Tag: horror

The corridor has a trapdoor leading to the attic near the end of the hall. The trapdoor locked (Disable Device DC 25 to pick, DC 20 to, noisily, force, or open with the Eye Key).

30 – Guest Room

This small room was obviously once a cell, judging from the bars on the windows and the bare brick walls. A small bed, a chest of drawers, a chamber pot, and a stool are the only furnishings.

If the characters go to sleep after being escorted by Dr Delacroix, they’ll find themselves locked in. As Delacroix explains:

“I’m afraid these rooms are all we have. We used to have rather more patients, but in recent years we’ve had this ward converted into additional chambers for staff and visitors. Unfortunately the doors can only be opened from the outside; a safety precaution. I’ll be sure to have someone come by and let you out early tomorrow.”

Though the doors do indeed lock automatically, they can technically be picked (Disable Device DC 40) or forced (DC 25). If the characters were guileless enough to drink the wine provided them by Delacroix in the dining room, the delayed-onset poison they ingested kicks in around now (about 1 hour after ingestion) – Fortitude DC 15 to resist. If they fail they fall into a stupor for 1d3 hours and will wake up in one of the chambers in the Intensive Treatment Wing, or even strapped down to a slab in one of the Laboratories in the basement if they annoyed Delacroix somehow. Of course, with any luck the characters either pass their saves or avoided ingesting the poison in the first place. If they did pass their saves, they’ll be treated to a visit by a pair of Orderlies later in the night (they come in through the door) – make Stealth checks for the Orderlies (+11) as they approach (if the character perceives them, they hear approaching footsteps).

Disused Ward

The door to the disused ward has been locked (Disable Device DC 25, force DC 20, or use the Eye Key) and boarded shut (Strength DC 20 to quickly pull off the boards). The Intellect Devourers and their minions shun the ward because of the spirit of Valentin Morel, who has become an allip and haunts the ward. If dispersed Morel’s spirit re-forms the next night. It will only depart if the Intellect Devourers are slain or their experiments otherwise ended.

Dust and cobwebs shroud this hall, which has obviously not been in use for quite some time. An door with the words “Dr Valentin Morel” on it is evident to the left.

31 – Dr Valentin’s Study

The door to the study is locked (Disable Device DC 30 to pick, Strength DC 25 to force, or open with the Brain Key). However, there is a trapdoor from the attic (Disable Device DC 25 to pick, DC 20 to force, or open with the Eye Key).

You enter a spacious, well-appointed study with fine wooden furniture. The walls are lined with handsome shelves containing numerous medical texts, most of them pertaining to mental illness – its causes, effects, and methods of treatment. A large writing desk and a leather chair are placed near the curtained window; there are some papers on the desk, but in general the place looks disused, with a thick layer of dust lying over everything. There are some old stains on one wall and on part of the floor; they have been partially scrubbed off but are still visible, though faded, under the dust. There are also some heavy scuff-marks on the floor around the door.

The papers are diary entries. It would probably have occurred to humanoids to burn these papers and so dispose of them, but this has not occurred to the Intellect Devourers (their Grimlock orderlies do think like other humanoids, broadly speaking, but lacking sight they have never developed a written language and so have not noticed the diaries).

Handout 10001

After reading these documents, the characters will be confronted by the spirit of Dr Valentin Morel – having been driven mad himself by the sight of the Intellect Devourers and their handiwork, and having committed suicide, he has returned as an (advanced) Allip:

There is a flash of lightning and suddenly you become aware of a figure standing in the corner, watching you intently. Dressed in a tattered doctor’s coat, the spirit bears the stern visage of Dr Valentin Morel, recognizable from the portrait in the foyer, albeit contorted into an expression of madness and despair. As he moves towards you, you see that the back of his head has been blown out, as if he put a pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Gliding forwards, flickering through furniture, the spirit begins babbling incoherently, reciting random passages from medical textbooks in a hideous, inhuman voice.

Sanity check on seeing the Allip (1/1d6). If you’re using the d20 Sanity rules, note that the Allip’s Touch of Madness ability deals 2d6 Sanity damage rather than Wisdom drain. If a character is reduced to 0 Sanity by the Allip, they die immediately and become an Allip as described under the “Create Spawn” ability of the advanced Allip.

The wheellock pistol is nowhere to be found.

32 – Archive and Map Room

This must be the sanitarium’s archive – there are shelves full of rolled up scrolls and record books here. Most appear to simply be inventories of supplies, payment records, and rosters of inmates or staff. On one wall are framed floor plans of l’Hôpital de Corbin and its basement.

The characters can liberate these maps, greatly assisting exploration of the asylum.

33 – Library

A hole in the roof has let water into this library room, and the books lining its shelves – mostly medical texts, by the look of things – have become thoroughly infested with mildew and yellowish mould.

The stacks are infested with yellow mould. There’s really not much to salvage here.

…

Next up: the attic and the basement.

The Savour of Madness: Intensive Treatment Ward and Children’s Ward

On October 3, 2013

Floor 2

15 – Dining Room

You enter a large dining room with an antique wooden table, ornately carved. Cabinets of silverware are evident to one side, adjacent to a small dumbwaiter. A wrought-iron chandelier, currently unlit, dangles from the ceiling like some monstrous black spider. The table itself is set with a somewhat shabby grey tablecloth. One wall is given over to a very large painting depicting a fleet of warships sailing on a stormy sea.

The silverware is quite valuable (about 500 gp worth of silver here), but very heavy (about 100 lbs total). If the characters have been escorted here by Delacroix, the table is already set for dinner:

The table is lain for dinner, one place set for each of you, with several bottles of wine on the table as well. The meal consists of a pork roast, cooked rather rarely, with a variety of seasonal vegetables on the side, along with a loaf of bread. Steam wafts from the meal; the smell is extremely appetizing.

“I’m afraid this is the best we could provide on such short notice,” Dr Delacroix says. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t eat myself. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few matters to attend to. I’ll return shortly to show you to your chambers.”

The suspicions of the characters aside, the meal is actually pork. The wine, however, is poisoned with Oil of Restfulness that has been modified to kick in after about an hour (Fortitude DC 15 or fall unconscious for 1d3 horus).

The characters now have a chance to discuss their plan of action or even to try and slip away and explore the asylum more thoroughly. Outside the dining room doors, however, Delacroix has positioned a pair of Orderlies. However, the characters could attempt to use the dumbwaiter to move down to the kitchen below. The dumbwaiter can carry Small characters easily, but if a Medium character uses it (or any character whose weight plus the weight of their gear exceeds 150 lbs) there is a 10% chance that the dumbwaiter ropes will snap, sending the character hurtling downwards for 3d6 damage (a DC 15 Acrobatics check reduces this to 2d6 damage and 1d6 non-lethal damage). Other characters will have to Climb down (DC 20) or jump down (Acrobatics DC 15 for 1d6 damage and 1d6 non-lethal damage). The noise of the dumbwaiter breaking will instantly attract an Orderly; merely using the dumbwaiter gives the Orderly a Perception check (DC 20) to hear the commotion.

16 – Orderlies’ Quarters

This small chamber has a neatly made bed, a desk, and a chest of drawers. The room is very tidy, but a thick layer of dust lies over everything, and there are cobwebs in the corners.

The Grimlocks don’t like these rooms, preferring to lair underground. As a result the chambers have become disused. While some outfits can be found in the chest of drawers, some of them are moth-eaten or otherwise decayed.

Intensive Treatment Ward

The doors in this ward are locked (Disable Device DC 30, Strength DC 25 to force, or used the Brain Key).

This long, winding hall is lined with reinforced doors, each of which bears a small viewing hatch that can be opened or closed. You can hear noises emanating from behind some of the doors – screams of terror, mad laughter, and the sound of someone praying loudly. As you watch, a door opens and two orderlies drag an inmate in a straitjacket out of one of the chambers and down the hall.

“It wasn’t me!” the man babbles. “It moved on its own! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!”

If the players aren’t being stealthy, the orderlies will be alarmed by their appearance; if the alarm has been raised they’ll abandon their victim and attack the players, otherwise, one will approach the players and simply say “Go. Not allowed here.”

The chamber the inmate was being removed from is the Mirror Chamber.

At any given time, it’s likely 1-2 Alienists are here, supervising the treatments.

17 – The Rotary Chair

A strange mechanism dominates this room: a set of wheels and pulleys that turn a large, spinning centrifuge with a niche where someone could sit or lie, complete with restraints.

This rotary chair was actually used by the original alienists in their treatment of patients to try and increase blood-flow to the brain. The Intellect Devourers still use the device sometimes, Grimlocks turning the centrifuge so it rotates at high speeds.

18 – Hydrotherapy Chamber

This spare, ill-lit chamber has a single bathtub, currently brimming with water. Submerged within it and imprisoned in a series of leather restraints is an inmate, muzzled and struggling weakly. Only their head remains above water.

Again, this technique was originally used as a therapy. Now inmates are left in the tub for days or weeks at a time, given enough food and water to survive.

19 – Leeching Chamber

This square chamber has a small bed with metal restraints where someone could be pinioned down. In a large aquarium to one side dozens of fat, black leeches can be seen, a mass of glistening, writhing bodies. The aquarium looks to hold more leeches than it was originally intended to, as they’re packed in tightly. The water they’re sitting in looks filthy.

Again, this was an actual treatment room, but now the Intellect Devourers abuse the treatment thoroughly, putting dozens of leeches on inmates. If the tank is shattered the leeches can form a leech swarm, although with a speed of 5 ft. on land it is easily outrun. These particular leeches can also pass on Mindfire to their victims.

20 – Hallucination Chamber

This seems to be nothing more than a spare, padded cell.

Perception DC 20 to notice the small gas-jets hidden in the corners, and to hear the hiss of gas if the door is closed. The gas is similar to Insanity Mist, but instead of damaging Wisdom, deals 1d3 Sanity damage on a failed Fortitude save (DC 15, 1/round for 6 rounds, 1 save cures). In addition to losing Sanity, characters begin hallucinating for 1d4 minutes after coming under the effects of the gas. Pass around slips of paper describing their individual hallucinations. You can make up as many as you like (personal hallucinations are sometimes the most powerful), but here are a few to get you started:

Roll 1d20	Hallucination
1	Your flesh is rotting, putrefying, sloughing off your bones as you watch.
2	You hear the sound of someone screaming outside the room and down the corridor.
3	The walls are bleeding, streams of blood trickling down and pooling on the floor. If it continues at this rate it’s going to flood the room quickly.
4	Something outside the room is breathing loudly. Something big.
5	Your skin breaks out with pestilential growths, tumours and buboes that make it bubble and suppurate, leprous sores coursing across your body.
6	There is someone in the room with you. Every time you move to look at them they seems to disappear, hovering in your periphery, only visible obliquely, out of the corner of your eye.
7	Swarms of vermin are coursing out from holes in the walls, a seething tide of insects writhing towards you.
8	Heavy, hoofed footsteps are audible outside the room. A hideous bleating echoes through the asylum, such as might be made by some abominable goat.
9	You can smell smoke, and feel the walls begin to warm. The asylum must be on fire!
10	Mocking laughter resounds from every corner of the room. It echoes through your skull, in the depths of your mind. It makes you want to laugh too… to laugh long and loud.
11	A rumbling overhead is audible, and fragments of the ceiling are dislodged as the whole room begins to collapse.
12	Your clothing has somehow become animated and is trying to kill you, constricting your limbs and neck, trying to strangle you.
13	Your fingers are becoming webbed, your flesh mottling and secreting slime. You can feel gills opening at your neck. You can no longer breathe air – you need to find water and immerse yourself immediately.
14	The floor is covered in venomous snakes!
15	You’re being petrified! As you watch your skin begins to turn to stone before your eyes, starting at your fingertips and moving up along your arms, towards your torso.
16	Fur bristles from your limbs and your nails elongate, becoming claws. A lupine tail bursts from your back, twitching back and forth. A bestial rage and animalistic hunger fills you. You must have meat!
17	Your shadow just moved in a way that it shouldn’t have – like it’s become detached form you somehow, moving of its own accord. What is happening to you?
18	The walls of the room are closing in. If you don’t move quickly you’ll all be crushed – but the door to the room has disappeared.
19	Something is squirming beneath your skin – you can feel it writhing, trying to burrow its way deeper into your body. You’ve got to get it out!
20	Your friends are trying to kill you! They are advancing upon you with evil in their eyes and weapons drawn. Have they been psychically dominated, or replaced with evil duplicates?! Whatever the case, you must defend yourself!

