"Abnormal Growth" (a Cthulhu Mythos investigative scenario)

Almost exactly 89 years ago, on March 15, H P Lovecraft died. That's my pretext for posting this scenario, which ties in with the rules for Dagon Warriors (sic) but could just as easily be run using Infinite Night or Call of Cthulhu or whatever system you prefer. (But don't for the sake of your own SAN use The Yellow King.) This is a modified version of a post that appeared on my Patreon page; sign up there and you'd have seen it a year earlier. The artwork below, apart from the growths vignette and the Fernsby house, is by Tillinghast23 on DeviantArt, who has lots of other stylish illustrations for work by HPL, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. The examples here all accompany HPL's poem 'Fungi from Yuggoth'. There is a downloadable copy of "Abnormal Growth" with Call of Cthulhu stats here, and another Depression-era scenario is "Bleak Prospect" by Scott Dorward in the collection Nameless Horrors.

The year is 1930. Prohibition has gripped the nation, and the roar of the Roaring Twenties seems a distant memory for many. In the sleepy town of Lucan Falls, nestled amongst the rolling hills and dense forests of upstate New York, life moves at a slower pace. But beneath the surface of this tranquil community, a sinister force is stirring. The player-characters start by looking into the disappearance of a Cornell dropout and end up confronting a horror from the fringes of the solar system.

The disappearance of Stanley Cakebread

The disappearance of Stanley Cakebread (21, brilliant but highly strung), a vagrant with a troubled past, has thrown the quiet town of Lucan Falls into a state of unease. Stanley, a Cornell dropout who had embraced a nomadic lifestyle, sent regular postcards to his parents in Manhattan. However, the postcards abruptly ceased a month ago, the last one postmarked from the small town of Harmony, just south of Lucan Falls.

The characters

The scenario is suitable for about six characters of 1st rank, or three characters of 2nd rank. The investigators may find themselves drawn into the mystery in various ways. As this is a one-shot, not all the player-characters need have the same background. It will make for a more interesting adventure if some are recruited by the Cakebread family, then encounter other PCs when they trace Stanley’s route to Lucan Falls. 

• The family: Stanley’s wealthy parents, distraught over his disappearance, enlist the characters to find him. They meet at the family’s brownstone on March 24th, 1930. The characters could be private detectives, family members, and/or Stanley’s former college buddies. The parents provide his last few postcards, the final one sent from a town neighbouring Lucan Falls (see Handout below). 
• Local law enforcement: Sheriff Harlow (see below) perhaps reluctantly deputizes the investigators, hoping to quiet any rumours before they spread. Missing hobos are one thing, but the loss of someone with wealthy family connections could attract unwanted attention. Or the characters could already be law enforcement officers in Lucan Falls. 
• Town residents: Characters could have connections to the missing people, such as friends of a vanished hobo, or Miss Gretchen Price, a schoolteacher who briefly interacted with Stanley. 
• Personal connections: One of the investigators might have previously known Stanley Cakebread, or even better (since other PCs are prioritizing Stanley’s whereabouts) they might have known one of the missing hobos. Perhaps one of the investigators has led a vagrant life themselves, either owing to the Depression or because they’re researching a book or a newspaper story, and shared a campfire meal with Stanley on his travels.

Handout

Stanley’s postcards trace his progress northwards through New York state, the last being postmarked February 28th 1930 from the town of Harmony. It reads:

Lucan Falls

Lucan Falls is a small, quiet town of 1,800 nestled in the Adirondack foothills. Its economy relies on logging and a small textile mill, but the Great Depression has left many out of work. A single main street features a general store, a diner, a post office, a modest library, and a barbershop. Surrounding the town are thick forests of pine and maple, dotted with winding trails and the occasional cabin.

Prohibition is in full effect, but moonshiners operate in the woods, supplying locals and visitors alike. The townsfolk are tight-knit and slow to trust outsiders, but they’re polite enough if you don’t ask too many questions.

Disappearances

Starting in November of 1928, family pets started going missing on the north side of town – mostly cats, but also one dog that ran away from its owner and was never found. That spate of disappearances stopped around March of 1929 and, insofar as the sheriff took any notice, he put it down to a wild animal. The elderly Miss Victoria Erwin (72, vague but charming) whose cat Mel was the last to go missing, says, ‘I think a bobcat must have been prowling around the town and then moved on.’ But Mrs Emily Hensley (80s, widowed), contradicts her; she insists a ‘monster’ was to blame for the disappearance of her cat: ‘He’d have seen off any two bobcats and not even taken a scratch. Not scared on any living thing on this earth, my Darkie.’

From April to September, three recently-deceased bodies were stolen from the town graveyard. Only one of these was noticed, in June when the nights are shorter, the headstone having been chipped in the grave-robber’s haste. That was the grave of Arthur Hempel, a local truck driver who drove off the road one night in a state of intoxication. The sheriff’s investigation concluded that it may have been the work of bootleggers irate at Hempel’s refusal to carry their wares. There was no evidence to support that theory, but in the absence of any other explanation the case was closed.

Starting the investigation

It shouldn’t take long for the family-hired characters to narrow the search down to the Lucan Falls area, at which point they can quickly meet up with other player-characters. There are various leads to chase up and NPCs to talk to.

Sheriff Clyde Harlow (40s, world-weary) isn’t aware of the hobos’ disappearance, but he’s sufficiently bothered by the news about Stanley Cakebread to assign a deputy to help out – even while maintaining that Stanley may never have even come to Lucan Falls: ‘Might be he headed over Porterstown way. More opportunities for casual labour there, I’d think. And it ain’t a whole lot further from Harmony.’

Following leads

The two hobos who went missing were (in November 1929) Daniel Louth, an unemployed construction worker from Albany, and (in January 1930) Harcourt Rosedale, a former art dealer who lost his life savings in the Wall Street crash. The authorities have no reason to suspect foul play as in these straitened economic times vagrants often pass through looking for work. However, there are those who can say more if the investigators do a little digging. Get the players to take the initiative and roleplay it, maybe chivvying things along with some PERCEPTION rolls if they need it:

Louth was due to meet up with some mechanics from a local garage. Forrest Packard (27, furtive) might be got to admit he owed Louth a couple of dollars from a crap game the previous night and was surprised he didn’t show: ‘I was set to tell him I only had but the buck fifty, and it was a take it or leave it type deal, but he mustn’t have needed it that bad as he never showed.’

The cook at the diner, Big Lou (50s, gruff but kind), remembers a drifter who came around begging for food back around Thanksgiving. ‘Tough, stringy little guy. Hands that had done some work. I remember thinking he could do with some gloves. I gave him some scraps and a half-bottle of – well, let’s say it was soda pop.’

Harcourt Rosedale kept to himself, but a local hunter, Bruce Dent (40s, heavy-set, affable) saw him a couple of times and could lead the investigators to the area where Rosedale must have been camping out. They’ll find his bedroll, some rusty cooking utensils, and even his boots. ‘Huh, fancy him leaving those behind,’ says Dent.

Jeb Gurney (50s, taciturn), a farmer who lives a couple of miles out of town, remembers chasing a figure away from his toolshed back in January. (That was Rosedale. Normally the trail would be too obscure by now for tracking, but Rosedale had only been on the road for a month or two and made no careful effort to hide his tracks, so allow a Scout to make a d20 PERCEPTION roll to find his camp site if Dent hasn’t already led them to it.)

More importantly, the investigators will want to look for evidence that Stanley Cakebread passed through here. Despite the sheriff’s reluctance to admit it (he privately hopes that Stanley never came to Lucan Falls) there are several people who encountered him.

The general store is the heart of town gossip. The owner, Edna McAllister (50s, sharp-tongued), recalls a young man who came in and asked to see a map of the local woods. ‘Said he needed to take a look at the trails hereabouts. Claimed to be hiking, but I know a bum when I see one. Pointed him at the library yonder. I’m not running a charity, am I?’

Miss Gretchen Price (30s, intelligent but guarded), a schoolteacher, ran into him in the town library. ‘I was struck by the sight of this pale young man whose clothes were shabby but well-cut. Of course, the economy has dealt just such a blow to many good folk unused to hardship. He had a cultured accent, too – oh yes, we spoke. I remember him being very interested in news of the new planet that had been observed. There has been talk of what to name it, and the young man said that it should be Pluto, “for wealth is far out of our reach now”. And he smiled as he said it, but it was the feverish and darting-eyed smile of one who is very deeply troubled.’

