Who subjected themselves to my GM skills:
- Michael (repeat offender): Goblin mage
- Seana : Elf thief
- Matthew: Elf Priest
Usual Meetup Malady. Full table that dissolves to a couple of folks. Fine (shuffles away planned scenario). That's why I carry a sheaf of adventures.
With a small party, I decided to try out a Zorus Island scenario. I mean, it's only been seven years since I wrote them. No need to rush into playtesting.
The three got word from the local harbor master that a resupply boat fled after encountering "zombies" at the dock, followed by a hastily-scribbled note by carrier pigeon from the island's small watchtower.
And since the party was capable and/or expendable, they were given a boat and tasked with finding the truth of the goings-on. They circumnavigated the island, before deciding to start at the dock. Scattered supplies were left on the dock, with no one around. Poking around the buildings, they found a corpse infested with a black, dusty growth.
They quickly returned to the spilled supplies, finding linens and making up ad hoc facemasks.
Soon after, they were set upon by a pair of zombies, again showing odd lumps and growths. They dispatched the pair and investigated more. Clearly, these were not "normal" undead, in fact they might not be undead at all.
They trio tracked across the island, stopping by the lake in the center of the island. Nothing here but some trout and game trails. And more zombies. More slaying. And "hey, if they aren't undead, will a sleep spell work?" Sure - why not (I have not investigated fungal resistances to sleep spells...).
Finally, to the island watchtower, where a few soldiers and the island's administrator had holed up. They removed their barricades and explained of the attacks. Three of the soldiers and the administrator then agreed to return to the boat. The fourth soldier (Bron) agreed to join the party and attempt to track where the zombies had originated.
Following game trails to the north end of the island, they found a number of caves, a couple with signs of material being stored or hidden. One had a rough door crafted from boat decking. This may be our spot. Breaking down the door, they found a small cavern. Something moved in the back.
 |
| Boo! |
Aargh! Lots of yelling and screaming. The boss-zombie blasted the party with spores, but two of three made their save, with only one being incapacitated by the choking blast. They parried and fired, mostly trying to stay our of its reach and relying on missile weapons. Which of course meant it was a perfect time for the mage's magic missile to fail, and for someone to roll a 1 while trying to throw oil at it.
Oh yeah, and Bron suddenly got all fungal and attacked the party, as well.
More desperate fighting before the creatures were slain. The source of the infection, a fungus-contaminated rug was found among the doomed smuggler's gear in the back of the cave. Best to burn it.
The party scored some good loot and made their way back to the docks. The other survivors had not stolen the boat.
Maybe they should have checked for signs of infection before returning to town...
DM Notes:
Actually, all of the party made their infection saves. But some of the survivors may not have. Hmm... Maybe I should run with that during this weekend's Meetup game... I do like my cordyceps.
Anyway, was a fun little playtest. I recognized that I wrote the original scenario very bare-bones, and not as user-friendly as my later efforts. So few monster stats, no random encounter table, etc. I had to do some book-flipping for a couple of stats, plus adlib for random encounters. Something to rectify.
Chatted with Matthew a bit after the game on the Shadowdark system and community. He's written up a couple of adventures for the system, as well. You can find them here. Looks like he'll be back for the next installment of my Meetup One-Shot Randomness (tm).
Oh, yes, should be a campaign game weekend, but we have some scheduling conflicts (e.g. Slick is on an extended flying broom date with Serafina). So the final episode is in a couple of weeks. I'll have a few surprises for the party. Both hazardous and positive...
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