21 – Mirror Chamber

Three walls of this chamber are padded, but the fourth wall consists entirely of a single, enormous mirror reflecting you and your companions. The room is otherwise completely empty. A hanging lamp provides illumination.

If the characters linger here, the mirror begins to change (Perception DC 15 to notice these changes begin if the characters want to leave immediately):

As you watch, you realize that your reflections are imperfect – they seem to be smirking back at you, smiling slyly. Slowly their smiles widen into unnerving grins. They stare at you, teeth bared.

If they still linger…

The reflections are now moving of their own accord. One begins beating at the silvered glass as if trying to get out. The others draw their weapons and begin carving at one another, hacking off limbs and carving hideous wounds into each other’s flesh, still smiling all the while; in fact, they seem to be thoroughly enjoying the massacre. The carnage is completely silent. As blood spurts, spattering the reflections’ side of the mirror with crimson, you find yourself wondering whether the mirror is actually just a pane of glass, with another room on the other side inhabited by your murderous doppelgangers. Then another thought creeps in: what if the images are in your mind, and you’re imagining the atrocities being acted out in the mirror?

Sanity check (0/1d6).

If the ensorceled mirror is broken, the reflections begin screaming silently as their bodies begin coming apart, skin shattering like glass, bones broken and fragmented. Shards of glass still reflect a twisted version of reality, even if taken from the room.

22 – Personality Transposition Chamber

The walls and floor of this chamber have been tiled in red and black. Two leather chairs – one red, one black – stand in the middle of the room, each equipped with leather restraints and each hooked up to a complicated apparatus that includes a vise-like device that would be clamped around a person’s head. The chairs are positioned back to back and are connected by a series of wires, with a switch set off to one side. A low hum resonates through the room, an ominous drone that makes the walls and floor vibrate very slightly.

This chamber allows for body-switching. Two characters who seat themselves in the chair, hook themselves up to the apparatus, and hit the switch will swap consciousnesses. Class levels and mental stats are transferred while physical stats and racial bonuses and penalties remain the same. This process is mentally taxing, requiring a Sanity check (1/1d6).

23 – Book Chamber

At the centre of this square chamber, illuminated by a single lamp, is a lectern upon which rests a thick tome bound in pale leather.

The book is called the Tome of Nightmares. Anyone who begins reading it must make a Sanity check or compulsively read on (interrupting them forcefully grants a second check). The book is telepathic, capable of discerning the worst fears and phobias of the reader; the text which appears on its pages consists of stories directly featuring such objects of terror. If a character finishes the book, they will be unable to sleep restfully, leaving them fatigued and unable to regain arcane spells for 24 hours. They also lose 1d6 Sanity.

24 – Chamber of the Flickering Shadow

An inmate, Bertrand (Patient 513), is pounding on the door of the room, trying desperately to escape. If the characters open the door he rushes out:

A terrified-looking man rushes out of the room, nearly tripping in his straitjacket. He is blubbering madly, his whole body shaking.

“Don’t go in there!” he shrieks, stumbling down the corridor as best he can.

Inside the room:

This room seems to be nothing more than a padded cell lit by a single lamp. The lamp flickers continuously, plunging the chamber into momentary gloom.

Perception DC 10 to notice:

As the lamp flickers, you realize that in the darkness you can catch a brief glimpse of a tall, faceless figure, a gaunt, spidery thing with a hole where its face should be. With each flicker of the lamp the figure takes a step closer towards you.

If the figure is allowed to reach the characters they must make a Sanity check or take 2d6 Sanity damage and attempt to flee the room at all costs, as if they were suffering from a Fear spell. If their Sanity reaches 0 due to this effect, they die of fright.

The source of the figure is actually the lamp, which can be detatched. A Lamp of Fear, the object can be lit in order to produce an effect similar to the Fear spell (Will DC 18 to resist, or a Sanity check) to all within 10 ft., but the item only functions in conditions of dim light and consumes oil like a normal lamp. If someone is holding the lamp and aware of its abilities they are nonetheless not immune to this effect. The Lamp is worth 12000 gp.

25 – Susurrus Room

The walls of this chamber have been covered in what looks like scraps of human skin, stitched together into macabre wallpaper. On each patch of sallow, leathery flesh is a human mouth. Some of the mouths are old, others young; some bear carious teeth or teeth filed into points. All of them are whispering suggestions – vile obscenities lovingly described, each mouth urging a different act of unspeakable violence and depravity. Crouched in a corner with her hands over her ears trying to block out the susurrus of evil is an inmate, shaking back and forth and praying loudly.

Simply listening to the constant murmuring requires a Sanity check (1/1d6).

Pious Mary is a religious maniac (Patient 766) who was condemned to the asylum after murdering several “sinners” who had “passed beyond redemption.” The susurrus has exacerbated her paranoia so that she believes anyone approaching her is a demon trying to tempt her, whom she will violently attack. She is unarmed but will use her Rage power to make a bite attack.

26 – The Art Gallery

This chamber has one wall dominated by a large painting, with many smaller paintings occupying the other walls. The big painting depicts an enormous, dead oak tree with gnarled boughs. The tree has been used as a gallows: several corpses dangle from its branches. The other paintings all depict individuals being tortured or executed by robed, faceless figures – being broken on a wheel, stretched on a rack, decapitated by axe or guillotine, pulled apart by horses, impaled, crushed, burnt, and otherwise mangled.

Upon closer inspection (or a DC 15 Perception check) the characters will recognize themselves as the victims in the paintings. This realization provokes a Sanity check (0/1d4). Once the paintings have been seen by someone they become “fixed” in that form for them, even if later moved.

The Children’s Ward

The doors in this ward are locked (Disable Device DC 30, Strength DC 25 to force, or used the Brain Key).

The sound of miserable children sniffling, crying, and mumbling in troubled sleep fills this long corridor, which is lined with barred cells.

In total there are 118 children stuffed into the cells in this ward.

27 – Children’s Cell

At least a dozen dirty children, ranging in age from about fix or six to mid adolescence, are packed into the dirty cell visible behind the bars. As you approach they back away hastily.

Most of the children will not believe the characters aren’t Intellect Devourers and will think they’re being tricked. It takes a DC 25 Diplomacy check to convince them of good intent, and even then they don’t fully trust the characters. If released they scatter unless instructed very carefully to remain calm.

28 – The Kid

The child in this cell has been warped through some twisted magic, his body radically altered, grafted with alien flesh: from the waist down the boy’s body has been replaced with that of a goat, giving him the appearance of some miniature hircine centaur. His eyes, likewise, have been replaced with the eerie horizontal-slitted eyes of a goat.

Sanity check (0/1d4) on seeing the Kid.

The Kid’s real name is Abélard, and has lived at the asylum as long as he can remember. He is beginning to lose his humanity, occasional interspersing his words with bleating sounds.

The Savour of Madness

On October 3, 2013

Exterior storm soundtrack Interior storm soundtrack

Last October, I sent the players in my Planescape campaign to Ravenloft. This year I’m doing it again, and I’ll be sharing the adventure I’m running here as well.

Synopsis

The adventure centers around an asylum, L’Hôpital de Corbin, located in a mountain range (for the curative properties of alpine air). Ten years ago, the asylum was infiltrated by a brood of Intellect Devourers fleeing persecution from their former masters (in Ravenloft these would be from the Lovecraftian Domain of Bluetspur; in other settings they could hail from the Underdark, another planet, or an alternate dimension, such as the Far Realm). The Intellect Devourers, forming an alliance with a tribe of Grimlocks dwelling under the mountains, seize control of the asylum after discovering that the brains of the inmates are especially delectable. Embalming the bodies of the asylum staff and replaced the orderlies with disguised Grimlocks, the Intellect Devourers continue to pose as alienists, accepting patients for treatment. However, instead of attempting to cure the insane, the Intellect Devourers seek instead to worsen the madness of those in their care, to “season the meat,” so to speak. Having become addicted to lunacy, the Intellect Devourers seek ever more creative (and depraved) means of worsening the insanity of their prisoners.

The characters may enter the adventure for any number of reasons, although the version given below assumes they are working for the Vistani, Ravenloft’s version of the Romani people, in exchange for passage out of the Domain of Dread. Charged with investigating L’Hôpital de Corbin, they slowly uncover its twisted secrets and must confront the Intellect Devourers and their minions without succumbing to madness themselves.

Influences

This adventure was heavily influenced by two AD&D Ravenloft adventures – Sea of Madness in the Bleak House boxed set, and RQ2: Thoughts of Darkness. There are several problems with these adventures – Sea of Madness railroads players far, far too much and depends on their extended capture and torture in a way that I don’t especially approve of, and Thoughts of Darkness is just too consistently strange to feel like classic Ravenloft, at least for me (there’s not enough quotidian, mundane material for the weird and horrific to stand out; the adventure might work in an extended Ravenloft campaign, but not for a jaunt to Ravenloft). Still, these adventures have superb ideas and imagery which I’ve drawn on. David Noonan’s adventure Spiral of Manzessine in Dungeon 94, Iain Banks’ novel The Wasp Factory, the works of the Marquis de Sade, and H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Whisperer in Darkness” were also sources of inspiration to varying extents. I wrote this adventure for my Pathfinder group (playing in the Planescape universe), but it could easily be adapted to other systems, especially horror-based systems.

Notes on Running the Adventure

Ravenloft sessions are ideally played in the evening, preferably by candlelight. If you’re playing a regular campaign in which your players are whisked off to Ravenloft, I suggest making a “transition” from the regular game: at first, make them think an ordinary session is occurring, and then, as the Mists roll in, turn out the lights and light candles.
I use music extensively in all of my games, and I think music is especially useful for horror games. For additional atmosphere, I suggest utilizing some storm sounds. Play the storm sounds fairly low so that they don’t drown out the music (finding these is very easy; some samples are included below).

