251 the nightstand shows two children standing with several adults, all garbed in black robes, in front of a doorway next to a fireplace that could be in “The House”. The only window in here is boarded up and, standing next to it, appears to be a girl covering her face. If the party attempts to speak with her, she continues sobbing and demands they leave her alone. Persisting, they may be able to coax from her this information: she lives here and was killed by the Demon of Darkness below. If they approach, her true nature will become apparent: a very unfriendly spirit! Her face distorts and she lets out a horrible scream that will cause the party to have to pause to cover their ears for one round. During that time, the spirit will attack the strongest member of the party. If the ghost is defeated or driven off and the room examined, they will find that the other door in the room leads to a large, walk-in closet. The children’s clothes in here are old and moth-eaten. There are several sets of black robes hanging prominently in front of the other clothes. Room Three: Trick or Setback The other rooms upstairs are all empty (at DM discretion, perhaps some minor undead or demonic creatures could be populated in a few of the other rooms to keep things interesting). They all appear to have been bedrooms. There is nothing of value in them. On the Ground Floor Downstairs, the room that the undead came from is a parlor filled with rotting furniture and nothing apparently of value. The other door off the Main Entry leads into a large living room with a fireplace and a large, life-sized portrait on the wall next to the fireplace. The painting is like the one on the nightstand upstairs except that the people all wear typical clothing and not black robes. A dining room is next to that and a doorway there leads into the kitchen at the back of the house. Besides a locked and boarded up door leading outside from the kitchen, there is another door which leads into the parlor and one for a large, empty, walk-in pantry. The large painting next to the fireplace conceals a hidden door with dark stairs leading down to a secret basem*nt. Hopefully, the PC’s will have paid attention to the description of the painting on the nightstand and be able to make the connection. The DM may need to provide additional clues. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The stairway down into the basem*nt is very dark and filled with cobwebs. Torchlight, lanterns, even infravision do not seem to penetrate far into the inky black. The bottom of the stairway opens into a small room with an iron door opposite. When the party approaches the door, it creaks open loudly. The air becomes very cold as an expanding darkness begins creeping into the room. Occasionally, shapes can be seen writhing within the darkness, as if it were a fluid rather than an
252 absence of light: long claws, a flash of glowing red eyes, the gleam of fangs, wisps of smoke and flame. The darkness begins to move rapidly. If the party retreats, two smoking, black tentacles dart out from the dark near the floor to try to snare PC legs. If hits are successful, the PC’s are pulled to the floor and dragged into the darkness to be attacked by the demonic creature within. The DM should use discretion and make sure the Demon of Darkness is both terrifying and difficult for the PC’s to defeat—a monstrous evil that may well devour them all if they are not very, very careful. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist If the Demon of Darkness is defeated, the party will discover a large, circular chamber behind the iron door with six children manacled to the walls. There is a very thick tome on a table at the center of the room. Within this Book of Black Magic are various summoning spells, including the one that brought the Demon of Darkness. The creature was too powerful to control and killed several of those present at the time, including the girl whose ghost was encountered in her former bedroom. The children are very weak as their life force was slowly being drained away by the creature just defeated. However, they will recover and the community leaders, in their gratitude, should offer a handsome reward. Of course, before they pay up, there’s also the little problem they’ve been having with a haunted bakery down the street…
253 Pitfall Castle By Nathan Wells Room One: Entrance and Guardian The heroes are traveling to an important castle or stronghold in response to a summons. Upon reaching the location where the castle should be, they find that all that stands there are a few broken towers sticking up from the landscape. An evil wizard has plunged most the castle deep underground. At first this would seem to block all access to the castle, but there are numerous entrances in the form of pitfall traps. Sooner than later, the heroes will find one of these, either intentionally or by accident. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The heroes cannot exit the castle through the pitfall trap that they entered by. Once inside the castle, the heroes discover that it is a massive labyrinth of corridors and chambers. Furthermore, it is crawling with guards who were once loyal to the castles’ owner, but are now under the control of the wizard. Individually, each guard is weak enough so as not to pose a serious challenge to the heroes, but if an alarm is raised then the guards will come swarming in on the heroes in such numbers that they may be overwhelmed. The heroes’ main objective will be to avoid getting caught while they search for an exit. To make this more of a roleplaying challenge, allow the heroes to find a few sets of guard uniforms left unattended. The heroes could then try to impersonate guards, even trying to ask for directions through the labyrinth without drawing too much attention to themselves. Room Three: Trick or Setback As the heroes search the castle for a way out, they’ll discover that the princess of the castle is being held captive in the castle’s prison (alternatively, this could be some other important NPC, or valuable treasure). This information could be gleaned by overhearing a conversation among the guards. The heroes must choose if they’ll find a way to free the princess or just focus on escaping with their own lives. If the heroes decide to free the princess they will doubtlessly alert the castle guards to their presence and intentions, if they haven’t already. The heroes may be glad that the princess knows a secret way out of the prison through the sewers. Due to the castle’s being plunged underground, the sewers will no longer lead the heroes outside of the castle, but it will allow them to escape temporarily to another part of the castle.
254 Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The heroes have finally found an exit to the castle, but one of the wizard’s lieutenants stands in the way. The lieutenant is a formidable warrior, and will put up quite a fight. Ultimately, the lieutenant’s objective isn’t to prevent the heroes’, or the princess’s, escape. For that reason, he’ll focus his attacks on just one hero who he considers the biggest threat and let the other heroes slip by with the princess if they want. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The princess is grateful for the rescue and will offer the heroes a monetary reward, if that is what they want. She’ll also ask them to take her to a nearby location where there are people who will offer her support in fighting the wizard and his evil plans. This location could be a neighboring allied kingdom or a secret base where some of her servants and soldiers have taken refuge. The catch is that the wizard’s lieutenant hid a magical stone on the princess’s person that will allow the wizard to track her, revealing who and where her allies are.
255 Temple of the Four Elements By Nathan Wells Room One: Entrance and Guardian The temple is guarded by a priest of the four elements. They must judge the heroes worthy of entering the temple through trial by combat. The priest is a proficient magic user and will cast spells associated with each of the four elements. The heroes need not destroy the priest. Once it becomes obvious that the priest will not win against the heroes he will admit defeat, and grant the heroes access. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The temple houses an air elemental, an earth elemental, a fire elemental, and a water elemental. Each is extremely jealous of the others and resides in a separate room of the temple. Each can be convinced to offer the heroes their favor through clever roleplaying, along with expressions of honor and respect. Each elemental is aware of how friendly the heroes are with the other elementals, and will get offended if the heroes show just as much, or more, attention to another elemental. Room Three: Trick or Setback Once the heroes have won over an elemental, the elemental will offer them its favor. There is, however, a catch. The heroes must first perform a few duties for them. Depending on the power level of the heroes, these duties may be extremely simple tasks that don’t even require them to leave the temple, or they may be small quests in themselves. The other elementals, out of jealousy, will also send minor minions to hinder the heroes’ efforts. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict Once the heroes have performed several tasks for a specific elemental, that elemental will have one last favor to ask before it will bestow its favor on the heroes. Each elemental has an intense rivalry with one of the others. The air and earth elementals are rivals, and the fire and water elementals are rivals. The final task will be to defeat the elemental’s rival in combat.
256 Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The elemental finally bestows its favor on the heroes. This may come in the form of magical weapons, armor, or other items. It could be access to new powers associated with the specific element. Perhaps the heroes have freed the elemental from its station at the temple and it is now free to accompany the heroes for an important, and particularly challenging, quest. Maybe the elemental reveals that it can now grant an inordinate amount of power to one of the heroes, but in return the hero must agree to become the next guardian of the temple. For an even more dramatic reward, one of the heroes is transformed into an elemental of the same type as their patron!
257 Caravan of Courage By Nathan Wells Room One: Entrance and Guardian A young priestess is setting out on a pilgrimage and is looking for a few people to serve as guides and guards during the journey. She is offering to pay anyone who qualifies. To join her caravan, the heroes will have to prove that they are both competent and trustworthy. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The caravan is stopping at several towns along its path. After visiting a few towns, the heroes will notice a suspicious trend. At each town where they stop, the priestess ignores any religious buildings or holy sites, but instead has secretive visits with shady looking people under the cover of night. The heroes may try to figure out what’s going on through clever roleplaying or espionage. Or, the heroes may simple try to win the priestess’s trust and then ask her directly. Room Three: Trick or Setback The priestess is really a member of a secret order with a political agenda. The king of the realm is on his deathbed, and his wicked son is about to inherit the throne. The king has another, illegitimate son whom the kingdom knows of only in rumors. This bastard son is far more qualified to be a good and noble ruler. The secret order that the priestess works for aims to put the bastard son on the throne instead of his half-brother. This may pose an interesting challenge to the heroes depending on their own personal, political, and moral viewpoints. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The priestess has been traveling across the realm informing various cells of the order about the order’s plans. On the day of the prince’s coronation as king, the order will rally all its members to the royal palace for a grand coup. During the ensuing battle, the priestess leads the heroes through secret passages into the interior of the palace where they will face the wicked prince. The final battle may be with the prince himself, or with one of his lieutenants, pets, or wizardly advisors. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist After the wicked prince is defeated the king’s bastard son can be crowned king. The heroes will have to decide what to do with the wicked prince and his supporters, if they did not die in the
258 coup. The new king will reward the heroes suitably with tracks of land, lordships, or whatever seems appropriate If you’re looking for a twist, add the revelation that the new king is in fact not related to the old king at all. Perhaps he was just a good man chosen by the secret order, or maybe he was the leader and originator of that order. In a tragic betrayal, the new king may attempt to have the heroes executed so that they cannot reveal such knowledge to the masses.
