Tales of High Adventure V3.0
Tales of High Adventure V3.0
Tales of High Adventure V3.0
Rules for daring Sword & Sorcery exploits in the Forbidden Lands
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
This product was created under license. Forbidden Lands and its logo, are trademarks of Fria Ligan AB.
This work contains material that is copyright Fria Ligan AB and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission
under the Community Content Agreement for Free League Workshop.
All other original material in this work is copyright 2020 by Adrian Lopez Sanjuan and published under the Community
Content Agreement for Free League Workshop.
Art by dead people. Remnants of another time, long forgotten by mortal men.
Flavour text by Robert E. Howard, from his Conan stories. Go read them immIdiHrIly if yos hHsIn’r.
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
“There is always a way, if the desire be coupled with courage - Heroes of their Sagas
answered the Cimmerian”
“Gither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-
The Sword & Sorcery genre is characterised by epic stories
eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic
where the characters face personal dangers and powerful melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jewelled thrones
enemies in fast-pace and action-packed tales of heroic fan- of the Earth under his sandaled feet.”
tasy and high adventure.
Player characters in Forbidden Lands are fragile things. A
The archetypal Sword & Sorcery hero, Robert E. How- single blow can leave them bleeding to death on the floor,
Hrd’q ConHn rhI CimmIriHn, fHcIq common foIq, rIrriblI an unlucky roll can compromise a carefully laid plan, and
sorcerers and horrors beyond our reality to save himself a rushed action can risk the lives of the entire party. These
and his closest allies; and maybe build a legacy in the pro- are highly valued characteristics in a OSR game, but they
cess. His stories are heroic tales of High Adventure, where are hardly the stuff of Sword & Sorcery and High Adven-
dull moments are left untold and the narrative focuses on ture sagas, where characters rush into danger only to bare-
action and danger. ly escape with their lives and their honour, but having
succeeded in their goal.
Fallen civilizations to ages past, powerful sorcerers seek-
ing immortality, greedy characters that value gold more Player characters in a Sword & Sorcery High Adventure
than life, ancient and forgotten magic, violent action and game are larger-than-life characters who aren't quite he-
certain elements of horror are some of the themes found roes. No overarching plot to save the world; the only
in a Sword & Sorcery story. Forbidden Lands already quest is the day-to-day quest for gold, thrills, and good
shares many of these elements under an Old School Re- drink. Maybe revenge once in a while.
naissance (OSR) umbrella, where characters are not he-
Either for divine providence or narrative influence, they
roes, but raiders and rogues in a cursed world.
are able to resist more blows and take risks that no other
The following set of rules introduces elements of High mortal would dare to even consider. They may not be the
Adventure to the Forbidden Lands, making the characters heroes of the land, but they are the heroes of their own
heroes of tales filled with action and epic deeds of bravery. saga.
Resilience
The normal rules regarding character attributes still apply
to this rule set, but two additional characteristics are de-
rived from them: VIGOR and RESOLVE
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
Whenever a character receives damage from an attack, the However, in a game of High Adventure the player charac-
total is subtracted from VIGOR or RESOLVE before rIr doIqn’r rake damage from BANES on pushed rolls,
reducing the actual related attributes. Losing RESILI- instead they increase the pool of MENACE by one point
ENCE poinrq doIqn’r HffIcr rhI nsmbIr of dicI H chHrHc- for each BANE rolled. MENACE measures the overall
ter rolls in consecutive challenges, but losing attribute impending sense of doom that follows the characters in
points does as per the base Forbidden Lands rules. rhI qrory, Hnd ir’s explained in detail on page 6.
RESILIENCE can be recovered as follows: WILLPOWER can also be used to roll up to three addi-
tional dice on any single roll, at the cost of one die per
✥ Spending WILLPOWER to recover one point of
WILLPOWER point spent. Dice rolled this way are not
VIGOR or RESOLVE. This does not consume an ac-
rerolled on a pushed roll.
tion and it can be done at any time as many times as
the character decides. All player characters lose two WILLPOWER points
✥ Using a SLOW action to recover all VIGOR or RE- whenever they REST or SLEEP, representing the cool-
SOLVE. ing down of the energy and bravery that pushed them this
far.
