The Red Topaz Goddess

My Ruins of the Undercity campaign continues and for the first time one of the characters makes it to second level.

Zoltar the High Priest

Akram, Nameera, Somteva and Zareef return to Cryptopolis to get some sleep. Akram, the holy beggar turned cleric of the Red Goddess, is the first to wake. He goes to the Temple of the Red Goddess. Zoltar, one of the high priests of the Temple, casts a Quest spell and orders him to return to the Undercity at once to retrieve a holy relic for the Temple. The relic is a small statuette of the Red Goddess carved from red topaz, known as the Red Topaz Goddess. A map has been found showing the location of the Red Topaz Goddess in the Undercity.

The Red Topaz Goddess is located in the sixth unexplored room or chamber beyond the grate (49). It is guarded by a random monster.

Akram leaves the Temple to fetch his companions. The party go to Dawd’s Market and the Brishnan Emporium where they buy only the most essential items. They have no time to search for other adventurers to join them. The adventurers then go to the abandoned house near the Temple of the Red Goddess, where there is a stairway leading down into the Undercity.

All characters are moving at a rate of 30′ per turn (exploring movement).

 

 10: Empty chamber

Following the map that Zoltar gave to Akram, the party enter this chamber which is dark, moldy and empty. They rest for a while.

First to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: 22 kobolds 90 feet from the party, heading down the entry corridor towards the chamber. The kobolds will reach the chamber within one turn.

Akram lights a new torch (18 left).

17: Pit

The party leave the chamber by the door in the southeast corner. In the chamber beyond there is a pit 10 feet deep. A previous adventurer has nailed iron spikes into the floor at the top of the pit on each side, and fixed a section of rope to each spike so that others may climb down into the pit and climb up the other side. The party quickly cross the pit.

First turn elapsed.

Kobolds

The door to the previous chamber opens and two kobolds step through. They see the party on the other side of the pit. Beyond them are more kobolds, at least 20.

The kobolds are neutral. I decide that they won’t trouble the party.

The kobolds return to the previous chamber, closing the door behind them. The party leave the chamber and, following the map, go down the corridor beyond (45) which is constructed of a weird smooth stone which is a pale green colour and polished like a mirror. The corridor leads to a grate.

49: Grate

Second to fourth turns elapsed.

I decide that Zareef can bend the bars without a Strength check needing to be made.

Zareef uses his crowbar to bend the bars of the grate so that the adventurers can squeeze through.

Fifth turn elapsed.

On the other side of the grate the party rest again.

Sixth turn elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: six flinds 60 feet from the party, heading south down the corridor.

Akram lights a new torch (17 left).

Flinds

Six flinds, lion-headed humanoids over six feet tall, are approaching the grate. They wear armour made from pieces of leather and metal plates. Three are armed with iron clubs and three are armed with flind bars, chain-linked iron bars.

The flinds are unfriendly and may attack.

The first two flinds reach the grate where they pause. They seem to be considering whether it is worth it for them to try to squeeze through the bars to attack the party. They are not stupid creatures and realise that the adventurers would be able to strike them while they were squeezing through. To the relief of the party they return back up the corridor. The adventurers continue down the corridor.

First and second turns elapsed.

95: Room of ancient frescoes

There are four rot grubs in the room. They are crawling over the floor and will attack anyone who searches the room. Beneath the floor there is a secret compartment containing two pottery jars which contain a total of 125 gold pieces.

The corridor ends at a moldy wooden door. Somteva opens the door cautiously.

On the other side of the door there is a covered cesspit. Somteva detects the trap.

The walls of the room beyond are decorated with frescoes depicting the ancient rituals of the necromancers who worshipped the Red Goddess long ago. Probing the floor beyond with her wooden pole, Somteva determines that there is covered pit trap in the floor just beyond the door. The edges of the pit can be roughly determined.

Each character must make a Dexterity check to jump over the area of floor above the pit.

Nameera, Somteva and Zareef successfully clear the pit but Akram lands just short of the pit edge. The floor gives way beneath him and he plunges into a cesspit. He is unharmed and manages to prevent his torch from going out, but is covered in filth. He throws his torch out of the pit, and Zareef lowers down a length of rope so that he can climb out. He has nothing to clean himself off with.

Akram must save versus poison or contract a disease from the cesspit, losing one hit point permanently. He contracts a disease and is reduced to 3 hit points.

Fourth turn elapsed.

Rot grubs

The adventurers search the room. Nameera finds a hidden compartment in the floor, but as she is opening it she is attacked by four rot grubs which burrow into her arms. Akram applies his torch to the wounds. The rot grubs are killed but Nameera’s arms are badly burned. Somteva casts Cure Light Wounds, partially healing her.

Nameera has 3 hit points left.

Fifth turn elapsed.

The hidden compartment contains two pottery jars painted orange with black patterns. The jars contain gold pieces. The party rest for a while before sharing out the gold.

Sixth turn elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (16 left).

Nameera takes 32 of the gold pieces and the other party members each take 31. The party exit the room by the corridor on the right which is constructed of the same smooth green stone as the previous corridor.

96: Idol of Orcus

The corridor leads to a square chamber constructed from the smooth green stone. In the centre there is a man-sized idol of grey alabaster depicting a goat-headed humanoid figure with bat-like wings, wielding a skull-tipped wand. Somteva identifies the figure as the demon lord Orcus, the Prince of the Undead. The party leave the chamber by a moldy wooden door in the north wall.

First turn elapsed.

97: Javelin trap

The adventurers enter a small damp room 10 feet square, with another moldy wooden door in the opposite wall.

Somteva fails to detect the javelin trap.

While crossing the room Zareef steps on a loose flagstone and hears a “click.” He succeeds in dodging a javelin that fires out of a hole in the right-hand wall. The party go through the door in the opposite wall.

Second turn elapsed.

98: Rot grubs

The party enter a square chamber, damp, moldy and dark. There is a moldy wooden door in each wall. Somteva tries the door in the left-hand wall. It is unlocked, but two rot grubs emerge from the rotting wood and burrow into her hand. Akram applies his torch to the wounds and Somteva casts Cure Light Wounds, healing the burns.

Somteva has 8 hit points left.

Third turn elapsed.

The adventurers go through the door.

99: Empty room

The room beyond has no other exits and is damp, moldy and empty except for a human skeleton clad in rusty scale mail. The party return to the previous chamber and go through the door in the north wall.

Fourth turn elapsed.

100: Lair of the Vapourware Rats

The three vapourware rats possess the Red Topaz Goddess in addition to 10 electrum pieces. They have 9, 5 and 5 hit points.

The chamber beyond is filled with reeking clouds of grey smoke. Exploring the chamber the party find three giant rats, each at least three feet long. The rats are lurking around a small statuette of red topaz, the Red Topaz Goddess, and a few electrum pieces scattered on the floor.

Both the adventurers and the rats are surprised. In the next round the party have the initiative and attack.

Zareef kills two of the rats which disentegrate into stinking clouds, and the other rat takes the form of a cloud of smoke and flees. Nameera and Somteva have both been injured by the rats.

Nameera has 1 hit point left and Somteva has 6 hit points left.

The party share out the 10 electrum pieces, with Nameera and Somteva each taking an extra coin, and Akram takes the Red Topaz Goddess.

Fifth turn elapsed.

The party rest in the chamber. The grey smoke has begun to dissipate.

Sixth turn elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (15 left).

The party return to the previous chamber and take the remaining door.

101: Giant centipedes’ lair

The adventurers enter a rectangular room, damp and dark and with no other exits. A slithering sound fills the room and nine giant black centipedes each a foot long are crawling on the walls and floor. A small bag lies on the floor of the room.

The centipedes have 4, 1, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, and 1 hit points.

The party and the centipedes both have the initiative and act in the same round.

Is the bag within easy reach? No.

The bag is on the floor at the far end of the room and Zareef cannot pick it up without attacking the centipedes. He kills one of the centipedes.

Zareef deals 11 hit points worth of damage, killing one of the centipedes which has 4 hit points. I decide that the ‘overflow’ damage can be used to kill another centipede if Zareef successfully makes a Strength check. He fails the check.

The adventurers manage to kill all of the centipedes without any of them being bitten. Inside the bag Zareef finds a fire opal and a jet gemstone. He keeps the fire opal and gives the jet gemstone to Nameera.

The fire opal is worth 750 gp and the jet gemstone is worth 500 gp.

The party return to the room of ancient frescoes and take the corridor in the opposite wall.

First turn elapsed.

102: Underground river

After 30 feet the corridor comes to an underground river 20 feet across. The corridor continues on the other side, but there is no means of crossing the river. The party return to the room of ancient frescoes and take the remaining unexplored corridor.

Second and third turns elapsed.

After 20 feet the corridor ends at a moldy wooden door which is locked. Zareef breaks the door down.

103: Cloaker’s lair

The cloaker has 5 hit points. It cannot be surprised as Zareef broke the door down. Beneath the floor there is a secret compartment containing 10 pottery jars which contain a total of 6,000 electrum pieces.

The rectangular room beyond is dark, damp and moldy and has no other exits. There are frescoes on the walls depicting various subjects; a field of flowers growing around a pyramid, a comet moving through the night sky above the ancient city of the necromancers, and a wizard with a magical wand walking in a garden of palm trees and ponds full of huge fish.

I used the basic set of Rory’s Story Cubes to determine the subjects of the frescoes.

The cloaker has the initiative and attacks, swooping down on Zareef.

A large creature swoops down from the opposite wall towards Zareef. It looks like a grey cloak with claws and has a gaping mouth on the underside and a tail ending in a mace-like appendage. The back of the monster is covered with black eyes. As it approaches approaches Zareef the cloaker moans horribly and a shadowy mirror image of it appears. Zareef dodges the monster.

The cloaker’s moan means that the adventurers have a -2 to hit and damage.

Nameera strikes the mirror image of the cloaker and it vanishes. The cloaker itself wraps around Somteva and Akram in turn, killing them, and kills Nameera with a lash of its tail. Zareef picks up Akram’s torch and kills the monster with his scimitar.

Zareef rests in the room before searching it.

Fourth turn elapsed.

He searches the room.

Zareef fails to find the secret compartment.

Fifth turn elapsed.

He finds nothing of interest in the room. He rests some more and has a meal of rations and wine.

Sixth turn elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: eight jinxkins 110 feet from Zareef; they have just passed the grate (49) and are heading his way. The jinxkins will be uninterested in him.

Zareef lights a new torch (14 left).

After taking rations, treasure and anything else of value from the corpses of his companions, Zareef leaves the room and returns to the edge of the cesspit in the room of the ancient frescoes.

95: Room of ancient frescoes

First and second turns elapsed.

Has the door to the room been closed? Yes.

The door to the room has been closed, leaving only a narrow ledge between the door and the opposite side of the pit. He gets ready to jump the pit.

Because the door has been closed Zareef must make a Dexterity check with a +2 penalty to avoid falling into the pit.

He manages to clear the pit and lands on the ledge, grabbing the door handle. He goes through the door.

Jinxkins

In the corridor beyond he encounters eight small humanoids, each around one foot tall, with pointed heads and lumpy skin. These jinxkins carry small spears but are uninterested in Zareef, passing him by on their way to the room of ancient frescoes. Zareef continues up the corridor.

Third to fifth turns elapsed.

45: Four-way intersection

He squeezes through the grate (49) and returns to the four-way intersection where he rests for a while.

Sixth turn elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Zareef lights a new torch (13 left).

He returns to the stairway leading the abandoned house and leaves the Undercity. The next day he goes to the Temple of the Red Goddess where he gives the Red Topaz Goddess to Zoltar. The high priest thanks Zareef and says that he and his companions may come to the Temple to be blessed before going down into the Undercity again.

Once only Zareef and the other members of his next party can go to Zoltar to be blessed for +1 to hit for the duration of the next adventure.

He manages to avoid paying the trader’s share when selling the fire opal and the jet gemstone. He now has enough gold to pay for one week of training with a sword master. But tonight he will pay 25 gold pieces for a bottle of Merlot Noir and another 25 gold pieces for a night’s entertainment from a beautiful pole dancer from the House of the Pole.

Zareef now has a total of 2,474 experience points and will become a second level fighter after a week of training.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return to the Tang Palace

In this Scarlet Heroes dungeon adventure the thief Gong Trond returns to the Tang palace in Haicheng to search for the treasure of Tang Guotin, the cult sorcerer whom he killed in his previous adventure. The cultists who lair in the palace worship Z’ol-Iku, the Immense One of the Deep, an enormous spherical being of tentacles, mouths and eye stalks who dwells in the deep sea. This time, unlike his previous adventure in the Tang palace, Trond will not be hunted by the city watch guards as he is dealing with the cultists with the approval of Magistrate Hao Ying of Haicheng.

Trond is a third level thief with the following traits:

• Ruin Explorer: 4
• Great Stealth: 3
• Friend to the Black Sapphire Tong: 1
• Resist the Red Tide: 1

The Bronze Horse inn

After leaving the Five Pinnacle Pagoda Trond withdraws 45 gp from the vault of the goldsmith Komatsu Quan. He returns to The Bronze Horse inn where he spends a day resting. The next day he buys new equipment before returning to the Tang palace.

