Monday, May 9, 2016

Dark Continent Redux: The Snake Hole

Dark Continent Redux
A Fantasy Core Adventure
© Jerry Harris 2016
(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Playtest Rules.)




The Snake Hole
(1 XP for getting through the maze, if used.)
1 XP for meeting Satha and getting his help.

Into the dark heart of the continent.  There are no colonists here and the natives are not the group’s friends.  All of the areas here are hostile or require intense negotiation. 

These natives are not “Friendlies.”  If asked, the natives will say they are still enemies of the Colonists, but there is a greater threat to them both.  Their benefactor, Kurtz, has started using sub-humans and turning the natives into demon possessed slaves; troops he can control absolutely.  There are tales of him turning entire tribes into undead abominations.  Soon, Kurtz will have no need for the natives at all.  This is a worse prospect than putting up with the Colonists.  The native god, Satha, has heard of the Characters.  He has summoned them to an audience, as their magic and power may help topple Kurtz.

The group is taken, assuming they’re willing, further up river by canoe.  They are then given an hallucinogenic mixture (not an option if they want to continue) and lead overland to a location deep in the jungle.  (Satha’s location is supposed to be a secret to outsiders.)  The characters come to their senses in front of a cave with a door. 

[Part of me says, just get to the talking, which is the point of this encounter.  The other part says, there should be some sort of test first.  So this is optional as far as I’m concerned.  Maybe putting some kind of logic puzzle on the door instead would work better, if you’re proficient at creating such things.] 

Inside the doors, the stone walls of the maze are covered in moss and vines, almost like the whole thing is a living organism.  There are four chambers with lit braziers and a central chamber with a large platform and four unlit braziers.  The sacred fires from the chambers need to be brought to the central chamber.  The flames are colored and the unlit braziers are correspondingly colored.  Standing in the way of this is the temple guardian, the Elephantaur.  (Yeah, it’s an elephant/minotaur.  Okay, not every idea in this adventure can be stunningly original.  Again, you’re free to skip this or come up with something better.)  He will issue a trumpet blast from his nose when the Characters enter the maze and begin pursuit.  The party shouldn’t have a huge amount of trouble with him, the problem is, he’s going to keep coming back at them until they figure things out.  With each death, he’ll come back 2 rds later in one of the chambers, with a trumpet blast.     

Elephantaur
HD 6d8, Hp 48, AC 14 (None)
Fort +6, Ref +0, Will +5
Melee: Greataxe +9 to hit 3d6+6 or Gore +9 to hit 1d8+4
Powerful Charge: Usual opening attack if given enough space to run.  Gore attack does 4d6+6.  Can normally only be done once per encounter.
Reincarnates in 1 turn if slain.  It will issue a loud trumpet blast when back on the hunt for the Characters.    
Description: A large, elephant-headed humanoid.

After all the colored flame braziers in the central chamber are lit, they suddenly go out and the entire room goes dark.  (The Elephantaur will immediately disappear to a place wherever bad ideas go when they die.)  A tremendous hissing sound is audible.  The lights come back up and a 10’ tall coiled armored wall now appears on the central platform.  Suddenly, a giant snake head rears up.  His enormous tongue flicks out over the party to smell them.  With a voice like thunder, the creature introduces himself as Satha, god of all.  "You may bow.”

Anyone not bowing, Satha will make a bite attack, without biting, and attempt to swallow the heretic, who will then get quickly spit out.  The person will be allowed to try bowing again.  Satha has severe delusions of grandeur, but he’s pretty darn grand as is.  He is sane enough to realize that he needs the Characters to take out Kurtz.  Hopefully the Characters will realize something this powerful with the same goal they have could be very useful in their quest.  

While he is certainly against the colonials, Satha has his own plans for running them out.  Kurtz is fighting the colonials as well and has seduced many of the natives to his cause.  But what he is really doing is trying to destroy both sides so that he can rule.  “His actions will destroy my people, grinding them to powder against you.  He surrounds himself with monsters, sub-human creatures, and demons.  He is no friend of my people or yours.”  Satha insists that “the devil must kill the devil,” however Kurtz is tampering with even more powerful forces that will require Satha to defeat.   

He will have them led to the place where they can acquire another possible ally and arms, and then to the Forbidden City, where Kurtz is.  He’s open to answer any questions that he has knowledge of, for example any of Kurtz’s backstory and that the Demon Host were once his exploration party that found the Forbidden City.  He’ll tell them that they need to negotiate with the immortal dragon Hellion, who guards the Dragon Boneyard.  Kurtz’s alliance with the dragon is close to breaking and they need his support.  The Characters will then be dismissed and Satha will disappear as the lights go out again.    

The group will be left in the literal dark, but at least no longer clueless.  At best, the Players will come out of this having just gotten a lecture and their marching orders.  At worst, they will have made a powerful enemy.  I’ll stick with the best case here.  Outside, they are met again by Seeker and a Witch Doctor, Sane.  (Actually, it’s a 7-syallble name.  This is the short version.  He has the stats of a typical Witch Doctor.)  Sane will heal anyone injured and Seeker will have a variety of fresh native food with him.  In the morning, the group will begin a trek to the mountains. 

No comments:

Post a Comment