An Untitled Adventure

For a party of battle levels 4-6
By Joe Ludwig

Notes

I ran this adventure with a six player party (listed below.) They managed to blow almost all of their once-per-adventure abilities in the "first" objective room, the Idol Chamber. The dungeon proved to be a reasonable challange for them, although only the witch hunter was ever in serious peril.

This adventure was designed to be a sort of a lead-in to Catacombs of Terror. If you're not planning to use it as such, you might want to change the text the Wight Lord at the end spews.

My Party:

Warrior	Level
Chaos Warrior	4
Ash	4
Wizard	4
Pit Fighter	4
Barbarian	3
Witch Hunter	2

Background

After spending some time in the settlement recouping from the last adventure the party soon grows restless and sets out in search of excitement. Having heard that the forces of chaos need squashing in the west, they head out in that direction.

About halfway through their first day of travel a human rider appears on the horizon approaching the warriors from the direction they just came. When he gets a little closer the warriors see that he is plainly dressed, only minimally armed, and appears to have been travelling for some distance.

When he gets close to the party he slows his horse to a walk and once he catches his breath he calls out, "Is one of you <insert name of party member here>?"

The man is a messenger from a city in the north where the tales of the party's recent exploits have reached. The man requests that the party come back with him immediately to help the city out.

It seems that a number of merchent caravans travelling from the city north have been attacked and destroyed by some unknown foe. The mayor sent out several patrols to investigate, but so far none of them have returned. The mayor is impressed by what he's heard of the party and sent this man to try to hire you to investigate.

The mayor is willing to pay 400gp and all expenses incurred in travelling to the city and investigating the attacks. (If this isn't enough for the party they'll have to play a random dungeon for tonight. :)

The City

The mayor of the city is an order-driven sort of guy. He's concerned about the missing caravans more because of the mayhem it's creating in the streets than because he's concerned about a few missing merchents. The warriors are offered 400gp for the elimination of the threat. If they accept he gives them a medallion that was found with the first caravan destroyed in the hope that it will help lead them to the culprits.

The mayor believes that the raids are the work of a band of brigands working the north road. His theory is that they somehow got the drop on his patrols and got lucky taking them out. He figures that the party won't have much trouble with the troublemakers, and if they do then he won't have to pay them anyway. He has a number of agents seeking out bands of adventurers to solve this problem.

What the mayor doesn't tell the party is that one party of adventurers has already failed to bring in the brigands. This party seems more powerful than that one was anyway. If he is pressed the mayor will let the party know that while the wagons were recovered (empty) that none of the bodies of the people in these caravans have been found.

Searching for the bandits

The party heads north out of the city in search of the mysterious bandits. A day or so into their search they come to the site where the first caravan was destroyed. It has been about a month since the attack so few signs remain.

The group they follows the rough map they were given to the second attack site. As they approach the clearing they are attacked!

The warriors are attacked by two Werewolves (using the stats from the web page.) Neither of the werewolves are carrying anything at all. Once the werewolves are dead the party should realize it has a trail to follow to find the rest of the "bandits" and doing so they will find their way to the tomb in 2d6 "hours." They won't need to sleep before reaching the tomb, but each hour they need to roll a die. On a one or a two they are attacked by random monsters:

1	Two werewolves
2	5 Wights and a Wight Lord
3	12 Skeletons and two Tomb Guardians
4	6 Mummies
5	2 Wraiths and 2 Ghosts
6	A Necromancer and 6 Skeletons

When they have killed all the random encounters they finally reach the tomb. Start them at the entrance.

The Tomb

St	Stairs down
+	Guard Room
R2	Servant Chamber
IC3	Idol Chamber
TC4	Tomb Chamber
-	Plain hallway
!	Narrow Bridge
\|	Plain hallway

The Entrance
Before the party is a small stone construction covered with moss. On the outward side of what appears to be a small building set halfway into the hill is a large stone door. The door and frame are carved with ancient, but surprisingly intact runes.

