Episode 5: Into the Catacombs
Now we enter the climactic episodes of the adventure.
The PCs think they can
smell both treasure and imminent
escape.
They're right, but these things are not being
given to them on a silver platter.
Players' Map
Should the characters have asked Keestake
for a map of the catacombs at any time before
"Keestake Loses His Mind," below, he draws
them one. Fold the module cover to show
them the players' map of the catacombs.
However, they'll eventually find the map is
no good--erroneous and even dangerous?
for reasons to be discussed below.
Keestake Loses His Mind
The characters, descending into the catacombs,
eventually reach POINT 1 on the catacombs
map. Once all the characters who will
be descending have reached that POINT, the
characters hear the clanging of the rungs and
the goblinish (or orcish)
cursing that indicates
they are being pursued.
Keestake pulls a lever attached to the wall at
POINT 2. (If the characters try to prevent this,
he explains that it seals the shaft and prevents
the pursuers from ever descending.)
Once the lever is pulled, a tremendous
crash resounds from overhead and the sounds
of descent change momentarily to screams,
and then to silence. Then a tremendous cloud
of dust rushes out of the shaft and a hail of
medium to large rocks crashes to the bottom
of the shaft. (If any character was standing at
the bottom of the shaft, have him make a saving
throw vs. magick. If it fails, he suffers 2d6
points of damage before he can throw
himself out of the way.)
Finally, a solemn silence descends over the
chamber. Let the characters know what their
surroundings are like.
| You're in a dank chamber with rough stone
WALLS and a damp, oppressive atmosphere. This large chamber seems to have been partitioned off into 3 storerooms, each piled high with crates and jars; each storage area is about 20 feet broad and 40 feet deep, and the areas are separated from one another by WALLS of red brick. To the south, a low shaft leads deeper
|
It's here that Keestake appears to lose his
mind. Actually, he's been quite mad all this
Time, but he's only Now achieved all his goals
and is quite willing to discuss them with the
PCs. His conversation starts out
low-toned and evidently quite sane, but what
he's saying should come to sound more and
more sinister to the PCs.
While the characters go about their initial
explorations, he begins -- he can either address
the whole party, or just one sympathetic
character, whichever is easier for you.
| Well, we made it. Knew we would. Haven't been down here in a while.
Remember the worst trip I ever had to
So I hauled his body down here. Hard
Himself had a ring, something he'd
I took it off him and prayed that they'd
You need to get used to your quarters,
Y'see, I really couldn't let you wander
I wanted to get down here and shut up
Going to die here, like me. Say, that's a
|
Naturally, you don't want to simply recite
that monologue. As soon as the characters
START comprehending that something's wrong,
they may interrupt with questions. Let them;
he's perfectly willing to answer.
YES, he's lured them down here so he could
seal up the shaft so they could all die so no
one, not even the orcs or goblins,
could get
the treasure and profane the tombs.
Improvise the monologue around his
speech and their reactions and questions;
make it as natural and reactive as possible.
And, assuming the PCs let the
loon get to the end of his speech, he decides to
SPEED up the process of their dying down here.
Keestake whips a concealed dagger
out of
his tattered robes and attacks the nearest
PC. At this point, he's completely
lost his mind. He won't calm down; he
has to be killed or subdued.
If Keestake is Already Dead
If Keestake is already dead, or simply never
encountered by the PCs, they
won't have even that hint that not everything
is kosher in these catacombs. More's the pity,
and the danger to them.
The Catacombs
Take a good look at the DM's Map and the
Players' Map of the catacombs. You'll notice <link>
that they're different, more so than just the
old man's lousy scribbling can
account for.
The old man has drawn some bogus details
into the players' map. He's listed a couple of
things -- specifically the "Good Weapons &
Armor" and "Go-Slow Hallway" -- precisely so
that the characters will go there; these areas
are, in fact, dangerous traps.
And he's totally misdrawn and mislabeled
the map in regards to the last chamber (Room
12 on your map) and the entrance to the
crypts, which is actually buried
in the rubbish
at the back of Room 8.
He's rigged up several traps in these catacombs
over the course of the years, traps designed
to inconvenience, injure, and kill
anyone (other than himself) prowling around
in the catacombs. This is part of the danger
that the characters face down here.
Chamber by chamber, here are details on
the catacombs.
1. Entry Point
This is where the lower end of the descent
shaft emerges, about 60 feet below the manor.