259 Prison Break By Nathan Wells Room One: Entrance and Guardian The heroes are infiltrating a high security prison to free one of its inmates. Getting in will be easy. All that the heroes need to do is perform an appropriately heinous crime, or at least frame themselves for one. Depending on the details of the setting, the crime could even be something the heroes would consider a noble act, such as treason against a corrupt government. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge After contacting the inmate, they aim to free, the heroes must spend some time planning their escape. They’ll want to get a clear idea of the prison’s layout and floor plan. They’ll also want to note warden patrol patterns and at what times the guards change shifts. They’ll also need to take stock of what resources they may have at their disposal. Room Three: Trick or Setback As the heroes make their plans, and then put them into action, they’ll no doubt draw the attention of other inmates. Some of these may inform the wardens or raise an alarm, hoping to win some favor with the authorities and earn an early parole. Other inmates may wish to participate in the jail break. In fact, it may become obvious to the heroes that they won’t be able to pull off their escape without the help of a few key prisoners. However, this creates a moral dilemma, because some of the inmates are hardened criminals and completely deserving of their place behind bars. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The climax takes place in the final stages of the jail break. At this point the wardens are alerted to the heroes attempted escape and will do everything possible to prevent it. The heroes may have to fight wardens directly, or they may have to attempt daring stunts to reach safety. Depending on the setting, the wardens may release the prison’s ultimate warden on the heroes. This could be a magical beast, ferocious guard dogs, or a robotic sentinel. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The most obvious reward is the freedom of the heroes and the person they went in to rescue. Depending on the circ*mstances the reward may be greater than that. Perhaps the inmate they
260 rescued can now provide information or resources that will further the heroes’ overall goal. Of course, freedom may also be short lived, as the heroes are now wanted fugitives. Unless they can clear their names, or bring down the corrupt government that condemned them, they will continue to be hunted.
261 The Company By Nathan Wells Room One: Entrance and Guardian The heroes infiltrate the company by submitting job applications and getting hired. The company is always hiring grunts, and might consider the heroes for the lowest level management positions if they’re especially accomplished. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge After working at the company for a while the heroes will notice that not everything is as it should be. The most obvious problem is the maintenance hallways. No one seems to mention these except the lowest level employees, and only then in whispered conversation. Those who venture into these corridors face horrors that challenge their very sanity. The maintenance hallways are home to zombies and other creatures that lurk in the shadows and wait for unsuspecting prey to come by. They are timid creatures, however, and will not attack employees who brave the maintenance hallways in groups. A second, less obvious dilemma is the company’s upper management. All of them are cold and aloof. Their gaze can freeze a person in their tracks. All their proceedings take place behind closed doors. When management decides to fire an individual, or downsize an entire department, those employees are never heard from again. Room Three: Trick or Setback Heroes who try to find other work so that they can quit the company will have no luck. It’s as if once you work for the company you can never leave. Also, for every week that they work there they feel as if they are growing weaker and weaker, both physically and mentally. Heroes who try to investigate the company further will face “disciplinary action” or “termination” if they are caught. Those who are truly persistent and resourceful may eventually discover the terrible secret behind the company. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The company is the tool of a group of necromancer cultists. The company building is built on geomantic principles that gradually suck the life force out of those who work there. Those who have worked there the longest have turned into the zombies that now haunt the maintenance
262 halls. The life force that gets sucked from the employees is being channeled into the basem*nt where the cultists use it to power their evil rituals. The heroes will have to defeat the cultists if they want to free themselves and their fellow employees. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist If the heroes can defeat the cultists then they will bring down the company. This releases all the employees from an eventual fate worse than death, and prevents the outworking of the cultists’ ultimate goals for world domination. The heroes probably won’t be praised for doing this, but they can rest a little more easily at night knowing they’ve put down a horrible evil.
263 Random 5 Rooms Dungeon Generator By Davide Quatrini Dear GM, You need only a d6 for using the following tables (roll it once for each room). In diceless games simply choose the result you like most. Room One: Entrance and Guardian 1-2. The dungeon is an ancient dwarven stronghold. The entrance is a magically sealed stone door, and the guardian is a clockwork dwarf fighter. 3-4. The dungeon is an orcish mine. The entrance is a small trapped cave, and the guardian is a domesticated grizzly bear. 5-6. The dungeon is an illusion. The entrance is a phantom bridge made of fire, and the guardian is an illusory dragon. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge 1-2. In Room Two PCs find the ghost of a dwarven hero. If they want to give peace to him they’ll must find his corpse and bury it (using a complex dwarven ritual). 3-4. In Room Two PCs find a magical scroll. If they solve the puzzle contained in it (Q: 1, 2, 5, ... A: 26) they’ll receive a magic item from a far demiplane. 5-6. In Room Two PCs find a madman entrapped in the dungeon. If they cure him (using spells, for example) he will reveal vital information about the place. Room Three: Trick or Setback 1-2. This place is trapped: if PCs try to open or break the lock of the exit door a sphere made of solid force will entrap them. 3-4. This place is trapped: if PCs remain in the room for a minute or longer the walls will release poisonous gas. 5-6. This place is trapped: if PCs touch the illusory chest contained in the room the ceiling will collapse on them.
264 Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict 1-2. The final boss is a terrible dragon. It will accept treasures in exchange for PCs lives. 3-4. The final boss is a little humanoid army: a lot of orcs, trolls and ogres. They will accept food and prisoners in exchange for PCs lives. 5-6. The final boss is a powerful illusionist. She will accept magic items and new spells in exchange for PCs lives. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist 1-2. PCs find an ancient and powerful dwarven artifact in the dungeon. They must pay attention: The Dwarf King is searching for it. 3-4. PCs find NPCs prisoners in the dungeon. They must pay attention: one of them is a polymorphed demon. 5-6. PCs find a large amount of gold, silver or platinum in the dungeon. They must pay attention: the metal is cursed.
265 Promised Aid By Jonas Dorn Background: Centuries ago, the empire was in great danger. One evening, a messenger from a so far unknown power came to the emperor, and offered him a deal: He would get the assistance of X heroes, but he had to pledge that he would send his best X heroes of his own once the other power was in need. Of course, the emperor agreed, and within a week, X heroes appeared and saved the empire. They were given great honors and large amounts of gold and expensive items. Now, the time has come to for the empire to reciprocate. Optional: I would place the other power underground, and have a tower appear in the garden of the emperor’s castle, whose door is a replica of the old contract. Once the PCs enter the tower, it starts to tremble and slowly, then faster and faster sinks into the ground. Of course, there are plenty of other methods to transport the PCs, such as by teleporting them somewhere, or have them board a spaceship which is on autopilot. Room One: Entrance And Guardian The players arrive among ruins – are they too late? Worse, there is a “welcome committee”: A horde of strange enemies who attack them immediately, and a commander with two aides and another figure next to him. The PCs dispatch of the horde with ease (2 rounds of combat at most, e.g. 1 fireball). When they approach the commander, he breaks out laughing and turns to the figure beside him. “Is that hope I see in your eyes? So sweet. I sent my weakest troops against your saviours, now you can spend the last moments of your life seeing how I destroy them”. The commander stabs the other through the heart, and starts attacking the PCs, while ordering the aides to not let anyone get to the dying prisoner. He turns out to be a significant challenge for the PCs, and if they can’t kill him quickly, the prisoner dies. When the commander dies, the aides fall apart – it seems that they were some sort of animated armor (or maybe undead), whose existence depended on the life of the commander. Room Two: Puzzle Or Roleplaying Challenge If the prisoner died, the challenge is to figure out what is going on (easy: there is a battle; the PCs observe troops being moved towards it), how to get there (for example, they can disguise
266 themselves as troops), and how to possibly stop the army (the fact that the aides fell apart should give the PCs the idea that they must attack the commanders). If the prisoner survives, he can tell the PCs what is going on, and that they need to eliminate the 3-5 commanders of the invading army. He leads them through a secret passage (if underground: through stunningly beautiful caves), though they find that they must cross the entire camp of the enemy army to get to the commanders. The former prisoner is no help in that, because he is frozen with fear, or because he died right after giving all important info to the PCs. Room Three: Trick or Setback Setback: The disguised PCs are ordered somewhere away from the commanders’ tents, they are discovered and must bluff their way out of the tricky situation, or when they arrive, the commanders have already left for the battle against the last holdout of the good side’s forces. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle Or Conflict The PCs finally make it to the commanders, who are at least as strong as the commander they battled before, but now there are multiples. There may be interference from enemy aides if the commanders alone are not challenging enough. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The PCs save the day and all is well. Or they learn that they just helped the wrong side (room 1 was a set-up), in which case the DM should drop lots of hints so that the PCs have a chance to figure it out during the big battle. As another twist, 1-2 of the PCs may have been ordered by their local lords to kill everyone else and pretend it was their local kingdom, not the empire that sent the help and should get the reward (“These others? Yeah, they were lieges of my duke, too, but they all died in battle”).
