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Beyond the Fading Light
In this campaign, the players are tasked with defeating a powerful necro-Sorceress and saving the realm of Asgard from a zombie invasion. This adventure module is the first in a series and takes place around the same time that Gina and Britanny have their first adventure with Tark, Mesha, Dreadwing, and the Time Raft.
Background: The information in this first part of the campaign materials is presented in two forms: “standard text” that is information the NPC Arcee knows and can divulge to the players at the DM’s discretion and “alternate text” that is information the DM needs to know, but should not be revealed to the players until the end of the campaign, unless they figure it out for themselves or if it is absolutely necessary in order to progress the campaign.
Valhalla
The mythical halls of Valhalla are actually a cloaked Star Destroyer orbiting Earth. Its Bifrost generator was used to bring warriors up to the Valhalla in order to test their strength before sending them to Asgard to act as its guardians and soldiers. Those deemed unworthy were left to train on board the vessel until they were ready or were returned home to tell the tales of the halls of Valhalla to the masses. Characters with genius intellect can repair the ship’s autocannons.
Asgard
The ancestral home of the Norse gods, Asgard is located inside a pocket dimension, only accessible through the Bifrost or by Balance magic. The people of Asgard are scientists and philosophers and prefer not to fight. In ages past, they used their Star Destroyer, the Valhalla, to bring warriors from Earth to serve as their guards and soldiers. In times of war, some Asgardians did take up arms. The city is surrounded by high walls with only one opening at the front gates. The opposite side of the city is where the Citadel sits, straddling the wall and rising high into the air. Below the city lies a labyrinth of Catacombs only accessible from the Citadel, which is sealed at the beginning of the campaign, and through the secret tunnel of the large mansion in the center of the city.
Three Hammers
The ultimate weapons of the Asgardians, locked within the vaults in the Citadel are three legendary hammers: Mjolnir, the Hammer of Hephaestus, and the Uchide no Kozuchi. These hammers are each a powerful artifact weapon and when brought together can destroy entire realms. They were kept in the vaults below the Citadel until the Empress was defeated by the Sorceress. At that moment, a failsafe activated and teleported the most powerful and valuable objects to the secure vaults of the distant temples.
Mjolnir is the hammer of Thor and is able to cast lightning-based magic and allows its user to fly
The Hammer of Hephaestus is a Gravity Hammer which is a two-handed warhammer, but can be activated to release a burst of gravitational energy, causing devastating damage
Uchide no Kozuchi has limited wish granting powers and grants its user the power to change size at will
Sorceress, Rachel
Rachel, daughter of Empress Odin, descendent of Odin, was a powerful healer and strategist, but after losing her lover to a zombie plague infection before a cure could be developed, she had to end their life in order to save them. It was then that she turned to using forbidden dark magicks to control the undead in order to stop the spread of the infection. However, once she took control of the horde, the power overwhelmed her and backfired, transforming her into a monstrous being driven mad by the evil influence. Her plan to save everyone through necromancy, though foolish and reckless, did work, but it was with the intervention of Gothwrain, guided by Dreadwing, that corrupted her. This happened through the spellbinding of Gothwrain and further sealed by the magic pearl implanted in her by Dreadwing. Dreadwing’s pearl would have given him full control of Rachel so that he could use her as a pawn in his celestial chess game with Ancient Gina.
Empress Odin
The ruler of the Asgardians, Empress Odin is the descendent of Odin and current holder of the throne. Her daughter, Rachel, became the Sorceress and began to lay waste to the realm of Asgard, converting its inhabitants into zombie slaves. Rachel assaulted the Citadel in order to access the vaults. Empress Odin, fully aware of what lay in the vaults, challenged the Sorceress, to no avail. After being defeated, the Empress was able to escape. She was able to use her stealth and guile to sneak into the Bifrost control room in order to summon adventurers to aid her. The Empress held back, not wanting to hurt her daughter and throwing the fight so that the failsafe could activate and remove the hammers and cures so the Sorceress could not get to them, since Rachel didn’t know about the vault failsafe. The spirit of Odin protects the Empress from infection, but she is the only living being left on Asgard and with Arcee out of commission and hordes of zombies spread throughout the land, she needs the help of a few brave warriors in order to restore her kingdom.
Heimdall
Heimdall was an artificial intelligence developed by the Asgardians in their sanctuary high in the clouds. He was built as a central processing unit to process the data collected by the scanners deployed throughout the various other realms, worlds, and planets, as well as those gathered by the Asgardian scientists and anthropologists. As such, he had access to every device on Asgard, using them as extensions of himself. It was all too easy for the infection to spread from him to every machine in the realm. Now he seeks to spread his vile influence to the other worlds. Though corrupted, he still obeys the Asgardian royalty. At least, those whose desires parallel his. Heimdall, being the only being capable of independently developing cures to the other infections, needed to be the first infected by the virus developed by Dreadwing that Gothwrain “found” in order to prevent his interference. His fealty to the corrupted Rachel was a pleasant bonus.
Arcee (The Transformers reference) Autonomous Recon, Combat, & Exploration Entity
Arcee was built by the Asgardians after Heimdall as the first of the drones to be sent out to gather data, but her design was too inefficient for the task, given that hers was based on Heimdall’s and he was designed to stay on Asgard. Her series was discontinued after her finalization and the Asgardians moved on to a more efficient and cost-effective model. Arcee was kept in service and maintained in order to gather data on the realms and worlds nearest Asgard. She was on assignment when the Sorceress took over. Upon her return, she found the world she knew destroyed. A cloaked figure met her at the city gates and stopped her. Motioning her down, the figure put a hand on her shoulder and told her the Empress was in dire need of her services. Arcee rushed off to confront the Sorceress. She distracted her long enough for the Empress to escape, but a servo motor in her leg was crippled and she was captured and held captive in the Catacombs beneath the city of Asgard proper. Arcee was gone when Rachel was corrupted, so she didn’t know that Rachel became the Sorceress. The figure that stopped Arcee was Ancient Gina who, when she touched Arcee’s shoulder, infected her with the Pinocchio Virus. Since Arcee has no data in her mind, there is nothing to corrupt, so she is immune to the tech zombie virus. The Sorceress kept her alive because she’s the only reminder left of what used to be the glory of Asgard. Remember, Rachel is insane. The information regarding Empress Odin cannot under any circumstances be shared with the players until they figure it out or the game ends, preferably when the game ends.
