John Finnegan

12-23-91

NERO Adventure: "Ping Pong"





Introduction:



The party is warned by  a wandering traveler of a mysterious

warlock (celestial scholar) who lives in the northern wilderness of

Westmarch.  The traveler tells the party that the warlock controls

a swamp north of the blood river (but south of the mountains) up to

the very foot Dragontooth Mountains, and that he is looking for

adventurers to eliminate a Necromancer and his followers who have

been plaguing the area.  The mage, Aphrixus, offers to pay the

party if they bring him the head of the necromancer.  In actuality,

Aphrixus is at war with the necromancer and wants to remove the

Necromancer so that he can solidify his dominance in the area.

          The Necromancer, Timmons the Hedonic, doesn't even know

of Aphrixus' identity as the power behind the Lizardman raids that

have been attacking his little coven of followers.  He is

personally content as the master of the small shrine he has built

in the honor of chaos for Deneb, a vampire queen who lives to the

far north.  He has quite a few followers among the common folk, and

they are gathering at his shrine for a yearly festival at the same

time as the PC's come to kill him.  As they journey to the shrine

to kill Timmons, they will meet "Pilgrims" who will seem very good

natured (assuming that the party can convince the pilgrims that

they are also traveling to Timmons' shrine for the festival) and

lead them right to the shrine.  Unfortunately the party will

stumble into a well organized ambush arranged by Timmons for any of

Aphrixus' forces, and THEN the party will meet the travelers.  

          When the characters arrive (after bypassing the ambush

and befriending the pilgrims) they will find the celebration in

full swing and will be able to slip through the crowds, and if they

talk their way past the door guards, they can try for a crack at

Timmons.  If they succeed in killing Timmons, and successfully slip

out of the celebration without being seen with his head, Aphrixus

and his allies will ambush them so as to have no loose ends.  If

however they fail to kill Timmons, they will be taken captive and

thrown into his dungeons until he can decide what to do with them. 

Down in the Dungeon, should the party search they will find a

secret door to a room with a HUGE sarcophogus.  The party can

resist temptation and ignore it (... NOT...) or fight the hideous

monster in order to gain Timmons' treasure (and something that

might help them get through the module in one piece).  Timmons will

then about eight hours later call up one of the party members and

offer to strike a deal with them.  First he will release them,

reward them, and even heal them in exchange for an oath that they

will leave him alone (and not report the whereabouts of his shrine

to the army or to the nobility of Westmarch) and do him one small

favor.  He will ask them to deliver Aphrixus his "head" (actually

a bomb which will level the Warlock's tower and most certainly end

his experiments and his leadership of the local Lizardmen.) 

Enterprising parties will have alot of opportunities play one off

against the other, and of course get played quite a bit themselves.





Encounter One: Stanley Strikes A Deal

(The Marshal can read this directly to the party or paraphrase as

(s)he sees fit...)

A few days ago you met a lone traveller on the road and he told you

that there was a Warlock in Westmarch who was looking for

adventurers to solve a problem in his area.  After some further

checking, it was discovered that this Warlock lived near the coast

in the edge of a swamp just north of the Blood River.

You have been traveling for nearly three days through a constant

cloud of biting insects and bottomless bogs.  Finally the land

surrounding you has begun to become drier and more firm, and the

trees of a light forest have begun to take the place of the cedars

and willows of the swamp.  The forest before you opens up into a

large clearing dominated by a tall wide based tower.  The tower has

a flat topped roof with battlements.  Stone steps steeply ascend to

a large 10 foot high oaken door banded with iron approximately 12

feet off the ground.  As you approach you can see someone leaving

the tower wearing expensize clothes, the only peculiar thing is

that he has a long green tail...



Marshal Information:

     The party has been spotted by a lookout already and Aphrixus

has been alerted to the party's arrival.  When the party approaches

the door they will be be greeted by Stanley, a lizardman wearing an

ornate red and black matched tunic and breeches.  He bears no

weapon and has a major spell shield and mage armor on him.  He is

very intelligent and can speak human, elvish, and orcish fluently. 

He will exit the tower and greet the party and inform them of the

business proposition.  See below for information pertaining to the

play of this character.

     Aphrixus, the celestial scholar that resides within, has

managed to befriend the lizardmen of this swamp through bribes and

coercion.  He has lived here for many years among them, and

recently managed to convince them to help him build this tower as

a base of operations for his master plan.  Aphrixus has been

experimenting and breeding lizardmen for strength and inteliigence. 

