A Suburb of Infinigrad: The Angel's Burial Ground. Part 1: Overview, Landmarks and Populace.

The Angel’s Burial Ground (Mountaintop suburb of Infinigrad).

Map of the suburb. 

Overview of the suburb: 

The Angel’s Burial Ground is a converted sanatorium, sprawling alongside one of the last remaining mountain ranges not destroyed by Infinigrad endless expansion. Towers of multi-coloured marble, smooth finished and organic. A multitude of arches, round doors and windows. These are populated with angels, a raceoid fond of high places and clear air.

The suburb’s famous whispering winds are rumored to bring messages from the gods.  Pray and ask for guidance in high places here and you might hear a reply. Eons ago, patients and doctors alike would plead with the winds for cures. The winds can be violent though. Many have been sent over the edge of their place of prayer into oblivion from a powerful gust. It is assumed that those who suffered this fate asked questions that angered the gods.

When first visiting the streets of The Angel’s Burial Ground one might think them choked with a multitude of winged statues. These are in fact the calcified or crystal coated corpses of long dead angels. When death comes for angels their bodies are submitted to some secret ritual that preserves their perfect forms. Sometimes these are gilded, bejewelled and costumed but often they are left bare. Always they are used to decorate the streets and buildings of the suburb

Local Landmarks: 

The Stairs of Silk.

Once white marble public staircase hundreds of stairs high and wide enough for six men abreast. The huge bannisters are carved as to be flowing clothe and curtains. Great holes are bored into these bannisters and black iron chains are hung from them. Dead and dying beaked-men infested with black and grey scales wallow in these chains (AC 14, d6HD@d6, Claws: d4 x 2.). They plead to be released or claim they are doctors from clattering black beaks. They will lunge at any one who gets close enough and attempt to rend and devour their flesh.

The Stairs of Light. 

A dark purple marble public staircase hundreds of stairs high and wide enough for four men abreast. The railing is lined with tens of ornate lightning contraptions, sparking energy from the air around it and lighting the way up or down the stairs. Hung from these lanterns are a myriad of ancient necklaces, rotting and rusted. They appear to have once been magical but now drained of all power.

The Stairs Down The Mountain.

A dark purple marble public staircase that winds deep down into the bowels of the purple mountains. It is hundreds of stairs high and wide enough for two men abreast. The bannisters were once adorned with the engravings of fish and snakes, but this has been chipped away and destroyed over the eons. Dark rubble coats the stairs. d6 storm angels (AC14, d8@d6, An axe in each hand: d8 x 2) loiter on the stairs and generally don’t let anyone into their mountain roost without a good reason.

The Foul Scale Lake.

An enormous dome of wrought iron caging covers this black, scum-coated lake.  Branches of eon dead calcified trees poke out of the fetid water. Squirming through the water, trapped in their iron cage is an entire town of Scaled Men. Though the cage is all-encompassing, there are clear bends and breaks in the metal. The water of the lake drains into building 28, through a thick metal mesh, and back down the gullet of the mountains, where the cage terminates against the purple stone.

The Bridge of Healing.

This smashed and rotting bridge is contained within the cage of The Foul Scale Lake. It is engraved with the visage of uncountable happy, smiling and healthy faces. d20 Scaled Men lurk on the bridge, glaring at passer-by’s.

The Healer’s Statue.

A three storey colossus, the cage of Foul Scale Lake wrapped around its ankles. It is the figure of a masked doctor, medical tools in one hand, screaming infant in the other. Its base is crawling with d10 Scaled Men.

The Purple Mountains / The Purple Crags of the Storm Angels / Storm’s Roost.

A miniature mountain range of purple stone and skinny, needle sharp towers. The entire range is peppered with holes, caverns and tunnels – some hinting at crude architecture from an age ago. The range is infested with Storm Angels (the mountain tops), Scaled Men (the wet central caverns) and Filthy Gangsters (The bowels of the mountain that turns into a running river feeding nearby, lower suburbs).  

The Streets of the Suburb. : Broad cobblestones of eon stained multi-coloured marble. Piled against every building are the corpses of untold angels, decorated and grand. These line the external walls of most buildings too.

Local Populace:

A note on HD:

The HD for these beings in a dXHD@dX notation. This simply means rolling the first d to determine HD and roll the second type of die noted when determining the amount of hit points for said being. Each level of HD = +1 To Hit.

Neutral inhabitants:

The vast majority of the suburb’s population belong to the angelic raceoid.

Generic Angels: Annoyingly good looking, with contemptuous features and wings that allow them to fly short distances. AC 12, d4HD@d6, Dagger or Sword: d6. Wants: To live their life in peace and practice their profession, roll a d10: 1) Mind soother, 2) Calming Dust Cook, 3) Crystal Trader, 4) Scale Remover, 5) Dream recorder, 5) Dead Angel Cleaner, 6) Perfume mixer, 7) Public stairwell cleaner, 8) Cushion arranger, 9) Reliquary attendant, 10) Graveyard tender.

