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(TFT) Tainted Inheritance. Part 4
Tainted Inheritance
A TFT adventure for 3 to 4 beginning characters.
(C) 2001-2004 By Richard W. Smith
Start of Part 4
---------------
The situation is that many people are looking
for the missing Scholar Neftroll. The Caroll family
will offer a small reward and Zaff (who is being held
in the manor) would likely give a better one if he
Neftroll can be found alive.
The rumors say that Neftroll was captured by
a band of raiding orks. Strangely, no one saw them
before or after taking Neftroll at the manor. No
track can be found, tho several people at the manor
say that the orks headed towards the hills and gullies
north of town.
Mort will order his thugs and the few useful
fighters to search for the orks. The thugs will go
north and trample all over the place. The real fighters
will head north but gradually head west until they can
watch the western hills from a high ridge.
The red wizard of Mort's will stay in the manor
for a couple hours (until he has regained his fST) and
then will put on ordinary cloths and return to his
quarters in town.
Tho the PC's do not know it, they are in a race.
Keep track of the number of hours that go by since the
'ork raid' on the manor. One of the Carrol men will
come with the players to search if they visit that
family. Multh Carrol is a 31 attribute character, with
dagger and small shield talent, ST 8, DX 13, IQ 11 Thrown
Weapons, Shield, Knife, Running, Farming and Rough & Ready Carpentry.
He is a tacturn young man but brave and will
take instructions well. The idea is that he can show
the PC's around the area while they are seaching but he
will fight bravely in a pinch. Tho not a physicker, he
can bandage, and has a pack of bandages and strong wine
for splashing on wounds. (If the party has a real
physicker, Multh will be very interested in learning
what ever he can on medical care.)
If the PC's search north they will find nothing.
In 3 hours or so the GM should start hinting that there
is not much up here, that there is no sign of orks in
the area or having traveled thru the area any time
recently. Lots of Morts thugs are around not looking
like they are searching very seriously. If asked about
the higher hills to the west and south west, the thugs
will loudly say the orks came this way and did NOT go
to the western hills.
If they PC's try to check out the western hills,
a couple thugs will wave at them and yell, "The orks are
to the north of here!" If the party asks them why they
are to the west, they will say they are here to watch
for the orks circling around this way. If the party
goes north, that is fine. However if the party continues
west these two will wait until they are out of sight and
then move north to round up the other thugs.
PC's with tracking will be able to follow the
red wizard's path with a little difficulty. Make 4
3vsIQ rolls, each one missed costs 1/2 an hour.
It will take an hour to walk the distance to
the hills to the west.
If the PC's are following the wizard's trail,
it will lead to the entrance to a cave. If they are
not following the trail, then they will have to search
for the cave.
If there is someone in the party with the
talent Geologist, that person will note that there is
a slant of hard rock overlaying softer stone. A
logical point to search for ork caves would be just
under the harder formation. Doing so allows each
party member to make a 5vsIQ with the Geologist
rolling 1 fewer dice.
An amount of brush and ferns has been
transplanted to hide the entrance. However the plants
do not normally grow in that environment. If a
party member has Naturalist or Woodsman they get a
4vsIQ roll to notice this.
Someone with tracking (who has not been
following the wizard's trail up to now) gets a 3vsIQ
to notice a trail that several people have walked on
in the last few days. It will lead to the cave.
Someone with Acute Hearing may attempt an
8vsIQ to hear VERY faint yelling. Casting about from
the area where this is heard will find the cave in
1/2 an hour. Neftrolls voice is giving out so he
will yell for a couple minutes and then wait an hour
or so before repeating the yelling.
Clerical calls for aid or divination magics
will work as the GM sees fit.
Failing everything else the party can just
look for the orks. The party will soon find there
is no sign of ork settlements above ground. (This
will take 3 hours, or 2 hours if they think to
climb to a hill top. Beyond this range of hills is
more human settled lands so they can't be that far.
The terrain to the north is more wild.)
