IRON DM 2021 Tournament

[Imaculata]

Regarding Fools Rush In:

Spoiler

I am really impressed by how well this entry makes all the ingredients fit together. Not a single one feels out of place.

I do wonder about the various competitions where success or death are the only outcomes. Surely when running this adventure as a DM, you have to account for the possibility of failure? A bad roll of the dice shouldn't immediately end in death, unless I misunderstood?

 

[Wicht]

Iron DM 2021 – Round 3 Wicht vs. Gradine​

Ingredients
Frozen Island
Last Chance
Shape-shifting Grifter
Professional Killer
Unidentified Wound
Illegal Speed
Secret Shop
Ethical Dilemma

Denouement of a Dying Hunter​

A modern tale of the supernatural in a world of monster hunters. Suitable for a one-shot adventure or as a campaign introduction.

Opening Scene: A narrow road northwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is January. A cold rain falls from gray skies. Ahead a single-lane steel drawbridge crosses Chaplain Lake. On the other side is Solus Island and the village of Solar, home to a dying monster hunter.

The PCs are each drawn to the Island by a connection to Thomas Middleton, according to each PC’s backstory. Each, aware that Middleton and his wife are monster hunters, received a letter similar to the following:

Friend, I’m dying. I’ve had a good run. I’ve fought hard, but with mercy. Still, I have some things to set right. I need your help before I run out of time. I’ve arranged a room for you at the Lonely Roost Inn in Solar. My daughter will meet you. -Tom M.

A bridge keeper, huddled against the cold in his little booth, lowers the steel drawbridge for each car, waving them across the bridge. As the tires bump onto the road on the other side the bridge is raised behind them.

Backdrop: Solar possesses four streets, a dozen houses, a general store with a gas pump, a church, an Inn, and a two story brick building which was once a school. The entirety of the island belongs to the Middletons, who have converted the school into their own domicile. The village occupies a fourth of the island, the rest is comprised of craggy wooded hills. The drawbridge is the only egress from the island for cars. There is a small empty dock. The rain which falls on the first day turns to freezing rain overnight. By morning, the whole island is covered with an inch of ice. Six inches of snow falls the second night, covering the ice. The drawbridge is inoperable for three days due to the ice.

Cast of Characters

• Thomas Middleton A monster-hunter, dying of pancreatic cancer. A grateful leprechaun, a time-shifting haunt, and some wise stock-investments twenty years before Tom was born have made Tom quite wealthy. He and his wife intended for Solar to be a retirement community for hunters but an unfortunate encounter with a werewolf forced them into seclusion and an early retirement.
• Rachel Middleton Tom’s wife and longtime hunting partner, now suffering from lycanthropy.
• Sara Middleton Tom’s daughter; she lives above the general store, operating it and the Inn. She maintains a discreet webstore which sells weapons and equipment to active monster hunters.
• Alice Tyler A medical doctor and a very old shapeshifter. Alice can sense when one of her patients is about to die. If such a patient has no family, hours before their death, Alice assumes their form and cleans out their bank accounts. Discovered by the Middletons during a hunt, they decided she was doing no harm to anyone and didn’t kill her. Now Thomas has requested a favor of her, in exchange for her continued safety. For a few days, she is going to pretend to be Tom Middleton.
• Romus A professional assassin and a shapeshifting salt-eater. Romus is a monster who got away. Now he has been hired by Thomas to kill Alexander Dark. Romus does not know who has hired him, or realize the island is owned by monster hunters. Romus has the ability to take the form of someone known by his victims, killing them by sucking all the salts from their body. He is proficient with firearms and hand-to-hand combat.
• Alexander Dark A meth-addicted hunter rightly suspected of nefarious deeds.
• George Dylan and Robbie Wright Together, with Thomas and Jack Lincoln, they unearthed a dark power in Mexico. During that hunt, Jack and George were both hospitalized, and after, the team split up. Thomas believes either they or Jack Lincoln are actually the powerful demon which got away on the Mexico-hunt.
• Jack Lincoln (La Diabla Negra) A powerful and blood-thirsty demon which has been wearing the form of Lincoln for the past twenty-five years, La Diabla Negra wants to eat Thomas Middleton’s heart, but is afraid to do it while Tom is alive as he has the power to hurt and even kill it.