Money: 4 gp, 1 sp and 5 cp

Money in the vault: 40 gp

The Tang palace

Locations: 20

Inhabitants: cultists of Z’ol-Iku

Threat: 3

Favoured colours of interior rooms: greens and floral shade

Courtyard

Are there cultists on sentry duty due to the palace having been entered by Trond and others? No.

He goes to the rear of the palace and enters via the courtyard that leads to the kennel and the servants’ entrance. Surprisingly, there are no cultists on sentry duty in the courtyard, even though the palace has been entered by Trond, the guards of the city watch, and the temple guards of the Five Pinnacle Pagoda.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Kennel

Feature: a dangerous intruder or beast who has entered the site. The motive of the intruder is to kill the inhabitants. This suggests some criminal character who has a grudge against the cultists of Z’ol-Iku for some reason.

I roll on the “underworld” NPC table and get the result of “exiled foreigner.” For a change I want a demihuman rather than a human NPC. I roll on the “race” table and get “dwarf.” Oracular word: vengeance. I decide that the NPC is a dwarf Repenter woman. She greets Trond with flat rejection.

He cautiously enters the kennel. There is a dwarf woman here, black-haired and beautiful but with a face bearing terrible scars. He remembers Arkadi Hewnspire telling him about the Repenter dwarfs who scar their bodies in the hope of winning the favour of their goddess, the Mother Below.

Has the Repenter woman seen Trond? No.

The Repenter woman is looking towards the servants’ entrance to the palace. She carries a sword and wears dwarven plate armour. Trond tries to avoid her by keeping to the shadows within the kennel.

The difficulty of the check to avoid the Repenter woman is 15. Trond fails the check.

The Repenter woman sees him and advances towards him with her sword raised. She tells him that the treasure stolen by the cultists belongs to her by right, and she will not share any of it with some thief from the gutters of Haicheng.

Trond kills the Repenter woman and finds five gold pieces in her pouch.

Money: 9 gp, 1 sp and 5 cp

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: eight hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – five HD 1 cultists and one HD 3 cultist. These cultists are grudgingly submissive to the new leader of the cult who has taken over from Tang Guotin. They regard Trond with scorn.

Six cultists enter the kennel. They see the corpse of the Repenter woman and Trond attempts to hide in the shadows again.

Trond fails the check.

One of the cultists sees Trond and shouts a warning to the others. A cultist in chain armour tells Trond to surrender; this time they will sacrifice him to Z’ol-Iku straight away.

Trond kills all of the cultists and enters the stable.

Stable

He finds nothing of interest in the stable.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: four hit dice worth of foes numbering several Minions or Civilians – three HD 1 cultists and their captive for sacrifice.

Three cultists enter the stable with a captive, an elderly Imperial man. They probably intend to smuggle him down to the docks and take him out to sea to sacrifice to Z’ol-Iku. Trond tells them to let him go and they throw him to the floor before advancing to attack.

Trond kills two of the cultists and the third flees back into the palace. He goes over to the sacrificial victim who has been too weakened by his ordeal to escape. After a while the man tells Trond that his name is Guo Shi. He is an impoverished former daifu who turned to his old friend Tang Guotin for help, only to find him horribly changed by the cult that he had become the leader of.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Trond helps Shi to his feet. He takes him out of the palace grounds and tries to find help.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Outside the palace

Is Trond able to find help? Yes, but… sublimely bad or good timing by a sudden event. I decide that this means the return of the three cultists that Trond met in the stables during his first adventure in the palace.

Outside the palace gate Trond hails a teamster who is driving an ox cart in the direction of Shi’s house. He helps Shi into the cart and gives the teamster a gold piece for his trouble.

Money: 8 gp, 1 sp and 5 cp

No sooner than he has seen Shi off, he sees three familiar cultists returning to the palace on horseback; the Imperial man wearing plate armour encrusted with green gemstones and his two companions, a man and a woman in leather armour. They are covered with trail dust as if they have just returned from a long journey. They see that Trond has just helped Shi and they gallop towards the palace gate.

Garden

Trond runs back into the courtyard and hides amidst the dense vegetation of the palace garden. The cultists cannot search for him easily on horseback so they return to the stable with their horses and then return to the garden on foot to renew their search.

Trond attempts to make his way through the garden towards the door to the storeroom where he met Sister Huian previously.

The difficulty of the check to avoid the cultists is 13. Trond succeeds on the check.

He makes his way quickly and stealthily across the garden to the storeroom door, avoiding the paths and keeping to the areas of denser vegetation. As he slips through the door he can hear the cultists searching for him on the other side of the garden.

Storeroom

Are there guards posted in this strategic location? Yes.

Encounter: five hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – two HD 1 cultists and one HD 3 cultist. I decide that they attack Trond straight away.

Entering the storeroom again he is confronted by three cultists on guard.

Trond kills the cultists and tends his wound.

Hit points: 11

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Did the three cultists searching the garden hear the combat? Yes.

The cultist wearing the gem-encrusted suit of armour enters the room, followed by his two companions.

Trond kills the cultists and tends his wound.

Hit points: 11

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He leaves the storeroom by the door leading to the scullery.

Scullery

Hidden treasure: wrought iron stool worth 60 gp (from previous adventure).

The Man of Clay and Jade is not present. He searches the room.

The difficulty of the check to find the iron stool is 11. Trond succeeds on the check.

Under a stack of wooden laundry tubs he finds some loose floorboards. Lifting these he finds a treasure compartment containing a wrought iron stool. It is too bulky to carry around easily so he leaves it where it is, intending to return for it later.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: seven hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – four HD 1 cultists and one HD 3 cultist. These cultists are rebels who want to leave the cult. They are dismissive of Trond.

An Imperial woman wearing a chain hauberk enters the room from the door leading to the shrine of Z’ol-Iku, followed by four other cultists. Trond gets ready to fight but the cultists ignore him and head straight to the door leading to the storeroom. Most likely they are rebels fleeing from the cultist who replaced Tang Guotin as the leader of the cult.

Shrine of Z’ol-Iku

Encounter: nine hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – six HD 1 cultists and one HD 3 cultist. These cultists are also rebels. They react to Trond with qualified consent. Oracular word: duty.

Treasure: standard treasure trove for the encounter (H2).

Trond enters the shrine of Z’ol-Iku again. There are seven cultists here but once again they are not hostile. One of the cultists, an Imperial man in chain armour, explains to Trond that many of the cultists were not worshippers of Z’ol-Iku but were simply following as the guards of Tang Guotin. He warns Trond about the new leader of the cult, a woman named Maeda Jia who is a fanatical devotee of Z’ol-Iku. He says that he and his companions are preparing to leave the palace and will not accompany Trond.

Trond leaves the room by the door leading to the kitchen.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Kitchen

He returns to the kitchen. There is nothing of interest here. The seemingly magical lantern that was hanging over the fireplace is no longer there.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Dining room

Feature: a dangerous intruder or beast who has entered the site. The motive of the intruder is to reclaim a seeming trifle of actual great importance.

What could this trifle item be? I roll on the random table for dining room contents in the Red Tide sourcebook and get the result of a brazier. For the intruder I roll on the “potential foes” table in the urban adventures section and get the result of a “disguised warrior.” I decide that this a warped cultist of Z’ol-Iku who has come to reclaim a magical brazier that Tang Guotin stole from another shrine of Z’ol-Iku.

He enters the palace dining room, which is magnificently furnished with a table and chairs of wood covered in carved red lacquer. The walls are painted in orchid blue. There are wall screens in the corners of the room to conceal servants when they are attending the diners. The screens depict various subjects: the Altgrimmr Mountains, street scenes of Haicheng, junks sailing the sea, and one of Tang Guotin’s ancestors and his soldiers fighting the Shou.

He can see a warrior dressed in Kueh-style armour who is approaching an ordinary brass brazier in the room, apparently with the intention of taking it. He tries to sneak past the warrior into the next room. Passing the warrior he sees that he is wearing somen facial armour that conceals his entire face.

The difficulty of the check to sneak past the warrior is 13. Trond succeeds on the check.

He succeeds in sneaking past the warrior and reaches a door in the southeast corner of the room.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Great hall

He enters Tang Guotin’s great hall. The walls are painted blue and hung with wall scrolls depicting the past heroics of the Tang family. At the far end of the room is a hardwood throne inlaid with flowers of green jade. He leaves the hall by a door in the southwest corner.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Salon

Feature: a noncombatant inhabitant of the dungeon. The motive of the inhabitant is to negotiate with the cult leader Maeda Jia. Rolling on the “elite and noble” NPC table I get the result of “scion of a noble lineage.” I decide that this is a decent member of the Tang family.

Tang Guotin’s salon is richly furnished with folding lounge chairs and wine cabinets of blackwood. The walls are painted green. A young Imperial man is sitting in one of the chairs and drinking wine. He looks rather nervous. He stands up and greets Trond, introducing himself as Tang Tao the eldest son of Tang Guotin. He says that he has come to the palace to negotiate with Maeda Jia regarding the ownership of the palace, which is rightfully his now that his father is dead. He says that Maeda Jia is apparently now the leader of the strange cult that his father was a member of, and seems to have taken over the palace. He was shown to this room by one of the palace guards and told to wait here.

Trond tells him about the cult of Z’ol-Iku, and warns him that he is in great danger. He has been told by rebel cultists that Maeda Jia is a dangerous fanatic. It would be pointless negotiating with her. No doubt the cultists intend to sacrifice him to Z’ol-Iku.

Is the wine that Tao is drinking drugged? Yes.

Trond was right. Tao begins to reply but his speech becomes slurred and he collapses onto the floor. Trond picks him up and leaves the room by a door in the opposite wall.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Stairwell

He enters the room featuring a stairwell leading up to the first floor of the palace, where the guards of the city watch caught up with him. He leaves by a door in the southeast corner that leads back to the servants’ rooms around the entry corridor into the palace.

Servants’ rooms

Are there guards posted in this strategic location? Yes.

Encounter: five HD 1 cultists and one HD 3 cultist. The HD 3 cultist has two special abilities granted by Z’ol-Iku:

1. He spreads the Plague of Z’ol-Iku; if touched the victim must save or die in 3d6 days.
2. His touch is also ruinous; once a fight, save or armour is ruined.

Feature: an item of information, whether book, note or talk. The feature is a wall scroll of unusually well-drawn erotica of local denizens, with a note about the special abilities of Maeda Jia written on the back. The feature triggers a spell on the investigator. Roll spell randomly: Furious Tempest of Flame.

In the entry corridor there are six cultists guarding the palace door, including one in a chain hauberk. They advance to attack and Trond puts Tang Tao down and draws his sword.

Trond kills two of the cultists and wounds the cultist in the chain hauberk, but that cultist then reaches out and touches Trond’s leather armour.

The difficulty of the saving throw against the ruinous touch is 12. Trond fails the saving throw.

Trond sees his armour peel away into decaying scraps which fall from his body.

AC: 7

Trond wounds the cultist again, but once again he touches Trond.

The difficulty of the saving throw against the Plague of Z’ol-Iku is 12. Trond succeeds on the saving throw.

Whatever magical blight the cultist intended to harm Trond with has no effect this time. Trond kills all of the cultists and tends the wound he received from one of them.

Hit points: 11

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He strips the leather armour from one of the dead cultists and puts it on.

AC: 5

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He sees a wall scroll painted with human figures hanging on the wall near the palace door. Examining it closely he sees that the figures are men and women having sex in different positions. Probably it was from the personal collection of Tang Guotin and was put up here for the entertainment of the guards after he was killed. He takes the scroll down off the wall. On the back there is note scrawled which reads as follows:

“Beware of Maeda Jia. She has terrible powers that were granted to her by the Immense One of the Deep. She strikes swiftly with her sword like a snake, and the blade is poisoned. Even if you do not die then the wounds will still continue to open as you fight on. Her touch causes the Plague of Z’ol-Iku.”

As soon as he has finished reading the note it bursts into flames and he throws it away. A billowing cloud of fire erupts from the scroll and fills most of the corridor.

The difficulty of the saving throw to avoid the flames is 17. Trond succeeds on the saving throw.

He manages to throw himself to the floor and avoids the flames.

Was Tang Tao killed by the flames? No.

Luckily he put Tang Tao down far enough up the corridor to avoid the flames. He goes and picks him up again and leaves the palace.

Kennel

He returns through the stable to the kennel.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Garden

He returns through the courtyard to the garden.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: seven hit dice worth of Minions and Civilians – six HD 1 cultists with a captive for sacrifice. The captive is an Imperial woman, a prostitute from the slums.

