official game adventure an adventure for 4-6 characters ... · treasure hunt is an ad&d®...

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Advanced Dungeons£*pragons OFFICIAL GAME ADVENTURE An Adventure for 4-6 Characters Levels 0-1 TREASURE HUNT by Aaron Allston CREDITS Editor: Steve Winter Cover Artist: Jeff Easley Interior Artist: Stephen Fabian Cartographers: David S. LaForce, Stephen D. Sullivan, Bill Reuter, Stephanie Tabat Typographer: Kim Lindau Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Ran- dom House Inc. and in Canada by Random House of Can- ada. Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. Distfibuted in the United Kingdom by TSR UK Ltd. ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. AD&D, PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION, and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR Inc. 1 Copyright 1986 TSR Inc. All Rights Reserved. This product is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unau- thorized use of the material or artwork conrained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR Inc. Any questions on this material should be sent, along with a self-addressed, stamped return envelope, to "AD&D^ Game Questions." at the address below: TSR Inc. POB "56 Lake Geneva, WI 53147 TSR UK Ltd. The Mill. Rathmore Road Cambridge CB1 4AD United Kingdom TSR, Inc. PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION" Printed in the U.S.A. 0-88038-326-7 $8.00 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAYERS' INTRODUCTION 2 DUNGEON MASTER'S INTRODUCTION 4 EPISODE ONE: SEA AND STORM 6 After the Crash 6 Hafkris 7 The Galley 8 Experience 8 EPISODE TWO: BATTLE ON THE HILL 9 First Impressions of the Island 9 Fight in the Ravine 9 The Ores and Goblins 11 The Old Man's Story 12 Experience 12 EPISODE THREE: TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS 13 Inside the Temple 14 Enter the Goddess 17 Later That Same Night 18 Experience 18 EPISODE FOUR: MANOR OF THE SEA KING 19 Getting Into the Manor 20 Use of Random Encounters 24 Treasures Found in the Manor 24 On the Passage of Time 25 Experience and Character Class 25 EPISODE FIVE: INTO THE CATACOMBS 26 On the Passage of Time 28 Experience 28 EPISODE SIX: BREAK-IN 29 Royal Greetings 29 Destruction of the Island 31 Epilogue 31 Experience 31 APPENDIX 1: IF THINGS GO WRONG 32 APPENDIX 2: THE KORINN ARCHIPELAGO 34 PLAYER AND DUNGEON MASTER AIDS central pullout 9185 Sample file

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Page 1: OFFICIAL GAME ADVENTURE An Adventure for 4-6 Characters ... · Treasure Hunt is an AD&D® adventure for a Dungeon Master and four to six 0-level char-acters. That's right: 0-level

AdvancedDungeons£*pragons

OFFICIAL GAME ADVENTURE

An Adventure for 4-6 Characters Levels 0-1

TREASUREHUNT

by Aaron Allston

CREDITSEditor: Steve WinterCover Artist: Jeff EasleyInterior Artist: Stephen FabianCartographers: David S. LaForce, Stephen D.

Sullivan, Bill Reuter, Stephanie TabatTypographer: Kim Lindau

Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Ran-dom House Inc. and in Canada by Random House of Can-ada. Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade byregional distributors. Distfibuted in the United Kingdomby TSR UK Ltd.

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. AD&D,PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION, and the TSRlogo are trademarks owned by TSR Inc.1 Copyright 1986 TSR Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This product is protected under the copyright laws of theUnited States of America. Any reproduction or other unau-thorized use of the material or artwork conrained herein isprohibited without the express written permission of TSRInc.

Any questions on this material should be sent, along with aself-addressed, stamped return envelope, to "AD&D^Game Questions." at the address below:

TSR Inc.POB "56Lake Geneva, WI53147

TSR UK Ltd.The Mill. Rathmore Road

Cambridge CB1 4ADUnited Kingdom

TSR, Inc.PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION"

Printed in the U.S.A.