If the party starts looking for caves for
each hour they search roll one die. On the first
hour if they roll the one they reach the area
with the cave. On the second hour they reach that
area on a 1 or 2. On the 3rd hour they reach it on
a 1, 2 or 3, etc, until the 6th hour where they
automatically reach that area. (All of these rolls
should be made secretly.)
Once they are in the area, give each PC a
4vsIQ to spot the cave. Give 1 die bonuses for
each of the talents mentioned above.
If the PC's do not find the cave in 7 hours
dusk falls. At that time, Mort's chief thug will
go to the cave to kill Neftroll. He will work hard
at not being seen by staying in brush and the woods.
If the PC's have gone to some trouble to watch in
the direction of town at this time they will spot
him at once. If they have not kept a watch out for
others, they have a 1/3 chance of seeing him (unless
the GM gives them special bonuses for some reason
or another.)
If the party was spotted by the two thugs,
then Mort's chief is not alone. He has a dozen
thugs with him and the red wizard and since they are
not being very quiet, they should be pretty easy to
spot.
----------------------------------------------------
The cave:
---------
This cave goes for a short distance into
the ground with 5 rooms. In the passage between
the second and third room is a secret door, it is
two dice easier to spot coming out of the cave
than going in, (the shadows and curve of the stone
make it much harder to see when moving in one
direction than the other).
Thru the secret door is a tunnel that
leads down to a stair. At the bottom of the
stair is a guard room and 2 cells. Neftroll is
in the second cell.
The entrance is very narrow and twists
sharply. People will have to slide on their
bellies over a hump of rock and then drop a
meter to the floor. Then it is a 5 meter crawl
(mostly down hill) until the roof gets high
enough to crouch. Pole weapons longer than
tridents or Javelins will not fit thru the
entrance.
The ground, ceilings and walls are very
dirty and muddy. Vines and roots are draped
down and spider webs are everywhere. (Tho
observant people will notice that there is a
person sized hole in the webs on the extreme
right hand side of the low, wide passage.) People
will get very dirty entering the cave.
Just as the tunnel starts getting a bit
taller (people can go into a crouch) some of the
roots attack the players. They are Blood Tree
roots with ST 15. If the players kept to the
extreme right they would have to crawl in the mud
longer but they will avoid these roots.
First room. Every indication is that one
or more orks lived here a long time ago. However
the cave has been empty for a long time and the
smell has vanished. There is some sign of animal
spoor, but nothing recent. If the PC's have
light sources they can examine this room in detail,
if they do not, then this is the furthest that
they can go into the cave and see anything.
If they do have light they can see that
some digging on the roof has made the room taller.
People can stand almost erect but fast energetic
movement is much constrained. (In these caves
areas of low roofs such as this room have human
sized figures fighting at -2 DX. Dwarves and
hobbits are ok, and taller figures get larger
penalties.)
Bugs and cockroaches scuttle in a corner
near the entrance but there is little else of
interest.
The tunnel to the second room has been
improved tho it is still a low roof. There is one
section about 3 meters long where the floor goes
below water. But this pool is never more than
20 cm deep. A bit beyond this poor the floor
slopes up and curves a bit to the left until it
enters the second room.
Second Room. Much larger than the first
it is 4 by 5 meters or so but still has a low
roof. In the far corner is a very rusted pick
head (no handle remains). The room has obviously
been dug out and expanded. There is a faint animal
scent and anyone with naturalist or woodsman will
guess that a Bear has hibernated in this room
last winter. Old droppings and some small bones
are the only other decorations.
A careful examination of the room will
show that a pile of gravel at the high end of the
room has been disturbed some time ago. If dug up
the gravel is loose with little clay cementing it
together and a small dirty leather coin bag is
found. It jingles as it is picked up. If turned
upside down a mass of coins can be felt but only
a copper and a silver drop out, the rest are stuck
together.
The bag is a trap: Detect 5vsIQ, Avoid
4vsDX, Disarm 2vsDX. Fingers being put into the
bag can very easily slide into a metal well which
will trigger a mouse trap like spring. Thin
poisoned needles will be driven into the fingers.
