Adventure Ideas

[Jack7]

Futuristic/Sci-Fi/Mission: The Corbomite Maneuver – (I wrote this scenario as a special operations mission for the Spheres of Influence game.)

A Federation inventor and scientist named Albreen Stammish pitched an idea to Star Fleet of a potentially balance of power shifting weapon. After examining the proposal Federation science analysts dismissed the idea as too improbable to ever work correctly, but Star Fleet Intelligence and Naval Command thought the idea both too dangerous and too promising to ignore. So they set up Stammish and his research team on a small but well stocked, high tech laboratory built into a small planetoid and hidden deep within an asteroid belt in an obscure system. A patrol vessel was stationed nearby as a continuous guard ship and the project was code named “Corbomite.”

The Corbomite project was named, perhaps somewhat ironically, after the famous bluff, well known in official Star Fleet circles, executed by Captain James T. Kirk against the alien captain Balok. But the “real Corbomite” project did not redirect energy at an enemy vessel fired at a Star Fleet vessel. Rather it had a different, if somewhat similar, yet just as devastatingly odd effect.

The shielding of most ships is designed in such a way as to allow energy fired from that ship to pass harmlessly through the shielding (its own shielding) and only damage enemy vessels or enemy shielding. The Corbomite effect, produced by the Corbomite device, was instead theoretically to function by warping the shield harmonics of a target ship, thereby causing the shielding of a targeted vessel to curve back upon itself in a state of “counter-resonance and shape warpage.” The effect being that if a target ship (targeted by the Corbomite device) fires its own weapons then the shielding of the target ship does not allow those weapons to pass harmlessly through but instead detonates such weapons upon the inner lip of her own defenses (her own shielding) causing shield (and potentially hull) damage equal to the force of discharge from the same weapons. A ship targeted by a corbomite device could easily obliterate its own shielding, perhaps even destroy itself if its weapons were powerful enough or fired simultaneously. If, that is, the Corbomite device works as theorized.

The project proceeded for three years, funded in secret, with no visible sign of any real progress. Even many supporters suspected the initial analysis had been correct. The device would never function correctly. Six weeks before the project was slated to be terminated however Star Fleet received a communications from the laboratory saying that the Corbomite device had been successfully tested. Word was immediately dispatched to the patrol vessel guarding the research facility but the vessel could neither be located nor successfully hailed.

Long range scans of the planetoid showed major abnormalities in structure. The USS Stark, along with the special forces Team is dispatched to the lab where they discover that the patrol vessel is missing, the research station stripped of most equipment and all personnel, and the lab partially obliterated by what appears to be advanced Romulan plasma weaponry. The investigation discovers no way to proceed.

Then, six solar days later, a Federation light cruiser is apparently wrecked and has to be abandoned after encountering an Orion pirate vessel. The strange thing is the Federation cruiser apparently nearly destroyed itself with its own weaponry. The Stark races to the scene and picks up the trail of the Orion pirate vessel. Twelve hours later they overtake the pirate ship only to discover that it is not manned by Orions at all, but rather by the Kzinti. If the Kzinti are truly in possession of a working Corbomite device then that is potentially terrifically dangerous for the Federation. Just as importantly, if the Kzin do have a Corbomite device, how can the Team and the Stark possibly stop the Kzin and recover the device?

 

[Jack7]

With inspiration from KM:

D&D/Fantasy Adventure: The Serpent Coiled at Midnight - In the surrounding mountains are a series of caves in which a small community of prophets once lived. Those prophets one day uncovered a barrow in the cave complex that housed the body of a giant. But the corpse of the giant had not decayed, nor mummified. It was still intact, yet seemingly dead. Encased in a transparent blue crystal sarcophagus, covered in symbols of a long dead language. After this discovery one of the prophets left a message inscribed in the rock face of a stone altar he built nearby with a date affixed to the horns of the altar. The prophets eventually all died out but the local populace still recounts the stories of the group, and of the discovery they supposedly made of the sleeping giant.

Hundreds of years later a cleric, whom many also considered a prophet in his own right, led an expeditionary force to the same region. Picking out a spot on the river he enlisted the locals to help build three towers, one (the minaret of Jam) on the river, one in the mountains, and another whose location he never disclosed. Rumor had it the secret tower was not built by human hands but by giants.