0-88038-326-7$8.00

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAYERS' INTRODUCTION 2

DUNGEON MASTER'S INTRODUCTION 4

EPISODE ONE: SEA AND STORM 6

After the Crash 6

Hafkris 7

The Galley 8

Experience 8

EPISODE TWO: BATTLE ON THE HILL 9

First Impressions of the Island 9

Fight in the Ravine 9

The Ores and Goblins 11

The Old Man's Story 12

Experience 12

EPISODE THREE: TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS 13

Inside the Temple 14

Enter the Goddess 17

Later That Same Night 18

Experience 18

EPISODE FOUR: MANOR OF THE SEA KING 19

Getting Into the Manor 20

Use of Random Encounters 24Treasures Found in the Manor 24

On the Passage of Time 25Experience and Character Class 25

EPISODE FIVE: INTO THE CATACOMBS 26

On the Passage of Time 28

Experience 28

EPISODE SIX: BREAK-IN 29Royal Greetings 29Destruction of the Island 31

Epilogue 31

Experience 31

APPENDIX 1: IF THINGS GO WRONG 32

APPENDIX 2: THE KORINN ARCHIPELAGO 34

PLAYER AND DUNGEON MASTER AIDS central pullout

9185

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Page 2: OFFICIAL GAME ADVENTURE An Adventure for 4-6 Characters ... · Treasure Hunt is an AD&D® adventure for a Dungeon Master and four to six 0-level char-acters. That's right: 0-level

Treasure Hunt is an AD&D® adventure fora Dungeon Master and four to six 0-level char-acters. That's right: 0-level.

When you start off a character in an AD&Dgame, you begin at 1st level—acolyte, vet-eran, prestidigitator, rogue, etc. The gamepresumes your character has had some priorexperience in warfare or adventure. Perhapshis "experience" has only been training by asuperior.

In this adventure, you don't even have theslight edge that training gave you, the edgeover the common man. In Treasure Hunt,your character is the common man. To survivethe adventure, he'll have to become an un-common man—you'll have to use your wits,survive the odds, and stay alive long enoughto earn some experience and begin developingthe abilities of the true adventurer.

And, once you've started developing thoseabilities, you'll have to choose the path yourcharacter will be taking for the rest of his ad-venturing career —will he be a fighting man,a magic user, devotee of a god or goddess, or adextrous picker of pockets and pilferer ofgoods? Your beginning character abilities willshow you the fields where he would be bestemployed, but your choice of character classwill be determined by your actions in thecourse of the adventure and the tendenciesyou show in the course of the scenarios.

To the Beginning PlayerIf you've never before played an

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®game, don't worry—Treasure Hunt will beeasier for you than other adventures, notharder.

You won't have to worry about complicateddecisions concerning choice of weapons,spells, deity to worship, and so on. You're justa normal man or woman, suddenly caught upinto a bizarre, unpredictable, and dangeroussituation. Just react to the situations you comeacross as a real person would, and let theDungeon Master tell you how to translate yourwishes into the game.

Creating Your CharactersIt's time to create your characters. If you'd

like to get a preview of the area of your charac-ters' origin before you create the character,skip down to "The Korinn Archipelago" inthis Players' Introduction.

Abilities

Your Dungeon Master will tell you how toroll up your character's abilities. Because yourcharacter, starting out at 0 level, is beginningplay with fewer abilities than practically anyother type of beginning character, we recom-mend the Dungeon Master choose one of the

four methods under "Creating the PlayerCharacter" in the Dungeon Masters Guide—Method 1 tends to work best for this adven-

Character Race

Your character can belong to any race per-mitted by the Players Handbook, provided hemeets all the Ability requirements of the race.

Humans are the most common race in theKorinn Archipelago, but there are also seago-ing elves, half-elves, and half-ores in the re-gion, as well as dwarf and gnome craftsmenand halfling merchants ashore.