The person who puts their hand into the
bag has a 4 in 6 chance of triggering the trap.
if missed they will feel something funny and find
the trap. The needles will penetrate cloth armor
4/6 of the time, leather or chain 2/6 of the time
and can not get thru heavier armor. The needles
do no damage but the poison burns and if a person
rips their hand free they will take 1 point of
damage.
If poisoned, the player has 15 seconds
for treatment. A physicker will have some
medicines in a physicker's chest that will counter
act the poison. A prompt washing with water will
halve the effects. A 5vsST will prevent all
effects or a 4vsST will halve effects. (If both
halvings apply the poison does no damage but gives
them -1 DX.) The poison will do 1d-2 pt.s of damage
(minimum 1 point) and will lower DX in that hand by
2 for one hour.)
(This bag was prepared by Mort to discourage
people from using 'his' cave when he had the two
orks who lived in it killed. There is another 8
copper pieces in the bag, most still glued to the
contraption.)
Tunnel from 2nd to third room.
This tunnel is tall but narrow. Humans can
stand up in it but have to squeeze sideways along
it. After 4 meters it gets wide enough that you
can move quicker, but you still must go sideways
fairly often.
In the narrowest length of the tunnel is a
secret door. It is on the side that people will
most naturally face away from as they squeeze down
the tunnel. The shadows lay of the rock require a
5vsIQ to spot it going deeper into the cave system
but only a 3vsIQ to see it coming out. If the
party finds it skip to the secret passage below.
Third Room.
The roof gets low again. This room is
little more than a wide spot in the tunnel about
a mega hex is size. There is nothing of interest
here. This room looks natural, there is no sign of
digging or other improvements.
The tunnel to the next room is short and
low. People can move along it at a crouch. There
is a crack in the rock where water drips into a
puddle and then drains into the soil.
Fourth Room.
Another natural looking cave, tho it would
take an experienced miner to notice that some low
spots on the roof have long ago been chipped off.
The roof is low. This room is kidney shaped longer
to east and west. It is 4 to 5 meters wide and
about 8 meters long.
In the center of the room is a faintly
glowing ball of energy. Looking like a foul wisp
it is far from the rotting trees and swamps where
such things are less uncommon. It is 30 cm in
diameter.
The ball will stay at the back of the room
and PC's can get a good look at the room while
staying away from it. There are 3 human corpses
laying near it, long rotted to bones. A certain
amount of loot lays near them. Clerics (if you
allow this) will detect no evil taint, which
pretty much proves it is not an undead wisp.
Magicians will sense magic.
There is no visible exit from this side of
the room. If the PC's drag the corpses away from
the thing, it will ignore them. (Some sort of
hook that will extend the PC's reach by a meter or
so would be ideal. If pulled back by hand the
nearest two bodies can be reached but the thing
will attack if the corpse closest to it is grabbed.
1st Body:, 22cp, $2. Broadsword, 3 daggers,
rotting cloth armor. Booklet with a play for
puppets. 3 hand puppets in sack on back with a few
simple props. Small harp in good condition (worth
$8). Silver whistle and a few good luck charms.
2nd body: 49 cp, $13. Gemstone worth
about $12. Bastard sword, spear (cut down to
javelin length), Large shield and fine dagger (+1
damage fine). Damage leather armor, unusable but
could be repaired for $20. Expensive book with
leather covers that wrap around book and oiled to
make it water resistant. This book teaches
tactics and military history; with it you can learn
Tactics and get a head start on Strategist talent.
The book is worth $35. Glass vial of Ghost Bane,
(this powder drives off weak spirits). Map making
equipment, labyrinth kit, 5 torches and a tinder
box. Fountain pen (high quality worth $3) and
some paper. A dear John letter from a girl. (His
name was actually Ranhim.)
3rd body: 33cp, $8. Mace and small shield,
Small bow (needs replacement string) quiver with
20 arrows. 2 daggers. Deck of cards, subtly
marked (5vsIQ to notice if carefully studied). 3
cat toys (a birdie a little mousie and a rattie all
on strings). A harmonica type instrument badly out
of tune. A lute (broken). A spare set of shoes
with hard soles in sack (these are really dancing
slippers). Amulet to prevent pregnancies (bogus).
