Cowboys From Hell. DMs Guide

The DMs guide for Cowboys From Hell that I used. It contains notes on the various encounters, and buildings in town.

Locations in Thornrock

Blackhorn’s Manor: Just outside of town, large plantation style house. 

Center: The center of town is packed earth surrounding an immense statue of a grotesque Horned Devil ramming a trident down the throat of a snake man. The placard calls this piece “Rofocale slays the disobedient”. It looks like halfhearted attempts to take it down were started at one point, but that has been given up. If you ask around, that’s the guy who used to own the place.

• Proprietor: Mayor Flint
• Goods: None, but serves as a center point of town. All hangings are done here, and that’s the main purpose.

Stable: Broken down and badly in need of repair, the stable generally has 5 horses. Asag has 5 Lemure who handle all the work wrangling and breaking, but he will take the money. His whole area is desecrated.

• Proprietor: Asag The Vile (Tiefling Ranger 4)
• Goods: 5 light horses. Will pay top dollar for a nightmare, and is willing to buy other exotic mounts for sale elsewhere.

Temple to Malcanthet: The temple to Malcanthet functions as a bank as much as a church. Aspb’el’s vaults contain the town’s treasury, and the savings of most of the townsfolk, including Blackhorn himself. Her Aldermen serve as tax collectors, and they perform a lot of the governmental functions to keep the town running. They also ensure the proper cut is sent to Darkspire, a very important task.

• Proprietor: Aspb’el Erinyes high priestess of Malcanthet (cleric 8)
• Goods: spellcasting as per cleric 8 with the Travel and Trickery Domain.
• Servants: 3X male Tiefling Cleric 1 – Lesser priests (Lech, Zou, Eblis)
• Secrets: Aspb’el very much believes she should be in charge of the town. That isn’t a secret, but her actions as an informant to Blackhorn are. They have an arrangement where she will run the town and give him the mine. If they can outlast Ilaqi.

Gentleman’s Prince: Outside of the church, the Gentleman’s Prince is the tallest building in town. And only then because of the steeple. The Prince is a three story building that serves as the hub of town activity. Mayor Flint does most of his official job duties from the bar at the tavern on the first floor. Its second is an active brothel, and the third is off limits. Broadly staffed by Imps and Lemures.

• Proprietor: Glasia, Succubus Matron. She runs the whole affair and keeps it running smoothly. Her “Sisters”, Jikiniki, Merihem, and Preta work upstairs.
• Goods: Bar – Booze, Inn food. Upstairs – Companionship. 10gp/night. Change shape is double.
• Secrets: There actually isn’t anything sinister upstairs. They just live there.

Gamigin’s Smith and Forge: Gamigin is a stern Azer thoroughly devoted to his art. He set out to Hell thinking the Blood War would serve as a great market, but found his way here and now simply makes what the town needs. He does still make arms and armor but by and large focuses on horseshoes and the like. He has bought 4 Lemure, who he has do the basic work around the shop, but the actual smithing he does himself.

• Proprietor: Gamigin – Azer Artificer 5
• Goods: PHB metal trade goods (nails, horseshoes, whatever).  Can craft as needed 1 day per 1000gp (cash up front)+1 week for item if he needs to craft that too. Generally keeps longswords, daggers, light maces, and pistols in stock. Happens to have a Trident of Fish Command he cannot unload on special right now 769gp. Does not know why he bought it from that merchant, but suspects he was swindled. +2 small full plate 5650gp (guy never picked it up), Heavy Steel Shield +1 1170gp (same, suspects paladin was slain), +1 Dagger 2301gp, +2 Gilded and Silvered Greatsword 8350gp.

Yeqon’s: Yeqon’s is magical jewelry shop, filled to the brim with trinkets and tinctures. The Tiefling wizard Yeqon runs the place fairly absent mindedly, but pays her Imps top dollar to ensure thievery is a bad idea. Her familiar runs it, but the other 4 Imps aren’t to be ignored.