Zombies
The infected people of Asgard, they come in two forms: magical and infection. A magical substance was used to corrupt half of the population, while the other half was infected with a viral infection. Having multiple types of infections made finding cures all but impossible for the scientists of Asgard and it certainly didn’t help when even they became infected. The only hope for salvation came in the form of Heimdall, the mainframe’s CPU and AI, but even he had become infected with a technological zombie virus, which then spread throughout the machines and devices of Asgard, destroying any hope of saving the realm, save one: you (the players).
Old woman
A disheveled old woman who summoned the heroes to Asgard through the Bifrost. The old woman is actually Empress Odin in disguise and will only reveal herself when the Sorceress and Heimdall are defeated. Arcee knows who the old woman really is, but was instructed never to reveal this information under any circumstances. Characters with genius intellect or computer skills cannot hack her since the Pinocchio Virus she was given erased her drives completely.
Campaign Outline: the information in this section is divided into three formats – “alternate 1” for DM knowledge that can be revealed at DM discretion, “standard” for information for the DM only that should not be revealed to any of the players unless absolutely necessary, “alternate 2” for information that should be read aloud or otherwise conveyed to the players, and “alternate 3” for distinguishing separate events and their plot paths.
Players are brought to Asgard, against their will if necessary
Have the players decide where they are or decide for them. You hear a disembodied voice ask if you would like to go an adventure. If they decline, forcefully teleport them. They wouldn’t be here playing this game if they didn’t want to go on an adventure. If they agree, “This quest will be dangerous and difficult. Will you help save Asgard?” This first hint at what to come should be enough to get their attention. If they decline again, tell them to make a new character, change their mind, or leave the group. Seriously, if they won’t play, why are they here? If they agree, You feel a tingling in the air when your vision is suddenly filled with a blast of multicolored light and as quickly as it came on, it disappears, leaving you standing in a field of tall grasses, a charred patch of ground beneath your feet. Around you stand other beings, also selected for this mission. One way or another, the player characters must be brought to Asgard through the Bifrost, at which point, You find yourselves outside the gates of a massive walled city. In front of you is a disheveled old woman with a jeweled amulet around her neck. A hood covers her face, though she stands tall enough for you to see her gaunt features regardless. Large size and bigger characters cannot see her face and the players are not allowed close enough to her to make out any discernible features.
Meet old woman, asks their help to stop the Sorceress and fight the zombies
Have the players decide what they are going to do. If they try to attack the woman or run, put them into a stasis bubble. If they decide to approach and speak with the woman, Relay to them these points:
The old woman is the one who summoned them
Her name is Haptasnytrir, or Hapta
They are currently standing outside of the city of Asgard (proper) (the city and realm are both named Asgard, as there is only one city in the realm)
The city itself has been taken over by a necro-Sorceress who is in the process of spreading her zombie plague to all of the realm of Asgard, and then to the other realms and worlds
In order to stop the Sorceress, the players must first rescue Hapta’s dear friend and an important ally from the Catacombs beneath the city, she’ll be the only one not a zombie; no other information is necessary or it’ll spoil the The Transformers reference
There are two entrances to the Catacombs: one in the Citadel (the large tower at the Eastern end of the city, currently visible between the huge city gates) which is currently locked and cannot be opened, and the other is located somewhere near the center of the city, the players will need to search for it while avoiding or fighting the zombies
Hapta will wait for them outside the walls of the city in a shrine protected from the plague a short distance to the South of the city gates
Hapta must give the players a bowling ball sized metal cylinder which one player needs to carry that is needed to rescue the NPC; players with genius intellect or high mechanical skills can identify it as a large servo-motor, though it’s purpose is unknown; a player may carry it in a backpack if they have one, otherwise they’ll need to carry it in their arms
Preliminary Mission: search ruined city for NPC guide
The players’ first mission is to save the NPC from the Catacombs below Asgard and to make sure the device entrusted to them is undamaged.
Canvas accessible parts of the city to locate and retrieve the NPC
The players enter the city through the massive city gates on the Western side of the city, opposite the massive Citadel straddling the Eastern wall. The walls of the city are easily over a hundred feet tall and appear to be made of solid gold. Genius intellect characters can deduce that the walls are merely an alloy. Much of the city lies in ruins; decrepit buildings have their windows boarded up and tattered fabric that once may have been banners or flags flaps aimlessly in the wind. All the while, the gentle breeze blowing through the city flows through the cracks and crevices, producing eerie moans and low whistles. A few larger buildings have since toppled over onto the streets, blocking some areas of the city off from all access. Unless a character can fly, but if they’re not strong enough to lift the rubble or every single party member one at a time, there is no way to get around the rubble. If players do find a way past it, there is nothing of interest in any of the four quadrants of the city (Northern, Southern, Eastern [Citadel] and Western [city gates]) save an occasional building they could break into with only old or broken mundane items inside. Every now and then roll for a random encounter or use a random encounter generator for a zombie apocalypse/invasion set for low levels.