When players discover documents, make sure you have handouts prepared (preferably aged and crinkled). Hand them the documents and have them read them aloud, squinting in the candlelight to discern the writing.
If characters are making Perception rolls and only one or two characters passed the roll, you may wish to scribble down what they saw on a piece of paper and then pass it to them rather than telling the whole group.
Don’t railroad the characters. If they improvise, subvert the plans of the Alienists, refuse to drink the drugged wine, evade capture, burn the place down, set all the inmates free, or anything else, just go with it. However, it’s alright to play Delacroix and the other Intellect Devourers forcefully – overly polite passive aggression is particularly suitable – as they try to trick and then eventually kidnap and torture the characters.

Sanity

Sanity rules of your choice are highly encouraged. For a basic d20 Sanity system the rules found here work adequately, and are assumed throughout the adventure.

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Alternate Settings and Systems

This adventure could very easily be adapted to other settings. While the assumed setting is Ravenloft – specifically in the Domains of Dementlieu or Richemulot – the adventure could easily be adapted to a different setting, and is particularly well suited to steampunk, Victorian, or urban fantasy settings. If a historical setting were desired, the adventure could easily be transplanted to eighteenth- or nineteenth-century France or similar settings.

Likewise, while the system used is Pathfinder, alternate systems could easily be utilized (in particular Call of Cthulhu would work well – with Call of Cthulhu d20 most of the statistics and DCs would even remain the same).

Alternate Hooks

Here are some alternative means of getting characters into the adventure:

The characters have been contracted by a local government to investigate unsettling rumours concerning the asylum and its staff.
The characters are simply passing through the mountains and are caught in the storm, and must seek shelter or else risk exposure. Wolves or other beasts may also harry them till they reach the asylum.
The characters are escorting a relative, friend, or adventuring companion suffering from a mental illness to the asylum in hopes of getting treatment for them.
The characters have all been having nightmares in which images of the asylum recur, a side-effect of the psychic ripples the Intellect Devourers’ activities create. They have traveled to L’Hôpital de Corbin to discover the significance of these dreams.

Into the Mists

A thick, dark Mist surrounds you, tenebrous tendrils of the stuff swirling round you, coiling round your limbs, caressing your skin. Echoes of maniacal laughter resound through the eerie brume as the Mist continues to congeal, enveloping you utterly, and an uncanny sensation fills you, a feeling of deep unease. Your skin horripilates, hair bristling, and for a moment you can no longer see your companions. Then, gradually, the Mist begins to thin and clear. Bone-coloured moonlight shimmers down from a sky black as a skull’s empty socket. Rain trickles down around you, and you can hear a distant rumble of thunder.

While in Ravenloft, non-Evil characters suffer a -2 penalty to all Charisma checks. Evil spells are empowered. Divination spells are impeded (Spellcraft DC 15+level to cast). Detect Good/Evil spells simply don’t function, nor do regular planeshift spells or other spells that interact with other planes (though extradimensional spaces still function normally).

Vistani Camp

As the Mist continues to clear, you find yourself in a dark mountain valley, lightly wooded. The Mist is clearing but the rain is worsening, soaking you in a matters of moments. You seem to be on a rough road winding up into the mountains ahead.

Perception DC 10 to note the camp:

You glimpse flickering, yellow lights off to one side of the road, nestled against the hills.

Nearer…

There’s a small camp up ahead, consisting of several colourful caravans clustered together, gaudily painted and lit by lanterns. Several men and women move about the camp, stowing things in their waggons.

The Fortune-teller

A young woman with piercing eyes and dark hair partially covered by a red shawl approaches you, a quizzical look on her face.

“You are strangers in this land,” she says, stating a fact rather than asking a question. “I can sense it. Have you come here of your own will, or did the Mists take you?”

If they answer (truthfully) that the Mists took them:

The woman nods. “Come; we have much to discuss.” She gestures to one of the waggons, indicating that you enter.

The Waggon

Inside the waggon some of the night chill leaves you. The warmly lit space is decorated with colourful cushions, curtains, and other decorations. There’s a small table in the middle with a candle and a deck of cards. In the back, an old woman lies on a cot, stirring fitfully in her sleep, murmuring unintelligibly. She seems pale – perhaps she is sickly.

The young woman follows you in. “Take a seat,” she says, indicating the stools and divans spread about the table.

After the characters are settled, the fortune-teller explains:

“My name is Tasaria,” she says. “A seer in training, of the Vistani, of the Boem Tasque. Long ago, we Vistani adopted the Land of the Mists as our own, and only we know the secret of travelling through the Mists. If you aid us, it is possible we could return you to your home. Is this something that you desire?”

If they say yes:

“My teacher, Madame Sorina, is the raunie of our tribe – the most powerful Seer we have. She is capable of navigating the Mists, and of many other things besides, but she has taken ill, fallen into a dread sleep from which she has not awakened for days. Before she succumbed, she spoke to me of visions in her dreams, images of a place called l’Hôpital de Corbin – an asylum established by the people of this land for the treatment of the insane. She told me that she sensed a great evil emanating from that place, an unclean presence that clouded her Sight. Then she lapsed into this torpor.” She shakes her head. “We Vistani must always move: we are a wandering people. If we linger for too long in any one place, we begin to sicken, eventually becoming mortu, losing all of our powers. Little time remains before this fate befalls us.”

She looks out of one of the small windows. “If you were to seek out this asylum and rid the place of the evil that Madame Sorina saw there, it could revive her. In exchange, we could return you to your home – or anywhere else you desire, for the Mists can touch all places. Is this acceptable?”

If they accept:

She nods. “I suggest you pose as travellers, seeking shelter from the storm. This will give you pretense to enter the asylum and seek out the source of Madame Sorina’s visions.”

The Mountain Road

The storm imposes a -4 penalty to Perception checks

The road winds up into the mountains, becoming progressively steeper. The storm continues to intensify, lightning crackling across the black sky, dark clouds now obscuring the moon completely. The path is slippery with mud. You can see waggon-ruts in the road – carts have driven through here repeatedly, wearing tracks in the path.

The Goat

Perception DC 20:

High up on a crag above the path, you glimpse a black goat watching you intently with yellow eyes. When it realizes it’s been seen the creature shakes its horned head and trots off into the storm, disappearing from sight.

The goat is actually the host for an Intellect Devourer, one of the brood in the asylum.

L’Hôpital de Corbin

The road terminates at the wrought iron gates of L’Hôpital de Corbin, an imposing building of three stories built of weathered, grey-brown stone. Though quite ornate, the building itself is unremarkable, though its windows have all been barred. Ivy and lichens have infested the asylum’s walls and roof, and the building looks generally run-down, but smoke issues from the chimneys and some of the windows show lights. The structure itself has two principal wings extending from the main building. Apart from the sanitarium itself the grounds – enclosed by a high, spiked fence – include a small chapel, a cemetery, a coach house, and what looks like the groundskeeper’s cottage. Rain continues to pour down, and thunder echoes off the surrounding mountains.

The Intellect Devourers

The Intellect Devourers who now run L’Hôpital de Corbin – the Alienists, as they call themselves – will put on a show for the characters, pretending to be a “normal” asylum. When required, the Grimlock orderlies and other servitors utilize potions of Disguise Self brewed in the alchemical laboratory in the basement in order to masquerade as human.

The adventure assumes the non-Psionic version of the Intellect Devourer, but it would be very easy to adjust it to use the Psionic variant instead.

There are 13 Intellect Devourers total (though, of course, this number can be adjusted as desired). At the beginning of the scenario, they are assumed to be in the following bodies:

1) Ulthoon is in the body of a goat patrolling the area around the asylum.

2) Ilsenzor is in the body of an inmate, posing as the groundskeeper.

3) Quasiriant, the “leader” of the brood, is in the body of Dr Delacroix (Alienist stats for host, full stats below). If not escorting the characters, he’ll usually be in his study.

4) Yrgell is in the body of Nurse Genevieve in the Infirmary.

5) 4 more Intellect Devourers are in Alienist bodies, generally in their quarters (16), or in the basement (in Examination Rooms, Laboratories, the Marionette Room, etc).

6) 5 are in the bodies of inmates either posing as staff or in the basement chambers.

Statistics for additional hosts and for particular NPCs are provided in the Appendix.

The Orderlies

At any given time, they are around 20-30 Orderlies in the asylum proper itself. The rest of the tribe (another 40 or so Grimlocks) lurk in the Tunnels below.

Orderlies are betrayed by their tendency to sniff and their failure to meet the eyes of anyone they come across. They also cannot speak the Common tongue well, doing so brokenly if at all. Repeated attempts at communication are met with blank looks, hisses, and bared teeth.

When an Orderly is killed the Disguise Self spell dissipates and they revert to their ordinary form, which provokes a Sanity check (0/1d4):

The Orderly falls dead, and his visage seethes and bubbles, an illusion dissipating and skin sloughing away to reveal a different face beneath – grey-skinned, hairless, and with white, blind eyes and a mouthful of fangs.

Seeing a Grimlock alive without the illusion provokes a Sanity check as well (0/1d6). The maximum sanity loss Grimlocks can provoke is 6.

The Grounds

The grounds are ill-tended and overgrown, the grass tall and unweeded. Gravel paths wind throughout the sanitarium’s estate, and the now-barren remains of flowerbeds or vegetable gardens can be seen here and there. Copses of sickly-looking trees loom over the grounds, casting spidery shadows on the pale grass. The rain has churned the ground to mud.

The Groundskeeper

The “groundskeeper” is nothing more than a gate-guard at this point – he does nothing to actually maintain the grounds. He’s actually a former inmate that’s been taken over by an Intellect Devourer, Ilsenzor. The inmate/host has stats similar to these, but wields a dagger (+8 to hit, 1d4+4 damage) and a stout cudgel (+8 to hit, 1d6+4 damage); he may also be equipped with a pistol or musket. The groundskeeper patrols the estate periodically and will approach characters if they attempt to investigate the chapel, coach house, cottage, or cemetery:

A scowling, red-haired man with a pockmarked face approaches you. He carries a cudgel in one meaty hand and a lantern in the other, and wears a somewhat shabby uniform of some kind. He raises the lantern and squints at you with black, beady eyes, rain pattering off his leather hat. His complexion is waxen and pale; he looks unwell.

“Trespassers, is it?” he asks, baring yellowed teeth.

As with the other Intellect Devourers’ hosts, the groundskeeper is slowly rotting. Perception DC 20 to notice the man smells awful, somewhat like rotting meat. A Perception check of 30 or higher reveals a small patch of rotting flesh on his wrist, partially concealed by his fraying sleeve. The groundskeeper – who calls himself Gerard after the previous, actual groundskeeper – will attempt to escort the characters to the asylum proper. He has a ring of wrought-iron keys with ornate bows forged in the shapes of body part – the Eye, Hand, and Heart keys.

Coach House

The coach house is built of the same stone as the asylum itself and has an attached stables; several horses can be seen within. The doors to the coach house are open, revealing a large carriage and a smaller waggon within. Hitching posts surround the carriage yard.

There are six heavy horses here. They are well fed and cared for, though there likely won’t be any stablehands around. The players may need to avail themselves of the horses to escape the asylum at some point; in this event, throw a pair of Grimlocks in to complicate things.