Act One: Hunters Bring Death
Setting: The Lonely Roost Inn. Set across the road from the Solar General Store, the three-story inn boasts ten suite-sized rooms on the second and third floors, a large dining room on the first floor, with seating for fifty, and a very modern and efficient kitchen

Scene One: A Gathering of Crows
The PCs are cheerfully greeted at the Lonely Roost by Sara, and given rooms on the third floor. Already present are Dylan and Wright. Lincoln, Dark, and Romus each arrive later. Towards suppertime, Rachel arrives to help with the cooking. Tom arrives for supper, though it is not in fact Tom, but Alice Tyler in Tom’s form.

Romus drives a motorcycle and is wearing the form of deceased actor Alfred Ryder. He introduces himself as Alfred Rome. PCs might note that he is interested in the names of the other guests, but does not dine, instead going to his room, after greeting everyone present.

Alexander Dark spends some time talking to the other hunters, but the PCs get a very sleazy feel from him, it is clear none of the other hunters like him, and he soon exits for the solitude of his room on the second floor. Tom/Alice, Rachel, Dylan, Wright and Lincoln spend the evening reminiscing about old times, including their last hunt in Mexico.

If questioned as to why everyone is there, Tom/Alice assures them all that their questions will be answered tomorrow after everyone has a good night’s sleep.

Scene Two: Death in the Night
A horrendous scream of pain and agony awakens the various guests. As they gather in the hallways and stairwell, two individuals are missing: Alexander and Romus. Their doors, both on the second floor, are locked. Sara sleeps above the general store, but left a number by which she could be reached in case of emergencies. When the rooms are entered, Romus’ room is empty; Alexander’s room contains his corpse.

Act Two: The Salt-Eater Trap
Setting: The Empty Houses of Solar. A dozen modern houses, with wide yards and picket fences, scattered over three different streets comprise the village of Solar. The houses are furnished, with running water, electricity, and even wifi. The entirety of the island is covered with ice: driving is impossible; even walking is treacherous.

Scene One: A Gathering of Clues
Alexander’s body has a curious circular puncture wound on his neck, and the body appears partially desiccated. The room and luggage contain various drug paraphernalia, as well as enough Meth to kill a horse. There is also a laptop, which, if hacked into, contains videos which appear to show Alexander torturing and murdering women.

Sara proves surprisingly helpful. She has video footage showing Romus entering the room, and then a quarter of an hour later, a female figure wearing Romus’ clothes exits the room. Sara can also, after a couple of hours of research identify the killer as a shapeshifting salt-eater, a rather obscure and rare monster. It can killed by silver, but cannot cross through water. The drawbridge having been up all night (a fact the guests had not been told previously, means that the killer must still be on the island.

Scene Two: Hunt in An Empty Village
The older hunters let the PCs take a lead in hunting Romus if they desire (good practice). Initially, tracking across the ice is difficult, but later, as snow begins to fall, it becomes easier. Romus’ motorcycle is near the raised drawbridge. It is suggested by Lincoln that the PCs hunt through the houses, and the three friends will hunt through the woods behind the houses. Sara elects to go tell her parents as the ice knocked out cellular service.

The PCs will eventually discover Romus hiding in one of the houses, and once cornered, the monster begins a gun fight until he runs out of ammo, after which he tries to flee. If given the opportunity, he will attempt to pick off the PCs one by one, preferably by taking the form of Sara Middleton and catching them alone. The monster is not affected by the cold or ice, but a successful hit with a silver bullet will kill the monster.

Unbeknownst to the PCs, La Diabla Negra kills Wright and Dylan while they are searching the woods, eating their hearts and hiding the bodies.

Act Three: The Glow of the Heart Gem
Setting: The Middleton domicile. Built as a school, this impressive stone building is architecturally reminiscent of a castle. The rooms have been modified and the interior looks very homey, though with lingering traces, especially in the layout, of the school it once was. The basement, entered via a door which only be unlocked by the handprint and voices of the Middletons (including Sara) was once a bomb-shelter, but has been repurposed to keep Rachel secure during full moons. There is a second room, heavily fortified, with a second such lock, which serves as a cell for the transformed Rachel who cannot open the locks in her werewolf form due to her hands and voice changing. A secret door, with a similar lock, on the first floor conceals the Middletons arsenal and weapons shop. This room is fully stocked with everything a monster hunter would need to make and arm weapons to kill a variety of supernatural beasties.