Once all three were built he helped establish a small contingent garrison force of Paladene (Paladins) from Armenia to inhabit the minaret. He took up residence in the tower on the mountain, and told the Paladins of the existence of the third tower but never disclosed any real details concerning it. The Paladins were also told that one day in the future there would be an earthquake which would uncover something very dangerous to all men and that the towers had been built covered in glyphs and sigils that were also mystical symbols for the name of God. And that the towers "resonated" whenever any one of the other towers was in need.

Three years after being built the cleric appeared at evening at the minaret, assembled all of the Paladins, blessed them and baptized them in the river, then deposited holy water and sacred earth in stores within the underground complex running beneath the minaret. He left the next morning. Six days later there was a tremendous earthquake and the minaret rang like a gong and vibrated for seven hours afterwards. The Paladins became sick, saw visions and apparitions; fell into trances, and three of them died. The survivors sent half their number out to find the cleric only to discover that his tower had fallen, broken into pieces. The pieces were hot to the touch and some seemed to vibrate. After nightfall a terrible vision of an unearthly giant was seen stalking the ruins, but if the Paladins approached he disappeared. The next morning the Paladins searched the surrounding area but only found two things. The clerical robes of their leader, and the altar that had been built long ago by one of the prophets. They disassembled the altar and took both it and the robes with them.

The search party, finding no evidence of the body of the cleric returned to their tower to find they could not approach the minaret. It seemed to repel them. As they called out for their companions they watched in horror as their friends and fellow Paladins mounted the top of the tower and systematically threw themselves to their deaths below. Suicide being a sin in their order they considered the tower now cursed.

However they were in distress because they also were charged by obligation of their order with giving their comrades a proper burial. It was discovered however that someone wearing the robes of the cleric could approach the tower without being repelled. So one among them wore the robes and he gathered all of the bodies and drug them back to his friends for burial. The Paladins diverted the river and buried all 20 of their friends in the dry riverbank then returned the river to it's natural course, hoping the river would help wash away the sin of the mass suicide. Within three days whatever enchantment had repulsed the Paladins failed and they could safely approach. However none would except the man who had previously worn the robes. He went into the tower and was gone for a long time. He finally reappeared at the top of the tower and shouted down at them, over a strong, howling wind, "I've seen the Third Tower!" or possibly, "Seize the Third Tower!" Then he spread his arms and lept into the air and seemed to fly a short distance like a bird til he was over to the other side of the river, then he too plummeted to his death. Like a stone, splitting his skull in the process.

The remaining Paladins recovered his body, washed the clerical robes in the river, though the blood of the Paladin who had died in it never would fade - it always remained bright red, and burned his body. However two parts of his corpse would never burn down to ashes, his heart, and his skull. Both relics were buried in secret. The Paladins then shut up and sealed the tower, calling it accursed. They left one of their number in the local village, and there reassembled the old altar and left the clerical robes with the last Paladin. That Paladin lived for sixty more years til he gave the robes to his servant and told him that one day others would come to find the Third Tower, and discover what had really been uncovered.

On the day the party comes within sight of the minaret there is another earthquake. The blood on the clerical robes begins to seep again, as if freshly bleeding. That night there is a vision for all to see in the air of flying man, of dead men rising from the river waters, and of a gigantic figure in the foothills. And the tower hums and wails and shrieks all night long. The next morning the old altar, which had stood in the center of the village has disappeared and now stands in front of the entrance to the tower. When the party arrives at the tower gate they notice that the date on the altar is for that very day.


Relics I would put into the Quest:

The Clerical Robes
The Shattered Skull, the skull of the Paladin who had flown and then fallen
The Altar
The Scrolls in the Cave - scrolls partially hidden in ceramic pots in the old caves of the prophets. Fragments remain intact. Can be reassembled in different ways to give clues about the Towers, the giant, and what has been uncovered.
The Helm of the Last Paladin - place it on the Shattered Skull and see what happens. You'll believe a man can fly.


Artifacts of the Quest:

The Minaret itself is an artifact. The glyphs and sigils are also a code. They are also a transmitter allowing one to communicate with angels
The Giant's Sarcophagus - found empty, it is also encoded. It also dampens arcane magic but amplifies clerical magic.
The Third Tower is an artifact. It is also a prophetic timepiece/calendar moving backwards in relation to the outside world. What is it winding backwards toward?
The Stone from the Cleric's tower acts as a spiritual lodestone, if pieces of it are taken. It glows and sizzles in the presence of demons, and will repel them. It also has other powers. Like acting as a compass to help locate the Third Tower.


