SPIDERS & ANGELS
A Stormbringer 1e adventure.
Here is the first installment in my
Stormbringer 1e scenario, ‘Spiders & Angels.’ Why Stormbringer 1e? It is
the grand dame of fantasy rpgs, and allows you to tromp around Michael Moorcock’s
multiverse. It’s beautifully broken and eminently playable.
So yeah, why not?
Don’t expect tons of stats or explanations.
Read the adventure, get your mental bearings and fill in details as needed. A
Random NPC Generator is provided at the end for Gamemasters lacking inspiration
or wanting to leave things to chance.
EPISODE ONE
PART THE FIRST – THE FALLEN CITY
It starts with a rumour that comes to the Adventurers,
of a fantastic city fallen to the earth 1d6+1 days’ travel from where they are.
Gamemasters can have an old contact slip them the information for a share of
the spoils, or a diviner tell them, or a deity contact them, or whatever is
convenient and discrete. If play starts with this adventure, use the following
table to decide starting locale and the rumoured location of the city, and have
players prepare as they can for the journey to come.
STARTING LOCALE
1 Start in Karlaak, fallen city is in the
Weeping Waste. Wooden armor, bows and horses are half price, metal weapons are
triple.
2 Start in Isle of Purple Towns, city is near
the Unholy Fortress. Adventurers will need to hire a boat and crew. If they
fail a Bargain roll or are just loudmouths, word gets out and all costs triple
in addition to having rival crews to deal with.
3 Start in Lormyr, city in the hinterlands
of Yu. Any characters publically professing allegiance to Chaos must make a
Luck roll (POW x 5%) or draw the attention of Inquisitors of Law.
4 Start in Pikarayd, city is in the hinterlands
of Dorel. Any characters publically professing allegiance to Law must make a
Luck roll (POW x 5%) or draw the attention of Inquisitors of Chaos.
5 Start in Aflitain, city is in the Marshes
of Mist. Mounts cost double and no one will rent horses as few return from the
Marshes.
6 Start in Immryr, city is on one of the
lesser abandoned isles of Melnibone. Non-Melnibonean characters will have their
hands full escaping the Dreaming
City, much less arming
and equipping themselves, while any found outside without imperial permission
will be executed.
PART THE SECOND – THE FAKEOUT
Once the Adventurers have started out on
their journey towards the fallen city, the Gamemaster should throw a completely
random and distracting encounter at them. The point is to provide a red herring
that heightens anticipation for the fallen city.
1 Bandits! A number of bandits equal to the
Adventurers plus 1d4 more block their path demanding coin. Adventurers may pay
a suitably hefty amount or decide to fight as they see fit. The bandits are
poor locals looking to prey on soft travelers and will flee if any are killed
or incapacitated.
2 Clakars! A traveling family of 1d4+1
Clakars spies the Adventurers from afar and decides to hunt them. They will
start by flying over and dropping rocks on the Characters. If the Adventurers
can slay one Clakar or if the creatures can slay one Adventurer and make off
with his corpse the encounter ends and they fly off.
3 A caravan! 2d6+2 wagons with 3d6+3
caravaneers wind through the wilderness. Though wary at first, they will offer
hospitality in the form of tea, a meal, directions, and shelter for the night.
If the Adventurers offer violence the caravaneers will attempt to defend
themselves, but are simply mortal merchants and can all be slain if the
Adventurers are up to the task. If the caravan is massacred by the Adventurers,
the Gamemaster should go to pains to convey the bloodthirstiness and brutality
of their actions. The cargo is dried foods, nails and metal weapons. A lockbox
contains a sufficient amount of operating money.
4 A lone Hero! He or she is on a quest and
will not stop to talk. Any attempts to parley are rebuffed, any violence is met
with merciless force. The Hero has 99% in weapon of choice, and can summer one
type of supernatural aid chosen by the Gamemaster. The Hero will destroy
Adventurers if he or she can or flee with supernatural aid if threatened.
5 A beast! A giant animal is sighted in the
vicinity. Roll 1d6 – 1 crocodile, 2 mastodon or elephant, 3 cat, 4 bull, 5
lizard 6 buck. If left unmolested, it will wander off. If the Adventurers
attack it, the beast will do its best to destroy them.