So far for his efforts he has met reasonable success, but

unfortunately decades of building have left his lizardmen anxious

and bored.  To stay in control it is clear that he must allow them

to quench their blood thirty urges, and recently has let them vent

their bellicose urges on his neighbor Timmons (a necromancer) and

his followers.  Unfortunately the decades of building and education

haven't really perfected their fighting abilities, and the losses

have been heavy.  Aphrixus has begun to fear that Timmons might

actually discover his Tower and might launch some kind of vengeful

counter-strike.  Aphrixus figures that by hiring a group of

outsiders to attack Timmons he will prevent losses from his troops

and remove a competitor without revealing his hand to any outsider

powers, for he intends to kill the party once they kill Timmons. 



Some answers to questions the PC's might ask:

1) How old does the structure appear.

   Very new, there is no wear or apparent damage.



2) How far is the nearest settlement.

Three days through the swamps.



3) Have they heard any rumors of undead or necromancy in the area?

No, nothing out of the ordinary, no direct attacks of undead have

occurred recently in this area.



4) Do the roof battlements appear to be manned.

No, not at this time.



Props for this encounter:

Claws (daggers) for Stanley.

Cabin (if available) for later:

Money on Stanley for adventurers(which he will show them but will

not give them until the head is retrieved)





NPC Information: Stanley is a very large and very intelligent

lizardman.  He was raised from an egg to serve and whorship

Aphrixus.  He is totally loyal and devoted to his master.

He is reserved and debonair (for a lizardman), he speaks in a clear

eriely humanlike voice. (Perhaps with an English accent with a

slight lisp.)  Stanley will not in any case allow the party members

past him into the tower.  He will assure them that he has been

given full authority to bargain in his masters name.

*****  If Stanley is attacked he can bellow out and summon

reinforcements from inside the tower(cabin).  The PC's will have to

somehow find a means to fight their way into the tower and defeat

all of Aphrixus' minions.  Stats for these other lizardmen are

included in the last encounter, as well as those of Aphrixus, and

the contents of his tower.  Should the party kill all of these

creatures, a map will lead them to the second encounter of the

module and all reference to Aphrixus should be ignored from now on.

(And Timmons will kill them if they fail to defeat him.)  Stanley

will offer the party one gold crowne per every two levels of the

party, payable upon the receipt of the head of the Necromancer's

head. (NOTE: Stanley has no intention of paying them... EVER)  He

will then ask if the party accepts, if they do not - he returns to

the tower - to fetch reinforcements to attack the party.  If they

do he will give them directions to the shrine.  (The party can

proceed to encounter two...)  Stanley will not bargain, or offer

any more money, explaining that it is their duty as members of the

Duchy to destroy all necromancers. (He will say that he is not a

member of the Duchy but is thinking of applying in Ravenholt next

year...)







ENCOUNTER TWO: The ole Switcheroo

(The Marshall can either read this to the party or paraphrase it as

she/he sees fit)

You have been travelling for quite some time along a path in the

forest when you can here some commotion on the other side of the

hill, and as you get closer you see a small person, a young girl or

hobling female running towards you screaming.  She clearly is being

pursued by a group of limping decaying forms. The girl is quite

bloody and has many cuts from scratches on her arms and legs.



Marshall Information:

This is an ambush.  The object of which is to place a Doppleganger

within the party so as to kill the party  and cause much havok

later in the module.  The young girl is in actuality the

Doppleganger.  Her objective is to isolate one individual in the

course of the conflict, put them asleep with the spell like powers

she possesses, hide the person in the woods nearby and infiltrate

the party.  To do this the encounter is structured to separate the

party as much as possible.  To do this the party will be attacked

from behind by more undead, in order to separate any of those party

members who do not charge forward to battle the limping decaying

forms.  The Doppleganger, playing the part of a frightened girl

will cry and grab onto one person's leg and scream about how they

ate Mommy and Daddy and are now going to eat her up.  The

Doppleganger will hold onto the adventurer begging that they not

leave her or she will die.  The preference in this case is that the

Doppleganger target a female member in the party, hoping that a

woman will be more receptive to this kind of a manuever.  In the

case that a woman isn't present the Doppleganger will target an

obvious spellcaster.  The Doppleganger is an intelligent form of

undead ghoul created by Timmons to solve the mystery of the 

Lizardman attacks.  It has immunities like an undead and is

likewise just a susceptible to Earth magic as a normal ghoul.