Monsters of the Quest:

The Giant, the Giant's ghost. The giant remains an enigma. Is he benign or malignant? Is he real or a sprit? Does he seek to aid the party or lead them to their deaths? He never speaks, only acts.
The Demon of the Third Tower
The Khimera in the Mountains
The Dead Paladins - risen from their graves by the earthquake. For good or ill?
The Serpent coiled at Midnight
The Ichor - the paint decorating the outside of the Third Tower is not really paint at all but the ichor of the Serpent Coiled at Midnight. But what does it do?
The Flying Thing
The Old Man - one of the prophets, the cleric, something else in disguise?
The River - the river is something other than what it appears to be, except when seen from the top of the third tower.
The Bandits - a group of violent and desperate bandits inhabiting the wilds of the nearby mountain passes. Or are they bandits?

 

[Jack7]

D&D/Fantasy Adventure - Terra-Ghantik (Terra): White Elephant (White Elephant Part One) - (This mission involves the Hoshi, a party of Oriental Heroes operating on our world) Before leaving for the West by land the Hoshi Party is asked by the Chief Minister at the imperial Court of China to go to Java and escort from there, by ship, safely to the Imperial City a fabulous African White Elephant. Traveling by sea to Java the party boards the ship that carries the elephant and it’s imperial Guard. While aboard ship the Hoshi learns that the Elephant is a gift from the Chief of a Swahili tribe who wishes to court trade and arms favors with the Emperor of China. Supposedly the Elephant is part of a famous African prophecy and is also said to be an omen of great prosperity and propriety. As the trip progresses it becomes apparent to the Hoshi that some of the African delegation are not as they appear and that even some of the African servants may be possessed of a double nature. Worse still the Hoshi stumbles across evidence that a conspiracy may be afoot, one involving the elephant, and one which may reach even into the bedrooms and bureaucracies of the Imperial Court itself. Approaching China strange events begin to transpire aboard ship, many of which seem to flow in and around the Elephant. Hoshi party members begin to dream of the elephant and in some of the dreams the elephant even speaks to them, describing events that seem all too real. The party awakes one morning to discover that several members of the African delegation have been assassinated at night, as they slept, along with three members of the Emperor's diplomatic delegation. The Hoshi is thereafter contacted by an imperial Oracle, who is aboard ships in disguise, and who has been assigned to watch the elephant. The oracle also knows why the Hoshi is aboard and tells the party members that he believes the Elephant can actually speak to the minds of men, and that it is not what it appears to be, that it may not even be an elephant at all. The elephant has led the oracle to a number of strange trigrams and hexagrams in the I Ching, and interpreting the readings the oracle believes that someone aboard plans to steal the elephant, and that someone may even intend to assassinate the Emperor. Before the ship lands the Hoshi must try to determine exactly what is going on and what they can do about it before escorting the elephant to the Imperial Court. (HC/OC/KHC)

 

[Jack7]

Note: This is a mission or adventure for a Sharper. In my setting a Sharper is a character acting completely alone, without a party, team, or back-up, and often undercover. Sharpers may be of any "class" but almost all Sharpers, because it is so dangerous to operate alone, are also trained and experienced Vadders.