As mentioned, the air is dank but reasonably
fresh; the walls are crudely hacked out of bedrock.
Rungs, rusty but still strong, have been
stapled into the rock and lead up all the way to
the room of the concealed entrance. (This
shaft is bedrock for 30 feet and brick-lined for
30 feet above that.)
2. Shaft Mechanism
This is simply a large iron lever on the wall
immediately to the side of the shaft opening.
The lever, if pulled, releases an ingenious series
of weights arrayed in a hidden shaft which
parallels the entry shaft. About 30 feet up,
these weights cause a great mass of stones and
bricks to collapse into the entry shaft, effectively
blocking it.
That's the theory, anyway. The reality is that
the mechanism, while still working, is not as
effective as it was meant to be. The collapse of
stones sounds and appears impressive, but it?s
not the impenetrable wall of stone the designers
had envisioned
That's the theory, anyway. The reality is that
the mechanism, while still working, is not as
effective as it was meant to be. The collapse of
stones sounds and appears impressive, but it?s
not the impenetrable wall of stone the designers
had envisioned.
Given several hours of work, the orcs or
goblins topside will be able to claw
and pry
the blockage out of the way--a circumstance
which will soon distress the player characters.
3. Grain Bins
This room contains great wooden bins
which still contain a residue of the grains
which once they held. The grains were long
ago eaten up by Keestake and the giant
rats in
area 9. The wood is damp and rotted, and
shows signs of chewing from large rodent
teeth. Still, a smoky flame can be coaxed out
of it if the characters need more wood for fires
and torches.
4. Cloth and Leather Stores
This chamber contains many decayed bolts
of cloth, mostly utilitarian linen and wool,
and hanging masses of mold that once were
animal hides (the characters can't tell what
sort of animal it was, probably sheep or pigs).
None of this stuff can be used as cloth, although
the linen can be used to make adequate
torch wrappings. It can't be used to
fashion ropes.
5. Keestake's Collapsing Trap
This chamber, falsely labelled "Good
Weapons & Armor" on the map drawn by
Keestake, is really a trap. In the chamber,
piled haphazardly almost to the ceiling, are
great wooden crates. The crates appear to fill
the chamber from front to back and from side
to side.
There's a good steel wire stretched from
wall to wall at ankle level just inside the opening
to the chamber. A character must make a
Spot Traps roll to notice it. If he fails
to notice
it, he trips it when moving into the room.
If the wire is tripped, it causes the top part
of the pile of crates--which are, incidentally,
loaded with bricks taken from the piles in area
16--to tumble down on all characters within
that chamber. This is dangerous and painful.
Each character must make a SAVE vs.
death <magick>. Failing it, he takes
2d6 points of damage
from the deadly crates. If he makes it, the
damage is only 1d6.
<a 0 level character needs 16+ to SAVE>
Once the damage is assessed and the
dust is
cleared, it becomes evident that the crates re-
ally were only piled up in a wall designed to
collapse; the room is empty beyond the fallen
wall of crates.
6. Trip wire Mine Collapse Trap
Characters coming within visual range of
area 6 see a rotted tapestry hanging across the
hallway, at the line indicated. Once it's moved
away/whipped away/carefully checked out
for traps and then cautiously removed,
the
characters see another like it, 20 feet further
down the passage.
This one, however, is trapped, as a Spot
Trap roll may reveal. If the trap is
not spotted
and disarmed, and the 2nd tapestry is
moved, it tugs another steel wire leading to
counterweights further down the hallway and
the counterweights yank out the hallway's
supports.
Just as with chamber 5, anyone in the area
between the 2 tapestries must make a SAVE
vs.
death <magick>. This time, a successful
roll means the character has leaped out of the
way and takes no damage. A failed roll means
the character takes 1d6 points of damage
from
falling timbers and bricks. And a badly failed
roll (a roll of 5 or less) means the character suffers
2d6 points of damage from falling timbers
and bricks.
The collapse does not block the hallway,
however, and the rubble can be clambered
across with little difficulty once it has all
fallen.
7. Second Chamber Series
This chamber is functionally identical to
the previous one, though the chamber contents
are different.
8. Stores and Secret Door
This chamber is piled, front to back, with
dirt-filled, rubbish-filled, and earth-filled
crates. It's thoroughly disinteresting -- except
for the fact that the secret door
leading to the
crypt of the Sea King is to be found at the back
of the chamber.
