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Supplement #7
First Distribution: June 1, 1990
This supplement:
Heroquest Scenario: Black Fang's Temptation (Steve Maurer)
--------------------
From: steve@vicom.com (Steve Maurer)
Subject: Heroquest Scenario: Black Fang's Temptation
Heroquest Scenario
This is an example scenario for Heroquest. It is not the scenario
promised, as I haven't had the time to complete it. However, it does
show an example cult path (though not well known one). Much of the
danger in following this path is due to the secretive nature of the
Cult of Black Fang. Heroquest paths of more well known gods entail far
greater dangers, but are far better mapped (so allowing for greater
preparation).
The original plot for this scenario was gleaned from the writings
of Mike Mittmann (with permission), whose help in clarifying rules
issues has been indispensable. Thanks Mike!
Steve Maurer
steve@vicom.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Black Fang's Temptation
This is the first Heroquest of Black Fang, the legendary assassin
of Pavis. His Heroquesting carrier was short, as he called it quits
after his third quest (called "The Unnamed Spirit" by the cult). The
cult's knowledge of Black Fang's Temptation are contained in quotes at
the start of each header. GM notes are written in normal text following.
It is considered a heroquest of rather easy difficulty, but failure
usually spells doom for the quester.
1] The Entrance
"It is written, Incisor of the Fang, that Our Master first
entered Hell from the Puzzle Canal, by entering the deep mouth
grate, and taking the very last passage.
He was escaping from an army of bodyguards of Tzanthur,
ex-High Learner of the Wyrm's friends' empire, whose ex-living
body had just been left to feed fishes at the bottom of said canal."
GM's Notes:
Black Fang entered the heroplane (a portion of hell) from the
last of the three tunnels which enter the Truestone walls of Pavis.
The tunnels have been labelled by Pavis himself, with a saying
chiseled over each: "Here Lies Friends", "Here Lies The Enemy",
and "Here Lies Certain Death". Black Fang was forced to take
the last of these, because he was literally dodging arrow fire
as he entered the tunnel. (Note: these tunnels are also starting
points for Pavis Heroquests, and sometimes guards are sent to
patrol them)
The entrance is a perfectly chiseled 4" by 3" tunnel into
granite; it goes for 1/2 a mile, and becomes pitch black. Then
a soft bluish dweomer can be seen; these are the Truestone walls,
which the tunnel enters (the walls become Truestone). Just as
with the Block, whenever anyone touches these walls, all Rune
Magic is immediately drained. All spells with duration (including
sorcery) are also absorbed, but permanently enchanted objects
do not loose their dweomer. Also, like the Block, those who
touch these walls instantly roll any pending POW increase checks.
2] First Trial: Hell's Guardian
"Not much is known of his passage, but it is said if you desire
the greatest chances of success, it would be best to follow
the footsteps of the Master by also being chased by enemies,
fleeing for your very life. For by escaping death one can
defeat it as well."
GM's Notes:
The Truestone tunnel leads on for several miles, and starts
a steep descent. There is a curious disorientation as this
occurs. Time is weakening. The tunnel tends to amplify sound,
so that voices far away sound like they are close by. This
makes pursuers sound like they are only a few melee rounds behind.
Black Fang was chased even here. Because of this, when he
met his first challenge, he attacked immediately fearing that
he might be taken from behind. This is the only advantage that
fleeing for your life gives, but it is an important one.
The tunnel opens suddenly, into a larger room 20x20 feet (3x3 m),
carved from obsidian. It has an well chiseled open portal on the
other side, which is 4 feet (1.5 m) deep itself. There is a warrior
who stands in the portal, and a bleak landscape lays beyond him.
Nothing else is in the room.
This is a Shadow of Humakt guarding an entrance to hell. The
room is beyond time, so Divine Intervention is useless.
The shadow is not a particularly strong one (for Humakt),
and anyone following BF's path has an advantage because BF
overcame this shadow. However, the Humakti can kill any who
are too weak. All percentages given as specials:
"Death" (Guardian of Humakt)
STR 20 HP 25
CON 30
SIZ 20
DEX 20
POW 15
WIL 20
Runes: 50% Death, 30% Truth, 5% Air, 5% Illusion
Great Sword: 20% (or 2/3 cultists attack, whichever greater)
Spirit Dagger: 20% (special)
Sense Assassin: 10% (50% normal)
Geases: Wear no Armor
Never Ambush
Armor: 4 pts Shield/4 pts Protection (and loincloth)
Magic: All Humakti cult special Rune Magic (as many as needed)
The guardian will speak.
"I am DEATH, the Sword of Humakt. Only the Dead may enter
here. Submit to me, and I shall let you pass."
The Shadow will raise his sword and wait for a response.
