Cities: Temperance

Temperance

Fire and ice are natural opposites no matter how one slices it, but when they meet one another in balance it creates something wonderful. Well… sometimes. Other times one gets Temperance. Utterly misnamed, the city is one constantly embroiled in turf warfare. Those who follow the Elder Krewe currently have the upper hand after showering the populace with food, freedom, and heat. Of course, it comes with the cost of anarchy and petty crime but it’s better than frosty facism. At least, that’s how the ‘Krewes’ here sell it. Those gangs that follow Jak Rhyme work a sort of underground network, promising order and liberation from the carnage those in power promote. If they win, things won’t get much better for the common folk but they don’t care. Just like the fire side, the ‘Jackboots’ just want to win. Of course, neither side realizes total victory is nearly impossible until the world is remade. Here a Warband can play a gig at the Saint of Hells, an outdoor amphitheater built within a shattered cathedral once dedicated to the Harmonic Choir. Somehow, it still keeps its otherworldly acoustics despite not having a roof and with a network of madcap scaffolding added. It also is a location where some of the bloodiest gang fights occur.

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Frame Mimic

Rattling from the shadows, a gaggle of rat-gnawed bones march forward eager to slay the living. One of them lags behind, looking a bit more solid than the rest. You know your mace should have broken the leading skeletons to pieces. Yet, it merely cracked bones instead of shattering them. Tentacles lash out from the slower skeleton, adhering to you and pulling you closer to the maw manifesting from its ribcage. This is the frame mimic. The spawn of the ossuary mimic, this monstrosity also feels a kinship to the undead - specifically animated skeletons. It adopts a group of such horrors and its very presence temporarily empowers them. This is why the skeletons keep it around instead of hacking it to pieces as they would any other living thing. On top of that, frame mimics develop a supernatural stubbornness that can only be called boneheaded. So powerful is this force of will, that it mends their wounds as they plough forward against deadly spells. Frame Mimic Medium Monstrosit...

Brocade Mimic

The masked bard in gaudy attire was strumming away when the bar fight started. It kept playing even as chairs broke and mugs flew. Not one strum was missed even when blood was spilled. Then someone grew sick of the racket and stuck a hand ax into the bard's neck...with a wooden thunk. The fancy vest exploded with teeth, tentacles, and eyes. Then there was the color spray... The first brocade mimic lurked in the rafters of a bard college. Instead of eating a future player, it learned alongside them and caught a passion for the arts. Of course, it could have become an instrument but that wasn't quite grand enough. The mimic became a set of fancy clothes and was worn out the front doors. Sometimes it and its spawn become a bard's best friend. sometimes it pilots a dead one around for a bit, and other times it takes over a mannequin to strike out on its own. No matter how, the show must always go on. Brocade Mimic Medium Monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral ...

Yoke Mimic

Something tore apart the bandits you've been tracking, but it's not obvious what chewed and in some cases melted them. Maybe there's a wyrmling in the area? Either way, all that remains alive in the camp is a pair of oxen burdened by their cart. Though, they are quite nonplussed given the violence that must have occurred around them. Surely these simple beasts couldn't be the case of the carnage, could they? As you ponder this, the oxen start plodding away, pulling the cart of goods with them. Trying to stop them was the logical thing to do... their yoke coming undone with twin, yawning mouths not so logical. You know what that means... initiative rolls, please. Relatively benign, for a mimic, the yoke mimic was cultivated by an industrious farmer. They didn't see the point of wasting an animal that came into their care, even a strange monstrosity such as this one. It became a valuable tool not only to get fields plowed, but also kept the animals attached to it d...

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