Mysteries and Baited Hooks

So, we've got the Ranger Made of Hooks, but absolutely no idea who, what, or why they are... That's a mystery. It counts.

Happy GLOGtober!

The Rangery

'Ranger' is an in-world title. Rangers are somewhat like a secret society, somewhat like a freelance intelligence agency. They exist in the largest cities and the most distant wastes; naturally, many of them have found their way to the Mountain.

All Rangers are Made of Hooks, transformed into that shape through some arcane ritual initiation that has never been witnessed by an outsider. Perhaps there is an indoctrination component, some element of the process that turns double-agents into triple-agents and prevents them from betraying the Rangery. Or perhaps the ones that can't be turned are detected and quietly killed and replaced - after all, it would be hard to identify them once their body has been transformed into a knot of barbed and twisted iron.

Like Satans, you should add Rangers to all your encounter tables, maybe opposite the Satan (boxcars?). They can appear anywhere. They shouldn't really be directly hostile unless you're fucking with them, so take reaction rolls on that end of the spectrum to mean that their purposes are orthogonal to yours and likely in conflict.

They make camps, small chambers of comfort deep in the underground or high on the face. They stock these camps with weapons and provisions, everything crafted solely from locally available materials. The entrances are very well-hidden, but should you find one uninhabited you are welcome to make use of everything within; if the Ranger had not wanted you to find it, you wouldn't have done so.

You can play a Ranger Made of Hooks if you meet a friendly one and accept and complete a questmystery for it.

1d20 Ranger Mysteries

1. What lies at the heart of the Sun?
2. Take this ball of fishhooks to the mouth of Hell, anchor the line nearby, and throw it in.
3. What was the cause of the War that sundered the world?
4. Bring me the crown of a last king of giants.
5. Who blinded the leeches?
6. Burn the homes of the mushroom-folk.
7. Who were the Brothers?
8. Make peace between the ratmen and the bat men.
9. What is the meaning of the word 'elf'?
10. Cast this barbed spear from the top of the Mountain or higher, and have it land in the sea.
11. What is the source of G_d's power?
12. Plant this fishhook in the flesh of the Rune King.
13. Who is or was the Traitor?
14. Open the path from the cradle to the top of the Mountain.
15. Who survives of the Red Court?
16. Poison the blood pits.
17. What is the purpose of the Rangers?
18. Bring a colony of mushroom-folk to the surface of the moon.
19. Where lives the oldest whale?
20. Bring the richest denizen of the catacombs before the Sun to face judgement.