Successful checks by several characters will yield more information:

Who	Characteristic	Target	Information Learned
Anyone	Initiative	8	The area around the door is covered with footprints and the grass and weeds are well trampled. This area has been well used fairly recently.
Wizards	Intelligence	8	The runes on the door and doorframe are of a necromantic nature and are there to repel graverobbers and other would-be intruders. Touching them without an invitation would be a bad idea.
Dwarves	Intelligence	7	The runes on the door and doorframe are of a magical nature and are not dwarf runes

The Runes: Any warrior who touches the door for any reason other than pressing the medallion against it will take 4d6 wounds in magical damage with no modifiers for armour or toughness and fall unconscious for 1d6 turns.

The unfortunate warrior who touched the door is blasted by an intense magical field. The warrior is thrown backwards two squares and falls unconscious. A few wisps of smoke rise from his body.

Opening the Door: If the medallion is pressed against the icon in the center of the door it will open. Read the following to the players:

The instant you touch the door with the medallion it begins to move. The door cracks in two along a seam you missed before and the two halves swing swiftly and silently inward, revealing a steep stone staircase leading down into the blackness.

Stairs Down
A few seconds after the last memeber of the party has cleared the door it closes itself as quickly and quietly as it opened. A quick check with the medallion fails to reopen it. It appears that you're committed now.

The party descends the darkened steps... after fifty or sixty steps there is finally and end in sight in the form of a stone archway and a level passage beyond it. Just as you get close enough for everyone to see the archway disaster strikes! The stairs give way beneath your feet and a something sweeps your feet out from under you. You begin to slide down the passage and through the archway.

The stairs drop down to become a slide trap. Against its will the party is knocked over and slides in order into the four-way passage.

Guard Room
The out of control slide you began on the stairs comes to an abrupt halt thirty or forty feet later when you crash into a wall (and each other.) You are working on figuring out which way is up so you can stand up and take stock of the situation when you are attacked!

The party is attacked by 8 tomb guardians with magic weapons (Bone Blade: causes extra d6 wounds with each successful strike) and magic items (Icon of Swiftness: One extra attack each round.) The tomb guardians get an ambush attack the first turn, and the warriors must spend their first turn standing up so they will attack twice before the warriors kill them all. These creatures are not carrying any treasure apart from their normal gold/experience value.

Once the monsters are dead read the following to the warriors:

The chamber you have entered is littered with the bones of humans, elves, dwarves and many other creatures who were unfortunate enough to make it past the door at the entrance. The stairway (which is again a stairway) leads up to the south, and archways lead to dark passages east and west of here.

Servant Chamber
This square room is empty except for a few scattered skulls and a whole lot of cobwebs. The North and South walls are lined with <slabs? Dead-beds?> that you can't quite see into. As you step into the room and begin to look around a dark shape descends from above and attacks the party leader!

The Gigantic Spider will ambush attack whoever has the lantern in an attempt to eliminate the light and confuse the party. This spider is identical to other gigantic spiders except that breaking from its webbing requires a strength roll of 9 instead of the usual 7.

When the spider has been taken care of the party will probably want to search the slabs. Roll on the following table:

1-3	Searcher finds a mummy! Five mummies and one Mummy Tomb King shamble out of their beds and after the warriors. The turn ends immediately, causing tomb rot, and then the next turn proceeds as normal. If the mummies have already been encountered treat this as a 4-5 result. Apart from their normal experience/gold total each mummy carries 40gp in assorted jewelry.
4-5	Empty. The searcher finds nothing of interest.
6	Treasure! The searcher finds one of the items listed below. If All items have been found, treat this as a 1-3 result.

Treasure items (in the order in which they're found):

Bone Blade: Causes an extra dice of damage on each hit.
Healing Potions: 1d6 healing potions which heal 3d6 wounds each.
Gold(x2): Warrior finding this one may roll as many d6 as he wishes. If any ones are rolled all the gold is lost. If no ones are rolled the warrior finds the total times 50 gold.