Character Class

You do not choose a character class at thistime. As mentioned, your character's actionsand preferences in the course of the adventurewill determine what class he becomes.

If you were allowed to assign your rolledscores to the abilities you wanted, you couldeasily have arranged them with a particularcharacter class in mind. For example, youmight have put your two high scores inStrength and Constitution, hoping to be a su-perior fighter.

Well, think about that again. You might beblocking yourself off from some entertainingoptions in the adventure. Why not assignthose high scores to Strength and Dexterity, soyour character can become a nimble fighter ora powerful thief, or perhaps an assassin? Whynot put them into Strength and Wisdom inorder to let you choose between crafty fighterand militant cleric? Don't limit your options,leave yourself room to explore them.

Alignment

Do not choose your character alignmentyet. Your character is neutral for the time be-ing. In the course of the adventure, theDungeon Master will watch how your charac-ter acts and behaves, compare that with yourpreference at the time your character achieves1st level, and assign you an alignment basedon those factors. If you've already decided youwish to have, for example, a chaotic goodcharacter, then you should conduct your char-acter in that manner in the course of the ad-venture until it becomes finalized when hetakes his 1st level.

Hit Points

Roll Id6 for hit points. The Dungeon Mas-ter, if he wishes, may allow you to roll the diethree times and take the best roll as your hitpoints score; alternately, he may let you startout with six hit points, not bothering to roll.

Either one of these choices is a good idea, asyou need all the help you can get in the earlypart of the adventure.

Languages

Your character speaks the common tongue.If he is of a semi-human race, he (naturally)also speaks the tongue of that race, as de-scribed under "Character Languages" in thePlayers Handbook.

Your character will not learn his alignmenttongue until long after the adventure is over.He'll know which language it will be once hisalignment is fixed, when he becomes a 1stlevel character, but wont actually learn thelanguage in the course of the adventure.

While your character might be brightenough to learn additional languages (see theappropriate notes under Intelligence in the"Abilities" section of the Players Handbook),he doesn't know them yet.

Secondary Skills

Under "Creating the Player Character" inthe Dungeon Masters Guide there is a subsec-tion entitled "Player Character Non-Professional Skills." You should consult thissection and then choose (or roll, if you or theDungeon Master prefers) for your character'ssecondary skill.

While possession of a secondary skill won'tnecessarily help you in the adventure's course,it certainly can't hurt. Also, it provides youwith some insight into your character's back-ground (or at least his current occupation).And, who knows? Clever use of a secondaryskill might get you out of trouble or save yourcharacter's life in the adventure.

The Dungeon Master is within his rights toforbid any particular skill, and will probablywish to if everyone is taking the same one ortwo skills.

Money and Equipment

For reasons that will be clear in a minute,you don't need to set your character up withany money or equipment. The Dungeon Mas-ter will explain the situation to you when ev-eryone is ready to begin.

That's Your Character

To finish off your character sheet, note on itthat your character has -500 (that's negativefive hundred) experience points. (Once yourcharacter acquires enough experience to reach0, he'll become a 1st level character and haveto choose alignment and class.)

Your character, once you give him a name,is complete. It's time to start the show.

Quick Character CreationIf all that is too much work, which it cer-

tainly could be for beginning players, we haveincluded (in the center section of the adven-

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Players' Introduction

ture) six pregenerated player characters. Ifyou'd prefer to save yourself some work, askthe Dungeon Master if you can see these char-acters and use one as your own.

The Korinn ArchipelagoYour character is from the Konnn Archipel-

ago, a peaceful trading and fishing area, astring of islands extending far out into thewestern sea.

The Archipelago contains hundreds of is-lands, some enormous, some too small to seeon the map. And you do have a map, whichthe Dungeon Master will give you—not thatyou need it, you know the waters by heart.