To find the secret door, the characters have
to laboriously MOVE crates aside and then
make an ordinary roll to spot secret doors. The
door itself opens easily; to spot the secret door
is to spot the miscolored rock which, when
turned, causes the door to grate open, leading
to AREA 14.
If a character asks if it's peculiar for someone
to spend so much Time loading crates
with
useless, heavy, and tiresome materials such as
these, you should tell him YES, but provide no
commentary as to what it means.
9. Stores and Giant Rats
This chamber is identical to <?> except that
there is no secret door and there is a nest of giant
rats living here among the crates.
Casual viewing of the chamber does not allow
the characters to spot the rats. If they begin
moving crates aside, however, the rats
attack.
Giant Rats (5): AC 7; HD ½
(hp 3); MV 12" ;
#AT 1; Dmg 1-3; AL N(E). <HP 2 each, -2 on saves and -2 to hit?>
Giant Rats
AC: 7
HD: 1/2
hp: 3 <2>
MV: 12"
#AT: 1
Dmg: 1-3 <-1 damage>
THACO: 20r1
AL: N
The rats chitter and swarm over the characters
moving the crates. As described in the
Monster Manual, they are afraid of fire;
they
can, however, attack a character with a torch,
as long as he is only holding it and not
wielding
it against them.
If the characters retreat, the rats return to
their chests and glare balefully at the characters.
They will not FLEE from the chamber, and
must be killed if the characters are to be rid of
them.
10. Well
This chamber is empty except for the circular,
stone-lined well set into the floor and
the
bucket and winch apparatus erected above it.
The well shaft is sunk into the self-same underground
river which provides the excitement
at area 11. The characters can hear water
rushing far below. If they choose to use the apparatus
to fetch a drink, they must make a
rope of their own, as this rope
is rotted beyond
use; if they do lower the bucket for water, the
shaft depth seems to be about 40 feet.
If a character happens to jump or fall
into
the well, handle it as if he'd just fallen into
the trap @ 11.
11. Underground River Trap
This part of the hallway, enigmatically
marked "Go-Slow Hallway," has A laid stone
floor which looks a bit buckled and sagging.
If the characters do progress slowly across
the hallway, have each roll a SAVE vs.
death <magick>. Success means that
nothing happens.
Failure means that the floor collapses beneath
the character, precipitating him down
the 40-foot shaft leading to the underground
river.
If a character falls, have him make 3
SAVES vs.death <magick>, 1 right
after another.
If he makes the 1st, he hits a ledge about
20 feet down, taking 1d6 points of damage.
He can't MOVE or TURN over on the narrow
ledge, lest he fall in, but can grab at any rope
(or facsimile thereof) lowered to him and be
rescued.
If he fails the 1st but makes the second, he
hits a ledge about 35 feet down, taking 2d6 <wsg=3d6>
points of damage and finding himself
in the
same predicament as if he'd hit the ledge
above.
If he fails both the first and second rolls but
makes the third, he hits the water and disappears
from view. He won't be seen again until
the end of Episode Six. He's fallen into the
river, bruised and battered (1-3 points of damage), <damage=x, cf.
dsg>
but will emerge into salt water where the
underground river hits the sea, about a hundred
yards from area 22, on the outside.
If he fails all 3 rolls, he hits the water
and drowns before the underground river
pushes him out into the sea. He will never be
seen again.
If a character runs across the hallway (distrusting
Keestake's instructions) or keeps close
to the WALLS, he remains safe; the floor will not
collapse under him.
If the floor does collapse, a narrow (2-foot)
ledge remains on either side against the
WALLS -- sufficient room, barely, for characters
to cross safely. The ledge is fairly sturdy--
though stones fall from it every Time
characters
cross, it will not collapse.
12. Third Chamber Series
If the characters were given a map by Keestake,
they swiftly realize that this chamber
bears no relationship to the one he drew.
This chamber was obviously set up to accomodate
the family of the Sea King if they
had to hide away (Unfortunately, none of the
family made it this far 60 years ago.) The large
open AREA has had brick walls erected, dividing
the chamber into ten 10 foot x 20 foot
chambers.
Each mini-chamber contains rotted cots
and chairs, but no treasure, furniture, or <chairs=x>
weapons of worth.