If the PC's come within a meter of the
glowing ball, it will attack.
The ball is a being on the lower astral
plane that is kept trapped here by a form of calling
enchantment. It can only be truly destroyed by
attacking it on the astral plane. However the
physical manifestation can be destroyed and the ball
will return in a couple days after it has regained
its energies.
The ball projection has no ST, 13 fST, DX 11,
and IQ 5. Its MA is 1 but it can not move more than
a couple meters from the place where it was first
spotted. When it casts a spell, it regenerates fST
at the rate of 1 point per turn. If it is brought
down to 0 fST, it will vanish for a couple days.
It can cast the following spells:
1d+1 Electric bolt. Like Lightning spells but costs it
6 fST to cast. It can cast a double powered version
but will only do so in no other attacks are able to
hurt intruders.
Nausea. Those affected must roll 4vs Adjusted ST or
vomit (takes one turn). For one minute they are at
-3 DX. This nausea will fade at the rate of +1 DX per
minute. In 5 minutes they will feel fine. Cost is
4 fST.
Ember in Flesh. A burst of damage will do one point
of harm to people. It feels like a red hot ember has
been teleported into some internal organ. If people
retreat from the glowing orb, the pain will fade
somewhat. This damage is Illusionary, can not kill,
and if disbelieved will vanish. Body parts that have
stopped working (blinded eyes, etc.) will regain
their function. However as long as people believe
this damage they will act as if part of them is badly
wounded. If allowed to heal, the damage will heal in
a single day and body parts that have stopped working
will return to full ability with in 2 to 3 days. The
orb will not do more than 2 or 3 Embers in Flesh per
person. Cost 2 fST.
Confusion. Exactly like the Wizard spell except the
effects last 10 turns. Cost 5 fST.
Paralyze Limb. One limb (usually legs) are paralyzed
for 5 & one half minutes. If cast multiple times the
duration doubles for each successive casting: 11
minutes, 22 minutes, 45 minutes and 90 minutes. Cost
is 7 fST.
When the orb is not casting a spell it will
move erratically making it a one hex flying creature
to attack (-4 DX).
To damage the orb, striking it with metal
weapons seems to do no damage but lowers its fST by
one. (It regenerates this fST damage the same way it
does the fST it spends on spells.) Throwing a liter
of water on it causes it to burn more brightly and
flicker for a while: such treatment does it 1d+1
fST damage. Magical blasts or attacks typically do
half damage. The Death spell will eliminate 3 fST
for each point of damage the wizard spends. It
regenerates damage from all of the types of damage
above, except the Death Spell (which shrinks it for
hours). Given several days it will regenerate the
Death spell damage as well.
If the orb is driven off, further exploration
of the cave will show a narrow tunnel rising thru the
roof at the far end of the room. This is not visible
from the other side. This rises vertically 8 meters
into the 5th room.
Fifth Room.
The vertical tunnel twist horizontal and
opens up in to a room that has perfectly smooth
walls and high ceilings It is 5 by 5 by 3 meters.
The wizard Ultor was going on a long term
adventure and stored his valuables in this room.
(He used open tunnels to expand the room.) After
moving his goods in here, he created the guardian
in the room below. Ultor never returned (he ended
up as a Governor of a distant city & never bothered
coming back.) He left some 90 years ago.
Inside this room is a complete wizard's
laboratory, art worth $75, various magical
ingreadients well stored against the damp worth
$335, and a unique potion labeled 'poison' that
will allow the drinker to go to the Astral Plane
for 20 minutes as per the spell. A magical
statue of a brass dog will bark if strangers come
near. A spirit is bound inside and the dog has an
IQ 9. It is friendly and willing to serve the first
person who picks it up for it has deduced that Ultor
must have long since died and would like a more
interesting existence than sitting in a dark cave.