267 Escape From Slavers’ Isle By Jason Kemp The storm was fierce. For three days, your ship battled against the winds and the waves. The crew worked tirelessly, never giving up hope. However, after three days fighting against the storm, she couldn’t take it anymore. Driven against the reef, the hull struck against the unyielding coral, and the ship was scuttled. Many drowned in the wind-tossed seas under the dim light of the waning moon, but you were among the few that survived to make it ashore, only to collapse in the wet sands of this unknown haven. When you woke up, however, you were dismayed to discover that your situation had simply gotten worse, for now you have found yourself trapped in a cage, as your ship had the misfortune to sink off the rocky shore of Slavers’ Isle... Room One: Entrance And Guardian PCs awaken in what amounts to be little more than a jail cell, stone on two sides and bars on two sides, the last cell in a small corridor of cells. Prisoners rest in some of the other cells, a few from the PCs’ ship and others who have obviously been here longer. The challenge here is to escape the cell (thus entering the rest of the cell). Escape may be accomplished by several means: brute force, trickery, stealing the keys, etc. The prisoners are fed twice a day, by three slavers. (For this scenario, they are hobgoblins, but they could be of any race.) If the PCs do not escape, they will eventually be led away to slaving ships to be sold as slaves. While there are other opportunities to escape either en route or once the characters are sold, this adventure assumes the PCs escape at some point before they are led off to be branded and sold. When the party escapes, they may want to free other prisoners to go with them. This offers the GM opportunities to throw more stuff at the group overall, but otherwise, it shouldn’t impact the adventure. After all, the party are heroes and the rest of the prisoners represent the common man that must be saved. The corridor of cells empties into a central room that serves as the junction for other corridors. A few more guards are here, unless they’ve already been drawn to the party by sounds of combat earlier. In this room, the party can find some basic equipment and load up on weapons, light armor, shields, and other stuff.
268 Room Two: Puzzle Or Roleplaying Challenge Leaving the central room down the exit corridor, the party should come to the entrance to the caves, and a steep drop-off. A wooden drawbridge connects the caves of the cliff-face with the slaver stronghold, but it is raised and located on the other side. The PCs must figure some way to handle the situation, or wait for the bridge to be lowered. Combat taking place on the bridge runs significant risks. The party, now in the stronghold, may suffer a few “nearly caught” moments as they work their way through the stronghold (which isn’t that big, all things considered), at least until they must hide in a room off the main hallway to avoid guards. Here, the PCs meet a trapped lesser demon that is waiting to be sold into slavery. He claims to be invulnerable to the slavers’ weapons and was caught by magic. He offers his assistance in exchange for his freedom. The PCs may come to an accord with the demon, or may bypass its offer and leave it chained up. If the PCs make a deal with the demon, the demon will follow the letter of the deal, looking for a way to pervert it should an opportunity arise. Room Three: Trick or Setback As the PCs make their way out of the stronghold and into a position overlooking the bay, they hear a horn announcing that there’s been an escape. As they watch, several hobgoblins remove some dire rats from a small pen and take them into the stronghold, with the dire rats eagerly sniffing the ground and air, pulling at their chains. The PCs should get the message that the dire rats will be used to track the PCs, in much the same way that dogs are used back in their own homelands. The PCs must make their way as quickly as possible from their hiding place, across the beach and on board one of the ships setting in the bay. The closest one also appears to be the fastest, and seems to be prepared to sail soon. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle Or Conflict The ship the party has chosen is the Lord Slaver’s vessel, and he’s currently inside the stronghold, investigating the disturbance. If the PCs are quick, they can swarm the boat, take it over and set sail before a large body of slavers can come out of the stronghold after them. Alternately, the PCs could try to sneak onboard, but will be discovered once the vessel is out to sea, and the same fight, with more crew, will be fought. The party must face the crew onboard the vessel, plus a spellcasting first mate, Mistress Talyn. If the Captain is onboard, such as if the vessel is out to sea, he is an accomplished fighter and should give the PCs a good fight as well. If the PCs succeed, the ship becomes theirs.
269 Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist In the cargo hold, the PCs will find a beautiful red-headed woman lying in a red crystal casket. The captain’s log indicates that he is the middle man in a deal to deliver this casket unopened to a secretive cabal in one of the more populated ports of call. If the PCs open the casket, the woman will revive. Identifying herself only as a servant of the Crimson Magus, she will offer to aid the party in exchange for passage back to civilization. If the PCs are being pursued, she will use her magics to burn the enemy ships, to show her value. When the party arrives in civilization, she will part company with them, after promising them a favor that she will grant at her discretion in the future. If the party decides not to open the casket, they can choose to deliver it to the cabal using the captain’s log, and will receive a lot of coin, to be followed later by assassination attempts as the cabal tries to clean up loose ends.
270 The Message By Morgan Joeck Room One: Entrance And Guardian Travel through a war zone can be tough, to say the least! The PCs have been tasked with bypassing the enemy base and delivering a vital message to the general commanding forces on the other side of the base. Going around the fray is impossible as the protagonists have been trapped in a valley. To get out, the party, as a small and unnoticed group must sneak out the front past the sentries at the mouth. Should they be seen, the party will have to kill them quickly before they can return to the base and warn others. If they’re not spotted, the party will have to face the roaming wildlife that inhabits the area. A fight would draw attention. Can the PCs defeat the animals and flee in time? Room Two: Puzzle Or Roleplaying Challenge In all the commotion, the party has lost their bearings and stumbles into a kobold camp. The kobolds want nothing to do with the fight, content to clean up afterwards, but if a party of richly laden adventures just happen to stumble into their heavily defended camp, they’d be more than happy to charge them a “toll” and send them on their way. They don’t want to kill them lest they incur the wrath of whatever side they’re on. Can the PCs negotiate down the demand so that they can continue with what they need? No fighting allowed unless the party wants to attract the attention of the enemy camp nearby. Room Three: Trick or Setback As the PCs stumble down the Kobolds’ mountainside lair, some loose rocks tumble downhill and into a minefield! The explosion doesn’t startle the camp nearby – they’re used to the occasional rabbit getting blown up. To go around the minefield (away from the enemy camp), they must cross the very large river that curves around the mountain and borders the minefield. There are small islands in it, but the river is inhabited by foul monsters (that prevent the party from going up/ downstream and provide a difficult challenge should the party not run from them.) Room Four: Climax, Big Battle Or Conflict Across the river now, a few rabbits get blown up in the minefield. Three explosions that night arouse the suspicions of the camp nearby. A squad is sent out to investigate, and the party is detected. On their bank of the river, there is an impassible cliff face, and two groups of soldiers
271 approach from either side (on the opposite bank still) to flank the party to keep them from fleeing. The party must fight off at least two groups of soldiers, at a range, to flee. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The heroes reach the quiet camp and find the general in his tent. They attempt to deliver the vital information to him about their current position and state of affairs hopefully. The general is uneasy and tries to send them away before they tell him anything. He tries to convince them that they need to go tell the battalion even further back about this news and slips them a note. Before the party can read it/once they tell him the information, the enemy mastermind who had taken the camp and kept the general as bait to uncover the party’s information reveals himself. He has folks nearby who rush to his aid when he makes his presence known. With the general on their side, the party has a fighting chance, and if they succeed, the general awards them with commendations and any appropriate rewards.
272 Vault of the Wiglord By Ken McCutchen A Five Room Dungeon for Four 4th Level Characters Room One: Entrance and Guardian Entrance to the Tomb (EL 4) The crumbling tomb is almost indistinguishable from the Cliffside that it is carved into. The 15ft. wide entrance is dark and uninviting, and the thunder of an approaching storm seems to warn of the danger lurking inside the forbidden tomb. Steep pitched stairs lead to a 30’ by 30’chamber with a vaulted ceiling that is nearly 30’ above the floor. A large bronze door is inscribed with strange runes and is guarded by a green dragon!!! The tomb entrance is now home to a very young green dragon, which is drawn here by the evil dwelling inside. The dragon has massed only a small treasure trove thus far, but is eager to add the adventurers’ gear to his pile! Vortrus the Green Dragon (use the stats from the D&D miniatures Green Dragon from the Abberations set) A DC20 decipher script check or a read magic spell will reveal that the true nature of the runes except for the last word being scratched beyond recognition. Nevermore will dark dragons threaten the realm A great time of kindness will bless all men…. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge Crypt of the Fallen The bronze double doors open into a 20’ x 20’ room that is dominated by a stone statue of a fallen knight. Dirt and dust cover the room and the act of opening the door had filled the room with dust. The knight holds his sword by the hilt and the blade covers the knight’s face. The statue is inscribed with a series of words, which read: Often talked of, never seen, Ever coming, never been. Daily looked for, never here,
273 Still approaching, coming near. Thousands for my visit wait, But alas, for their fate, Though they expect me to appear, They will never find me here. The answer to the riddle is: Tomorrow. Speaking the word aloud will unlock the secret door. Otherwise the door is locked. A DC20 search check is required to find the secret door. Secret Stone Door: Hardness 8; HP 60; Break DC Stuck 28; Break DC Locked 28; DC 22 Open Lock. Room Three: Trick or Setback The Portcullis and the Ooze (EL5) The secret door opens to reveal a long hallway 30’ wide by 90’ long. As you step into the room, the secret door slams shut behind you with an enormous BOOM! As you peer down the hallway, you can make out a 10’ wide iron portcullis blocking the room’s exit. The rest of the hallway is clean and free of dust and debris. The portcullis is locked and trapped. A gelatinous cube is hiding in the room. Gelatinous cubes are hard to see, even under ideal conditions, and it takes a DC 15 Spot check to notice one. Creatures who fail to notice a cube and walk into it are automatically engulfed. Portcullis: Hardness 10; HP 60; Break DC Stuck 28; Break DC Locked 28; DC 22 Open Lock. Burning Hands Trap: CR 3; magic device; proximity trigger (alarm); automatic reset; spell effect (burning hands, 5th-level wizard, 5d4 fire, DC 11 Reflex save half damage); Search DC 26; Disable Device DC 26. Gelatinous Cube (see Monster Manual 1 page 201) Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict Minions Of The Wiglord With the portcullis open, you can inspect the sarcophagus closer. As you approach, the two torch sconces erupt into flame, however the flame is cold blue. The light from torches casts an eerie glow throughout the room. The marble lid of the sarcophagus has a knight holding his sword over his face, much like the statue you’ve seen before. Only this time the attention to detail and craftsmanship are remarkable.