He carries Tang Tao towards the garden shed where he intends to leave him while he explores the upper floor of the palace. He hears a shout coming from the courtyard. Turning around he sees that six cultists have entered the courtyard from the street. They have a captive Imperial woman with them. Seeing that they have been distracted by Trond the woman breaks away from the them and runs into the garden towards Trond, crying out for help. Trond puts Tang Tao down again as the cultists enter the garden. He draws his dagger and when the nearest cultist is about 15 feet away he throws it at him. His dagger misses the cultist and is imbedded in a tree.

Trond kills all of the cultists. He retrieves his dagger and tends his wounds.

Hit points: 10

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He carries Tang Tao into the garden shed where he puts him down on the bench. The woman follows him inside and tells him that she is a prostitute from the slums named Liling. She was captured by the cultists to be sacrificed to their deity. Trond tells her that the drugged man is Tang Tao, the rightful heir of the Tang palace. Liling says that she will remain in the shed to attend to Tang Tao while Trond returns to the palace to look for the remaining cultists.

Kennel

He returns to the kennel.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Servants’ rooms

He returns to the servants’ rooms.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Stairwell

He ascends the stairs to the upper floor. He leaves the landing by a door in the southeast corner.

Solar

He enters a solar with wide paper windows along the east wall. The walls are painted orchid yellow and room is furnished with lounge chairs of blackwood.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He leaves the room by a door in the north wall.

Library

Feature: an unusual piece of movable furnishing, which is an object of devotion by the cultists.

He enters a library where the walls are painted green. Browsing through the books on the shelves he notes that many appear to be concerned with cultic subjects or with the exploration of strange, unknown places, such as The Book of Dark Shrines by Koga Heilgar and The Voyage of the Lost Xebec by Lut al-Mazin bin-Ilyas.

On the far wall of the room he finds a wall scroll of great artistry but repellent subject matter, depicting Z’ol-Iku about to devour the tiny bound figure of a man. He takes the scroll with him.

The scroll is worth 60 gp.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He leaves the room by a door in the north wall.

Master bedroom

He enters Tang Guotin’s bedroom. The walls are painted orchid blue and room features a four-post canopy bed of wood covered in carved red lacquer.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He leaves the room by a door in the west wall.

Bathing room

Feature: an architectural feature of the palace – furnishings made of parts of human prey.

He enters a bathing room where there is a large wooden tub. There are rows of human skulls set into the tiled blue walls, and a perfume cabinet made from human bones. The cabinet has been broken into and the perfumes that were inside have no doubt been sold to a fence.

Turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

The Bronze Horse inn

He returns to the ground floor and the storeroom, where he retrieves the wrought iron stool. He returns to Liling and Tang Tao in the garden shed. It seems that there are no more cultists in the palace and that Maeda Jia has travelled elsewhere. Tang Tao recovers and Trong accompanies him and Liling back to The Bronze Horse where he buys meals for the three of them. Tang Tao says that he will reoccupy the palace with guards when he has the money, so that any surviving cultists do not return.

Money: 7 gp, 5 sp and 5 cp

Afterwards Trond goes to fence Jen Mhairi, who pays him a total of 15 gold pieces for the iron stool and the wall scroll from the library.

Money: 22 gp, 5 sp and 5 cp

Trond receives one experience point for his adventure.

 

 

 

 

The Cult of Z’ol-Iku

In this Scarlet Heroes adventure the thief Gong Trond attempts to reduce the Heat that he earned in the previous urban adventure in which he killed Cheng Detlef, a wealthy heir and a villainous sorcerer, along with many members of his gang.

Trond is a third level thief with the following traits:

• Ruin Explorer: 4
• Great Stealth: 3
• Friend to the Black Sapphire Tong: 1
• Resist the Red Tide: 1

This dungeon adventure is set in a palace where Trond has the chance to rescue the captives of a cult. I am using the guidelines for Dungeons with Alarms in the Scarlet Heroes rulebook. Using The Crimson Pandect from Sine Nomine Publishing I roll to randomly generate the deity venerated by the cult. The deity is aquatic, tentacular and deceitful. These traits seem to describe a Lovecraftian monster, so I think up an appropriate name and appearance for the deity.

The Bronze Horse inn

Trond returns to The Bronze Horse inn where he pays for lunch for himself and Adalric Wulf. Kobayashi Nobu has left the inn to get some fresh air now that Cheng Detlef’s gang is no more.

Money: 28 gp and 9 sp

Nobu returns to the inn out of breath. He says that guards of the city watch are approaching the inn, most likely to arrest Trond.

Trond leaves the inn quickly taking his backpack with him. The guards have almost reached the inn and Trond runs off down the street away from them. He changes direction, heading down a side street which leads to the wealthier area of West Haicheng.

A dilapidated palace

He follows a wall, on the other side of which he can see the trees of a garden. He is now out of sight of the guards but he can hear them gaining on him. He quickly scrambles over the wall and into the garden. He hears the footsteps of the guards running past down the street.

He peers out from behind the cover of a dense clump of bushes. The palace that he sees is not the Cheng palace, but a smaller building and quite dilapidated. Curious, he moves stealthily through the garden towards the palace.

Locations: 20

Inhabitants: cultists of Z’ol-Iku

Threat: 3

Favoured colours of interior rooms: greens and floral shade

Garden

Treasure: one tenth of the C-type trove appropriate to the place (lair of Powerful Cult Leader).

On a garden path near the palace he finds a discarded Imperial wall scroll of great artistry depicting Fa Chia, the Yellow God of law and integrity, accompanied by a wingless yellow dragon. The scroll has clearly been thrown out quite recently and has not been damaged by the weather. It seems strange that such a great work of art should be found discarded outside a dwelling. Perhaps the residents have very little regard for the Nine Immortals.

The scroll is worth 40 gp.

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Courtyard

Leaving the garden he enters a paved courtyard. There is still no sign of any of the inhabitants of the palace.

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Kennel

Are there dogs in the kennel? No.

Crossing the courtyard he enters a wooden kennel where there is a row of pens for keeping the mastiffs used to guard the palace, but the pens are vacant.

Third turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Stable

Encounter: five hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – two HD 1 cultists and one HD 3 cultist. The HD 3 cultist has two special abilities – (1) he is armoured with plate armour, (2) which is encrusted with green garnets and green chalcedony gemstones.

These cultists are neutrals who may or may not cooperate with the cult leader.

Are there horses in the stables? Yes there are four horses present.

A door in the west wall of the kennel leads into the stable. There are two men and a woman here who are saddling three of the four horses in the stable. One of the men, an Imperial man, carries a sword and is wearing a magnificent suit of plate armour which is encrusted with jewels – green garnets and green chalcedony gemstones. The other two wear leather armour and carry short swords.

The cultists regard Trond with grudging agreement. Oracular word: duty.

The man in the suit of plate armour is grudgingly courteous and asks Trond what is his business in the palace. When Trond doesn’t reply straight away he asks him if he has come to join the cult of Z’ol-Iku, the Immense One of the Deep. Trond replies that he has and the man directs him to a door in the northwest corner. The three cultists finish saddling their horses and ride out into the courtyard, leaving the palace on some errand.

Fourth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Servants’ rooms

Encounter: eight hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – five HD 1 cultists and one HD 3 cultist.

These cultists are grudgingly submissive to the cult leader.

Hidden treasure: standard treasure trove for the encounter (H2).

He enters a corridor painted in a fading blue similar to that of the blue orchids in the garden outside. The corridor is lined with doors which presumably lead to small rooms for the servants of the palace.

One cultist is on guard while the others are in their rooms. The cultist flatly rejects Trond.

A man wearing leather armour and armed with a sword is on guard duty. He tells Trond to go back the way he came. Trond offers him a bribe of five gold pieces.

Does the guard let Trond go through? No.

The guard says that he will have the five gold pieces, but that Trond may still not enter the palace. Trond draws his sword. The man bangs on a gong and five other men enter the corridor from their rooms with their swords ready. Most are dressed in leather armour but one is wearing a chain hauberk.

The alarm has not been raised by the combat. The guards of the city watch are still unaware that Trond is in the palace.

Trond kills all of the cultists except one, an Eirengarder who turned on his fellow cultists during the battle.

Does the Eirengarder join forces with Trond? No, but… disease.

Trond sees that the Eirengarder is very pale. He suddenly stumbles against Trond, wracked by a fit of coughing.

The difficulty of the Constitution saving throw not to catch the disease is 14. Trond fails the saving throw. He will come down with the disease after the adventure and must make another Constitution saving throw then.

Trond tends the wound that he received from one of the cultists.

Hit points: 11

Fifth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

The Eirengarder goes into one of the rooms and lifts up a loose floorboard, taking a few gold pieces that were hidden there. He leaves the palace. Trond goes through the door at the end of the corridor.

Sixth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Pantry

Encounter: eight hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – two HD 1 cultists and two HD 3 cultists.

These cultists are hostile towards the cult leader. I roll them as Unfriendly NPCs with a +2 modifier as Trond has done work for them killing the previous group of cultists. The cultists are persuadable.

He enters a pantry filled with sacks of rice, small barrels of sea salt, jars of honey and other food containers. There are four cultists here who appear to have heard the combat that took place in the corridor, but they do not regard Trond with hostility.

One of the cultists, an Imperial man, tells Trond that the palace contains a shrine dedicated to the worship of the monstrous deity Z’ol-Iku, the Immense One of the Deep. This deity deceives his followers, promising them power and wealth in exchange for human sacrifice. But those who sacrifice to Z’ol-Iku do not realise that eventually he will take over their minds and cause them to cast themselves into the sea as their final and personal sacrifice to him. He himself wants to leave the cult but fears retribution from the sorcerer who leads it, daifu Tang Guotin whose palace this is.

Trond asks him if there are any prisoners intended for sacrifice in the palace. He replies that there are, and that they will be taken out to sea in a junk and sacrificed to Z’ol-Iku when the time is right. Trond says that he is being hunted by the city watch because he set free two men who had been unjustly imprisoned by Cheng Detlef and his allies; if he were to be able to destroy this cult and free the prisoners then the authorities might be willing to pardon him. The Imperial man disagrees, saying that Trond cannot defeat Tang Guotin. He tells Trond to leave the palace and give himself up to the city guard rather than face the sorcerer.

Trond must make a Charisma check of 13 to persuade the man to let him through. Trond fails the check.

Do the cultists attack Trond to prevent him going further into the palace? No, but… the Imperial man is wrong in assuming that Tang Guotin does not know of his disloyalty.

Trond heads towards a door in the southeast corner. He hears a strangled cry behind him and turns to see the Imperial man fall to the ground as if suddenly struck down by sorcery. The other cultists go to his aid but he is dead.

Seventh turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Cellar

Hazard: lethal trap or environmental quality – save or perish.

Beyond the door steps lead down into a moldy cellar. Trond is exploring the room when a thick white mist starts to fill the air. He feels a pit open beneath his feet, a magical trap. He jumps away from the pit and tries to escape the room but another pit starts to open beneath him and he can hardly see his feet now.

I got the idea for this trap from the Adventure Tags section of the Scarlet Heroes rulebook, specifically the Disorienting Layout tag. Although the tags are not intended for solo play I find them a good source of inspiration for solo adventures.

The difficulty of the saving throw to escape the cellar is 15. Trond fails the saving throw and must Defy Death (3d4). He takes 2 points of damage and the attempt is successful.

Hit points: 9

He succeeds in reaching another flight of steps leading out of the cellar.

Eighth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Storeroom

Feature: a noncombatant inhabitant of the dungeon. The motive of the inhabitant is to scout the site for an outside power.

He enters a storeroom full of crates, barrels and stacks of furniture; a welcome scene of normality after the deadly sorcery of the cellar. There is a young Imperial woman in the room, dressed in the yellow robes of a priestess of Fa Chia. Trond greets her and says that he is not a cultist, and she hesitantly introduces herself as Sister Huian of the Five Pinnacle Pagoda. Abbot Nianzu of the Pagoda sent her to the palace to investigate rumours of a cult. She has just entered the building through a door which leads to the garden. Her clerical powers are limited and she came to the palace to investigate rather than to fight cultists.

Trond tells her of his discovery of the cult of Z’ol-Iku in the palace, and how the cult sorcerer Tang Guotin killed a disloyal cultist with sorcery. He warns her about the sorcerous trap in the cellar, and advises her to leave the palace and return to Abbot Nianzu with the information he has given her. He will continue to explore the palace to free any prisoners taken for sacrifice by the cultists. He also tells her that he had to flee the city watch after killing Cheng Detlef and his allies. Sister Huian replies that she knows that Cheng Detlef was an enemy of Magistrate Hao Ying. If Trond manages to defeat Tang Guotin then he must come to the Five Pinnacle Pagoda so that Abbot Nianzu can speak to Hao Ying on his behalf.

Sister Huian casts the spell the Blessing of Gentle Fortune so that Trond has the favour of Fa Chia when fighting the cultists. Then she returns to the garden.

Ninth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: nine hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – three HD 1 cultists and two HD 3 cultists.

These cultists are willingly obedient to Tang Guotin. I decide that Tang Guotin has now become aware of Trond by means of his sorcery and that the cultists will attack Trond straight away.