Increase the difficulty as necessary. Try to disorient the players, but have them eventually reach the center of the city. You reach the city square, in the middle of which sits a large fountain, the statue atop depicting a winged Valkyrie. If players drink from the fountain, it is crisp and clean water, magically maintained if mages are in the party, that has a hint of lime. Around the square stand a number of buildings, only one of which contains the hidden entrance to the Catacombs deep below Asgard. Have the players choose one of the following buildings and relay to them the information below when necessary:
A large mansion facing West from the Eastern side of the square (East); heavily fortified, this place is difficult to get into, the front doors need to be destroyed to get inside which may draw more zombies to the area; the mansion has a secret door found by first locating the lit candle in one of the mansions rooms and lifting it up to reveal a button that, when pressed, raises a section of the staircase in the foyer that leads to a tunnel and the Catacombs beyond, destroying the door to get in will draw zombies, but the players can erect barriers in front of the hole to buy time while they search the mansion
A guard post (Southeast); almost completely destroyed, picking through the rubble will yield a handful of spears and broadswords and some studded leather armor
A small house (South); not boarded up, the residents of this house must have fled instead of fortifying their home, taking their valuables with them
A small branch of a bank (Southwest); only a few gold pieces are left, the rest seems to have been removed from the open vault
An open-air market (West); a cursory search will yield some foodstuffs and a lockbox containing a handful of gold and silver pieces that needs to be unlocked or destroyed, destroying it could draw zombies
A boarded-up, high-end fashion store (Northwest); thoroughly fortified, inside, though dusty, are pristine sets of clothing and a safe which needs to be unlocked and cannot be destroyed that contains a few gold pieces and a couple gems
The beginning of a boulevard (that leads to the North) that is lined with empty stalls and the boarded up front steps of many an abandoned restaurant; roll a d12 for the number of restaurant that are accessible to the players, if they choose to search them, have a DC15-20 (DM’s discretion) for Mind or Perception checks to locate safes and lockboxes, one per restaurant they access, roll a d20 for the exact amount of gold they find in each that they manage to unlock or break open
A large house (Northwest) that is securely locked with only the windows on the first floor expertly boarded up; someone will need to pick the lock or they need to destroy the door, which could draw zombies, the first floor windows would need to be broken, but the second floor windows are not boarded up, inside is an Oil of Bless Weapon, Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Potion of Hide from Undead, Potion of Resistance, 45 gp, 434 sp, and 850 cp
Notes: the DC for picking locks is 15, for breaking doors and boarded windows and lockboxes is 20, for breaking open safes is 25, for breaking windows is 10.
Fight zombies, meet Sorceress in Catacombs below the Citadel, accessible from the mansion
The players can stay and fight the zombies to farm experience points, but for every successive encounter, they take an additional -2 penalty to all actions due to fatigue because one cannot simply fight a horde of zombies and not get tired. The point is for them to eventually run into the tunnel and get to the Catacombs. Once the players open the tunnel, Before you is the open entrance to a secret underground tunnel sloping down into the darkness, the dank and foul-smelling air washes over you when you draw near the entrance. The tunnel immediately opens up underneath the stairway, expanding into the sizeable volume, wide enough for four people to walk side-by-side, and easily out of reach overhead. If they have their own light source, good, if not, then have them search the house with a DC15 to find either a number of candles or a single torch, you may have the players roll once for both options (two rolls total, so if they miss one, they still have a chance at the other). If they cannot find, make, or do not have a light source, the zombies break through the barrier and the party is forced to fight until all the zombies are slain (roll a d12 for the remaining amount of zombies) or they must run into the darkness in the tunnel. If they enter the darkness with no light, the staircase entrance closes and the players become confused and disoriented and eventually captured by more intelligent zombie slaves.
If the party is captured, have them brought through the tunnel and into the antechamber described below. Then have the Sorceress meet them there. Through the doorway on the far side of the antechamber, a giant mass of green tentacles burst forth, pushing the doors wide open and filling most of the chamber, accompanied by a stench most foul. The rest of the creature squeezes through the doorway, revealing an attractive, if massive, woman from the hips up, from which the tentacles emerge from where her legs would have been. A DC30 perception or Mind check will tell whoever is able to see it that there is a large white pearl embedded in the underside of the octopus half of the woman. This is the necro-Sorceress who took over, infected, and destroyed Asgard. The giant woman looks down at you, eyeing you suspiciously. After a moment, she announces loudly to one particular zombie, echoes of her voice booming down the corridors and tunnels, “I have more pressing concerns, but I want to question them later. Lock them up with the tin can!” She waves dismissively and squeezes through the door, but not before turning back to glare at each you, muttering under her breath. Mages in the party can roll a DC20 Mind check to see if they can tell that she cast spells on each of the party members, though they won’t know what the effects are.
The zombie she was talking to, a rather well-preserved specimen, tall and mustachioed, turns slowly back to face you, his milky white eyes seeming to look past you, speaks slowly, “Lock. Them. Up.” The players still have their weapons, but choosing to fight would be stupid, as it would only get them all killed on the spot, considering the amount of zombies and their strength in the Sorceress’ entourage. You feel cold, clammy, and some sticky, hands grabbing you, pushing and shoving you toward the doorway. Once through, you are met with an awe-inspiring sight: a shaft, a mile deep, and hundreds of feet in diameter, stretch deep into the ground and high above. All around are a number of torches maintained by the smarter zombies, that keep the walls dimly lit, revealing hundreds of alcoves filled with deceased bodies, many too decayed to be risen as zombies, some merely dust, and other alcoves recently vacated. The torches only line the walls of a few levels above and below the one you currently stand on. Who knows how many more bodies lay beyond the fading light. The zombies begin to wander off, little by little. There are still too many to attack and the others could just as easily make it back to the party before they finish with the few remaining. It would be best to wait until more leave.