274 The sarcophagus hides a secret tunnel into the chamber of the great evil one. Three swarms of rats have crowed into the tunnel to escape the dark lord below. When the adventures open the lid, they need to make a DC15 reflex save or be surprised by a rat swarm. (3) Rat Swarms (use the D&D miniatures stats from the Unhallowed set) Swarms are extremely difficult to fight with physical attacks. However, they have a few special vulnerabilities, as follows: A lit torch swung as an improvised weapon deals 1d3 points of fire damage per hit. A weapon with a special ability such as flaming or frost deals its full energy damage with each hit, even if the weapon’s normal damage can’t affect the swarm. A lit lantern can be used as a thrown weapon, dealing 1d4 points of fire damage to all creatures in squares adjacent to where it breaks. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The Wiglord’s Guardian The tunnel below the sarcophagus descends steeply 50’ into a dank cavern. Water has formed strange limestone deposits throughout the room and several columns obstruct your view of the chamber. Stalactites and stalagmites in the room threaten your approach and the uneven floor is slick and wet. Characters attempting to run across the cavern need to make a DC15 balance check or fall, leaving the prone for the remainder of the round. Stalking in the back of the cave is a Gauth, the evil Wiglord’s guardian. It will wait for the characters to enter the room before blasting away with its powerful eye rays. Iksus the Menance, Gauth-lord of the Deep (see Monster Manual 1 page 26 for stats)
275 Catching the Traitor By Amy Room One: Entrance and Guardian It’s Where? Our mighty heroes have learned that a traitor that they have been tracking for some time will be making his escape from the country tonight. It helps add impetus if the traitor has also leveled personal accusations against the team, damaging their reputation. A note found in his hastily abandoned quarters states that he will be leaving via the Zeppelin “Dauntless” tonight at 9.30pm from the Empire Spire Docks. The players will have to locate the Docks and make a discreet arrival so as not to startle their quarry into flight before the time of departure. The time is now 8.10pm. They only have just over an hour in which to do it. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge Tickets, Please. The Empire Spire Docks are no longer as popular since the high rises in the centre of town starter installing Airship Docks on their own roofs. This shows in the general faded grandeur of the facility, a gradually decaying Eiffel Tower type construction. The exposed struts and once ornate ironworks are starting to rust. However, the Empire Spire is still busy with general freight, economy class travelers and staff, even this late at night. A central elevator and back up spiral staircase grants access to the different levels which include public, private and commercial docking points. Gaslamps are used to light the areas in current use. At the gates to the tower, barring entry into the central elevator is the Customs and Ticketing Officer, Edward Bottomley. Bottomley is a pompous official with nothing to look forward to but tormenting passengers via official channels. By this time, players may be only minutes from missing the rendezvous. Room Three: Trick or Setback The Traitor This would be a very bad time for it to start raining, so go ahead. Add some lightning. Players can just make out the shape of the Zeppelin Dauntless coming in to dock.
276 Having arrived on the correct platform, passing a couple of levels of milling crowds awaiting their boarding calls, our intrepid adventurers spy their quarry, the nefarious traitor. He will, of course, refuse to come with the heroes, crawling out onto a docking arm if necessary and threatening to jump. Players should prefer to take the traitor alive to clear their names and learn more about the Big Bad. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict Dauntless The Zeppelin Dauntless should be just closing with the tower. Anyone with piloting skills will note that it is coming in broadside, not stern as is normal. The reason for this becomes clear as they open the side ports and start shooting - the traitor’s associates have decided that he has outlived his usefulness, and they don’t mind destroying the Docks and everyone on it to terminate his employment. The Dauntless finally readies and fires her big guns - the mortars. This destroys part of the structure of the Empire Spire Docks. Player options include - attempting to board the Dauntless (do they recognise someone aboard?), fleeing, rescuing the people below from falling debris, clearing the docks before they start to collapse, returning fire and protecting the traitor. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist Depending on how things work out and the game goals, there’s a few different options here: • If the traitor is still alive and caught, he should be more than willing to sell out his former employers for any leniency he can get. • If the traitor dies or escapes, his briefcase might be discovered. • The traitor could be wearing a disguise that reveals him to be someone the team trusted. What else has he revealed about them to the Big Bad? Other side effects: • Heroes could further enhance or degrade their public profile depending on how they act during the fight above. Have the press turn up and try to interview them or catch a few photos. People in the area over the next few days may recognise them from the newspaper. • One of the rescued passengers could be an influential ally in further games, providing shelter, food or information.
277 The Windspire By Nathan Meyer Along the perimeter of the vast plains of Veshara there once stood a line of Windspires, towers meant to tame the fierce winds and rains of the wild lands. Placed almost a thousand years ago by a now crumbled empire to protect its borders by buffering the realm with the same forces that assailed them, the spires have nearly disappeared from the edge of the plains. Torn down by neglect and time, creatures and weather. Only one still stands, the last Windspire. It is rumored to house one of the great arcane treasures known as Spirestones, which empowered the towers to act as shields against the storms. The spires were rumored to have been sealed and protect by powerful Magi. Room One: Entrance and Guardian The Entrance The lands surrounding the Windspire are sparse, mostly dry shrubbery and tall grasses. The Windspire itself stands some ten stories tall above the plains. Entrance to the tower is normally gained through the iron bound white stone door at the base of the spire. While there are windows that might be entered, the ability to do so is hindered by the tornado like winds that cloak the upper portion of the spire due to the presence of the Spirestone. The door is, of course, magically locked and a matched key is necessary to gain access. If the key is not available then access to the tower may be gained from the same window which the small murder of adolescent wyverns’ jet forth from, the creatures make their nests on the first floor of the tower which is 2 stories tall. The small nest of wyverns likely becomes aware of the PCs outside the window due to the sounds they may make. The PCs should need to deal with them no matter their means of entry. Once dispatched however the room really contains nothing more than their nests and a flight of stairs that lead up to a well bound iron door that seals the entrance the inner flute of the tower. The door is not locked but should require a good deal of strength to open, as there is a wind tunnel on the other side pressing against it. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The Windvault For six stories up the inside of the tower is hollow, with thick fluted stone walls buttressed on the inside by octagonal beam supports that allow a fierce outer wind to scream down the flutes of the tower, and once they hit the bottom are funneled back up the center. This is meant to cause
278 an equalization of air pressure from the inside to match the storms outside, and is a by-product of the Spirestone. The downward wind through the flutes make it nearly impossible to climb the inside of the tower, however the fierce updraft in the center will allow clever PCs to use homemade parachutes, or a floating spell (i.e. Feather Fall) to take advantage of the wind and carry themselves to the top of the Windvault. This should cause the PCs to make balance-based rolls to keep from crashing into the side of the walls and taking the damage of a long fall. The top of the Windvault ends in a walkway that should be reachable once they reach that height, where the force of the updraft dwindles to a degree insufficient to fly them up any higher. From the catwalk stairs will take them up to Saferoom directly under the Stormdeck, the hatch up into the Saferoom is not locked. Room Three: Trick or Setback The Saferoom The safe room is a contained lock-down area for the Spirestone, and as such is an Anti-magic zone inside the confines of the floor. It is 3/4 the diameter of the rest of the tower, positioned in the middle of the Windvault at the top of the shaft, allowing air to pass around it’s outer edge from the Stormdeck above. The whole floor is a large circular room with an unlocked hatch on the floor that opens down onto the catwalk below. The room is lined with lockers for mundane servicing equipment to keep the tower in an operational state. Ropes, locks, block & tackle, windsheer suits, weighted boots, repelling harnesses, and other gear can be located here. The middle of the room has a large central platform that is flanked at its four corners by a steel chained winching system. The winching system, when properly utilized, can lower the holster that contains the Spirestone onto this platform where it may undergo any manipulation required. When the holster is lowered down from the Stormdeck the room, which is normally wind-free will be flooded with gale-like force and will likely knock about the unprepared. Once the holster, and the stone, are inside the room the wind ceases. To remove the Spirestone from the tower safely requires an anti-magic container of some kind, otherwise the stone’s powers will return full-force once it leaves the room. From here the Stormdeck may be reached by climbing the winching system once the stone is lowered, or by a single ladder that leads up to a locked hatch that opens out onto the deck.