Trond is about to leave the storeroom through a door in the opposite wall when five cultists enter the room through the door with swords drawn. The cultists advance to attack.

Trond kills all of the cultists and tends his wounds.

Hit points: 5

The alarm has been raised. Guards of the city watch heard the combat and have entered the palace garden.

Tenth turn elapsed

City watch encounter: six hit dice worth of guards with urban Soldier statistics but armed with polearms for 1d10 damage.

Trond hears the sound of footsteps approaching up the garden path towards the storeroom door. He moves quickly towards the door in the opposite wall as six guards of the city watch armed with ji polearms enter the storeroom.

The difficulty of the check to evade the city watch guards is 11. Trond succeeds on the check.

He evades the guards and slips through the door into the next room.

Scullery

Encounter: unusual foe – Man of Clay and Jade.

Hidden treasure: wrought iron stool worth 60 gp.

He enters a scullery. An artificial man of clay with pieces of green jade embedded in his body is scrubbing clothes in a wooden tub. The Man of Clay and Jade carries a sword but he has not yet seen Trond and is absorbed in his task.

Eleventh turn elapsed

The difficulty of the check to evade the city watch guards is 12. Trond succeeds on the check and also escapes the notice of the Man of Clay and Jade.

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He stealthily makes his way across the room and through the door in the opposite wall.

Shrine of Z’ol-Iku

Hidden treasure: one tenth of the C-type trove appropriate to the place (lair of Powerful Cult Leader).

He enters a room which may have once served as a storeroom but is now a shrine to Z’ol-Iku. There is a stone altar near the north wall, upon which he finds the remains of a mastiff that was sacrificed to the deity. He remembers that there were no dogs in the palace kennel.

Suddenly he has a vision of an enormous spherical being, floating deep under the sea and covered with mouths, eye stalks and tentacles. He sees how huge Z’ol-Iku is when a human figure drifts down towards him and is snatched and devoured. The deity is larger than the largest whale or giant squid.

He shakes his head to banish the vision, and searches the shrine.

The difficult of the check to locate the hidden treasure is 13. Trond fails the check. He may not use the Blessing of Gentle Fortune as he is not fighting cultists.

Twelfth turn elapsed. The difficulty of the check to evade the city watch guards is 13. Trond succeeds on the check.

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He leaves the shrine through a door in the northwest corner.

Kitchen

Encounter: three hit dice worth of Minions and six hit dice worth of Elites, Mages or Boss enemies – Tang Guotin, one HD 3 cultist and three HD 1 cultists. Tang Guotin can cast five spells including Seven Small Thunders and Withering Defilement of Flesh. He also has three special abilities granted by Z’ol-Iku – (1) he can turn invisible but cannot attack or cast spells while invisible, (2) he can vanish, teleporting once per round for twice his normal movement, and (3) he can choke with his invisible grasp; victim must save or take 3d6 damage.

Hazard: any Feature is trapped; save or take 3d6 damage.

Feature: an object stolen by the dungeon inhabitants – an elaborate lighting apparatus, possibly still working. I decide that this is a magical Lantern of Fa Chia which has been stolen by the cultists from a shrine. The lantern normally provides undying light to adventurers exploring dark and evil places, but as it is now a Hazard it has been spitefully altered by Tang Guotin to explode when handled by anyone other than him.

He enters a kitchen where there is an unlit fireplace with an iron spit, two heavy wooden tables, pots and pans hanging from a ceiling, and huge barrels of rice. The dim natural light in the room is supplanted by an intense magical glow coming from a golden lantern hanging on the wall over the fireplace. The sorcerer Tang Guotin is here accompanied by four other cultists. He wears a blue and green robe decorated with images of tentacles. The sorcerer directs the cultists to attack Trond.

Trond kills Tang Guotin and one of the cultists, but he is badly wounded by the remaining cultists and taken prisoner. His armour, weapons and equipment are taken, but his wounds are treated before he is locked in a vault as he is intended as a sacrifice to Z’ol-Iku.

Vault

Trond recovers on the mean straw mattress in the vault, drinking the stale water and eating the cold rice porridge that the cultists have given him.

Hit points: 5

The vault has a door of wooden reinforced with iron. He decides to try to break it down by kicking at it’s most vulnerable parts.

The difficulty of the check to break down the door is 15. Trond fails to break down the door even though he uses up his advantage of the Blessing of Gentle Fortune. He must Defy Death (3d6) to escape. He takes 4 points of damage and the attempt is successful.

Hit points: 1

What does the advantage gained by him Defying Death relate to? Oracular word: fury. I decide that a furious cultist turns on the others and frees Trond.

He does not succeed in breaking the door. But he hears shouts and the sound of fighting coming from outside the vault. After the noise has subsided a cultist opens the door. Trond gets ready to fight but the cultist hands him a short sword and tells him to flee from the palace.

Stairwell

Leaving the vault he finds himself at the foot of a stairwell. The cultist has already left by another door. There are bodies of cultists lying around and he takes the leather armour from one of them. He heads up the stairs to the upper floor of the palace.

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

The difficulty of the check to evade the city watch guards is 14. Trond fails the check.

As he is heading up the stairs the six city watch guards enter the room below. Their sergeant calls out to Trond to halt. Being in no state to fight, and unwilling to antagonise the city watch any further, Trond returns down the stairs and gives himself up.

He tells the guards about what he has discovered in the palace, his encounter with Sister Huian, and his killing of the cult sorcerer Tang Guotin.

I decide that the guards certainly found the shrine of Z’ol-Iku. But did they gain any insight of the evil of the cult as Trond did? No, but… there is a twist to the relationship between the people in the situation. Oracular word: experience.

The sergeant said that they did not encounter Sister Huian. They found a shrine with the remains of a dog on it, but there was nothing to suggest that it was the place of worship for an evil cult. Daifu Tang Guotin is a respected man and he may do with his own dogs as he pleases and sacrifice them to some obscure deity if he so desires. They did not find Tang Guotin’s body, and the sergeant believes that Trond is simply plundering the palace and killing all who stand in his way, as he did when he broke into the Cheng palace.

Then one of the other guards speaks, saying that he believes Trond. He comes from the village of Lingshui on the coast southwest of Haicheng. A few years ago several people disappeared from the village. They were found to have been taken captive by the cultists who had taken over the fishing hamlet of Xiao Maowu, which is southwest of Lingshui beyond a mangrove swamp. The militia of Lingshui fought the cultists, killing most of them and capturing a few who claimed to be mere servants of the others.

The captured cultists led the militia to their shrine, which was miles inland from Xiao Maowu and hidden in a glade of Shou Swamp. The shrine consisted only of a stone altar without an image, the same as the altar in this palace. On the altar they found the remains of a young boy from Lingshui. One of the captured cultists said that Z’ol-Iku, the deity that they worshiped, was so abominable that he could not be represented by any image.

Now having the support of the guard, Trond tries to convince the sergeant to accompany him up to the upper floor of the palace so that the remnants of the cult can be destroyed.

The difficulty of the check to persuade the sergeant is 11. Trond fails the check.

The Prison in East Haicheng

The sergeant says that he is not convinced that Tang Guotin is a cultist of Z’ol-Iku. Trond gives himself up. His sword is taken and he is put in manacles. The guards take him out of the palace and over the Lanbaoshi Bridge to the prison in the slum district of East Haicheng, where he is chained to the wall of a cell.

He considers that he will most likely be enslaved by the city as punishment for the killing of Cheng Detlef and for his other deeds of the past few days. He hopes that Sister Huian has spoken to Abbot Nianzu of the Five Pinnacle Pagoda about her encounter with him.

Due to his weakened condition, the Constitution saving throw to overcome the disease that Trond caught from the Eirengarder has now increased to 15. Trond fails the saving throw.

Sister Huian has spoken to Abbot Nianzu. Trond’s Heat score has decreased by 2 points.

Haicheng: 6 Heat

A roll of 10 on a 1d10 means that the Heat is no longer a problem for Trond, but I decide that he still has to do something to reduce it.

To add to his woes, he is now suffering the symptoms of the disease that he caught from the Eirengarder cultist in the Tang palace. He is feverish and coughing uncontrollably.

The Five Pinnacle Pagoda

After he has been in the cell for three whole days, he is woken the following morning by the guard thumping on the door. The door opens and the guard enters followed by an Eshkanti man in a chain hauberk, who introduces himself as Matta al-Rasheed, the temple guard chief of the Five Pinnacle Pagoda. Trond is put in manacles again and unchained from the wall. The temple guards take him to a temple building outside the Five Pinnacle Pagoda, where he is put in a sickroom to recover.

Sister Huian and a priest named Brother Shan come to treat him with medicine and clerical magic. He is now free of the disease that he caught from the Eirengarder.

Hit points: 11

After he has recovered he is visited by Abbot Nianzu. The abbot tells him that he ordered a small detachment of temple guards to attack the Tang palace. The temple knight Vigthorn Garborg led the attack and they killed several cultists. But Vigthorn himself was then killed and they were forced to retreat.

Abbot Nianzu says that he has spoken with Magistrate Hao Ying about the matter of Trond’s killings of Cheng Detlef and his allies. Hao Ying knew that Cheng Detlef was one her most powerful enemies, and she was not surprised by the knowledge of his crimes or sorry to hear of his demise. Nevertheless, Hao Ying feels that Trond’s mayhem has become something of a concern for her. She wants him to return to the Tang palace and deal with the remaining cultists.

Trond agrees to do this, even though it is clear that the authorities would prefer that he come to a grisly end in the palace and so no longer be a nuisance for them. He reminds himself that he still hasn’t managed to acquire any of Tang Guotin’s treasure.

Trond receives one experience point for his adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheng Detlef

Here is a Scarlet Heroes urban adventure featuring the second level thief Gong Trond, who has the following traits:

• Ruin Explorer: 3
• Great Stealth: 3
• Friend to the Black Sapphire Tong: 1
• Resist the Red Tide: 1

Haicheng

Trond recovers from his second expedition into the Cave of the Howling Ghosts at The Bronze Horse inn. He is now based in West Haicheng on the western side of the Lanbaoshi River, a largely prosperous and middle class district. He has 95 gold pieces stored in the vault of the goldsmith Komatsu Quan. After his recuperation is over he pays for breakfast and a cheap room for the day and then leaves The Bronze Horse to buy new equipment.

Money: 52 gp, 5 sp and 5 cp

Money in the vault: 95 gp

He has new clothes made by the tailor Hadabern Adler. He buys a new suit of leather armour from the leatherworker Li Zhensheng, and a new short sword and a dagger from the weaponsmith Wei Keung. He buys new equipment at the chandlery of Maysun al-Qattan before returning to The Bronze Horse for lunch.

Money: 2 gp and 4 sp

Threat: 2

Trond: 0 Victory points

Opponents: 0 Victory points

Haicheng: 0 Heat

Plot: a Target belongs to a group or ethnicity that is suffering problems from an Antagonist

Target: commoner – grizzled border hunter

Antagonist: commoner – erudite bookseller

Crime:

• kidnapping (of the Target)
• location – isolated area
• witness – concerned local
• why no action? Officials bribed

I use the random tables to add more detail to the Target and the Antagonist and quickly put together a plot.

Trond learns some disturbing news from Koyama Keishu, the innkeeper of The Bronze Horse: the Eirengarder hunter Adalric Wulf has been kidnapped. Trond and Adalric were schoolmates in the school in the slum district of East Haicheng, run by Sister Yoshiko of the Hospice of Hesika. Adalric left the slums as soon as he could, living with the Gadaal and learning how to hunt in the wild borderlands to the north and west of Haicheng. An encounter with a leopard in the jungle-clad hills north of the village of Huaiji left him blind in one eye, but nevertheless he has prospered as a hunter. He sells furs in the Bazaar of West Haicheng, spending most of his money on good rice wine and harlots.

The last time Trond met Adalric he was spying on an Imperial man named Feng Bingwen, a learned bookseller of West Haicheng. He is another man from Trond’s past; several years ago Bingwen accompanied him as a lantern-bearer on his first expedition to plunder the ruins of the Altgrimmr Mountains. They explored a ruined shrine and Bingwen was happy to take possession of an ancient Imperial book that Trond found there. He has seen less of Bingwen over the years as the bookseller has become wealthier and less inclined to associate with adventurers. Bingwen is known for his love of fine finger rings and his ambition is to make enough money to be able to return to Xian, the city of his youth, and to live like a daifu there.

The middle class inhabitants of West Haicheng are notorious for their dislike of wild bordermen such as Adalric, and Bingwen is no exception. West Haicheng is keen to shed it’s image as a frontier district and to establish itself as an equal to East Haicheng, which features not only the slum district near the sea but also the renowned Five Pinnacle Pagoda and the court of the Magistrate. Adventurers are becoming increasingly unwelcome in West Haicheng, even if they do bring wealth to the district, and they are associated with tavern brawls and riotous behaviour. In addition, Bingwen has accused Adalric of casing his bookshop with the intention of stealing from him.