The hardest clue to uncover involves a couple of moonshiners, Guy ‘Giggles’ Pink and his brother Marvin, aka ‘Mule’ (both early 30s, clever, flash, ruthless). They chased Stanley away from their still on February 28 – the night he went missing. It was a new moon and he was blundering around with a flashlight, so if the Pink brothers weren’t so mistrustful they might have realized that he wasn’t looking to rob them. Of course, they won’t volunteer any of this to anyone associated with the law, but it’s possible to get them talking if they think they have a customer for their product. Alternatively, if surprised at night they may well turn violent.

Giggles Pink will resort to a revolver if they are outnumbered, but he is sensible enough not to want a gunfight – he has no intention of losing his life over a few pints of hooch – and so will threaten rather than start blazing away.

Whether or not the investigators encounter the Pink brothers, they could stumble across the still if they diligently search the woods north of town. However, the still is well-camouflaged – roll the still’s effective STEALTH of 19 against the searching character’s PERCEPTION (roll on 2d10; use the highest PERCEPTION in the party). It is much easier to find the flashlight that Stanley dropped when running away from the Pink brothers. On its own that proves nothing, but not far off the characters may find (d20 PERCEPTION roll needed) Stanley’s Kappa Alpha Tau fraternity pin and broken spectacles. This was where Walter Fernsby ambushed him.

What actually happened

Walter Fernsby (36, lank, burning-eyed, sullen, reclusive) is an amateur naturalist and former timber worker who lives in a ramshackle house along the road that runs north-west out of Lucan Falls. A little over a year ago, walking in the woods, Walter discovered a small patch of unusual fungus or lichen growing near a gouge in the earth apparently caused by a metallic or ceramic shell that was already deteriorating. Intrigued by the iridescent hue of the fungus, he scraped it up and took it home. Unbeknownst to him, the spores were the remnants of a Mi-Go – an alien being somewhat resembling terrestrial fungi – that had been destroyed in the crash.

Walter tried to culture the ‘fungus’ in the dampness of his cellar. As it grew it began to take the form of a new Mi-Go, developing intelligence, telepathy, and an insatiable need for organic matter to sustain its growth. Of course it had no knowledge of its nature or origin, but it used its natural intellect to learn English (which it speaks with a rasping, buzzing sound) and later it developed its power of telepathy enough to communicate with Walter and even exert subliminal control over him over a range of up to half a mile.

To provide the organism with food, Walter at first used small woodland animals. Then he caught a few cats that came around looking for milk. As the growing Mi-Go demanded more and more sustenance, Walter first tried grave-robbing, but after nearly getting caught he saw that the risk of discovery was too great. Then he found a down-and-out whom he got drunk on moonshine and then fed to the Mi-Go in the cellar. That was Daniel Louth. After that he killed Harcourt Rosedale, figuring that when hobos disappeared most people would assume they’d just moved on – if they even took notice of them in the first place.

Walter came across Stanley Cakebread in the woods at night. It was the dark of the moon, but the Mi-Go’s telepathy helped guide Walter by means of other senses than sight. Urged on by the almost fully-grown Mi-Go, Walter was incautious – instead of finding out who Stanley was, he coshed him with a tree branch and then strangled him. But Walter made a mistake in assuming that Stanley was just another vagrant nobody would miss.

Identifying the culprit

What will draw the characters’ attention to Walter Fernsby? He is the subject of much local gossip, an eccentric even before the Mi-Go pushed its tendrils into his mind, but nobody has any reason to mention him in the context of the disappearances. The characters will need to specifically ask about strange behaviour, in which case they may discover the following.

Walter's increasing isolation has been noticed around town. Always a loner given to long walks in the woods, he quit his job about a year ago and started to snub his former co-workers. ‘He used to buttonhole you and talk about tree roots and crown gall and what insects do to dead birds. Crazy coot. But lately he’d turn right around and hurry away. He was an oddball even as a boy, that one, and I said he’d only get stranger as he got older.’

Always very devout and involved in church affairs, Walter has continued to show up on Sunday mornings but he hurries away as soon as the service is over. The pastor remembers: ‘Once I tried to talk to him. “Walter, we could use your help at the summer fete.” He looked – I don’t know, almost grateful that I’d spoken to him. I thought he was going to say something, but then he looked around, as if he’d heard someone calling his name, and hurried off mumbling to himself. I really fear that young man has been seduced by the devil liquor.’

‘Took to buying a lot of fertilizer,’ says Edna McAllister. ‘For how long now? I can look it up right here. Starting November year before last, and he doubled the order a couple times since then. Oh, I forgot this. Last spring he got me to order a sheet of something called Wood’s glass from a factory in Syracuse. Got real impatient waiting for that to come in. And he bought a bunch of incandescent bulbs once he fixed himself up a generator last summer. Don’t seem to last him. Look here, a new box of bulbs every six weeks or so.’

Walter has become obsessed by the idea that the alien creature in his cellar is actually an angel. With Easter less than a month away, he goes to see the Reverend Thomas Loughty (50s, politely detached) to discuss descriptions of angels from the Bible, specifically Isaiah 6:2, Ezekial 1:15, Ezekial 10:12 and Daniel 10:5. He is extremely agitated and urgent, but says nothing about the Mi-Go, only insists that judgement is coming and we should open our eyes to ‘the seraphim and the ophanim, for they will come to guide the faithful.’

Distractions

There’s no challenge if Walter is the only suspicious person around town. There should be red herrings. The Pink brothers can be quickly dismissed as suspects – they’re unscrupulous and hardboiled, but hardly murderous. Their activities bring them into regular contact with bootleggers from the city, though, and the desecration of Arthur Hempel’s grave could lead the investigators off on a wild goose chase. The investigators will hear gossip about a near-legendary gangster, Billy ‘Spats’ Malone (30, wiry, with a perpetual five o’clock shadow), so-called not because of his dress sense but because he’s always having spats with people. Malone is a career criminal who found his niche managing the practical side of bootlegging operations for Vincent Costello, a mob boss in Albany. Malone oversees the drivers, muscle, and logistics, ensuring the hooch gets where it needs to go while keeping the law at bay. He wears practical clothes – a leather jacket, flat cap, and sturdy boots – and relies on the force of his personality to keep people in line, but has a set of brass knuckles in his pocket ‘just in case.’ The characters may never encounter Malone, but if they do then he’s quick with a wisecrack and quicker with his fists. He knows the backroads around Lucan Falls like the back of his hand and doesn’t take kindly to strangers poking into his affairs. Maybe he could become a useful contact in subsequent adventures if this adventure develops into a campaign.

Leonard Fisk (40s, truculent if thwarted) is a travelling salesman who occasionally blows into town and stays at a boarding house run by Joseph and Phillipa Dawes (50s). Fisk sells suspicious ‘miracle elixirs’ and is always asking odd questions. He hints that he might have spoken to Stanley Cakebread and even leads people to think he knows more than he’s letting on, but there’s no truth to that. He read about Cakebread in the paper in New York, where the family posted a classified ad asking anyone for information about their son, and just figures that a whiff of mystery might help his business.

In the woods north-east of town (quite a few miles from Walter’s house) the characters may come across a splintered tree and a furrow along which strangely misshapen plants grow in febrile profusion. This is where the Mi-Go probe crashed seventeen months ago. There is no sign of the probe itself, its casing having ablated in Earth’s atmosphere, nor are there any Mi-Go growths (Walter collected the only patch of spores), but radiation from the probe has caused the local flora to mutate in the soil it ploughed through.

For comic relief the characters could encounter a bunch of kids who style themselves the East Side Private Eyes. 10-year-olds Ron Bishop, Ken Heald, Andy Monroe and (accepted on sufferance by the three boys) Kitty Bateman scoot around town on their bikes and fancy themselves to be bold and resourceful investigators, although at least half of what they have to say consists of bragging and make-believe rather than actual evidence.

Out at the Fernsby place

If the characters go snooping around Walter’s house they find a refuse pit with the bones of rodents, birds, and even what may be the remains of a housecat. Walter is careful not to dispose of human remains so haphazardly, however – those he puts in his furnace. The pit also contains heaps of burned-out electric bulbs.

If they get close to the house they’ll risk telepathic detection by the Mi-Go, who will alert Walter.

The Mi-Go is aware that it will soon need to move beyond Walter’s cellar. To that end it would like to enlist better helpers with greater resources, both practical and social. It’s highly unlikely that the player-characters as a group would fulfil that purpose, but if it has the chance to recruit a lone character it will try that before ordering Walter to attack.

