Locations

Dead Root Altar

location / wish-granting altar / dungeon chamber Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch, p.12 (Room 10)

The tenth chamber of the Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch and the dungeon's true purpose. Walls, ground, and ceiling are covered in dead roots. A group of those roots stands up, shaped like an altar — lost symbols carved into it, small budding leaves spread across all roots while the loose bits of wood around the floor are completely dead and barren.

It is dead silent. Not a fly lives here.

The altar reads: "Without cost, no wish comes true. Make a pledge unwilling, and reality bends for you. Stay then silent."

The Wish

A wish made while an unwilling human is sacrificed on the altar somehow comes true. The exact phrasing matters; the GM is encouraged to find loopholes and complications. Asking for the world not to end only delays the inevitable. No matter the wish, the sacrifice dies screaming as their soul is pulled into the altar; all that remains is dead wood.

After a wish, roll d6:

  1. The altar temporarily cracks, weakening the Downward Spiral's barrier long enough for Srolki & Yaoxl to cross. No further wish for d12 months.
  2. The altar cracks straight through, weakening the Swamp Witch to 1 HP — she can be killed permanently. A Misery instantly activates. Nothing restores the altar.
  3. The room fills with chaotic magickal energy. All scrolls of Powers shift — test Presence for each scroll someone carries; on a fail, roll a new random Power to replace it. No further wish for d10 days.
  4. Seasons change. No further wish for d6 weeks.
  5. Time slows in the dungeon: roll until a Misery occurs, that many days pass. No further wish until as many more days pass.
  6. The altar deems the pledge unworthy. Everyone present loses d4 max HP. No further wish for as many months as total HP were lost.

A willing sacrifice is punished — the would-be sacrifice thrown into the air for d10 damage, the wish-maker testing Toughness DR16 or taking 2d8 + paralyzed for d6 rounds. This also angers the Swamp Witch, who appears, sword in hand.

The forbidden words to activate the altar were carried by a murdered messenger wearing the crest of mad King Fathmu IX — found in a ditch.

Connections

Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch, Swamp Witch, Srolki & Yaoxl, Downward Spiral, Fathmu IX, Powers, Calendar of Nechrubel, Misery Table

Gaps / Expansion Notes

Why Fathmu IX's messenger carried the forbidden words is left to GM (a heretical scheme to undo Verhu?). Whether the altar was grown from the Swamp Witch's roots, or planted at her sepulchre by some older power, is unwritten. The "loose bits of wood" that look vaguely human, scattered around the floor, are the previous unwilling sacrifices — they are not labeled in source but the implication is clear.