The Death Bed, the Pcs Find Another Guest in the Mansion, Who Is Feverish and Dying
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THEY SAY THIS HOUSE HAS UPDATED EDITION CHANGES The first edition of Under the Skin was well received but as I GOOD BONES.... began building more modules, I felt like it needed an update. nder the Skin is a one-shot adventure It was overwritten, and I was never satisfied with the quality involving a variation on the haunted house of the map. This edition is totally rewritten. It cleans up the scenario. It can be completed in a single three- maps and design, has adjusted the difficulty and pacing, and to-five hour session. It is best inserted into adds new mysteries and areas. I hope you enjoy it, and if you Uyour own campaign as an unexpected side already own the first edition, thank you for your support! I story to the main plot. As the adventure is suggest running this one even if you’ve already tried out the designed to be a mystery, it is optimal if the players stumble original, as they are vastly different. For those who want to into it. They should not go seeking out the house to “cleanse try the original, you will be able to find the old PDF on our it of its evil.” That is not the kind of adventure this is. Like website www.alignmentmayvary.com horror movies of old, this adventure should creep up on them. ACKGROUND This adventure is somewhat non-linear, in that it B takes place inside a single setting (a mansion) with no Charles LaCroix, his wife Maria, and their three children forced path that the players have to explore. Think of the (twin boys and a younger girl) lived in the LaCroix family map as an arena for the adventure’s enemies to face the mansion in a remote forest. Charles, a scholar by trade, players in. Within this arena, the adventure progresses in studied the mysterious flora and fauna that lived in the three chapters: forest. Of particular interest to him was an unusual mold he found in a huge cave network. The mold was able to shift its In A Place for the Night, the adventure starts as the players seek shelter from a storm, and find a mansion in the shape to attract predators and trick them. Charles believed woods. They are taken to a guest room and locked inside. that the mold might be an ancestor of the modern-day Mimic. Excited by his discovery, he brought a sample back to In The Death Bed, the PCs find another guest in the mansion, who is feverish and dying. He will press a key into his attic laboratory, dubbing it the Mime Mold. their hand and tell them to go to the attic, before expiring. That was his first mistake. If they go to the attic, the players learn the truth: the The Mime Mold proved to be more intelligent than master of the house and his family died long ago, absorbed by Charles had expected. When his five year old daughter, a malevolent Mold that takes the form of the family to lure Olivia, got into Charles’ lab, the Mime Mold took the form unsuspecting travelers to their doom. Once someone enters of a stuffed Owlbear, Mr. Huggables, which she innocently the home, the Mold traps them there, transforming the very took with her, thinking it a present from her father. That structure of the mansion to keep them prisoner, as it slowly night, the Mold enveloped and devoured her. Then, taking sucks the life from them. The sick man was one of these her form, it hunted down Maria and the twins and devoured unfortunate victims, and the players are next! them as well. Whether the players go to the attic or not, as they When Charles found out what had happened, a piece of wander the mansion, they start facing the Twins and other his mind broke. He recaptured the Mime Mold and began to manifestations of the Mold. They are hunted throughout experiment on it, seeking some way to bring back his family, the mansion while they seek for a way to destroy the Mold’s believing that their essence remained inside the Mold. But heart, which lives in the cellar. just as he was drawing close to finding a way to combat the Mold, it escaped and locked Charles in his own lab, trapping In the Finale, the PCs must escape the rapidly collapsing house. Only then will the nightmare finally be over. him until he died of starvation. The details of these scenarios are presented first, and Slowly the Mold took over the mansion, integrating itself then the Mansion is presented afterwards, along with a map into the very structure of the LaCroix mansion, populating and detailed descriptions of each room. Lastly, an appendix the it with deadly versions of the family. Then it waited, collects the monsters, items, and handouts you need to run baiting travelers into finding it. The dessicated bones of these the adventure. unfortunate travelers now fill the mansion walls. This adventure begins when the players become the latest Notes on Running the Adventure adventurers to fall prey to the Mime Mold’s trap. Did the Because the mansion is explored non-linearly, it is recommended Mold take on more than it can chew in this case? Or will the that the Dungeon Master familiarize herself with its layout and players end up as its latest midnight snack? rooms prior to running the adventure. This adventure is meant to simulate the kind of anxiety that comes along with a survival horror experience. Generally, rests LACE OR THE IGHT should not be allowed, and PCs should feel like they are having to A P F N use up their spell slots and items to stay alive. The best game will The following opening assumes your players are currently endSample with them winning against the Heart just as they are at their traveling. Start by reading the followingfile text: final resources. It is approaching early evening and you are walking through That said, there is also some luck involved in this adventure, and if the DM feels the PCs need a bit of help, there are a forest which is growing darker by the moment. A mighty several ways they can be assisted, which are pointed out storm is settling in, so strong that even the cover of the trees throughout the text. does little to keep you warm or dry. You wander for hours, UNDER THE SKIN | AN ALIGNMENT MAY VARY MODULE 2 looking for a reasonable place to settle down, where you might be able to build a fire and keep the chill from seeping Conversation with Maria into your bones. If the players converse with Maria, they can learn the following: Assign every PC one level of exhaustion. Tell the players • Her name is Maria and she lives here with her three children, that the storm is picking up and they will need to find Olivia, Marcus, and Tom, and her husband, Charles. They’ve lived here for a long time, as long as she can remember. shelter or risk getting more exhaustion, or being killed by a • Charles is a brilliant man, an inventor and scholar, but very falling tree. reclusive and afraid of outsiders stealing his secrets. He’ll be Give the players a chance to try and figure out what to do. furious if he finds out she let them inside. At some point, one or more of them will most likely want • If players ask about Maria’s motives, they can make a DC 16 to make a check of some kind, maybe Wisdom (Survival) Wisdom (Insight) check. If they pass, they can tell that Maria is or Intelligence (Nature). Whatever they decide to roll, hiding something, but they cannot tell what it might be, though it seems to be related to her husband and children. If pressed, whomever rolls highest will find a footpath leading further Maria will say only that she fears that they have all changed into the woods. The well traveled path suggests someone recently, but says that maybe it is just her exhaustion speaking. uses it often and may actually live nearby. If PCs continue to She will not say more. linger, remind them that they need to find shelter or else face • If asked about her being on the front door, Maria will confirm more exhaustion levels that won’t be cured by sleeping out in this. She will say the man on the door is her husband, Charles, and that he carved the doors himself. the cold. And there may be things in the woods... After a short hike along the path (just long enough the storm is done or not. She has no food for them. She will for the weather to worsen) the players come upon the immediately lead the players to , making LaCroix mansion: B4: Twins’ Room no detours and not allowing PCs to wander off. She will then Eventually the path leads you through the woods to an repeat her warning and close the door, locking it behind her. expansive three story mansion, looming over a clearing Players can explore the room; see the room description like a protective golem. It looks remarkably well kept, and for what they can find here. The DM should play up how there are lights on in all of the windows, just visible through tired everyone is, and offer the benefits of a rest if the players the closed curtains. The path leads to the mansion’s front doors, a massive set of double doors beautifully carved in decide to try and sleep.