Willpower
WILLPOWER can be earned in the same way as in the
base Forbidden Lands rules: by pushing rolls and rolling
BANES (rIqslrq of “1” in rhI D6q).
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
Critical Injuries and Death
Born on the Battlefield Whenever a character takes any amount of damage to an
attribute after depleting their RESILIENCE, they roll
“Barbarism is the natural state of mankind," the borderer
said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. "Civilization on the critical injuries table. This can happen regardless
is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism of them being BROKEN or still have some attribute
must always ultimately triumph.” points left.
Broken Shields
When using a PARRY action with a shield, the charac-
ter can choose to discard the shield to reduce all damage
from the parried attack to zero if it had at least one suc-
cess on the PARRY roll. This leaves the shield com-
pletely broken.
Displays of Might
Characters can use a FAST action to intimidate Min- For instance, a character with 3 Strength is hit for 2
ions after a successful attack against a MOB where at damage. She rolls on the Critical Injuries table with a 4
least two Minions have been killed on the same turn by and a 6. Since she is not BROKEN, this means she
the character making the Display of Might. rolled a 46 and receives a more merciful critical injury.
However, if the blow had caused 3 or more points of
The character makes a test of MIGHT against their damage instead, she would be BROKEN and the same
INSIGHT to scare them off and disband them from the dice roll of a 4 and a 6 would have meant a result of 64
MOB, where the number of successes equals the num- on the critical injuries table.
ber of Minions that run away. This only works against
Minionq tirh GITS (ir doIqn’r tork HgHinqr sndIHd,
for instance).
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
use to fuel the talents of Foes and introduce other com-
The Day of Doom plications to the story as narratively appropriate.
“Cast in the mould of humanity, they were distinctly not The GM starts the game with a pool of MENACE
men. They were winged and of heroic proportions; not a
equal to the sum of WILLPOWER points of the he-
branch on the mysterious stalk of evolution that culminated
roes, if any. The following are guidelines on how to use
in man, but the ripe blossom on an alien tree, separate and
apart from that stalk. Aside from their wings, in physical MENACE, bsr GMq qhosldn’r bI HfrHid of improsiqing
appearance they resembled man only as man in his highest new ways of embodying the approaching ruin threaten-
form resembles the great apes. In spiritual, aesthetic and ing the heroes and their goals.
intellectual development they were superior to man as man
is superior to the gorilla. But when they reared their colossal ✥ Fuel talents of Foe level NPCs at the cost of one
city, man's primal ancestors had not yet risen from the slime MENACE per WILLPOWER required by the de-
of the primordial seas.” scription of the talent.
✥ Introduce Minions into the fray at the cost of one
MENACE per Minion. Minions are generally in-
troduced in MOBS.
✥ Use bonus dice for NPC rolls at the cost of one
MENACE per bonus die, to a maximum of +3.
✥ Introduce a minor complication into the scene at
the cost of two MENACE (for instance: the escape
door is jammed and the players need to force it open
quickly or escape using a different route)
✥ Introduce a medium complication to the scene at
the cost of four MENACE (for instance: the room
catches fire and it will spread destroying treasure if
rhIy don’r Hcr qsickly; or H plHyIr chHrHcrIr dropq irq
weapon after a failed attack; or perhaps a Foe or
Monster find the strength to make a second attack
on the same turn)
✥ Introduce a major complication at the cost of six
MENACE (for instance: the bridge is not so stable
after all and it breaks under their feet, requiring a
MOVE roll to save their skin; or a Foe or Monster
gains the Berserker talent).
Enemies
HIroIq qhosldn’r bI rIHlly rhrIHrInId by rhI Minionq of
their real adversaries: powerful Foes and horrifying
Monsters. The rules for High Adventure games intro-
duce a new classification of enemies and rules to handle
them easily without slowing down action scenes: Min-
ions, Foes and Monsters.