D&D/Fantasy Adventure - Terra-Ghantik (Terra): The Industrial Act - Tomas, the Constable of Regions VII and VIII in the city of Constantinople approaches one of the Sharpers and asks him/her to undertake an undercover mission for him. Tomas, who has a wide net of agents and spies throughout the city has heard rumor of a potential mutiny among the Garrison who patrol and guard the Byzantine Industrion (the chief Industrial District of Constantinople near the Harbor of Theodosius and the Shipyards of Caesarius). Tomas has been unable to find out anything detailed enough which would allow him to take any type of action, but while conducting his initial investigation some of his informants in both the Thematic War College and the Industrial District inform that a conspiracy may be afloat between a certain General Hubus Costus and Iraenus, the Constable of Region XII, where the Industrial District is located. Unable to discover exactly what may be afoot, how large the potential conspiracy may be, or who else may be involved, and fearing that the plot may actually intend a coup against the Emperor, Tomas hires a sharper to infiltrate the Industrial District and the Guild of the Purple. Tomas suspects that a particular guild member and merchant by the name of Arcates with ties to shipping caravans and with ties to Seleucians at theThematic War College may somehow be involved and hires the sharper to track, shadow and surveil the man's movements. Not long after infiltrating the guild as a dyer and taking up surveillance of Arcates the sharper notices a monk from the monastery of Myrelaion coming to visit his suspect regularly. Following Arcates at night he discovers that the man meets an Imperial Librarian from the Library of Deoklarion on a dock at the port of Caesarius. On his way back home the sharper is covertly approached by the same monk he had noticed earlier who tells the sharper that there is a very good chance that both the Imperial Court and the Thematic War College may have been infiltrated by one or more Dragoons. The monk will not tell the sharper what the Dragoons may be up to or hoping to accomplish or who they may be but does arrange and agree to pass more information to the sharper once he can. They agree to pass written information using a clay dying pot as a dead drop. The Sharper returns home to sleep, goes to work the next day and upon arriving home for the evening, planning to surveil Arcates again, he is met by Imperial Police who arrest him for the murder of the monk whose name he does not even yet know. The Sharper is taken to the Region XII holding prison, is briefly interrogated and then transferred to the prison of the Garrison of the Imperial Legions where he is tortured for three days about what he may possibly know. After that it is all downhill for the Sharper until he/she can discover what is really happening, who is really involved and how he might possibly act to save himself and complete his mission.

 

[Jack7]

D&D/Fantasy Adventure: The Living and the Dead - Until another thread reminded me of this I had nearly forgotten about this campaign/series of adventures. Because they occurred so long ago. But they worked out really well and were very popular back then.

The Living and the Dead

 

[Jack7]

I am moving these adventures from the Dreaming DM to this thread, so as to keep all adventures located in a single location. They will however be cross-linked.


Possible Adventures from the Dreaming DM, Part Two - the Dream of the Other Hand:

Sci-Fi/Futuristic Mission/Adventure: Days of Future Past - I think in this case the dream could almost stand by itself as an adventure. I think it would be very interesting to keep most all of the information secretive from the players and let them discover things as they proceed. I'd also present several different possible explanations and play up the possible conflict of whether or not the artifact and arm were indigenous to Earth or of alien origin. I would also allow for more than one type of possibly correct decipherment of the language and of the data presented by the DNA resonance. And of course I'd involve the possibility of a pandemic plague associated with the arm.

D&D/Fantasy Adventure/Scenario: The Touch of the Unknown - I would keep much of the dream as is (in general storyline) without the obvious scientific basis, although I might include pseudo-scientific elements. instead I would have the artifact discovered in a treasure hoard in some ancient ruins. I would also concentrate heavily on the mysterious aspect of the discovery and might make the crystal case magical in origin rather than springing from a long dead technology (though both ideas would be interesting and truth be told it could be both magical and dead-tech). I wouldn't bother with the alien organ theory unless one of the players deduced such a possibility and then I might involve a sub-plot with Mind Flayers who wanted to recover the artifact, thinking it the arm of an old adversary.

Otherwise through magic I would expose both a "resonant message, or series of messages" and the strange script on the scales. I'd play up the psychological and magical aspects of the script and I think I would have the script have more than one layer of meaning. And the script would have magical capabilities unlike those normally encountered in-game. the script would be a separate or sub-branch of magical properties. A good deal of the plot would also involve some type of implied but unknown danger/curse surrounding the arm, as well as other parties anxious to recover the artifact for unknown reasons. Horror would play a major role in such an adventure. (Indeed much of the dream was a nightmare and was very spooky, especially when I was exploring undersea by myself.) And it would probably include a Quest to seek some method of opening the aces and gaining access to the arm (with warnings of what might happen if this occurred). The arm itself would be of an ancient and undiscovered/unknown race.

Pulp/Modern/Horror/military/Espionage Mission/Scenario: The Arms of Death - I think that this type of scenario would be a sort of blending of elements between the Sci-Fi and the Fantasy adventures. It might also easily involve cultic and supernatural elements.

 

[Jack7]

Possible Adventures: From the Dreaming DM, Part Three

The Adventure for the Dream of the Thing Under the Water


D&D/Fantasy Adventure/Scenario: Beneath the Glass – This adventure would begin at the City of Kwåhąlk. It takes place on Ghantik.

For several months merchants who have passed close enough to the city to gain sight of it have spoken of strange lights and movement on the surface of Kûrne-slurýn (Lake Glass). Word eventually reaches Samarkand who send the Caerkara out to investigate.

