Your luck, though, seems to have changed as a man wearing well cut and dry clothing walks into the tavern, he seems to be trying to blend in but he never really came to place like this before, you beckon him to your table and he grins while eyeing you up and down, like a horse in the stables. "
Since this is my first time posting I've decided to start things up with a one-shot/short adventure you can run in one night/throw at your players when the game seems to be lagging a bit. The Idea to this adventure came from an image I first saw in the Old world bestiary for WHFRP second edition:
If someone knows the exact source of thi image, please send it to me so I can better credit the artist
So, let's get on with the adventure:
The group is to be approaced by a agent of the local lord and he's looking for a group of nobodies to get a job done, he promises that you'll have no glory but he will pay double the rate, and who knows, if it all works out there'll be more work down your way.
The Job:
The lord's fifth son, without much porspects of land or power decided to fashion himself as a knight and to prove his knightly valor he promised to bring the head of the dreaded Troll Brothers of Tenenbaumn swamp to a possible spouse, and that he would do that alone. The word of a knight, you see, is what binds. Thing is, he mostly read chivalry books and is way over his head when it comes to the subject of fighting.
This is where you come in.
Tenenbaumn swamp is a days travel from here, your group is to be hired as guides to the young lord. The agent will pay half in advance, for suplies and he'll also give you a vial with a powerful hallucinogenic drug, very hard to come by, very expensive, but there's only one dose, it isn't the smartest thing to try and sell it around these parts, he'll know. You are to drug the knight, hide him somewhere safe and deal with the trolls and bring back their heads.
"but" I hear you ask "won't the knight know that he didin't kill the Trolls?"
Well, probably, let's hope he gets some vivid dreams in his drugged up haze and will belive that he alone murdered the terrible Troll brothers.
How can you twist it:
All fair and good, a "simple" job, with good pay, a little too simple you may say, some people like it simple, but we can always spice things up:
Some ideas:
Regardless of how you further change things up I'd run Tenebaumn swamps using something like Meandering banter's Microdungeon (coming soon a version made to run this adventure, hopefully)
-Maybe the knight is really invested in his quest, and sworn an oath to fast until he kills the Trolls.
-Whoever sold the Drug to the agent sold him the wrong one (maybe for fun, profit, both) and now the knight is battle horny and full of Berserker juice, the worst part Berserker juice only makes you think you can take on the Trolls, he's still a terrible fighter, now you need to hold back the knight and take care of the Trolls.
-You cut off something else's head and makes it look like a Troll.
- Make a pact with a Hag/Pixies/Goblins/rival knights/suitors for fun and profit.
-Bringing the heads of Trolls to a palace is a Really bad idea (depends on how you like your Trolls, but still)
Crunch:
Troll Brothers of Tenenbaumn swamp:
This profile is assuming you will be using something like LotFP:
HD: 6+3 AC: 14 (thick/warty/smelly/disgusting/slimy skin) Attacks: 2+1 (2 claws [d6 each] and once every d6 rounds he can spit acid: 1d8 save Vs. Breath to take half, get out of the way with a 20)
The Trolls acid is pretty, corrosive, even to itself, maybe if someone is able to Gore on of the Trolls they'd also need to save of get damaged by the spray of acid that would fly out of it's belly. (PCs' manouvering the somewhat dumb trolls so they can spray acid onto each other is a feature not a bug)
But maybe you'd like to try some other system like the great SBVD I'd use a profile a little like this:
Mv.: 120' (40')
WS.: 9
BS.: 3 (Trolls are kinda clumsy but when they are spitting I'd use BS 9)
Att.: 3 (Claws/Bite/ Spitting acid every other turn)
SV.: F6
AC.: 4
Mrl.: 10 (8 when on fire/ acid)
Special Rule: (I guess this applies to both) Trolls are perpetually hungryand eat anything in front of them, especially when they are in a stressfull situation, so, Whenever something dies close to them, they must save or start eating it, if there is nothing to eat they'll even eat stones, each other, or even themselves. Also depending on how you take your swamps/swampdwellers (and I take mine Disgusting) I'd add a save when getting to the Trolls' lair given the smell.
Drugs: Here I'll be using these great rules to cover the drugs
Sandman's slobber: a Thick and transparent liquid, very sweet in taste and very rare. When used the user goes into a deep dreaming state (save vs. magic on a 20 the dream is Lucid, come back with a temporary spell slot and a random spell prepared) Downside: you stay out cold of at least 12 hours
Tolerance: -4 Tolerance effect: you can only dream while on the slobber, need to save to go to sleep (penalty equal to your tolerance) Usual retail price: 1000 SP/dose
Berserker Juice: Looks like a old and mould strawberry jam, tastes metalic. Upside: You are immune to mind altering effects, as you are in a deep blind rage Downside: you are in a deep blind rage, you do nothing but attack, or try to attack everything around you, the DM rolls all your combat dice and describes to you what you think is happening Duration: 1d3 Minutes Tolerance: +1 Tolerance effect: whenever you're off the juice you just don't feel like doing anything, penalty equal to your tolerance on all rolls.
Hope you find this post useful/fun/interesting any commentary/ criticism is welcome :)
That idea I told you: make the trolls connected somehow with the doped knight family. They may be the outcasted siblings of his greatgranduncle after a curse was placed upon them, and only of their lineage (such as the knight) may actually slay them. Thing is, nobody who had witnessed the curseing and the reasons behind it (treacherous behaviour? Overcruelty?) lived to tell the next generation, being a closet secret.
ResponderExcluirGetting this info may be part of the game, be in the lair of the trolls (scribbles in the walls in moments of half-lucidity) or in the private documents of a deceased patriarch of the family (and how to convince them to have access to such shameful truth?).