Menace
Minions
MENACE is the imminent danger the heroes face as
rhIy psqh on rhIir psrqsir. Ir’q rhI Isil nHrrHrisI qInqI Minions fulfil the important role of providing contrast
of doom hanging over their heads, which in terms of with powerful Monsters and dangerous Foes. They only
play translates as a pool of dice (D6s) that the GM can suppose a real danger in great numbers and their main
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
function is to support Foes, their leaders, and make the To account for group tactics, the MOB attack adds a
player characters feel like heroes in an action scene. number of bonus dice to their attack roll equal to the
number of Minions above one. This means three bonus
Minions have only two points on each attribute, they
dice for a full MOB with four Minions, but this num-
hHsI no rHlInrq, no RESILIENCE Hnd cHn’r PARRY or
ber will decrease as Minions are eliminated from the
DODGE. Minions are generally unarmoured.
group.
To create a Minion, use the skill stats for their respec-
A MOB shares a health pool and armour rating. When
tive average KIN or Monster (for the few monsters that
an attack is directed to a MOB, a common armour roll
use skills like normal NPCs) as detailed in the game
is made for the whole MOB, which is assumed to have
master book, and reduce all attribute scores to two.
the same amount of armour for each Minion. If the
Minions can be grouped into MOBS of four individu- MOB takes damage from an attack, since each Minion
als, sharing their attacks and health. Refer to the section has only two points on each attribute, each two points
on MOBS for further details. of damage will incapacitate or kill one Minion.
Foes
Foes are NPCs at the power level of the player charac-
ters. They have attributes and skills like a normal char-
acter, as well as RESILIENCE and Talents fueled by
MENACE instead of WILLPOWER. They can PAR-
RY or DODGE attacks as normal, as well as discard the
shield to survive a strong blow. Foes are generally
named NPCs and they are created exactly as any player
character.
Monsters
Monster rules are as per the base Forbidden Lands
rules, but their attacks can be parried if they are not
disproportionately larger than humanoids, such as trolls
or giants. The decision is ultimately left to the GM.
Mobs
The MOB mechanic is introduced to increase the speed
of combat when large numbers of Minions are present; MENACE can be spent by the GM at any time to rein-
but also to increase the feeling of Sword & Sorcery and forcI H MOB tirh HddirionHl Minionq. Don’r torry
High Adventure genres, where the heroes fight large about where the Minions come from; this is a High
numbers of enemies and take down a numerous amount Adventure game.
before getting to the real enemy.
A Foe can be included in a MOB to make a formidable
A group of four Minions can form a MOB. Minions in opponent. In this case, the Foe is the only one in the
a MOB attack as a group with a single action instead of MOB making attacks, but the Minions will support
each individual attacking on its own. their leader providing up to three bonus dice to the Foe
attacks.
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
When attacking a MOB, all damage dealt will eliminate Ritual Sacrifice
Minions before the Foe can be targeted without a -2
penalty. This is to represent the Minions hindering the Ritualistic sacrifices of conscious intelligent beings act
attacks from the Heroes, sacrificing themselves for their as incredibly potent lure of dark horrors beyond the veil
mHqrIr, bIing sqId by rhIir mHqrIr ro qrHy osr of hHrm’q of reality, which help the sorcerer to achieve whatever
way, or a combination of the tactics above. blasphemous goal has in her perverted mind.
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
Cultists – Dangerous Lunatics
Perilous Lands
Usually found serving a higher power, they will do any-
“The thing was not a human — it could not be; it was a
thing to achieve their unholy goal: kidnappings, sacri-
growth of Life from the pits of blasphemous creation — a
fices, rorrsrI…Nothing is beyond limits to please their
perversion of evolutionary development.”
foul master.