The Mi-Go keeps to the cellar during the day, but now that it is fully grown it has become daring enough to venture up into the house and even outside at night. A trail of scattered notes and drawings across the floor of Walter’s living room show his sketches of the creature as it grew, from a pulsating mass of flesh-coloured gills and lobes to something resembling a grotesque coral sculpture of a kind of winged insect or crustacean.

The description given by Henry Akeley in ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’ is of ‘a great crab with a lot of pyramided fleshy rings or knots of thick, ropy stuff covered with feelers where a man’s head would be [...] They are more vegetable than animal, if these terms can be applied to the sort of matter composing them, and have a somewhat fungoid structure; though the presence of a chlorophyll-like substance and a very singular nutritive system differentiate them altogether from true cormophytic fungi.’ 

It glows with an eerie flickering that makes it impossible to photograph as anything but a blurred shape. If Walter is with the characters when they encounter the Mi-Go, he starts ranting: ‘See the halo around it? The glory of God! Kneel! Kneel! It is an angel come among us!’ 

Is this his unforced belief, or the way his religious upbringing has led him to interpret the compulsions the Mi-Go has been planting in his brain? Your guess is as good as mine.

The Mi-Go can use the following Mystic abilities from the core DW rules as a 5th rank Psionic:

• Mirage (level 1)
• Dazzle (level 2)
• Mind Cloak (level 3)
• Telekinesis (level 3)
• Clairvoyance (level 4)
• Enthrall (level 4)
• Force Field (level 5)
• Mystic Blast (level 5)

Its telepathic communication is an automatic ability that does not need a roll to cast. It can sense the presence of minds within 100m (like the ESP ability but with longer range) and can project images and sensations (to communicate, not as an attack) to beings in its immediate vicinity whom it is conversing with.

Permanently killing the Mi-Go requires fire or acid, as otherwise it (or rather a new individual) will regrow from the spore-laden remains.

Wrapping up

The characters are far too late to rescue Stanley Cakebread. All that remains of him is the pocket watch his father gave him on his 21st birthday, discarded on the floor of the cellar amid sacks of fertilizer and a few small bones. The inscription is a quotation from Seneca that reads: ‘Dandum semper est tempus: veritatem dies aperit.’ (‘There is always time, and the days disclose the truth.’)

"Water Like A Stone" (a Yuletide adventure set in Legend)

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

It wouldn’t be Christmas around here without a seasonal scenario by Tim Harford, but we’re trying something a bit different this year. Normally Tim gives me his notes and I lick them into shape so that it’s possible for someone else to run a game from them. Last December, though, there was a fly in the ointment.

As Tim put it, “This one was very skimpy on notes, even by my standards. I was in rebellion against our current D&D game, which has many good qualities, particularly the vividness of the NPCs, but which is overprepared and thus plays too much like a bravura performance from the GM, with not enough player agency. So I really wanted to push the other way and challenge myself to see how far I could get with minimal prep.”

Tim is also a very busy man, so he could hardly take time out to meticulously plot a six-hour roleplaying special just for one use with half a dozen friends. His notes in full were:

Tim adds: “Not much to go on I realise. There is an old scenario for Flashing Blades (‘The Grand Theatre’ in Parisian Adventures) which involves an actor who's also a spy who has stolen secret documents, and two teams of musketeers battling it out backstage. That was a direct inspiration for the Grand Theatre section, although in truth you really only need the premise, don't you? I also had in mind the image of Ferromaine's canals freezing under a supernatural cold, and the thought that a chase scene or a fight scene on ice would be a good challenge if the antagonists were equipped with skates. That's really it.”

That’s quite a challenge. My thinking for a scenario is that if you’re going to go in with a lot of plot elements then you need to work them out in advance, ideally to the extent of having a timeline of everything that would happen if the player-characters did nothing. You need to know those details (if they are going to be there at all) because the players will be trying to make them fit into a coherent picture.

For instance, imagine trying to play a murder mystery game in which all the clues were randomly generated independently of each other; it would be a complete waste of the players’ time because the clues couldn’t be assembled into any logical solution.

But once the game starts, everything can and should be improvised in response to what the players do – and that improvisation works because you had a clear idea of the NPCs and their actions and intentions to begin with. In short: plan your story as tightly as the writer of a novel or movie ought to, and then be perfectly happy to let that planned story disintegrate in response to the interpretations (correct or otherwise) and consequent actions of the player-characters.

Remember von Moltke’s advice: “No operational plan extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy force. Only the layman believes that in the course of a campaign he sees the consistent implementation of an original idea that has been conceived in advance, thought through in every detail, and retained to the end.”

All right, so how are we going to do this? I’ll kick off by describing how it played out in our last Christmas game.

Act One

(Yes, I hate all that Hollywood three-act guff, but we're going to need some structure to get through this bit.)

The characters are in the service of the Cotulio family of Ferromaine. Specifically they have lodgings at an orphanage run by the Abbess Emerentia, sister of Count Saltado Cutulio, who tells them to go and fetch a pine tree from the Drakken forests. Not just any pine tree, either. Rival families are contending to raise the Yule tree in the Piazza San Paolo. The tallest tree will be chosen. And off they go.

In the game as run we went upriver to a town in northern Kurland, so we must have been on the Arakose river. Another option would be to take the Liederkehn river, but that would involve passing through Tamor which the characters may prefer to avoid – and we might expect timber prices to be much higher in the New Selentine Empire. (If you opt for that, there's a possible tie-in to "The God in the Bowl" adventure, which also takes place in the New Selentine Empire.)

It’s also possible to set the whole adventure elsewhere. The characters could be hired in Brymstone to fetch a tree across the Mergeld Sea from Mercania. But let’s not make this any more complicated than we need to. Tim ran it as a Blades in the Dark heist game in Ferromaine; we’ll stick with that for now. 

The complication: when they reach the town of the timber merchants, it turns out the best two trees have already been sold to representatives of the Senfriti and Vassilvio families. The merchants say there is no hope of finding another tree taller or finer than either of those. The Senfriti barge has already set off the day before. The Vassilvio barge is loaded and ready to depart the next morning.

A couple of strange incidents occurred. First we noticed a white star or comet in the sky. White Light, often seen this close to Krarth? It seemed not, for this star shimmered in and out of vision. The other incident was the arrival of a mechanical bird, inside whose beak was a clay effigy of Parcelus Pike’s face (see below) telling us that he had a lucrative job for us if we would return at once to Ferromaine. But that meant abandoning the Yule tree errand so we declined.

The barges descend the river by means of locks that bypass the occasional rapids. At each lock there are customs officers – more organized if this is the New Selentine Empire, more lackadaisical in Kurland, both susceptible to bribery. Tim’s notes suggest the officials have already been bribed, so perhaps they will hold up the player-characters or demand excessive tolls to use the locks.

In our session we masqueraded as tax officials inspecting the locks. The obstacles you might consider would be that in Kurland those tollkeepers would be locally recruited under the jurisdiction of a local duke-elector and would know each other personally. Selentine officials would be identified by seals and documents (literacy being higher there) and the penalty for forging such seals or pretending to be an imperial officer is painful and brief. Directly targeting the other families’ barges, on the other hand, is mere affray and not of any great importance to either Kurlanders or Selentines.

The first “act” ended with the tallest (in fact sole remaining) tree being delivered to the Cotulio family and set up in St Paul’s Square.

Act Two

Oliver Trout is a clown whose fame has preceded him around the Coradian Sea. He’s now arrived in Ferromaine where he is booked to perform for five nights at the Grand Theatre. In our game the Abbess asked us to go to the Grand Theatre while the show is on and steal an object from Trout’s dressing-room: a wooden puzzle box.

Some of the player-characters also spoke to Parcelus Pike, a local sorcerer and curio collector, about stealing the puzzle box for him. He wasn’t interested, having already hired another team (we had disregarded his message conveyed by the mechanical bird in Act One), but left the matter open in case we should obtain the box instead of them.

We went to the theatre that night, all with the goal of stealing the box but not all with the same buyer in mind. We waited for the show to start and then sneaked backstage. The complication this time was that somebody got there first; Trout’s dressing-room had already been ransacked. The other team of thieves had not found the box, however. The player-characters did, and on the way out were ambushed by the other thieves, eight Chaubrettians who were no match under the favouritism of the Blades in the Dark rules for two murder hoboes – er, player-character fighters, rather.

The player-characters got away with the puzzle box and then cast lots to decide who should get it. The Abbess, our patron? Parcelus Pike, never very trustworthy but at least offering cash now that his other team were all dead? Or return it to Oliver Trout, whose performance most of us hadn’t even stayed to watch?

