iserith
Magic Wordsmith
The Laboratory-Tomb of Doctor Viktor Vampenstein
Being a Horrible Tale of Horror Based Loosely Upon Half-Remembered Movies
A D&D 5e one-shot scenario for four 5th-level characters
Being a Horrible Tale of Horror Based Loosely Upon Half-Remembered Movies
A D&D 5e one-shot scenario for four 5th-level characters
Cold Open
Rain starts to fall as the sun races toward the horizon. Lightning flashes and thunder follows, rumbling and echoing in the crumbling tower, its lack of a roof and irregular walls providing little cover from the weather. Two wolves that walk as men are joined by a third climbing over the wall to the southeast, each carrying a longbow. Somewhere past these lupine brutes, in the bowels of the once-great tower, sleeps your sworn foe.
What do you do?
The Sitch
The increasingly savage depredations of the vampire, Dr. Viktor Vampenstein, and his spawn, Selene and Vlad, must be stopped. Van Helsing already went up the mountain to face him, silvered sword and stakes in hand, but none have seen him since.
The trek to Vampenstein's shattered tower was difficult and time-consuming - and time is not on the characters' side. It is only 2 minutes till sundown, when Dr. Vampenstein and his minions rise from their sarcophagi to slake their thirst with the blood of the living.
Stakes in the hearts of these fiends while they sleep will decisively end the vampire threat forever. But if they awaken before justice is delivered, death and eternal servitude in undeath will surely follow...
Party Goal: Slay Dr. Vampenstein.
The Cast
Lora Literati
A well-read lady who always seems to know the solution.
Character Goal: Find and steal the Tome of Beasts.
Filthy Metagamer. When the DM asks you to make an Intelligence check to recall lore about a monster, you automatically succeed.
Filthy Metagamer. When the DM asks you to make an Intelligence check to recall lore about a monster, you automatically succeed.
A kindly soul with forlorn visions of a past life.
Character Goal: Discover a truth about her past life.
Familiar Face. You remind Vampenstein of his lost love. He cannot attack you if you do not attack him.
Familiar Face. You remind Vampenstein of his lost love. He cannot attack you if you do not attack him.
A tough-as-nails veteran just one day from retirement.
Character Goal: Slay Corvin, Kessler, and Lupin.
Silver Pieces. You have two silvered weapons.
Silver Pieces. You have two silvered weapons.
A wise-cracking foe of all things supernatural.
Character Goal: Insult each of the villains.
Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost. You're immune to the Horrifying Visage and Possession abilities of ghosts.
Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost. You're immune to the Horrifying Visage and Possession abilities of ghosts.
The Villains
Dr. Viktor Vampenstein, a vampire (MM pg. 297). The supreme villain of this tale, Dr. Vampenstein is as evil as he is tragic. His goal is to bide his time through the ages until he can be reunited with his lost love. In the meantime, he needs the blood of the living to sustain his power.
Selene & Vlad, vampire spawn (MM pg. 298). Selene's goal is to be with Corvin again and free from her father's control. Vlad's obsession is the blood and he seeks it out relentlessly.
Igor Renfield, a ghost (MM pg. 147). Igor seeks to complete his task of animating a corpse in order to please his Master.
Vampenstein, a flesh golem (MM pg. 169). This tragic monster just does what it is told unless it goes berserk. Also, fire bad. Always refer to this villain as Vampenstein until a player says it's called "Vampenstein's Monster" not "Vampenstein" or words to that effect. The first player to do that earns Inspiration.
Corvin, Kessler & Lupin, werewolves (MM pg. 211, +2 Dex, replace spear with longbow and 20 arrows). Lapdogs of Dr. Vampenstein, they live and die to serve their lord as they are addicted to his blood. Corvin is in a forbidden affair with Selene.
The Crumbling Tower
The mountain trail leads to a crumbling shell of a tower which clings desperately to the edge of a rocky precipice, a shattered husk back-lit by intermittent flashes of lightning. A towering metal rod (30 feet tall) thrusts through the tower's floor and crackles with white hot arcs. A corpse lay amidst the scorched rubble, fresh-killed, still clutching a silvered sword and a bouquet of yellow flowers - it is Van Helsing.
Combat: Three werewolves defend their vampire lord's domain to the death. Piles of rubble are difficult terrain and some are tall enough to provide cover. At the end of each round, roll 1d20. On a roll of 11 or higher, a bolt of lightning strikes the metal rod. All creatures within 15 feet must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 4d10 (22) lightning damage. Three such strikes is required to bring the flesh golem in The Laboratory to life (see below).
Exploration: A character searching the corpse of Van Helsing can find a silvered longsword, wolfsbane, and a wooden stake. Werewolves take disadvantage on melee attacks when attacking a creature holding wolfsbane. In the southeast corner of the crumbled tower is a rusty ladder bolted to the wall that leads 30 feet down to the lab via an open window in the rock face. It's not hidden, but it's not obvious and offers a safer way of getting to the lab compared to the hole around the lightning rod.