The following is a selection of archetypal Minions,
Foes and Monsters for a Sword & Sorcery scenario. STRENGTH 2, AGILITY 2, WITS 2, EMPATHY 2
SKILLS: Melee 1, Insight 3, Manipulation 2
Petty Minions GEAR: Dagger (+1, 1dmg, Arm, Edged Pointed),
Flail (+1, 2dmg, Near, Blunt)
Minionq don’r PARRY, DODGE or use talents. Min-
ions should be used in MOBS with one weapon type. Pirates – Scourge of the Sea
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
Dangerous Foes Pirate Captain – Rough Master
Foes can PARRY, DODGE and use talents fueled by It takes a strong hand to lead inferior men into battle;
MENACE instead of WILLPOWER. They can be and even a stronger hand and a rough mood to control
used supported by a MOB. them at sea. This Foe can intimidate the strongest of
warriors and their men feared him more than death
Mercenary Leader – War Veteran itself.
Hardened warrior leading soldiers or bandits into battle. STRENGTH 3, AGILITY 4, WITS 2, EMPATHY 3
A dangerous veteran rhHr ir’q nor IqrrHngI ro dIHrh. HI SKILLS: Melee 3, Move 3, Manipulation 4
answers to riches, not to threats, and his loyalty is ex- GEAR: Scimitar (+1, 2dmg, Arm, Edged Pointed
pensisI Hnd doIqn’r change hands easily. Hook Parrying), Studded Leather (3 armor)
TALENTS: Kin talent, Path of Poison (Rank
STRENGTH 4, AGILITY 3, WITS 2, EMPATHY 3 1), Sword Fighter (Rank 2)
SKILLS: Might 3, Melee 4, Insight 3
GEAR: Battleaxe (+2, 2dmg, Arm, Heavy Edged
Evil Sorcerer – Black-hearted Nemesis
Hook), Large Shield (+2), Chainmail (6 ar-
mor, Heavy, half armor against stabs) Strong will and even stronger ambition. This Foe will
TALENTS: Kin talent, Path of the Blade (Rank not stop at anything to achieve power, making deals
1), Axe Fighter (Rank 2) with local tribes, gathering cultist and sacrificing souls
to fuel unholy experiments and rituals. The only harm-
War Chief – Tribal Leader less sorcerer is a dead sorcerer.
Chief of the village, the hunting rites and the war band STRENGTH 2, AGILITY 3, WITS 4, EMPATHY 3
when the tribe is in conflict. This Foe fights with two
SKILLS: Lore 4, Insight 3 Manipulation 3
weapons at the same time, attacking with both each
GEAR: Sacrificial Dagger (+1, 1dmg, Arm,
turn in a display of incredible skill. Light Edged Pointed)
TALENTS: Kin talent, Path of Blood (Rank 2),
STRENGTH 3, AGILITY 4, WITS 3, EMPATHY 2 Path of Death (Rank 2)
SKILLS: Melee 4, Survival 2, Insight 3
GEAR: Short Spear (+1, 1dmg, Near, Pointed),
Falchion (+1, 2dmg, Arm, Edged Pointed)
TALENTS: Kin talent, Ambidextrous (Rank 3)
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
Horrifying Monsters
Giant Serpent
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
Enormous Spider alien that cause fear on the heart of the
bravest warrior. Roll an attack with 10 base
These large spiders only grow in the darkest corners of dice and damage 2 (Horror) at all characters
in Short range.
the earth, ambushing travellers and animals of all sizes, 2 – TENTACLE GRAB! – The horror tries to
growing large as they feed on the corpses of their vic- grab a character in Near range and squeeze
their organs out with tremendous force. Roll
tims and lay eggs on the spoils of the carcases.
an attack with 10 base dice and damage 2
(Blunt).