Keishu tells Trond that Adalric was kidnapped on the outskirts of Huaiji while on his way to a wilderness hunt. A villager named Hu Anguo saw a gang of men surround the hunter. The men were not locals and Anguo did not recognise any of them. Adalric attacked them with his spear but was quickly overcome. He was bound and a sack was put over his head before he was put on a horse and taken back to Haicheng. Anguo reported the incident to Ding Chung, the headman of Huaiji, but one of the men paid a bribe to Ding Chung and told him not to investigate the matter as Adalric was a criminal.

Keishu is sure that Bingwen is behind the kidnapping of Adalric, but Trond says that he will investigate the matter further. He will spend all of next day staking out Bingwen’s bookshop. He goes to Komatsu Quan’s workshop where he withdraws 10 gold pieces from the vault, in case he has to bribe someone over the course of his investigation.

Money: 12 gp and 4 sp

Money in the vault: 85 gp

He returns to The Bronze Horse where he pays for a meal and then goes to bed.

Money: 12 gp and 2 sp

Investigation scene: Feng Bingwen’s bookshop

Stake out a Location. Whether or not you win the check, your opponent gains a Victory point due to delay.

In the morning he pays for breakfast and for a cheap room for the day.

Money: 11 gp, 9 sp and 5 cp

He goes to Bingwen’s bookshop, a small, narrow shop like an covered alleyway where the shelves are stacked with books of all types. There are leather-bound tomes as well as Imperial-style books of bamboo slats tied with red or blue silk. Bingwen enters the shop from a back room to greet a customer and Trond quickly ducks outside before the bookseller can see him. He spends the remainder of the day staking out the shop and buys a cheap meal at The Red Griffon tavern nearby.

Money: 11 gp and 9 sp

Trond succeeds on the check.

What does the clue he gains relate to? I decide that Bingwen wouldn’t be likely to responsible for the kidnapping on his own. I roll on the “elite and noble” list of NPCs and get a “wealthy heir.” Oracular word: forgetfulness.

In the early evening a bamboo litter carried by two servants stops outside the bookshop, which is currently empty of customers. Trond sees a young man get out of the litter and enter the bookshop. He is of mixed Imperial and Eirengarder or Skandr descent and dressed in a fine robe of blue silk. Trond eavesdrops near the entrance. The visitor seems to forget that he is an public place and talks quite loudly with Bingwen about the kidnapping of Adalric. Trond is mindful that the servants bearing the litter are staring at him and does not eavesdrop for very long, but nevertheless he hears the two men complain about the rogues and adventurers such as Adalric who plague West Haicheng. He also determines that the visitor is Cheng Detlef, the heir of the merchant Cheng Chao whose palace is in West Haicheng.

Trond: 1 Victory point and a Clue

Opponents: 1 Victory point

A roll of 1 on a 1d10 means that the opponents gain an additional Victory point.

Opponents: 2 Victory points

Haicheng: 0 Heat

Tomorrow he will pay a visit to the Cheng palace. He goes back to The Bronze Horse where he pays for a meal and then goes to bed.

Money: 11 gp and 7 sp

Action scene: the Cheng palace

Face the foe’s best warrior. Face a Fight instead of a check.

The next morning he pays for breakfast and for a cheap room for the day.

Money: 11 gp, 4 sp and 5 cp

He leaves The Bronze Horse and goes to the Cheng palace.

The foes are a guard with Veteran statistics and four hired thugs with Rabble statistics.

The Cheng palace is the largest building in West Haicheng and exemplifies the aspirations of the district. The two-storey building is surrounded by a garden of bamboo and orchids. Trond easily scales the stone wall surrounding the garden and then gains entry to the palace itself through a paper window on the ground floor. He finds himself in a storeroom full of crates and jugs. Leaving the room he enters a corridor. Going through one of the doors leading off the corridor he enters a guardroom. An Imperial man in a chain hauberk is sitting at a table, drinking with four other men.

The man in the chain hauberk looks up and gruffly asks Trond what he is doing in the palace. Trond replies that he is looking for Adalric Wulf. The man gets up and draws his sword, and the four other men pick up knives or clubs.

Trond kills the guard and two of the thugs without sustaining a wound. The other two thugs throw down their weapons.

I use a table from the Dungeon section of the Scarlet Heroes solo rules to determine what each of the surrendering thugs do next.

One of the thugs, an Imperial man, pleads for his life and offers Trond a bronze finger ring jewelled with green chalcedony which he says is worth at least 200 gold pieces. Trond takes the ring but says that he only wants to know where Adalric Wulf is. The thug replies that he does not know, but that he is certainly nowhere in the palace.

The other thug is an Eirengarder named Fritigern, who says that Trond is a better man than Cheng Detlef. He explains that Detlef’s father Cheng Chao is a decent man, but that he is now elderly and bed-ridden. His son is arrogant and is using his wealth and position to his own advantage. Fritigern cannot tell Trond where Adalric Wulf is, or what Detlef and Bingwen want with him. But he offers to help Trond find him and Trond agrees that he could use an extra blade. Fritigern picks up his knife and goes with Trond to The Bronze Horse, where Trond buys a cheap meal.

Money: 11 gp and 4 sp

Trond: 3 Victory points

Opponents: 2 Victory points

A roll of 7 on a 1d10 means that the opponents do not gain a Victory point.

Haicheng: 2 Heat

Conflict scene: Luo Salim’s house

Outmanoeuvre a local official suborned or bribed by the foe. Roll a die; on an odd result, add 1 Heat to the community.

Fritigern tells Trond that Luo Salim, the tax collector for West Haicheng, has been suborned by Detlef and has imposed a heavy tax on the hunters and wandering peddlers who sell their goods at the Bazaar of West Haicheng. This tax has not been approved by Magistrate Hao Ying. Trond goes to Luo Salim’s house to look for proof of his corruption.

He slips into Salim’s house through a door for servants at the rear of the building. Once inside he makes his way stealthily through the house, avoiding servants and looking for Salim’s study.

Using his trait of “Great Stealth” Trond succeeds on the check.

He finds the study and a letter from Detlef to Salim, outlining the requirements of the tax and why it must be imposed in order to keep the “undesirables” out of West Haicheng or at least to extort from them as much money as can be made. The letter also refers to Magistrate Hao Ying as a weak and ineffectual woman who should not be in charge of Haicheng.

Trond leaves the house by the rear door. He crosses the Lanbaoshi Bridge to East Haicheng. At the palace of the Magistrate he has to wait for some time, but manages to give the letter to an official who conveys it to Hao Ying at once.

He goes back to West Haicheng. On the way back to The Bronze Horse he goes to the shop of the fence Jen Mhairi where he sells the bronze ring given to him by the thug in the Cheng palace.

Money: 36 gp and 4 sp

He returns to The Bronze Horse.

Money: 36 gp and 2 sp

Trond: 4 Victory points

Opponents: 1 Victory point

Haicheng: 2 Heat

A roll of 6 on a 1d6 means that no Heat is added.

Investigation scene: Hu Anguo’s house in Huaiji

Bribe an Actor to give you a Clue. Roll a die; on an odd, immediately face a Conflict scene with them or on their behalf and win it to succeed. On an even, pay a reasonable bribe or fail the challenge.

Trond must pay a reasonable bribe.

Next morning he pays for breakfast and for a cheap room and then leaves Haicheng without taking Fritigern with him. He takes the road leading north to Huaiji. He has decided to talk to the villager Hu Anguo; perhaps he might be able to remember some characteristic of one or more of the men who went to the village to kidnap Adalric and then bribed the headman Ding Chung.

Money: 35 gp, 9 sp and 5 cp

Arriving at Huaiji he buys a mug of rice beer in tavern and asks for directions to Hu Anguo’s house. Fortunately the tavernkeeper finds nothing suspicious about his request. He goes to Hu Anguo’s house and waits for him to come in from the rice paddy for his midday meal.

Money: 35 gp, 9 sp and 3 cp

He meets Anguo and offers him five gold pieces, asking him if he can remember anything specific about the men involved in the kidnapping of Adalric Wulf. Anguo is delighted to receive the money, which is undoubtedly more gold than he has ever seen before.

Money: 30 gp, 9 sp and 3 cp

I roll on the “memorable traits” table. I get “gaudy jewellery” which suggests that Bingwen was involved in the kidnapping. Since I already know this I decide to roll on the “elite and noble” NPC table and the “ethnicity” table and get the result of a “foreign nobleman” of Eshkanti ethnicity.

Anguo says that after he went to Ding Chung’s house to report the kidnapping he was followed into the house by two of the kidnappers. One of the men was an Imperial wearing several costly rings on his fingers. The other was an Eshkanti man who wore a common tunic and trousers but was clearly of noble speech and bearing. This man handed Chung a bag of coins and told him not to report the incident as Adalric Wulf was a wanted criminal.

Trond thanks Anguo for his information and returns to Haicheng. He now knows that Bingwen was directly involved in the kidnapping. As for the other man, the only Eshkanti nobleman living in Haicheng that he knows of is a daifu from the Magocracy of Tien Lung named Muadh bin-Kazi. He claims that he left the Magocracy after he made an enemy of the Enlightened Sage who rules in the city of Tien Lung. Many consider him an agent of Tien Lung sent to spy on Magistrate Hao Ying, but he has chosen to make his home in West Haicheng rather than live alongside the other wealthy inhabitants of the city in the streets surrounding the Magistrate’s palace. He is often seen drinking tea in The Jade Bird tea house in West Haicheng. Trond knows that any daifu of Tien Lung must surely be a sorcerer of great power, so he is reluctant to confront bin-Kazi on his own.

He returns to the The Bronze Horse for lunch.

Money: 30 gp, 8 sp and 8 cp

Trond: 5 Victory points and a Clue

Opponents: 1 Victory point

A roll of 2 on a 1d10 means that the opponents gain a Victory point.

Opponents: 2 Victory points

Haicheng: 2 Heat

Action scene: The Jade Bird teahouse

Rally an Actor and their comrades to oppose the foe.

In the early evening he goes to The Jade Bird teahouse. Again he does not take Fritigern with him. Muadh bin-Kazi is in the teahouse drinking tea by himself. He is wearing an ornate robe of red silk with gold brocade. Trond sits down at the table next to bin-Kazi’s table and pays for a cup of tea.

Money: 30 gp, 8 sp and 5 cp

For the new Actor I roll on the “elite and noble” table and get a “shipping fleet owner.”

Three men enter the teahouse. Two are Imperials, one wearing a robe of blue silk and the other wearing a plain tunic and trousers. The third man is Kueh and wears a black kimono. Trond recognises the plainly-dressed Imperial; he is the captain of a small merchant junk and Trond has seen him in The Squid and Whale tavern in the slums near the docks. His name is Deng Qianfan.

The three men exchange greetings with bin-Kazi and sit down at his table. Trond overhears them discussing some venture with the daifu. The wealthier of the two Imperial men is a shipping fleet owner named Chen Tao. The Kueh man is named Oshiro Hiromi and he is the captain of a junk. It seems that bin-Kazi is organising an expedition to the Shou Lands beyond the Magocracy of Tien Lung. The other men seem rather reserved and suspicious when talking to bin-Kazi, and Trond sees an opportunity to work against him.

Chen Tao, Deng Qianfan and Oshiro Hiromi finish their tea and leave the teahouse. Trond follows them outside and tries to convince them not to trust bin-Kazi. He tells them about his conversation with Hu Anguo who witnessed bin-Kazi bribe Ding Chung following the kidnapping of Adalric Wulf.

Trond fails the check.

Chen Tao is dismissive of Trond’s claim, saying that he trusts bin-Kazi well enough.

Trond: 5 Victory points

Opponents: 3 Victory points

A roll of 7 on a 1d10 means that the opponents do not gain an additional Victory point.

Haicheng: 2 Heat

He returns to The Bronze Horse.

Money: 30 gp, 6 sp and 5 cp

Conflict scene: the guild hall of the potters’ guild

Suffer betrayal by an Actor; face a Fight as you try to escape or avenge yourself.

The next morning he pays for a breakfast and for a cheap room.

Money: 30 gp and 4 sp

Actor: commoner – retired mercenary officer

At The Bronze Horse he is met by an aging and battle-scarred Eirengarder man who introduces himself as Tancred Schmidt, a retired mercenary officer. He says that he is also looking for Adalric, an old acquaintance who helped him overcome a horde of orc Shou in the Altgrimmr Mountains.

Why is Tancred an ally of the kidnappers? Oracular word: jewels. Schmidt is looking for a cache of jewels in the wilderness and believes that Adalric knows where they are.

Tancred asks Trond to accompany him to the guild hall of the potters’ guild in West Haicheng. He knows several members of the guild who can help them. Trond summons Fritigern and they go with Tancred to the guild hall.

The foes are the guard of the guild hall with Veteran statistics and five hired thugs of Cheng Detlef with Rabble statistics.

Trond, Fritigern and Tancred enter the meeting room of the guild hall. Here there is a guild hall guard, an Eshkanti man in a chain hauberk and armed with a sword, and five ruffians armed with knives and clubs who look like more of Cheng Detlef’s hired thugs.

