Dungeons of Despair (The Vault #28)

Click Here for a Master Index of “The Forge” and “Vault”!

The dungeon is a place most adventurers inevitably find themselves, whether after being captured, storming the castle, or springing an important or innocent person from the depths. Below are 20 ideas for your dungeon delving:

1. _The Escape_ (#Escape) The adventurers have been taken captive and must escape. If only their gear hadn't been taken! > Blind shuffle your cards, then discard half of them. You also suffer a -3 on all ability rolls.

2. _Screams of the Damned_ (#Screams) The tales of the torments administered here spring to mind as the screams of its occupants reach your ears. You shudder to think what will happen if you fail in your task. > Make a Persona roll of 10 or above. Add +1 for every level of Persona above base. Subtract -1 for every level below base. If you fail, your next ability roll suffers a -5 on the roll.

3. _Desperate Pleas_ (#Desperate) As the adventurers pass the locked cells, desperate and filthy prisoners plea for help. Will you assist them? What if any are justly imprisoned? What if they are not?

4. _The Traitor_ (#Traitor) One of the prisoners you released has no true hope this attempt at escape will succeed. > When the next combat event begins, draw a Tier I Bandit Encounter card, update the Tier Sum, and immediately resolve that Bandit's Surge ability.

5. _The Departed_ (#Departed) It doesn't take supernatural senses to feel the pain and torment that has soaked into the very stones of this place. The souls of some who have perished linger here still. > Draw 2 random Undead encounter cards and begin combat. No Tier 4 or 5 card can be drawn for this battle.

6. _Fae Shackles_ (#Shackles) The shackles in this cell have been enchanted by a Fae Lord. They begin to writhe and weave light snakes... > Each set of Fae Shackles has the stats of an Aspic Viper (Tier I Beast Encounter card). On surge rounds, the Shackles latch onto any adventurer with an ability roll less than 10. They must lose 1 health if they wish to play any future abilities.

7. _Diamond in the Rough_ (#Diamond) A person of great worth is confined in the dungeons, unbeknownst to the jailers. You need to win them free. Who are they? A high-ranking noble? Kind-hearted twin of the ruling tyrant? Reincarnation of a hero of old, foretold to do great deeds if they survive to adulthood?

8. _Prisoners of War_ (#POW) After a recent battlefield engagement, some of the men you've bled and toiled with are interred in the enemy's camp. For the sake of your brotherhood, you must free them or die trying. > Until the men have been freed, on every combat surge round one of your fellows is killed by his captors. If this happens you lose 1 Persona.

9. _Buried Treasure_ (#Buried) Rumor has surfaced that the recently executed mobster, Errik the Earless, actually hid his most valuable treasure in the cell he last occupied. Are the adventurers mercenaries out to obtain it for themselves, or members of the King's Men tasked with defending the prison from the soon-to-descend horde of criminals bent on obtaining the treasure? What is the coveted item that so many are willing to kill for?

10. _Torturer's Justice_ (#Just) One of the adventurers' parents has been taken to the most notorious prison in the realm, to be questioned about the adventurer's recent activities. Why? Will the full weight of the monarch's might soon fall upon you?

11. _Deja Dungeon_ (#Deja) For a week the adventurers have been afflicted with terrible nightmares. Now, they realize this dungeon is the very one in their dreams. It is the place where they will perish. > Each adventurer must choose one of their abilities and set it aside, they must use it before refreshing the discard pile, but may use it whenever they want during the next battle. That ability becomes an automatic critical failure unless they make a Persona check of 10 or above.

12. _Room of Lost Whispers_ (#Whispers) This room was enchanted long ago to capture the secrets and confessions of those broken and driven mad in its confines. Those who stand in its center sometimes hear secrets of great worth. At other times, they've been driven mad by the revelations. > Make a Persona check of 10 or above. On a failure, lower Persona by 1 level. On a success you may increase Persona or swap out one ability card.

13. _The Pain Lab_ (#Pain) Dedicated to the science of torture, this chamber is the favorite of the Warden. > Encounter cards battling adventurers in this chamber are experts in dealing pain. All adventurers take 1 point of damage at the beginning of each round.

14. _Rusted Hinges_ (#Hinges) The compound is suffering from extreme neglect and all cell doors are doubly difficult to open. > Any attempt to break open a door requires an Athletics check of 13 or above. Failure means the door is immovable.

15. _The Drowning Room_ (#Drowning) This secondary well has been turned into an execution and torture chamber. Victims are chained and submerged until they break or die. Perhaps there is loot still on one of the corpses in the depths. Perhaps an adventurer is knocked into the well and must untangle themselves or drown by degrees.

16. _The Yard_ (#Yard) Prisoners are allowed fresh air and sunlight in this walled-in, well-guarded enclosure. Still, many plots are hatched right here. The adventurers may have to survive a certain number of rounds before guards intervene, outnumbered by the other prisoners. Or they might have to use distraction and sleight-of-hand to smuggle contraband underneath the watchful gaze of the guards.

17. _Shadowhold Sanctum_ (#Shadowhold) The souls of many who've died here vow never to give the adventurers peace until they destroy the place. If they don't, the Necromancer who built Shadowhold will continue to siphon souls for his nefarious purposes.