One of us (my character, Arnaud -- aka Flambeau, le Stégologue de Vyônes) objected to the way one of the murder hoboes had bullied the others during the vote, so hid the puzzle box in the mouth of a gargoyle on the roof of the church overlooking St Paul’s Square.

All through this, the white star/comet continued to grow larger in the night sky. At the same time it was growing unseasonably cold in Ferromaine. There were even some flakes of snow.

Act Three

The snow is falling steadily now, piling up in drifts around the city. Few citizens of the Ferromaine League remember living through a blizzard like this. Is it "an elfin-storm from faery land"? The player-characters may think so. Most people huddle inside by the fire.

It gets colder. Much colder. Through the driving snow a single light shines in the night sky: the strange star, bathing the whole city in an icy white radiance.

The snow stops. The star descends and settles on the top of the Yule tree. A creaking sound is heard, a little like the soft skittering of hordes of insects. It’s the unprecedented noise of the city’s canals freezing over.

Seven white-clad hooded figures are seen skating towards St Paul’s Square.

In our game, the player-characters climbing up to retrieve the puzzle box were beset by scuttling sprites with bodies of ice. On the ground, the seven hooded skaters arrived at the square, along with a tall white-clad woman who emanated waves of freezing cold that our murder hoboes were hard pressed to deal with – though they managed, of course, this being Blades in the Dark rules, and when they slew the Frost Witch she turned into flakes of ice.

One of the player-characters, a psoriatic pilgrim named Dropskin, ignited the tree with the aid of a flaming torch and fervent prayer. It was consumed in roaring orange flames accompanied by the sharp tarry tang of burning pine needles.

Meanwhile Oliver Trout ambled into the square and cheerfully received the puzzle box back from Flambeau. With a few deft twists he converted it into a stellated polyhedron which drew all of the snow and ice (including the sprites and the hooded figures) into itself, banishing the unnatural winter and restoring the city to normal.

Assumptions

After the game I told Tim my interpretations of these events:

(1) That the Frost Witch came in the white star/comet from Krarth and would have plunged Ferromaine into an eternal winter.

Tim said: “That's much better than what I had, which was that she was a supernatural antagonist who wanted the puzzle box for reasons unknown.”

(2) That Oliver Trout was a wizard or mythic being who opposed her and his puzzle box gave him some means to counter her ice magic.

Tim said: “Oliver Trout is a Santa Claus-like figure, of course – an avuncular spirit of all that is jolly and numinous about the bleak midwinter. Thank goodness I watched an episode of The Box of Delights the evening before the game.”

(3) That the white skaters on the frozen canal were her emissaries and their job was to kill Oliver Trout before he could stop her.

Tim said: “They were her emissaries. I had in mind that they would steal the box and there would be a chase scene along the grand canal. But you didn't stash the box where I expected and it became a set-piece confrontation rather than a chase.”

Here’s what ChatGPT thought:

Assumption 1: The Frost Witch and the Comet

Your Assumption: The Frost Witch came in the white star/comet from Krarth and would have plunged Ferromaine into eternal winter.

Refinement: The comet could be more than just her mode of travel—it might be her prison. Long ago, a cosmic force (perhaps linked to Oliver Trout or the city itself) sealed her in the icy heart of the comet. The comet's proximity to Ferromaine was drawn by the Yule tree ritual, corrupted by the rival families’ selfish motives. This not only makes her arrival more meaningful but also ties her deeply to the scenario's events.

She might not want to destroy Ferromaine outright but instead transform it into her icy domain, drawing its magic and culture into her eternal kingdom. This makes her a more nuanced antagonist with a vision, albeit a chilling one.

Assumption 2: Oliver Trout as the Frost Witch’s Opponent

Your Assumption: Oliver Trout was a wizard or mythic being whose puzzle box allowed him to counter the Frost Witch's ice magic.

Refinement: Oliver Trout is perfect as a mythic "spirit of midwinter," embodying the warmth and hope needed to survive the harsh season. Rather than being solely a wizard, he could be an ancient protector whose jovial demeanour hides immense power. The puzzle box could symbolize the delicate balance of winter—it holds the key to containing the Frost Witch but must be wielded with wisdom and care. To deepen their rivalry, Trout might have been the one who originally imprisoned her. She now seeks both vengeance and the box, which could free her fully. This personal connection raises the stakes of their confrontation.

Oliver Trout might not be omnipotent. His reliance on humour and goodwill could mean his power wanes in the face of despair. This would explain why he leaves the puzzle box unattended—he can’t directly confront the Frost Witch without gathering enough "light-hearted energy," which is why he was performing on stage at the Grand Theatre – but the wintry weather meant smaller audiences, making the PCs’ intervention crucial.

Assumption 3: The White Skaters and Their Mission

Your Assumption: The white skaters were emissaries of the Frost Witch sent to kill Oliver Trout before he could stop her.

Refinement: Rather than simply assassins, the skaters could have a dual purpose: to retrieve the puzzle box and prevent Trout from using it, as well as to sow terror and chaos in the city. They might represent different facets of the Frost Witch’s will (eg, cold precision, relentless pursuit, and icy despair), making them thematic extensions of her power. The skaters could be former residents of other cities she has conquered, now turned into icy thralls. This twist would highlight the stakes for Ferromaine—failure means the citizens could share the same fate.

The puzzle box could be tied to the very nature of winter—when solved correctly, it harmonizes the forces of cold and warmth, sealing the Frost Witch while allowing winter to remain balanced. Solved incorrectly, it could unleash an eternal winter or destroy Trout's protective powers, adding a moral or tactical dilemma for the PCs.

Explanations

These were the things I still wasn’t sure about after the game. What was actually going on? Players are going to ferret away at the details looking for an advantage, so you’ll want the answers at the ready even if they’re never needed.

What was it that invited the Frost Witch into Ferromaine? (The tree in some way, perhaps?)

Tim answered: “My initial premise was merely that the Frost Witch wanted the puzzle box, but in truth that's a fairly flimsy idea – and almost immediately came the idea (Christmassy, but also ominous) that she had a celestial body that steadily approached as the adventure progressed.”

ChatGPT suggested: “The Yule tree seems a strong candidate. It could serve as a mystical beacon tied to ancient traditions, perhaps imbued with ceremonial significance that inadvertently opened a pathway for the Frost Witch when it was raised in St. Paul’s Square. Maybe Ferromaine’s people used to perform protective rituals tied to the tree, but these have been forgotten in recent years. Alternatively, the comet/star might have been drawn to the competitive, somewhat self-serving motives of the rival families vying for the tallest tree, allowing the Frost Witch to exploit this discord.”

Why was Oliver Trout performing at the theatre?

Tim said: “I love these questions but I have no answers to any of the rest of them – the perils of the improvised game. Any answers you can dream up will be better than anything I had.”

ChatGPT’s answer: “Oliver Trout’s performance could have been part of a larger plan to mask his true purpose in the city. He might have been drawn to Ferromaine because he sensed the Frost Witch’s growing presence, and the show was an excuse to stay nearby without arousing suspicion. Alternatively, the theatre could hold symbolic power, such as being a historic cultural heart of the city where his magic would be stronger. Or see above, the idea that his performances at the theatre were parts of a magical ritual intended to build up a ‘charge’ of good-natured warmth to counter the winter spell."

Why did Trout leave the box unguarded?

ChatGPT: “Oliver Trout likely underestimated the Frost Witch’s influence—or overestimated the secrecy of the box’s location. He might have thought his jovial reputation or distractions like the theatre performance would deter any would-be thieves. Another possibility: he intended the box to act as bait, drawing her agents into a trap. It would also add tension if he intended for the PCs to become involved but misjudged their chaotic methods.”

What would have happened if the characters had failed to act? (The white skaters would have killed Trout?)

ChatGPT: “If the PCs failed, the white skaters might have killed Oliver Trout or captured the puzzle box, allowing the Frost Witch to solidify her hold on Ferromaine. This could mean the city plunging into eternal winter, its citizens slowly frozen into lifeless statues as her icy dominion spread across the region. The PCs' intervention was likely the only thing standing between the city and its doom, adding weight to their actions.”

Would burning the tree have had any effect once the frost had already taken hold of the city?

ChatGPT: “Burning the tree could have served as a powerful symbolic or magical act, disrupting the Frost Witch’s anchor in Ferromaine. If the tree was the conduit for her power, destroying it could sever her connection and weaken her ice magic. However, the tree might also act as a focal point for Oliver Trout’s magic, meaning its destruction could have been a desperate gamble—potentially undermining his efforts to banish her unless done at the right moment. This ambiguity could leave the PCs wondering if they helped or hindered.”