The area, which was sparsely inhabited intimes past, was settled about a hundred yearsago by colonists from far to the south. Theywere led by a great seaman named Viledel.Viledel, never the subtlest of men, made as

his base one of the westernmost of the islands,in the area most thickly prowled by piratesand corsairs, and began his campaign ofsmashing piracy wherever he found it. His fol-lowers set up settlements and quickly spreadfurther and further west, into the larger is-lands closer to civilized nations.

Viledel, who was known as the Sea Kingthroughout his life, died 60 years ago when apirate raid crushed his island defenses andoverran his home. Since then, the archipelagohas had no central government, but has bro-ken into a hundred petty island nations. Mostislands and cities get along quite well, know-ing the advantages to be gained throughpeaceful trade.

Piracy has increased in the last 60 years,concentrated in the westernmost of the chain'sislands, but pirates no longer rule the seas.They prey upon the merchants like parasitesinstead of sharks. However, the further west

you sail, the greater the risk is of running intopirate ships, and some particularly bold buc-caneers sail deep into civilized eastern areasfor the rich pickings there.

Your character is from the archipelago,from whichever island you choose, a worker inwhichever profession you rolled or decidedupon.

If you have any detailed questions aboutlife in the archipelago, ask the DungeonMaster—after he's had time to read his owninformation on the Korinn area.

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Dungeon Master's Introduction

This Dungeon Master's Introduction iswritten with the first-time DM in mind—ifyou're a more experienced DM, you'll findthat this introduction explains, in great detail,things that are now second nature to you. Bearwith us.

Basic Plot of the AdventureIn Treasure Hunt, the player characters have

been kidnapped from their homes by slavers,and are being sailed toward one of the piratestrongholds of the archipelago.

A sudden storm at sea catches the pirateship, sending it off-course, washing most ofthe crew overboard, and eventually crashing itupon the shores of the island once ruled byViledel, the Sea King. The characters have theopportunity to escape or defeat the survivingpirates.

Once they've escaped or defeated their cap-tor, they find that the island they've landedupon is now the battleground for two forces:enemy seagoing tribes of ores and goblins whoare fighting for the right to take this island astheir new stronghold.

Mid-adventure, they'll also learn that thegoddess of the island is furious at the desecra-tion visited on her temple by the ores and gob-lins. She's decided to wipe the island off theface of the earth. She'll give the characterssome time to escape, but she won't extend hertime limit for them.

The characters have to survive the elements,the battles raging between ores and goblins,and the unnatural hazards of the island, findout how to escape, and leave before the god-dess destroys the island. In the course of this,the characters will be earning experience andeventually reaching 1st level, choosing theircharacter classes and alignments at that time.

Arrangement of the Adventure"Episode One: Sea and Storm" informs the

characters of their plight—they've been cap-tured, stripped of weapons and goods, andchained in the hold of a pirate vessel. The shipcrashes upon the shore of the Sea King's is-land. The prisoners must either defeat or es-cape the one surviving pirate. Once free, theywill realize that they need better shelter thanthe wrecked ship if they're to survive the ele-ments this night.

In "Episode Two: Battle on the Hill," thecharacters stumble across a battle between oresand goblins. They can defeat both forces byclever use of surrounding terrain, or can waituntil both forces are worn down almost tonothing before attacking. Among the "loot"held by the ores and goblins is an old humanman, a prisoner of the goblins, who knowswhere shelter is to be found.

"Episode Three: Temple of the Goddess"

has characters reaching a temple near the SeaKing's old manor. While within the temple,the characters have an encounter with thegoddess. She displays her divine wrath andannounces the doom of the island.

In "Episode Four: Manor of the Sea King,"the old man says there are catacombs belowthe Sea King's manor, catacombs with trea-sure and a boat left as grave-goods. But to getto the catacombs, the characters must getthrough the manor, which is where the ore/goblin conflict is heaviest.

