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| "A Song of Blood." John Buscema. |
The disembodied head of a long-vanquished demon lord refuses to die. In the wilderness, a tribe of misguided humans feed slaves into its ravenous maw. They are supported by a misguided prince who believes he has befriended the demon.
A forgotten race of headless bat-men (they have totemic faces in their chests) rule over a nightmarish cavern network, domesticating enormous, blind serpentine worms and harvesting psychedelic fungi.
A tribe of gray skinned goblins has begun kidnapping human women. They drag them off to strange, mauve ruins and perform despicable midnight rituals.
Zarazig Mountain. Fighting men from a dozen different
clans have gathered here to fight for the bemusement of a white-clad sorcerer
with a skeleton’s face.
Prismatic golems capture travelers for their wizard
master. They are kept in an elaborate slave pit until the wizard chooses them
for his unspeakable rites.
An enormous orange aberration dwells in the roots of an
ancient tree, feeding on those who trespass through its forest valley.
Green-scaled lizardmen dwell here in great numbers,
warring against pathetic humans and those who trespass into the ruined primeval
city they call home.
A garden of living trees (with disturbingly human mouths
and eyes like sunsets) watch over an incredible hoard of lost treasure. The
wealth of hundreds of would-be plunderers is strewn amidst their roots.
An otherwise peaceful city has a gargoyle problem (sudden
appearances, kidnapped women, horrified onlookers). It is worst when the moon
is full.
A stormy lake plagued by fierce crocodiles.
A sorceress (revealing red attire, a-la Vampirella,
wearing a golden skull mask) rules from a crystal tower. She delights in
tormenting souls and commands a vast and varied collection of incorporeal
undead.
The women of a remote village have been cursed with
lycanthropy. They do not permit those who know their secret to live.
A tribe of spear-fighters has learned to tame and ride
crocodiles. Their small empire is expanding rapidly. Their elites have become
tauric man-crocodiles and dwell in a sunken city beneath a lake.
Fat, legless gargoyles (their lower half is that of a serpent) hunt trespassers in their mountain home.
Icecrown Mountains. The land is covered in a thick coat of windblown snow and ice.
Were-lions dwell here, brutally oppressed by a sorceress in an ivory skull mask. Her legions are her experiments, poor bestial things that cannot disobey her yet hate her with every fiber of their being. The secret of the sorceress’ power is a demonic stone face in the heart of her tower.
A were-lion stalks the ruins, claiming women for his
harem and men for his sustenance.
Green-scaled lizardmen wage war against their red-scaled subterranean
counterparts.
A lost city protected by a dwindling order of knights who
ride giant hawks into battle. These knights worship hawk-headed gods and prey
upon the man-crabs of the lower cliffs.
A lonely bog. It is the last known location of the fabled
Eye of Set, a jewel worth more than kingdoms. The swamp’s most famous
inhabitant is a dark-haired woman who wears the skin of green leopards; most
believe she is a sorceress.
Bat-infested caves which house the remains of a forgotten
race of giants. Some giants have become undead guardians.
Atop a bare mountain, green-scaled lizardfolk pay homage
to their petty goddess: a great serpent with a gorgon’s head.
Man-crabs dwell in a sunken city, placated by pirate
gold.
Buandu Plains. A sentient stone golem is worshipped by local tribesmen. Its prowess in battle has made them wealthy and warlike, yet dependent on the creature. Its high priests wear cloaks of yellow silk and helmets of beaten gold.
A squat, deformed sorceress has mastered pyromancy. She
teaches her secrets to those who show her homage. She is protected by a tribe
of were-bears.
A coven of green-scaled lizardfolk meet in a benighted valley.
They make deals with ape-wizards, trading gorgeous violet stones for pyromancy.
In this ancient labyrinth, ape-wizards have successfully bred two-headed purple tyrannosaurs.
Orange skinned goblins in pink loincloths dwell in a
green stone ruin. They serve the whims of the ape-wizards.
Near the lake’s shore, a small city built within the calcified remains of a gargantuan angler fish.
An ancient monastery guarded by one-eyed yellow serpents.
Its steps ascend to the clouds. Its guardians never sleep.
Gargantuan, pale green dragonflies with exaggerated,
sharp-toothed humanoid mouths live amidst a cold pine forest. A single tower of
white stone with no visible entrance dominates the landscape, rising a thousand
feet into the sky. The local barbarians believe that riding a dragonfly is the
greatest show of bravery.
The undead remnant of a powerful barbarian chief rules over
a red, steaming lake. He demands sacrifices of children and stands twice as
tall as a normal man. He wears a tattered black cloak, a horned helm, and
wields a great-sword with a human skull counterweight. In battle, he rides a
black stallion with bat wings and glowing red eyes.
Gray goblin cannibals live in squalor on the shore of an
underground lake.
Kinbaram Fields. Mottled green dinosaurs rule this sandy
waste.
Deep below the earth, a many-tentacled yellow thing with
a woman’s face speaks prophesy from a clay-stained red lake.
A white primordial serpent, two hundred feet long, rules
over the broken ruin of an ancient castle.
Several desiccated corpses are chained to a monolithic
stone engraved with alien symbols. The surrounding desert offers few clues.
Dreaming Forest. The trees are full of dancing lights and
mysterious laughter.
A three-headed spider demon (the heads are human with five eyes apiece and horrible distended tongues) rules this forest, worshipped by savage human cannibals.
The smoking ruins of a small town. The air is filled with
smoke.
Bloodfen Mire. A ring-shaped stone monolith floats
serenely in the sky. Below, the trees look strangely like men. Approaching the
monolith is difficult: Not only because it is hovering, but also because of the
predatory trees that stalk the fen.
Fighting pits of the orange-scaled lizardmen. Dinosaurs,
subterranean beasts, and captured nomads fight for the amusement of
aristocratic snake-faced gorgons.
A tribe of elephant-riding nomads is expanding its
territory.
Empress of Silk. A green-silk-clad human sorceress with
power over spiders rules this ancient city, as she has for a thousand years.
Order is kept by spider-riding knights. Fates are decided in the gladiator
pits.
