- A well-loved professor, Alpon Lechfeld has died in what appears to be an accident—although there are some suspicious clues that cannot rule out foul play. For the sake of getting the game going, I'm going to tell the PCs that they've all been asked to be pallbearers and are named as (minor) heirs in his will. He'll give them a few things, but most of his fortune is left to his daughter Revecca.
- Ghosts are appearing in town, threatening (or at least frightening) many residents, that can be traced to a haunted and abandoned ruin of a former prison. Why are they leaving their normal territory? (linked to the murder above.)
- A rampaging Frankenstein-monster is blamed for some more townsfolk murders. This, and the ghosts, are probably happening at the same time, so nobody knows which is responsible.
- A mob of townsfolk wants to exhume Lechfeld and "put down his corpse"—of course, it turns out that someone has already exhumed him and dismembered his corpse, as well as apparently eaten some other recently dead in the graveyard. Notably, an amulet that he was buried with is missing. Revecca suggests that this amulet kept the ghosts in check in some way; if it's gone, that explains their extraordinary aggressiveness.
- The Frankenstein monster was a creation of Lechfeld himself in an extremely foolhardy experiment years ago, and it has come into town looking for him when he stopped visiting. It really is a monster, though, not some misunderstood something or other—he's killed numerous townsfolk viciously.
- The ghosts have to be put down (salt and burn their remains) in their haunted house.
- The professor's beautiful and friendly and otherwise hopefully quite sympathetic daughter, is missing. Gigantic wolf-paw prints and other hints of that nature surround the area she was last seen.
- Her kidnappers are, indeed, werewolves from the Bitterwood, and they've taken her to Innsburough.
- To follow up, the werewolves may have to be confronted in the Bitterwood, though. They're too good at covering their tracks to be followed to Innsborough.
- The Black Path has Revecca in their grasp, and want to sacrifice her on the Devil's Reef by Otto von Szell, the manorial lord of the Innsborough territory.
- Revecca knows enough about her father's amulet to use it as a key to enter the sealed tomb of Grozavest. This ability is related to its ability to suppress undead activity in some way. But Otto von Szell had his own ideas, and wanted to call up some undersea daemon (Typhon?) to destroy his rivals in the Black Path. Namely, Grigore Stefanescu.
- Stefanescu steals Revecca and her father's amulet, either from the PCs if they've rescued her, or from von Szell if for some reason they don't. Maybe it's a ghoul group that actually carries out the abduction? Ghouls from Dragomiresti seems like a good way to bring that into play.
- The ghouls take Revecca to Grozavest, where Stefanescu foolishly intends to "rescue" a Primogenitor sealed in with Melek Taus, thinking that by so doing, he will gain a champion capable of dealing with any of the other noble houses.
In the spirit of not reproducing stuff that Paizo has already produced, let me give you the high level summary of what to do with the first few bullet points, as highlighted above. This summary is from my post a day or two ago about how to prune the adventure path and make my notes focus more on what the NPCs are doing, rather than on what I expect the PCs to do. The PCs are on their own to make their own plans, counter-measures, or what-have-you with regards to the NPCs' plans.
So, I'm actually assuming that you have access to the Carrion Crown adventure path books, although I'll try to see what I can do to make that not strictly necessary in case you don't. I'm going to use Mittermarkt as a relatively major large town. It corresponds to Lepidstadt in the Pathfinder sending, and I'm going to use the same map to represent my version of it. Because; why not. Professor Alpon Lechfeld doesn't live in Mittermarkt per se; he lives in a smaller village down the road, Ebenbach. This will be represented by the map for Ravengro, since it's the analog, anyway. According to my map, they're only one hex apart, and there's a nice smooth road connecting them. This means that it still takes several hours to travel from one to the other; you don't walk or ride almost ten miles in just a few minutes without a car. I know that I personally, on foot on a decent dirt road, could cover that in about three to four hours—about half a day—without unduly hurrying (although I admit I'd rather take a whole day and walk more leisurely.) Needless to say, Professor Lechfeld doesn't commute exactly; he lives a life of semi-retirement and only comes "to town" once a week or so, most of the time. He's prosperous enough to have a carriage, I'm sure, and a few horses.
