Jalamere: Encounters Within 1,000 Miles of the Black Ziggurat

This table provides random encounters for those areas within a 1,000 mile radius of the Black Ziggurat of Jalamere, using the Swords & Wizardry (White Box).

The Black Ziggurat was first discovered/described by Blair at Planet Algol and all who seek to unravel its mysteries owe him a sincere debt of gratitude. It's the OSR's equivalent to a Vanishing Tower, a real Pan-Polycosmic Crossoversort of cooperative/collaborative artifact, so to speak.

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Outer Perimeter Encounters
(Areas Within 1,000 miles of the Black Ziggurat)

1. Curdled Air. The very air itself has curdled into something translucent and unbreathable for the next (2d100 miles), thankfully you noticed something 'not quite right' about the skies ahead of you and you still have time to turn back or perhaps you'd prefer to attempt to skirt around the stuff?
2. Broken Obelisks. Each one is (3d100) feet tall, heavily pitted, scored and cracked where they aren't sheared-off or otherwise broken as though from some intense and very large-scale violence. There are shards scattered all around each Obelisk. They radiate a faint magic. Local tribes craft +1 arrow-heads from these shards. No one is ever quite sure what the overall effect will be for one of these arrows, but it usually works out to something damaging or harmful to the recipient, and that's enough for the tribesfolk. (Yes, we'll have a follow-up Table for you shortly...)
3. Nomadic Grove. Huge, old trees resembling sequoias only much bigger are leading a grove of many different kinds of trees across the wilderness, away from the Black Ziggurat. For the most part they are peaceful, tolerant and slow-going, but if provoked their wrath can extend for miles and will endure for centuries.
4. Glimmer. A faint sparkly-light can be seen in the distance. Pursuers must roll a D20: 'Even' results means that they are closing on it and can deduct the amount from 1,000 feet. Odd results means that they've gone off-track or the thing has shifted, and they must add the result to the 1,000 feet (or the remainder if they rolled an 'even' result previously). It requires an exactly 'zero' distance in order to find the source of the Glimmer. The source of these sorts of glimmers tends to be strange crypts, old tombs, and alien ruins that are not quite fully nor completely congruent with Jalamere. (Insert Random Mini-Dungeon Here, if you like...)
5. Terminaut Horde. (10D100) Terminauts are marching through the area ahead. The entire procession is silent, sinister and mostly intangible. Anyone sleeping within (1d4) miles of a Terminaut Horde on the march has a base 80% chance to attract the notice of their scouts or some other outrider unit. Anyone unconscious or otherwise not in full possession of their faculties must make a Save or suffer possession by a Terminaut Recruiter. No one intentionally draws the attention of a Horde upon themselves, especially not by attacking one, unless they have a desire to be taken-over by insectoid minds and forced to fight in an endless war that will never be explained to them as it is well beyond the scope of their station or pay grade.
6. Ossuarial Tidal Deposit. Bones and more bones and still more bones have been washed-up along the edges of this area as though a cemetery flooded and the waves carried all the contents to this spot. Every drop of blood spilled within this area results in another skeleton arising from the silt, sand and salt to mindlessly attack any and every living thing that they can detect or track down. These skeletons gain 1 point of INT for every 10 hit points of damage they inflict upon player characters. Those achieving 4 or more INT can decide to shift the points into other attributes, including CON to gain more Hit Dice. They all start out with 1 HD and only have some random bones to cobble make-shift weapons from, until someone drops something or leaves something behind. Oh, and the skeletons can relentlessly pursue anyone they've ever damaged as though there is some sort of necromantic connection between them and their victims.
7. Gorgolisk and Entourage. A large palanquin born aloft by a small army of ash-wights and other, lesser-recognizable pseudo-humanoids is passing along just out of bow-shot. A richly collared claymoire carries an elegant banner before the procession. There are no body-guards visible. Anyone under 10 HD must make a Save or flee in terror for the next (3d6) minutes. Those who make the Save might consider withdrawing a bit before they are noticed.
8. Salt Formations. Glaring hot-spots covered with massive salt-deposits in a wide variety of tints. Undead cannot enter these regions. The living must make a Save every hour spent travelling through this stuff or suffer dehydration. Fail to make a Save three times and it becomes Heat Stroke. All the water in this area is poisonous brine. Food exposed to the air must be consumed immediately or it dries-up into inedible junk within (1d4) minutes. Leather exposed to the salt degrades over time and will begin to fall apart after (1d4) hours, magical leather gaining a Save which will allow it to persist for double the usual amount of time.
9. Prowling Polyp Warband. (3d6) Aerial Polyps armed with (2d4) curved short-swords and (1d4) short bows, each, are tracking down some unnameable prey or enemy. They will ignore anyone who does not attack or otherwise provoke them. On a roll of '1' the Polyps will decide to interrogate any wanderers they come across. They do this via a rough and tumble form of combative telepathy that leaves the victims stumbling around in a daze, disoriented and suffering from the temporary loss of (1d4) INT or WIS. Sometimes, according to the tales told around tribefolk campfires, those questioned in this way can find themselves switched into the body of one of their companions. But that's just a tall tale, isn't it?
