A Very Groovy Adventure part 3
Shanty Town
On the road to shanty town, the players will camp by a pond. On this pond swims the dreaded Were Duck of Shanty Pond… If bitten by the dreaded duck, a save must be made and the player will be doomed to walk the earth as a duck every time they go near water, until the antidote can be found.
The Boom Town Rats (pirate club) can be located by asking questions at any pub. No – one has heard about Gus except for Jimmy “the Squid” Mc Sporran, who offers to help the players find Gus, if they agree to help out on deck. Mc Sporran speaks in an outrageous Scottish accent.
Someone in Shanty town has been going around with the ugly stick, quite literally. The players might stick around to set things straight… A pirate called Butch is doing it, sort of as a revenge against society in general for the accident of his birth. He has a gang of 6 naturally ugly men and they have been extorting money and generally making a nuisance of themselves.
A couple of days at sea and the ship is pursued by a ship from the Gnome King’s fleet. They eventually overtake and the players must help Mc Sporran fight them off. If they succeed, Mc Sporran’s ship sinks after the battle, leaving only a long boat. If they fail, they are imprisoned on the island by the king’s men.
The Aptly Named Haunted Island
This is the prison island the gnomes send criminals to die. It is almost entirely covered by trees and is surrounded by tall cliffs. The only way on to the island is through a cave in the harbor that contains a tunnel to the surface. The entrance to this tunnel is sealed with a heavy iron grill. The only places free from the trees are at the summit of the smoking volcano and in the small, rotting wood hut in a small clearing.
Killer Foliage
The trees on this island are all sentient and will do their best to destroy the companions. They cannot move from the place they grow, though they can bend to strike with teeth that appear on their trunk.
Gnome Shrine
The Cinder cone volcano has an ancient gnome shrine far down in the inside of the cone. This is the home of the prophet, who is actually not in at all on the gnomes schemes. He offers advice, but is also a bit unhinged from the sulphurous gasses leaking out of the volcano. He greets the players with a question.
“Before you may enter, I must ask you one question. If there is more than one way to skin a cat, and if there is always a better cat skinner than yourself, why then are there so many cats?”
From the Book of the Gnome
“Tina removed her top as the gnome king slowly slid his hand …”
The Guru removes a magazine from the centre of the Book of Gnomes and stuffs it under his mattress. “All roads lead to enlightenment…eventually. Here we go;”
“In the beginning there were tribes of Elves as big as houses, clans of Men as big as even larger houses and a whole society of Gnomes the size of small frogs. A general consensus was taken and it was decided that the frogs had to go. This was followed up by a second meeting where it was recognised that the gnomes were the ones holding back the show, so the frogs could come back and it was the gnomes who had to leave… “
“The Gnomes finally came to a place, far away from the other races, where they could build a new life. In the centre of this world, they erected an enormous stone gnome and cast their magic upon it to remove it and it’s world to a place unreachable by men, elves or frogs. If this Idol is ever broken, the two worlds will once again become one.”
The Shaman explains that only the breaking of the Idol will get them back to their own land and that even if they find Gus the king of gnomes was probably telling big fibs about the magical item.
The Shaman also knows the cure for being a were duck. He goes to the cupboard and pulls out a double barrel shotgun, which he levels at the player and pulls the trigger. The gun was not loaded.
“You see, being a were duck is like having the hiccups. You should be cured now.”
For the rest of the encounter, the swami makes bad puns about being a duck and cackles a lot.
Lucky you found a Quack.
Water off a Ducks Back.
I will send you the Bill.
You might hook up with a nice Chick.
You will be heading South, then.
Feather your nest.
10 – 4 Rubber Ducky.
You must Duck Down the hole.
My Fine Feathered friend.
Back to Shanty Town
The players now know that in order to escape the gnome world, they probably have to invade the gnome citadel.
They may purchase help from the shaman in getting off the island. He can fly them on his rug to shanty town, where they find Jimmy hiding from the authorities. Jimmy can help them get into the citadel, via a secret entrance known only to himself; a disused mine that leads to the dungeons beneath the citadel, and then up into the palace itself.
In the citadel itself, there will be tinker gnomes, sphincter gnomes and an army of domestic chicken machines to hassle them.