STRENGTH 12, AGILITY 10 3 – OTHERWORDLY SCREECHING! – The horror
ARMOR: 2 (hard skin) MOVE: 2 (acts twice per produces an unbearable sound from an unknown
round) source. Roll an attack with 6 base dice and
damage 3 against all characters in Near
WEAKNESS: Only attacks once per turn when in
range.
bright light. 4 – ACIDIC SECRETIONS! – The horror spits
ATTACKS: acid from several pustules in its body to-
1 – DANCE OF DEATH! – The spider moves in a wards a character. Roll an attack with 8
tantalizing way, playing with its prey. Roll base dice and damage 2 (Special). Any damage
an attack with 8 base dice and damage 1 reduced by armor is permanently reduced from
(Horror) against all characters within Short its armor rating.
range. 5 – BEAK ATTACK! – The horror uses its beak
2 – SILK EMBRACE! – The spider shoots a to break a character in two parts. Roll for
thread of silk towards a victim in Short an attack with 6 base dice and damage 3
range. Roll an attack with 8 base dice and (Slash). If it hits and causes damage, it
damage 1 (Blunt). If it hits, the victim causes Critical Injuries from both Slash and
fall prone and is covered in sticky silk, Horror tables.
which is highly flammable and gives a -2 6 – TENTACLE SMASH! – The horror smashes a
penalty to all physical actions until character. Roll an attack with 6 base dice
cleaned. and damage 3 (Blunt). If it hits and causes
3 – MESMERIZING EYES! – The spider looks in- damage, it causes Critical Injuries from
to the eyes of its victim. Roll an attack both Slash and Horror tables.
with 8 base dice and damage 1 (Horror)
against a character in Near range. If it
hits, the victim loses its next FAST action.
4 – GRUESOME BITE! – The spider bites its
victim. Roll an attack with 8 base dice and
damage 2 (Slash).
5 – BODY SLAM! – The spider uses its body to
crush its victim. Roll an attack with 8 base
dice and damage 2 (Blunt).
6 - POISONOUS STING! – The spider stings its
victim. Roll an attack with 8 base dice dam-
age 1. If it hits, the victim suffers from a
paralysing poison of potency 6.
Forgotten God
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
The commander's plan is to storm the city before help
The Cult of the can arrive or a mercenary company can be hired by its
enemies. Ir’q only purpose is to recover an ancient
One-Eyed God artifact held in the temple: The Iron Eye, said to be the
very eye of the One-Eyed God.
“Not for naught had he gained access into darksome cults,
had harkened to the grisly whispers of the votaries of Skelos To move quickly and lay a siege before help could be
under midnight trees, and read the forbidden iron-bound summoned, he has only brought with him a few
books of Vathelos the Blind.” thousand hardened soldiers. He knows Eridhu doIqn’r
have a large standing army and relies on the protection
The following scenario sets the player characters inside a
from local lords.Eridhu is open to the sea, but hired
city under siege, infiltrating into an ancient temple and
ships block the escape.
interrupting forgotten rituals; all while trying to steal
the relic of the cult of the one-eyed god before the army However, the city is confident that help will arrive
at the gates storms the city. soon, and th temple has incresed its offerings to the
One-Eyed God in the form of human sacrifice inside
The City and the Cult the ancient temple.
This section paints a broad picture of the city where the The Nature of the God
adventure is to take place, the cult against which the
During the time of the great sorcerer kings, Nechrubel
characters will struggle, and the siege rhHr’q
of Eridhu achieved immortality through dark arts that
precipitating the action.
would repulse any common man. He made abhorrent
The city, the cult and the army can be placed in any deals with horrors in the dark, and made sacrifices to
setting, but the original Robert E Howard Hyborian link his soul to the Iron Eye, a small orb of rare metals
land of Shem, bordering Stygia, was used for testing fallen from the night sky in times immemorial.
instead of the Forbidden Lands.
He carried it with him at all times, afraid that it would
A Siege for Power be stolen from him, and he inserted into his empty eye
socket; a gaping wound from an earlier life lived by the
The city of Eridhu is in peril.
blade.
Eridhu is a small city-state by the sea, its origins dating
Nechrubel died with the fall of the sorcerer kings. The
back to the time of the sorcerer-kings, and an ancient
conquering horde, knowing he would eventually come
but small religion has survived in the city across the
back, buried him deep within his old fortress in Eridhu.
ages: the cult of the One-Eyed God. This minor god is
Afraid to touch the Iron Eye, they buried it with the
sometimes worshipped as an emissary of newer gods
mortal body of Nechrubel.
across the land, but the cult is especially strong in
Eridhu, where its one and only temple resides. The land A cult was created with the sole purpose of keeping him
around Eridhu is not overly fertile, and the city mainly dormant in his tomb, and blood rituals of protection
survives on slave trade and the pilgrimage generated by were performed on each full moon to keep him from
the temple. waking.