Time for the robots to take over

ChatGPT was doing sterling work, so I thought I should let it off the leash. How would it have improved on the scenario? This is what it said: 

1. Tie the Frost Witch to the Yule Tree More Strongly 

The Yule tree could be central to her power. Perhaps it is the "World Tree" in miniature, a mystical link between realms, and raising it without proper rites allowed her to invade. The rival families’ selfish competition could amplify the magical imbalance. You could use the apples and wafers used to decorate the base of the tree to symbolize temptation, sin and redemption. The Frost Witch might need the tree to fully merge her icy domain with Ferromaine, giving the PCs a clear reason to stop her.

2. Oliver Trout’s Purpose 

Oliver Trout can have a more defined backstory. He might be an ancient protector, akin to a winter guardian or even a rival to the Frost Witch in a cosmic balance between light and cold. His performances could be a way to gather joy and goodwill—essential to his magic—and the puzzle box might store that energy, which he intends to use against her.

3. The Puzzle Box’s Role 

The puzzle box could act as both a key and a trap. It might be the only thing capable of sealing the Frost Witch away but is equally coveted by her because it could seal Oliver Trout’s power if twisted incorrectly. This would give the PCs a tough moral choice, especially if factions try to sway them. 

4. Escalate Tension With a Chase Scene 

Instead of a static confrontation, you could add a thrilling chase along the frozen canals [I'm pretty sure it got that idea from Tim's notes. - DM] as the white-clad emissaries pursue the PCs, trying to retrieve the puzzle box. Ice sprites could create hazards, and Oliver Trout might aid from afar, giving cryptic advice. 

5. Make the Burning Tree a Gamble 

Destroying the tree could weaken the Frost Witch but at a high cost, such as damaging the city’s spiritual defenses for years to come. Alternatively, the PCs might need to perform a complex ritual at the tree to channel its power against her, adding urgency to their decisions.

And how about some stats? This is ChatGPT’s response, using D&D rather than Blades in the Dark. I haven’t played enough D&D 5e (just one session) to know if any of this makes any sense, but it looks creative and it kept spelling "fay" wrong, which is probably a D&D mistake as ChatGPT is usually right about things like that. 

D&D 5e Stats Suggestions

The Frost Witch

• CR: 10 
• Type: Medium Fay (or Elemental) 
• Abilities: 
• Legendary Actions: Use Cone of Cold, summon ice sprites, or freeze enemies in place. 
• Lair Actions: Intensify cold damage in her lair (e.g., the area around the tree), create difficult terrain with ice, or summon blizzards.
• Unique Ability: Shatterstar Descend – Once per day, create an icy storm that deals 6d10 cold damage in a 60-ft radius and reduces visibility to 10 feet. 
• Defences: High AC (18) from icy armour, resistances to nonmagical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing, immunity to cold.

White-Clad Emissaries

• CR: 4
• Type: Medium Humanoids (Icebound Knights)
• Abilities:
• Frostbite Blade – Melee weapon attacks deal 2d6 cold damage. 
• Glide on Ice – Move effortlessly over difficult icy terrain. 
• Aura of Chill – Enemies within 10 feet take 1d6 cold damage at the start of their turn.

Ice Sprites

• CR: 1/2
• Type: Tiny Elementals
• Abilities:
• Freezing Touch – Touch attack deals 1d6 cold damage and reduces movement speed. 
• Frosty Mischief – Use actions to create minor hazards (slick ice, frosty fog).

Oliver Trout 

• CR: 7 
• Type: Medium Humanoid (Mythic) 
• Abilities: 
• Puzzle Box Mastery – As an action, manipulate the puzzle box to unleash bursts of radiant light (6d6 damage to undead/fay). 
• Aura of Merriment – Allies within 30 feet gain advantage on saving throws against fear and charm. 
• Spellcasting: Casts Wall of Force, Greater Restoration, and Daylight as innate abilities.

Incidentally, I do hope "Frosty Mischief" is a real D&D ability. Finally, ChatGPT had some ideas about how to integrate all this into Legend's medieval setting where the real force is religion, not D&D-style fantasy:

1. The Yule Tree as the “Tree of Paradise”

The Yule tree in St. Paul’s Square could explicitly represent the "tree of paradise," decorated with symbols of humanity’s fall (apples) and redemption (buns standing in for eucharist wafers). These decorations might play a magical role in the story, either as a defence against the Frost Witch or as something she seeks to corrupt.

The apples could represent temptation, tying into the rivalry among Ferromaine's families. Perhaps the tree is adorned with gilded apples to symbolize the city’s prosperity, which the Frost Witch views as a hubristic affront to her dominion over winter. She might aim to corrupt the apples into frozen fruit that spreads despair or frostbite to those who touch them.

The white wafers could become a mystical ward against her influence. If the PCs retrieve the puzzle box and return it to the tree, the wafers might glow, symbolizing humanity's capacity for redemption and banishing her icy hold.

2. The Frost Witch as a “Tempter”

The Frost Witch could serve as a supernatural force akin to the serpent in Eden, embodying temptation and humanity's darker impulses. Her emissaries might offer subtle deals or promises to the PCs and city officials: wealth, power, or eternal life in exchange for cooperation. She might try to claim that eternal winter represents purity and perfection, twisting the tree’s symbolism of paradise into her own vision of a frozen utopia.

3. The Puzzle Box as the Fruit of Knowledge

The puzzle box could represent the forbidden fruit, a mystical object that must be handled with care to prevent disaster. Just as Adam and Eve’s choice brought consequences, solving the puzzle box could trigger a significant moral choice for the PCs:

• Correct Solution: Harmonizes the balance of winter and seals the Frost Witch.
• Incorrect Solution: Unleashes eternal winter or destroys Oliver Trout’s ability to fight her.

This creates tension as the PCs grapple with whether they can (or should) wield such power.

4. The Role of the Nobles and Clergy

The Cotulio and rival families could reflect the pride and materialism that the Frost Witch exploits. Of course Abbess Emerentia’s and Count Saltado's loyalty is to themselves and their family, but lower ranks in the Church might represent humanity’s spiritual side, trying to remind the city of the tree’s true symbolic meaning and rallying the PCs to act with virtue.

The clergy might have an old ritual involving the tree of paradise. If forgotten or corrupted, this might explain why Ferromaine was vulnerable to the Frost Witch’s influence. The PCs could discover fragments of this ritual, such as chants or blessings, that must be restored to banish her. However, this would work better in a northern setting as it’s unlikely that Ferromaine would have ever had any problems with winter magic in the past.

5. The Frozen “Garden of Eden”

When the Frost Witch descends, her icy magic could transform the city into a twisted, frozen garden—a parody of Eden. The canals might become shimmering paths of ice, trees could bear crystalline, inedible fruit, and the citizens might begin to freeze into statues.

The characters could face a challenge to “restore” the true paradise by reigniting the Yule tree’s warmth through symbolic acts of kindness or sacrifice.

6. A Winter Solstice Play

Integrate a play into the Grand Theatre performance that reenacts the Fall and Redemption story, echoing the medieval mystery plays. Oliver Trout might be secretly manipulating events to parallel the play’s themes with the PCs’ struggle, subtly guiding them toward the right choices.

Sources that I suspect influenced Tim and that may be useful are The Box of Delights and The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. TV/movie versions here for those in a hurry. The old Santa-like character from The Box of Delights was apparently based on Ramon Llull, but I have only Wikipedia's word for that.

If you play the adventure, do let us know in the comments how you got on. I will just add that Tim's gaming group use Blades in the Dark, which casts every adventure in the form of a heist. Perhaps your heart sinks at the thought of heist games, or indeed any preset story-pattern in roleplaying, in which case you would normally get wholehearted agreement from me, but Christmas gaming makes its own rules. After a couple of mince pies I just sat back and went with the rompy flow.

"The Tower of Demons" (a Questworld scenario for RuneQuest and Dragon Warriors)

In the early 1980s, Oliver Johnson and I were hired to work on Games Workshop's Questworld book. This was to be a non-Gloranthan setting for Runequest. I'd originally been asked to design Adventure, an all-new RPG for Games Workshop, when they had just lost the UK publishing licence for D&D. Adventure fell by the wayside when GW got the British licence for Runequest, so the Questworld job was a sort of consolation prize. By the way, when I say "hired", there were no contracts or money changing hands or any of that modern malarkey. The lot of a writer back then may have inspired me to write "Dealing with Demons", which was obviously taking shape around the time we wrote this scenario.