Idol Chamber
As the party files into the room and this large stone chamber fills with light you begin to make out the shape of a large menacing idol on a platform. At the foot of the idol stands a necromancer preparing to sacrifice a young elven maiden to his evil god. Just as you move to attack the man, six large armoured figures step away from the walls, and two dark shapes appear at the top of the stairs.

At the end of the turn in which the first of the warriors enter the room place two wraiths at the top of the stairs, and six wight lords spaced evenly along the side walls. If a warrior has enough movement to reach the stairs the first turn place the wraiths there to stop him. The creatures appear at the end of the turn in which the warriors enter, and the next turn proceeds as normal.

The necromancer is so involved with his sacrifice that he won't attack/cast during the first turn. If he (and his prisoner) are still alive at his second turn he will complete the ceremony and throw the elf into the fire. If he is STILL alive at his third phase he will begin casting two spells/turn until the combat is over.

Once the combat is over the party will find one objective room treasure, and each warrior will find one dungeon room treasure. The Necromancer is carrying a medallion similiar to the one the party was given. This medallion will open the north secret door in the 4-way passage. Have whoever is carrying it make an initiative check when they pass the secret door. If anyone searches the pyre they will find a switch that opens a small alcove in front of the fire pit. The Hammer of Sigmar is inside.

Narrow Bridge
The stone panel slides open to reveal a narrow stone bridge crossing a very large, very deep chasm. The howls of tormented souls drift up from the chasm below. The bridge seems to be well constructed and solid, but the entire place makes you very uncomfortable.

There is no actual danger in this room; it is intended to freak out the warriors. Any warrior who attempts to cross the bridge must make a successful willpower roll (with a +1 for every warrior who has already crossed successfully.) If a warrior fails by fewer than three points they are unable to cross this turn. If their total is less than 5 they are unable to cross this turn OR next turn. Any warrior who passes this role may cross normally.

Remember that while the party is crossing the bridge the wizard is still making his power rolls.

Tomb Chamber
Behind the door is a large chamber with a ramp leading up to a very large skeletal figure in massive armour and long robes sitting in a throne. When the warriors enter he stands up and greets then, "Well, if it isn't the intruders who have been causing so much trouble. You seem to be brave warriors and my forces have done little to stop you but this is where your luck ends. I'll tell you what though; if you will leave me that one (pointing at the witchhunter or whichever warrior has wreaked the most havoc if there is no witchhunter) I will allow the rest of you to live. I want you to take a message to the humans. Tell them that the Dread King is returning, and that I, his greatest lieutenant will be at the forefront of the new order. All living things will be welcomed into my army as I burn their cities and devour their children." The armoured figure laughs an evil laugh and waits for the warriors to respond.

Three wight lords are placed at the top of the stairs as the warriors enter to keep them away from the general. The big baddie is a Wight Lord with Necromantic Magic 1 and some extra wounds. He is worth 15% more than normal.

If the warriors accept his offer the poor sap they abandoned will be tortured and killed in a way to unpleasant to think about, and the rest of the party will be escorted out of the tomb. If any of them touch the front door after this they are killed instantly. (The runes have been keyed to these ones especially.)

If the warriors decide to fight the wizard should roll for power and the turn will proceed as normal. Unless the warriors have killed them the 6 mummies from the servant chamber will wander in to attack on the second round of combat.

If the warriors actually succeed and the monsters die then they will be able to search the room. Under the throne is a trap door that leads to the lord's treasure horde. There are 5000gp in gold and miscellaneous treasure in the horde as well as five items of dungeon room treasure.

The Wight Lord's body has a medallion on it that will allow the warriors to get back out the door.

Back to town

The mayor of the city is so pleased with the warrior's success that he adds a hundred to the reward and gives each of them 500gp. The warriors may stay in this city for free from now on.