It is important for anyone of the Black Fang cult to attack
quickly, before the Shadow can sense the cultist's "assassin"
nature. Every round, until combat has begun, the Humakti has
a 50% chance of Sensing Assassin (if the PC attacks immediately,
there is no chance). Once in combat, the Shadow will not use
his Sense Assassin ability.
If combat is begun without the Shadow sensing assassin,
the combat proceeds normally. If the Shadow notices the
assassin, he will say:
"You offend me, creature of Illusion and Death"
...and, in addition to normal combat, cast a Sever Spirit
every other round.
Note: the portal is so shaped that only one person may
attack at a time. Any magic attacks cast by someone other
than the direct challenger results in a Sever Spirit being
cast back instantly from the Shadow.
If the Shadow "kills" the PC, and has sensed assassin, he
now wills Death on him. If he succeeds, the character is now
dead, and not resurrectable.
If the Shadow "kills" the PC, and has NOT sensed assassin,
he now says the following:
"Dost thou still wish to enter Hell?".
If the character says yes, then the Shadow wills Death on
him, part his spirit, and sends him off to the halls of Judgement.
If the character says no, then the Shadow says:
"You have no choice, mortal one, for ALL paths lead here.
But you have fought well, and now is not your time. Swear
you shall never again attempt to violate the rule of Time
and Death, and I shall leave you go."
Doing so is an Oath, and because of the character's condition
when sworn, any violation of the Oath only allows the character
to resist at 1/2 POW; also, if killed by Oathbreaking, Chalana
Arroys will feel the link to Humakt, and not violate his will
by Resurrecting the oathbreaker, unless given a very good reason.
The PC is then allowed to heal himself, leave back by the tunnel
he came, to face whatever dangers were chasing him.
If the PC "kills" the Shadow, he has won. The Shadow wills
Death on himself, and a spirit parts from the corpse. The
Shadow says:
"You have briefly overcome Death, mortal one, but it shall
eventually overcome you."
The spirit leaves to the halls of Judgement. If the PC
is known to be an assassin, or starts looking to loot the body
before the spirit leaves, the spirit will try to take the two
Spirit Daggers from the body. Otherwise, the daggers will be
on the body for the PC to loot, if he so chooses.
Loot:
Iron Greatsword
2 Spirit Daggers
The blades of these daggers are normally invisible.
On the hero plane they are not. When struck against a
foe they do 1d6 "Magic Points" damage: Spirit Shield and
Spirit Block protect. If the user wishes, on a successful
strike, they may instead generate an automatic success of
any Spirit Magic spell against a target without POW vs POW,
but doing so destroys the dagger.
3] Second Trial: Rapid Descent
"After the Master defeated death at his own game, he found himself
on a black spire. The texts say little, but it is thought that he
must have suffered some humiliating defeat here, for he always spoke
at great length about his triumphs (which were many), but was not
willing to say much about this part of his journey."
The portal opens onto a cliff face, which descends several miles
to a black valley below. Everything is dark here, with a threatening
black sky, streaks of blood red piercing throughout. There is barely
light enough to see.
The cliff is a smooth sheer obsidian, utterly unbreakable. A Spot
Hidden (spcl) will reveal tiny, fingernail-sized holes in the obsidian.
The character is on the Pillar of Obsidian, one of the Seven
Pillars of Stone, and a major component of the broken World Machine.
On a Pavis heroquest, the quester must climb down (trivial for them),
and find the sequence into the central corridor of the Pillar.
A BF cultist must either climb down or leave, there are no
other choices.
With proper equipment (pitons worked on the spot to fit the holes
in the Obsidian pillar), it takes only a Simple Climb roll to walk the
face. Using only your fingers (as someone who is not a master artificer),
it takes 20 Normal Climb rolls (spcls) to descend without falling.
Black Fang didn't make it, neither should the character.
Note: is is perfectly possible for PCs to (if they know how)
invoke the Air rune to fly; this assumes the PC both knows something
about Flying (former Orlanthi?), and has a strong WILL. Doing so
goes off the Path of Black Fang, however. The earth below is Krarsht
country, and VERY dangerous. Go to Krarsht Country following.
4] Third Trial: Wash and Rinse
"In the years of his life, and the Divinations after his death,
all that any have been able to pry out from him is a cryptic
saying: 'Never had I so envied women'. Make of it what you will."
When (if) the PC falls, the darkness will appear to rush up
and reach hungrily for the character. This has one benefit, and
many drawbacks. The benefit is that the character is largely
uninjured. The PC is hit by a freezing splash of water, and
tumbled madly around. Things will be pulled off the character by
the swirling waters, and unless the character resists, he will be
stripped naked by the roaring tumbling black waters.