"Episode Five: Into the Catacombs" getsthe characters into those catacombs—but theold man has actually led them into a trap. Hewas merely determined to seal the catacombsoff so that the invaders could not pilfer them,and has maneuvered the player characters intoreturning him there. He then tries to kill thecharacters so they won't rob the catacombs.The characters have to survive his traps and hissurprises long enough to find the promisedtreasure and boat.

"Episode Six: Break-In" reveals that theores and goblins have found the entrance afterall, and have broken into the catacombs. Inthis episode of the adventure the charactersmust deal with intruding ores and goblinswhile trying to escape. At the episode's end,the goddess' wrath is visited on the island.

During the adventure, the characters canfind magical objects which allow them to feelwhat it's like to have the abilities of some ofthe various character classes. They'll be con-fronted with situations which allow them totry to utilize the skills of different classes. Bythe time they reach 0 experience points theyshould have decided their character classesand alignments.

Also in this rulebook are the following sec-tions and items:

"Appendix 1: If Things Go Wrong" talksabout what you can do to cope with clevercharacrer improvisations, or to get the adven-ture back on course when things are totallyscrewed up.

"Appendix 2: The Korinn Archipelago"describes the island chain in greater detailthan in the Players' Introduction.

Included in the pull-out section of the ad-venture are eight characters (the murderousold man, an NPC merchant's daughter whowas on the slave ship, and six player charactersto use if players don't wish to generate newcharacters); and four Dungeon Master maps(the island, the temple, the manor, and thecatacombs). On the adventure's covers are theplayers' maps: The archipelago map whichthey know by heart, and the island, temple,manor, and catacombs maps crudely drawn bythe old man.

The CharactersThere are some things you should know

about the 0 level player characters.

Secondary Skills

The characters have secondary skills. Don'tencourage the players to make heavy use ofthose skills, but if they come up with cleverand pertinent uses for those skills, you shouldreward them with critical or even spectacularsuccess with the things they're attempting.

For example, a character who is a minermight reasonably expect to know which sup-port beams in the catacombs can be broken tocause a sudden cave-in. A trapper/furrier withenough time and opportunity could rig snaretraps and other tricks in order to capture andharrass his enemies.

Don't allow the players to abuse theseskills. A trapper cannot rig a snare with thesame speed a charging ore can swing a sword.And, while the first snare he placed mighthave had spectacular success, the ores will bewatching for the second one. To be effective,he must think up and explain a new trap eachtime.

Weapon Proficiencies

Zero-level characters all know how to useone weapon. Before your adventure gets un-derway, have each player choose his character'sweapon proficiency. (Weapon proficiency isexplained under "Weapons" in the PlayersHandbook). A player may only choose dagger,quarterstaff, or dart. Tell the player to writehis character's weapon proficiency on the char-acter sheet.

If, in the course of the adventure, a charac-ter picks up a weapon and states that he's go-ing to try to learn to use it, let him. Forsimplicity's sake, let's assume that, whilethese characters are in their "state of grace"and learn things speedily, they can learn aweapon proficiency after using the weapon intwo combats. A character can learn no morethan three extra weapon proficiencies.

Tell the character he should swing theweapon around for a while, get used to its heftand characteristics, and that after a couple ofcombats in which he uses the weapon, he willhave a proficiency with it.

The characters are not limited to dagger,staff and dart after they enter the adventurebut, again, the choice of the weapons theylearn can limit their character class choices.

If a character tries to learn more weaponsduring the course of the adventure he startslimiting the number of character classes hecan choose. For instance, a 1st level magic-user can only have one weapon proficiency. Ifthe 0 level character learns a second weaponbefore taking 1st level, he can therefore not be

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Dungeon Master's Introduction

a magic-user when he reaches 1st level. That'show it works. Read the pertinent section ofthe Players Handbook for more informationon this.

Non-Magical Special Abilities

Several character classes have special abili-ties. These abilities break down roughly intonon-magical and magical abilities: The thief swall-climbing talent can be considered non-magical, while the paladin's ability to detectevil is effectively magical.