Tancred says “this is the thief who broke into the Cheng palace and killed two of the guards. Fritigern told me who he was.”

Tancred draws his sword and he and Fritigern attack Trond along with the guard and the five ruffians.

Tancred has Soldier statistics.

Trond kills the guild hall guard, Tancred, Fritigern and four of the hired thugs. The remaining thug, an Imperial man, throws down his club and says that he will fight for Trond and will not betray him as Fritigern did.

Is the man sincere? No.

Trond senses that the man will betray or attack him at the first opportunity. He tells him that he doesn’t want his help. He flees from the building and Trond also leaves as members of the potters’ guild are entering the room. He returns to The Bronze Horse where he tends his wounds and has a meal.

Money: 30 gp, 3 sp and 5 cp

Trond: 6 Victory points

Opponents: 2 Victory points

Haicheng: 4 Heat

Investigation scene: the shop of the moneychanger Liu Chenglei

Hunt up an Actor whom you have reason to suspect can give you a Clue.

Trond knows that a moneychanger in West Haicheng, a man named Liu Chenglei, has had dealings with Adalric in the past. The hunter once found a hoard of copper and silver coins in an orc Shou lair, a ruined village in the upper Lanbaoshi valley. He took the coins to Chenglei to be exchanged for gold pieces and later discussed the find with Trond and Chenglei in The Red Griffon tavern. He goes to Chenglei’s shop and waits until Chenglei has finished serving a customer before asking him if he knows anything about the kidnapping of Adalric Wulf.

Trond fails the check.

Chenglei coldly replies that he knows nothing about the matter. Maybe Cheng Detlef’s thugs are threatening him.

Trond: 6 Victory points

Opponents: 3 Victory points

Haicheng: 4 Heat

Investigation scene: Liang Jian’s smithy

An allied Actor can get you a clue at personal risk. Make a skill to check to help them succeed.

Actor: commoner – polished tea house owner

Trond returns to The Bronze Horse. He is met by an Imperial woman named Liang Lien, who is the owner of The Jade Bird tea house. She says that her brother, the blacksmith Liang Jian, is an ally of Cheng Detlef and may know something about the whereabouts of Adalric Wulf.

What is the connection between Lien and Jian? Oracular word: avarice.

Lien says that her brother has been pestering her to loan him some money. She has so far refused him but finally agreed to give him some money not long ago. She will go to his smithy to discuss the loan while Trond searches the building for a clue to Adalric’s whereabouts. Trond agrees to this proposal and follows Lien to the smithy. Lien greets her brother and Trond slips into the house after she and Jian have gone into a room to drink tea and discuss the loan.

Trond succeeds on the check.

Where is Adalric being kept prisoner? In the respectable home of a stern market magistrate. Oracular word: foresight.

In an empty room of the smithy he finds a young man, perhaps Kueh, who has been chained to the wall and gagged. Trond releases him using a key he found in another room, and ungags him after warning him to remain silent. They escape from the smithy through a paper window and go to The Bronze Horse.

The man’s name is Kobayashi Nobu and he explains all the details of the plot to Trond. He and Adalric were hunting in the Altgrimmr Mountains when they found a small pile of stones in a remote valley. Clearing away the stones they found sacks containing gemstones – sapphires mostly – and coins including gold, silver and copper pieces. Nobu sighted a large group of orc Shou heading their way up the valley, so they replaced the stones and hid from the orcs. The orcs made camp near the stones but did not appear to be aware of the treasure. Nobu made a map indicating the location of the stones and he and Adalric returned to Haicheng, planning to return to the valley as soon as possible.

While they were drinking in The Red Griffon tavern Adalric foolishly told the moneychanger Lui Chenglei about the treasure. He most likely told the bookseller Feng Bingwen. The following night Adalric was attacked by thugs who stole the map after knocking him unconscious. The next day he noticed that Bingwen’s bookshop was under guard from a few of these thugs whom he knew to be in the employ of the heir of the Cheng family, Cheng Detlef. He staked out the bookshop waiting for a good time to steal the map back. He managed to steal it back and then he destroyed it, telling Nobu that he was sure that he could find the way back to the treasure by memory. But he was then captured near Huaiji.

A day later Nobu was himself captured in the Altgrimmr Mountains, by a group of men led by Tancred Schmidt. Cheng Detlef and Muadh bin-Kazi were among them and bin-Kazi cast a spell that sent him to sleep. He and Adalric were imprisoned together in the smithy. Muadh bin-Kazi said that he could use sorcery on them to determine the location of the treasure, but then he was called away on some other business. The two men were beaten but refused to reveal the location of the treasure. Cheng Detlef was sure that Adalric was of more value to the gang than Nobu, but considered that the room in the smithy was not reliable as a place to hide him. Last night he was taken somewhere else. Nobu says that he has very good hearing and he is sure that he heard Cheng Detlef mention the name of the market magistrate Wan Dingxiang.

Trond recalls that Wan Dingxiang is the official responsible for overseeing the Bazaar of West Haicheng over which Luo Salim imposed his unfair tax; no doubt he despises Adalric and considers himself to be above the law. This evening he will go to Wan Dingxiang’s house. He buys Nobu a meal.

Money: 30 gp, 1 sp and 5 cp

Trond: 7 Victory points and a Clue

Opponents: 3 Victory points

A roll of 6 on a 1d10 means that the opponents gain a Victory point.

Opponents: 4 Victory points

Haicheng: 4 Heat

Action scene: Wan Dingxiang’s house

Guide the Target out of the foe’s reach for at least a temporary period.

As night is approaching he reaches Wan Dingxiang’s house and picks the lock of a door at the rear of the building. Entering the house he looks for cellar where Adalric is sure to be being kept prisoner.

Trond succeeds on the check.

He stealthily avoids the servants who are moving between the kitchen and the dining room, preparing Wan Dingxiang’s dinner. Beyond a door a flight of steps leads down into the cellar. He finds Adalric bound and gagged amidst casks of rice wine and wooden bins filled with vegetables. He takes him back to The Bronze Horse and buys meals for the both of them.

Money: 29 gp, 7 sp and 5 cp

Trond: 9 Victory points

Opponents: 4 Victory points

A roll of 2 on a 1d10 means that the opponents gain a Victory point.

Opponents: 5 Victory points

Haicheng: 4 Heat

Has Cheng Detlef learned of the location of the treasure? Yes.

Adalric tells Trond that Muadh bin-Kazi cast a spell on him that made him view bin-Kazi as a friend; he told him of the location of the treasure and drew a map to indicate it’s whereabouts. Muadh bin-Kazi told Cheng Detlef that the treasure was located in a valley in the Altgrimmr Mountains north of the ruined town of Mengshan. He and Cheng Detlef left to retrieve the treasure by means of a magical gate. Adalric managed to throw off the effect of the spell but feigned friendliness to bin-Kazi when he returned. He was suspecting that he was about to be killed when Trond rescued him.

Conflict scene: the Bazaar of West Haicheng

Waylay a minion of the foe. Face a Fight instead of a check.

The foes are a city guard with Veteran statistics and six hired thugs with Rabble statistics.

The next morning Trond pays for breakfast and for cheap rooms for himself, Nobu and Adalric, and then leaves The Bronze Dragon.

Money: 29 gp

He is walking through the Bazaar when he sees thug that fled from the guild hall of the potters’ guild. He is accompanied by five other thugs and a guardsman of the city guard in a chain hauberk who must have been suborned by Cheng Detlef. They are moving in the direction of The Bronze Horse and Trond intercepts them. The guard draws his sword.

Trond kills the guard and five of the thugs. The remaining thug flees. He tends his wound.

Hit points: 8

Trond: 10 Victory points

Opponents: 4 Victory points

Haicheng: 6 Heat

Final Action scene: public well

Face the foe himself. Face a fight instead of a check.

The foes are Cheng Detlef, who has Sorcerer statistics, and six hired thugs with Vermin statistics.

Cheng Detlef can cast the spell Seven Small Thunders.

Trond heads back towards The Bronze Horse. At a nearby public well he sights Cheng Detlef and six of his thugs, ragged men who look like the last reserve of his army. Detlef has seen him and Trond realises that he is a sorcerer when he approaches casting a spell. Trond draws his sword.

Trond kills Cheng Detlef and five of the thugs, with the last thug fleeing. He tends his wound.

Hit points: 8

Haicheng: 8 Heat

Trond has scored 6, a Complete Victory. Cheng Detlef’s gang has been completely destroyed. Muadh bin-Kazi, after securing most of the treasure, returned to Tien Lung.

A roll of 2 on a 1d10 (less than the Heat of Haicheng) means that Trond must either leave the city soon or do something to reduce the Heat.

Trond receives one experience point for his adventure. He is now a third level thief. He has 11 maximum hit points. His trait of “Ruin Explorer” has increased to four points, as a result of his expeditions into the Cave of the Howling Ghosts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cave of the Howling Ghosts – Second Expedition

One hex = six miles

In this Scarlet Heroes dungeon adventure the thief Gong Trond continues his exploration of the Cave of the Howling Ghosts. Trond is a second level thief with the following traits:

1. Ruin Explorer: 3
2. Great Stealth: 3
3. Friend to the Black Sapphire Tong: 1
4. Resist the Red Tide: 1

Having travelled from Haicheng to Hasan al-Sakhawi’s trade post in the foothills of the Altgrimmr Mountains, Trond has left the trade post and arrived at the cave entrance.

Hex 03.02

Cave entrance

Type of Feature: dungeon

Dungeon type: cavern (unquiet grave)

Locations: 40

Inhabitants: Shou (first 10 locations) and centipede women (last 30 locations)

During his first expedition into the cave Trond encountered human rebels, orc Shou, and Tidespawn. The Shou have now taken over the first 10 locations and ousted the rebels that originally occupied them. The Shou made their way down into the lower part of the cave where they killed all the Tidespawn, but then they were driven out of this area by the centipede women. Some of the Shou were charmed and enslaved by the centipede women.

Threat: 6

As the cavern is an ‘unquiet grave’ any ‘unusual foes’ rolled will be undead.

Money: 24 gp, 7 sp and 8 cp

Rations: 10

This time Trond ties up his horse (on which he is storing his camp gear and rations) deep within the pine forest that grows near the cave entrance. Hopefully the orc Shou will not find his horse this time.

First part – orc Shou lair

Domed cavern

Do the orcs have guards posted in this cavern? Yes.

Encounter: ten hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – six Shou spearmen with 1 HD each and two grizzled Shou warriors with 2 HD each (one armed with two spears and the other armed with a spear and an axe).

Dungeon encounter: hiding from others.

Attitude towards Trond: the Shou may parley if that seems plausible.

These Shou are neutrals who may or may not cooperate with the Shou chieftain (if there is one present).

Are there Shou women and children present? Yes.

From these results I determine that this cavern is the main living area of the Shou in the cave, that they are frightened of the centipede women, and that as a result they may be willing to parley with Trond.

Trond returns to the cavern where the ceiling forms a natural dome. There are eight orc Shou warriors here along with many women and children, and there are crude mattresses of pine branches and furs arranged around the cavern. These orc Shou are mountain orcs with pale skin and blonde or white hair.

The Shou are dismissive towards Trond. Oracular word: mystery.

Trond’s hand goes to the hilt of his sword, but he is astonished that the orcs do not seem to want a fight; even the larger two warriors seem fearful, though not of him. Instead they acknowledge him briefly and scornfully and then look towards the exit from the cavern. He remembers that the Shou charged down to kill the Tidespawn without fear. Are there more terrible monsters further down that even they are afraid of? He makes his way quickly through the cavern.

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Twisting tunnel

He makes his way down this tunnel.

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Flowing water

Treasure: trove M1 in room contents – copper armlet jewelled with sardonyx worth 50 gp.

He returns to the bank of the stream where the rebels were drinking rice wine. He finds a copper armlet jewelled with sardonyx.

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Deep pool

He returns to the cave where the stream flows into a deep pool.

Third turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Tunnel intersection

Encounter: 12 hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – eight Shou spearmen with 1 HD each and two grizzled warriors with 2 HD each. One the grizzled warriors is armed with a light spear and an axe and the other is armed with a bow and an axe.

Dungeon encounter: enjoying suitable company.

Attitude towards Trond: they may parley if plausible.

These Shou are also neutrals.

Returning to the tunnel intersection he encounters 10 Shou warriors who appear to be guarding this strategic location. The two bigger warriors are enjoying the company of two beautiful Shou women who wear only fur loincloths.

The Shou flatly reject Trond. I decide that this means that they do not want to let him go further into the cave. Oracular word: tradition.

These orcs regard Trond with traditional Shou hostility and advance to attack.

The Shou are a few paces away so Trond cannot use his crossbow.

Trond is overwhelmed and reduced to one hit point. He must Defy Death (1d4). He takes one point of damage and the attempt is unsuccessful. He is left with one hit point and must make a retreat.