• Proprietor: Yeqon, Tiefling wizard 7
• Goods: seemingly endless supply of magical components under 1gp, arranged in open air containers, reminding you of a spice market. But with guano. Jewelry is displayed haphazardly, and piles of art pieces arranged at random. In stock – Arcane Scroll of sunburst 3000gp, Divine scroll of deeper darkness 375gp, Divine scroll mass cure light 1125gp, potion cure serious 750, potion haste 750, ring of protection +3 18000, staff of healing (18 charges) 9990gp. She can craft wondrous items, scrolls, and potions. She can also be paid to get spells from her book. She can also identify items, for 120gp.  Willing to sell personal equipment at 20% mark up.
• In addition she randomly has 2d6 of the following.
  • 2X Bolt electrum cloth 900gp each
  • Bolt of cloth threaded w/bronze 600gp.
  • Bolt of Silk 170gp
  • Brass Music Box 2000gp
  • Bronze Statue of a Dragon wreathed in red continual flame 2000gp.
  • Copper brooch set with banded agate 1000gp
  • Crystal Ball 1200gp
  • Bag of diamond dust worth 10d10gp
  • Gold crown set in purple continual flame 5000gp
  • Set of 7 Jade D6 75gp
  • Leopard Fur Corset with silver inlay
  • 10d6 gp worth of onyx coins (10gp each)
• Secrets: Yeqon will happily handle thieves on her own, without involving the town. Folks just disappear at night sometimes.

Market: The open air market is home to all sorts of locals selling a variety of goods in stalls. It is relatively unregulated, and free form, but the Devils have arranged themselves into a habitual “my area” set up by formality.

• Proprietor: many
• Goods: any PHB that aren’t arms/armor. + Lemure at 50gp a piece. (2d6 Lemure at any given time)

Guard House and Jail: The guard house is a sturdy stone building with reinforced doors and no walls. Inside is a small room with 4 lockers for staff storage, and a holding cell made of Iron bars (DC 30 to lockpick). It shares a wall with the Jail, but there is no entrance between the two. The jail has the same stone walls, and reinforced doors. To enter the jail, you need to be wearing or accompanying someone with a badge of office from the town. Otherwise the Acid Fog, Black Tentacles, and Summon Monster 4 Trap go off (covering the entirety of the jail, and potentially killing anyone who happens to be inside. The cells are all warded vs teleportation with a dimensional anchor and have a DC 40 open lock check to open.

• Proprietor: PCs maybe? No one? The PCs are expected to run it, but no one has been for a while.
• Goods: Jail cells? PCs could post bounties if they want.
• Secrets: secret tunnels (DC 30 search check) connect the jail to a tunnel leading 5 miles outside of town.

Mayors Manor: Mayor is almost never here, and it’s actually locked if the PCs try to go. Once inside, it’s ornately decorated, but covered in cobwebs.

• Proprietor: Mayor Leonard Flint.
• Goods: None.

Hex Key

You will note many of the occupied hexes are actually just links to various books or adventure modules. I try to include the page when needed, but we would just run that short encounter if we went there. Mini-dungeon is an invaluable book for GMs, and I use it constantly when I need a quick adventure but don’t want to do much work. Its great for filling hex squares. I used it and Sandstorm pretty heavily for this game.

