Hollow Fountain

 

About a week ago I went on a weekend getaway by myself and during the six hour train trip I finally got to dive into Silksong. I take a lot of inspiration from the media I consume, but I'm also a practical GM: I seldom have the time or the spoons to homebrew unless it has direct potential for my game.

 

While Silksong has little inspiration for my current game of samurai intrigue, the game reminded me that some years ago the original Hollow Knight inspired a piece of homebrew for my OSR game, Tales of Greed.

I ultimately had no chance to use this piece of homebrew, and it’s been sitting in my drafts box ever since. Every time I begin planning a fantasy campaign I wonder if it would have a suitable place to use it.

My campaign used the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules, but this should generally be usable with any OSR ruleset with minimal tinkering.

I hope you find this piece interesting.

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Servants of the Hollow Fountain

The Hollow Fountain is an obscure artifact of a forgotten sorcerer. It's main purpose is to create Hollow Servants.

 

Summoning a Servant 

The summoner must fashion one to five masks from white alabaster. The masks' front must be kept flawless, while its inner side can be inscribed with a command phrase, using special ink mixed from the water of the fountain, in the language of the Fountain's makers. Supplies for the mask and ink cost 2d6x100 sp per mask and it takes at least a day of work to carve a single mask.

The instructions cannot be more than one sentence long and must define clear completable goals. For example, “Destroy the Elder King.” and “Bring the Ashen bloodline back to the throne.” are acceptable, but “Serve me faithfully.” or “Gather all the knowledge.” are not. Once the Servant has completed its function it will vanish. The order should be specific. A general order like “Kill the king” will have the servant complete its command by slaying any king that happens to cross its path. The summoner may give different Commands to different masks, but they cannot decide on the order in which Servants rise from the fountain.

In the summoning ritual, the summoner must sacrifice at least one level of experience to empower the servants, though they may optionally sacrifice more. Servants are tied to the summoner's will and soul, so they cannot take levels from sacrificial victims. The sacrificed levels are forever bound into the servants and are lost permanently.

During the ritual levels are distributed between the masks randomly. For example, sacrificing five levels might result in one 5 HD Servant and four 0 HDServants, five 1 HD servants or anything in between. The ritual lasts for a day per HD per Servant.

After the ritual is performed the Servants emerge in random order with the first one emerging in d6 hours, the second in d6 days, third d6 weeks, fourth in d6 months and fifth in d6 years. The Servants emerge from the shadows of the fountain and immediately begin acting their purpose.

If two or more Servants possess the same Command and the order is completed or otherwise rendered inapplicable, any remaining servants won’t spawn unless something happens to make their order relevant again.

When the Servant possess different Commands, a new Servant rises from the fountain only after its predecessor has completed its Command. 

Hollow Servants

A Servant looks like a shadowy being physically resembling its creator. It dons the mask that holds its instructions and generally tries to cover itself with a shawl, cloak or other piece of clothing. They generally bond to a first weapon they see and use it for the rest of their existence. The Servant can see and hear normally and understands most languages, but cannot speak nor otherwise communicate.

The Servants are not really sentient. They possess a degree of sapience and can, for example, search for a key, if they cannot pass through a door or have their weapon forged and pay for it or obey verbal instructions as long as they are convinced that it will help complete their mission. The Servant can and will pick up equipment or learn spells from its fallen foes.

The Servant gains XP like a Player character, but if it dies any XP gained after the last level up is lost. The servant gains a level when it gains experience equal to the next level x 1000.

A Hollow Servant cannot truly die until its mission is complete. If slain, the Servant is separated from its mask and leaves behind a hostile shadow which has an HD and damage equal to the Servant. It will attack any nearby living target.

A slain Servant forms around its mask after d6 days unharmed. (If the mask is destroyed, a new one will form in the nearest “safe location”.) Death of a servant doesn't trigger the emergence of another, unless the servant dies on another plane of existence, it is banished, or otherwise rendered dormant.

Statblock

HD varies, att d6 (claws) or weapon, move as unencumbered man (shadow has equal flying speed), morale 12. (Intelligent Servants perform a tactical retreat as if they had morale 9, but they never flee and they will return.)

Servants with five or more HD possess a rudimentary intelligence which allows them to make tactical decisions, learn from its mistakes or even make attempts at rudimentary communication. (They still do not possess true sentience, but are able to mimic it akin to a Chinese Room.)

(This text was originally published in our local RPG community's zine. I forget which issue and will update the info when I remember.)