Back to the Citadel
This time, there is no friendly welcome. They are slated to be executed, so even the peasants living in the hills will be trying to turn the guys in for a quick buck. If they haven’t returned via the mine, they might be in a bit of trouble…
The Mine
This is occupied by a witch. Her world is a tiny bit complex. She was driven from her home shortly after her daughter died more than 70 years ago. She was practicing witchcraft in the village to try to bring her daughter back. In her travels, she found an abandoned mine and used her magic to carve out rooms from the main tunnel. Unfortunately, the mine was also inhabited by a specter, who’s existence is unknown to the witch. He slowly drove her mad with nightly whisperings and uses her to bring victims into the mine for him. She has a natural talent for illusionary magic and her mad ravings take form around her. The mine has been made to look like the modest house she shared with her daughter. She has the appearance of a woman of 25. Her 8 year old daughter is a part of the delusion.
The players find the entrance to the mine to be a large set of wooden double doors with an iron knocker. The lady is reluctant to let them in; subconsciously she knows they will be murdered by the specter. Inside, the main living room is very tidy and well kept. There is the faint smell of rotting meat that one of the more astute players will notice but the woman’s delusion is so powerful, it will be gone in a moment. She offers them tea. The entrance to the rest of the mine is hidden by the illusionary kitchen fireplace.
Daughters room
The room of an 8 year old. Toys and dolls lie around and the daughter is sleeping on the bed. The daughter will try to warn the players of the danger if they wake her up. The specter will only come out at dark so, with the players inside, the woman will be trying to keep them in the house till night falls. Creepy, huh? I need to cut down on coffee.
Study
This room is behind a closed and locked door. It is the only room not affected by the illusion and contains all of the magic paraphernalia of the witches calling – potions, herbs, a few pieces of equipment and one or two ancient books.
Kitchen
A small hall leads to the kitchen, at the back of the house. In fact, this room contains nothing but a rude fire and a few battered pots. Under the illusion, it looks like a very serviceable country kitchen. A large fireplace takes up the far wall.
If the specter is killed, the woman will be released from her delusion. The mine and the old woman will take on a very rudimentary form, with the old woman aging instantly from an attractive 25 to an 80 year old in extremely poor physical condition.
*Experience points for this encounter should be awarded on the basis of how well the players deal with it, in keeping with their alignments.
Waste Disposal…
This square room has a well taking up most of the 3m square floor space. The walls of the well, upon investigation, are a browny / red color and are covered with slime. This is in fact an enormous lamprey which has crawled up the well and colored itself to look like stone. It’s lips look like fungus around the rim of the well.
Underwater Tunnel
This tunnel slopes gently down for about a mile, then disappears out of sight beneath a pool of freezing water. The players must find a way to navigate through about 500 meters of underwater tunnel, then the corridor dives up into a magnificent lime green cavern lit by gentle phosphorescent light coming off the walls.
There is a very deep well about a meter wide in the deep cellars of the Tinker Gnomes, where they throw all their broken bits and pieces of projects gone wrong. These broken or half finished machines continue their tortured existence in the dark, wet tunnels that make up the natural caves deep beneath the city. This green cave is the beginning of these caverns.
The players emerge at the edge of the cavern, in front of them is a small portion of land raised above the waters surface. From this rise, the lake can be seen to stretch out far into the distance. Far above, the gently domed roof is supported by limestone pillars that reach out of the water. Everywhere is the sound of water droplets falling into the still waters. There is a heavy wooden raft floating way out on the lake, snagged on the rough surface of a pillar. Too much noise in this cavern could cause stalactites and debris to fall from the roof.
The cavern is enormous and the exit to the citadel lies in a small tunnel two kilometers across the water, about 5 meters above water level. The stone is soft enough to carve footholds into, if the players are careful. On the island is a large circular mosaic with a path that leads to the tunnel submerged under the water. It can still be seen in the shallower parts and can be followed to a spot 20 meters from the far wall, where the water dips dramatically.
Players venturing into the water might be attacked by eels. They will afflict only minimal damage. The water is also freezing cold and it will not be possible to swim across with all their equipment.
The tunnel floor is made up of the same paving stones from the cave. They continue in for about 10 meters, then end in a wall of collapsed rock and cobwebs. There is a faint draught coming through the wall. The web is inhabited by hundreds of tiny harmless spiders. At the other side of the wall is a vertical shaft with the rusted remains of a ladder disappearing into darkness both up and down.
Underneath the well lives another order of Gnomes who live off the scraps thrown down from above. These Gnomes are led by an insane dictator, Gus. Gus is the king’s brother – the same man they were sent to kill earlier in the adventure. Gus can be persuaded to help them get into the citadel and break the idol. He is particularly keen to see the idol broken, as it means his brother’s citadel will be destroyed.
There is a tunnel that comes out way over a room where a circle of dread looking gnome priests are using their magic to animate a bunch of chook parts into a bizarre looking fighting machine. These guys will attack if startled and the players will eventually be captured and make their way to Gus.