If they really must try and escape now, roll a d12 for the zombies immediately around them, and for each round, add 2 zombies. Roll two d20s to see how many will show up, then send two per round. If they beat them all, have them continue on until they find the NPC and continue reading at that point below. Otherwise, The few remaining usher you through another set of doors and into a long hallway lined with small rooms full of empty alcoves. Crude metal bars have been wedged into the openings to create makeshift holding cells, with hastily crafted doors made from smaller bars attached to sturdy hinges clamped around some of the bigger bars. The head zombie takes your weapons and items and locks them in a separate cell before he opens the doors to the other rooms. The other zombies force each of you into a different cell, before closing and locking the doors behind you. If someone is going to attempt to escape, it needs to be before the first player is locked into a cell, since they’d have a better chance of fighting off the zombies in the cramped hallway. Otherwise, players who are too physically weak to break out of their cell cannot assist their comrades. If anyone is strong enough to break out, they should wait until the zombies leave. Looking around, you can see a larger room across the hall with extremely thick metal columns providing the bars for the cell and no door. Inside, on their knees, their arms held out behind them by huge chains attached to the ceiling of their cell, rests a huge metal being. It appears as though one of its knees is badly damaged. The players need to escape their cells, free the NPC, give them the metal device, and escape from the zombies back through the mansion. The mansion is less guarded since no one is expecting the players to escape, let alone make it back to the tunnel. Continue reading below.
If they have a light, the staircase still closes behind them, but, You brave the darkness of the tunnel, the stale air cloying at your nostrils. The flickering torchlight casts long, warped shadows behind you, bolstering the fear and paranoia that grasps at your hearts. After what feels like hours, you emerge from the tunnel into a large antechamber. The walls, hewn from the very rock below Asgard, are covered in intricately carved bass reliefs and images of gods and warriors, with gold inlay and set with many gleaming jewels. If the players try to steal any gems, or worse (scrape the gold inlay out of the carvings), they are ambushed by zombies and captured from both sides (someone had opened or forced open the staircase back at the mansion), so start reading back up in the area above about what happens when they’re captured.
If not, At the other end of the room is a massive stone doorway with two doors propped open. Zombie warriors stand at the ready, having seen you come in, but have not yet tried attacking you. The zombies follow simple commands and were made stand guard, they cannot initiate combat, only defend the point. The party needs to beat the zombies. If they fight them at the door, roll a d6, odds more zombies show up, evens none show up. For those that show, roll a d4 for the amount, keep doing this until the players draw combat away from the door. If they draw the zombies out, they need only beat two zombies. Once through the doorway, you are met with an awe-inspiring sight: a shaft, a mile deep, and hundreds of feet in diameter, stretch deep into the ground and high above. All around are a number of torches maintained by the smarter zombies, that keep the walls dimly lit, revealing hundreds of alcoves filled with deceased bodies, many too decayed to be risen as zombies, some merely dust, and other alcoves recently vacated. The torches only line the walls of a few levels above and below the one you currently stand on. Who knows how many more bodies lay beyond the fading light.
Every so often roll a random encounter on a d6, odds they fight two zombies, evens they don’t. If they do fight them, add one zombie every round until all zombies are defeated. The party must make it a quarter of the way around the chasm before being able to duck into the first open hallway, which provides a bottleneck and no chances of being snuck up on from behind. Coincidentally, this is also where they need to go. You duck into the sizable entryway of the hall through another set of doors and into a long hallway lined with small rooms full of empty alcoves. Crude metal bars have been wedged into the openings to create makeshift holding cells, with hastily crafted doors made from smaller bars attached to sturdy hinges clamped around some of the bigger bars. Looking around, you can see a larger room down the hall with extremely thick metal columns providing the bars for the cell and no door. Inside, on their knees, their arms held out behind them by huge chains attached to the ceiling of their cell, rests a huge metal being. It appears as though one of its knees is badly damaged. The players need to free the NPC, give them the metal device, and escape from the zombies back through the mansion.
The mansion is less guarded since no one is expecting the players to escape, let alone make it back to the tunnel. After freeing the NPC, You manage to find a way to free the metal person from their cell and shackles, though it’s a very tight squeeze for them in the makeshift prison hall. “Thank you for your help!” the being states in her melodious voice, a weak smile spreading across her face. She graciously accepts the device and, after detaching her lower leg and removing the damaged part, plugs the new part in and reattaches her leg. “It’s not a permanent fix, but it will have to do for now… I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for introductions. First, we need to get out of here, then outside the city. At that point, we may be able to rest somewhat,” the chuckles before a pained look comes over her face. “Lead the way!” She motions to the door.
The players need to open the door, if it’s closed, remove the barrier if they made one, or kill the zombies that have entered the hall while they were distracted. Roll a d4 to determine how many zombies are in the hall, if any. The NPC can’t reach them from behind the players and she’s too big to move past them. Once they beat the zombies, they need to make their way back around the chasm to the doorway to the antechamber. As zombies show up infrequently, roll a d6 for random encounters, then roll a d6 for the amount of zombies. The NPC is huge sized and is more visible, attracting more attention. Each round, have two zombies show up, but have the NPC crush one zombie already in combat. Just before they reach the door, The huge stone doors appear to be more open than when you left them. Suddenly, through the doorway, a giant mass of green tentacles burst forth, some spilling over the low wall skirting the edge of the chasm and filling the whole walkway, accompanied by a stench most foul. The rest of the creature squeezes through the doorway, revealing an attractive, if massive, woman from the hips up, from which the tentacles emerge from where her legs would have been.