Scene One: A Gathering at A Deathbed
Once Romus is dead, the PCs are summoned to Tom’s bed in his quarters in the old school building. PCs should be shocked to see him so ill when they saw a healthy form of him only the day before. He explains the ruse, telling them not only how he wanted to rid the world of both Dark and Romus but that there is another, more dangerous threat, one that he awoken in Mexico: La Diabla Negra, an evil which can only be killed by the possessor of the Heart Gem, which he alone discovered in Mexico during the same hunt. The Heart Gem’s power resides within him and will only be passed on to the one who kills him, or to any monster which eats his heart after he is dead. Tom knows one of the three who hunted with him is Diabla Negra, but not which one. Fear of the gem is what kept the demon from showing itself and Alice’s job was to make the monster fear he was still healthy. Tom wants the PC who killed Romus to kill him and absorb the power of the gem. If the PC kills him, an energy passes from Tom’s heart to the heart of the PC. If the PC refuses, Tom and Rachel are heartbroken: the back up plan is for Rachel to take Tom with her into her cell in the night, for it is a night of the full moon.

Scene Two: The Devil Comes in the Night
No matter the PC’s decision regarding Tom, they are encouraged to help fortify the building in anticipation of the demon’s arrival after sundown, for it is stronger at night. The PCs are shown the secret workshop and arsenal. Before night falls Rachel locks herself in her basement shelter.

The demon attacks with shapeshifting guile and savage fury but the possessor of the heart gem can defeat it. The question: is that person one of the PCs or is it the werewolf locked in the basement?

Epilogue
When the demon is killed, surviving PCs are each offered one of the houses on the Island. Alice, having quit her hospital job, also moves to the island and opens a clinic for injured hunters.

 

[Wicht]

Spoiler: thoughts on my entry

I am not quite as happy with this entry as with my previous two, but of the three this is also the one I can most see myself as using in the future.

The scenario is obviously most influenced by the television show Supernatural and the Cortex game of the same name could be used to run it. It would also work in a world such as the one from the Monster Hunter Inc. novels, or just in a modern urban fantasy world.

 

[Wicht]

Spoiler: Another thought

I really wanted to do a scenario like the one above, but in a more fantasy setting and tried very hard to make it work in my head but just could not get Illegal Speed to work out in such a setting as an ingredient.

 

[el-remmen]

Regarding Fools Rush In:

Spoiler

I am really impressed by how well this entry makes all the ingredients fit together. Not a single one feels out of place.

I do wonder about the various competitions where success or death are the only outcomes. Surely when running this adventure as a DM, you have to account for the possibility of failure? A bad roll of the dice shouldn't immediately end in death, unless I misunderstood?

You are 100% right - but the time and space did not allow for me to include/develop more options in that area.

 

[Fenris-77]

You are 100% right - but the time and space did not allow for me to include/develop more options in that area.

It's a poor craftsman that blames their tools...

 

[Gradine]

Spoiler

Closing in on a final draft. Hard to organize, this one

 

[Fenris-77]

I pulling for you peeps. You Iron that DM!! Wait...

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I pulling for you peeps. You Iron that DM!! Wait...

Ugh! I just realized why I didn't get past the first round.

I thought that this was the IRONY DM 2021 Tournament.

Reading..... not just FUN. FUNdamental.

 

[Gradine]

Eternity at Sea
A Solo One-Shot Supernatural Mystery

Frozen Island
Last Chance
Shapeshifter Grifter
Professional Killer
Unidentified Wound
Illegal Speed
Secret Shop
Ethical Dilemma

The Familiar Warmth of Blood on Your Hands
You stand blankly, staring at a man who could be your twin. He clasps your left hand with his. In your right hand is a dagger, placed squarely between the ribs, buried deep in the meat beneath. His face is a vision of relief, as if you have lifted a heavy burden from him. “It’s up to you, now,” he says, then slides off your blade and slinks to the floor, dead.

You open your left hand. In it is a pocketwatch, the “12” replaced with the image of an hourglass. In that moment, memory comes flooding back. The ship. The detective. The heavy lurch as it slammed to a stop, sending you flying. The pain and heat and void as all were swallowed by the explosion. And then you are back here, in your room, a dead body at your feet.

You are a doppelgänger, fleeing heat from the continent on a ship bound to the new world. A ship whose fate is now in your hands.