Whenever a player-character in this adven-ture wishes, he may try to utilize one of thenon-magical special abilities. These abilitiesinclude:

Assassinate (assassin),Backstab (thief),Climb Walls (thief),Disguise (assassin),Find/Remove Traps (thief),Hear Noise (thief),Hide in Shadows (thief),Move Silently (thief),Open Locks (thief),Pick Pockets (thief),Track (ranger).

Whenever a character wishes to try to utilizeone of these skills, let him. Give the character achance to do it at 10% below that of a 1st levelcharacter of the appropriate class. Whether hesucceeds or fails, the next time he tries, let himtry at 5% below the listed 1st level chance. Thethird time and subsequent times, give him the1st level chance to succeed.

The ranger abilities of extra damage to hu-manoids and decreased chance to be surprisedcannot be attempted, nor can the monk's ex-tra damage for barehanded combat.

The player characters cannot try to performthe magical special abilities of various charac-ter classes—turning undead, laying on of thehands, etc.—until they've chosen their char-acter classes upon reaching 1st level.

Achieving 1st LevelWhen you're ready to begin play, you

should use the character tracking forms in thecenter of the booklet; use one form for eachcharacter. (Six of these forms are already filledout for the pregenerated characters.)

In the course of the adventure, whenever acharacter tries to perform an action which isbasically class-related, you should take note ofit on the form. Keep things simple—when thecharacter tries to climb a wall, place one checkmark beside "Thief." When, later, he tries tomove silently, place another check mark be-side "Thief." When he tries to use a sword incombat, since magic-users and clerics cannotdo this, you place a minus sign beside "Magic-User" and "Cleric."

If a character has learned a new weapon pro-ficiency, note it on the tracking form and keepin mind which classes he can no longer be.

This way, you can keep accurate and simpletrack of the character's character class "lean-ings."

Alignment Tendencies

Keep track of the characters' actions and re-actions during the adventure. Whenever acharacter performs an action that is of a partic-ular alignment, note that action on the track-ing form.

Protecting your allies and making friendsare not alignment activities—they're humannature. However, backstabbing is an action ofneutral or evil intent. An unwillingness to killsomeone except in a fair fight is lawful. Risk-ing your own life to save someone else whenthe odds are against you is a good action.Working hard to cause someone grief is an evilaction.

Magical Experimentation

Whenever a character uses one of the magi-cal abilities from the magical objects to befound, make note of it. This activity shouldlead to a check mark beside the character classthe magic is pertinent to.

If a character really sits down with the onemagical book to be found in the course of theadventure and gives it serious study, this is adefinite magic-user activity and he receiveschecks by "Magic-User" on the trackingform—one check mark for each hour he stud-

Assigning Experience

Because the characters are so frail and needall the help they can get, you'll be assigningthem their experience as often as is convenient—at least at the end of every episode in theadventure. You'll not only assign experiencefor monsters slain at that time, you should as-sign experience for treasure accumulated,which normally has to wait until the treasure issafe at the character's home.

Making the Choice

Eventually, the characters will start reaching0 experience points and will have to take theircharacter classes and alignments.

Look over each character's notes on thetracking form and make an estimate of whichclass and alignment you think is most appro-priate to him. Then speak to him, privately,and tell him what you think—such as,"You've been behaving, for the most part, asa chaotic-good fighter; do you have any prob-lem with that?"

If not, then the choice is made. If the playerdoes have a differing opinion, have him ex-plain his thinking. If it's reasonable and does

not contradict the way the character has beenacting, let him have it his way.

If, however, he's completely off-base, inyour estimation... well, your opinion is the fi-nal one. This is most likely to occur in thechoice of alignment, and can affect class. If acharacter was trying to become a paladin butengaged in chaotic behavior patterns all thetime, you're within your rights to say he's achaotic good fighter.