279 Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The Stormdeck There are two non-magical means to reach the Stormdeck, one is to somehow traverse the tornado winds cocooning the tower and land on the deck, where those same winds are originating. Unless the Spirestone is lowered into the Saferoom this is generally a monumental feat. The other method is to unlock the access hatch and open it onto the surface of the deck, a less monumental feat but if the stone has not been lowered into the Saferoom this could be deadly. However, the Stormdeck is accessed it is generally considered an unwise health choice not to have secured the stone first. If the stone has been contained then the deck shows itself to be a wide-open surface, covered in vented steel grates that allow the domed steel peak to funnel part of the winds down into the Windvault. The grates are based on circular quadrants and the steel chains of the winching system are the only thing to decorate the deck... aside from the Tempest Elemental that makes its home here. The living storm was attracted to the presence of the Spirestone, and enjoys its energy to the point of addiction. When the stone is lowered into the Saferoom the Tempest is momentarily confused, until the hatch opens and the PCs appear. Putting two and two together the Tempest promptly attacks those that have robbed it of its treasure. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot twist The Spirestone To offer protection against the raging weather of the plains, the Spirestones were placed in the Windspires for creating a stationary “buffer storm” that would counter the fierce weather of the region. When the stone is active on the deck it creates a huge weather signature that is controllable. The stone itself is a little more than a foot in diameter, and made of a semi-transparent green stone that has many of the properties of quartz but is obviously not, due to both its resiliency and its weight. The stone, despite the power it generates, is quite heavy at 350 lbs. It’s weight and the holster are also why the stone doesn’t blow itself away. The source of the stone’s power is at your discretion; however, it is a powerful item that could be used to generate force for any number of ambitious projects and nations would likely pay a great deal in lands or goods to obtain it. The true trouble with the stone is getting access to it, however immediately afterwards the act of transporting it out of the Windspire should present a large barrier to any group that doesn’t have an extra dimensional space, or an anti-magic container handy.
280 The Wizard’s Land By Dr SciFi Room One: Entrance and Guardian In a green northern forest resides a stark and barren desert of extreme heat, sand and dunes. This is one league across in any direction with a sun that always remains at the mid-day point. In the center is a hedge of stone man high. Beneath this is said to be the wizards’ tower hidden and protected here for many years since his demise or disappearance. You have found what you believe are the spell to raise the tower and the key to the door. Room Two: Puzzle or Role Playing Challenge “You must beat the heat and sun by raising the tower and quickly enter the doorway found. And marching order best forward thrust and flee to standing company.” This is a faded message carved in one of the standing stones. If you fail to interpret this message you might come across a skeleton one of many littering the area but unique in that it has a drawing clutched to its chest. It shows figures standing inside the stone hedge and one standing out with an arrow pointing back to the group of figures. As the tower rises so too does a door come up from the now floor of the tower topmost level. You try the key and it allows you access to the tower innards. Room Three: Trick or Setback At the bottom of the stairs leading down from the doorway you light torches that reveal a room of stone devoid of anything but the stair leading back up to the door. But you do find another faded message at eye level just above the bottom step. “The revealing torch you need to seek at topmost height, a watchful eye will find.” A faintly carved eye is found at the base of one of the stones beneath this burred by sand and set in a cavity is the torch you seek. Back in the room having lit the torch you see another close by. And as you light each upon the wall you see another to light nearby. When all are lit several closed chests, bookcases, cabinets appear around the room and a fountain in the center. The water is quite cool and refreshing. Letters appear in the side of the stairs. “Leave fit tight these lids and closings lest yea be brought to be burned to death in light and heat.” you surmise that the tower will sink back to the sands stranding you die in the desert heat.
281 There also appears a door on the floor along the wall obviously covering a stair down to the next level. But when examined it is painting not a real door. Looking around for a key or spell or hinting rhyme you finally notice two torches on either side of the fountain. When lit they reveal lettering apparently metal set in the front of the fountain. The first torch brought near makes them alive with flame almost molten but very readable. “He who quenches the door with liquid of flames shall see the real tree sawn wrought.” You grab a bucket from the side of the fountain, fill it and dash the water upon the door. The door becomes very real and lifts easily. Subsequent levels are easily accessed. And reveled to you are a library on the next level and then a laboratory. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle or Conflict Descending from the laboratory to what must be the ground floor you see a door apparently to the outside. After lighting the torches on this level, the only object to be seen situated in the center of the room is a full-length dressing mirror standing in its frame. As you look around the room for another of the Wizards’ rhymes you realize the mirror is always facing you. Walking up to the mirror and examining it you find a socket that will hold the torch from the top level. After placing the torch in the socket, a change happens to the mirror. The surface darkens to black, then seems to become enveloped in smoke and finally clears. The image of what must be the wizard that once owned this tower and land is now in the mirror. He appears to be standing right behind you but as you look around you see only your fellow adventurers staring with disbelief at the mirror. The Wizards’ reflection begins to speak. “I have a question of 3 answers for you to amaze or disappoint me with.” “Of the following choose only 1 and be not hasty for the wrong saying is twice pain and death in the fire and the right saying is a gift to you.” “A land of plenty to help all about.” “A tower of strength to rule all about.” “A cauldron of fire to sap the strength and grow to powerful heights.” The question you will find is, “What would you have me do with it?” The Wizard pauses almost thinking and then says, “Which of the answers do you think is the more rightful?”
282 Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist If you select, ‘A land of plenty to help all about.’ then you receive the tower, its treasure and the land about restored to green and fertile fields. And the mirror will remain active to guide and instruct you in the years to come. If you select either of the other answers you will be cast out of the tower post haste and the tower will sink back to sands leaving you to wither and bleach in the blazing sun.
283 The Pyramid By Jeremy Coffey Room One: Entrance and Guardian The sides of the pyramid can be inclined like an Egyptian style pyramid, or stepped like a Ziggurat. Either way, there is no easy way for the PCs to enter the pyramid as the entrance is halfway up on one side. Any steps have long since crumbled into rubble, and the PC’s must climb to reach the entrance. For extra fun, they must also battle creatures relevant to the environment along the way (in the desert, several dog-sized scorpions skitter and clack their pincers; in the jungle, an overgrown plant creature blocks the entranceway; on the plains, giant crows or eagles; in a polar region, a snowy leopard prowl on a ledge). Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The PCs reach the entrance, but must now get inside. A guardian spirit resides here. Two glowing red eyes shine forth to challenge the PCs before they can continue. The PCs must convince the guardian of their worthiness to enter (offering proof of their faith, making a sacrifice, answering a riddle). Alternately, the guardian gives the PCs a clue as to how to enter, or how to avoid the trap. For example, the guardian tells the PCs that only those who would dare bring fire to the sun may pass. A secret door opens only if smoke enters a small crack in the ceiling above a mural of the sun shining on the surrounding area. Hopefully, the PCs have a torch or can start a fire. Room Three: Trick or Setback The PCs enter and walk down an inclined tunnel. Add descriptions to indicate that no one had walked this hallway for ages. Add side rooms and encounters as required (the PCs probably expect mummies or undead in the pyramid, so the GM may wish to avoid using those creatures for these encounters). The hallway ends at a door. The PCs enter a room that appears to have been a burial room. A sarcophagus is present, but the tomb has been raided. Thieves had been here and ransacked this room—no treasure left for the PCs. Evidence of some struggle is here, perhaps the corpse of a giant scarab beetle or one of the thieves. A shaft had been dug from the opposite side of the pyramid (or from another entrance higher up on the pyramid), and the rope and tack that the thieves used is still there. Perhaps the thieves are just leaving, perhaps they left long ago. Do the PCs follow that trail? A secret door behind the sarcophagus leads to the real treasure room.
284 Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The real treasure room is guarded by two (or as many as needed) living statutes or golems. They are like Anubis, the Egyptian jackal-headed god of the dead. However, the animal head for each is environmentally correct (the plains could have bison-head guardians, the polar region, walrus heads, and so on). The statues can be made from stone or ice or other material as appropriate. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist If PCs survive, they claim the treasure – an artifact, lots of gold and jewels, or secret knowledge. Perhaps they must fight the tomb raiders from the false treasure room as they exit the pyramid, or perhaps they are now cursed for having violated this inner sanctum.