6 A strange wanderer! Roll 3d6. He or she
is from 1 Hawkmoon’s realm, 2 Corum’s, 3 our world, present day, 4 our world,
historical period chosen by the Gamemaster, 5 a fictional realm chosen from the
Gamemaster’s own readings, 6 a completely alien world. The wanderer is totally
helpless but needs to get home or at least to civilization. If the Adventurers
help out, either give them a reward or have the wanderer return and save them
at some future point.
PART THE THIRD – THE CASTLE OF THE UGLY
SISTERS
After days of travel and the encounter
above, the Adventurers arrive near the fallen city. From afar they think it a
natural formation or mesa, but as they draw close any character making a Known
World roll, or else from Oin, Yu, the Sighing Desert or the Weeping Waste will
recognize it as very alike a giant insect hill. It is a 30 meter high monolith
with signs of having dropped from the sky and impacted the ground. Adventurers
have two choices of ingress – either scale the craggy walls to the entrance
holes they can see up their, or crawl into one of the radiating cracks in the
ground from where the city landed.
At this point, Gamemasters should throw a
rockslide at the players, unless they are already injured from a preceding
encounter. Have them make Dodge rolls or take 1d4 damage, which is halved if
they are wearing armor. Hopefully at least one Adventurer will take minor
damage, which can be used to advance the story as described later. If players
arrive inside unscathed, feel free to throw a wild animal, insect, or hostile
force of looters at them to ensure they get clipped. The point is to inflict
minor damage, not cripple or kill Adventurers.
Whichever they choose, after some effort
the Adventurers find themselves in a giant shaft leading from the dark chamber
at the bottom of the city to the sky above, with entrance holes leading off to
darkness at irregular intervals. Have all make a Perception/Search roll. Suddenly,
the successful roller sees a grey nun-habit and robed figure disappear into the
nearest hole, strangely enough by apparently walking on the wall. If no one
succeeds, tell players they hear a fall of rocks from the same area.
If Adventurers follow the figure or noise,
they proceed through a dark winding organic tunnel until they see a pulsing
light at the end of it. If they manage to Sneak closer to the light source,
they see a half dozen of the robed, nun-habited figures standing in a chamber
whose walls are made of glowing crystals and fluorescing latticeworks.
If Adventurers enter the chamber, they will
see that the ‘nuns’ are hideous, spider faced humanoids with bulbous lower
bodies. They radiate a feeling of complete alienness, as does the room and all
the weird furnishings in it.
If Adventurers attack, the nuns flee by
walking up the walls and disappearing in holes near the ceiling, then attempt
to communicate telepathically as described below. They have Dodge skills of 75%
and 15 Hit Points with one point of armor each, DEX 18, and can be slain easily
if the Adventurers can hit them. If Adventurers enter peacefully, one of the
nuns draws a slim rod and shoots a green ray at them, which hits one wounded
character automatically. (NOTE: Secretly inform the hit player that his
character is completely healed, but that he cannot tell other players until his
character’s turn comes around. Hopefully this will sow a little chaos and lead
players to think before they act in future).
If any nuns survive, they begin to talk
telepathically to the Adventurers as follows:
“We are the Si-Anan, knowledge seekers
through time and space. We come in peace and the spirit of inquiry, and wish
you no harm. Our city was attacked by our enemies, the dread Winged Death, and
our flight generator destroyed. If you would help us gather the materials to
repair the city and move on before the Winged Death arrive, we would be in your
debt and reward you.
What say you?”
Let the characters debate their course of
action. If they decide to exterminate the Si-Anan, they will spend a fortnight
wandering aimlessly through the city while the nuns scuttle away, then the
Winged Death will arrive and slay all who remain. If they off to help, the
Si-Anan will meet them and discuss plans. The Si-Anan can read minds, and any
attempt to lure them with false promises of help will go unanswered.
END OF EPISODE ONE
BONUS – RANDOM NPC GENERATOR
Use these tables to make a character on the
fly. Simply roll 7d6.
First Dice – 1-3 is a male, 4-6 is female
Second Dice – 1 or 6 is Lawful, 2 or 5 is
Neutral, 3 or 4 is Chaotic
Third Dice – Favorite weapon is 1 Sword 2
Axe 3 Club 4 Bow 5 Polearm 6 Daggers
Total of Next Three Dice – Gives weapon
skill as follows:
3 Unskilled 10%, 4-5 Beginner 25%, 6-8 35%,
9-12 50%, 13-15 65%, 16-17 Veteran 75%, 18 Master 90%
Seventh Dice – 1 Unarmored, 2-3 Leather,
4-5 Half-plate or barbarian, 6 Plate
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