It's an introductory 2nd edition Runequest scenario for 5-8 characters who have 25% to 35% in main weapons. There seems to be absolutely nothing to distinguish it -- no baroque fantasy elements, no plot twists, none of the flourishes that Oliver and I later injected into our RPG work. To judge by the absence of Ancients and habdigars and the lingering traces of standard Runequest (dwarves, Lunars, etc), at this stage we were just part of the Questworld writing team in the UK. Later we got the whole gig (still no contract, obviously) and, fuelled by Afghan Black and listening to Bowie and Brian Eno and Lou Reed, cooked up a different strain of fantasy -- but you'll find no evidence of that here, sad to say. If the adventure is of interest at all, it's purely as a historical curiosity. For example, that mention on the map of "Brimstone". Robert Dale had already written that memorable mini-campaign, and run it, and so it's nice to be able to report that Brymstone (sic) might eventually get published this decade.

Storyline

A month ago, a dwarf called Trazien went to the Alban village of Sanmarl. He sought treasure beneath an old tower, but the villagers feared that an undead sorcerer dwelt there, so no one would accompany him. Trazien did not return, and now his family are hiring adventurers to find out what has happened to him.

The undead sorcerer actually died about forty years ago. A man named Gallofess has recently occupied the tower - he uses a disguise to pass himself off as the old lich. He will try to dupe the characters (as he earlier duped Trazien) into bringing up treasure from the caverns under the tower.

The adventure is primarily combat-orientated, with some scope for developing other skills. The fight with the kaifeng guardians at the end will call for some tactical intelligence if the characters are to avoid heavy casualties.

HISTORY (for the Referee)

High up on the cliffs near the fishing village of Sanmarl there is an old tower, once part of the coastal defences. It had stood empty for close to a thousand years when the demonologist and necromancer Moldragor made his home there. That was three centuries ago, and Moldragor's sorcery enabled him to remain active long after his natural death. His undead existence finally came to an end some forty years ago, but most of the villagers are still in terror of him and will not go near the tower on any account.

Almost sixty years ago, before Moldragor died the true death, Lord Culgast of the powerful Cavilla family came from his northern province, bringing his son to be educated at the renowned Academy of Lord Stagira. Disgusted at the "decadence" he found, however, Lord Culgast changed his mind almost as soon as he arrived, and set off again to the north. As Culgast's ship approached the headland where Moldragor's tower stands, a storm came down out of the heavens without warning, driving the ship onto the rocks. There was only one survivor.

A month ago, a dwarf named Trazien came to Sanmarl in a fishing boat. He sought treasure, and tried to hire some of the young men in the village to accompany him. When he found no one was willing, he marched off to the tower alone. His boat is still in the harbour.

PLAYERS' INTRODUCTION

Trazien's relatives are rather anxious to know what's become of him. They will pay adventurers 10 L per day (each), with a reward of 5000 L if Trazien is brought back safely or 750 L for news of his whereabouts/fate. [At this point we were still using Lunars as the standard Questworld currency, but that was only a placeholder.]

They tell the party that Trazien always wore a bloodstone amulet around his neck, by which he can be identified if the worst has happened.

THE VILLAGE OF SANMARL

Sanmarl is a typical fishing community of about one hundred and fifty souls. The villagers are generally good-natured, though a little wary of strangers.

There is one tavern (The Smuggler's Retreat) and one four-room inn (The Bell).

The principal inhabitants are:

Carnobar, a Lightbringer priest. A small village like this does not merit a full priest; he is just an initiate. He is also the local doctor. Impatient and irascible, he is not well liked.

Mother Ril is, at 70, Sanmarl's oldest inhabitant. She lives alone in a cottage on the outskirts of the village. She will tell visitors how she used to see Moldragor stalking the clifftops by night in her youth. The more inducement she is offered, the more she will embellish her tales.

Fergus the Red is the most influential man in the village. Officially there is no headman – all adult males have equal say in village affairs – but he is usually looked to as leader. He was a soldier in his younger days. If anyone breaks the law in the village (stealing, using weapons in a brawl, vandalism, etc.) he will see they are dealt with quickly and severely.

Mad Hriss was the cabin boy, and the only one to survive when Lord Culgast's ship went down. He has lived here ever since. He hit his head on a rock as he swam ashore, and he is now very simple-minded. Anyone patient enough to buy him a drink and listen to his rambling speech will be told how Hriss found himself washed up on the beach that night. Some way off he saw a hideous figure – the lich Moldragor, he insists – communing with figures of flickering light which danced and leaped between the sea and the raging heavens. Moldragor did not notice him, and presently a huge inhuman creature strode out of the sea carrying the treasure chest from Lord Culgast's cabin.

Selith Hala is a poet, a minor noble who chooses to live here for the quiet and scenic scenery. She can sometimes be seen practicing her swordplay on the beach; her technique is superb (60%), but she has no interest in adventuring.

Gosvin Keg is the village head-case. He will pick fights in the tavern and try to intimidate his opponents by saying, "I break bones." He is forever being put in the pillory, but it makes no difference. At least he normally only bothers strangers...

THE TOWER

Set back about thirty yards from the edge of the cliffs, this was originally built as a watchtower to give early warning of raiders from the sea. Mostly it appears to be very ancient and weathered except for the pavilion at the top and the arrow slits from the upper floors, which seem more recent additions.

The tower is sixty feet tall and about thirty feet across. The worn blocks of stone are quite suitable for climbing. (+5% to climbing rolls.)

The door to the tower is of oak. (It is not locked.)

General notes: There are seven floors, the topmost of these being the pavilion. Each floor consists of a single chamber about twenty-five feet across (the walls are ten feet thick). Crude stone steps link each floor to the next.

A. Ground floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (see below)

FIRST GLANCE: A large shield has been set against the door. As the party enter they will knock this over. Whoever opened the door has a chance to grab the shield before it hits the floor (DEX as a percentage) if they have a free hand.

The room is circular, about eight and half feet high (as are all the others). It has recently been swept clear of dust. Beside the entrance is an oak beam which once served to bar the door; the brackets which held this have fallen out of the wall. There are no windows.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a bedroll against the wall behind the door. Its size would suit a dwarf.

EXITS: The steps up to the next chamber begin diametrically opposite the door. Below the steps is a trapdoor to the caverns under the tower.

TRAPS: The top of the shaft just below the trapdoor is covered by a Warding 1 spell. Passing through this will not activate an alarm. The Warding wands count as a Hidden Item.

DENIZENS: Gallofess need not be present in this room, but he will be somewhere in the tower. The shield against the door is his, placed there to warn him if anyone enters.

Gallofess is gifted with infinite patience. He is distantly related to the Cavilla family and believes he could make a legal claim to much of their land if he could obtain the lost talisman. He came to the tower six weeks ago. He has disguised himself, using gruesome make-up and rich, dusty robes, to appear as some sort of undead sorcerer. His plan is to pretend to be Moldragor and to send any adventurers who come along down into the caverns on his behalf. He can lie very creatively, and managed to fool Trazien the dwarf. Since Trazien has been gone a month, however, Gallofess realizes he must have been killed. If the party call Gallofess’s bluff he will use his Vial of Smokes (see below) to escape. If forced to fight, he will try to get his attackers to follow him up the steps (where they must use their weapons left-handed).

SPELLS - Demoralize; Bladesharp 1; Protection 1; Dispel Magic 2; Detect Magic; Detect Enemies; Healing 1

SKILLS - Oratory 25%; Evaluate Treasure 45%; Listen 55%; Spot Hidden 50%; Spot Trap 35%; Disguise 60%; Move Silently 35%; plus various Knowledge skills (Demonology, History, etc. at about 45%).

MAGIC - Tattoo on arm can be used to summon demon wolf for 2D4 rounds once per day.

Vial of Smokes is a glass bottle which releases thick fog over a 64 cubic meters volume when shattered; the fog disperses instantaneously after 5 rounds (one minute).

POW 5 storage crystal.

TREASURE – 3W (hidden in belt) and 35L (in belt pouch).

SPECIAL NOTES: The demon wolf takes half damage from bronze weapons. Anyone striking it with a bronze weapon is subject to a special curse spell; if the curse takes effect (compare the wolf's POW and the character's POW on the Resistance Table), roll D6: 

1. Character's arms are paralyzed 
2. Character is struck blind 
3. Character is struck dumb 
4. Character is transformed into a rat 
5. Character's leg is withered, halving their movement 
6. Character is hideously disfigured and twisted, causing the loss of 10 points CHA.

A curse can be removed with dispel magic 2.

As daylight demoralizes the wolf, Gallofess will summon it only on the ground to third floors (where there are no windows) or within the fog from the Vial of Smokes. At night he can summon it anywhere, of course.