The lake was said to have originally been dug out by the giants in order to provide their city with water for all of their needs. It is a huge lake, almost an inland sea, and no-one is really sure exactly how deep it might be.

When the Caerkara arrive they discover that an odd device seems to rise on occasion from the lake, near the shore. There is much lore and history that is recorded regarding the various incarnations of the city of Kwåhąlk, but none have ever made any mention of anything like this object that rises from the lake at night.

(See description of Object here.)

No mention can be found of the object in any record, who made it, or for what purpose, and no oral tradition or legend makes any mention of the thing either. But after observing it on several nights the Caerkara notices that it changes shape most every time it appears (with no real discernable pattern), that it occasionally seems to split open, then it seems to repair itself or meld back together, and then resubmerge. When it splits apart it seems to allow entrance to an internal system of gears and devices, as well as to what appears to be a sort of shaft reaching down into the lake.

How to Use the Thing Under the Water: The thing under the water will lead, through the shaft, into a series of dungeon complexes. Each different appearance (that is each different shape-appearance of the object) will lead to a different dungeon complex, one of them located under the lake, one traveling back in time to a point just after the original city of the giants was abandoned, and one leading to an underground maze complex on Earth (Terra – in Egypt under the city of Karnak). One will also lead to a secret and long-abandoned complex of the Nephýařla.

Several of the appearances will also contain complex traps, as well as the occasional monster (ones never seen elsewhere), and other challenges that must be overcome before one can proceed to the real destination.



Notes on the Ruined City of Kwåhąlk – The ancient “Bridged City of the Deven,” which was abandoned without warning. None of the occupants were later ever discovered. They seem to have simply disappeared. Kwåhąlk was built over the remains of Six Older Cities, the oldest having been built by the ancient Beiãrygn (Giants). The giant builders were also said to have disappeared according to ancient lore. The original name of the city has been lost to time with the long vanished giants.

Kwåhąlk was the only city ever built by the Deven (Dwarves) completely above ground, though old and still visible passages led to the Sixth City, or Underground Kwåhąlk.
Kwåhąlk was said to be the city the giants had built as a defense against the H’alel. Yet after three hundred years the giants disappeared, and their city was abandoned, and eventually it was covered over by the dust of time.

Many years later however the first site was built over, for the city lay upon a strategic point of both migration and trade. Two of the cities were sacked and burned, some were simply covered over by time and decay and new construction. Six cities had lain destroyed or abandoned or in partial ruins by the time the Deven decided to locate their city at the same location. The sixth city had long fallen into decay and was used for very little other than a merchantman’s and caravan station. The Devens negotiated to buy the city remains and to have all of the old inhabitants relocated. They then set about to raze the existing city and then to build a new city such as no other that had ever existed. Dev (dwarves) from many lands, including Samarkand (who lost many of their most skilled craftsmen, and political and military advisors to Kwåhąlk), decided to make their home in the new city. Contrary to all previous building inclinations of the Deven Kwåhąlk was built entirely aboveground. It is said that the construction was so amazingly precise, original in design, and interlocked in nature that sound from a great distance outside the walls could be heard at any point inside the walls through horns made of bone that many of the people carried with them. And that the entire city would vibrate gently when certain tones were produced during yearly festivals and holidays, leading to visions of the past and future, as well as instances of near miraculous healing of the sick. It was also said that when the nearby Kûrne-slurýn (Lake Glass) rose in flood the entire city would change in color and become reflective like a mirror, as if covered in Elturgical Quicksilver. When so enchanted the city could be seen like a reflected gem from many miles away. The Deven peoples lived in Kwåhąlk for approximately seventy years. Then one day they simply vanished en masse, with no sign of struggle, disease, starvation, or disaster.

After the abandonment of Kwåhąlk and the disappearance of the inhabitants, the government at Samarkand launched a series of investigative expeditions to Kwåhąlk to see if they could determine what had occurred. Nothing leading to any concrete clue as to the nature of the city’s fate and abandonment ever surfaced.

The City was renowned far and wide for it’s number of huge Bridges, which connected one part of the city to another, Kwåhąlk having been divided into Seven smaller sub-districts, each encircled by a wall, inter-locking tower grid, or defense system of some type. It is said that fourteen architectural wonders are enclosed within the bounds of the city, including the famous Dome of the Summer Stars (Klərstahlbřyn), which is the largest dome on any one building known to exist yet it is supported by only four slender columns of an unknown marble-like substance which reflects moonlight, but absorbs sunlight.