Since your choice may not match your play-ers', you should explain to the players beforeplay begins that you're going to be the ulti-mate authority on what the character's even-tual class and alignment are, modified by thecharacter's behavior and actions, of course.

Hit Points

When the character's new class is chosen,reroll his hit points. If the new roll is lowerthan the original roll, let him keep the origi-nal roll.

Magic-users, illusionists, thieves and assas-sins do not reroll.

Multi-Class Characters

Before the adventure begins, you shouldtell your players that these characters will nothave the option to become multi-class charac-ters. They may choose the special characterclasses such as paladin and illusionist, assum-ing they meet all the requirements of theclass. (A multi-class character would not belimited very much by his behavior during theadventure, and so should not be permitted inthis adventure.)

Pregenerated CharactersIf your players don't have time, opportu-

nity, or experience enough to create their owncharacters, there are player characters alreadycreated and ready to be handed out. Pullthem out of the book, cut them apart, andkeep Keestake and Melisana—they are NPCsand the players shouldn't see them.

Each pregenerated character has been giventwo names, the first name masculine, the sec-ond feminine. The player can decide if thecharacter is male or female.

The physical descriptions of the charactersare up to the players.

The ages listed may not match the range ofages given for characters in the Dungeon Mas-ters Guide once they've reached 1st level andchosen their classes. (For instance, if a charac-ter chooses to be an illusionist but is only 19,this doesn't match the normal range of agesfor illusionist characters.) Don't let it botheryou; these characters are simply exceprions tothe rule. Any character created at 1st level orabove must keep to the rules given in theDungeon Masters Guide.

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Episode One: Sea and Storm

First things first: explain to the players thattheir characters have been captured by slaverswho took away all their interesting gear whenthey were captured. The characters are leftwith their breeches and tunics, or robes, andnothing else —no boots, no belts, no cloaks,no hats, no money or weapons or special gear.

Now, describe to them the following situa-tion:

Separately and collectively, you've allfallen into the hands of pirate slavers.

Most of you remember it this way: Youwere walking in the countryside near yourhomes, strolling home from the tavern af-ter a night's drinking, walking down to theriver to fetch some water, or gone to visitsome lass or lad in a neighboring village.

And, suddenly, you heard a thrashing inthe underbrush around you, and beforeyou could turn you felt a whale of a blow tothe back of your head, and everythingwent black.

When you awoke, you were in the dark,tiny, stinking hold of the pirate galley,shackled by your wrists to the sturdy beamsof the slave bunks, bunks stacked likecordwood. There were about 40 other cap-tured folk of the archipelago there.

You were sick from the blow to yourhead and from the tossing of the ship,from the revolting gruel the slaver piratesoccasionally fed you, and from the knowl-edge that you were bound for one of thewestern slave ports, never again to see yourown home. Mockingly, the keys to yourshackles were hung from a hook right bythe hatch to the deck, only 5 or 6 feet fromthe lot of you. They might as well be milesaway.

A few days after you woke up, the shipwas hit by a squall, which turned, afterhalf a day of tossing and rolling, into a full-fledged storm which blasted spray andcurses into the hold every time the hatchabove was opened. Your jailer, a mannamed Hafkris—maybe a half-ore, it washard to tell under all that grime and walrusugliness—brought about half the shackledslaves abovedecks to man the oars vacatedby sailors washed overboard. The stormcontinued on another day, and Hafkristook another one-fourth of the slave cargoabovedecks. He looked worried.

That was yesterday. You haven't seenany of the pirates or the slaves since then,and you haven't been fed. Early today, theshouting and cracking whips indicatingthat rowers were being kept in line finallyfaded away to nothing.

Right now, as you're waiting for somesign of life from abovedecks, there's an

enormous crash—a grating, grinding noiseand horrible shuddering of the shiparound you as it runs aground. Above-decks, there's the sound of snapping sparsand a great crash on the deck which youknow must be the mast coming down.You're all thrown toward the bow, but arestill held fast by your shackles and suffermore bruises to your wrists.