Groundskeeper’s Cottage

The groundskeeper’s cottage is a small, single-story building built next to a stagnant pond. Like the chapel and the coach house it’s made of stone, though its roof is of wooden slates and looks to be slowly rotting, ridden with moss and fungi. The windows are dim and shrouded with curtains.

The cottage is locked (Disable Device DC 20 or use the Eye Key).

The groundskeeper’s cottage is a slovenly mess; the furniture (a bed, table, a few chairs, and a chest of drawers) is beginning to rot, the deer-hide rug is tattered and stained, and the place has not been cleaned or swept in quite some time. There are several paintings of pastoral scenes hanging askew on the walls, but they have been defaced, the figures in them now bear extra heads, limbs, or body parts belonging to animals, scribbled additions in charcoal or what might be blood. A rusty, double-barrelled musket (leans against one wall, next to an open chest with a small supply of gunpowder and round bullets.

There’s a double-barreled musket here, obviously, along with 30 bullets and 30 doses of gunpowder.

Chapel

The asylum’s chapel is in a state of disrepair: the door has been boarded up, chained, and padlocked, and some the stained glass windows have been cracked or broken. A pair of moss-ridden gargoyles leer at you from the thoroughly rotten roof. A cemetery adjoins the disused chapel.

It requires a Strength check (DC 20) to remove the boards by hand, and the door is locked (Disable Device DC 20 or use the Eye Key). Inside:

The chapel is small and shadowy, with rows of stone pews set before a modest altar and a wooden pulpit, now beginning to rot. A rat scurries across the floor. The stained glass window at the far end of the church depicts a shield with a sword pointing downwards, adorned with a sprig of belladonna. Despite the dereliction of the chapel, a sense of calm fills you here. The sound of the rain pattering against the stained glass windows is curiously soothing.

Any non-Evil character taking refuse of the chapel heals 1d4 Sanity points immediately (this only occurs once).

Knowledge (religion) DC 25 to recognize the symbol of Ezra, Lady of the Mists. On the pulpit there is a book of prayers, including this common prayer:

“Blessed Ezra, Our Guardian in the Mists,

She who sacrificed Herself to fill the Hollow,
Healer of the sick, protector of the weak, guide to the lost,
To You we pray. Watch over us, Your people.

Take us under Your protection,
Show us the light when we are lost in darkness,

Defend us when the Legions of the Night draw close,
Lead us to our place in the Grand Scheme,

And bring us through the night to the shelter of peace.”

In the pulpit there’s a compartment (Disable Device DC 25 to pick) containing 4 Scrolls of Protection from Evil and a +1 Holy Silver Dagger with the word “Grace” engraved on the blade.

Cemetery

The cemetery is of considerable size, filled with dozens of headstones marked only with numbers and dates. Many of the graves are chipped or weather-worn, spattered with bird droppings or overgrown with weeds and lichens.

An examination of the headstones turns up something unusual: the last person buried in the graveyard died over ten years ago (year 735). Before that point, bodies had been interred fairly regularly. This is because it was ten years ago when the Intellect Devourers and their servants moved in; the Orderlies have been eating bodies ever since, rather than burying them.

The Asylum

Greeting

The doors to the asylum open, and a smiling figure minces across the foyer towards you. Dressed in a dark coat, vest, and stockings and wearing a powdered wig, the man is pale and exceedingly gaunt. Dark eyes glimmer from his sunken sockets, and his yellow grin reminds you of a skull; in one hand he holds a lamp. He extends his other hand, pallid and long-fingered, offering it to shake. Thunder crackles distantly.

“Ah, welcome to L’Hôpital de Corbin!” he says. “We so rarely receive sane visitors. I am Dr Delacroix, the Aliéniste Principal.”

Dr Delacroix – actually the Intellect Devourer Quasiriant – will warmly greet characters, offering them food, rooms for the night, and the promise of a tour in the morning (this assumes, of course, the characters have arrived at night; if they’ve arrived in daylight, adjust accordingly). Perception DC 20 to the person shaking his hand:

Dr Delacroix’s hand is cold and clammy, his handshake is very firm. As you come close to the thin, elegant figure you catch a whiff of some strong cologne masking a sour smell reminiscent of spoiled meat and acrid chemicals.

Delacroix will invite the characters to sup and will attempt to lead them up to the Dining Room on the second level of the asylum before escorting them to the guest chambers on the third. Then the real fun begins…

First Floor

1 – Foyer

The foyer is an expansive tiled chamber with a reception desk and a crystal chandelier. A somewhat rickety but richly carpeted stair winds up to the second and third floors of the sanitarium, while ornate wooden doors to the right and left lead to other parts of the asylum. Hanging on the walls are several paintings: one is a portrait of a distinguished looking man in a powdered wig with a prominent nose and steely eyes with a plaque reading “Dr Valentin Morel” beneath it, another depicts a local mountain scene, sunny and pastoral, with frolicking goats and locals, and a third is actually a framed anatomical drawing of a giant squid. A few lit candles provide meagre illumination; outside you can hear the rain and storm.

Perception DC 15:

You can hear noises elsewhere in the asylum – a distant scream, a cackle of laughter, and someone sobbing desperately.

Perception DC 25 (same roll – if they got a 25, just keep reading):

In addition to the sobbing sounds, you can hear someone pleading desperately for mercy, begging someone else to stop hurting them. You think, also, that you can hear the sound of some machinery, somewhere – the creak of gears, the tautening of a rope.

2 – Mess Hall

This long chamber must be the mess hall – there are a series of long wooden tables with benches arrayed in two columns. A set of double doors leads to what is probably the kitchen.

3 – Kitchen

The kitchen is unremarkable, with several large tables, a stove, pots and pans hanging from pegs, and a dumbwaiter with a small lever beside it. A stone stair leads down into the cellar, and an adjoining pantry contains spices, foodstuffs, baking supplies, and other ingredients.

The kitchen staff consist of three disguised Grimlocks. If the characters barge in during working hours (the day, basically) they will be preparing meals here for the inmates:

Three female servants work to prepare a meal, clad in dingy aprons and uniforms – one is skinning a rabbit while a second chops vegetables and a third kneads dough. They scowl at you as you enter, saying nothing. One sniffs loudly and murmurs something unintelligible.

If combat breaks out they use kitchen knives and cleavers as weapons.

4 – Infirmary

The door to the infirmary is locked (Disable Device DC 30, Strength DC 25 to force, or use the Heart key).

This room must be the asylum’s infirmary, judging from the rolling steel trays with scalpels, bandages, and other medical supplies and the beds that line the walls. Many of the beds are swathed in curtains, obscuring any occupants. You can hear moaning sounds and the rattle of restraints coming from one of the obscured beds near the back of the hall. An open door to one side leads to a stairwell winding down into the earth.

Pulling aside the curtains reveals the patient:

Pulling back the curtains, you discover a patient strapped to one of the infirmary beds. Obviously an inmate, the man’s head has been shaved, and his body is covered in a hundreds and hundreds of zigzagging stitches. For a moment you think the man must be covered in boils, but then you realize the round protrusions that mottle his limbs and torso are not pustules but eyes – a multitude of them in a variety of colours, some obviously culled from animals, others from humans. The eyes rove and blink, some weeping profusely, some closed, some twitching and rolling wildly.

Sight of the “Peacock” provokes a Sanity check (1/1d4). As the characters examine the grafted inmate Nurse Genevieve approaches them stealthily, creeping out from behind another set of curtains (Stealth +9). If she is undetected she will plunge a syringe of tranquilizer (Fortitude DC 20 or become paralyzed for 1d3 minutes) into the neck of the nearest character. If she is seen beforehand:

A tall, gaunt woman in a nurse’s uniform creeps towards you, a syringe in one hand, a bloodstained scalpel in the other. She exudes a graveolent stench poorly masked by perfume.

Statistics for Nurse Genevieve are provided in the Appendix.

5 – Games Room

The stuffed heads of local wildlife – wolves, bears, stags, and boars – stare down at you from the walls of this musty games room, which looks thoroughly disused. There are a number of dusty tables set with checkered boards or strewn with cards, some cobwebbed, rat-eaten leather chairs, and a scuffed billiards table.

6 – Guard Room

This square guard room contains a round table and chairs. A pair of burly, pallid guards lurk here, speaking to one another in low, guttural voices.

7 – Arsenal

This room is locked (Disable Device DC 40, Strength DC 25 to force, or used the Hand Key)

This looks to be a small arsenal for the orderlies, containing dozens of straitjackets, padded armour, protective masks, orderlies’ uniforms, and batons. There are also many fetters, shackles, manacles, and other restraints, as well as muzzles and gags.

There are 10 suits of padded armour and 20 saps in each armoury. There is a 10% chance of finding a 6 wheelock pistols, a musket, 100 bullets, and a barrel of gunpowder as well – the Grimlocks don’t like firearms, and the Alienists discourage the use of lethal force in any event (preferring to consume still-living brains that haven’t been dashed to pieces by bullets, thank you very much).

Male Ward

This ward is fairly quiet, punctuated by occasional moans, murmurs, or the sound of rattling chains. An orderly patrols the corridor, occasionally growling at inmates behind the bars of the ten cells that line the walls of the passage.

All doors in this area are locked (Disable Device DC 30, Strength DC 25 to force, or used the Brain Key).

In total there are 97 male inmates here.

8 – Male Cell

You peer through the bars to look into a fairly large cell which has been filled with inmates. The men here jostle for room, clad in dirty rags or the mouldering remnants of uniforms. As you approach they shy away, drawing back as far from the bars as they can. Wild-eyed, thin, and filthy, the inmates look more scared and brutalized than mad, though some of them do mutter and mumble to themselves.

Some of the inmates here are quite disturbed, but a number are clinging to the shreds of sanity and can be reasoned with using a Diplomacy check (DC 25). They naturally assume the characters are Intellect Devourers in disguise. If released, they violently attack Orderlies and Alienists alike, but may also attack the characters.

9 – The Satyr

Unlike the other cells, only a single inmate occupies this small chamber. He grins at you from behind the bars, leering lasciviously, and steps into the lamplight, revealing a twisted body that has been modified through surgery or magic or both: in place of feet he has large hooves, a pair of horns have been sutured to his scalp, and his eyes have been replaced with the yellow, horizontal-pupiled eyes of a goat. He bleats horribly.

Sight of the Satyr provokes a Sanity check (0/1d4). This poor inmate has been driven quite mad, having convinced himself he’s a faun as a coping mechanism. He has a gore attack (+2 to attack, 1d6 damage), and will be more inclined to attack female party members. With proper treatment he can regain his humanity.

10 – The Werewolf

Shackled to the far wall of this room is a malformed figure; at first you take him for a lycanthrope or similar creature, but then you realize the lupine body parts he possesses – the snout, tail, and paws of a wolf – have been grafted on, roughly stitched to his body. The wretched inmate howls and barks, straining against his chains.

Sight of the Werewolf provokes a Sanity check (0/1d4). This deranged inmate will attack any who releases him with his bite attack (+2, 1d6, plus Filth Fever). He can be calmed with a Wild Empathy check (DC 25), and with treatment can regain his humanity.