10. Wormsign. The ground trembles, shakes and a large crack opens up before you. A very, very large worm-like thing just passed by, deep underground. The area within a (3d4) mile radius is now unstable, subject to collapse, subsidence, ground slides, and the formation of sink-holes.
11. Bat Man. A colossal basalt figure looms menacingly from behind a dimly-lit and low-lying cloud of mist or fog. It is carved into some sort of heroic personification of a greatly exaggerated human male with the head of a bat and a cloak that seems on the verge of becoming wings. The whole thing was hand-carved and must have taken a long, long time to complete. Who would build such a thing? And why? Where did they go?
12. Pig Pit. The ground gives way before you, sloping precipitously down into the gaping maw of a deep, deep pit. A foul stench and peculiar multi-colored vapors emanate from this crudely formed hole in the ground. A coarse and disturbing grunting echoes from deep below, followed by the occasional shriek or screams. There are (2d100) Pig-Things down there. They are trying to dig their way back to the Transplanar Tunnels their kind use to invade other realms, but so far they've had no luck. Perhaps they need more slaves to dig deeper...
13. Dead Monolith. Blackened and brittle, the remains of a once healthy Monolith crumble into the darkened soil. The area reeks of ennui and anyone coming here must make a Save or lose 2d4 hours listlessly pondering the boring pointlessness of their existence. Those who succeed on their Save only take 1 point of WIS damage (temporary) and can continue on their way.
14. Aerial Jellyfish Swarm. (4d100) small but hyper-poisonous gelatinous sacs of living fluid flutter and squirm through the air, each one dangling a multitude of tiny thread-like tendrils that will sting anyone who comes into contact with them for (3d4) damage plus an immediate Save at -2 or suffer terrifying hallucinatory nightmares for (3d6) hours. Lizard-shamen often dance naked in the midst of these things in order to receive visions. Those that don't die are considered profoundly accomplished dreamers.
15. Circle of Petrified Poses. Twelve different humanoids are arranged in a variety of grotesque and painful-looking contortions forever frozen into a porous, chalk-like stone that crumbles when scratched or struck with a weapon. These are all victims of Gorgolisks and have been deliberately set up as displays to frighten off the easily scared and to challenge one another to ever greater artistic achievements. Infusing one of these 'statues' with (1d4) hit points worth of blood will grant them a crude form of reanimation for a corresponding number of minutes. Most require at least a full minute of screaming before they can be conversed with in any meaningful manner. Should anyone be so inclined, the victims of the Gorgolisks can all be recovered into a strange mineral-esque parody of life by a steady infusion of fresh blood...so far no one has taken up the challenge.
16. Unfinished Claymoire. This vaguely humanoid figure looms fully twice as tall as a normal human, despite being built upon a framework wired together from the bones of dead heroes and other specimens culled from defiled mortuaries and catacombs. Their flesh is a slightly damp mixture of clay, ashes and strange oily substances said to be derived from various Writhing Masses that have been rendered in the cauldrons of Gorgolisks. Typical Claymoire wield mighty two-handed swords and they are immune to fear, pain and/or the pangs of conscience. They are neither living nor dead, but rather some strange amalgamation constructed from the raw bits of both to form some bizarre third option as part of the weird arts of their Mistresses. The touch of a Claymoire can inflict a state of Pernicious Ennui upon those who fail a Save (spend next (1d4) hours bored and listless, unable to concentrate, defend or cast spells). Luckily, this particular specimen is incomplete, lacking its left leg and thus must either hop or drag itself along at half normal movement.
17. Fog Worms. Cold blue-tinged fog rolls in from the low places. The fog reduces visibility to (1d4) feet. It only gets more opaque if subjected to torches or Light spells. This effect covers an area (4d10) feet in radius and provides cover for a swarm of transparent aerial worms that will envelop their targets within the fog so as to strike by surprise. Fog Worms will wait for (1d4) minutes, then lash out wildly and blindly at everything within their rolling cloud of fog inflicting (2d4) damage on up to (3d6) randomly determined  targets. Anyone voluntarily offering-up a portion of their essence, in effect voluntarily suffering 1 point of temporary CON loss, will no longer be attacked by the worms for the duration of this encounter.
18. Implacable Colossus. Over a mile tall and incredibly ancient, these ponderous beings walk across the zones and regions of Jalamere as though deep in thought. Some host aeries of Harpies, or nests of Killhawk broods, while others have been colonized by tribes of strange beings whose ancestors have been left far, far behind them. A few have entire villages rigged-up within the cracks and crevices of their lower legs. Few have ever dared to climb much higher. It wouldn't be wise to draw their attention away from whatever it is that they are pondering on their travels.
19. Itchy Flakes. At first it looks like some sort of snow storm, or perhaps a strange dust storm, but no, it's a swirling and fluctuating area of semi-malevolent turbulence made up of millions of particles and fragments of dead skin. Anyone caught within this non-storm must Save or suffer from itchy irritation for the next (3d4) hours as well as experiencing a -4 penalty to all CHAR reaction rolls.
20. Special Encounter.