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Old 07-21-2018, 08:35 PM   #1
Dalin
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Default One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

I ran another little one-shot recently with my children and some of their friends (four players plus me). Their ages ranged from six to nine, so this was definitely a beginner scenario. With a bit of minor adjustment, however, it could (I hope) entertain a more experienced group. Now that I’ve written it up, I plan on running a version of it with my adult group too. Season with a bit of debauchery and no one will know it was originally a Disney special. As with my last contribution, I ran this based on a short bulleted list of ideas with no stats or maps, winging everything as I went. It took the kids 3-4 hours to finish it, though with a bit of additional detail it could take longer. Once again, please improve, pillage, or re-skin as needed.

Premise

Beneath the streets of the steamy port of Amophys broods Xestobius, a sinister creature that resents the infestation of surface dwellers above. He (or she) might be a coleopteran (the insectoid race from Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level, p. 5), a lizard man (Monsters, p. 41), a mad dwarf, a hell gnome, or a member of a species unique to your campaign world. Xestobius has acquired (or created) an enchanted item that can transform representations of insects into giant, clockwork versions. He intends to use this device to create an army with which to cleanse the city. Fortunately for Xestobius, insect art is popular in the city above, so he has contracted out with some thieves to gather such items and deliver them to him. In the course of this adventure, the delvers will learn about the thefts, catch the thief, trace the deliveries into the sewers, and eventually track down and confront Xestobius in his subterranean workshop.

Part 1: Stop Thief!

Town, in this scenario, is the city of Amophys, which also happens to be the dungeon. Amophys is a warm port city featuring all the fun urban things: labyrinthine streets, decadent palaces, temples to popular and forgotten gods, seedy slums, and wily merchants and con-artists lining the streets and bazaars. The most successful merchants have permanent shops around the market squares and adjoining streets, while the rest jockey for choice spots for their stalls, pushcarts, tents, and trays. Recently there has been a series of thefts from minor jewelry and trinket merchants. They hawk their collections—semi-precious stones, intaglios and cameos, copper and bronze baubles, and cheap jewelry—to tourists, young lovers, and those who can’t afford or recognize finer work. As rumors have spread through the market about these thefts, an interesting pattern has emerged: the thief or thieves have targeted only works that feature bugs: stone scarabs, spider intaglios, copper coiled millipedes (a popular earring design), etc.

The delvers could get involved in a number of ways. They might be in the marketplace when a theft happens, seeing the thief run into an alley. They could be friends with a merchant or related to one. They might be approached by a merchant representative after the town guard showed no interest. Regardless, they will be hired by a merchant (or a small contingent of merchants), offering a modest fee for the apprehension of the thief and the return of whatever stolen property can be recovered (this includes previously stolen items, not just the material in the most recent theft).

The one clue is that one of the thieves’ hoods came loose during a botched theft and a prominent scar was revealed. Delvers with social skills (or Intimidation) can ask around in the seedy parts of town to discover that there is a known thug-for-hire named Slash due to his red scar. He lives with a number of other ne'er-do-wells in a loft above a warehouse in the dock district.

Part 2: Apprehending Slash

This is a basic raid on a den of thieves. Slash lives in a simple one-room apartment above a warehouse. There is a rickety staircase up from an alley to the door. There are windows on three walls (facing the main street and two side alleys, including over the stairs), and cheap furnishings for Slash and his cronies. The roof above is flat. Under a rug in the apartment is an escape hatch above a pile of crates in the warehouse. In addition to the hatch, one of the windows over the alley without the staircase has a drain pipe beside it that is reinforced to be usable as a getaway route.

The encounter can be a straight-up battle, or it might be role-played out. Add as many cronies as needed to balance the threat level, though this could also be a good moment for the delvers to mop up without much difficulty. (I like to occasionally have the PCs feel like their 250+ points make them special.) The main challenge might simply be making sure Slash doesn’t escape (or die).

Treasure: Unless the opposition level warrants it, there is not much treasure in the thieves’ lair—perhaps a bit of cash. In addition, Slash has the latest items that he stole from the trinket merchants: an array of stone scarabs and a dragonfly brooch.