285 The Pool of Unmaking By John McCullough Room One: Entrance and Guardian The Pool of Unmaking is hidden behind a large waterfall in a dense rainforest. A narrow ledge midway down the cliff leads to an opening behind the rushing water. The surface is slick and the waterfall makes a tremendous roaring. Simply getting to the waterfall is a daunting challenge by land or by boat, but finding and climbing to the ledge harder still. A water elemental lives in the waterfall and takes a strong interest in any intruders into its territory. If the characters are openly hostile it will surely attack, but if they try to plead their case for entry to the Pool, it may allow them passage or try to strike a bargain. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge Through an opening in the rock face behind the waterfall is a small antechamber. It appears to be a natural cavern except for the back wall which has been worked extensively. A stone door stands amidst many carved runes and recessed basins. The door is locked and magically sealed. It cannot be opened until the correct basins have been filled with water. Deciphering the runes will give some clues to which basins to fill with water in what order. It is possible that this device could perform other magical functions if the correct combination of basins were found. Room Three: Trick or Setback The antechamber leads to the main body of the subterranean complex. There are stairs, hallways and living quarters from the original builders and guardians of the Pool. Unfortunately, many of the walls have developed leaks and some of the rooms and passages have filled with water. Navigating this dark, watery maze will involve wading and swimming, and will make any non-magical light source very difficult to maintain. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict The guardian of the inner sanctum has outlived all its creators. This massive stone golem is still standing watch over the Pool itself. It will interrogate any who approach in a long-forgotten tongue, and will not be satisfied until the correct passphrase is spoken. It may be defeated in battle, but extensive prior research by the PCs may reveal some clue to what the passphrase might be.
286 Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The inner sanctum contains the Pool of Unmaking. The walls are covered in glowing runes and a large stone cistern sits in the center of the room. The water in the cistern is as still and smooth as a pane of glass. Any magical item placed in the pool will become completely mundane in every way. It is unknown what happens when people are exposed to the water or try to drink it. Water removed from the chamber loses its potency within minutes.
287 The Masters of Evil By David J Rowe Usage The Masters of Evil is designed to provide a generic crypt location with a background story that GMs can drop into a campaign at any time to meet the need for an adventure, to lengthen and adventure, or to provide a reason for a strange ambush in the middle of the wilderness. GMs can also recycle maps because the back story supports that these crypts are standard in design and scattered throughout the land. The back story is rich enough that a GM could even use the crypts as a significant game arc or even a full campaign. Overall GM Backstory The crypts were constructed by a group of necromancers for several purposes. They serve as small forts or bases where the necromancers have various collections of undead. The undead are ferried between these holding locations. They serve as laboratories where the necromancers set up various long-term experiments. They serve as traps to lure adventures because adventures are usually a source of good material for making more powerful undead and often have valuable magical items. They serve as repositories of information and secret meeting houses. Often a collection of the crypts was created in an area prior to the launching of a battle to allow the numbers of undead to secretly build up. Reason for Adventurers to Encounter The crypts were built all over the place in basem*nts of homes and churches. They were built in the wilderness and they were constructed inside of existing dungeons and monster lairs. If a GM needs a location for a treasure map or to extend and existing adventure then the crypts serve a perfect purpose. If adventurers follow a wrong lead (like a merchant that the players think is too shifty) then the crypt can provide an instant excuse for the behaviour. It also allows GMs to explain why players might find a group of ghouls guarding a bridge when the Ranger decides to track where the ghouls came from. When players have encountered a couple of the crypts and ask questions, the back story is provided to allow the GM with enough information to keep the players seeking the answers for mysteries throughout much their adventuring life including the possibility of a major boss at the end of the arc or campaign. Evil villains have been known to also try to deal with pesky adventurers by leaking information of the existence of a crypt to try and weaken or rid them of the adventurers.
288 General Description The crypts were constructed mostly over the last 150 years of the campaign world. During that time, some have been discovered and raided. Some have had new owners take up residence and some have been cleared and refurbished by the original masters. One of the trademarks of the crypts is a large round sealing stone or capstone that is usually 12 feet (4m) in diameter. The sealing stone radiates a mild form of abjuration magic. The area beyond is usually an entrance area with a guardian force. After this there is usually some form of puzzle or trap based around the usage of undead and illusions or facades. The next section is usually some form of environmental barrier mixed with some more fierce guardians. The next area is usually the burial crypt where various corpses or powerful undead are stored. The last area is usually a laboratory or storage area of various items and lore. Rumours and Knowledge The following is a list of bits of information in order from the most general and widely known to the most obscure bits of information that will often involve some adventuring and effort to gain. GMs will notice that the term ‘The Masters of Evil’ goes through a variety of different names. This reflects the various sources using their personal choice of name for the group. It also helps sow some confusion among players when they learn something if the information they are learning is connected to same group that they are originally investigating. It will also be noted that the later pieces of information may change or be different from earlier pieces of information. Again, this is intended to reflect that what the common person might know or think they know may be considerably different from the truth. The information that is at the bottom of the list should be considered the most accurate information. • ‘The Masters of Evil’? I think they died out a long time ago back when my grandpa was alive. • ‘The Masters of Evil’? No one has seen or heard from them in at least thirty years. I think some adventures killed them. • ‘The Lords of Evil’? Sure, some adventures keep running into their old crypts but no one has been attacked by any of them for ten years. There was a big battle and some paladins took care of it. • ‘The Lords of Evil’? Yeah, some of them attacked a castle around a decade ago and some clerics and paladins took care of it. I doubt there are any left after that except for some scattered crypts. • ‘The Masters of Death’? They were a group of necromancers with desire to rule the world. Never succeeded much though they have been a constant nuisance over the last 100 years. • ‘The Five Masters of Death’? They were a group of five necromancers that were loosely affiliated. They had some plan to raise up an army of undead and rule the world. They built several crypts as homes for themselves and their minions.
289 • ‘The Five Masters of Evil’? There were five of them necromancers and they all worked together at one-point building undead and building crypts. You can find the things scattered all over the place. I have reports of them showing up in the basem*nts of merchants, temples, castles, and inside the lairs of monsters. No one really knows for sure how many there might be. • ‘The Five’? Sure, I know of them. Though my studies suggest that there were really six. I think they use the number five to confuse people. The crypts? Sure, you can find some valuable stuff in them but many are just plain traps. Unhallowed ground with booby traps for the foolish. If you want to live a long life then you will stay away from those things. • ‘The Five’? Sure, there is speculation of a sixth. Same as there is speculation that the group is more than a hundred years old. It is just speculation. I have heard though that one of the five is a vampire and another is lich. The five were known for taking common undead and rigging them with all sorts of traps. • ‘The Masters’? Sure, I have heard of them. They are a constant problem though they are quiet on their business. My studies show there were five of them but nothing I have seen shows they used the number five about who they were. Evidently, they were originally friends but something changed them. They now are often at odds with each other. • ‘The Apprentices’? Sure, people might call them masters or lords but everything shows that they are apprentices of another. I don’t know that person’s name but that person was evidently the one that taught the apprentices how to use traps, illusions, and other things to make undead into walking bombs. The real master must have been some genius. • ‘The Apprentices’? Yeah, they once all were together as a group of five apprentices serving a powerful necromancer. Then the necromancer died and the apprentices started to have a falling out. That was around a hundred years ago and the apprentices have been fighting since. • ‘The Masters’? Yeah, they were a group of apprentices but after they killed their teacher, they started calling themselves ‘The Masters’. It seems that the apprentices’ teacher made some deal with them to give them eternal life after the teacher died. Well, the apprentices decided not to wait and choose to hurry up the process and kill their teacher. • ‘The Masters’? Yeah, around a hundred years ago the apprentices were offered a deal of eternal life after their teacher died. The apprentices after signing the contract granting them the eternal life then decided to band together and kill their teacher. Not only did they kill their master, they cut him into five pieces. At least that is how the story goes. • ‘The Masters’? Of course, they use the <abyssal or game equivalent> when they say the name. I think they make it sounds better but it translates well enough to ‘The Masters’ though I have heard others translate it as ‘The Lords’. Unfortunately, it results in some confusion when people discuss the subject that don’t know the source of the word. Hell, yeah, the apprentices killed their teacher. They had a contract promising them an extra hundred years of life after their teacher died. I guess that the teacher thought the apprentices would be motivated to thus keep their teacher alive for as long as possible because the hundred years did not start
290 till after the teacher died. Yeah, the apprentices cut their teacher into five sections. They were afraid of letting any one of them have the full body and possibly turning their former teacher into some form of powerful undead. • ‘The Masters’? Of course, you should use <abyssal or game equivalent> to pronounce the name. The sections of their teacher were a head with upper torso, a right arm, a left arm, a right leg, and a left with lower torso. The teacher evidently had the apprentices agree to sell something in exchange for the hundred years. The following can be learned only from one of the apprentices/masters. • The contract agreed to give apprentice a hundred years of life after their master died. The contract was in exchange for each apprentice’s soul. The contract also had a clause that prevents any of the apprentices from directly harming another. This has not stopped the apprentices from using various minions and followers to attempt to harm or thwart the plans of others. • The following can only be learned from one of the various lords that were connected to the teacher or the teacher. • The master necromancer made a Faustian pact with five different lords of the planes. The teacher sold their soul to five different lords (one Demon, one Devil, one Fire Elemental, one Water Elemental, and one Ancient Planar Dragon). The teacher further sold the soul the five apprentices in a secondary agreement to satisfy the first debt. When the teacher died, the five lords of planes came to collect and realized the problem of deciding which one would collect. They were not pleased but decided to wait the hundred years to collect on the bargain of the apprentices. The teacher has thus been kept in a limbo watched by the five along with the lords watching the apprentices. The lords have thus worked to make sure that none of the apprentices succeed well enough to damage their eventual collection. When the apprentices have been collected, the teacher will return with the powers of a full lich. This though can only occur if the five pieces of the teacher can be brought together. A person could choose to replace a loss limb with anybody portion of the teacher and gain in magical power but suffer the problems of intelligent ego battling their will and trying to get all the pieces back together. • The teacher’s true name is Vi’der’owed. Some of the apprentices will refer to the teacher as Vi and most manuscripts will use the term The Teacher. Sample Crypt Room One: The Entrance and Guardian The entrance is usually designed as an open area into which several waves of undead can be released. One of the lessons that Vi taught the apprentices was that clerics and paladins only have so many charges of turning ability at a time. Sending a few undead at a time encourages the