What could the professor have left the PCs, and under what conditions? I think a silver sword that he uncovered during an archaeological expedition, cleaned up and identified as the sword of famous ghost-hunter champion, Azold von Craultou. Some notes on the archaeology of Eltdown, including an incomplete transcription of the Eltdown Shards would be appropriate. Maybe a few gems of moderate value. However, as in the case of the module, to inherit, they need to stay in the house for a couple of weeks and make sure his daughter Revecca is properly attended to, set up, and ready to succeed. She's young, but not a child. She may well have some suitors—maybe even the PCs are given the task to sort through their merits and help her choose one, etc. Or maybe she's legally and financially independent, assuming she is watched over somewhat. Not sure exactly how this one will work out yet. It may well depend on who I play this with.
As ghosts of dead prisoners start to attack people in the town, maybe turn a little bit less to the characters named in the module, and focus more on recognizable urban legends and other cultural touchstones. Bloody Mary, the Hookman and Bloody Bones for instance. The Headless Horseman, maybe. Maybe even Slenderman. The silver (or maybe even +1 magical, if you're feeling really generous) sword that the PCs inherited from Lechfeld could come in awfully handy here. Recall; here's my stats for ghosts:
Eliminate that dungeon-crawl aspect of the prison as presented in the module; but you can certainly (and should) see about adapting the Haunts, or at least a couple of them. Reminder again; the rules for haunts are here. They're too complicated to be an m20 rule element, but you can adapt them easily enough. Keep in mind that there's no "channeling positive energy" in FANTASY HACK, so destroying the haunt is the only way to end it—either that or just suffer its effects and soldier on.
Feel free to also have a rat or bat swarm. The module has a rat swarm, by the way, as well.
So there you have it. This little mini-adventure plus some encounters is the "collapsed" version of the entire first module—a necessary pruning if you want to turn an entire Paizo Adventure Path into something like a module; even a longish module. It will probably take a whole session to resolve; if your players are like mine, it might well take two. The optional events on pages 54-55 of the module can also be worked in as pretty cool little vignettes that help confirm that this is a horror-themed game. The rumors in page 59 in town would also be useful. You can use the key provided in the module with the map I linked to above, but you don't need to. There's lots of opportunities to wander around town, talk to NPCs and get the lay of the land. There's lot of opportunities to explore the surrounding countryside as well, and you should feel free to make that exciting if so; some random encounters, bandits, wild animals, etc. They may need to wander about the countryside exploring reports of hauntings and ghosts, honestly.
Keep in mind that the events of the second module; the next two bullet points (which I'll do in the next post of this series) should actually happen concurrently. The ghosts and the Frankentstein monster are threatening the village of Ebenbach and the larger town of Mittermarkt at the same time. This gives the PCs a chance to move around a bit, too. Explore the area, try and figure out what's going on, etc. It may not be a bad idea to have the ruins fo the prison actually be a mile or two outside of town.
APPENDIX: Ghosts in the haunted house:
As ghosts of dead prisoners start to attack people in the town, maybe turn a little bit less to the characters named in the module, and focus more on recognizable urban legends and other cultural touchstones. Bloody Mary, the Hookman and Bloody Bones for instance. The Headless Horseman, maybe. Maybe even Slenderman. The silver (or maybe even +1 magical, if you're feeling really generous) sword that the PCs inherited from Lechfeld could come in awfully handy here. Recall; here's my stats for ghosts:
GHOST: AC: 16 HD: 4d6 (16 hp) AT: touch +4 (1d6) STR: -4, DEX: +2, MND: +1 S: undead immunities, only hit by magic or silver weapons, arrows do a max 1 HP damage. Ghosts also have one of the following special attacks. More powerful versions can be created by giving them two or more:These are challenging monsters for 1st level PCs to handle, even in FANTASY HACK or the more constrained (but from a system standpoint, identical) CULT OF UNDEATH system. If you've only got one weapon that can even affect the ghost (likely) then that makes them even more challenging. PCs may have to find some silver that they can use an improvised weapons (silver candlesticks as clubs or maces, melt down coins to form crude knives, etc.) Although the stats above say that ghosts will be defeated for weeks, months or even years, I'd make it much less permanent. "Defeating" a ghost in combat only makes it disappear for that night; it will come back in just another night or two. The PCs have to understand that without infiltrating the ruins of the burned and semi-collapsed prison where these killers died, finding their bones or whatever else is left of their remains, setting them on fire and salting them, they have not permanently defeated them and they will continue to be a threat to the town. Researching how to deal with ghosts, probably from the Professor's literature, should be an element of being successful here; if they PCs think that they can just charge a ghost, shouting "Get her!" they will have a rather bad time.