18. _The Mess Hall_ (#Mess) Whether from deliberate poisoning or rancid food, this may be the deadliest location in the prison. > Adventurers must make a Fortitude (Melee) check of 13 or above or suffer 3 points of damage.

19. _The Hidden Tunnel_ (#Tunnel) The work of countless prisoners, most of them now dead. > A random Beast (draw the Encounter card) has taken up residence in the Tunnel. Was it put there by the sadistic dungeonkeep?

20. _The Morgue_ (#Morgue) Why is it so large? And what is that faint scratching coming from the masoleum style doors?

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* Confused by the formatting of the list? The _underscores_ (#hashtags) :icons: and > Special instruction scripts are provided for the ease of Quest Authors, who can copy and paste these directly into the Quest Creator to save time. 

Predatory Universe: Beast Plots [The Vault #21]

Click Here for a Master Index of “The Forge” and “Vault”!

The wild hungers.  It's driven by blood, hot on the tongue, thick on torn flesh and spattered on the ancient bones of the earth. Countless lives have passed unremembered into the maw of annihilation. When the veneer of civilization is stripped away by the primordial laws of nature, who will survive?

This week we offer you some plots to use with the "Beast" encounter type. Unlike every other type used thus far, beasts lend themselves less to dialogue or other interaction other than physical conflict (unless you endow them with speech and intelligence, as in Narnia--which we suggest in some plots below). We recommend these be paired with exotic locations and numerous Tracking, Notice, or Survival checks, for natural environments are not the home of civilized men.  Outside the cities, the beast holds the native advantage.  Face the Predatory Universe in these 20 Beast-based Plots:

1. _The Maw of Winter_ (#Maw) Starvation is the true foe during an extended trek through tundra. The native beasts are particularly interested in human food.

2. _The Lost Boys_ (#LBoys) Children are being taken alive by a beast, but where to? Will a brave adventurer consent to having their shape shifted to that of a small child and then allow their own abduction?

3. _Natural Enemies_ (#Nat) The adventurers witness two groups of beasts at battle, only to discover they can now understand their speech. Can they reconcile the two warring animal clans? How did they gain this ability, and more importantly, why?

4. _Call of the Wild_ (#Call) A secret society has invited the adventurers to undergo their Initiation Ritual. If successful, much status, treasure, and prestige will be theirs. If they fail they may die. > Begin play without :loot: and only 4 abilities (no draft play).

5. _The Boar Hunt_ (#Boar) The liege lord of the adventurers has invited them on a jovial hunt for boar. There is much drinking. Are you seeing double the boar, or are there really two of the deadly beasts?

6. _The Cursed Span_ (#Span) An invasive species of shrieking eels has crossbred with flying fish. Now the most magnificent bridge in the known world--one vital for trade and commerce--has become a nightmarish killing ground. Can the adventurers transport cargo across the cursed span?

7. _Bounty_ (#Bounty) A bounty has been placed on dangerous game. Eventually, though, the adventurers will discover the collector of specimens has intentions that aren't in anyone else's best interest.

8. _Ratcatchers_ (#Rat) An outbreak of deadly plague necessitates culling the booming rat population. Even a tiny bite could prove fatal, but someone must do the deed and the prince is paying handsomely...

9. _From the Deeps_ (#Deep) Legend tells of a creature lured into an old mine years ago, when villagers could not kill it. Now children who were playing around the shaft have gone missing. Can they be found and saved before the creature devours them?

10. _Uprising_ (#Uprising) Wherein dangerous floods drive hordes of rats and vipers to higher ground, and rising waters aren't the only peril facing the party.

11. _Endangered Species_ (#Species) A hideously wealthy noble hires you and another adventuring group to accompany him on a "hunting expedition". Only later does the party realize their employer wishes to kill the last members of an endangered species. Will they become complicit in the extinction or contend with their employer and his other bodyguards?

12. _Hawking with Friends_ (#Friends) A leisurely hunt gets real when the adventurers' hawks return, enlarged by magic, and dropping other beasts that attack. Who has played this deadly prank, and what lengths will you go to in order to restore your birds to proper size?

13. _Big Game_ (#Game) A group of intelligent, speaking animals has deprived the adventurers of arms and armor, then subjected them to the indignities of a deadly hunt. Will they be able to regain their scattered gear in time to turn the tables on the deadly predators?

14. _Bearbaiting_ (#Bear) The most popular (and illegal) gambling enterprise in the city is an underground bear-baiting ring. When tasked by the authorities to find it and bring its organizers to justice, the adventurers may run afoul of bandits and beasts alike. And what will they do when one of the beasts speaks to them in human tongue?

15. _The Familiar_ (#Familiar) A wizard contracts the adventurers to recover his animal familiar alive, only to find the creature doesn't want to return and has learned some magic of its own along the way.

16. _Trappers_ (#Trappers) The adventurers receive a commission to stop illegal poaching in the King's Forest. The beasts are anxious and riled, but the greater threat may be the profusions of traps, snares, and human hunters.