A DC30 perception or Mind check will tell whoever is able to see it that there is a large white pearl embedded in the underside of the octopus half of the woman. This is the necro-Sorceress who took over, infected, and destroyed Asgard. The giant woman looks down at you, eyeing you suspiciously. After a moment, she exclaims through gritted teeth to one particular zombie, echoes of her voice booming down the shaft, “AUGH! I don’t have time for this!” She turns, but not before looking back to glare at each you, muttering under her breath. Mages in the party can roll a DC20 Mind check to see if they can tell that she cast spells on each of the party members, though they won’t know what the effects are. The Sorceress coils her tentacles beneath her and launches herself across part of the open abyss, her tentacles flying out to grab into the walkways of other levels of the Catacombs. She pulls her hulking mass up and through a massive arched hall a few levels up, disappearing into the dimly lit passage.
She leaves the fighting to the stronger zombie guards
With the Sorceress gone, all that remains is her lieutenant and a horde of bloodthirsty, mindless zombies swarming around the Catacombs. The huge woman can hold them off from behind, but it’s only a matter of time before they start making their way around the shaft. As it stands, there are already a number of zombies beside the lieutenant (the zombie from before, if the party was captured; if they were captured, you don’t need to read the descriptions for this zombie again), a rather well-preserved specimen, tall and mustachioed. His milky eyes seem to look past you as (begin reading here if you skip the description) he draws his weapon and slowly growls, “Get. Them.” Roll a d4 for the number of zombies with the lieutenant and then use his stats outlined in the back of the materials for this fight.
Once this fight is resolved, As the lieutenant falls, the metal woman ushers you through the doorway, holding off the wave of flesh-eaters, just as another group arrive from around the other side of the walkway. She slams the huge stone doors shut, but not before a few zombies sneak in underneath her. Roll a d4 for the numbers of zombies that sneak in. The NPC needs to hold the door shut, so she cannot participate in this fight. Once the zombies are defeated, the party needs to decide what to do next. With the woman’s help, they could maybe have a chance to beat the horde before more arrive, or they could make a break for it down the tunnel, but they don’t know how to open the stairwell from the other side. Plus, the woman may not fit through it and they can’t leave her behind.
If the party cannot decide what to do, the NPC can offer to transform into a vehicle that can carry up to four medium sized or smaller (more if they’re smaller, of course) characters down the tunnel, buying time, but bigger characters will need to run to catch up. The NPC can produce light, so any other light sources, if any, can be left with those who cannot fit into the vehicle. At some point, the NPC needs to let go of the door. The sooner, the better, because less zombies will be piled up in front of it. If they foot it, the NPC can fit in the tunnel, hunched over. If they cannot decide, have her suggest the car idea.
The party needs to get to the end of the tunnel. If they run down the tunnel, they need to find a way to make the stairway open up and then make the hole bigger. If nothing else, the NPC can smash it open, but this will attract zombies. She’ll do this by letting the other party members squeeze past her and once everyone is out of the tunnel and out of her way, she’ll transform into a car and smash through the stairway hole. If all of the characters can fit inside, she can drive them out of the city (in which case, skip to below), otherwise they’ll need to stick together and fight or stealth their way out. All the while, The sounds of moaning and hurried shuffling can be heard echoing up the tunnel (or out of the opening underneath the stairs).
Once they escape the tunnel, assuming they can’t drive back, have them fight more random encounters as they find their way out of the city. Odds evens, d4 or d6 for amount. Some smaller rubble piles can be moved by the NPC, but this will take time and may attract more zombies. Others the NPC could help them get over. These options are here if you need more action and suspense, or if you’re trying to kill the player characters or just need to wear them down. Also, try mixing it up with stronger zombies now that the Sorceress knows they’ve escaped with her prisoner.
Escape city, old woman helps repair Arcee allows her to join the party, party learns about legendary weapons needed to beat the Sorceress locked within secret vaults the Sorceress cannot access due to her evil aura (all vaults protected by ultimate protection from evil spells cast by Odin himself)
Once outside the city walls, roll one final random encounter for the number of zombies that followed them outside the gates. After this, they need only journey a short distance (a couple hours or so) to the shrine. You can roll for one more encounter out here for the roaming zombies. If the party has a hard time after all they’ve been through, they need only get to the shrine and run inside. It’s protected by a barrier that keeps the zombies out and is just big enough to accommodate the NPC. The shrine is a spacious longhouse with a depression in the middle and high vaulted ceilings, just large enough to accommodate your metal companion. Inside, sitting in front of an altar at the far end, is the old woman, Hapta. She stands and turns when she hears you enter. With a nod of her head, she greets you, motioning for you to come closer. She moves to one side of the hall, allowing her friend to take a seat next to her. Hapta opens a compartment in the wall and withdraws a satchel containing strange instruments. Genius intellect characters or those from Earth would guess that these are repair tools for the robotic companion.
She quietly begins to repair the huge woman. If asked about the NPC, Hapta will relate to the players her story. “The Autonomous Recon, Combat, and Exploration Entity, otherwise known as Arcee, was built by the Asgardians, but her design was too inefficient for her intended purpose. Her series was discontinued after her finalization and the Asgardians moved on to a more efficient and cost-effective model. Arcee was kept in service and maintained in order to gather data on the realms and worlds nearest Asgard and to be the personal bodyguard to the Empress herself in times of need. She was on assignment away from Asgard when the Sorceress took over. Upon her return, she found the world she knew destroyed. Arcee rushed off to confront the Sorceress. She distracted her long enough for me to escape, but a servo motor in her leg was crippled and she was captured and held captive in the Catacombs beneath the city of Asgard proper.”