Social Interaction: During the scene, Corvin makes declarations such as "I won't let you kill her!" and "Save your stakes for Vampenstein and leave Selene be!" Kessler and Lupin show open contempt for Corvin and Selene's forbidden love. Corvin will turn against his allies if the PCs can convince him that he and Selene will be reunited and permitted to go on their way together.
The Laboratory
A great metal machine at the base of the lightning rod hums and throws sparks into the murky puddle in which it sits. Lightning courses across the laboratory's iron operating table upon which a hastily-stitched corpse comprised of ill-fitting body parts twitches and jerks. Wind blows through an open window, fluttering the pages of open books and scrolls on shelves and tables. An exsanguinated body molders on the floor, while chemicals bubble in beakers and condense in a still.
Combat: Igor Renfield defends his experiment, focusing on stopping anyone trying to attack the corpse or disable the machine. A creature that comes in contact with the electrified operating table (AC 19, 18 hp), battery, puddle of water, or lightning rod takes 2d10 lightning damage. Vampenstein, if it animates to Igor's exclamation of "It's alive!," attacks the PCs relentlessly. If it goes berserk, it attacks only objects and destroys the lab while Igor tries to talk it down. (See the Berserk trait in the flesh golem entry.)
Exploration: A concerted effort at searching the bookshelf turns up the Tome of Beasts. The alchemical still on the northeast side of the chamber is another of Igor's failed experiments. Instead of creating a potion of fire resistance to treat the corpse, he made a potion of fire breath (three doses) instead, an orange liquid that emits smoke. The exsanguinated body belongs to Igor Renfield and two hard-to-find puncture wounds in the neck strongly implicate a vampire in Igor's murder. Beneath a pile of papers on the floor is a locked grate that opens up a shaft which leads 60 feet down to The Tomb (30 feet down the shaft, then 30 feet from ceiling to floor).
Social Interaction: Igor Renfield constantly extols the power, grace, and genius of his master, Dr. Vampenstein. He claims, more than once, that the creation of the flesh golem will earn him his master's good will. He is blindly loyal, even wrongly believing that his death was due to a mishap with lightning. If it can somehow be proven to him that Dr. Vampenstein was his killer (e.g. the exsanguinated corpse, Corvin's eye witness account, etc.), Igor immediately departs for the afterlife.
The Tomb
The shaft leads to a macabre chamber of blood-red, blood-stained tiles dimly lit by candlelight. A great statue of an angelic woman towers above the seven sarcophagi, some draped in cobwebs, another open enough to expose a skeleton within. A great circle of obscure runes rings the statue.
Combat: The open sarcophagus is a mimic (MM page 220, but Large, +25% hp, +2 Str), with a bejeweled skeleton in its mouth and it happily tries to feed on the characters. The northeast sarcophagus contains Dr. Vampenstein. The northwest and southeast coffins contain Selene and Vlad. Each is sealed with a very heavy stone lid. The vampires attack when arisen, but are easy to stake while the sun is still up. Dr. Vampenstein has a Lair Action in this desecrated tomb. On initiative count 20, he can cause any living creatures slain by his Bite attack to immediately rise as vampire spawn under his control.
Exploration: The skeleton still wears grave jewelry valued at 1,000 gp and a ring of animal influence. The coffins that are unoccupied have cob webs on them. The runes carved into the floor read "Her back forever turned on this pitiful wretch," in an old form of Common that takes some effort and skill to decipher. It refers to the statue, a 20-foot tall monument to Dr. Vampenstein's lost love, Mary, and provides a clue to his resting place. The statue of Mary strongly resembles Lady Wilhelmina. Taken with other clues, the character may discover a truth about her past life.
Social Interaction: Dr. Vampenstein toys with his prey and gladly interacts with the PCs as he sets about destroying or enslaving them. His Achilles' heel is any mention of his lost love and what he's become without her. Making an effort at reopening that wound may cause him to attack at disadvantage until the end of his next turn. If Selene sees Corvin working with the PCs, this gives her the strength to overcome the supernatural control of creator, Dr. Vampenstein and she turns against him.
Additional Notes
This lighthearted adventure is intended for a one-shot session and assumes the players are bought into the premise and goals. They should be aware of the information in The Sitch. I recommend taking some time to flesh out the characters' relationships to each other and to the adventure just prior to getting into the action. The difficulty of the challenge can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the time until sundown.
House Rule: Ingenuity
If a player has his or her character utilize the character's trinket in a useful and creative way, the player earns Inspiration. (Limit one time per session.)
All maps were created with resources available on Roll20. Special thanks to @Bawylie for collaborating with me during the creation of this scenario.
Thank you for taking the time to read this adventure scenario. I welcome constructive feedback and discussion. If you run it for your players, please drop me a line to tell me how it went! If you'd like to see some other scenarios, check out this thread.
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