An army camps outside the walls of Eridhu, building The cult to the One-Eyed God developed over the
siege engines as fast as thy can manage it. The generations, transforming into a power hungry sect
commander at the head of the conquering force - Nafer more interested in politics than on the proper care of
- knows the city cHn’r be annexed for long; as the local the rituals. The consciousness of Nechrubel has been
lords will conquer this ancient settlement back awakening for centuries. The ritual sacrifice of slaves
promptly. The only reason the local lords hHsIn’r taken bought in the slave market are no longer enough, and
the almost unprotected city for themselves is the sacred the proper words of protection are long forgotten.
place it holds in their pIoplI’q minds.
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
The Contract A Bloody Alley
The true cult to Nechrubel is kept alive by the The adventure starts ‘in media rIq’, with the PCs blades
descendants of its disciples, living as desert Nomads for red with blood and a dying slaver at their feet.
centuries. Aware of the plans of sieging army, they have
The PCs are trying to recover Fellan, the only slave ever
arranged for the Iron Eye to be stolen from the temple
able to escape the cult. Their hope is that he will be able
and taken away to its rightful place of worship, where
to tell them a secret passage to the heart of the temple
Nechrubel can be finally reborn.
and avoid more dangerous routes. But first, the PCs will
They have arranged for a group of thieves, the have to defeat a group of temple guards supported by a
adventurers, to infiltrate the Temple of the One-Eyed group of slavers. The guards and slavers just
God and retrieve the Iron Eye from the tomb before the apprehended Fellan, drunk with wine, happy to have
army storms the walls. escaped the Temple and waiting for the siege to finish to
flee the city.
No locals will accept a job to steal it, religious or not, as
it is said that a curse will fall upon any unrightful The captain of the guards, Askalan, will leave the scene
owners; and so they must resort to wanderers. It is said after stabbing Fellan on the first turn of combat and
that its power is beyond this world, and it will slowly ordering the guards and slavers to kill the foreigners.
consume the mind of its owners, unleashing death upon Roll 1d6 to determine how many turns until Fellan
their kin. bleeds out, taking the location of the secret passage with
him.
This curse was introduced as a lie by one of the original
high priests of the cult, as a precaution against thieves; If Fellan survives or they speak to him before he dies, he
but as it turns out, the curse is not far from the truth. can tell the story of how he escaped from the Temple
The mind of Nechrubel is waiting in the Iron Eye and through a trapdoor leading to an ancient tunnel in the
will not awake without the proper rituals; but a hill where te temple stands. They were two of them
fragment of his being is still attached to its perished when they left, but he lost his companion in the dark
body, which will rise to defend its claim over the tunnels. Afraid that the guards would follow them, he
artifact. left him behind to save himself. The tunnel opened to
the cliff towards the sea, where a set of tortuous stairs
The Temple of the One Eyed God carved in the rock took him to the angry waters below.
14
TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
and about to burst into several transparent spiders the The Golden Halls
size of a mHn’q hand. They don’r attack the PCs. But the
scene causes mental anguish to any witnesses (Horror The temple built on top of the ancient fortress stands
attack with 8 base dice and damage 1). proud and well maintained. Golden riches ornate the
walls and spiralling columns reach a domed ceiling.
The Temple Walls Glass windows allow the faint light of the moon to just
barely illuminate the riches dedicated to this god; the
The PCs could decide to assault the temple walls and
fruit of taxes on slave trade that Eridhu depends on. An
infiltrate the temple in the night. This is a viable but
idol representing the eye of the One-Eyed God made of
risky option, since guards routinely patrol the inner
crimson wood, old bronze and black iron stands on a
gardens day and night.
dais at the end of the chamber.