After the expeditions from Samarkand failed to discover any real reason for the abandonment of the city and the disappearance of its inhabitants few people have ever ventured there again, and none reside there as residents. The city was abandoned by the Deven about 50 years ago (game time).

There are weord prophecies going back to the time of the Giants said to be associated with the city, but most of these now exist only in fragmentary form or in lost languages.

 

[Jack7]

The Familiar Man

D&D/Fantasy Adventure/Scenario: The Familiar Man –

Introduction: This adventure revolves around the creature known as the Homonculous. And is involved with events on our world, and on the world of Ghantik, described in this thread: the Worlds Apart.

A Group of Ilurgists (in this case Ghantikan sorcerers of the Ulbraen – fanatics dedicated to maintaining and expanding Elturgical power) have created a new type of creature. A thing they call the Parah, but which they also call the Homonculous, in parody and mockery of how it was created, and out of what materials.

The Homonculous was designed to exist in our world, on Terra, and the Ulbraen, working with their even more dangerous underworld partners in Kitharia decide to send the first of their homonculors to Earth in order to test it and to use it against human beings and human societies.

The Homonculous is sent to our world in a state of suspended animation, disguised as a small statue. To some men it appears beautiful and of exquisite workmanship, made of precious gems and metals. To others it appears hideous and misshapen. Monstrous in appearance. To some men it appears as a sort of misshapen lump of some unknown metal. As if it had fallen from the sky.

However even in this “statuesque-shape” it begins to immediately exert psychic influence over the human couriers to whom it has been entrusted. When given the homonculous the couriers were instructed by the Ulbraen agents to transport it to Belgrade where it will be given to the human Warlock Klingsor, who has become a sort of de facto human earthly and mortal ally of the Ulbraen cult of the Eladarin, and of Ghantikan Ilurgists. Klingsor thinks the homonculous will be a powerful new Elturgical tool for him to employ in his quest for personal and magical power, given by his allies on Ghantik. But his allies in Ghantik hate all humans and intend to use the homonculous to enslave the mind of Klingsor and to “bind” the homonculous directly to him, both mentally and physically, so that in effect he becomes their tool in their covert war on humanity and against the Byzantine Empire.

However unknown to the Ilurgists the trip along the Weirding Road which leads from Ghantik to Terra has changed the homonculous, making it even more self-aware and allowing it to partially overcome the magical spells designed to make it into a sort of magically animated automaton and psychic weapon against men. Once on Earth and away from the direct control of his makers the homonculous decides to influence his couriers to turn away from Belgrade and to head East and South, towards the Orient. Along the way, while stopped in Alexandria, the homonculous escapes his statue-form and animates, thereafter eluding his couriers. Wandering alone at night, and disguised as a large, talking lizard the homonculous finally takes up with a teen-aged orphan, a young boy named Koptoi. Appearing to him as a beautiful, two-foot tall youth the homonculous convinces the boy that he is a Spirit of Good Fortune and if the boy will take him East then he will show him treasures and make him famous and into a prince. What the motives and ultimate destination of the homonculous really are no one knows. Except the homonculous.

Meanwhile the Caerkara has learned of the creation of the homonculous and where the couriers were last seen (in Alexandria) and they come to Earth to warn the Basilegate and solicit their help in capturing and/or destroying the creature. At about the same time the Ilurgists learn that the homonculous has escaped their immediate control and ask Klingsor for his help to track down the creature. Klingsor, anxious to gain control of the homonculous and make it into his own, personal familiar contacts agents of the Consociatio who accompany him to Alexandria to search for the homonculous. As the Caerkara, the Basilegate, Klingsor, and the Consociatio all head towards the Orient to locate the homonculous, the Ilurgists of Ghantik send a monstrous chimera into earth to track and kill the homonculous while it moves ever closer towards its own secret destination. A destination that may just involve a very ancient, powerful, and entrapped Demon who was long ago banished to a spiritual prison within a long deserted desert stronghold by the Apostle Thomas.