17. _Skin Trade_ (#STrade) Under threat of dire snowstorms, the adventurers resolve to outlast the ice and sleet at a camp of fur traders known to them. They arrive only to find a bloody shambles and that the deceased traders' own skins have been taken. Will they stay in the blood-slicked shelter in spite of the ominous holes leading to caverns underneath the camp or risk the fury of the storm?

18. _Gaia's Revenge_ (#Gaia) Long having tolerated the irresponsibility of humankind, with one will and surprising cunning, all the creatures of the wilds have risen against men. Packs of bears and wolves rampage through streets, making it as likely one will be trampled by the panicked as fall by tooth or claw.

19. _Of Beasts and Men_ (#Beasts) Fighting for their country on a distant field of war, the adventurers contend with fell beasts under thrall of the foe's potent Archmage. Will they show mercy and restraint when battling the compelled creatures or slaughter them without thought, plunging the ecosystem of the region into imbalance? Can they win through to stop the Archmage and break the enchantment?

20. _Red of Tooth and Claw_ (#Red) A powerful circle of druids has awakened from ancient slumber and cursed all humankind. With each kill the adventurers slowly turn into the predatory, bloodthirsty animals their actions reflect. Can they confront the druids and break the curse before the metamorphosis is complete? > Create a simple chart with body parts assigned to number rolls. After each kill, change some bodyparts into animal features. Deprive them of abilities as appropriate (certain #melee when they lose hands, #magic if they lose speech, etc.).

We hope we've given you some things to consider in your card and quest creation. Happy Questing!

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Honor Among Thieves [The Vault #15]

Click Here for a Master Index of “The Forge” and “Vault”!

All fairs ill when the land teems with lawlessness. Still, not all who come to thievery are evil. We hope the twenty plot seeds below will add depth to your Bandit-based quests:

1. _FamineTide_ Starvation stalks the lands, driving even moral men and women to desperate means. Are the bandits evil? Are there merchants withholding food to drive up its price?

2. _Gangwar_ The Crimson Band and the Blackguards have cast aside their uneasy truce. The streets run red with the blood of thieves and innocents alike. Someone must bring the strife to an end, one way or the other.

3. _Cursed Cargo_ The adventurers best a band of thieves that seem all too willing to part with their sordid gains. Why, and of what consequence to the adventurers?

4. _Lawless and Disordered_ A conspiracy threatens the fragile rule of the new monarch. If they cannot bring to heel the recent rash of unrest in the land, another lord may be able to usurp the throne. Who will the adventurers back?

5. _Ill Gotten Gains_ The adventurers have just discovered that an old friend and respected pillar of the community was once a criminal, who started their legal business by stealing from former associates. Now the associates have found them. What will the adventurers do?

6. _Contract with Death_ Someone has hired an assassin to slay one of the adventurers. Who and why?

7. _Blood Money_ The authorities approach the adventurers unexpectedly and find stolen goods in their possession. How have they come to be there? Who is trying to frame them?

8. _Bounty Hunting_ The adventurers return to the capital to find several criminals have amassed significant bounties, just waiting to be collected.

9. _Making the (Roman) Peace_ Commerce depends on safe roads, something the realm certainly does not possess. Can the adventurers tame the space between settlements and restore prosperity?

10. _Bribery and Corruption_ Common folk are preyed upon by those who have crafted the law to suit their greed. Will the adventurers join "the system" or fight against it?

11. _Slave Trade_ Slavers prey upon the coastal lands, abducting many and taking them across the waters for sale in distant lands. One of the adventurers has recently lost a relative to them...

12. _Drugwar_ A powerful and addictive drug has hit the streets. Spellsnuff temporarily gives common folk magical powers--to terrifying effect. Now even those of common means will go to great lengths to acquire it. > Draw a :magic: ability that can be used by the Encounter or NPC card, though not with reliability.

13. _Ransom_ Someone dear to the adventurers has been abducted. Now the ransom note has been delivered. What will they do?

14. _Fleshtrade_ The Hall of Lords has been blackmailed into legalizing prostitution. They say it's a "woman's right to choose". Now a brothel has opened next to the adventurers homes.

15. _The Bookie_ A family member of one of the adventurers has willingly entered into some unwise...arrangements. Now they've come crying to their relative for protection and help.

16. _The Fence_ The adventurers have come back from their last quest with a wagon full of loot. The problem is, the items they've gained have been made illegal, and the command has gone out all those in possession of them must turn them over to the crown. Will they comply or find those who can "move" their goods.

17. _The Caravan_ A merchant caravan has hired the adventurers at an exorbitant sum. Why? What cargo could warrant such a fee? Are the goods legal? More importantly, what threat would require such countermeasures?

18. _Lost and Found_ The adventurers have been hired to recover filched goods. But what happens when the adventurers discover their employers may not be the legitimate owners?

19. _Bodyguarding_ The adventurers have been contracted to protect a VIP from kidnappers or assassins. Complications ensue.

20. _Moral Hazard_ Washing up on distant shores, the adventurers are taken in and nurtured back to health by a band being hunted by the powers-that-be. Will they help the outlaws who claim to be backing the dispossessed, legitimate ruler of the land, or will they turn them over?

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