B. First floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Pretty much the same as the ground floor. Again, there are no windows. There are brackets on the wall for torches. There is a wooden table in the middle of the room.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are several clay jars and a pile of what look like rabbit bones on the table. (The jars contain fresh water.)

EXITS: Two - the steps leading down to the ground floor and, across the room from these, the steps up to the chamber above.

C. Second floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Still no windows. Set around the room are several statues about a metre tall.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are five statues in all. All have had their heads smashed off and one has been toppled from its plinth. The statues are of black marble and all depict old men in ceremonial robes.

EXITS: The steps up and the steps down.

MISC. NOTES: Moldragor used the statues to commune with his colleagues in the mystic Brotherhood of Whispers. Gallofess smashed them, just as a precaution in case they animated.

D. Third floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Still no windows – and no torch brackets, either. There is a stone font in the middle of the room, and the floor around it is thick with dust.

CLOSER LOOKS: The font is dry. Within, at the bottom, is the bas-relief of a smiling unhuman face.

EXITS: Steps up and down.

MISC. NOTES: The font was used by Moldragor in certain scrying spells. Gallofess knew just enough about it to give it a wide berth (hence the dust), but it is in fact quite harmless.

E. Fourth floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Six arrow-slits serve as windows in this room. It seems to be a storeroom strewn with miscellaneous items of all kinds.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are wands of various woods, lacquered ceremonial masks, several flutes, two small silver bells, a drum, rotting gowns and robes, bottles of fluid, coloured chalks, books, censers, a small bronze gong, and so on.

EXITS: Steps up and down.

TRAPS: There is a trap on the bronze gong (See below for details.)

TREASURE: The entire contents of the room would count as treasure to a demonologist, as they are his stock-in-trade. If the party could locate a practicing demonologist and get all this stuff to him it would be worth about 2500 L.

The bronze gong is the only really special item. Moldragor used it to call and control his demonic guards (see below). He also set a Runic defence on the gong. If it is touched, everyone within three metres must resist a POW of 18 or be frozen in place for ten minutes. Only Detect Magic will reveal this spell. The spell works only once, and then is automatically dissipated. It can be removed with Dispel Magic 6. It was originally intended to hold intruders until Moldragor himself could come and finish them off. Since he is now dead, everyone will be fine when the spell wears off – unless those unaffected take the opportunity for some treachery.

If the gong is struck, one of the demonic guards leaves the door to Moldragor's sanctum and make its way to wherever the gong is. When it sees any intruders, it will attack. Within ten metres the demons find the gong's sound painful – only Moldragor could use it to control them, but anyone else striking it repeatedly can at least cause them enough pain that they will fight at a 5% penalty to Attack and Parry.

F. Fifth floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-35 Nothing
36-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: There is an oaken cabinet against the wall, and six more arrow-slits.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a complicated geometric symbol etched into the floor. The cabinet contains six bows and six quivers, each with twelve arrows. The bows require a STR of at least 18 to use, and do 1D10+1; treat as Composite Bows.

EXITS: Steps up and down.

TREASURE: The bows are very fine, worth maybe 300 L each.

MISC. NOTES: The symbol in the floor is (of course) for summonings. Moldragor liked to call up demonic archers if his tower needed defending. The summoning spell is described in one of the books in E and could be used by anyone who knows the Ritual of Summoning.

G. Top floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS: If the players have come up from the other floors and not yet run into Gallofess, he will be here. If they scale the outside of the tower, there is roughly a 27% chance of finding him on the top floor.

FIRST GLANCE: The chamber is a marble dome with five archways leading out onto a balcony. The steps themselves emerge onto the balcony, which is five feet wide. In the middle of the domed chamber is a low stone slab.

CLOSER LOOKS: This was open battlements when originally built, and the dome is a much more recent addition to the structure. The floor under the dome is tiled with green marble. On the stone slab there is a greatsword. Its blade is a deep, almost luminous, blue-green and the hilt is of polished coral. Four effigies squat at the corners of the slab: clawed warriors with heads and lower bodies like a shark’s. These are about 25cm high, carved of black wood.

EXITS: Down the steps or (in emergencies) over the parapet.

TRAPS: Within each effigy is a Warding wand. The sword is protected by a 4-point Warding, and anyone reaching for it will receive a 4D3 Disruption attack.

TREASURE: The sword bears the Water Rune. Anyone who belongs to a Water Rune cult can use it to summon a small undine from out of the sea once a month. Any character, whatever his cult, can use it to fight in water at no penalty. The sword can take 30 points of damage, and is as hard as iron on a critical hit. The user can swim with it in water, at no penalty.

THE CAVERNS BELOW THE TOWER

The trapdoor at the bottom of the tower gives access to a three-metre shaft protected at the top by a Warding spell (see above). At the bottom of the shaft are steps hewn out of the rock. After descending about thirty metres these emerge into a tunnel sloping gently downwards, and this opens into a natural cavern.

1. Jetty

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-75 Nothing
76-00 Zombie

FIRST GLANCE: A low chamber; characters will have to stoop. Stalagmites and stalactites reach to form pillars here and there. An underground stream flows across the far side of the cavern, and a boat is moored at the jetty there.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are moorings for a second boat. The boat is in perfect repair and could hold half a dozen people. The stream flows south.

EXITS: There are three: the passage back to the tower, and the two tunnels where the stream flows.

DENIZENS: The zombie may be here, but is more likely to be encountered in 6.

MISC. NOTES: The perfect condition of the boat is due to the Stasis Rune magic Moldragor used in building it. A Dispel Magic 6 would cause it to rot in seconds.

2. The tunnel

This is very low, and characters will have to crouch down in the boat.

3. Another jetty

FIRST GLANCE: A second boat, identical to the first, is moored here. The cavern is like the first, except that the roof is high enough for characters to stand normally.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a metal gate (open) in the southern part of the room.

EXITS: Via the metal gate, or up- or downstream.

HIDDEN SPOTS: Concealed behind a stalagmite to the north are two hand axes and a small pouch containing damp, very mouldy bread.

MISC. NOTES: Trazien left the axes and bread (which was a bit mouldy when he first bought it), thinking he would return this way.

4. Storeroom

FIRST GLANCE: The room is obviously artificial, carved out (presumably) by Moldragor's demonic servitors, whose claws have left gouges in the rock. It is two and a half metres high. There are four figures standing at the far end.

CLOSE LOOKS: The "figures" are just suits of bronze plate armour hanging on stands. They are SIZ 15.

EXITS: There are two: the metal gate through which the party have just come, and a heavy wooden door in the eastern end of the room.

TRAPS: Opening the door in the east rings a bell to alert the demons outside the inner sanctum. The bell cannot be heard from here.

DENIZENS: The Iron Snake. This creation of Moldragor's is hidden in one of the suits of armour. Its favourite tactic is to coil around the leg or arm of the person it attacks, in order to prevent the use battle magic.

5. Small waterfall

There is a shallow but quite sudden slope in the tunnel here. If the boat overturns, there is a chance that the zombie will make an underwater attack (if not already encountered and destroyed).

6. The tomb chamber

FIRST GLANCE: The cavern is some three metres high, flooded except for a protruding shelf of rock to the north-east on which rests a bronze casket 2x1x1 metres.

CLOSER LOOKS: The casket lid bears a glyph. Anyone who can read will recognize it as the glyph denoting "mol-". This glyph represents the same sound in both Sovereign and Upcoast so it does not matter which of these languages the character understands.

Within the casket is the shrivelled body of Moldragor. Clasped to his chest he has a small lead plaque covered with a twisting serpentine script that can only be read by characters with Demonology of at least 15%.

EXITS: The only visible exit is the tunnel from which the stream flows into this chamber. To the south, under the surface of the pool, the stream exits and flows down to the sea.

DENIZENS: The zombie spends most of its time here. It was once a smuggler who foolishly took refuge in Moldragor's tower one night when the coastal patrols arrested his companions. It will attack any intruders, attempting to drag them under the water.

MISC. NOTES: The plaque buried with Moldragor is a special safeguard. Without it, his spirit is prey to the torments of all the demons he summoned in life or undeath. If either of the demonic servitors from 8 is led here it will (after discharging its duty to kill intruders) remove the plaque. Gallofess would recognize the plaque's significance, but would hardly care about removing it.

7. Antechamber

FIRST GLANCE: Another chamber hewn out of the rock by demons. Steps lead down to the south. The staircase is surrounded by a low balustrade, so that there is a narrow landing to the south of the room. There is the mouldering corpse of a dwarf with a bloodstone amulet beside the entrance.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a painting on the south wall. It depicts a proud-looking young man. The corpse is that of Trazien and he was hacked to death.