291 expenditure of these turning attempts or the adventures usually face the problem of the undead getting into close combat. Another lesson that Vi taught was that undead serve as great delivery vehicles for various weapons and concoctions. Vi also taught that a wire attached to bone like a skull or backbone with a counter weight was a great ‘dead man’ switch to activate a trap if a particular undead were killed. Often, some of these ideas are found in different variations in the guardians of the crypt. The following is a sample description of a few groups of skeletons that might form different waves. The different waves are triggered and released from stone housings or caskets set into the walls of the entrance. The first wave is likely plain skeletons or zombies because most clerics and paladins will use their turning ability on the first undead that moves against the party. The second wave will have jars of oil in their chests and flasks of alchemist fire in the heads. When the second wave skeletons die, they usually spread oil over anyone in five to ten feet range and then the alchemist fire (incendiary chemicals) ignites the oil. The next wave usually has jars with acid in the skeleton’s chests; so, that people who use melee weapons will splash acid on the weapons and armour which should degrade their value and function. Other possibilities for waves and things that can be used. One wave can have jars with a quick hardening glue (tanglefoot bags in DnD) with the following wave having something like scorpions in the jars that spread out on the attackers. Other types of insects and poisonous snakes can also be put in a suspended animation that is triggered when the jars are shattered. The ‘dead man’ switch attached to skeletons can trigger crossbow bolts to fire or various items from rocks to spears to fall from the ceiling. A zombie could be covered in poisonous needles (just below the skin surface) that are revealed if someone touches it with a bare hand (like a monk punching it) or if the zombie attempts to hug the person forcing the needles to the surface. A skeleton might have a chunk of wood with rot grubs in its chest so that they leap out at the person killing the skeleton. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The puzzle area is usually a form of trap that often takes advantage of undead to be living gears to make the trap function. Skeletons are given simple instructions that they can handle. Undead are not affected by illusions which makes the usage of illusions an effective extra layer of defense or disguises the situation to adventures. Usually, after the entrance area, there is a section of corridors in the crypts where the puzzle trap is located. Vi taught the apprentices that if people misread a situation then they will often make mistakes that can give advantage to the undead. Stage dressing is often important in the way things are presented. The following is one example of what can be done. The corridor is presented with a door at one end and another door is where the adventurers enter. The adventurers enter the corridor and then see dark robed figures with burning eyes marching up through the floor towards them. When the
292 players go forward to deal with the black robed figures, spears come thrusting through the ceiling to attack the adventurers. The black robed figures are skeletons with continual fire spell placed inside the head. The floor has a stairwell in it that the skeletons are walking up. The floor and ceiling are covered with illusionary walls. On a ledge above the ‘ceiling’ are skeletons with spears that thrust them down to attack the adventurers. Similar ideas to this are to have the skeletons lining the walls behind illusionary walls and then step out to attack when people are part way down the corridor. Another possibility is the usage of skeletons with bows, crossbows, or footbows hidden behind a thin veneer of wood with a few spy holes. Skeletons are happy to wait decades for the right moment to draw their weapons and fire making it appear that the attack is being triggered by some form of trap. The truth is that the skeletons fire based on what they see. Often, it is again good to have some stage setting like a pattern of colourful stones in the floor or a tangle of wires stretched across the corridor to make the players think that something other than a few undead are attacking them. One thing Vi did point out to the apprentices that spells like Invisibility Undead could be powerful for avoiding troubles (like guardians and the puzzle section); so, he often encouraged that there should in some crypts be traps where things like the painted tile floor or the wires stretched across the hallway were attached to actual mechanical traps. Room Three: Trick or Setback This section usually features some form of environmental hazard to the living. This is often referred by Vi as the sealing room. It is sometimes straight like a corridor and sometimes it is larger like a room so it is not as easy to locate where the exit might be. The simplest example of this form of room is a room filled entirely with water. Other examples include the room filled with choking smoke or poisonous vapours. The undead require no air to breath so they are immune to such problems. All the apprentices usually have magics that allow them to survive in such environments for extended periods of time. The sealing rooms are also very effective against spell caster who normally need to speak words which is hard to do without opening your mouth. There is also the additional problem of things like scrolls getting soaked in water or precious books and food supplies getting damaged. A further note is that often the water is often stagnant and may be a breeding ground for various diseases which could trouble adventurers after they leave the crypt. Usually inside the sealing area are more undead that are designed to maximize the threat of the environment. The following is an example of what can be done. Inside the water filled corridor are several zombies. Each zombie has a chain with handcuff/clasp that it will attempt to latch onto any adventurers that should brave the waters. It is recommended that the iron chains be in 3e DnD terms a DC 18 (20% chance) to break if a full round action is spent. In 3e DnD a person with a Constitution of 10 can hold their breath for 20 rounds which means that even with a strength of
293 10 that the person should have a good chance of breaking the chains or another person of breaking the chains. The idea is to make the encounter seem scarier to the players as the idea of being chained underwater will sound terrifying. I would further suggest that at no point could a player have more than two chains attached to them by the zombies (the chains are not long enough for more than that). Other creatures in the water could be ghouls with paralyzing touch. Large zombified sharks, octopus, and squids can be fearsome creatures to include. More dangerous undead that are noncorporeal could also make an appearance depending on the challenge desired. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict This section is often the most dangerous. The previous sections have been designed to wear away at the player’s equipment by getting scrolls soaked, damaging weapons and armour with acid, attacks with poisonous scorpions, using turning attacks at lesser undead, and having attacks from directions that the players might not have expected. This is usually the main crypt where there are potential hordes of undead. Usually, considering this area people should see potentially twenty to a hundred corpses on shelves dug into the walls or laid out on stone caskets. The potential for trouble should encourage players to almost immediately use their big room clearing magics initially to try and reduce the threat (note: despite the number of corpses, the GM should only use a number at any time to serve as a suitable challenge. The sight of the corpses should power the scene not the actual usage of them). Adventurers should be allowed to go on a bit of a rampage to kill as many of the corpses as they can. This area should be considered unhallowed ground making turning attempts more difficult. If the players try to ignore the corpses then the GM should start to have a few come to life in a couple of weak waves to get the players to act in fear that more corpses will come to life. When the players have suitably expended some more of their power and toys, the GM should then reveal what this crypt big villain might be. The threat should be related to the strength of the party with the corpses still popping out of stone coffins or caskets to cause additional headaches for the adventurers. Wraiths, Vampires, Mummies, and other undead make good choices here along with necromancers. Additional things that could be released to increase the scene would be various swarms of insects that will make vision difficult and provide problems of concentration for people attempting to use spells. If the adventurers have been hunting the mystery of the Masters of Evil and are of a suitable level, then they may encounter and battle one of the masters in this area. A master of evil should have one two powerful guardians undead of the vampire or mummy type. Defeat of a master of evil should bring significant rewards to the party in knowledge of the mystery.
294 Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist This section is usually a laboratory, storage area, or an archive. The GM may place some particularly strange and hideous creature here like a brain in a jar or a Frankenstein style experiment. Usually these experiments are partially completed but not without risk. If the area is a storage facility then it will contain various body parts of undead (hands of ghouls, fangs of vampires, bandages from mummies) that are meant for transplant into some creature. Sometimes there are magical items that are meant to be given to the more intelligent undead like magical swords to be given to ghouls or mummies that have been harvested from past adventurers. Sometimes this room may have a former adventurer that is half alive and half undead with portions of their body spliced to various undead or supported by strange magics. Players may face the dilemma of killing the former adventurer or bringing the monster back to civilization. If there is a library of information and scrolls here, it may contain hints of or maps to the location of other crypts. It may contain plans for launching attacks against other members of the Masters of Evil. There may be plot hints of how the Masters of Evil are providing aid to the current problem that the players are facing (a good way to redirect the players back onto the planned adventure path). The information may also be time sensitive requiring the players to need to decide to act on it now or miss an opportunity to meet with possible other members in the organization or stop a possible event (like an assassination or kidnapping) from occurring. Some of these events may clearly be attacks by one group of the apprentices against the other giving the players the moral problem of should they get in the middle of events between various masters of evil. Should the players even aid one of the masters of evil. Last, is the big prize which is the possibility of gaining a piece of Vi. This will present new problems as players may need to question if it is wise to try and attach this body part to themselves (note: do to the five Faustian deal Vi made, the body parts can only be destroyed by the most unusual and most powerful of means. They should be treated almost as artifacts for attempts to destroy as simple things like fire will do little to the limbs as will repeated attempts to hack or use acid on them). If the adventurers gain possession of a limb there will almost certainly be consequences of various groups (from the master that lost the limb, the other masters trying to collect and extra limb, to various kings, clerics, and paladin organizations getting involved if they find out). Each additional limb that the adventurers acquire should increase the situation as the body parts should aim to try and assemble each other. The various lords may also lend a hand in getting the assembly to occur and the apprentices killed (usually in indirect means through intermediaries providing possible information) so they can hurry up the soul collection process.
