken through during this time, the suuri snail's foot will be sucked out of the hole created.

Description A massive terrestrial snail with an oblong shell. It is predatory, eating either other gastropods or if necessary, plants. They follow a migratory pattern to look for food which is used by some as a transportation method.

Jokaihdin

HD 6 Attack Bite 1d10 (4 meter reach), Tail 1d6 (3 meter reach) Defense 4 Move 12, 8 swim Morale 15 save 11

Inflate The two flaps situated at the sides of the jokaihdin's neck can be inflated, allowing the jokaihdin to float if need be, but also as a defensive measure to both intimidate and move potential attackers away from it. While it's neck is inflated like this, it cannot use it's bite attack.

Description A sauropod dinosaur with flaps of skin hanging from it's neck and sides. It walks along the riverbed with it's neck held above the water.

Rainforest Creatures - Quetzalcoatl, Famocantratra, and Vukilpikon

 Took a bit of an unannounced hiatus, it was largely due to moving, job changes, and trying to get back into the swing of things. Basically, I've been too busy and this is what I chose to drop temporarily. Anyways, here's 3 more creatures from the encounter table.

Quetzalcoatl

HD 3 Attack Venomous Bite 1d6+1d4 every hour Defense 2 Move 15 flight, 10 slither Morale 7 Save 8

Quetzalcoatls use hit and run tactics. The feathered snakes fly in from above and attack a targeted creature before swooping away and waiting for it's prey to die. During this time they will follow from a safe distance in the canopy.

Healthy Venom If the venom can be extracted from either a wound or directly from the source, it can be distilled into a healing potion (1d4).

Famocantratra

HD 1 Attack Locking Bite 1d4+1 each round Defense 2 Move 15 Morale 17 Save 6

Famocantratras are small lizards which adhere to the sides of trees with their broad, leaf shaped tails. Once a creature moves nearby, they will leap over to attack them.

Locking Bite Once the famocantratra has attacked a creature, it will remain attached to that creature dealing 1 damage each round after the first. Once attached, the famocantratra cannot be removed except by cutting off the flesh it is attached to (dealing 1d6 damage) or through magical means.

Vukilpikon

HD 7 Attack Bite 2d8, Crush 1d8+pinned Defense 6 Move 18 swim, 10 walk Morale 5 Save 15

Vukilpikons are massive spiky turtles which lurk in shallow water, camouflaged to look like rocks with their snorkel-like noses providing them with oxygen. They sense vibrations in the water up to 50 meters.

Sucking Breath When the vukilpikon makes a bite attack while underwater, the opening of it's mouth creates a vacuum which drags any creatures within a 10 meter cone of it's mouth to be sucked into it's gaping maw. This should be telegraphed beforehand when players are at a safe distance if you don't want to cause a tpk.

Rainforest Creatures - Cuero, Wako, and Rhox

I decided on a format Im going to use for the following weeks while I figure out what to do next. Im goung to take 1 entry from each of the encounter tables found Here and do a writeup of them. Today I'm doing the cuero, wako, and the rhox.

Cuero

HD 2 Attack grapple 1 CON Defense 2 Move 16 swim, 4 land Morale 12 Save 7

Grapple Carnivorous. The first time anything gets close enough to touch the cuero, it will get a surprise action in which it can choose to grapple that person. It will then swim away under water dealing 1 constitution damage to the grappled person per round until they either die or the cuero is killed.

Description Appears as a mottled brown or spotted cowskin floating down the river. The underside of it is covered in suckers like those of an octopus.

Wako

HD 3 Attack bite 1d6 Defense 2 Move 14 Morale 8 Save 8

Description Carnivorous. Looks like a paca, but the size of a large dog, and with long fangs. Their call is a repeated Ao.

Wako live in communities of 2d20, 2d6 of which are juveniles that only deal 1 damage on a hit. Thry generally have 1d4 patrols above ground near their burrow, who will call to their comrades, which will arive in 1d6 rounds.

Rhox

HD 1 Attack bite 1d8* poison Defense 0 Move 15 flight Morale 5 Save 6

*Swarm Each hit point is treated as a single rhox, and damage is based on how many are attacking, and moves down to the nearest die size to how many hit points the rhox has left.