11 – The Mob

Whatever diseased mind created this hideous agglomeration of human flesh, it could not have been human. The bodies of a dozen inmates have been fused together, resulting in a twitching, writhing mass of limbs, heads, and torsos, moaning and skittering in the gloom.

The Mob provokes a Sanity check (1/1d6+1). The “creature” is in no condition to fight (indeed, the Mob would have trouble even getting out of the cell), but can attack (10 attacks, +2 each, 1d4 non-lethal) if characters get too close.

Female Ward

This ward is lined with barred cells full from which you can hear the occasional whimper, groan, or shriek.

The rooms in this ward are locked (Disable Device DC 30, Strength DC 25 to force, or used the Brain Key).

In total there are 124 female inmates here.

12 – Female Cell

This cell is full of women in straitjackets or ragged uniforms, some of them obviously mentally disturbed, others clinging to what shreds of sanity they have left. They shy away from you as you near the bars.

Some of the inmates (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/npc-s/npc-2/prisoner-human-expert-4) here are quite disturbed, but a number are clinging to the shreds of sanity and can be reasoned with using a Diplomacy check (DC 25). They naturally assume the characters are Intellect Devourers in disguise. If released, they violently attack Orderlies and Alienists alike, but may also attack the characters.

13 – The Spider

At first you think this cell must be empty, but then you spot the woman clinging to the ceiling with six arms, four of them grafted to her torso through some abominable mixture of sorcery and surgery, all six equipped with some means of gripping the bare brick. Additional eyes have been grafted to her forehead, as well, giving her the appearance of some monstrous spider. Clearly deranged, the woman hisses and climbs into a corner of the room.

Sight of the Spider provokes a Sanity check (0/1d4). She has the same statistics as other inmates but has six attacks and the multiattack feat.

14 – Pregnant Inmate

The woman in this cell is dressed in inmates’ garb. Her swollen belly indicates she is in the later stages of pregnancy.

Giselle was interred some time ago for “hysteria,” before her pregnancy was known, and the Alienists have kept her pregnancy secret from her well-off merchant family, who will pay handsomely (10,000 gp) for her safe return.

…

The next two floors of the asylum, the attic, the basement, and the tunnels beneath will be up soon, plus player handouts and stats for important NPCs.

St. Severine’s Skull: Hexenburg Castle – Approach and Watchtowers

On September 24, 2013

A few words on the design and general “philosophy” of Hexenburg. While the Castle is sprawling, much of it is empty. What monsters there are in the ruin, however, tend to be quite dangerous for a low-level party. The idea is to use a few powerful monsters to their greatest effect, rather than cramming every room with lots of weak monsters. There are a few exceptions to this (the Goblin tribe in the Dungeons, or the hordes of undead in the Catacombs), but largely the Castle should feel big and mostly empty. This is to encourage a feeling of paranoia and uncertainty amongst the players. As they enter each room, they should feel uncertain what they’re going to find. Each encounter should be a dangerous one where the stakes feel high, not a run-of-the-mill hackfest where the players mow through squads of monsters with relative ease. Play monsters intelligently; they should employ clever tactics against players, using special attacks, dirty tricks, spells, terrain, disarming attacks, and the like. They should retreat when wounded, rather than fighting to the death.

Hexenburg is a cursed place – a place where evil and darkness hold saw. Dead bodies allowed to lay on the grounds can spontaneously reanimate, and the very stones of the place seem to whisper black obscenities on those who tread upon them.

As an incipient blizzard swirls around you, Hexenburg Castle at last comes into view: a foreboding mass of dark stone, half-reclaimed by the forest. The trees in this part of the forest seem sickly, tree-trunks mottled by blight, scabrous bark peeling. The path winds up the raised earthwork motte of the fortress, then passes over a rickety old drawbridge spanning a snow-clotted ditch. Old wooden spikes are visible in this moat, to deter any trying to scale the walls. The crenellated battlements are beginning to sag and crumble but the gatehouse is still mostly intact. Past the walls rise several towers – two largely intact, one a broken stub – and a formidable keep. Rotting mangonels are visible on the walls.

Perception DC 20 to notice a light flicker in the window of the west tower. DC 15 to notice:

Scattered on the path leading up to the castle are a number of bones, broken weapons, cloven shields, and other remnants of an old battle – likely the very battle that resulted in the castle’s ruination at the hands of marauders from the north.

A thorough search of the battlefield produces a masterwork longsword.

Watchtower Table

There are many watchtowers in Hexenburg Castle, which may or may not be searched by the players. The following table allows for random generation of watchtower contents. Each tower has 4 levels and thus four randomized rooms. Roll on the following table if the players decide to go poking out in a watchtower:

Roll d%	Result
1	A room covered in old bloodstains.
2	A room covered in fresh bloodstains.
3	Four Goblins hunting rats for stew, led by a Goblin Ranger.
4	A heap of human bones.
5	Aklo runes scrawled on a wall in blood (random 1^st level Necromantic spell formulae if deciphered with a DC 20 Linguistics check).
6	Sleeping bats (they could form a swarm if threatened).
7	A human corpse nailed to a wall, with its tongue and fingernails removed.
8	A human corpse nailed to the floor with its heart, liver, lungs, and brain removed.
9	A room with dozens of Elf ears nailed to the walls.
10	Torture implements – a rack, thumbscrews, and branding irons.
11	A roosting Owlbear in its nest.
12	A severed head in the middle of the room with black gems (25 gp each) replacing its eyes.
13	Lectern with a book in an unknown language.
14	Lectern with a Vacuous Grimoire which appears to be a treatise on Hexenburg’s history.
15	A telescope and other astrological equipment. It looks remarkably new.
16	An Ettercap lair filled with webs and web-swathed corpses.
17	Empty coffin.
18	Coffin full of congealing blood.
19	A huge pile of human teeth.
20	A very large cocoon.
21	Chalk instructions for summoning a Chaos Beast (counts as Planar Binding, but only for Chaos Beasts).
22	A large basin of stagnant water full of leeches.
23	Assassin vine.
24	A black goat, staring at you.
25	Suicide-inducing statuette; a corpse dangles from the rafters, tongue and eyes bulging. Will DC 10 to resist.
26	An armoury with a morningstar, bec de corbin, bardiche, and handaxe.
27	Slime Mold.
28	Cursed but empty room that generates violent and evil thoughts in those who enter.
29	Wooden crates full of human body parts, carefully sorted.
30	Puzzle-box containing a random Kyton; Disable Device DC 20 to open.
31	Crawling hand.
32	8 Crawling hands.
33	Squatting leper.
34	3 Shriekers.
35	A large owl, possibly friendly, possibly aloof.
36	A map of the Catacombs scrawled in red chalk.
37	1d12 Stirges.
38	An armoury with two suits of chainmail and one suit of masterwork splint mail.
39	Dead body with a Demonic Cyst (see L6) growing out of it.
40	Cow bones.
41	Goat bones.
42	Wolf bones engraved with mystic runes and arranged in an uncanny design.
43	Nest of 2d6 giant ticks.
44	Magical circle carved into the stones. If filled with blood it teleports those inside it to another watch-tower with an identical circle.
45	Mucus trails leading into the castle walls.
46	Shelves with 4 jars of lamp oil (1 pint each), a hooded lantern, and a spare dozen torches.
47	The husks of many, many insects.
48	Shed grick-skin.
49	Dozens of empty and broken bottles.
50	Huge heap of burlap sacks and bags, one of which is a Bag of Holding, another of which is a Bag of Devouring.
51	Extremely drunk Dwarf named Mim who’s not sure where he is or how he got there. He’s a 2^nd level Barbarian.
52	Mimic.
53	Rat’s nest containing 256 sp, 452 cp, and 22 gp.
54	Mangonel stones (as in G12).
55	Mangonel parts (as in G11).
56	An armoury with 12 longspears and 4 glaives.
57	Raven’s rookery containing 78 sp, 12 gp, and 188 cp, plus a pair of gold earrings worth 50 gp.
58	An Allip.
59	Barrels of sour wine (vinegar, essentially).
60	Dozens of broken crates.
61	Two large, feral black cats.
62	One hundred human tongues in a cauldron.
63	The lingering sound of a child crying, but nothing else.
64	Fungus that’s strangely shaped itself into the visage of Saint Severine.
65	A heap of empty buckets crawling with woodlice.
66	Three large nets.
67	An outlaw guilty of two murders and theft. He lacks combat gear beyond a dagger, but does have a purse with 23 platinum pieces and 43 gp.
68	A pile of partially burnt holy texts.
69	A statue of St. Bastiana which weeps blood and grants an Aid spell (20^th level) to those of the faithful who pray at it, but smites heathens who pray at it as per Inflict Light Wounds (1d8+5, DC 16 for half).
70	Scorch marks and the remnants of burnt furniture.
71	Empty cages made of wicker.
72	Crumbling floor; unless a character has Trapspotter or Stonecunning, they don’t get a Perception check automatically; it’s DC 20 to detect otherwise. The hazard requires a Reflex DC 20 to avoid and deals 2d6 falling damage, depositing characters in the room below.
73	Signs of a recently made camp.
74	The skeletal remains of a marauder, armed with a broken battleaxe and hide armour.
75	A child’s doll.
76	Firewood, somewhat damp but still useable.
77	An empty wooden chest.
78	A trapped steel chest (Perception DC 20, Disable Device DC 20 – needle with Greenblood Oil, Fort DC 13, 1 Con damage, 1/round for 4 rounds, 1 save cures), locked (DC 20 to open). Inside is a +1 Heavy Mace made of dark metal that fills a character with feelings of intense pleasure when used to kill.
79	Rotten timber.
80	A lost Black Dragon hatchling. Will be helpful to Chaotic Evil characters, friendly to Chaotic or Evil characters, indifferent to Neutral characters, unfriendly to Good or Lawful characters, and Hostile to Lawful Good characters. If befriended, its mother will eventually come looking for it.
81	Barrels of crossbow bolts (300).
82	A powerful Necromancer named Markus Gor, casually scratching runes into a bandit’s corpse.
83	Dead body with organs liquefied, containing a clutch of Tentamort eggs.
84	A broken masterwork greatsword (notched and bloodstained) hanging on the wall.
85	Rotting tapestries depicting scenes from the Winter Crusades.
86	A small shrine dedicated to a wolf-god, with wolf-pelts everywhere and a wolf’s head on an altar.
87	A pair of runaway peasant children from Gründorf, now very lost and very scared.
88	Dead leaves and twigs, heaped into a nest, with no sign of its owner.
89	A Gargoyle. It will pretend to be a statue, but will then start following the party around when they aren’t watching.
90	Goblin lookout.
91	Berserking Greatsword hung on a wall, along with two bastard swords, four longswords, and six shortswords.
92	Malevolent Faun playing pan-pipes on the window ledge.
93	Pornographic graffiti, probably drawn by a bored Goblin lookout.
94	Rusted caltrops everywhere.
95	Empty shelves.
96	Buckets of small stones for murder holes.
97	Two dead Goblins wrapped in cobwebs.
98	A Halfling tomb-robber named Hippolyta here to plunder the chapel’s catacombs.
99	Tentamort.
100	Small table upon which can be found a leather pouch containing a Deck of Many Things.