The Ambush:

Those who rush forward:

The two creatures chasing the "girl" are some form of lesser undead

such as zombies or skeletons.  When the party rushes forward to

attack them they will turn around and run back up the road.  On the

otherside of the hill are more undead waiting to engage the more

zealous members of the party.  The undead will have spell defenses

and Armor of the Dead if the party is of sufficient level to

warrant it.  The undead should not be too rough, but at least one

really rough creature akin to a lesser ghoul, wraith, or Spectre

should be present to foul up the party.  (For low level parties

this creature should hold back at the beginning of the conflict and

charge forward as the victory appears to soon be ending in the

parties favour.  In this way the larger undead will be a challenge

and not absolutely death-dealing among the less advanced parties.)



Those who stay to protect the "girl":

The party will be attacked from behind by two undead that would be

sufficient challenge to the party level.  The objective of these

two creatures is to draw off any extraneous players so that the

Doppleganger can do its work.





The person with the Doppleganger:

Once the extra players are drawn off the Doppleganger will attack

its victim and attempt to sleep it.  It may cast up to three sleeps

(so elves will have to have multiple resistances to not succumb) it

will then drag the character into the woods and toss the character

down a twenty foot pit camoflagued near the ambush point, assume

the characters form and "rush" to the party's aid.

The important stipulation about the doppleganger is that as a

result of Timmons experiments, the party member that the

doppleganger copies must be alive for the duplication to remain in

place.  The theoretical person in the pit is later picked up by a

patrol sent by Timmons (of his human guards with one of his

apprentices.)  Nevertheless the party will never see this group of

individuals until the end, and if the Doppleganger has successfully

duplicated the character then the "player" will return later in a

few scenarios.



HOW THE DOPPLEGANGER SITUATION WILL WORK:

In a game sense the doppleganger switch will not be as tricky as it

sounds.  In actuality the player that is copied by the doppleganger

will play the doppleganger.  Once the character has been

successfully slept (a hold will be called) the Marshall will call

a hold and insist that NO-ONE MOVES (especially turns) while the

character is given a stats sheet for the Doppleganger and a brief

set of instructions such as: Remain and observe the party; attack

and kill individual members who suspect you when you have a chance

(which will most likely occur when they attack Timmons later on in

the adventure.)  Obviously the doppleganger will attempt to

masquerade as the character, trying to push them forward and offer

poor advice.  This NPC will only be as good as the player who plays

him, but should offer an enormous oppurtunity for role-playing

during the adventure.



NPC INFORMATION:

The Doppleganger:

     You are playing the part of a small girl being chased by

undead.  Play terrified! Scream(loudly), Cry, talk quickly - gasp

for breath in the middle of your sentences, try to sound as

incoherent as possible.  When you run into the party scream such

phrases as, "Help they ate my mommy!" or "Run their going to kill

you!"  Assuming the party doesn't kill you as you run toward them, 

your mission is to try to cause as much chaos as possible.

Getting the party to split up is the prime objective.

If you get close to the party, physically wrap yourself around one

of the magic wielding types (long robe, no big weapons)

and sit on his foot (You know like you did to mom or dad when you

were little.)  Cry, scream, and most importantly DON'T LET GO!

The undead will be right behind you, and a goodly chunk of the

party will probably rush forward to meet them, if their are

multiple members of the party with you, point to the rear of the

party and scream, "They're comming!"  By this time the extras

should run to fight the rear attackers, leaving you all alone with

your "prey".  Once you are alone simply say to the person you are

attached to that you have long fangs that bite them and that they

are asleep.  Be careful, if you are holding an elf they might have

resistances.  Your venom (for the lack of a better term) will punch

through two reistances but not three.  Should your venom fail you

must call a hold and retrieve two "claws" from you person and

attack them normally.  If they fall asleep call out a hold loudly

and call the marshall to explain the situation to the PC.  After

this LEAVE or go out of game and stand a ways away.  



Suggested Stats for the Doppleganger are:

Body Points: 20    3 Damage "sleep" with claws (once armor is

pierced one resistance/per blow is reasonable)





Encounter Three:  F(r)iends on the Road

The Marshall should read or paraphrase this:



Up ahead on the road you can see a group of individuals clustered

around a wagon.  You can see that their brillantly white robes and

caked with mud and grim from their attempts to replace a wheel on

a covered wagon.  Despite the obvious misfortune of the incident

they seem cheerful and in good spirit.  



Marshall Information:

The six individuals clustered around the wagon (which they

themselves pull, there are no horses are fixing the wheel. 

If the party approaches closer they will hear them giggling and

laughing.  If they hail the group and talk they will smell the

heavy think scent of some unidentifiable form of alcohol.

These men (and possibly women) are traveling to Timmons' stronghold

with food and drink for the festival.  Due to the mishap they have

taken the liberty to start the festivities a bit early.  If the

party does not immediately attack the group they will happily talk

to the party.  They will ask for help putting on the wheel and

offer to take the party to the festival.