Developments: Slash won’t put up much resistance if he is questioned or threatened. He has been handing off his loot to an unsavory character that he meets in the sewers. He has no idea what the stuff is for, but the marks are easy and the pay is good. He’s expected to meet his contact there again tonight at midnight. Slash can describe the location or he can guide the delvers there. He will try to extract as much as he can out of whatever bargain they strike. At a minimum, he’d like his life and liberty, but if he can somehow manage to get some or all of his scheduled payment, all the better. He’s not exactly trustworthy but won’t go out of his way to betray the PCs unless the benefits greatly outweigh the risks.

Oops! If the delvers kill Slash (intentionally or not), there should be some other way to get the information about his rendezvous. A crony might know, or maybe he has a note from his contact or a roughly sketched map. Don’t give them everything, though; the next encounter should be a bit more challenging. Perhaps they learn the general vicinity but don’t know which direction the contact comes from. Or maybe they need to split up and watch multiple areas.

[Continued in the next two posts.]
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Old 07-21-2018, 08:40 PM   #2
Dalin
 
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Part 3: The Sewers Handoff

Slash meets his contact in the sewers beneath the city. The sewers are large and extensive in order to handle the runoff from torrential downpours during the rainy season. The city elders are quite proud of them, though they do create their fair share of headaches. Slash’s entrance to the sewers could be a street drain in an alley, a secret door in an abandoned basement, or an egress grate near the docks. The sewers have a wide array of passage sizes, all made from worked stone and brick. Primary and larger secondary passages (3-5 yards wide) have walkways (1-2 yards wide) on the side above the liquid. Smaller passages have slanted, slippery floors, usually with water or muck in the lower reaches. There are numerous spouts, vents, and narrow openings in the walls and arched ceiling. Major junctions sometimes have stone bridges arching across the water, beautiful in their dank way. Some have collapsed and other areas never got the fancy treatment. There may be wooden bridges and impromptu constructions scattered about as well. Occasional light filters in from surface grates and there is some slight phosphorescence, but most areas have vision penalties of -8 or -9, with sealed and deeper areas in complete darkness.

The rendezvous point is on a bridge at a major “T” junction where a secondary passage pours into a primary culvert. Slash comes from the primary passage and waits on the bridge for his contact to emerge from the shadows of the secondary passage. There are some places to hide nearby, including in the muck below, but no easy way for a delver to be undetected on the bridge with Slash (barring invisibility magic). The contact is a large, cloaked and hooded figure. He (or she) speaks little and has an odd accent. In my original design, he was a coleopteran henchman to Xestobius. Whatever he is, he should have Dark Vision, some skill at Climbing and Jumping (I started with the martial artist template from Adventurers, p. 29), and some appropriate gear to explain his ability to navigate the challenging route to the lair (e.g., a rope and grapnel; see the next section).

Delvers have many choices at this point. They could attack, kill the contact, and try to follow his tracks back to Xestobius. They could capture and interrogate him. They could stay hidden, let the transaction happen and then follow him back. They might even try to negotiate with him, trying to buy him off or convince him that he’s working for a Bad Dude. Each option is workable with the right skills. To complicate matters, the contact might have additional allies hidden in the shadows behind him (aiming crossbows or spells at the bridge).

Part 4: Bugs and Tight Places

The lair of Xestobius (see Part 5, below) is not part of the sewers proper. The way to get there is complex, easier for bugs than humans, and includes some sewer passages, some old foundations and collapsed basements, and some natural caves and tunnels carved by the bugs (or other unknown things). In this section, the PCs will follow the contact’s trail to the workshop. The journey features some giant clockwork insect guardians and some obstacles that require Dungeon Parkour (Exploits, pp. 20-21), magic, or clever teamwork to navigate. Note that the challenge here is not intended to be finding the path, but figuring out how to traverse it. Tracks should be easy to spot in the filth. There might be a few mysterious dead ends, but it shouldn’t be too hard to discover evidence that the bug-man jumped to a higher ledge or crawled through a low tunnel.