Secret Passage:
Behind the secret door is a tunnel that
goes for a few meters to a stair way that steeply
goes down hill for about 4 meter. At the bottom
is a guard room. It has a door but light is leaking
around it. The door is locked but the lock is easy
to pick, 3vsDX. If picked the door can be thrown
open surprising the only occupant. In this room is
a fighter called Holt the Hammer. Holt has been
instructed to kill anyone he does not know. Holt
is being paid well to guard Neftroll but he bored
and sleepy. (He has been playing solitare for the
last few hours between swearing at Neftroll for
making noise.)
If the party kills him keys on his belt
will open the door to Neftroll's room.
---------------------------------------------------
The trip home.
If the party rescues Neftroll before dusk,
they have no trouble getting him home. (Unless the
GM WANTS to have a fight here...) But if it is
dusk, a dozen of Mort's thugs have to be fought.
This is not as hard as it sounds since they are
punks with out real weapon skills. Once a couple
die, make a moral roll. On a six on thug (typically
one who is wounded) will flee. For each additional
thug killed reduce the 'retreat' number by one, for
each PC killed or knocked out increase this number
by one. The leader of the thugs subtracts two from
all of his rolls. If the party is tough, add the
red wizard to the Thugs to beef them up some.
There are 3 tough guards that were watching
the route west. They were instructed to return to
Mort if they saw anyone heading to the western hills.
Mort would have organized his thugs (most of them in
the hills to the north, to finish off the PC's),
keeping his best fighters as a body guard. If the
GM wishes to have a final fight, Mort, Emmeni and
their body guards could try to escape the Baron.
The PC's can mix in if they want, but the Baron has
so many experience fighters that they are not really
needed.
If they question Neftroll the whole story
will come out. Mort thought that Neftroll (who is
very broke) would accept a bribe to give false
evidence about the fake will. Neftroll angrily
refused and he started to stalk out. Mort fought him
and a bunch of Mort's people beat the scholar
unconscious. Neftroll woke up in his cell. For about
3 or 4 days nothing happened, then this morning (he
thinks) a wizard came and talked to him. The wizard
claimed there was a huge misunderstanding: they were
told that Neftroll was a dangerous criminal and had
been left here in this jail. Neftroll thought that
the whole story was fishy, but talked to the wizard
hoping to get out. The wizard claimed that he would
be released in a few minutes and vanished hours ago.
If the players return Neftroll to the Baron,
he will be really angry at Emmeni and Mort. The two
will each accuse each other of being the only one
involved. Emmeni might squirm out of it claiming it
was all Mort's fault, but will be under great
suspicion. (If the PC's can connect her man to the
dagger that was bought earlier she will be snagged.)
The Baron will have the pair slapped in irons and
dragged away to his dungeon awarding the whole
estate to Zaff and Sheena.
Zaff and the Caroll family will be very
grateful. A reward of $250 will be paid at once and
the PC's have permanent friends in the town. Zaff
will give them one of the items he currently has on
hand, (which ever one they would like the most.) In
addition Zaff will from now on, sell items to the
players for 90% of what he will try to get from
others. The players can't special order stuff, he
buys and sells what ever items he can find cheap so
the list of items is what ever the GM feels like.
If the PC's help Emmeni and Mort but find out
about Neftroll, they pair will play the PC's a couple
hundred silvers and then send large, well briefed
assassination squads after the PC's to make sure they
never talk.
End of adventure.
Appendix B: NPC's to fight.
Red Wizard: Real name Aire Todenton Boton the third.
ST 9 (+2 fST superscript) DX 15 (14), IQ 13. A
capable wizard whose major weakness is too many
expensive spells and not enough fST. His IQ has
gone up, but he has yet to improve most of his
spells yet.
Staff with +3 damage w/ae on it. Fine silver
dagger with +2 fine damage +1 damage w/ae. Padded
clothing and red robes count as cloth armor. The
robes stop 3 extra hits verses missile damage.
(Weak version of w/ae.)
Limited / expunged Leather Flesh Ring (stops 2 hits
per attack) costs 1 fST / 3 turns to power. This
ring also has a Dark Vision spell on it which costs
1 fST / minute. (Limit / Expunge: May only be used
by wizards of his school.)
