Fantasy Core Ireland--Adventure Part 8

FANTASY CORE RPG
(c) Jerry Harris, 2012
Published here as Open Game Content.

Adventure Index

The Lair (3 XP for defeating Ines, 2 XP for just running her off):

The Michaelstown Cave is just outside the village in the side of a small hill. It is unlike a normal cave in that the entrance is sealed with a locked door and man-made stairs leading down into it. Also unlike many caves in Ireland, this small underground area does not connect to the larger Underworld of either the Dwarves or Formorians. Ines did not choose this lair by accident.

There is a caretaker’s shack just beside the cave. The caretaker is inside, dead, and webbed to the wall, his juices sucked out. The key peg with the keys to the heavy oaken door on the cave is of course empty. But on the caretaker’s body, if searched, is an extra key. Failing that, the lock could be picked (DC 12), or flat out broken down, but no chance of surprise after that.

The interior is pitch dark. The characters will have to bring their own lighting or be able to see in the dark. A set of stone stairs lead down to the main chamber. In a cubbyhole beside the stairs is Ines’ summoned demon creature. It will try to attack the characters from surprise, but will flee to warn her as soon as it gauges the party’s strength. Killing it quickly and quietly will still leave the characters with a chance to surprise Ines.

The main chamber is a fairly large cave with stalactites and stalagmites all around. The area is torch-lit if the characters enter by surprise, but will be unlit if Ines has been warned. There is a witch workshop complete with bubbling cauldrons (fluids to make the Black Mist). There is also a fairly lavish, ornate bedroom area with a locked box and 50 gp.

If unwarned, Ines (in human form) is with 2 Orcs working over the cauldrons, describing this as an even more powerful batch of Black Mist. (Thankfully, it’s not ready and can’t be used against the characters. Not to mention, Ines is immune to it.) If Ines is warned of the characters, she’ll be in spider-form and her and the two Orcs (and her demon if alive) will have set up an ambush in dark. Ines will taunt the characters before attacking. Either way, play her as smart as possible. She’ll try to disorient and trap as many as she can before directly engaging in melee.

If clearly overmatched, she’ll try to escape, but if Ines thinks she can win, she’ll keep fighting. If the characters are clearly overmatched perhaps Mara or one of the scarecrows shows up to help. There is a spiderhole in the cave, that only she’ll be able to squeeze through, that leads back outside. A surviving Ines will of course return someday to trouble the characters, but she won’t be able to use the Black Mist again, as Nim will have nothing else to do with her. A dead Ines would be the best proof to clear Mara, but samples of the Black Mist fluids will also be enough.


What Happens Next?

Is entirely up to you and the players. Enough of this heavy-handed railroading plotting. Forgive me, but introductions are difficult and this adventure was just meant to introduce the characters to the setting.


Endgame for this county setting:

When the secret of Elise finally comes out and the ramifications of that are dealt with, it’s time for the characters to move on to another county or province (regardless of the outcome). Whatever you decide Fenris’ plans are (see his NPC description that will follow) and their discovery by the players could be good impetus for them to petition the high-king for reassignment.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if this Fantasy Ireland setting would work until I actually tried writing up an adventure for it. Other semi-historical (emphasis on the “semi”) settings that I think could also work well, would be Knights (and other classes) of Charlemagne (chivalrous adventures), Agents of the Medieval Vatican (courtly and diplomatic intrigue and demon-hunting), or Defenders of Constantinople (also lots of internal and external politics, Slavic demon-hunting in the Balkans, along with the Turkish threat). The possible scholarly research on any historical era can really daunting, unless you narrow it down and (more importantly) are really interested in it.