EXITS: The passageway in the north end of the east wall, and the stairs to the south.

TRAPS: If anyone goes onto the landing directly under the portrait, a trapdoor gives way and drop him/her about six metres onto the stairs.

TREASURE: The portrait is of Moldragor as a young man. It is more than three centuries old, signed by the artist, and worth up to 800 L to a collector. It is preserved with Stasis Rune magic.

There is also Trazien's equipment. The armour is bronze - but dwarf-sized, naturally. He also had a heavy mace, a large shield and a spear. His belt-pouch has 100 L, which his relatives would like returned.

8. Passage to the sanctum

FIRST GLANCE: From the foot of the stairs, the passage goes south for eight metres and ends in a door. There are two figures standing at the far end – or only one if the other was summoned by the gong in E.

CLOSER LOOKS: (Is anyone going closer?) The figures are Moldragor's demonic guardians. They are powerful beings with fiery red eyes and black scales tinged with reddish-gold.

EXITS: Back down the passageway or past the guardians and through the door at the end. The door is oak, stained with blood, into which Moldragor's name has been burned.

DENIZENS: The demonic guardians. One of these will guard the door at all times, but the other will leave to attack or pursue intruders.

9. Inner sanctum

FIRST GLANCE: This is a circular room hung with rotting tapestries. Illumination comes from a circle of bright white light six metres across on the floor in the middle of the room.

CLOSER LOOKS: The pool of light has no obvious source. The tapestries fall into shreds if touched.

EXITS: One door to the north (the entrance) and a secret panel to the south-east.

HIDDEN SPOTS: The secret panel counts as a Hidden Item. If not spotted immediately, a meticulous search of the room (taking 15-20 minutes) would locate it. The panel is hinged horizontally through the middle.

TREASURE: In the alcove beyond the secret panel is a chest. Moldragor bound this with his Stasis enchantments. Dispel Magic 4 or 35 points of STR will break the seal; there is only room for two characters to wrench the lid up at the same time.

The chest contains an amulet, a bronze jar, three books, a ring and a number of gold and silver coins.

The amulet is an emerald in a silver setting. This is the lost talisman of the Cavilla family. It would fetch 800 L if sold as treasure. Returned to the Cavillas, it would earn their undying gratitude, which is maybe worth more.

The bronze jar is sealed with wax. If opened, it will be found to contain a pungent liquid in which floats a pickled human heart.

The books are tracts on Demonology (theory rather than practice). They are almost incomprehensible to anyone with knowledge of Demonology less than 25%. Others can use them to raise their knowledge of Demonology to 50%, at a rate of 300 hours' study per 5% increase. The books are worth 2000 L each.

The ring is silver with miniature jade butterflies set around it. It is a Healing 3 matrix.

The coins amount to 75 W and 1000 L.

Notes

It irks me that we gave no explanation for why Moldragor is now properly dead, having previously enjoyed two centuries of existence as a lich. Player-characters are bound to wonder about that, especially as the demons he summoned are still doing his bidding. One possibility is that he is not completely dead but only dormant, using long periods of rest to recuperate his undead “stamina” – but the characters will probably burn his body, so perhaps he could partly awaken and mutter threats and promises if they don’t destroy him. You won’t want him to awaken fully because these are after all starting-level characters, but it could still be a memorably creepy and frightening moment in an otherwise fairly routine dungeon-style adventure.

Oliver and I assumed we’d need a simple adventure like this because a lot of players might be coming to Runequest for the first time. Our Questworld setting in its eventual form was more of a traditional fantasy milieu (influenced by Moorcock, Vance and Robert E Howard) than Glorantha with its Bronze Age cults and talking ducks – though whether it was traditional enough to entice the mass of players away from D&D, as Games Workshop hoped at the time, is something we’ll never know.

If the GW Questworld book had ever looked like being published, we might well have decided to drop this scenario. One sign that we hadn’t revised it is the presence of a dwarf (“Mostali” in RQ). At the point we wrote this we were still testing how far we could push Questworld away from Glorantha. I couldn’t see the point of importing all the same gods, and was damned if I was going to include those daffy ducks, and soon after this we’d discarded RQ elves (not actual elves but humanoid plants, meh) and dwarves in favour of bespoke creatures like habdigar.

The Dragon Warriors variant

This being the anniversary year of Dragon Warriors (oh, did I mention that before?) I can't resist adding DW stats -- purely for completeness, as it's hard to imagine that anybody wants an old-school dungeon bash for starting DW characters these days!

GOSVIN KEG (village bully)

Rank: 2^nd

ATTACK 15                            Fist (d3+1, 3) or improvised mace (d6+1,5)

DEFENCE 7                             Armour Factor 0

MAGICAL DEFENCE 3          Reflexes 11

EVASION 4                             Movement 10m/20m

STEALTH 12

PERCEPTION 6

Health Points 15

Special ability: On an Armour Bypass roll of 4, Keg grapples his opponent, who is then at −2 ATTACK. The grappled character must roll Strength or less on d20 to break free (one attempt per round).

GALLOFESS (fraudulent warlock)

Rank: 5^th

ATTACK 17

DEFENCE 11                           Armour Factor 3

MAGICAL ATTACK 18

MAGICAL DEFENCE 9          Reflexes 14

EVASION 5                             Movement 10m/20m

STEALTH 14

PERCEPTION 8

Health Points 11                       Magic Points 10

Special Items:

o    Vial of Smoke: Thick white smoke billows out in a 5m radius; completely opaque, even to magic; dissipates on a roll of 6 on d6, roll at the end of each round.

o    Summoning Tattoo: Calls a Demon Wolf for 2d4 rounds, one use per day.

DEMON WOLF

Rank: 2^nd

ATTACK 16                            Bite (d6,6)

DEFENCE 4                             Armour Factor 1 (half damage from nonmagical weapons)

MAGICAL DEFENCE 8          Reflexes 17

EVASION 7                             Movement 15m/30m

STEALTH 17

PERCEPTION 14 (elfsight)

Health Points 12

Special Abilities:

• Cursed bite: a target who is bitten is subject to a curse with a MAGICAL ATTACK of 8; roll for effect of the curse as in the Runequest scenario; it can be removed by a holy relic or a 6-point Dispel Magic.
• Takes half damage from nonmagical weapons.
• Weakened (−2 ATTACK, −1 Armour Bypass) in daylight.

THE IRON SNAKE

Rank: 4^th

ATTACK 19                            Bite (d6,4 + poison) or coil (see below)

DEFENCE 8                             Armour Factor 5

MAGICAL DEFENCE             Reflexes 18

EVASION 7                             Movement 15m/30m

STEALTH 18

PERCEPTION 10

Health Points 15

Abilities:

• Coil Attack: Restrains an enemy’s arm, causing −2 from ATTACK, −1 from Armour Bypass rolls, and preventing gestures needed for a sorcerer to cast spells.
• Poison: Injects a strong poison if it scores 5-6 on an Armour Bypass roll.

THE ZOMBIE

Rank: 4^th

ATTACK 14                            Axe (d8,6)

DEFENCE 6                             Armour Factor 1

MAGICAL DEFENCE 3          Reflexes 3

EVASION 3                             Movement 6m

STEALTH 6

PERCEPTION 5 (gloomsight)

Health Points 24

KAIFENGS

Rank: 7^th

ATTACK 17                            Battleaxe (d8,6) or 2 x Claws (d6,5)

DEFENCE 10                           Armour Factor 4 and shield

MAGICAL DEFENCE             Reflexes 13

EVASION                                Movement 10m

STEALTH 15

PERCEPTION 15 (panoptical)

Health Points 24

Special Abilities:

• First kaifeng Can jump 10 metres in combat.
• Second Kaifeng: indetectable by magic, ESP, etc.

Converted Magic Items

Bronze Gong (Summoner’s Bell)

• Striking it calls a kaifeng demon from the tower’s sanctum.
• Can be used to cause pain to summoned demons (−1 to Attack and Defence if gong is struck within 10m).
• Has a one-time stasis effect (Magical Attack 18, lasts 10 minutes).

Greatsword (Sea-Forged Blade)

• Magical Weapon (d10,5))
• Allows wielder to fight in water without penalty.
• User can summon a water elemental out of the sea once per month.

Silver Ring with Jade Butterflies

• Allows one use per day of Greater Healing, Antidote or Cure Disease (user’s choice). Roll d20 when used; on a roll of 20, the magic dissipates permanently but the ring still has value as jewellery.