Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Chamber of Horrors

Setup

Since the group is currently in Altdorf, an emissary from the Temple of Sigmar tracks them down.  The frail, robed priest beckons the Warriors to the Temple.  There, the Warriors are brought into the ornate office of one of the Temple Patriarchs.  Motes of dust float in the air, illuminated from the sun shining through the majestic stained glass windows behind the Patriarch.  As the Warriors expect, the Patriarch demands that the Warriors return the Decanter of Purity.  When they do, he sees it is empty, and briefly whispers a conversation with some acolytes, brow furrowed.  He says that he might need the Warriors to undertake a quest to refill the Decanter ... but first there is something more urgent at hand.

In the town of Garndorf, some two days march away, the residents live in fear.  The Lord of the region, Count Niklas Rathskeller, has been acting strangely of late, leaving his residence only at night.  Peasants have gone missing.  Some divination from the Celestial College has confirmed the Priesthood's gravest fear ... Rathskeller is a Vampire!  With the Witch Hunters largely focused on a crusade in the Badlands, the Patriarch asks the Warriors for help.  They must enter the dungeons below Rathskellar Castle, locate the Vampire's resting place, and put him to death before sundown.

Holy Water

To aid them in this Quest, the Temple provides the Warriors 1D6 vials of Holy Water.  This can be thrown like a Missile Weapon.  A vial has a range of 2 squares, and the Ballistic Skill roll suffers a -1 for every square thrown beyond that range.  If the Vial hits an Undead, it does 1D6 Wounds damage with no deductions.  These Wounds cannot be Regenerated!

In Garndorf

The Warriors make their way to the castle, arriving a few hours after sunrise.  What staff that is currently operating there seems quite afraid, and they meekly direct the Warriors to the cellar and dungeon entrance when asked to do so.  It seems they are as anxious to have this evil uprooted as the Priesthood is.

Dungeon Deck

Reserve the Dungeon Cell and the Torture Chamber.  Then, build a Dungeon Deck normally using the Charnel Caverns as the Objective Room.  Do not include any other Objective Rooms in this Dungeon.  After the Dungeon Deck is completed, shuffle the Dungeon Cell and Torture Chamber into the first 6 cards of the Deck.

Events

If a Monster Event Card is drawn, roll up a Monster from the Level 1 Undead Monster Table.  Should any Special Characters appear, weave them into the story, possibly as servants of Count Rathskellar.

Torture Chamber

A horrific scene awaits the Warriors in this room.  Gruesome implements of torture fill the room, an iron maiden, rack, bed of nails.  A prisoner is bound to a large metal gear and a group of Ghouls slowly twist an iron wheel which causes the gear to slowly turn.  Place 1D6+2 Ghouls in the room, as far away from the Warriors as possible.  A Ghoul in the corner is twisting the wheel.  Each turn during the Power Phase the wheel advances 1D6 inches.  As soon as the wheel reaches 24 inches, the victim's head is crushed and he perishes in an agonizing scream.  If the Warriors defeat the Ghouls in time, they can release the victim, who gives them a clue as to the location of the Objective Room.  The Warriors can use this information to discard one Dungeon Card that they reveal in subsequent exploration.

Dungeon Cell

The room contains the drained corpses of several of the Count's victims.  Grisly white corpses hang from the ceiling on meat looks like slabs of beef.  Each Warrior must pass a Willpower check or they are psychologically scarred by the sight and suffer a -1 to hit for the remainder of the adventure.

After any Monsters in the room are defeated, if the Warriors spend a turn removing the corpses and laying them respectfully on the ground, each one gains 1 Luck token.

Charnel Caverns

Although the Charnel Caverns was placed as the Objective Room, it is actually an obstacle that the Warriors must overcome before they reach the actual Objective Room, which is the Sarcophagus Chamber.

Sarcophagus Chamber Objective Room

There are 4 Tomb Guardians in the room guarding the resting Vampire.  The Warriors cannot attempt to open a Sarcophagus until all Monsters in the room are slain.  The Warriors must act quickly because the sun is setting soon!  The Warriors should roll 3D6 to determine how many Turns before the sun sets and the Count rises.  They can re-roll as many of the dice as they wish, one time only.  If they do not defeat the Tomb Guardians in time, the Count rises and the Vampire joins the battle!

Use the rules as written for the sarcophagi in the room, except for the following modification.  Take 3 tokens, 2 blank and one with a symbol on it, mix them up, and place them face down on the three closed sarcophagi.  When a Warrior opens one of them, turn over the token.  If it is the token with the symbol on it, this is the Count's resting place.  Do not roll for this sarcophagus.  Instead, the Warriors can at this point stake the sleeping Count through the heart, slaying the Vampire and ending the adventure.

Reward

The Warriors return to the Temple of Sigmar, showing Count Rathskellar's signet ring as proof of their deed.  They are rewarded 1D6x50 Gold each for ridding the Empire of this dangerous servant of Chaos.  Of course - how an Empire noble became a Vampire in the first place is something that raises even more questions and concerns!

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