The Danger
Rel, a murderous sea kelpie has snuck aboard. She has murdered the young socialite, Matilda Ravenswood, and has been masquerading as her she watches the end. Three hours prior to the beginning of the first loop, she murdered the ship’s captain with his own hakapik. She has set the ship on a high-speed collision course with an iceberg, and sealed the entrance to the bridge.

There is also a quickling named Faoch. This situation amuses him, so he has chosen to interfere, leveling the playing field.

The Detective
Matthijs Marsch is a famous detective, with a reputation for solving the unsolvable. Faoch slipped him a magic pocketwatch, which when the owner dies will continuously reverse the flow of time by up to an hour. The watch was set for the moment of the explosion (11:00p) and each loop begins no more than an hour before that.

The Journal
Marsch’s journal contains his notes, and he has narrowed down a list of suspicious individuals. These are:

• Matilda Ravenswood - The young heiress, traveling alone
• Garrett Spencer - journalist, hard to pin down. Involved?
• Arthur Rider - An infamous gambler, keeps returning briefly to room
• Tatiana Kamstra - A socialite known for cycling through husbands
• Jan Kamstra - Tatiana’s current husband, a coal baron
• Octavius - Last name unknown, keeps to himself
• Herman Langley - The ship’s bosun, with a violent past

The journal also contains his notes on the watch, and a crude drawing of the captain’s body with markings indicating his wounds; a large, wide gash in his chest and throat, and a heavy fracture at the base of his skull. He does not appear to have identified a weapon, nor a way into the bridge,

The CMS Eternity
The large cruise ship was bound for the new world with roughly a thousand souls aboard; thanks to Rel’s interventions, it will never arrive. At 10:58p, the ship will strike an iceberg at full speed, rupturing the hull and causing fires in the engine room. Two minutes later, the fire reaches the fuel, causing the ship to explode, killing everyone still aboard.

Marsch was the first to discover the captain’s body, and hid it in his own room. Rel wanted to revel in the passengers’ panic; she now resolves to watch them all drown. She is unaware of the coming explosion, and is killed by it at the end of each loop.

The Pocketwatch
Appears, at first, to be a normal pocketwatch. As time moves forward, the minute hand moves with it,as expected. The red hour hand does not move at all. When a loop ends and restarts, the hour hand moves ahead by two hours.

Faoch
Faoch can be found in the captain’s room from 10pm to 11pm. He will not hide from the doppelgänger. Faoch will confirm details about the watch and the time loop. Faoch will explain that this powerful relic defies the laws of space-time, and cannot be used indefinitely. If the hour hand reaches 12, its power will end.

Faoch makes a proposal. Faoch will rewind the pocketwatch two hours (a single loop) every time the doppelgänger brings him a secret about someone else on board. He can do this no more than 6 times; any more loops would break the laws of physics and causality entirely.

Faoch will not reveal any details about Rel,

The Suspects

Matilda Ravenswood/Rel
Matilda is the selkie Rel in disguise. A beautiful and richly dressed woman. At 7:00p she killed the captain with his own hakapik, a tool with a thick hammer head for clubbing seals, and a hook on the other end to carry their corpses. She has tossed the murder weapon overboard while cutting loose the life boats. Matilda wants to watch the land dwellers panic as they sense their end at hand.

In normal conversation, Matilda discusses the plight of seals. She’ll find a few sympathetic ears, including Tatiana and Jan. If questioned openly, Matilda acts incensed and storms away. She will spend the remainder of the night in her quarters, coming out only after the iceberg is struck.

Matilda is in the entertainment deck from 10:00 to 10:30. Matilda will dance with the doppelgänger in any form. She has knowledge of doppelgängers but does not immediately suspect the player unless it gives itself away. While cornered on the dance floor, Matilda can be questioned for the length of a song; the best bet is the tango the band performs from 10:12 to 10:16. The doppelgänger must still be cautious; Rel will relish the chance to match wits with a worthy opponent, but any direct accusation will cause her to smack the doppelgänger and storm off to her room, as above.

Secret: Matilda is a selkie in disguise
Secret: Matilda is responsible for the ship’s destruction

Garrett Spencer
A journalist from the mainland whose skin the doppelgänger was wearing when it boarded the ship

Secret: The real Garrett is dead, and the doppelgänger boarded the boat with his visage.

Arthur Rider
In addition to being a gambler, Rider is a prolific dealer in drugs of all kinds; from opiods to amphetamines. He spends most of the evening attempting to sell to others, leading buyers back to his room each time.

