aspergillum - a Christian liturgical implement used to sprinkle holy water

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Clark Ashton Smith's short story The Colossus of Ylourgne. The abbott equips two monks bold enough to assail the evil stronghold.

#AppendixN #ClarkAshtonSmith

enjoin - instruct or urge to do something

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Clark Ashton Smith's short story The Colossus of Ylourgne. The Cistercian abbot urges his fellow brothers to have patience rather than rashly entering the devil-taken castle.

#AppendixN #ClarkAshtonSmith

fluted armor - plate armor with raised decorative ribbing and flourishes

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Gus L's Tomb Robbers on the Crystal Frontier. Let me tell you, this guy loves fluted armor.

#AppendixN #ttrpg #osr #OldSchoolEssentials #GusL

orichalcum - an unknown metal referenced in several ancient texts, meaning "mountain copper" in greek. Thought to be platinum, for a time. In 2015 ingots of orichalcum were discovered in a shipwreck; analysis revealed these to be a mixture of copper and zinc.

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Fritz Leiber's short story The Jewels in the Forest. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser seek treasure with guidance from a passage of marginalia.

#AppendixN #FritzLeiber #FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser #Lankhmar

pennon - long triangular or swallow-tailed flag, especially one of a kind formerly attached to a lance or helmet; a pennant

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Jack Vance's short story Mazirian the Magician. As the eponymous wizard pursues T'Sain from his gardens, her hair flows behind her like a flag.

#AppendixN #JackVance #DyingEarth #SwordAndSorcery

cerement - waxed cloth for wrapping a corpse

catafalque - a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay (+ bonus word) from Clark Ashton Smith's short story The Colossus of Ylourgne. Newly buried corpses claw their way from their graves and run into the night.

#AppendixN #ClarkAshtonSmith

coadjutor - title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. Literally "co-assistant" in Latin.

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Clark Ashton Smith's short story The Colossus of Yrlounge. The necromancer Nathaire is suspected of going into hiding and conferring with his demon lieutenants.

#AppendixN #ClarkAshtonSmith

imperator (plural, imperatrix) - Roman title for a commander, given to a victorious general

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Gene Wolfe's The Sword of the Lictor. Severian attempts to flatter the two-headed giant Typhon.

#AppendixN #GeneWolfe #TheBookOfTheNewSun #sffbookclub #dyingearth

falcata - pre-Roman Iberian sword, single-edged, curved. Favored by Hannibal.

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Gus L's Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier. An adventurer's corpse provides some equipment in a room of dangerous crystal shards.

#AppendixN #GusL #ose #ttrpg

beard - verb, boldly confront or challenge

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Howard's The God in the Bowl. Conan warns the police that they will not intimidate him.

#AppendixN #RobertEHoward #ConanTheBarbarian

rostrum - a raised platform on which a person stands to make a public speech, receive and award or conduct an orchestra

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan. Chef Swelter drunkenly addresses his apprentices.

#AppendixN #MervynPeake #Gormenghast #TitusGroan

levinbolt - a lightning strike or bolt

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Fritz Leiber's Swords Against Death, from the story The Circle Curse. Lightning illuminates Sheelba's robes, filled with empty blackness, as she gives a message to Fafhrd and the Mouser.

#AppendixN #FritzLeiber #FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser #sffbookclub #swordandsorcery

defile - a steep-sided, narrow gorge or passage (originally one requiring troops to march in single file)

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber. Corwin watches the fires of Bleys's army in a chasm below.

#AppendixN #RogerZelazny #ChroniclesOfAmber #sff #sffbookclub

souk - a bazaar; an Arab market or marketplace

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Leo Hunt's setting Vaults of Vaarn. The markets of Gnomon offer visitors all manner of oddities.

#AppendixN #VaultsOfVaarn #ttrpg #osr

paling - a fence made from pointed wooden or metal stakes

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Algernon Blackwood's novella The Willows. Cormorants line the shore like short black sticks.

#AppendixN #AlgernonBlackwood #horrorlit #folkhorror #horror

etiolate - (botany) to whiten (a green plant) through lack of sunlight. To become or cause to become pale and weak, as from malnutrition.

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Leo Hunt's setting Vaults of Vaarn. Vaarn's past has lost its vibrancy in all records and histories.

#AppendixN #VaultsOfVaarn #ttrpg #osr

malefic - causing or capable of causing harm or destruction, especially by supernatural means.

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Algernon Blackwood's novella The Willows. The narrator fears they've angered the elements; his traveling companion believes it's the old gods.

#AppendixN #AlgernonBlackwood #FolkHorror #horror #HorrorLit

lazaret - a small compartment below the deck in the after end of a vessel, used for stores

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Gene Wolfe's The Citadel of the Autarch. Severian recuperates in a room converted to a makeshift hospital ward as the war rages nearby.

#AppendixN #GeneWolfe #BookOfTheNewSun #botns

coffle - a line of animals or slaves fastened or driven along together

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Chris Kutalik and Luka Rejecs' adventure module What Ho, Frog Demons. An immaculately-coiffured mountebank met on the road offers to sell some indentured servants' contracts.

#AppendixN #HillsCanton #LabyrinthLord #ttrpg #osr

sward - an expanse of short grass

#AppendixNLocutionOfTheDay from Howard's Conan story The Tower of the Elephant. Conan scans the outer garden beneath the tower, looking for the guard.

#AppendixN #RobertEHoward #Conan