The walls don’r hHsI H tHlktHy for qoldiIrq, and the
inner gardens can be used to hide themselves and reach
the temple gates.
Uncanny Plans The smell of the incense impregnates the area. The door
is closed, but not locked. Dozens of priests of the cult
If the players devise any other daring exploit to infiltrate enjoy food, wine and sex in pillows around a dais sur-
the temple, roll with it: ask for details and remember rounded by decorated columns to the like of the upper
that the temple is well guarded most of the time.
and newer temple.
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
At the most inappropriate time, two guards and a cultist Inside lies the skeleton of a man with the Iron Eye in-
will come forth from the orgy into the qlHsIq’ room to side its skull and buried in ashes, only dried skin tight
pick a slave. Unless stopped, they will grab a single slave against its bones. Removing the Eye requires a single
kicking and screaming to the orgy, where the high priest success on a Might roll, as the will of the sorcerer is
of the One-Eyed God, Kasithres, will blow some purple partially alive in the dried corpse.
power onto his face. The power is pulverised lotus flow-
When removed with strenuous strength, a fragment of
ers that knock your senses and make you a docile beast.
the life force of Nechrubel inhabiting the Eye will awake
After that, the slave will be painted with blood from a
its former corpse, which will rise to destroy the intrud-
bronze bowl in the centre of the room before being tak-
ers as a Dead Knight. The temple above them and the
en away to the Tomb.
ancient fort that is its foundation will start to crumble
The PCs can find the Tomb by stealthily following the to ruin. They have limited time to escape with their
cultist taking the slave or by forcing a cultist to reveal its lives and the Eye.
location. If the PCs try to find the tomb chamber by
At this moment, or later when he sees that Nechrubel
themselves, they must succeed on a Wits roll (no skill,
has seemingly awaken, Askalan will appear through the
just attribute) to guide themselves; and a Stealth check
door with several gsHrdq Hnd cry “Yos foolq, hI lisIq in
for each turn looking for the chamber, including the
the Eye! You have awakened him!”
successful try. If they fail Stealth, they are discovered by
a wandering party (one MOB) of either cultist or temple Ask the players to narrate the escape and play the com-
guards (roll 1d6, 1-4 cultists, 5-6 guards). bat if they engage against Nechrubel or Askalan. The
trapdoor is blocked by the crumbling ceiling, and can
The Tomb Below only be accessed with a difficult Might roll.
Two bronze doors open to an extremely large round
The Siege and the Escape
chamber held by simple columns and extending into the
darkness, such that the opposite and side walls cannot be The army besieging Eridhu is finally storming the walls.
seen from the entrance. Dozens or hundreds of skele- Fires and battle cries are heard over the destruction of
tons and drying corpses of the sacrificed slaves lie naked the temple.
prostrated towards an ancient ceramic vessel of large
If you have time in the session and the mood of the
size. Two of the cadavers are recent; their throats cut
table demands more action, ask your players what the
and their blood spilt into the stone pool surrounding
escape plan is and play it out. Otherwise ask them to
the vessel before posthumously moved to their final rest
narrate their escape with no rolls.
position in adoration of the god.
As a final scene, the PCs are in a secluded camp by the
Only four cultists are waiting here to perform the rites
hills, giving the stolen Eye to the man that contracted
on the next slave. They will not fight, and will run for
them. The man is part of the ancient bloodline of fol-
help at the slightest opportunity.
lowers of Nechurbel, and he is accompanied by mount-
The ceramic vessel can be easily opened with a weapon. ed soldiers. He is willing to pay them the promised
The top is held with iron melted over the fissures and an amount; with stolen treasure raided from merchants,
old symbol with the shape of a spiked eye can be dis- no doubt.
cerned painted on the lid; the ancient banner of Ne-
As they hand over the Eye, they notice a tattoo on the
chrubel.
man of the banner of Nechrubel that was painted on the
vessel.
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE
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TALES OF HIGH ADVENTURE