Arthur is cocky, and a solid liar. If he is caught by anyone he considers to be a figure of authority, he will play it off as no big deal. At the next opportunity he will race outside, toss his supply overboard, and try to find a lifeboat. When he finds none he panics, and returns to his room for the night.

Secret: Arthur is a drug dealer

Tatiana & Jan Kamstra
Tatiana is a beautiful but aging woman in her young 40’s; Jan a loud, boisterous, coal baron only a few years her senior. They appear happy together, but both are maintaining a facade. Tatiana has hired Octavius to kill her husband, as he has done for her several times in the past. Jan’s persona quickly changes when he believes himself to be alone. He is paranoid, and with good reason; he swindled his former business partner Gerald out of his share of their business; Gerald then died by suicide. The ghost of Gerald has been haunting him ever since, appearing only to him, but he is otherwise harmless.

If questioned together both are friendly, with both of them laughing off the deaths of Tatiana’s former husbands as mere coincidence. Tatiana can be pushed to storming off to her room if pressed, which Jan will not react kindly to. Separated, they will do their best to avoid company altogether, and will rush along any questioner.

Secret: Tatiana has hired someone to kill her husband
Secret: Jan is haunted by the ghost of his business partner

Octavius
Called the Skullsmasher in the papers, Octavius is a murderer for hire who is very good at what he does. His signature is a single killing strike to the base of the victim’s head; quick, efficient, painless. His goal tonight is to kill Jan and dump his body overboard without causing any suspicion. He will tail Jan until he is sure they are alone and kill him with a single strike using the bosun’s club.

Octavius will not answer questions, and will walk away from any questioner.

Secret: Octavius is the Skullsmasher
Secret: Octavius has been hired to kill Jan

Herman Langley
Langley is the surly bosun of the Eternity. His job is to patrol the ship and resolve any maintenance or security issues. He normally carries a billy club with him, but it has been stolen by Octavius before the loop.

Langley has a sordid past; he spent the last fifteen years of his life in prison for murder. He has served his debt and is looking to put his past life behind him.

Langley arrives at the bridge at 10:07p, he instructs a fellow crewmember to find the captain but not alert the passengers. The crewmember fails to find the captain and does not return. Langley remains guarding the bridge door until the end of the loop; it will take a lot to convince him to leave his post.

Secret: Langley has served prison time for murder in the past.

The Bodies
If the doppelgänger finds the captain’s corpse first (Marsch stowed it in his own room), it can determine the slash to the throat as the killing blow, and the blow to the back of the head was made post-mortem. Langley, if shown the corpse, will posit that the murder weapon was likely a hakapik. He can describe seal clubbing, and has heard stories of seal hunters being found dead with similar wounds.

At 10:45p, Jan’s body will be found with Langley’s billy club next to him. Passengers will track down and accuse Langley, mobbing and killing him and anyone else who tries to stop them. He will likewise be accused of the captain’s murder, if his body is found by Rel (10:35p) before the doppelgänger.

Saving the Ship
Langley knows the way into the bridge: an air vent. He will not reveal this information unless he is given permission by the captain. If the doppelgänger has seen the captain’s body, he can attempt to play the part, but it’s a difficult task to mimic a person you have only seen from a distance or dead, and Langley has a suspicious nature. Langley can be shown the captain’s corpse, to convince him of the captain’s death.

The air vent is too small for a normal human to fit. The doppelgänger will have to revert to its true form to squeeze through. If Langley’s trust has not been earned, Langley will immediately suspect the doppelgänger of being responsible and attack, overpowering the doppelgänger. To earn Langley’s trust, he must be helped in solving the captain’s murder. By gaining Langley’s trust, he will only grow hostile, not violent, upon learning the doppelgänger’s true nature. This is a major risk, as an angry Langley might reveal its nature to others.

Deal with the Devil
A doppelgänger not willing to put its own neck out for the people on the ship might seek another way. There is another: Rel, the selkie, can free them together. She must first be convinced that she is trapped in a time loop, and that if she stays she dies, and that if the doppelgänger stays she will still remain trapped forever (a lie). The doppelgänger must be very careful not to reveal too much information. If Rel learns that the watch is responsible for the time loop, she will attempt to steal the pocketwatch. If she succeeds, the doppelgänger will have one last chance to save the ship before the end.