In a pinch, the above table can be used for any random castle/dungeon rooms required, for whatever reason.

St. Severine’s Skull: The Wulfswald

On September 21, 2013

The players have only been through this region once, but I plan to make much more use of it in future. I think their encounter with the Wraith back in the village’s abandoned church rattled them a bit, so they tended to leave everything alone as they progressed through the woods up into the forest (refusing to enter the plague-cabin or the barrow). They made it over the river with the aid of a felled tree.

Crossing the decrepit stone bridge that leads out of town, you press on into the depths of the Wulfswald. The road becomes steep, and the already chill weather quickly worsens, and snow begins to fall from the corpse-grey sky. Black, leafless trees rise to either side of the winding path. Here and there loom standing stones, rune-graven monoliths swathed in moss and creepers. Ravens watch you from the trees, while weasels and dark-furred foxes scurry through the undergrowth. Somewhere, distantly, a wolf howls.

Cold weather Fortitude save DC 15 (+1/hour) or suffer 1d6 nonlethal cold damage. Remember that characters with the Survival skill can make a DC 15 check to gain a +2 bonus to this save, and that this doesn’t stack with furs.

Anyone who can read Druidic (or make a DC 20 Linguistics check) can decipher the writing on the menhirs, which are prayers to spirits of the forest and can be “cast” by Druids like spells from wands or scrolls, creating the following spell effects: Endure Elements (Cold), Pass Without Trace, Cure Light Wounds, Barkskin, Bear’s Endurance. Each menhir can be used once per day on one target.

If the players start wandering off the path, they have a good chance of accidentally tripping a hunter’s snare or trap.

Random Encounters

On the first time up to the castle, don’t have too many encounters. In future (and especially if/while the party is retreating to the town), hit them with wolves, bandits, Ghouls, and other creatures as desired, making a trek back through the woods harrowing. Here’s a table with a variety of encounters, if desired – note that wolves show up several times (when in doubt, throw wolves at them):

Roll d%	Result
1	Wolves (party’s average level+1d2 wolves).
2	Cold weather worsens. A Fortitude save is required every 10 minutes to avoid 1d6 nonlethal cold damage.
3	3+1d4 Bandits who hold up the characters.
4	Holy Hermit possibly willing to heal the injured.
5	Sudden fog gives all creatures more than 5 ft away concealment (20% miss chance). Survival DC 20 or become lost.
6	Wolves (party’s average level+1d3 wolves).
7	One-Eyed Sally and 4 Bandits.
8	1d6 Ghouls
9	1d4 Ghouls and 1 Ghast.
10	Doomsayer driven from town.
11	2 Spriggans.
12	Hailstorm begins, dealing 1 lethal damage every few minutes to those in the open. Determine who is hurt randomly.
13	Raiding party of Hexenlanders (2d6 Barbarians).
14	Wolves (party’s average level+1d4 wolves).
15	Leper begging alms.
16	Wandering madman.
17	1d6 wolves feasting on a woodsman (not Frederick).
18	Goblin trap consisting of a gut tripwire strung between two trees that releases a wooden battering-ram or spear (+15 melee attack, 1d8+6); DC 20 to perceive or disable. 1d4 Goblin warriors likely wait nearby, ready to spring on those trapped.
19	Falling tree (Reflex DC 14 or take 3d6 damage).
20	Moss Troll.
21	1d2 Dire Wolves.
22	Prostitute scorned by the locals and driven into the wilderness.
23	Goblin scout party consisting of five Goblin warriors.
24	Goblin war party consisting of four Goblin spider riders with giant spider mounts or Worg mounts.
25	1d3 Dire Wolves.
26	Wolves (party’s average level+1d6 wolves).
27	2 Ghouls feasting on a dead Dire Wolf.
28	1d4 Boars.
29	Murder of crows feasting on the entrails of a slaughtered merchant caravan, thoroughly looted save for a chest with 253 gp, several sacks of grain, and a bottle of fine wine.
30	Persistent hedgehog that leads characters to a buried treasure (a chest buried by bandits – Disable Device DC 20, contains 468 sp and a Ring of Protection +1).
31	Dark Ice Grig protective of the woods. It will attack anyone it perceives as especially ugly (under 10 Charisma) or who threatens the forest. It also attacks axe-wielders, torchbearers, and Dwarves. However, it can be reasoned with.
32	Previously unseen path branches off the main trail. Survival DC 20 to avoid getting lost if this trail is taken.
33	Decapus.
34	1d4 Dire Wolves.
35	Lone outlaw.
36	1d4 Bugbears.
37	Dead horse infested with Rot Grubs.
38	Wandering minstrel camped by the road with a simpleton assistant. May provide good cheer. May rob characters blind.
39	Wolves (party’s average level+1d8 wolves).
40	Distressed dryad whose tree is being molested by woodsmen.
41	1d6 Dire Wolves.
42	Owlbear.
43	Standing stone decorated with entrails, emitting an Unhallow effect; any who dies near the stone rises as a zombie.
44	Bear.
45	Bear with 1d4 cubs.
46	Wolverine.
47	Ginny Greenfang.
48	Huldra seductress who may help or hinder the party, or help them find the path if they are lost.
49	Shunned wolf, exiled from its pack, wounded.
50	Hunting Red Cap.
51	Twigjack.
52	Hedge Wizard for hire.
53	Bear trapped in a bear-trap.
54	Wolf trapped in a bear-trap.
55	1d8 Dire Wolves.
56	Wolves (party’s average level+1d10 wolves).
57	Frederick the huntsman (see below).
58	Sabbat attended by witches or shamans.
59	Grugnar (see Gatehouse, below).
60	Winter Wolf.
61	Troupe of actors rehearsing in the woods (badly). Possibly being stalked by malicious fey.
62	Forest Drake.
63	Wolves (party’s average level+1d12 wolves).
64	1d10 Dire Wolves.
65	Ghast feeding on the remains of a bandit.
66	Quickwood.
67	1d12 Dire Wolves.
68	Panicked horse with an arrow in its flank (10 hp remaining).
69	Zombie horse.
70	1d6 cannibals led by a mad Druid.
71	Dislodged boulders rolling down a hill requiring a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid 4d6 bludgeoning damage. A successful Perception check of DC 20 beforehand alerts characters to the boulders, giving them a +4 bonus on the save.
72	Gypsies round a cooking fire who may tell fortunes, sell healing herbs, repair equipment, or slit the characters’ throats and leave their corpses for the wolves, according to taste.
73	Wolves (party’s average level+1d20 wolves).
74	Stray Cairn Wight from a violated barrow.
75	Cold weather becomes extremely severe. A Fortitude save is required every 5 minutes to avoid 1d6 nonlethal cold damage.
76	Thunderstorm with severe winds (-8 to Perception, -4 ranged attacks) and lightning (1 bolt per hour, 4d8 electricity damage, hits anyone in metal armour or climbing a tree, flying, etc).
77	Wolves (party’s average level+3d10 wolves).
78	A group of 2d6 Elves, who may follow the characters, assist them, or avoid them depending on their general character.
79	Lost child from Gründorf.
80	Malevolent Satyr who preys on high-Charisma female party members.
81	Abandoned camp.
82	A pair of villagers having a tryst. Probably heard before they’re seen.
83	Mysterious Gnome pedlar woman who sells all manner of cures, potions, and even magical trinkets, but who Curses any character who is rude to her.
84	Barghest.
85	Lord Gobbler (see below) and 1d6 Worgs.
86	6 Kobolds from the Weeping Hills.
87	2 Ogres from the Weeping Hills – relatives of Grugnar’s.
88	Dire Boar.
89	Dire Wolverine.
90	Dire Bear.
91	Wolves (party’s average level+2d20 wolves).
92	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d2 wolves).
93	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d3 wolves).
94	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d4 wolves).
95	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d6 wolves).
96	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d8 wolves).
97	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d10 wolves).
98	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d12 wolves).
99	Wolves (double the party’s average level+1d20 wolves).
100	Gigantic pack of 50+1d100 wolves led by a Dire Wolf, Winter Wolf, Barghest, or a Werewolf (determine with a roll of 1d4).

Don’t be excessive with the table; roll on it every other trip through the woods or so, or if characters insist on exploring the woods themselves because they’ve been driven out of the Castle by Goblins, Grugnar, or the murderous Red Cap. An encounter with a flesh-eating tree, Ginny Greenfang, or a terrifying number of wolves should hopefully persuade them to return to the dungeons, where at least there’s gold and magic items to be had.

Huntsman

The huntsman will approach stealthily – he has +10 to Stealth in wooded areas, so characters will likely need to roll well to spot him. This description assumes they didn’t, but if they did, just add in that a branch broke and he’s just suddenly “there.”

You hear the soft sound of a bowstring being draw behind you, and a voice says “Heel, Bridget. I don’t think they’re bandits.”

Behind you stands a tall, sinewy man dressed in poorly tanned furs, a huge black dog beside him. The pair must have approached you almost silently. The man is incredibly grizzled, his face deeply lined and grimy, his eyes deeply sunken, his thin lips curled back in a sneer. A large wen in visible on his face, and he suffers from goitre as well. He carries a longbow and an axe at his waist.

The huntsman’s name is Frederick, though he doesn’t volunteer this information. He disapproves of outsiders and will try to warn players away with phrases like:

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll head back the way you came. There’s nought but death up in these hills.”

“The Light has forsaken these woods. Its servants are no longer welcome here.”

“Mark my words – if you go into that castle, you won’t come back out. That place is cursed.”

After reciting his cryptic warnings, Frederick melts back into the gloom.

Wolf

The snow falls even more thickly, and a soft wind moans through the wood, making branches creak and murmur. The path begins to zigzag upwards. Following it round a sharp turn you find yourself face to face with a large, white wolf – at first you didn’t even see it in the snow. The creature regards you with incurious, piercing blue eyes. It takes you a moment to realize that the object held in the beast’s jaws is a bloody human arm.

Give the players a moment to react, but have the wolf lope unhurriedly back into the wood pretty swiftly.

Abandoned Cabin

Down a short track that diverges from the path a dilapidated old cabin is evident, riddled with moss and half-shrouded by the now heavily falling snow. Scrawled on the door in crimson paint is a red X, a plague mark.

The cabin’s door is swollen shut (Strength DC 20 to force):

A musty, sour smell hangs in the air within the shack. This must have been a woodsman’s shack – there are rows of animal pelts hanging from the ceiling and wooden racks for drying furs, as well as an array of skinning knives and other tools. A wood-axe leans against a wall on which an unstrung bow hangs. Contorted in a bed in one corner of the cabin is a desiccated corpse, clutching a ragged blanket. There’s a small chest at the foot of the bed. A wolf-skin rug covers the floor, and there’s a cold hearth on one wall.

The cabin is the perfect place to regain some health lost to the cold.

There are plenty of furs here. The chest (unlocked) contains a Cold Weather Outfit (+5 Fortitude vs. exposure), 5 silver pieces, and a masterwork dagger set with a small emerald. There’s also an axe and a composite longbow. A thorough search turns up 50 arrows, as well.