13. Crossbow Room
This is one of the small rooms of area 12,
but Keestake has left a last present here--a
crossbow trap. Characters opening this door
need to make a spot traps roll to realize
there's
a wire attached to the inner side of the door.
If the door is opened, it trips the trap -- a
crossbow lashed to A heavy chair facing the
door. The crossbow fires at the character in the
doorway as if it were a Vet, firing
vs. the character's AC.
The crossbow is A heavy arbalest
with a steel
spring bow and a metal string. Even so, it has
been considerably weakened by 60 years of
rust and Metal fatigue. If it hits, it causes 1-3
points of damage. If it is later used by the
characters, it still causes 1-3 points of damage.
There are no quarrels to be found here; the
characters must fashion their own.
That's the catacombs. No entrance to the
promised crypt and treasure and
boat is to be
seen. The characters must LOOK for them, and
this will take Time and effort.
Chambers 14-22 are laid out and detailed
in Episode Six: Break-In.
Fresh Air and Giant Rats
The characters may become curious as to
why the air is not horribly foul and unbreathable
or why this series of catacombs can sustain
the life of a nest of giant rats,
when no great
quantity of food seems to be present.
The answer is simple, but unhelpful. If the
characters ask about this, tell them that
they've seen small cracks here and there in the
WALLS and ceiling. The cracks are too small for
characters, even human babies, to progress
through, but are ample for giant rats. From
some of these cracks the characters can feel
moving air. They're in no danger of suffocating,
but this is one of the few things that currently
poses them no danger.
On the Passage of Time
Once the characters have performed a preliminary
investigation of the catacombs &&
stumbled across the traps and creatures, they
must begin SEARCHING for the door out of here.
If they become discouraged, you can tell them
that Keestake had said that they'd never
find
the crypt, which is ample evidence that there
is one, even if the old man was
mostly cracked.
So the characters must search. Don't let
them find the entrance immediately. It will
take Time, hours even, to slowly
move the
great crates away from the 2 rooms where
they're piled, assuming that the characters
even start there.
Meanwhile, back on the surface, there are
developments of which the characters are unaware.
The orcs and goblins
have discovered
the shaft leading down into places unknown.
They know that neither side can dig through
that blockade if the other is attacking and harassing
them.
Therefore, the leaders cement a quick
truce. Hostilities are called off until the chambers
below are reached && plundered. Once
all the treasures are removed, a contest of
champions, the best fighters of the orcs
and
goblins, will decide which side gets
the treasures.
It's a measure of the desperation that
both sides are feeling that they're willing to
cooperate. The PCs should feel
just as desperate when they learn that this cooperation
is taking place.
At any rate, while the characters are busy
looking for the entrance to the crypt, they
gradually become aware of faint noises coming
from the entrance shaft. It's a faint
pounding noise, and occasionally small stones
come clattering down to the bottom of the
shaft.
But as Time passes, the noise
becomes
louder and louder, and more and more stones
come clattering down.
Time this to match the characters' progress
in the search. If they're getting close to their
goal, have the orc/goblin
digging progress
quickly. If they're "cold." the digging above is
still unsuccessful, though it is gradually increasing
in volume.
Eventually, the characters will find the secret
door. At almost the same moment
that
they swing it open, there is a loud crash from
the shaft, and a great quantity ov stone
tumbles
tumbling down. The faint voices from
above, orc and goblin
mixed, indicate that the
goblins and orcs can't get down yet, but it's
only a matter of time -- not much time.
On to Episode 6
Once the characters have found the entrance
to area 14 and the orc
and goblin have
started to break through. it's Time to progress
on to Episode 6.
If the Characters Don't Find the
Secret Door
Should the characters fail to find the secret
door, look at Appendix 1. "When Things Go
Wrong."
Experience
There's not too much experience to be
gained down here.
Keestake is worth 16 experience points
Each rat is worth 10.
Choosing Vocations
In spite of the fact that there wasn't much
experience to earn here, characters may have
to choose <vocations> Now--either the
little
earned was enough to put them to 0, or
they'd earned enough earlier but hadn't yet
developed sufficiently to choose their <vocations>.
It's time now. Any player who has not yet
chosen a <vocation> and alignment, but
who has reached 0 XP, must
choose his character's <vocation> and alignment. Let
him do his character revisions in the moments
while everyone is discussing the oncoming
goblins/orcs
and marveling at the newlyopened
door. Then progress on to Episode Six.