The bow of the galley is shattered by theimpact, and as the galley grinds to a halt,the bow is torn away entirely, letting in aferocious blast of numbingly-cold air andrain; the port side of the galley is laid openby a huge boulder that the galley hasground against.

A moment later, there's once again onlythe sound of wind and pounding surf. Outthe open bow, you can see a section of rain-pounded beach; you seem to have runaground where a cliff face meets a covebeach.

Questions from the CharactersDuring the narration, the players may wish

to interrupt—to ask questions, to try to breaktheir chains with brute strength or pick them,to converse with one another, etc.

Let them. Answer the questions to whichthey can reasonably be expected to find an-swers. Let them converse with Hafkris if theyreally feel like dealing with an odious, obnox-ious, and psychotic slaver pirate. He will letthem know in no uncertain terms that he is incharge of the "meat" or "walking cargo" —that is, the captured player characters andNPCs. If one of the characters mouths off tohim, Hafkris will take off his belt and lash thecharacter repeatedly, doing a total of 2 hitpoints of damage to the character before leav-ing off. He tells the characters they are boundfor Westhaven, the "greatest pirare city in theworld," where they will be sold as slaves.

They can't break their chains. The shackleswere, after all, designed to hold people, eventhe strongest of people. (And the charactersare chained to their bunks in such a way thatthey can't get any leverage against the chains,so even a vaunted 18/00 Strength isirrelevant—no leverage, no strength.)

Nor can they pick their chains. The lack oflock picks, the darkness of the hold, and theirinability to bring their hands together utterlyprevent this.

They can talk with one another. After thesecond group of slaves is taken away, the onlycharacters left in the hold are all the playercharacters and one NPC—Melisana, who de-scribes herself as the daughter of Melkeras, awealthy merchant of the large island of Ven-

tris. (For more about Melisana, read ahead inthis episode.)

As soon as you can dispose of the questions,continue on with the narration until you'veended it.

After the CrashImmediately after the crash, the characters

are going to be trying their chains to see if anyof their bunks are damaged enough for themto break free.

The answer is yes: one character's bunk wasbuckled by the impact with the boulder, andhe can (after a few moments of pulling) yankhis chains free of his bunk. The shackles andabout 8 inches of chain still dangle from hiswrists. (To decide which character is free, ei-ther roll Id6 for each character and take thehighest roller, or choose the most peaceableand physically unthreatening character, be-cause he might not be seeing as much actionlater as the huskier characters; or use Meli-sana, to give the characters some reason to begrateful to her.)

The free character can take some blocks ofwood and spend about 45 minutes prying theothers free; however, it's much faster, and eas-ier just to grab that ring of keys and free therest. (If the characters don't think of it, letMelisana come up with the idea—but givethem enough time to think of it themselves.)The ring of keys is still hanging on its hook.

Interior of the Hold

If the characters look around the hold forweapons or gear, they find very little. Theycan find some pieces of wood that are basicallyequivalent to clubs (and remember that, sincemost don't have proficiency with a club, theywill be striking with a non-proficiency pen-alty. Give them a flat -4 non-proficiency pen-alty; that may get worse or better later on.when they've chosen a character class).

Their chains can be used as weapons, butthey are not very good ones, doing as muchdamage as a dart (1-3, 1-2).

There are no blankets in the hold. The char-acters are wearing all of their clothing; theirboots and cloaks are long gone, taken by theslavers.

The slave hold runs about two-thirds of thelength of the galley, from the bow to aboutone-third of the way to the stern. One hatchleads to the deck. If they try it, it is immovable(they won't know it immediately, but themast has fallen across it). The only other exit isthe huge hole torn open at the bow.

Outside the Galley

Characters who walk to the hole in the gal-ley to look around will be met fitst of all with arenewed blast of bone-chillingly cold ait and

Sam

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