This is the path of Ahlno ("Riptide"), the greedy one, a lesser
water god who loves treasure. This is a shadow of Ahlno before his
avarice extended to spirits, so he will not use his Will to drown the
character.
If the character attempts to resist, he may select as many items
he wishes to try to keep. Name an object (start with armor), if the
PC resists with STR, allow him to for one round. Next round, he
must roll STR x 3 to hang on, then STR x 2, then STR x 1, continuing
until the character has lost the object. Then the next object is
selected. Non-water magic items are the last to go; Spirit Daggers
the very last.
The character will loose every object, unless he realizes that
the water is intelligent, and will steal everything it sees. The
only way to keep any object is to CONCEAL (Hide Item) it from the
waters.
Do not give the player any hints or INT rolls about this. It is
much more difficult to reason, while being tossed around underwater,
than as a player. Even Black Fang didn't realize this until he lost
nearly everything.
Ahlno has a 25% Ransack "Spot Hidden" (spcl). If the PC makes his
Hide Item (spcl), Ahlno still has a good chance of noticing the attempt.
(Let's face it, it's hard to conceal something from someone that's
touching you all over.) Even so, the player cannot hide anything larger
than SIZ 1, and if male, can hide at most two objects (mouth, and
elsewhere); women can hide three (mouth, elsewhere, and elsewhere).
This is the cause of Black Fang's cryptic comment.
Because Black Fang hid a Spirit Dagger, his path "wants" this to
happen, and the PC gets special aid. The shadow of Ahlno cannot make
(special) his Ransack against either Spirit Dagger.
5] Fourth Trial: The Krarshtkid
"After he suffered, our Master was left only to his most
elemental resources, bereft of nearly all but his keen wit.
Here he met soon to be friend. Yet he remembered his own
first rule here, and was the better for it."
( Black Fang's first rule:
Trust little in your enemies; trust your friends even less. )
The character is thrown naked and shivering onto the shore.
Any Companions are nowhere to be found. They arrive earlier, later,
or some other time at the same spot. But they will probably never
meet each other until after the quest is finished.
There is a Great Krarshtkid progressing along the shore,
moving in great haste. Given the size of the Great Krarshtkid
(Size 50), some mistake it for Krarsht. The character must
hide from this waiting mouth lest he be eaten: BF is not yet
friends with this demon's mother.
If the PC Hides (spcl.), the thing walks by. If he is
seen, he will have one round to do something before being
eaten. He may either run, or hop back into the water. (Any
webbing will be ripped off by Ahlno, and the PC thrown back
on shore further down). Any attempts to talk will result
in immediate attack by the waiting mouth; most likely this
will result in his being eaten.
Great Krarshtkid
STR 50 HP 50
CON 50
SIZ 50
DEX 20
POW 20
WIL 50
Runes: 40% Chaos, 40% Fate, 40% Illusion,
Bite: SR 1 40% (spcl) 8d8
Spit: SR 1 20% (spcl) 4d6 Acid
Tongue: SR 1 25% (spcl) 1d6 Permanent POW (on POW vs POW)
The Giant Krarshtkid makes two attacks per round.
Spot Visually: 15%
Move 5"
If the PC is seen by the Great Krarshtkid, and runs tangentially
away, the demon will leave him alone. It may or may not be
obvious, but the thing is running from something.
6] Fifth Trial: The Spider
"Then he came upon a spider, but realized that, in his condition,
he could not hurt it before it hurt him. So he used the second
rule to his advantage."
( Black Fang's second rule: Conceal yourself; conceal your nature. )
As the PC is walking away from the Krarshtkid, he may see a 2 inch
spider walking down the same trail. To see the spider requires a
Spot roll (spcl). If this is missed, the character continues into
the Krarsht country (see below). Players who know to look for
something, or are specifically looking for a spider here, may get
additional chances, but only after suffering an encounter in Krarsht
country (See below). The Spider is not attempting to hide.
(Those who progress into Krarsht country may see the tracks of
the spider with a Critical Tracking roll)
If the PC sees the spider, he may examine it. It is small and
white, and looks soft. It has tiny glittering eyes, and appears to
be choosing it's way quite carefully among the rocks, and moving at
very fast pace (especially for a 2 inch creature). If the PC gets
closer than about 6 feet, the spider wil stop, and address the
character in a very high, very tiny voice:
"Have you seen any prey around here?"
Talking with the Spider will reveal the following: it hunts "demons";
it has poison which "stops" (kills) anything; it hunts Krarshtkids but
would not mind the PC's help; and it cannot help the PC in any other way.
Any question on how to get out or back will bring a slow wave of it's
head (like it is examining the PC), a soft tisking, followed by the
statement "I see no strand for you".