The duty of keeping order in the suburb falls to a martial group known as;

The Protectors of the Wind: Large, round helmeted angels. Elaborate sculpting exaggerates the mouth and ear pieces of their bulbous helmets, a very thin slit allows vision. Light weight robes of chainmail covers their bodies but still allows them to fly. AC 15, d8@d8, Spear: d10: Whispers on the Wind: The Protectors of the Wind can communicate over long distances to one another due to their connection to the wind, assisted with their elaborate helmets. The wind also whispers to them thigs that no one else could know. Wants: Order maintained in the suburb, all those that disrupt this are evicted via one of the public stairways leading into the suburb. Those infected with spreading scales will be chained to the stairs of silk and left to die.

Additionally, there are two mutated groups of angels that dwell in the suburb:

Halfhere Angels: These angels know the mysteries of turning a corpse to stone or crystal. This practice appears to shift some of their very being out of the physical realm and into the formless realm of death. They tend to be incredibly aloof and are fond of covering themselves in veils of shimmering opaque silk. AC 12, d6HD@d6, Scythe: d8. Search Soul: Can communicate with the endless spirits that haunt every living being to deduce much of a person’s history and personality. Wants: To preserve the corpse of every slain angel and protect the graveyards already created with their own lives.

Storm Angels: Wild angels that roost in the purple mountains of the suburbs. Their burning blue eyes often surge and spark with electricity, as does their blue tinged wings. They are just as likely to be naked, save for a covering of scars, as in ragged scraps of leather. AC14, d8@d6, An axe in each hand: d8 x 2. Summon Storm: Ability to summon a miniature yet buffeting and upsetting squall or cyclone around a target once a day. Wants: To clear out the scaled men and the filthy gangsters infesting the bowels of the mountain. Also the be struck by lightning as much as possible.

Dangerous inhabitants:

The Scaled Men: Ancient humanoids, perhaps at one point simply humans, covered in thick layers of black and grey scales. They have cruel hooked beaks and too long clawed fingers. They can just barely croak and clack words from their beaks. AC 14, d6HD@d6, Claws: d4 x 2. Spreading Scales: On receiving a wound from a scaled man, test CON at Advantage. If failure black and grey scales will begin to spread from the wound, eventually to cover the entire body. Other impacts of the curse are the growing of a beak which will make it harder and harder to talk and also grant the inability to die of old age. Wants: To discuss with other scaled men, in hisses and croaks, the pain they are inflicting on those not affected by the curse. Rumours:  These beings are the survivors of a plague that wiped out the original inhibitors of the sanatorium. Their curse was the only cure for the plague that killed everyone else. Some scaled men have progressed over thousands of years to become half or whole fish, and others have grown enormous with their undying affliction and lurk within the waters of the mountains.  

Two Angelic Gangs also prowl the suburb:

The Diggers: Pale skin drained of colour, blue veins clearly visible, noble clothes covered in a tessellating pattern (AC 11) and heavy iron shovels used as two handed clubs (d8).

• A gang of gruff disaffected angel youth, who vandalize preserved angel corpses at every opportunity. Will jeer and insult Halfhere angels whenever they sight one.
• Often fighting one another to prove who the toughest digger is.
• Offensively, they bury their dead in holes in the ground to let their forms simply decompose.    
• Led by a 1000 year old scaled man, The Swimmer (AC 20, 10HD@d20, Strangle and suffocate: d10) who lounges in an enormous bathtub with wheels, handles and curtains. He has about 10 layers of thick scales making his skin almost impenetrable. These have started to form into fins, giving him the slight impression of a whale. He abhors any one seeing his form, so keeps his bathtub curtains drawn.
• The Swimmer knows most of the secrets of the suburb, being an ancient patient or doctor of the sanatorium. He doles these out to his followers, who are fond of the caches of exhilarating dust he helps them find.
• Currently the gang is attempting to relocate The Swimmer to a hidden cavern in the purple mountains that houses a most calming natural hot spring.

The Keepers of Secrets: Stern blue metal face masks, wings dyed an electric green, gold hued bronze chest plates and chainmail skirts (AC 15) and gleaming flamberge (d10). 

• Beneath their all-covering armour, all members of The Keeper of Secrets are infected with spreading scales. They are utterly ashamed of this and taken vows of silence to ensure no one finds out the truth.
• Their nameless leader has found a cache of healing dust that keeps the scales at bay. This is used incredibly sparingly to stop the scales from spreading across members wings, which will reveal their shame.
• Some members have had their wings removed, the scales spreading their before it could be treated. Members also painfully saw off their beaks when they develop, to ensure they can keep wearing their facemasks. This helps with the vow of silence.
• Recently, the nameless leader found documentation within the notes of an ancient doctor that a permanent cure for the scales exists. It is allegedly stowed away beneath the Healer’s statue in the Foul Scale Lake.