Trond kills one of the bigger warriors but the other orcs wound him severely. He attempts to retreat from the combat.

The orcs have a free round of attacks. The surviving grizzled warrior wounds Trond for one point of damage and he is left for dead.

Second part – centipede womens’ lair

Vertical shaft

Encounter: nine hit dice worth of Minions and Civilians – eight charmed Shou slaves of the centipede women with dungeon Vermin statistics, armed with flint daggers, and one Shou slave with dungeon Minion statistics armed with a spear.

Although this is a dungeon adventure I decide to give Trond a break and give him half his maximum hit points (4) as recommended by Scarlet Heroes as the penalty for failing the combat challenge of an urban adventure.

When Trond regains consciousness he finds himself in darkness. He has been stripped of his armour, weapons and backpack and his hands and feet have been crudely bound with rope.

The difficulty of the check to get free is 11. Trond succeeds on the check.

His crude bonds are no match for a skilled adventuring thief. He succeeds in getting free. Feeling his way around the cave he determines that he is at the bottom of the vertical shaft that he found on his previous expedition into the cave. Of course his silk rope has been pulled up by the Shou that left him here.

He hears the sound of approaching feet and shrinks back against the wall of the cave. Flickering torchlight illuminates the walls of the shaft. Trond scrambles up the wall.

The difficulty of the check to climb up the shaft is 11. Trond succeeds on the check.

Once at the top of the shaft he briefly glances down. There are nine orc Shou at the bottom staring up at him. Why did the Shou leave him bound for other orcs to take? Then he notices that these Shou have glazed eyes and are poorly armed; only one carries a spear. Perhaps they are the charmed slaves of some powerful villain or monster. He leaves the shaft.

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Twisted tunnel

He gropes his way down this tunnel.

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Hot mud well

Hazard: environmental danger. Save or take 2d4 damage.

He enters the cave where hot mud splatters the walls.

The difficulty of the saving throw to avoid the mud is 15. Trond succeeds on the saving throw.

He manages to avoid the splatters.

Third turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Steam vent

He enters the tunnel where steam from a vent in the ground fills the air. He heads right to avoid the vent.

Fourth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Tunnel intersection

He reaches this intersection again. Fortunately the Shou are no longer there.

Fifth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Pipe to surface

Hidden treasure: one tenth of C-type trove appropriate to the place (Major Ruin’s Wealth).

He scrambles up the wall towards the daylight.

The difficulty of the check to locate the hidden treasure is 13. Trond fails the check.

Sixth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Once outside he quickly makes his way down the mountainside and into the pine forest, avoiding the cave entrance.

Have the Shou found Trond’s horse? Yes.

Once again the Shou have found and taken his horse. He leaves the forest and days later he returns exhausted to Haicheng. He will not return to the Cave of the Howling Ghosts until he is better prepared.

Trond receives one experience point for his adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cave of the Howling Ghosts

One hex = six miles

Here is a Scarlet Heroes adventure featuring the second level thief Gong Trond, who has the following traits:

1. Ruin Explorer: 3
2. Great Stealth: 3
3. Friend to the Black Sapphire Tong: 1
4. Resist the Red Tide: 1

The Altgrimmr Mountains

Having travelled from the city of Haicheng to Hasan al-Sakhawi’s trade post, Trond leaves the trade post to explore the Altgrimmr Mountains, travelling northwest.

Money: 44 gp, 7 sp and 3 cp

Rations: 12

Threat: 2

Season: dry

Hex 05.03

These hills were explored during a previous adventure, so I don’t check for Encounters, Events or Features.

Rations: 11

Hex 04.03

The next day he travels northwest into the mountains.

Event Threshold: 2

Feature Threshold: 2

He searches for water but fails to find any.

He has a -1 penalty to all checks and a -2 penalty to hit rolls until he finds water.

Rations: 10

Hex 03.03

The next day he travels southwest into the mountains.

Event Threshold: 3

Feature Threshold: 3

He fails to find water again.

Rations: 9

Hex 03.02

The next day he travels north into the mountains.

Event Threshold: 4

Feature Threshold: 1

Cave entrance

Type of Feature: dungeon

Dungeon type: cavern (unquiet grave)

Locations: 40

Inhabitants: rebels (first 10 locations), Tidespawn (next 15 locations), and centipede women (last 15 locations)

Threat: first expedition has a Threat of 2. Further expeditions are at Threat + 1d4.

As the cavern is an ‘unquiet grave’ I decide that any ‘unusual foes’ rolled will be undead, though not in the locations inhabited by Tidespawn as undead are not found in association with those monsters.

I’m using the ‘Dark Cave’ random locations from the Quickstart Edition of Scarlet Heroes as well as the ‘Cavern’ random locations from the main Scarlet Heroes rulebook.

He comes to the entrance to a cave. The map that he bought in Haicheng indicates that there is a cave called “The Cave of the Howling Ghosts” in this part of the mountains. He tethers his horse to a pine tree, lights a torch and enters the cave.

First part – rebel hideout

Domed cavern

The entry tunnel leads to a large cavern where the roof is a natural dome. The cavern is empty. He leaves by a tunnel entrance in the northwest corner.

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Twisting tunnel

The tunnel twists and turns as he follows it deep into the mountain. Eventually it straightens out and runs directly north.

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: 11 hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – seven peasant warriors (HD 1) and two renegade soldiers (HD 2).

Nine men bearing torches come into view. Two of them wear chain hauberks and the others wear leather armour. They are armed with swords, spears and bows.

The rebels regard Trond with qualified consent. Oracular word: foresight.

The men are clearly rebel soldiers or well-armed bandits. But their leader, a man who seems to be of mixed Gadaal and Eirengarder or Skandr descent, greets Trond and appears to be quite tolerant of his presence in the cave. Trond tells him that he is an explorer from the slums of Haicheng who is simply looking for enough treasure to be able to get by. The leader warns him to leave that doomed city for good; in dreams he has seen Haicheng fall to Tidespawn and to an army of Shou led by a witch-priestess of the Bone Spear orcs.

Trond tells him that he helped to destroy a Tide cult in Haicheng. The leader becomes more friendly and tells him to beware of exploring too deep into this cave; further down there is a shrine where a Tide cult opened a gate to the red mist, allowing it’s foul abominations to enter the cave.

Trond says that he will be careful. The leader says that he and his men are going to Hasan al-Sakhawi’s trading post to buy supplies. Trond offers him money for water and the leader fills his waterskin.

Money: 40 gp

The leader tells him that there are more of his companions living in the cave. When Trond meets them he can give them his name, which is Ariaric. Trond bids the men good-day and ventures deeper into the cave.

Flowing water

Encounter: four hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – two peasant warriors and one renegade soldier.

Dungeon encounter: lolling around and drinking.

The tunnel widens and joins a stream on the right. He sees three men – two wearing leather armour and one wearing a chain hauberk – sitting on rocks by the stream. A lantern hangs on the tunnel wall. The men are passing a bottle of rice wine between them.

The rebels regard Trond with helpful consent. Oracular word: pride.

Trond greets the men and tells them that he has just met Ariaric. They let him take a drink from the bottle. One of the men, an Imperial who has clearly had too much to drink, introduces himself as Xue. He says that he is a former peasant from the village of Zhaozedong, between Shou Swamp and Haicheng. He has no respect for the ineffectual Magistrate Hao Ying of Haicheng, and was proud to leave his village. The other men quickly shut him up. Trond says that whatever business the men have here in the cave is their own and he will not trouble them. He leaves the men to their drinking and continues down the tunnel, which follows the stream and turns to the right.

Third turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Deep pool

The tunnel widens into a cave and the stream flows into a deep pool. By the light of his torch he can see pale cave fish swimming in the pool. He leaves the cave by a tunnel entrance in the south wall on the other side of the pool.

Fourth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Tunnel intersection

Hazard: environmental danger. Save or take 2d4 damage.

The tunnel splits, with one tunnel heading straight on and another heading to the left. There are vents in the rock of the tunnels from which toxic gas is issuing.

The difficulty of the saving throw is 15.

Trond manages to avoid breathing in the gas. He takes the tunnel heading straight on.

Fifth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Pipe to surface

Feature: a dangerous intruder or beast that has entered the site – five orc Shou who intend to wipe out the rebels. Four of them have 2 HD.

There is a narrow pipe in the ceiling of the tunnel here and he can see daylight through it. He could quite easily climb up the wall of the tunnel and up through the pipe to leave the cave.

Five Shou warriors, pale-skinned orcs of the mountains, are entering the tunnel from the pipe. The last one drops from the pipe to the ground as Trond approaches. They look unusually large for orc Shou. Four are armed with axes and one is armed with a spear.

The orcs advance to attack. Trond kills all of them.

Sixth turn elapsed

Trond lights a new torch (nine left)

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He tends his wounds.

Hit points: 8

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

He searches the corpses but finds nothing. He continues down the tunnel which bends to the left.

Stalactite maze

Hidden treasure: trove M1 in room contents – bronze headrest worth 10 gp.

He enters a large cavern which is a maze of stalactites, stalagmites and columns.

The difficulty of the check to locate the hidden treasure is 11. Trond succeeds on the check.

At the bottom of a pit formed by a cluster of stalagmites he finds a bronze headrest. He leaves the cavern by a tunnel entrance in the north wall.

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Steam vent

Hazard: environmental danger. Save or take 2d4 damage.

Hot steam from a vent in the ground fills the tunnel here.

The difficulty of the saving throw is 15. Trond fails the saving throw and takes 5 hit points of damage.

He runs through the steam as fast as he can but is still burned. On the other side of the vent he treats his burns using a salve from his healer’s bag.

Hit points: 5

Third turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Beyond the vent the tunnel splits, with one tunnel heading straight on and another heading to the left to join the tunnel intersection he found earlier. At least he will be able to leave the cave without having to run through the steam vent again.

Fourth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Hot mud well

Hazard: environmental danger. Save or take 2d4 damage.

The tunnel enters a cave where there is a well of bubbling, hot grey mud. Mud sprays the walls of the cave.

The difficulty of the saving throw is 15.

Trond succeeds in dodging the mud. He leaves the cave by a tunnel entrance on the right.

Fifth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Twisted tunnel

The tunnel twists sharply left and heads north. A familiar cloud of crimson mist creeps over the floor of the tunnel after the bend. He realises that he is near to the lair of the Tidespawn. He drinks his invisibility potion.

Trond will be invisible for two turns.

Sixth turn elapsed

Trond lights a new torch (eight left)

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Second part – Tidespawn lair

Vertical shaft

Treasure: trove M1 in room contents – pewter anklet jewelled with clear quartz worth 50 gp.

The tunnel ends at a vertical shaft thick with the crimson mist. At the edge of the shaft he finds a pewter anklet jewelled with clear quartz.

He pounds an iron spike into the rock at the edge of the shaft and ties his length of silk rope, which is 50 feet long, to the spike.

The shaft is 1d10 x 10 feet deep: 40 feet deep.

He lowers himself to the bottom of the shaft with ease, but curses when he realises that the effect of his potion of invisibility is wearing off. At the bottom of the shaft a tunnel runs northeast.

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Stream bank

Hazard: environmental danger. Save or take 2d4 damage.

The tunnel meets the bank of an underground stream flowing on the right. There are more vents in the rock here which emit toxic gas.

The difficulty of the saving throw is 15.

He manages not to breathe in the gas. He follows the tunnel which bends to the left.

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Natural bridge

The stream leaves the tunnel and flows on northwest into the mountain. The tunnel crosses the stream over a natural bridge of rock and heads to the right.

Third turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Sloping gallery

Treasure: M2 worth of room contents – bronze finger ring jewelled with green garnet worth 500 gp

The tunnel enters a wide gallery of stalactites and stalagmites which slopes down in a northwestern direction. He finds a bronze finger ring jewelled with green garnet.

Fourth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Spiral tunnel

The gallery narrows to a tunnel which leads down in a roughly spiral direction. Eventually the tunnel becomes level and leads west.

Fifth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Tunnel intersection

Feature: a noncombatant inhabitant of the dungeon.

The tunnel splits with branches leading to the left and the right. A young man dressed in rags is slumped against the wall of the tunnel. He is about 18 years of age and clearly of mixed ethnic origin. When Trond approaches him he looks up with fear, but when Trond reassures him that he is not a Tide cultist and gives him water to drink he becomes hesitantly agreeable. Trond asks him what lies ahead in the cave and he replies that there are only the foul monsters from out of the red mist.

Sixth turn elapsed

Trond lights a new torch (seven left)

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

The man’s name is Pan Dagr and he is the heir of the wealthy Pan family of Haicheng. In Haicheng he lived as a rake and drank heavily, and his curiosity about all things mysterious caused him to become involved in the Tide cult that was sacrificing people in this cave. He tried to return to Haicheng but was caught and imprisoned in the cave to be sacrificed himself. But then the Tide monsters emerged from the mist and transformed or destroyed all of the cultists. Since then he has been living in the dark and evading the monsters.