Has 4 double powered healing potions and will run away
and drink these if things are going bad.
He normally travels with two attack dogs but they were
killed recently and he has not yet replaced them. He
has a book with instructions for Illusion and 3 hex
Fire in it. He has $28 and 33 cp.
Talents:
Running and Literacy.
Spells:
Illusion, Image, Summon Gargoyle, Summon Giant, Stone
Flesh, Flight, Speed MA, Fireball and Control Animal.
(Note that my Giants have MA 14 and wear armor that
stops 3 hits for no DX or MA penalty which explains
in part why he has taken this less popular spell.)
Holt the Hammer:
A poor but tough fighter. Holt has a serious drinking
problem that keeps him broke. He has been struggling
with this handicap and is slowly gaining a bit of
control over this disease. He badly wants to impress
Mort and get a regular job with him. Holt has a mean
streak and likes the way Mort operates.
ST 15, DX 17(14), IQ 11, MA 12 (8).
Great sword, Heavy Crossbow, Pike ax (stored in town),
3 dirks (one fine for +1 damage).
Scale Armor (-3 hits per attack). (Basically chain
with out the weakness for impaling weapons.) Note that
warrior stops one extra hit.
Bag of quick lime. 3 coppers.
Talents: Running, Sword, Crossbow, Shield, Pole weapon,
Sweeping Blow talent (see website), Warrior.
Holt will throw the loosely closed the quick
lime at a PC or (in this case) the roof over their heads.
The bag will burst open filling the area with corrosive
dust. Holt can stand far enough back with his immense
weapon to not be affected. People in this dust must
make a 3vsDX to close their eyes / duck their heads.
If they fail the dust starts burning their eyes.
While fighting with eyes closed people are at -6 DX.
PCs can open their eyes for a fraction of a second
and see where he is. After 3 turns the gritty dust will
settle, or the PC's may have moved out of the dust
cloud. If so, they are at -1 DX for every point they
missed the roll, or each time they opened their eyes
while the dust was in their hex.
If he hits someone in the face with this,
they must make a 2vsDX or breath enough of the dust
to be taken out of the fight as they cough and choke.
The dust if breathed will do 2 points of damage per
turn, until 2d6 damage is taken or a healing potion is
drunk.
Healing potions will heal the damage to the
eyes and lungs caused by this dust.
Thug Leader: Tanlatte
ST 12, DX 13(12), IQ 9, MA 9. A bully who has actually
learned some fighting talents. When in a fight with
a younger boy years ago, Tanlate was kicked which resulted
in a broken leg. He killed the other boy and hid the body.
However, his own leg was not set properly and he walks with
a distinct and noticeable limp.
Broad sword, Small shield, Cloth armor, 3 daggers.
Has 9 cp.
Talents:
Sword, Ax Mace, Shield, Farming, Swimming, swaggering and
insulting people.
Tougher thug 1: Thrug
ST 12, DX 11 (10)(9), IQ 10 MA 10.
Lt. Crossbow, Broadsword, Lg Shield, cloth armor.
Talents: Crossbow, Sword, Shield, drinking and trying to
cheat at dice.
Tougher thug 2: Thuug
ST 13, DX 12, IQ 8 MA 12.
Has a shortsword. 12 cp. $1
Talents: Sword, Running, sneering, swearing.
Tougher thug 3: Thoug
ST 11, DX 12, IQ 9 MA 10.
Spear, Horse bow (-4 DX since he does not know how to use it.)
Talents: Pole weapon, sex appeal, Kicking people in 'nads.
Tougher thug 4: Theg
ST 9, DX 13, IQ 11, MA 12.
Several daggers. 28 cp, $4, 3 golden rings worth $8 each.
Talents: Running, Dagger, Thrown Weapons, kicking people
while they are down.
The other thugs are 29 to 31 attribute characters who are
armed with clubs or daggers and have no real fighting talents.
The tough thugs have from 10 to 30 cp, and a 50% chance of
having a silver. The rest of the thugs have from 0 to 20
coppers and no silver.
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