This segment is a great chance for the PCs to use Complementary Skill Rolls and, even more so, Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem (Exploits, p. 6) to assist each other. The physical challenges that I included were:
  • A ventilation shaft high on a wall over some flowing sewage, requiring a grappling hook (the bug henchman had a well-used one on him), some slippery climbing, or levitation.
  • A narrow crack to squeeze through (possibly requiring armor removal, see Squeezing, Exploits, p. 21) and some low passages that required crawling.
  • A series of heavy, dangling chains that needed to be climbed and swung on.
  • A crevice that required jumping across or balancing on a narrow ledge.

Add or substitute challenges that work for your group. Season with some bugs and/or chases (next paragraph) and it’s a good time.

Use the bronze spider (Monsters, p. 17) as a baseline template for any clockwork bugs. I took inspiration from the idea that they attack from weird angles, jump great distances, etc. Each type of bug was slightly different, but most of this was visual. Some could even fly (albeit, slowly and noisily). I saved faster wasps for the lair. I nerfed mine a bit (lowered DR and, aside from jumping, slowed them down a bit) for my relatively weak PCs. I had a few bugs act like watchdogs, scurrying off to potentially warn Xestobius. This made for some exciting chases, especially in the complex environment. Of course, if the PCs didn’t kill or capture the contact and are instead following him, it is likely that he will become aware of them at some point. This could lead to a signature fight as he ambushes them or leads them into a tough spot.

[Continued in the next post.]
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Old 07-21-2018, 08:47 PM   #3
Dalin
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Part 5: The Lair of Xestobius

Xestobius’ workshop lair is in a large subterranean chamber shaped something like a cathedral (example plan), with nave and transept but no pews. Large pillars (three feet thick, DR 468, HP 135, full cover for SM 0) are evenly spaced throughout. The space is uniformly dimly lit (-3 vision penalty) via unknown magic that predates Xestobius. The PCs enter via a passage at the end of the nave (near where the main doors to a cathedral would be). Xestobius is working with his assistants at the crossing, at least 30 yards away (could be much farther, depending on how you want to scale things). Scattered about the room are work tables, alchemical apparatus, tools, barrels of supplies, and clockwork bugs (including faster, flying wasps). Suspended above the crossing where Xestobius works is a large magical device (glowing, pulsing crystal or clockwork craziness as fits your dungeon aesthetic) that can produce a beam of light that transforms carved bugs on the table below into clockwork monsters.

Up to this point, Xestobius has been refining his process and testing it on individual carvings. Now, however, he has perfected the device and is preparing to transform his first large batch. If he becomes aware of the PCs, he will try to start the process, potentially creating an additional array of foes. If desired, you can have all the bugs linked to the magical device. (Perhaps they all glow in sync with it or have a faint ticking or something.)

My group did a frontal assault, opening with a fully cooked explosive fireball and then duking it out with the clockwork bugs while the scout tried to take down the magical device with some cutting arrows aimed at its suspension ropes. It, of course, exploded in magical awesomeness when it hit the ground, effectively ending the threat. Of course, this could run a lot of different ways depending on group tactics and how you run the enemies. I can imagine a group climbing into the upper reaches and trying to manage this with stealth. Xestobius could be a symbolic figurehead (as he was for me) or he could be a boss fight himself, wielding magic or alchemy or clockwork juju. The transept wings provide cover for additional foes that may not have been visible at first. Destroying the magical device could stop all the bugs, or it could merely halt production, so the delvers still need to mop up the first batches. If it doesn’t explode, then it might not reduce the threat much at all.

Finally, of course, they may try to steal it to use for themselves. I leave that to you, but it might be booby-trapped or otherwise keyed to Xestobius to make that difficult.