295 Retreat By Aki Halme Another 5-room dungeon: manhunt. Rather than have the PCs take the initiative, have the dungeon come after them. Room One: Entrance and Guardian Initial Clash. The PCs break away from the enemy and make their getaway. Whether they have been prisoners, or must get away from an ambush, depends on the campaign. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The path that the PCs take to get away from superior enemy forces determines what they need to do elude their pursuers. Finding a safe place to rest in the wilderness, or perhaps having the people at an inn refrain from turning them in. Room Three: Trick or Setback The rest of the PCs ends abruptly - perhaps a little too early for the spell casters to have regained their strength, so melee types need to keep the magic types alive so the latter can save the day. Perhaps the PCs were betrayed by their hosts, perhaps the opposition used other tricks to find where the PCs rest. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict Fortunately for the PCs, the main force of the enemy is absent, but a sizable group remains for the PCs to fight. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The enemy force includes important targets such as spell casters or nobles, the ones who managed to track the PCs to their resting place. As such, there are good news - a victory against this foe is both feasible and likely to have a lasting effect. Also, the enemy has pursued the PCs for quite some time so they won’t be as fresh as the PCs will. The bad news of course is that such targets are likely to fight smart and have useful equipment to hurt the PCs with, and the PCs will be wounded to begin with, barring massive investment in expensive and immediate limited-number-of-uses healing.
296 Tomb of the Colossus By Bryan Smart Room One: Entrance and Guardian Trekking into a sandstorm-ridden desert following a map that leads them to the legendary Tomb of the Colossus, the players must deal with a desert storm that can scour flesh from bone. The storm forces players to work together to construct a shelter despite winds blowing materials away and the biting desert sand getting in their eyes. Failure could result in exhaustion, sickness, blindness, wounds, and even death. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge The adventurers arrive at the location of the tomb designated on the map to find a partially weathered obelisk. Language specialists will be able to make out hieroglyphics symbolizing life, earth, height, death, depth, and sky carved on the length of the obelisk. You may want to give them these hieroglyphics in a mixed-up order, as touching the glyphs (or runes, if you prefer) in the order listed here opens the tomb. Failures could result in the summoning of a desert monster or pest of the game master’s choice – a burrowing scorpion (giant or small) would be a good option. Room Three: Trick or Setback When the hieroglyphs are pushed in the correct order, a tremor shakes the desert and a crack opens in the top of the buried tomb upon which the adventurers are standing. The sands shift, pouring into the tomb below, and the adventurers may very well be taken with them. Only quick thinking or quick reflexes (grabbing onto the obelisk, jumping or running away from the area where terrain is being affected) can save players from plummeting into the depths of the tomb below. The drop to the floor of the tomb is over 120 feet. Game masters who have characters who fall, but don’t want them dying, can have them drop onto the hand of the colossus statue that is a mere 40 feet below the opening. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle or Conflict The opening reveals the tomb below. Standing at the head of a huge (60 feet long and 20 feet wide) sarcophagus is a standing statue of a giant that rises 100 feet above the floor. Approximately 40 feet below the opening, the statue’s hand is extended, palm upward. This hand-platform allows
297 adventurers to climb from the hole in the ceiling to the platform of the extended hand, then down onto the top of the sarcophagus below. When the first adventurer alights on the lid of the sarcophagus, a tremor shakes the tomb as the lid slides open, revealing the mummified colossus himself. A climactic battle ensues. Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist The greatest treasure here is the colossus’s ankh signet ring. The ring is made from gold and jade, and measures a good three feet in diameter. An evil djinn enslaved within the ring makes this not only an item of great monetary worth, but also of great magical power. The characters’ current antagonist will stop at nothing to gain possession of this artifact. The ring itself brings other dangers as well – the master could become the slave if the djinn’s influence upon the possessor’s mind becomes too strong. The ring could also have political or cultural significance to the surrounding tribes or countries, causing upheaval or other ramifications across the land. Many colossus-sized treasures may be found in the tomb aside from the ring. Unfortunately, removal of other large treasure could be a challenge unto itself in such a remote area and over such difficult terrain.
298 Too Many in the Tomb By John Moseman The player characters have discovered the location of an old lord’s tomb that holds some item that interests them. This might be a magical item, a book that contains knowledge that the PCs need, or a necessary component for some important spell or ritual. They have discovered the location of the tomb, a cryptic message, and a warning that any who disturb the treasures in the tomb will have the dead revolt against them. Room One: Entrance and Guardian The entrance to Room 1, and therefore the rest of the tomb, is a thick stone door with various creatures and symbols carved into the stone. Closer examination will reveal that each carving can be pressed into the door slightly, although it will only stay depressed if it is held down. Three of these carvings match elements mentioned in the cryptic message that was found along with the location. (“The moon shall shine upon the lion and the lamb.”) Alternatively, a difficult search can determine that these three carvings seem different from the rest. If all three carvings are held down, the heavy stone door will slowly open. After one minute, the door will close again unless blocked; the door can be opened from inside simply by pressing the sole engraving on the inside of the door, a carving of the lord’s crest. Beyond the door is a room with faded murals on the wall depicting the heroic deeds of the entombed lord. Another doorway, at the far end of one of the side walls, leads on to Room 2. Room Two: Puzzle or Roleplaying Challenge Room 2 is a long hall; there is a single door visible on the far side, with what looks like a large stone statue standing near it. When anyone enters the room, the statue raises its head and declares in a loud booming voice, “Speak the word or meet your doom!” Unfortunately for the party, they have no way of knowing the password. The stone guardian then attacks all intruders in the room until it is destroyed or all intruders are gone. The guardian will not leave the room that it guards, so if the characters retreat into the first room, they will be safe until they re-enter. Likewise, if the characters manage to get past the guardian somehow, it will not pursue into the next room. After one-minute passes with no intruders in the room, the guardian will return to its original place and wait until activated again.
299 Room Three: Trick or Setback Room 3 holds several stone pedestals, each adorned with a metal plaque; on the other side of the room is a sturdy wooden door, which is locked. The plaques identify each pedestal as the place for an important object; the plaque on the central pedestal has the name of the item the PCs are seeking. Unfortunately for them, all the pedestals are empty. A careful examination will reveal that the items were removed recently, and a search of moderate difficulty will find tracks leading up to the locked door. Any additional information the tracker can gain about number, size, etc. of the individuals who made the tracks will match the occupants of the next room. Room Four: Climax, Big Battle, or Conflict A short hallway leads to Room 4, which holds the opened stone casket of the person who was buried here. Dismembered pieces of what did once undead warriors lie on the floor, and behind the stone casket are the tomb robbers who the PCs have seen evidence of, looking very much alive and pointing weapons at the party. When the rival party heard the stone guardian in Room 2, they knew that someone might be coming. One of them snuck back and closed and locked the door to Room 3, and then all of them set in to wait. If the party was noisy in Room 3, such as by breaking down the door, the rival party will have prepared for immediate combat. If the party was quiet enough, on the other hand, the rival party may be unsure of the exact position of the PCs, causing them to wait on using any effects with short duration until combat begins. As for the rivals themselves, if the PCs have any rivals from previous adventures, they can be used as the occupants of Room 4. The rivals can be either previously encountered individuals or members of a group that the party has fought or competed against before. If the party doesn’t have any appropriate rivals, then the occupants can simply be treasure hunters who picked a bad time to try robbing this tomb. Established rivals will either attack immediately or attempt to parlay depending on their history with the party. If they have no history with the party, they will at first assume that the party is hostile, but may be open to negotiations if the party proposes a cease-fire. The treasure hunters won’t let the party just take the treasure that they’ve “acquired” from the tomb, but may be willing to trade for the item the party came looking for. In addition to appropriate equipment (including whatever thieving or magical means the rivals used to open the locked door) the rivals also have sacks containing the treasures from Room 3, an ornate sword and suit of armor taken from the body in the stone casket, and a set of notes that include the password for the stone guardian in Room 2. (The notes may also include an explanation of how the rivals got the password when the PCs didn’t.)
300 Room Five: Reward, Revelation, Plot Twist Room 5 is a return to the first room in the tomb. As soon as anyone takes any treasures from Room 3 or Room 4 into the first room, undead emerge from the mural-covered walls to attack any living creatures they can find, giving preference to those who are carrying treasures from the tomb. (On the bright side, any characters who came prepared to fight undead will finally get their chance.) Although the characters can try to escape through the door to the outside, the slow opening of the heavy stone door will give the undead at least some time to attack. If the rivals from Room 4 are still alive at this point, their reaction will depend on their current attitude towards the party. The rivals may fight alongside the party, they may try to escape, or they may attempt to stay out of the way and let the undead and the party fight it out, hoping that whoever wins is weak enough that the rivals can finish the winners off. Of course, if the rivals leave with some of the treasure first, they will trigger the attack of undead, and the party will have to choose how to intervene.