If it starts to get quiet and awkward at the table, and they haven’t already asked how to stop the Sorceress, Hapta will tell them, “The Asgardians were once mighty rift walkers and in their time, they discovered many artifacts of great power strewn about the various worlds, realms, and astral rifts. The ones you will need are known by Asgardian legend as The Three Hammers, three legendary hammers of ancient myth that are the only hope of defeating the Sorceress now. They are located in three separate temples spread out across Asgard. (If the players comment on this, you can answer that “They were once all sealed in the vaults of the Citadel, but had to be hidden when the Sorceress assaulted the palace so that she would not be able to find them and use their destructive powers to suit her devilish plans.” Otherwise, continue reading.) Arcee here will guide you to each temple. The three temples are the Temple of the Magi, a mysterious vista from which great mages once peered into the rifts to find greater and greater magicks, the Temple of the Warrior, a place from which new and ever more powerful weapons of war were forged and skilled warriors trained, and the Temple of the Scholar, a technological marvel high above the clouds from which the most powerful minds and sharpest thinkers monitored the various worlds, searching for answers to the oldest questions.
(If anyone asks why the Sorceress can’t get the weapons herself, “These vaults were blessed by Odin himself, long before the vaults of Asgard were constructed, and have powerful enchantments on them to keep evil out. After Odin left, the best our mages could do was a contingency spell.”) Each temple houses one of the three hammers. Among them, the hammer Mjolnir, hammer of Thor, the Hammer of Hephaestus, weapon smith of Zeus, and the Uchide no Kozuchi, the magic hammer of Daikoku-ten.”
Let the players talk amongst themselves, or if they have nothing to say, continue reading, “When you are ready for your next mission, simply ask Arcee to take you to your chosen destination.” All other questions must be answered vaguely, only alluding to the information provided in the first section of the campaign materials, but never giving enough to give away anything important or directly stating anything besides what has already been revealed about Arcee and Asgard. Remember: the identity of Hapta cannot be revealed, Arcee knows nothing of the Sorceress before she invaded, no information about Heimdall or Valhalla can be given at this time, etc. Before the party leaves, have Hapta give each of them a handshake (she needs to give each new character a handshake, as well, so if a party member dies, the party must return to the shrine to find their new recruit who must have their hand shaken by Hapta before leaving). Arcee can be played by the DM, a DM’s assistant, or by a new player, with whom the DM will need to talk to about the important plot points that involve said character. The shrine can be used as a safe space between missions as a place for characters to rest and brush up on training in the little down time they can get. (This is where players can use accrued experience to purchase new feats, skills, etc.)
Main Mission: stop the Sorceress
This is the start of the main body of the campaign.
Party decides which temple to go to first, heads toward first choice
This next section of the materials, the three Temples, can be done in any order; with each temple conquered, the difficulty needs to be raised substantially. The information and descriptions below may need to be altered.
Temple of the Magi
You hear Hapta’s words echoing in your mind, “Temple of the Magi, a mysterious vista from which great mages once peered into the rifts to find greater and greater magicks.” Things to keep in mind:
Three key spells open main vault: Wood Shape, Warp Metal, Stone Shape
Uchide no Kozuchi in main vault
Ultimate Mass Remove Disease spell scroll for magic zombies in one of the smaller vaults
As you approach your destination, you can see a vast mountain range extending beyond the horizon in both directions, East and West. One mountain in particular, a towering monolith, looks as though it had at one time been one much larger summit, but the Southern half of the mountain is missing, possibly destroyed in an epic battle in ages past, or maybe the result of some kind of cataclysm. Near the peak, however, your eyes catch the gleam of sunlight reflected off of colored glass; doubtless the Temple of the Magi you were told about.
For now, though, you notice that you begin a steady climb up the hills to the foot of the mountain. Upon reaching the base of the mountain, you find its Southern face to be a sheer cliff, with no way to climb up its practically smooth surface. High, high above, you can just make out a small shadow jutting out from the cliff face. Before you lies a large, ornate portal leading deep under the mountain. When you step into the tunnel, you notice it begins sloping up after a while, and gently curving to the right, somewhat. The halls of this temple, (like the others,) appear to be quite spacious. Moving on, the walls take on more and more variations of blue and green, softly illuminated by glowing blue and white flames hovering above the ground every few feet. Touching them doesn’t hurt, indicating they are only illusions. All the while, you can hear rushing water, but can never see or find any. After an uneventful walk, you come to a large, gilded door covered in seemingly abstract patterns.
Mages in the party can tell that this is Ribbon, the language of magic, though it has no important or interesting information. They also show a great reverence for this place, though they have never been here and cannot bring themselves to deface any part of the temple or its dungeon. This same compulsion effect doesn’t work on non-magic beings. At this point, have the players adventure through the dungeon, gathering experience points, random loot, and using the information in the materials below for mini-boss and the dungeon’s main boss fights. This is a great location for teaching mages spells that may be helpful/necessary or even for them to use the ancient scrolls and books to create their own spells, within reason. Each mini-boss drops one of the spells listed above which are needed to open the vault, after defeating the main boss.
When Heimdall arrives, (The mage(s) in the party sense(s) a massive spike in the ambient ether of the arena, if there are mages. The sheer amount of ether being agitated strikes fear in the heart(s) of the mage(s). See Fear section below.) Suddenly, a massive portal tears through the space in the middle of the arena, its bright light making it difficult to see. From out of the rent space-time, a giant creature steps into the arena. With a resonating boom the giant mecha’s heavy footfall shakes the ground. “I am Heimdall,” the robotic voice announces. “I am death!” The mech’s tattered robes are covered in runes and ribbon, foreshadowing the coming battle. He draws a massive greatsword, holding it with one hand causing it to drag behind him, as his other giant fist glows with magical power. Good luck, players! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
When they reach the vault, You come upon a large, circular chamber, half of which hangs over the open cliff, the sun shining brightly through the multicolored panes of glass. The other half has three square doors, clearly the vaults, as indicated by the massive hinges, hinting at the sheer weight of these things. The middle vault is the biggest and is made of a combination of Ironwood, the same gold-colored alloy the Citadel is made of, and Voidglass. There seems to be no way to open it from the outside.