Treasure: You can justify almost any type of reward in the workshop. I provided a stash of potions, some jewels, and all the stolen jewelry (which they returned for a modest reward). Perhaps Xestobius and his minions are armed with magical weapons. Xestobius might have plenty of spending cash (for paying off thieves, among other things). The remains (if any) of the device might be worth something to sages at the university upstairs. The workshop inventory itself may be valuable; even if mostly destroyed, it might sell as scrap (Exploits, pp. 16-17).

Expansion Options

That wraps up the adventure as I ran it, but there are a few avenues for further consideration. I’m sure you’ll come up with many that I haven’t thought of, but here are a few ideas to explore:
  1. Why couldn’t the merchants go to the city watch? Are the merchants up to something? Is the city watch hopelessly corrupt? Is there a link between Xestobius and the town powers? (Perhaps he was not intending to wipe out all of the surface dwellers, but planning a more narrowly targeted attack.)
  2. What is the nature of Xestobius’ workshop? Is it still connected to any surface buildings? If so, are the owners in cahoots with Xestobius? This could be another avenue to introduce some urban intrigue.
  3. Where is Xestobius from? Who are his people? Are the rest of them as misanthropic as he is? Is he just the tip of the iceberg?
  4. Where did the magical device come from? Who built it? Are there more devices like it floating around?
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Old 07-23-2018, 08:25 AM   #4
martinl
 
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Looks like fun!
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Old 07-23-2018, 08:14 PM   #5
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

I love your mini-Adventures, just the kind of stuff I’m always looking for to inflict on my players :)
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Old 07-24-2018, 09:19 AM   #6
Dalin
 
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Quote:
Originally Posted by LokRobster View Post
I love your mini-Adventures, just the kind of stuff I’m always looking for to inflict on my players :)
Glad to hear it! I don't have time to polish adventures to Pyramid standards yet, but I wasn't sure if these brief treatments would be useful to anyone.
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Old 07-24-2018, 01:10 PM   #7
Dalin
 
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalin View Post
I don't have time to polish adventures to Pyramid standards yet, but I wasn't sure if these brief treatments would be useful to anyone.
Oof. Wrote this post before seeing the end-of-Pyramid announcement. I guess the "yet" above was wishful thinking.
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Old 07-25-2018, 01:49 AM   #8
Tom H.
 
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalin View Post
Oof. Wrote this post before seeing the end-of-Pyramid announcement. I guess the "yet" above was wishful thinking.
Yes, you're stuff would have been a good fit for Pyramid.

I hope SJ Games didn't just think that the forums would be as good a substitute for curated user submissions.

I mentioned in another thread that something like Pyramid should return on occasion like Ogrezine.
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Old 07-25-2018, 02:29 AM   #9
evileeyore
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom H. View Post
I mentioned in another thread that something like Pyramid should return on occasion like Ogrezine.
And it seemed to me liked the switch up in the last couple of issue was a real shot in the arm for the publication. Must not have been enough?
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Old 09-16-2018, 09:24 PM   #10
Tom H.
 
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Default Re: One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

Well, I finally got around to coming back to this adventure post and reading it all.

I enjoy getting insights into how others create and structure their adventures.

Part 4: Bugs and Tight Places was especially interesting to me.

This is the part where the adventurers must travel underground through various terrain, obstacles, and challenges to find the boss' lair.

There are many suggestions that are left up to GM to implement at the game table. I'm curious if anyone wants to comment to what degree and detail they would present the actual travel and encounters. The range from narrative winging to premeditated structure is wide.

Here are some questions you could address:

Are your preferences to:
  • Prepare a scale sketch of the paths, locations, and encounters.
  • Narrate everything on the fly until you come to an encounter or challenge scene and then throw figures on a battle map.
  • Do something in between such as revert to more frequent drawing of underground paths and encounters on Chessex style hex maps as you go.

Dalin hinted at his approach:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalin View Post
. . . I ran this based on a short bulleted list of ideas with no stats or maps, winging everything as I went.
Dalin, would you also care to elaborate any as to how you presented these underground encounters when you ran it?

Thanks again for sharing the adventure.

Last edited by Tom H.; 09-16-2018 at 09:27 PM. Reason: Emphasis
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