- drains 1d3 DEX on touch, creatures reduced to -5 DEX are immobile and helpless for coup de grace attack that kills them automatically
- as an action, may cast the spell Withering of the Haunter (level 2 spell)
- forces a Sanity check on all characters that can see the ghost
- under a permanent effect identical to the Blasphemous Piping of Azathoth (level 4 spell)
The spirit of the departed, which for reasons which are unknown, lingers on earth to bring misery and fear to those who remain. Many, even when defeated, will return after many weeks, months or even years, if their remains are not properly attended to—they usually need to be exhumed, doused in salt, and burned.
- can cast all spells up to 3rd level
Eliminate that dungeon-crawl aspect of the prison as presented in the module; but you can certainly (and should) see about adapting the Haunts, or at least a couple of them. Reminder again; the rules for haunts are here. They're too complicated to be an m20 rule element, but you can adapt them easily enough. Keep in mind that there's no "channeling positive energy" in FANTASY HACK, so destroying the haunt is the only way to end it—either that or just suffer its effects and soldier on.
Feel free to also have a rat or bat swarm. The module has a rat swarm, by the way, as well.
So there you have it. This little mini-adventure plus some encounters is the "collapsed" version of the entire first module—a necessary pruning if you want to turn an entire Paizo Adventure Path into something like a module; even a longish module. It will probably take a whole session to resolve; if your players are like mine, it might well take two. The optional events on pages 54-55 of the module can also be worked in as pretty cool little vignettes that help confirm that this is a horror-themed game. The rumors in page 59 in town would also be useful. You can use the key provided in the module with the map I linked to above, but you don't need to. There's lots of opportunities to wander around town, talk to NPCs and get the lay of the land. There's lot of opportunities to explore the surrounding countryside as well, and you should feel free to make that exciting if so; some random encounters, bandits, wild animals, etc. They may need to wander about the countryside exploring reports of hauntings and ghosts, honestly.
Keep in mind that the events of the second module; the next two bullet points (which I'll do in the next post of this series) should actually happen concurrently. The ghosts and the Frankentstein monster are threatening the village of Ebenbach and the larger town of Mittermarkt at the same time. This gives the PCs a chance to move around a bit, too. Explore the area, try and figure out what's going on, etc. It may not be a bad idea to have the ruins fo the prison actually be a mile or two outside of town.
APPENDIX: Ghosts in the haunted house:
SLENDERMAN: AC: 16 HD: 4d6 (16) AT: touch +4 (1d6) STR: -4, DEX: +2, MND: +1 S: undead immunities, only hit by silver or magical weapons, arrows do a max of 1 HP damage, forces Sanity check on all who see him, drains 1d3 DEX each round on touch attack. Characters with -5 DEX are helpless and immobile, and will be killed by coup de grace.
MOURNING MAIDEN: AC: 16 HD: 4d6 (16) AT: touch +4 (1d6) STR: -4, DEX: +2, MND: +1 S: undead immunities, only hit by silver or magical weapons, arrows do a max of 1 HP damage, casts Glance of the Gorgon as a 5th level caster once per round.Haunts in the haunted house: Slamming Doors (at the entrance), Bleeding Walls, Choking Hands.
New haunt: THE PIED PIPER (Notice DC 15 to hear the soft sound of piping before the haunt triggers in full.) The mournful dirge of the Pied Piper is mesmerizing to its targets. Effect: Everyone in the area of effect must make a DC 20 MND + Subterfuge check to avoid being sucked into the trap; those who fail have their DEX drop temporarily to 0—until the piping stops, or the target is dragged from the area. Also, all characters visibly age and wither within the area (lose 1d4 hp per round) while the piping plays. The DEX effect can be avoided by plugging your ears with something sufficient to cause the character to not hear, although the withering will still happen as the Pied Piper sucks the life from the characters. The haunt can be destroyed with holy water; the Pied Piper was terrified of drowning.
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