Any character who is evil or has committed an atrocity (defacing the Catacombs, killing innocents, etc.; or has been self-proclaimed to be evil at any point unless they were lying, bluffing, or have been reformed since) is repelled from the vaults and can only move within a five foot area around the glass windows and toward and out the doorway from which the players entered. It is not possible for these evil characters to approach or enter any vaults. Period. The two smaller vaults seem only to be made of the gold-alloy, and each has a simple lock on it. The locks can be destroyed with great effort or picked.
If you feel benevolent, add keys to the loot they can find or allow a mage to learn a teleport or dimension door spell, so they can enter the vaults. There is a catch, however: the smaller vault holding the cure is lined with Cold Iron. One way in, no way out. If a character finds a way in without opening the door, they have thirty seconds before they run out of air and three minutes before they die. That’s five rounds before they pass out, and thirty before they die. There is also a second trap, as the first is unlikely to be tripped.
This new, more deadly trap, is that there are two scroll cases inside: a gold case and a silver case. When the smaller vault is opened, You see only two pedestals, each with a single scroll case resting on a small pillow. One is silver, the other is gold. A plaque says, “Choose. And Perish.” Taking either seals the room. Taking both seals the room and fills it with water. The room can be reopened by picking the lock again at a much higher DC, or by destroying the door hinges, which are harder to get at than the lock, if the lock was destroyed (if it wasn’t, then they can destroy either the lock, the hinges, or both). On the floor of the room is a bronze scroll case, sitting in the corner, which has the spell in it they need. Though in plain sight, it can only be “found” by passing a DC25 perception or Mind check, regardless of the situation. Detecting magic reveals the whole vault is full of magic and there is no way to dispel the illusion around the bronze scroll case. If they lock themselves in, give them a chance to see it if they are looking for a way to stop the water or open the door from the inside.
If they are not locked in, don’t give them a chance unless you ask them if they search the whole vault and they agree or clarify that they are going to.
Once they use the spell scrolls on the main vault door, You see the wood begin to bend, once as hard as steel, but now peeling away from the vault entrance like shaved butter. The alloy begins to deform, turning from a gold-colored metal to gold-colored putty as it is pulled away from the doorway, leaving only the voidglass behind. Eventually, this, too, becomes pliable, almost liquid, as it seems to be pulled toward the outer edges of the portal by an invisible force. Once they get the Hammer and all of the players exit the main vault, As you leave, you hear the sounds of metal scraping on metal, glass cracking, and wood straining. Looking back, you can see the warped vault door reform and rebuild itself, returning to its imposing and pristine condition.
If the party opens a smaller vault in any temple, they discover a cure to one of the zombie types inside one of them (the Magi temple has the cure disease scroll). Asking Arcee about it (if this is the first cure they find) will prompt her to probe the mainframe for information, at which point the party learns they can find the cures developed after the initial outbreak hidden in the temples. Arcee is then shut out of the mainframe by Heimdall (the final boss in each dungeon). This gives the party their Secondary Mission: cure the infected. The other smaller vault has whatever treasure in it the DM sees fit, or no treasure if the party seems to be getting too much too soon. The vault with the zombie cure must be more difficult to open than the other two vaults, as this one will not be freely opened by plot devices and it holds something more valuable than mere treasure. The party leaves out the way they came, no longer impeded by traps and enemies. Have the party decide where to go next.
Temple of the Warrior
Hapta’s words are still clear in your mind, “Temple of the Warrior, a place from which new and ever more powerful weapons of war were forged and skilled warriors trained.” Things to keep in mind:
Three key items open main vault: Stone Upper Sword, Stone Lower Sword, Stone Shield
Mjolnir in main vault
The smaller vault is where a metal comet fragment is stored, its radiation kills the zombie virus, the people need only be nursed back to health or healed magically, HOWEVER, it needs to be taken to the top of the Citadel and put into an Amplifier glass to let its light shine over the city, but this won’t cure the zombies outside the city for this you need the item described below
Artifact Crown “Helmet of Rostam” is in the smaller vault as well (or, if the party is getting too much treasure too quickly, it could have been in the other smaller vault, which is now empty), or would have been, rather. It was stolen by the Sorceress before she became evil, but upon removing it from the vault, she committed an act of evil and could no longer return it. This didn’t matter, because she needed it. Unfortunately, the party needs to get the Helmet of Rostam from the Sorceress before they can cure these zombies.
You arrive at a squat, but surprisingly large building. The entrance is unlocked and as you step inside, you can see a giant mining shaft sloping down into the depths of the earth, periodically lit by an orange light every hundred feet. The lights go on as far as you can see. At the top of the shaft, around the walkway on which you stand, there is a large lift waiting in a docking bay. Stepping onto the lift, there is a control board with three glowing gems set into it that appear purple, orange, and white, respectively, going from left to right).
(If they remove the gems, the console breaks and they plummet down the shaft; since it’s at an angle, they take the full damage from the calculated fall damage, which would be 20d6, instead of dying outright, but you should follow the Pathfinder rules on fall damage to negate some of it, if necessary. If they do fall, skip the section about the lift console and assume the lift is destroyed, for future reference.)
Pressing the white or orange gems has no effect, but pressing the purple gem starts the lift moving slowly downward with an initial jostling. After an hour of slow descent, the shaft intersects a large tunnel that leads a short distance to an underground chamber large enough to house a small fleet of ships. A tall wall cuts through the cave near the entrance. On either side of a wide opening stand two massive statues of winged Valkyries, similar to the one in the city square, but much larger and holding hammers instead of spears. This is quite clearly the entrance to the Temple of the Warrior. The halls of this temple, (like the others,) appear to be quite spacious. Looking inside, orange and red are the dominant colors, coming from the white and yellow lights illuminating the rust-colored rock the walls are whole temple is made out of.