 

[Jack7]

D&D/Fantasy Adventure – Trigger Force: The Byzantine government, having recently concluded a peace treaty with the Bulgars establishing new forntier’s borders leave a series of lightly armed garrisons throughout northern Macedonia. In the town of Sardica the Byzantines leave a 30-man garrison from the Macedonian Theme army under the command of a Byzantine General. The garrison, along with a string of other garrisons in the area is to act as a “Trigger Force.” If the Bulgars or any other invaders attack the garrison then the full wrath of the Byzantine Army will be triggered and will fall upon the invaders. The garrisons function as designed and the Trigger Forces are left unmolested for over two years. Apparently for fear of provoking the Romans to new war. Thereafter however contact between the frontier and Constantinople becomes more and more sporadic. After finally losing all contact reports with several of the garrisons the Basilegate is sent to investigate the situation.

They discover several abandoned garrisons at small frontier towns, and two towns that are completely deserted. Each abandoned area seems as if it was deserted hurriedly. There is some evidence of limited violence, but none of apparent large-scale raids or attacks by slave takers, or brigands.

As they move farther north and west they hear rumors surrounding the frontier town of Sardica. Upon arrival they find the population terrified and in virtual hiding. The party is pointed to a stone and wooden fortification where the garrison was housed, but none of the local folk will approach it. The locals do report that for three nights terrible shrieks and screams were heard at the garrison, but none of the forces there appeared or were sighted during the commotion.

The next morning the Basilegate travels up the hill outside the town to the fortification. There they discover a bizarre and horrifying sight. In several places the stonewalls of the garrison are still standing but blasted black and charred as if by great heat. When these areas of the wall are touched, they crumble to ash, as if the walls had been made of paper rather than mountain granite.

Inside the fortification are even stranger sites. There are driven into the ground at multiple points sharpened wooden stakes. The stakes are covered in gore and blackened blood. As if each had been used to impale someone. Yet each stake is sharpened only at the end driven into the ground and each stake, though over ten feet tall is warped, gnarled, and twisted, as if by some huge hand. In the barracks where the garrison was housed the walls are covered in blood and gore, as if men had been slaughtered like animals.

Large iron pots and kettles are found atop long dead fire pits and in each vessel is the head of a goat or sheep (or several heads), soaked in a fly and maggot infested sludge of old blood and rank liquid. And in the center of the compound can be found a huge, partially burned pit of the corpse-remains of all of the butchered animals. Yet also among the remains can be plainly seen the massive and bloated bodies of what appear to be two bears and a mountain lion. Also near the bottom of a pit is the body of some creature that no-one in the party has ever seen, or even heard of. It appears to have had four heads, one vulture like, one vaguely cat like, one something like a reptile, the last like some huge misshapen frog or toad. The body appears to have been enormous, partially cover in something like a cross between oily feathers and fish-fins, and the limbs seem to have protruded at nearly impossible angles from the body. The stench rising for the mound of carcasses is so powerful and noxious that several members of the party either vomit violently or pass out if in the immediate vicinity for too long.

After reconnoitering this area the party sees movement near a section of the outer wall to the rear of the compound. Investigating cautiously they apparently see several members of the Caerkara (whom they have encountered before) milling about a hole in the ground near the bottom section of the wall. But as the Basilegate approaches the wall the members of the Caerkara appear to dissolve and disappear. The whole scene seems eerie, weird, disturbing, and malevolent. There is no sound of any kind, even background noise.

At the wall and near the hole the party finds what appears to be a severed human hand, but it is far too large to be a human hand. It is over two feet in width, and the palm is covered in dull metal bands, with sharp studs that pierce the flesh of the hand wherever the metal touches. However also within the open hand is a painted plate housing a complex gear work of unknown design, a glowing bar of some type of crystal, and the purple standard of the Byzantine Emperor. The hole at the wall seems as if it were dug or clawed from beneath the ground, rather than from the surface downwards. Where the hole touches the base of the wall thousands of unnatural looking worms and centipedes crawl and squirm. From the hole seeps a sickeningly sweet odor, and emanates the sound of ocean waves striking a rugged shoreline, even though Sardica is hundreds of miles from any sea.

Hearing a sudden commotion the party races back to the center of the compound where they find the rotted corpses of the strange, alien creature, and the bears and the mountain lion rising from the pile of animal carnage, and each creature-corpse hisses like a boiling pot of hot oil. Drawing weapons and preparing to either fight or run the party suddenly also realizes that the blood and gore along the walls and elsewhere in the compound has begun to congregate and congeal into the body of a monstrous and viscous figure, perhaps twenty feet tall, with but a single hand.