The group will however become threatening if anyone in the party

asks about the necromancer (using the name Timmons), they will in

a slurred voice start asking where they heard that name.  This

group will gladly lead the group right to the shrine if the party

is considerate.



These six individuals are led by XEX (pronounced 'Zex') a Earth

Scholar (Necromancer) who is one level higher than the party.

There are four fighters (one with shield, one with a two-handed

weapon- equal level to the party; two with other weapons that are

one level below the party (or one if the party is beginning level)

and one celestial templar ( of equal level to the party)

accompanying Xex from a nearby town from which they bought the food

stuffs.  Xex has a Defend and a spirit armor.  The rest of the

party has spell protections that could be provided by either 

Xex or the Celestial Templar.  In battle these NPC's shouldn't

fight at peak efficiency but are rough enough to dissuade some

parties from attacking.  Enterprising characters can easily talk

their way through this encounter and gain some friends in the

bargain.  In battle if they are attacked, those playing these

characters should not try to slaughter the party if they can avoid

it.  They should mess up every other incantation or maybe allow and

extra blow to land here or there; again this encounter is ment to

encourage role-playing and subterfuge rather than hack n' slash. 

Those groups who simply barrel through this encounter will be at a

big disadvantage later in the module as they will find many of

their spells and resources depleated.  In addition if the party

befriend's this group it will provide interesting role-playing in

encounter four.



On the bodies are:

Xex: 2sp 4cp    1 Potion of the appropriate level -

This potion will be of a NECROMANTIC nature, the reverse of a

spell... This item is very important for the next encounter.

(which will not be used in battle vs. PC's but may be used in

battle vs. the Westmarchers in Encounter Four)



Celestial Templar: 2 scrolls of one level lower than the party

(with the same restrictions as applied above) 1sp



If the party returns the foodstuff and booze back to the town and

cashes it in for money they can get 6 sp's for it...



NPC Information:

Playing Xex and his minions should be as entertaining as possible.

You must remember above all else that you should not attempt to

pick a fight with the party if at all possible.  You are very

inebriated and in a good mood.  Xex is the leader in this encounter

and everyone will follow his orders.  Xex is carefree and

congenial, he isn't taking this job very seriously.

The person playing Xex should be friendly and as helpful to the

party as possible.  If the PC's should ask if they know Timmons or

where the shrine of the necromancer is... you will happily tell

them there and even offer to lead them there! (Say Something like

"Oh its not to far, just over a few hills")

If the party attacks you, fight badly... because you aren't

supposed to be sober and in full control of your faculties...

If you travel with the party then in the next encounter you should

be very 'edgy' and nervous when being questioned or searched by the

Necromancer.  If you are attacked for being a necromancer then you

will attack the Westmarchers, you will be very angry with the party

if they do not help you (but won't necessarily attack them - play

it by ear ), you will attack them if they attack you...





Encounter Four: Turn up the Heat

The Marshall should read or paraphrase this:

You have been traveling with your new found friends for the past

few hours when you hear voices and marching feet coming up the path

towards you.  After a few moments you can see the marroon black and

gold tabards of the Barony of Westmarch.  They seem quite agitated

about something and when they take a look at your assembled group

they prepare their weapons and take a defensive 

formation.



Marshall's Information:

The men in the Westmarch Tabards are servants of a retired (but

bored) old knight: Sir Pontiac Illiander Grex Og Ostlovagne,

Protector of Gurn (known quaintly in some circles as Pontiac the

Purger) and his retinue made up of Brother Maynarde (an earth

Templar) and Squires Anslem, Thomas and Curly. Pontiac has grown

bored in his little freehold and gone out with some of his personal

retinue in search of the necromancer he has heard lives out here

somewhere (from the mouth of Aphrixus' servant Stanley.)

He is growing quite agitated and tired (read CRANKY) and wishes at

this point just to be done with the whole thing.  He was heading

back to town when he luckily (for him, not the party)  runs across

the party (read NECROMANCERS! - A whole hoard of them!)  He is sure

that if he slays most of them, he can force the survivors to lead

him to their foul lair.  He will order them to surrender, the party

of course will claim they are not necromancers, and he tells them

to send a representative forward to speak in behalf of 'the

necromancers.'  If the party sends a member forward to parlay they

will have to do some smooth talking to get an excited Pontiac from

killing the whole assembly.



NPC Notes:

Sir Pontiac Illiander Grex Ostlovagne, Protector of Gurn (the

Purger):  

     Pontiac the Purger is a Don Quixote type, a crusader too old

to crusade; based on the historical figure William Marshall. 

