2012-12-01 Commando Mission

_by Neil-Jan Que, illustrator for

RPGCharacterIllustrations.com _

This post contains a reusable element from my Caverns of Slime adventure. I wanted to offer a structure for a “commando mission” that can be played through in a short session. My sessions typically last for a bit less than three hours, unfortunately. The mission is to disable a fortified dam guarded by “goons”—damned creatures fused with an exoskeleton that keeps them alive but controlled by the operator of the dam, forced to guard the structure that keeps them enslaved.

Caverns of Slime

There are three elements to the mission: getting into the structure, destroying a key element, getting out. The challenges on the way out also contain a little “riddle”: the referee quickly reads lists a list of locations and asks the players to reverse this list in order to succeed in their escape. It’s better than a typical Riddle Game and somewhat grounded in the imagined world. Do you agree? Unfair?

Riddle Game

What do you think of the drowning rules I’ve been using? “victims save vs. death every round or drown unless _water breathing_” I felt that in a high level adventure, *save or die* challenges can be more prevalent because raising the dead is easily available. What about this line of thinking: ok or misguided?

This is what I wrote:

getting into the dam*

a *frontal assault using captured panzer ships* (these can be captured in different section—think ironclad warships): defensive fire slowly destroys the ship but cannot prevent a beach head in a protected corner; breaching the sealed outer gates takes ten rounds; appropriate spells reduce the time required by one round each; on rounds 2, 5 and 8 a *three legged stalker* arrives to stop the intruders (HD 8; AC 0; Atk 2 blaster (6d6 each; save vs. wands for half); MV 21)
an *aerial assault* using captured air sharks or kite catapults (either of these can be captured in a different section, the orcs ride air sharks and the ghouls use catapults and kits to launch attacks on ships): soon the searchlights will have discovered the flying attackers (unless *invisible*) and blasters start tracing defensive patterns into the air (and blasting chunks out of the ceiling hundreds of feet above); the approach takes five rounds; save vs. wands every round or be hit for 6d6 damage; after the second hit, fall and take damage as appropriate (shot down in the 2nd round: 4d6, 3rd round: 3d6, 4th round: 2d6; last round: 1d6); finding and breaching a sealed outer gate still takes ten rounds (see first entry)
an *underwater approach* using magic or a submarine (this adventure does not have a submarine, perhaps your players have extraplanar help): finding and breaching a sealed outer gate still takes ten rounds (see first entry), but no stalkers will arive to defend the gate; instead, the noise attracts two *giant ancient eels* (HD 8; AC 8; Atk 1 bite (3d6); MV 15 swim; will grab a victim on a 20 and swim away the next round; while grabbed, victims save vs. death every round or drown unless *water breathing*; drowning victims in metal armor cannot swim and continue to down unless they have a way to return to the surface)
an *infiltration using captured exoskeletons*: getting into the exoskeletons is easy; they automatically adapt to different body plans; after two minutes needles and tubes insert themselves into the pilot; removing a pilot will now do 5d6 damage; use *open lock* by anybody else present for half damage; after fusing with the exoskeleton, save vs. spells every time you act against central command; infiltration is otherwise unproblematic when inside an exoskeleton; wearing an exoskeleton also has benefits (AC 3, Atk 1 slam +3 (1d6+3) due to Str 18; MV 6)

ironclad warships

inside the dam*

*jamming the generator*: once inside, heading deeper and deeper, following the humming of the turbines, you’ll end up in the generator hall; let characters with blunt weapons roll damage every round; a total of 20 points of damage halts some cog wheels; a total of 30 points results in sparks flying and strong vibrations; a total of 40 points results in dramatic power failure, red alert in the entire dam fortress, red emergency lights; a total of 50 points results in loss of control over the main axle, turbines turning loose and ripping through the walls and a major flooding in a few moments; think about the *Titanic* sinking

or:

*taking over the control room*: once inside, heading higher and higher up will lead the party into the control room; there are 12 *goons* (HD 5; AC 3, Atk 1 slam +3 (1d6+3) due to Str 18; MV 6) and their master, *Leverage of Fear*, an eight-armed monstrosity of steel and a few human elements (HD 12; AC 2; Atk 6 blades (1d6 each); MV 9; two shields it can use as a last defense to block a mortal blow, shattering the shield and ignoring the damage dealt); see above if the party decides to parlay

Leverage of Fear* is an eight-armed monstrosity of steel and a few organic elements of human descent. It hates what needs to be done but does it anyway—maintaining the dam, picking up survivors and turning them into goons by forcing them into an exoskeleton and waiting until they are fused and therefore dependent on a working dam. It can usually be found in the dam’s control room.

getting out*

*Once the power supply is disrupted**, an emergency response kicks in designed to fight disruption and restore power. Players need to succeed at *two* tasks in order to save any friends and they need to succeed at *four* tasks in order to prevent restoration of power. If the players don’t succeed in either goal after six challenges, they fail: they will have to make a daring escape on a speed boat downriver and *flee into the Tentacle Caves* in order avoid death or imprisonment in hell (improvise a cell and guardians in the Prison of Dis).

1. 3d6 *goons* (HD 5; AC 3; Atk 1 slam +3 (1d6+3); MV 6; in combat the poor creature locked inside will be begging for forgiveness and cry for help even as it fights) have been alerted to the party’s presence by imperceptible sensors embedded into the walls and ceilings of the building

2. 2d6 *goons* have activated a *tunnel digger juggernaut* (HD 12; AC 1; Atk blades (1d6 against all); MV 6; the rotating blades attack all creatures in its path with a single attack roll; it cannot attack flanking creatures)

3. the party has been deceived into a low lying dead end; as they realize their mistake, a *torrent of water* starts flooding the room; if the party can deal 30 points of damage to the *gate* locking them in using blunt weapons or magic, they succeed; if the water keeps rising: during the fourth and fifth round anybody wanting to deal damage must save vs. death or gasp for air in panic; if the party fails, they may escape via small air ducts and end up loosing a lot of time trying to find higher ground

4. the party is *lost* as the water rises; quickly ask them to reverse the following sequence: down the steep *steel stair*, past the *gallery* overlooking the turbines, down past the *parked tunnel digging juggernauts*, through the *gate with the red and white stripes* and then down the *concrete stairs into the bedrock*; don’t let them take notes and don’t let them discuss their answer for too long, but be generous when comparing their answers with the list

5. a sentient *iron golem snake* as big as a train is giving chase; make sure every player is faster than the golem or make sure that the party can lock three doors behind them using magic; if the party fails they can fight (HD 12; AC 2; Atk 1 bite (3d6); MV 6; immune to magic; anybody hit must save vs. death or be overrun and suffer an additional 2d6 the next round) or they can make a desperate escape using emergency floats down waste tunnels and end up in the Tentacle Caves (see below)

6. the tunnels are flooded with *poisonous gas*; save vs. poison or loose consciousness for half an hour (no waking using ordinary means); soon after four *mechanical hounds* will show up (HD 4; AC 2; Atk 1 bite (2d6); MV 12); again, the party can make a desperate escape using emergency floats down waste tunnels and end up in the Tentacle Caves

If the party flees into the *Tentacle Caves*, they will have to face a group of 1d6 *stone polyps* (HD 6; AC 0; Atk 1 bite (2d6), 8 tentacles (save vs. petrification of fall unconscious and be dragged towards the mouth); MV 3). Remember that this location is the *complication* arising from having failed at the previous challenge. That’s why there is not a lot of treasure or information to be found in these caves. Allow a thoroughly beaten party to emerge without a fight if they sacrifice important equipment and significant treasure.

(To be fair, there’s not much treasure to be found on this mission anyway. Maybe there should be?)

#RPG #Old School #Caverns of Slime

Comments

(Please contact me if you want to remove your comment.)

⁂

The only change I would make is change “tunnel digging juggernaut” to “tunnel diggernaut.”

– Chris Robert 2012-12-02 08:29 UTC

Chris Robert