Dagr ask Trond to help him leave the cave and return to Haicheng. If Trond will provide him with food and a weapon he will help fight any monsters that they encounter. His family will surely pay a considerable amount of gold if he is returned to their palace.

Trond agrees to help Dagr, and tells him to take heart as he himself destroyed a Tide cult that was flourishing in the slums of Haicheng. He provides him with his dagger and says that he will cook some rations for him to eat once they have left the cave.

Sloping gallery

They make their way up the spiral tunnel to the sloping gallery.

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: four hit dice worth of Minions and Elites – one Creeper and one Wormwalker.

Two Tidespawn loom out of the red mist. One is a short, deformed creature wielding a spear, a Creeper. It may have once been a halfling or a child. It’s face is deformed with red growths. The other creature is a Wormwalker, man-sized and with a mass of pale worms crawling over it’s body.

Due to the presence of the Creeper Trond has -1 penalty to hit rolls and an AC of 6 for this combat only.

Trond draws his sword but his vision is suddenly obscured with visions of the Tide sweeping through Haicheng and destroying and deforming all in it’s path. He also experiences an urge to pick up Dagr and impale him on a nearby stalagmite. He overcomes this urge and advances to kill the creatures, with Dagr following him.

Dagr has the Vermin statistics of an urban combatant.

Trond kills the Creeper but the Wormwalker’s worms kill Dagr and badly wound Trond.

Trond is reduced to 2 hit points and must Defy Death (2d4). He takes 1 point of damage and the attempt is successful.

Hit points: 1

Two spears fly out of the darkness and hit the Wormwalker, killing it. Trond hides behind a column and sees dozens of orc Shou rush down the gallery with weapons ready. He remembers that the Shou are the greatest enemies of the Tide. He tends his wounds and waits for the Shou to leave the gallery before going to retrieve his dagger from beside Dagr’s corpse. The corpse is covered with the Wormwalker’s worms. He returns over the natural bridge to the stream bank.

Hit points: 3

Second turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Stream bank

Hazard: environmental danger. Save or take 2d4 damage.

He returns to the stream bank where toxic gas issues from vents in the rock.

Trond fails the saving throw to avoid being overcome by the toxic gas. He must Defy Death again (2d6). He takes 2 points of damage and the attempt is successful.

Hit points: 1

He breathes in only a small amount of the gas while making his way along the stream bank. He coughs and splutters but manages to keep on moving and returns to the bottom of the vertical shaft.

Third turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

First part – rebel hideout

Twisted tunnel

He climbs up his rope and enters the twisted tunnel.

Fourth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Hot mud well

Hazard: environmental danger. Save or take 2d4 damage.

He enters this cave again where hot mud splatters the walls.

Trond fails the saving throw to avoid the mud. As he only has 1 hit point an attempt to Defy Death would automatically fail. He is left with 1 hit point.

Hit points: 1

He is burned by a mud splatter but manages to keep on moving.

Steam vent

Returning to the tunnel of the steam vent he heads right to avoid the vent.

Fifth turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Deep pool

He enters this cave where he refills his waterskin.

Sixth turn elapsed

Trond lights a new torch (six left)

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Pipe to surface

First turn elapsed

Check for wandering inhabitants: none

Returning to the pipe he douses his torch and scrambles up the rock wall and the pipe to the mountainside.

Cave entrance

He climbs down to the cave entrance and finds that the Shou took his horse to eat. His bow and arrows, camp gear and rations that were stored on his horse are gone.

He searches for food but can only gather, not hunt, as he has lost his bow.

Trond can only obtain 1d4-1 lots of food if he only gathers instead of hunting and gathering even if he passes the check.

He obtains three day’s worth of food.

Rations: 2

Hex 04.03

The next day he travels southeast through the mountains, returning to Hasan al-Sakhawi’s trade post. He searches for water and finds a spring.

Rations: 1

Hex 05.03

The next day he travels southeast and searches for water again. He fails to find water.

Rations: 0

Hasan al-Sakhawi’s trade post

The next day he reaches Hasan al-Sakhawi’s trade post where he buys rations and rice wine, and pays four silver pieces to camp within the palisade. The skies are cloudy but there is no rain. He spends the remainder of the day resting at the trade post.

Money: 38 gp and 2 sp

Rations: 1

The next day he returns to Haicheng, stopping briefly at Huaiji for a mug of rice beer in the tavern.

Money: 38 gp, 1 sp and 8 cp

Ration: 0

He reaches Haicheng in the evening and goes to the inn, The Bronze Horse , to recuperate.

Money: 21 gp

After two whole days of recuperation he leaves the inn to sell the treasure that he found in the cave, and to buy a horse and new equipment. He then returns to Hasan al-Sakhawi’s trade post.

Money: 24 gp, 7 sp and 8 cp

Rations: 12

Trond receives one experience point for his adventure.

Shrine of the Rat Cult

Here is another adventure in my Ruins of the Undercity campaign, played using the Labyrinth Lord rules.

Plague

Shortly after Nameera, Somteva and Zareef return to Cryptopolis the city is struck by a minor outbreak of the plague known as the Fatal Boils. People who catch the disease are afflicted with disfiguring boils and die within twelve weeks.

Nameera, Somteva and Zareef all save successfully versus death.

Fortunately none of the adventurers catch the disease.

Onzir the travelling peddler

The adventurers meet a travelling peddler named Onzir, who has travelled to Cryptopolis with a caravan from the city of Ezar to the south. He is selling potions and scrolls but is not asking for less than 200 gold pieces for any of them, so the adventurers bid him good-day and say they hope to meet him again if they are richer by the time he returns to Cryptopolis.

New party members

The adventurers go to Aliam’s Babuschs to collect the babuschs (shoes) that they ordered before going on their previous adventure. Then they search the dingy khiva shops for anyone who wants to join them for another expedition into the Undercity. They find three new party members.

Akram

Formerly a holy beggar devoted to the Red Goddess, Akram is now a cleric of that deity.

Azmi

Azmi was formerly a town crier and is now a wizard. He understands the language of flinds.

Nisma

Nisma was formerly a prostitute. After one of her clients robbed her she stole her money back from him, and discovered that she was good at getting into places. She is now a thief.

The Undercity

The adventurers go to the abandoned house near the Temple of the Red Goddess, where there is a stairway leading down into the Undercity.

All characters are moving at a rate of 30′ per turn (exploring movement).

The party make their way to the moldy wooden door that gives entrance to the corridor of lanterns (34). They rest at the door for a while.

First to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (19 left).

They go through the door and make their way down the corridor beyond which is illuminated by a row of glass lanterns on the right-hand wall.

Has the covered pit trap 20′ deep in this corridor been covered again? No.

They make their way carefully around the pit in the corridor and go down a side passage (85) discovered previously but not explored.

First to third turns elapsed.

91: Cesspit

The passage ends at a door of moldy wood, which is unlocked. Going through Nisma (at the front of the party) finds herself in a small circular room 10 feet in diameter, with no exits. The floor is strewn with rotting refuse and a putrid smell fills the air.

Nisma fails to detect the covered cesspit.

Somteva follows Nisma into the room. The two adventurers tumble into a cesspit in the middle of the floor that was hidden beneath the refuse.

Nisma succeeds in climbing out of the cesspit.

Nisma climbs out of the cesspit and lowers a length of silk rope down into the pit so that Somteva can climb out. They clean themselves as best they can using rags from the floor of the room.

The party leave the room and rest in the passage outside.

Fourth to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: four zombies.

Akram lights a new torch (18 left).

Zombies

Akram has just finished lighting a new torch and the party are ready to leave when four rotting zombies appear at the entrance to the side passage and advance towards them.

The zombies have hit points and weapons as follows (d4: 1 – hand axe, 2 – mace, 3 – scimitar, 4 – short sword):

1. First zombie: hand axe, 5 hit points
2. Second zombie: hand axe, 6 hit points
3. Third zombie: mace, 10 hit points
4. Fourth zombie: short sword, 9 hit points

The party has the initiative.

Somteva fails to turn the zombies and in the ensuing combat Nisma is killed and Azmi and Somteva are wounded before all the zombies are destroyed. Somteva partially heals herself with Cure Light Wounds and Akram completely heals Azmi with the same spell. Somteva and Akram perform the rites of the Red Goddess over Nisma’s corpse.

Somteva has 8 hit points left.

First to third turns elapsed.

The party return to the main corridor and go left, following the corridor for 30 feet before resting again.

Fourth to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (17 left).

87: Standard masonry corridor

The corridor beyond is no longer illuminated with lanterns. They follow the corridor for another 30 feet before going down a side passage which branches off at 45 degrees.

First and second turns elapsed.

92: Refuse-strewn chamber

The passage ends in a large, square chamber strewn with refuse and with no other exits. They return to the main corridor which they follow for another 30 feet.

Third and fourth turns elapsed.

88: Torch-lit corridor

They follow this corridor until it turns to the left. They rest at the turn.

Fifth and sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (16 left).

They follow the corridor for another 30 feet.

First turn elapsed.

89: Rough masonry corridor

They follow this corridor for another 30 feet and come to the door to the chamber where Nameera, Somteva and Zareef found a hoard of gold coins. They take the side passage on the left.

Second and third turns elapsed.

93: Corridor of lanterns

Corridor illumination: row of lanterns, fragile glass.

Corridor type: rough masonry and dirt floor.

Corridor features: dank and moldy.

They follow the corridor of lanterns for 60 feet before resting.

Fourth to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (15 left).

94: Shrine of the Rat Cult

The corridor ends in a chamber of rough masonry with a dirt floor, and illuminated by the same glass lanterns. There are 16 giant rats, each at least three feet long, feeding on the remains of food which appears to have been given to them on clay plates as offerings. The chamber is apparently the shrine of some bizarre cult that worships rats. Scattered around the chamber there are seven rotting sacks amidst human bones and scraps of leather armour. The sacks appear to be filled with silver coins.

The sacks contain a total of 4,000 silver pieces.

The rats have the initiative and attack.

Zareef is attacked by four rats with 4, 4, 4 and 3 hit points.

Somteva is attacked by three rats with 3, 1 and 3 hit points.

Azmi is attacked by three rats with 1, 2 and 4 hit points.

Akram is attacked by three rats with 3, 3 and 4 hit points.

Nameera is attacked by three rats with 3, 4 and 1 hit points.

I decide that any ‘overflow’ damage from a successful hit against one rat can be shared between the other rats within range of the hit.

The adventurers kill 13 of the rats and three of them flee, but not before Azmi has been killed and all of the adventurers have been wounded.

Akram: 2 hit points left.

Nameera: 8 hit points left.

Somteva: 3 hit points left.

Zareef: 6 hit points left.

The adventurers quickly fill their sacks with silver coins and then leave the chamber, heading back towards the stairway to the abandoned house. Zareef is now the mapper for the party.

Each adventurer takes 600 silver pieces.

89: Rough masonry corridor

Returning to the turn in this corridor they rest.

First to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (14 left).

85: Rough masonry corridor

Returning to this corridor they rest.

First to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (13 left).

12: Rough masonry corridor

Returning to this corridor they rest.

First to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: 28 kobolds 40 feet from the party, coming from the entry corridor.

Akram lights a new torch (12 left).

Kobolds

The kobolds are uncertain. Since the previous group of kobolds encountered by the party were indifferent, I decide that these kobolds will be hostile.

A group of kobolds enters the corridor from the entry corridor. Their numbers are difficult to determine but there appear to be at least 20 of them. The two kobolds in the front rank have javelins ready to throw. They bark at the adventurers and gesture for them to drop their sacks.

The adventurers decide to comply with their demands and place their sacks on the floor of the corridor. The kobolds advance to inspect the sacks. The adventurers hope that they will be satisfied with the hoard of silver coins.

Are the kobolds satisfied? Yes.

The party leave the kobolds to squabble over the silver and head back up the corridor. They pass the intersection.

13: Slimy corridor

Past the intersection slime coats the floor of the corridor and they have to watch their footing. They pass a putrid chamber strewn with refuse (14) and enter a corridor free of slime (38). They reach a side passage (39) which ends in a rubble obstruction. They decide to get some sleep here as they have been exploring for eight hours now. Zareef sits on watch while the others lay out their bedrolls and settle down to sleep.

First to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Zareef lights a new torch (11 left).

Akram, Nameera and Somteva will sleep for eight hours.

First hour elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: three giant carnivorous flies 60 feet from the party, with 11, 12 and 14 hit points.

Zareef lights a new torch (10 left).

Giant carnivorous flies

Three giant carnivorous flies enter the side passage. Zareef quickly wakes the others.

The flies have the initiative.

The adventurers kill all of the flies but not before Nameera has been wounded.

Nameera has 6 hit points left.

The adventurers are now exhausted but they decide to leave the Undercity. No doubt the kobolds will have returned to their lair by now.

12: Rough masonry corridor

Returning to this corridor they rest.

First to sixth turns elapsed.

Check for wandering monsters: none.

Akram lights a new torch (9 left).

They return to the abandoned house and to Cryptopolis without further incident.