• 0/0 – Carrionholme: Mini-dungeon page 80. Changed to be not so much a swamp, as a steamy bog. 
• 0/5 – ambush with goblinoid raiders.. 
• 1/0 – Lauron’s Tomb – Mini-dungeon – Page 190 – (vampire living in a castle). Lauron will kidnap Yeqon by week 5 if left alone. (this will probably happen).
• 1/4 – Hall of the hellbound heart – Mini-dungeon – page 154 – (changed so the guy is stealing Tiefling hearts)
• 1/8 – Sanctuary of Exsanguination – Mini-dungeon 68 – Not unknown to anyone. She actually has a contract with the town. 
• 1/9 – Active Silver Mine – Run by Phantomreach
• 2/2 – Nekh-ta-nebi’s tomb – Mini-dungeon page 92
• 2/4 – Giant Mercs
  • Hill Giant mercs (Hell’s horde, outfitted and trained by Fire Giant) have set up a stone ring wall fortress here where they train. 30 In total (minus any wandering who were slain). They have a couple of cannons on the fortress – 6d6 X4 100ft 
• 2/5 – Summoner’s Remorse – Mini dungeon page 118. Not in a forest, but mountains. Also, the Naga is here, not elsewhere. She is just bound in flame chains in room 12. Cultists are simply paid to keep her here as punishment. 
• 2/8 – Phantomreach
• 3/0 – Mummys Tomb – Sandstorm page 217
• 3/4 – untapped mine – Caves here could lead to discovery of an untapped Emerald Mine with sufficient survival/dungeoneering checks (DC 25)
• 3/6 – Runaway Train 
  • The fire elemental running a train broke free from Phantomreach, and was free. It crashed into some dunes and is dying to be let go. It’s been there for weeks and hasn’t eaten. The railway has a bounty (500gp) on it and some are looking. 
• 3/9 – Active Gold Mine: Run by Phantomreach
• 4/2 – Lair of a 7 headed Pryo-Hydra. Give it a volcano cave, and it swims around in the magma.  
• 5/0 – Sunken City of Pazar – Sandstorm 55
• 5/3 – Harpy Hive: A Hive of harpy live here and just make everything miserable. (think beehive)
• 5/4 – Abandoned Drider locked in an old Drow outpost.
• 5/6 – There are more things in the planes and the earth Mini-dungeon 82. Start with a mine and have them explore it. 
• 5/7 – Nofre-t-Kau: Dragon Book (this is a book I am/was working on. “Nofre-t-kau loves to fly, and hopes to be considered the queen of the skies, as soon as she gets just a little bigger. In the meantime, she soars through the air, hunting anything that flies and searching for salvage, which she brings back to her lair for storage.”)
• 6/1 – Sentinel: A Saguaro Sentinel lives here and considers himself the guardian of the cacti fields that prosper. 
• 6/2 – Look not with thine eyes, but thine mind: Mini-dungeon – page 122
• 6/5 – Wartooth Plateau: Wartooth tribe lives on and in a plateau here. 
• 6/6 – Salt Statuary : Sandstorm 58 – Swap it up as a salt mine. No random monsters, just all of the above are in it. If someone could deal with mummy you could mine it. 
• 6/7 – Pig Town: A band of 12 tribal Wereboar Tieflings laze about near some crude tents.
• 7/0 – Glass Fortress: Fire Elementals and Magmin are building a glass fortress as a pleasure resort for some rich Devil. They are 60% done.
• 7/3 – Thornrock: Main town the PCs are supposed to run. 
• 7/4 – Circle of Vrocks: The Jaazze (jaze) Brothers, moonshiners in the mountains. 5 Vrocks. 
• 7/5 – Palace of Ahmad Sahir: Mini-dungeon page 128. Take out Shem, and Ahmad is actually a potential ally. He built this place as a safe house to study Devils, and is leasing the land, only had to give away his daughter (isn’t obvious about that). Lake his house is on is much smaller. 
• 7/7 – Abandoned shrine – Mini-dungeon page 115
• 8/1 – Shadows of Madness – Mini-dungeon page 144 (party finds ruined tower with a staircase and barred door. 
• 8/2 – Temple of Three – Sandstorm 62 No random monsters, just all of the above are in it. 
• 8/4 – Ruby Mine Blackhorn keeps a squad of 15 Imps stationed out front.
  • They are keeping anyone out, and will make sure whoever approaches knows it’s Blackhorn’s mine and he retains the rights to it. Usually that scares folks off. If a fight breaks out, one flees and tells him. His men show up 2 days later. Imps will not offer advice or explanation of why they are not mining. They are Unfriendly and quick to become hostile. 
  • Out front of the mine is a pen with ~30 Lemures just sort of standing. All branded with Rofocale’s brand. They respond automatically to anyone with a sheriff badge (Note Blackhorn has one). They have mining gear and equipment and are primed and ready to go to work.
  • Mine is populated by Droutdrok Dimmaker – Duegar Cleric of Elder Earth who believes all gems belong to him. They have bought out the contract from Blackhorn for a 10% cut, which they plan to steal back once the mine is tapped.  
• 8/7 – Deep Mine Mystery: Mini-dungeon page 148 (Derro got in a fight with fungus people)
• 8/8 – Sasu-Khons-pa-set – Dragon Book (this is a book I am/was working on.  “Sasu-khons-pa-set’s magical abilities have begun to awaken and she is aware. She practices her spells deep within her maze-like caves deep in the desert away from prying eyes.” )
• 9/1 – Ta-be Rehu – Dragon Book (this is a book I am/was working on. “Ta-be Rehu is a Blue Wyrmling, just starting out. His cave isn’t a particularly impressive maze, but he has situated himself outside a nearby oasis that he finds acts as a lure to all sorts of prey and occasionally, even a distressed traveler. “)
• 9/4 – Nest Egg: A phoenix is using the caldera as a nest to hatch her egg.
• 9/5 – Untapped Mine: Untapped onyx mine could be found here with survival and dungeoneering checks. (DC 25)