Beneath the wolf-skin rug is a trapdoor, swollen shut (Strength DC 15 to force). Finding the trapdoor requires a DC 20 Perception check, unless the players note that they specifically want to check under the rug. Below:

You enter a small root cellar, where various preserves, dried meats, nuts, and withered roots are stored. Most of the food here has long gone bad. There’s also a small wine-rack here, and a wooden chest.

There are 8 bottles of common wine here. The chest contains 126 silver pieces, 246 copper pieces, and a Potion of Bear’s Endurance (5^th level).

Broken Bridge

You come to the banks of another river, or a different loop or tributary of the same river. Here, however, all that remains of the bridge here are a few posts and splinters – flooding must have destroyed the rest. The current here is quick and the water looks very cold indeed. The river isn’t very broad and might be jumped, but it doesn’t look like it could be forded here.

Swim DC 15 to make it across (1d3 non-lethal on a failure), but expose yourself to some very cold water (Fortitude DC 20 or take 1d6 non-lethal cold damage).

Another possibility is to simply try and jump the river (Acrobatics DC 20).

A better solution is to cut down a nearby tree (perhaps with the woodsman’s axe) to form a makeshift bridge (crossing is Acrobatics DC 5). However, chopping down a tree may be noisy, alerting creatures nearby to the characters’ presence.

Finally the characters could follow the river for some distance in either direction till the find a spot to ford it. In this case, be sure to harass them with traps, snares, and wolves, wolverines, or bears.

Barrow

As you progress deeper into the hills, the wind picks up, sending swirling snow across the path. Off to one side looms an earthen mound with a huge, dead tree atop it. Set at the base of the mound is a stone door marked with runes.

The stone door is DC 23 to open. The runes are non-magical, simply proclaiming the barrow “The Resting Place of Sigmund Trollsbane” in Druidic (Linguistics DC 20 to translate).

The Barrow serves two purposes. The first is an alternate route in or out of the Castle, which can be very helpful. Characters who wish to can bypass most of the tombs and simply walk through B1, B2, and B7 to enter the gatehouse Dungeons, facing a few dangers – spiders, a trap, and an assassin vine – on the way. Those who wish to tempt fate can attempt to plunder the tombs themselves. Removing a few grave goods is probably safe, but disturbing the remains of the dead is definitely not. The cairn, frost, and brute wights who lurk in the barrow are fairly powerful foes for low-level parties, more than capable of decimating a foolhardy group, and even the groups of zombies can be very challenging. The barrow is certainly not mean to be “cleared out” easily. The rewards of plunder, however, are rich: magical rings, masterwork weapons, amulets, and scrolls.

I’ll detail the barrow in a later post.

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs – First Impressions

On September 20, 2013

In PC Gaming

I recently bought Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, sequel to the brilliantly macabre survival horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The first Amnesia remains one of the scariest games I’ve ever played, and the best adaptation into game form one could hope for of a classic Gothic novel of the late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth centuries, with a generous bit of H.P. Lovecraft thrown in for good measure. I have replayed Amnesia several times now – the game is short in theory, but often takes a long time in practice, because of the paralysis of terror that fills you while you play it – and it has had a very strong influence on my tabletop games and other writing (even, possibly, on my scholarship). It remains one of my favorite games of all time, up there with Thief: The Dark Project and Half-Life 2. I’ll post a full review of A Machine for Pigs once I’ve completed it, but here a few of my first impressions. Needless to say, there may be some gentle spoilers below.

Some background on the game may be useful: while the first game was developed entirely by the Swedish indie company Frictional Games (also responsible for the Penumbra series), the second was developed by The Chinese Room, a studio best known for their unconventional exploration game Dear Esther. The game takes place about a hundred years after the original, in Victorian London rather than rural Germany. Already with the choice of setting the game distinguishes itself from its predecessor. The Dark Descent was a game centered round the idea of an ancient, terrible, and largely unknown force: “the Shadow,” a mysterious, Lovecraftian entity, summoned accidentally out of Egypt by the hapless protagonist, Daniel. The game fixated on tropes taken from the original Gothic of the eighteenth-century (I may have to write a proper academic article about this…): the aristocratic secondary villain Alexander, the crumbling, black castle, the hidden tunnels, the remote location, the emphasis on the unseen and the unknown, on what Ann Radcliffe would call terror rather than horror. The Dark Descent is a game of the “terrorist” school. The game punished you for even looking at the monsters in The Dark Descent: when a monster appeared you caught a glimpse of it and then ran, because otherwise you were dead (you have no weapons, and two or three hits kill you), and looking at a monster drained your sanity. You had to painstakingly scavenge and ration your tinderboxes and lamp oil: your most valuable resource was light, allowing you to navigate the tenebrous labyrinths the game delighted in (especially the Storage and Prison levels, which could be real mazes). On the other hand, light was dangerous, because it could alert monsters to your presence. There was certainly gore in The Dark Descent but it was used very sparingly, and often there was more a suggestion of violence than actual bloodshed – torture rooms where old implements slowly rusted, or half-remembered flash-backs of people screaming. Sound was vital to the game’s strategy of fear, but The Dark Descent really didn’t go in for the jump-scare much: it was more interested in slow-burning paranoia. Instead of being startled you’d end up crouched in a corner, your character’s sanity draining in the darkness, willing yourself to open the rotten old door from behind which you think you heard a bestial groan. While in many ways A Machine for Pigs replicates aspects of this experience, it owes much more to the Gothic resurgence of the nineteenth-century fin de siècle – a predominantly urban Gothic more attuned to social disorders, science, and the boundaries of the human.

So, A Machine for Pigs. Firstly, the gameplay remains largely the same as Amnesia: The Dark Descent – first person, you have no weapons, you wander around a sprawling environment trying to find your way down deeper into the complex. There are some very key differences, however. Most prominently, A Machine for Pigs does away with the inventory entirely. You have no sanity score, and your health is invisible (in the previous game, these were displayed in your inventory, symbolically represented as a heart and brain); you can still pick up items, of course, but you can only move one at a time, you can’t stow them in pockets as capacious as a Bag of Holding. On the one hand, losing the inventory annoyed me, because one of the thrills of The Dark Descent was the intense relief at having found an object you needed for one of the game’s puzzles, and the rationing of your tinderboxes, lamp oil, and laudanum added a resource-management element that contributed to the overall anxiety of exploring Brennenburg. However, there is an upside. Constantly in The Dark Descent I found myself looking for opportunities for respite from the harrowing experience of actually playing the game – not just lingering in areas that felt safe, but obsessively going through my inventory items, examining them, trying to combine them. The inventory screen took me out of the world for a moment, relieving the tension. Without the inventory screen in A Machine for Pigs there is less opportunity for such relief, forcing me to spend more time in the game-world itself. The lack of sanity score is interesting: your sanity no longer drains in the darkness (a consequence of the original protagonist’s nyctophobia), so there’s less of a compulsion to use the lantern, which is now electric. As a result, I use my lantern less, but when I do I find myself using it purely for light rather than to keep my sanity from draining. While I miss the anxiety that dwindling resources provoked, in a sense I’m actually more immersed with the electric lantern, because there’s no dissociation: while in the past I was using light not only to see, or to combat my own fear of what lies in the darkness, I was using it to make sure a statistic didn’t drop. Sure, that statistic had consequences in the game (woozy vision and minor hallucinations and all that), which also added a lot, but there was still a degree to which my immersion was slightly undermined.

In terms of its capacity for fright, the game has not disappointed so far. Having played the first game, I fully expected the first segments of the game to be devoid of monsters and so felt relatively safe as I explored the first levels – a Victorian manor house, in significantly better repair than the mouldering fastness of Brennenburg – but as I got further and further into the game my anxiety started to ramp up, unsure of when the first real danger would appear. Even despite my knowledge that I was unlikely to encounter anything in the first half hour or so of play, the game still managed to unnerve me significantly. The Shadow periodically shook Brennenburg, dislodging stones and knocking over rotten beams; in A Machine for Pigs the same role is played by the eponymous machine (whatever it is), the “Factory” as the journals and phonographs describe it, a behemothic construct of gears and piping which I’ve only caught hints of so far, having just now descended into a series of tunnels below an old chapel or church attached to the manor. This, in itself, is fascinating. Numerous texts in the game indicate that Oswald Mandus, your protagonist this time around, has a deep disdain for God, referring to him as a hog, swine, etc – a position probably connected to the heavily implied death of Mandus’ wife. At the same time, man and machines are complexly deified and degraded in the journal entries and recordings. On the one hand humanity’s capacity for creation and vision is exalted, but on the other hand humans are consistently referred to in animalistic terms (most commonly, of course, as pigs); machines are likewise spoken of in rapturous terms, yet Oswald spits on Babbage’s vision of a thinking machine. While in the first game much of the terror revolved around ancient, unknown, and alien powers, like the Shadow, in this game the evil is man-made, modern, and disturbingly human. There are hints that Mandus brought something back from a fateful trip to Mexico – references to and models of ziggurats, ubiquitous Mesoamerican pig-masks, the suggestion that Mandus fell ill after returning from Central America – but the fiendish machine, and the Moreau-esque monsters which, at this, point, I have only caught the barest glimpses of, are (I think) Mandus’ creations, not some outside force’s (the Gatherers in The Dark Descent were created by Alexander, of course, but Alexander is almost certainly not human, but a supernatural being of some sort: he wishes to return to the world he came from). The focus on humanity itself and our creations rather than on horrific outside forces is far more in accord with late nineteenth-century Gothic works like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Island of Dr Moreau, and The Great God Pan – even when supernatural forces are involved in such stories they are usually tied to or released by human science, or at least human willpower.

As for the monsters themselves, as I said, I’ve only caught the barest glimpses so far, but from what little I’ve seen they’re going to be very unique. The monsters in The Dark Descent were mostly fairly slow: the Gatherers could get up to a decent clip when roused, but most of the time they were shambolic, lumbering zombie-like through the castle’s passages. Justine, The Dark Descent’s semi-sequel, went the same route with its Suitors – speedy enough when riled up, but usually slow and ponderous. The monsters in A Machine for Pigs, in contrast, seem much, much faster. They flit, quadruped, across passageways and catwalks, charging on all fours from place to place.

The game so far is also much more concerned with the domestic, a pleasingly Victorian transition. I liked Daniel in the first game but he was basically just an individual: there was no exploration of his family, and his back-story was explored only when directly relevant to the game’s plot. In contrast, Oswald’s back-story is far more detailed. We know the names of his wife and children, his social status, his profession (industrialist/philanthropist); we get a much better feel for Oswald’s personal obsessions and interests in this game. The game seems to be setting him as a mysophobe, someone intensely disgusted by and paranoid about filth and animality – fitting, considering his adoration of the clean, cold sterility of machines. His motivations are similarly more socialized and contextualized: while Daniel was basically on a quest for personal revenge (revenge for what Alexander had turned him into), Oswald is out to save his children, children I’m coming to think he may have badly abused in the past, given the unsettling cages (gilded, but still undeniably reminiscent of pig-pens) that he’s placed over their beds.