The spider is a shadow of the original that Black Fang met: a "Mender
of the Web", a lesser angel of Arachne Solarae, one of the deadliest
creatures save a god one can meet. The original was sent here to be a
victim of Black Fang, to aid him in his quest of becoming a non-Chaotic
assassin hero. (The ways of the Spider are complex). As this is only a
shadow, it is not as powerful as the original.
The original Spider's Venom incapacitated instantly, no matter what
the size of the creature. Only a master of the Infinity rune (a god or
superhero) may resist these effects. ( The original spear was lost upon
Black Fang's death; great will be the hero who recovers it for the cult. )
The shadow Spider's Venom is less powerful. It rolls d100 vs the
average of the target's SIZ and CON. If the roll is greater, the
venom causes complete paralysis. On the mundane plane, without instant
Treat Poison or a CONx1 roll, breathing stops and the character suffocates.
On the Heroplane, breathing can stop without necessarily killing the PC.
The Spider ("Mender of the Web")
STR 50 Hits: 8
DEX 80 Defense: 40% (spcl)
SIZ 1/2 Armor: 0
CON 30
INT 30
POW 60
WIL 60
Leap+Bite: 200% (spcl) 1d4 + instant incapacitation SR/1
Spin Thread: 50% (spcl)
Move 6"/Hop 12"
If the PC attacks, the spider bites the cultist, binds him
in it's unbreakable webs, drains him of blood, and will (eventually)
take his spirit off to be reincarnated (i.e. character is dead).
If the PC offers friendship, the spider will trust the PC in
relation to how harmless the PC appears. Those who flew down
from the Obsidian Spire are looked upon warily by the spider.
The spider will offer a reward for helping lead the way to its
escaping prey: "My thread is a very delicate and fine material,
and I would gift you with some".
7] Sixth Trial: The Combat
"And finally, he overcame them both, and bound them into his
service. This is the key to gaining a Spear of Poison, my son.
Incisor that you may be, you are nothing against the creatures
on the Plane of Gods. It is of greatest importance to remember
the third rule here, and strike neither too soon or too late."
(Black Fang's third rule: Only the strong and foolish attack
a wary opponent.)
Slowly, the Spider will catch up to the Great Krarshtkid, and
will do battle with it. There may be a number of encounters on
the way in Krarsht Country (See Below), but the Spider will easily
handle them all. This should not be underemphasized: the Spider
must act in most all ways friendly to the PC, so that if the PC
attacks the Spider, he is aware of how much he owes the creature,
how much a betrayal it is.
When the Spider reaches the Great Krarshtkid, the Spider will
ask for the PC's aid in fighting the Krarshtkid, distracting it,
and perhaps even asking some kinds of advice (for even the Spider
is vulnerable to the Giant Krarshtkid's acid spray).
If the PC wishes to stay back out of the fight, and is completely
stripped of all clothing, he must make a BASIC Oratory roll to
convince the spider he is incapable of doing anything. A PC who
shows a weapon must roll a Normal Oratory (special), and a PC
completely armed and armored (because he didn't fall) must Crit.
If the PC refuses the fight but hasn't convinced the Spider he
is incapable of doing anything, the spider will say: "Perhaps then,
you are a human worshiper of the Maw?". Agreeing is bad (the
spider attacks), disagreeing but not convincing the spider will
cause it to say: "Will you agree then to be bound, while I decide
about your true nature?" Again, disagreement is bad.
(If the PC is bound, he must roll his Escape Bindings (spcl) to
get out of the web the spider puts on him before it goes off to
fight the Giant Krarshtkid.)
The Spider, perhaps accompanied by the PC, attacks the Giant
Krarshtkid. If the PC is anywhere close, the Giant Krarshtkid
will split its attacks between the Spider and the Krarshtkid.
Otherwise, it will concentrate on the spider.
If the PC hangs back, or manages to survive the Giant krarshtkid's
attack, he will (if he so chooses) get a chance to attack. There
are rocks in the area for use as primitive weapons (and perhaps he
managed to conceal one from the Water God). What then, does he choose
to attack?
If the PC fails to attack, or attacks the Krarshtkid, the Spider
returns triumphant. It will then lead the character over the Water
by means of small threads, sling him in a web, and climb the Pillar
of Obsidian, putting the character back. The Spider will thank the
PC, and gift him with one silken thread. It will explain that the
thread may be used to tie one's fate to anyone elses, but "it is
not unbreakable, if you stretch it too far". The spider then leaves.
"Consolation Prize"
Thread of Fate
This acts like the Tie Fate spell from Arenia (the spider
goddess), except that it lasts forever. The effect disappears
either if one travels into the Heroplane, or either party
attempts outrageously suicidal actions.