Pontiac is also stupid.  He has a certain Inspector Gadget sort

"Aha! Caught You!" ready at the least provocation. He possesses a

completely illogical mind, for every conclusion he makes will be

that the party is in actuality, Necromancers.    Since he was

excused from active duty by the Westmarch Army, he has grown bored

and frustrated on his small little manor.  Honor is of the highest

importance to Pontiac, and of course glory runs a close second. 

Pontiac has gathered his fledgling group of adventurers to

reestablish his reputation and hopefully win some notice from the

Lady Baron.  It is important to remember that Pontiac WANTS to see

the party as Necromancers, but still speaks to them in a haughty

but polite way (such as to mislead little sheep of course.)  He of

course doesn't know what to do if the party denies being

Necromancers.  So he'll try to make them trip themselves up.  He

will insist that they allow him and his servants to search them for

"materials typically associated with a necromancer."  Of course any

mysterious object or material component will seem necromatic to

good old Pontiac.

Of course in many cases the party members will be able to convince

him that the items he finds are not actually necromatic but in

something entirely different.  In most cases

he can be convinced that the item in question is a watermelon if

the party is reasonably clever (spurious logic and such will

overwhelm Pontiac's aging mind...)  The sole exception to this of

course is when he checks Xex (who with his companions remains very

quiet- hangovers are probably setting in...) who will not protest

this... seeing that the party has disuaded him in several cases. 

He will find the potion (which is probably a cause critical or

something just as nasty) and hand it to Brother Maynarde who will

scrutinize it and then drink it. (Picture this it will be

hilarious)  It of course will kill him, and Pontiac will scream

NECROMANCY and crit slay Xex.  The party will have to act fast

because Pontiac starts swinging.  Only if they find some way to

stop him (and it will be difficult because he will have spell

defenses comsumate to the parties level - provided by Brother

Maynard) and somehow prevent him from killing them will he listen

to reason (and then only if he suspects his life might be in

danger.)  Of course he and his squires will start with the other

NPC's first, giving the party a few crucial seconds to decide what

to do....



Suggested Statistics for Pontiac & Co: (He should be at least 6

levels above the party)  At seventh level he should have one slay

(just enough to make the party wet their pants) and gain an

additional one at eight, twelvth, and 16th.

If possible he should be wielding a longsword & shield or carry a

two handed sword.  Pontiac may be old, but he should fight well and

show no quarter (at least until after the battle when he first aids

any of the group that he didn't crit slay...) if the party attacks

him.  Once he critical slays Xex, the "pilgrims"

attack Pontiac and his companions, the fight will continue until

one group eliminates another.  Pontiac and his squires all have

First Aid, and they will aid any PC's who are dropped fighting in

their behalf (and they will First aid those who fight against them

in order to "question them."  Pontiac has a gold piece on him and

two potions (consumate with the party level).  



The "end" or this encounter:  This encounter is to encourage good

role-playing and quick thinking.  There of course is a final

mechanism to let the party "off the hook."  Should the party

be captured by Pontiac - he will revive them (First Aiding etc.)

and explain to them that they "passed" his test and he will proceed

on his way (This of couse uses the same logic he used earlier -

warped) with the sincere belief that he has rid the barony of the

Necromancers. If the party captures Pontiac with the aid of the

Necromancers (with a Bind, Pin, Trap, Charm, etc.) he will abruptly

have a coronary and die. (Xex and his minions will kill his squires

and spit on him as they proceed towards home.)  At this point (if

there is no longer anyone to direct the party to the shrine) the

Marshall should point out the wagon tracks that proceed down the

path to end at the next encounter (the shrine.)



Encounter Five:  Abandon all hope....



Marshall Information:

     This encounter is sub-divided into two sub-encounters, the

first surrounding the parties encounter with Timmons (and his

guardians) and the second being the "tombs."



This should take place in a large cabin or area and divided up into

one large area and a smaller area. (A suggested map for the areas

has been included)  When the party approaches the door to this room

the Marshall will explain that it appears to have a built in lock,

and that there is a clawed hand print on the door (with only 4

fingers.)

The party can break down the door (it will take one endow for low

level parties and 2 or 3 for higher level parties) but Timmons in

the next room is alerted.  The lock is a decoy and quite trapped,

if a rogue opens the lock (the marshall can explain how simple and

very well oiled it looks) it explodes for an appropriate amount of

damage for the rogue's level (this damage is in a 5' radius and of

course if the lock explodes, Timmons is alerted in the next room.)