Description Carnivorous. A small purple spider the size of a grape. They hide in clusters on grapevines, swarming at and biting anything that tries to eat them.

Dragons are Weaklings

Im going to do it. Im going to break every sacrament of gaming and just go through with it.

You probably thought this was a dragon, didnt you?

Well you're wrong. Dragons are just pathetic little pests that sit in trees and pee venom. But most importantly, they're absolute wimps.

Dragon

HD 1 Attack Bite 1d6 Defense  6 Move as Bird Morale 5 Save 5

Caustic Urine Works as a ranged attack roll except the dragon must be above whoever it is attacking. On a hit the target takes 1d6 acid damage per round until they wash it off.

Evasive Maneuvers Whenever you attack a dragon from melee and miss, it can choose to escape by flying away. It will probably still pester you from the air where it's a little more safe.

Combat Actions

In combat, a dragon will usually fan out its wings and screech a few times, and bite anyone who tries to get close to it. As soon as someone attacks it, it will take to the sky and start peeing on everybody until chased off with missile weapons.

Activities Table

(roll this when you hit Dragon on your encounter table)

1. Attacking a flock of sheep. 1d6 peasants will come to chase it off with rocks in 5 minutes.

2. Sitting in a tree screeching loudly and peeing on any passersby, will flee at the first sign of danger.

3. 2 dragons are mating as they clumsily flap through the sky. However obnoxious you think it should be, multiply that by 3.

4. It's chasing a small child around terrorizing them. Just make up a reason for the child to be there.

5. A group of knights are pursuing it through the woods, they are trying to find their nest.

6. Hundreds of dragons are nesting in a massive tree, you should probably leave because they won't be as scared hunting together.

the 'Not Deer'

        A nameless traveler directed his cart down a path, a steady clip clop keeping him company along with the occasional whinny from his horses or snore from his sleeping companions.
     The foggy night brought a lull to the journey and, in trying to fight off sleep, the traveler noticed a mild curiosity. In the middle of the road, far off in the distance, stood a deer, utterly still, outlined by the moon and the creeping fog. He wrote it off, figuring it would scare off eventually, and continued to listen to the steady rhythm of the horse's hooves.
     The traveler glanced at the deer again, it had not moved but somehow looked different. He brushed it aside. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, so he chose to ignore it.
     After a good number of seconds had rolled by, his horse began dancing nerves through his reigns. He started and was met with the sight of the deer once more. It remained still as it had before, then it seemed to morph before his eyes as he noticed new details he hadn't seen before. Both fascinated and horrified, he was torn between the desire to see more, or the urge to flee in terror.
     As the traveler got closer to the deer, its flesh began to replace what was once silhouette. Its true appearance revealed to him, he realized that this thing was not a deer, and had never been one, but by then it was too late.
     It turned towards him and smiled.

Stolen from Here.

     Most consider the 'Not Deer' to be a mere legend, but as any old kook who has spent significant time in the mountains will tell you, it's very much real, than again, who would trust the word of a crazy man?
     Though its exact form varies, all 'not deer's have the approximate appearance of a deer, by looking long or hard enough however, one begins to notice things that make it look not quite like a deer.
     They only pick a fight if their prey is alone, if multiple people are present it will run away as soon as one of them notices something off about it.

The 'Not Deer'

HD 2 Attack 12 Defense 13 Move 15 Morale 4 Save 12
Special Frightening Presence, Morbid Curiosity

Frightening Presence - when first seen, PCs must save vs. fleeing. NPCs and hirelings must make a morale check at a -4 penalty.

Morbid Curiosity - If you end up holding your ground, you notice something funny about the deer in the road. If you decide to look closer, you notice a second feature and the creature attacks.

What Makes it Look Funny?
(2d10) on a repeated result make it more pronounced.
1. Its limbs are too long.
2. Its joints are backwards.
3. It doesn't cast a shadow.
4. It casts multiple shadows.
5. It has short tentacles dangling from its mouth.
6. It has human feet.
7. Its body is covered in cancerous lumps.
8. Instead of fur its skin is covered in thousands of tiny teeth.
9. There are sharp edges where there shouldn't be. Like a poorly made 3d model.
10. It moves in spasmatic, deliberate twitches.