I’m looking forward to completing the game, though I’d estimate at this point I’m only about 10-20% through at most. When I’ve finished I’ll post a more thorough review, and perhaps talk about some of the things Amnesia can teach us about game design.

St. Severine’s Skull: Gründorf

On August 27, 2013

Exploring the village shouldn’t take too long.

Recap: In the version I ran, the characters – a Cleric (Wynflaeth), Rogue (Andro), Barbarian (Tully), and Ranger (Simza) – spent a little time poking about; they ended up hiring William & Aelfric, and briefly explored the forsaken church, discovering the hidden holy water and thus alerting the wraith to their presence. I started the characters at 1st level, so obviously the wraith was far too powerful for them; fortunately it missed its first attack, and I hinted that it was avoiding what little light the boarded-up windows allowed inside. The players got the idea and proceeded to pull the boards from the windows, letting in enough light to render the wraith powerless, letting them make their escape.

After several days travel across bleak moors and cold, marshy woodland you have arrived in the Wulfswald, a hilly, forested region scarred by wars and plague. Burnt houses and the stubs of ancient watchtowers dot the landscape; gibbeted corpses regard you with crow-eaten eyes, betokening the bandit presence in these woods. You have passed a number of travelers: the odd leper trudging down the road, a handful of peddlers and sometimes a few larger merchant caravans heading south to Nachtheim or north to Nulnstadt, and the occasional bedraggled pilgrim.

Finally, you have arrived at the tiny village of Gründorf. The village was devastated by plague some years ago, and now consists of only a few inhabited buildings: the Black Faun Inn, a few farmhouses, a smithy, a tannery, and a watermill on the banks of the nameless river that flows past here. One road leads over the river to Hexenburg Castle, while the other veers off to the west towards the town of Nulnstadt. The hamlet’s small church looks to have long been abandoned, its walls overgrown with ivy, its graveyard unkempt. Normally relic-hunters could have sought a roof at such a place, but the inn must do if you wish to rest before heading on to the Castle itself.

The Black Faun Inn

The Black Faun Inn is a rambling, four-storey structure with an attached stables, a well, and a sizeable courtyard. In contrast with the dour, decaying buildings in the rest of Gründorf, the Inn almost looks welcoming, with warm yellow light spilling over the threshold of its open door.

Inside:

The inn’s common room is dim and smoky, lit by the flickering light of the fire in the hearth. Long wooden tables and a few smaller round ones, notched and stained with age and use, are scattered about the room, and the walls are adorned with maps, the stuffed heads of stags, wolves, and bears, and a few tarnished weapons and shields. The innkeeper is a hulking slab of a man with face and arms covered by scars and several missing fingers.

The inn’s patrons are a rough, variegated bunch. A pair of sellswords in patched, weather-beaten cloaks sit by the hearth, their blades in full view – one a hulking, tattooed man with a heavy two-handed claymore, the other a lithe fellow with a pair of shorter blades. At the bar, a grey-bearded dwarf is working on his fourth tankard of dark ale, next to several men in furs – perhaps local hunters. There’s also a small group of nuns eating a meal in the corner, the oldest a wrinkled crone who scowls at everyone in the common room, the other two significantly younger. Finally, a morose-looking travelling minstrel with lank blond hair occasionally strums a chord or two and scribbles something on a piece of parchment. A very bored-looking young woman seems to be the barmaid, though she doesn’t have much to do.

The innkeeper is Scarred Gregor, a veteran of the Troll Wars and the War of Seven Kings. The rooms in the Black Faun are mostly Common (5sp) but there is one nice suite (16gp).

The sellswords are William and Aelfric. Aelfric is a 1^st level Barbarian. William is a 1^stLevel Fighter (substitute with Two-Weapon Fighting in place of Power Attack and Dex 15, fighting with a pair of shortswords). The pair can be hired for 3sp/day, plus a cut of any treasure. William is a greedy, amoral individual who may steal from and betray the party if the opportunity arises.

The Dwarf is Gror Stonespeaker, a Dwarf merchant who deals principally in Dwarf-made weapons. He’ll sell Masterwork melee weapons to the characters if they wish, carrying most martial weapons as well as Dwarven waraxes, longaxes, longhammers, chain-flails, and urgoshes. He is waiting for the snows to clear so that he can head into the Harrow Mountains.

The trappers can sell characters furs (12gp), which grant +2 to Fortitude saves vs. cold.

The nuns are Sisters Sylvia and Egeria (both “troubled” young women forced to take vows by their families) and their Mother Superior, Mother Gretta, a disapproving woman who wants to bring the two girls into the light of the faith through a pilgrimage to holy sites. If told of the characters’ mission to retrieve Saint Severine’s skull, she will gladly grant them her blessing and provide magical healing if need be. However she and her charges are leaving on the morrow for Nulnstadt.

The minstrel is named Johann, and is trying to compose a song, without much luck. He might be recruited for the dungeon-delve if promised a good story.

A Diplomacy check to gather information can be made here. A general check can also be made for rumours and local legends.

Commonly known (DC 10):

“The old church was shut up after the pox came through. The sickness took the priest, his novice, and half the parish with it. Since then we’ve had no church – nearest one’s at Nulnstadt. There’s rumour the old church is haunted by the priest; some say they’ve heard moaning at night from inside.”

“Wolves are getting bolder these days, and greedier. As winter gets on they’ve got less to eat so they start going after cattle, or even travelers. If you plan to spend much time in the forest, keep a weather eye open. They hunt in great packs, surrounding you if you let them. Some say they’re led by demons in wolves’ skins, or Goblin-beasts called Barghests, that can freeze the blood with a howl and change their shape as they wish.”

“Did you hear that something’s been digging up the grevayard in the old church? Could be wolves, of course, but I reckon its bodysnatchers – necromancers looking for corpses for their black magic. Probably living in one of the tombs up in the hills, or else in that old pile Hexenburg.”

Uncommon (DC 15):

“You ever hear the story of the Red Cap, supposed to live up in Hexenburg Castle? An evil fairy, they say, who’s taken up residence in a tower in the old ruin, who murders any who enters his home, and decorates his tower with their guts. Sometimes he strays down into the forest, because if the blood in his cap ever dries out completely, he dies. If you come upon him, he can’t abide the touch of iron, or a sign of the Light. Reciting scripture is supposed to keep him at bay – he can’t stand the sound.”

“If you happen upon a winsome young maiden wandering the forest by the river who tries to beguile you with her charms, be on your guard! There’s a Hag called Ginny Greenfang who haunts the riverside, and loves nothing more than to use her magic to disguise herself and seduce young men. After she’s had her pleasure the crone feasts on their flesh; their gnawed bones sometimes come rattling down the river afterwards.”

“There’s been a few visitors to Gründorf of late, headed up to Hexenburg. A priest, a knight, and a young novice arrived about a week back, searching for some holy hammer they think is up in the Castle’s old chapel. Haven’t come down from the hills, though.”

Rare (DC 20):

“There’s a secret way into Hexenburg Castle, you know – an old tunnel they used to flee from enemies. It comes out in one of the barrows up in the hills; you’ll know it by the dead tree that sits atop the barrow-mound.”

Smithy

The smithy is a small, rickety workshop with an open forge, tended by a bull-necked boy of perhaps sixteen years. Judging from the horseshoes, nails, pots, and tools on display or partially finished, this is a typical village blacksmith, not an armourer or weaponsmith.

Despite his lack of expertise, Jacob the smith (his father recently died) will repair weapons and can forge basic arms and armour.

Church

The church-door is locked (DC 20 to pick, DC 22 to force). Inside:

The church has been long abandoned, and most of its adornments have been removed. Dust and cobwebs coat everything. The altar is still here, along with a painting of Saint Bastiana, patron of butchers and soldiers, depicting her martyrdom at the hands of a mob of deserters. There are also a few rusted candelabra here. A palpable sense of gloom and despair clings to the church, a feeling of sorrow and abandonment. The stained glass windows have been boarded up, letting in almost no light.

The priest does indeed haunt the church, but will not manifest unless the place is disturbed. In the altar there is a cavity containing a Holy Symbol of St. Bastiana, three vials of Holy Water, and a Potion of Cure Light Wounds. If the priest manifests:

There is a dull moaning sound, and a figure detaches itself from the shadows of the church. Garbed in a tattered priestly robe, the figure gibbers and raves, tears coursing down cheeks mottled with weeping sores, the ravages of pox.

“Why has the Light abandoned me?” the priest jabbers. “Why has it visited this sickness upon me?” The figure reaches out with clawed and sallow fingers, lurching towards you!

If the wraith is somehow convinced that the plague was just another part of the Light’s plan or something equally absurd, he dissolves into black mist. Otherwise he menaces characters here until they leave the church. Note that if the players are looking around the church during the day the wraith is powerless in sunlight.

Graveyard

The graveyard is unkempt, with long grass poking up about the old tombstones. There’s also a small, overgrown burial vault guarded by a pair of crumbling statues, both armoured warriors.

The vault is locked (DC 20 to pick, DC 30 to force). Inside:

Down a small flight of steps, the crypt is cramped and stuffy, with half a dozen stone sarcophagi. The markings on the sarcophagi indicate those resting within are probably slain crusaders. Cobwebs swathe everything thickly.

The crusaders’ sarcophagi can be opened (Strength DC 25); each contains a corpse with a Masterwork Longsword, Heavy Metal Shield, and Breastplate. However, lingering here is likely to disturb the colony of 3 small monstrous spiders that lurk here.

Other Gründorf Encounters

These additional encounters, inn guests, merchants, etc can be used to liven up a trip back to town.

Peddler

A colourful caravan is parked not far from the riverside here. Pony-drawn, the caravan’s wagons are quite small, but brightly painted with images of animals, stars, the moon, and the sun. A handful of Halflings are gathered about a small campfire to one side. They seem to be peddlers, dealing in a wide variety of goods, from food and tools to potions and trinkets.

The Halflings can sell a wide variety of equipment as well as potions of 1^st level spells. They can buy magical items and gems, but their available funds total about 1500 gp at most, so players will have trouble unloading powerful magic items here. They have a couple of wondrous items for sale, including a Silver Raven Figurine of Wondrous Power, a pair of Burglar’s Boots, a Traveler’s Any-Tool, Iron Rope, Abjurant Salt, and a Campfire Bead.

Inquisitor

You notice that there seems to be a new guest at the inn, judging from the fierce-looking black horses stabled in the courtyard.

The new visitors are dining in the common room: three men in all, in travel-stained clothes. Two are armoured in boiled leathers, while the other wears vestments suggesting he is a clergymen – a dour, gaunt man who attacks his meal with unsettling hunger. The armoured pair wear holy symbols about their necks, as well.

The Inquisitor, Konrad, is on the trail of the Cult of the Withered Hand and any other heretics in the region, charged by the Church to track such blasphemers down and put them to death. He has also heard rumours that witches and heathens still dwell in the woods, and is eager to track them down. He can be represented as an Inquisitor of 5^th level, although these statistics are also adequate. His guards are 3^rd level Warriors, Richard and Günter. If he believes the characters are harbouring any kind of dark magic, he’ll try to put them to the question to find out if they’re heretics themselves.

St. Severine’s Skull Dungeon Crawl

On August 27, 2013