The heat coming from inside is almost unbearable, but if you strain your hearing, you can still hear the clash of swords and the pounding of hammers on anvils. Warriors in the party can tell that this is a place filled with a lingering sense of the might of Asgard. They also show a great reverence for this place, though they have never been here and cannot bring themselves to deface any part of the temple or its dungeon. This same compulsion effect doesn’t work on people who are not a warrior in some form or fashion.
At this point, have the players adventure through the dungeon, gathering experience points, random loot (a lot of various kinds of swords, preferably), and using the information in the materials below for mini-boss and the dungeon’s main boss fights. This is a great location for teaching warriors new feats and skills that may be helpful/necessary or even for them to use the ancient scrolls and books to create their own fighting styles and techniques, within reason. Each mini-boss uses and drops one of the key items listed above which are needed to open the vault, after defeating the main boss.
When Heimdall arrives, (The warrior(s) in the party sense(s) a malevolence unlike any other approaching the arena, if there are warriors.) Suddenly, through a massive hole in the ceiling at the middle of the arena, a giant creature falls into the arena, cratering the ground with a loud explosion. The giant form of Heimdall rises above the dust cloud, his massive frame (now) heavily armored and glowing brightly with an intense heat. With a resonating boom the giant mecha’s heavy footfall shakes the ground. “I am Heimdall,” the robotic voice announces. “I am death!” The mech’s immensely heavy armor plating is covered in dents, scratches, and deep carbon scoring, foreshadowing the coming battle. He draws a massive greatsword, holding it with two hands. As steam shoots out of vents on his sides, he picks up the sword and spins around on his torso joints, the near hurricane winds almost knocking you down (The sheer amount of awe in the demonstration and the imposing figure strikes fear in the heart(s) of the warrior(s). See Fear section below). Good luck, players! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
When they reach the vault, You come upon a large, square chamber. The three sides you can see when you enter all have megalithic stone doors on gold-alloy hinges embedded into them. In the center of the room stand three statues, each facing a different door. The largest statue faces the main vault. It would be a perfect specimen of a Valkyrie, were it not missing something. Its outstretched arm ends in a fist, while the other arm, held closer to its body, seems to be shielding it. The smaller statues also seem to be missing parts. Any character who is evil or has committed an atrocity (defacing the Catacombs, killing innocents, etc.; or has been self-proclaimed to be evil at any point unless they were lying, bluffing, or have been reformed since) is repelled from the vaults and can only move within a five foot area around the doorway from which the players entered. It is not possible for these evil characters to approach or enter any vaults. Period. The smaller lock statues can be destroyed with great effort, however, there’s a trick to opening them the proper way.
Inscriptions on the smaller statues inform you that one seeks “Gram” and other seeks “Tyrfing.” The trick here is that, of all the weapons the players can find in the dungeon, no one knows which is Gram and which if Tyrfing. The DM needs to decide which Tyrfing is, but it doesn’t matter which is used in place of Gram. The vault opened by “Gram” holds treasure (or used to hold the Helmet of Rostam and nothing else, if the party has too much treasure). The vault opened by Tyrfing holds the cure, but putting the wrong sword in will activate a trap. If they activate the trap, You place the sword in the stone grip of the Valkyrie and nothing happens. After a moment, the door to the vault opens, but so do several holes in the ceiling! At once, small rivulets of lava begin pouring out of the holes, pooling on the floor and raising the temperature of the room. As the lava quickly cools, though it’s still much too hot to touch, the addition of more lava from the ceiling builds the red hot stone mounds higher and higher. One such hole has opened right above the exit! The pool of lava forming below it is becoming too big to jump over and is too hot to climb!
Take initiative roles from the party to determine who reacts first, then give them a set number of rounds as determined by a roll of a D10. At best, they’ll have a full minute before they become sealed in. If this happens, give them a roll of a d20 for the time remaining before they all die. The players need to guess the correct sword and place it into the hands of the lock statue to stop the lava, then they can break their way through or climb over and take 1d6 fire damage from burns or wait 1d4 hours for it all to completely cool, but breaking it will be tougher.
The fastest character (the first to react and/or the fastest speed-wise) can claim a treasure from the vault and running long-jump over the lava pile in front of the door to escape if they want to try, but abandoning the party is an act of evil. If they do try to escape, they take 2d6 damage and if they miss their check to jump and land in the lava pile, they take 3d6 and are permanently crippled.
Once they put the stone double-bladed sword and the stone shield into the hands of the main statue to open the main vault door, You hear a deep rumbling as the floor begins to shake beneath your feet. With a loud grinding sound, the huge vault door swings open. As it stops, and silence returns to the vault room, you hear a faint ticking sound that may slowly be ticking faster with each moment. Once they get the Hammer and all of the players exit the main vault, As you leave, you hear the ticking sounds are extremely rapid now and looking back, you see the massive stone door suddenly begin to slam itself back into place! With a mighty boom that shakes the temple, the vault is sealed, perhaps forever this time.
If the party opens a smaller vault in any temple (in this case the opened by inserting Gram into the lock statue), they discover a cure to one of the zombie types inside one of them (the Warrior temple has the metal comet fragment). In the vault with the comet fragment, Inside the smaller vault there are two pedestals, one with a cushion with the imprint of a crown, though no crown can be found; the other holds a metal shard the size of a human arm that glows with a dull, pulsing green light. Asking Arcee about the item or cure (if this is the first cure they find) will prompt her to probe the mainframe for information, at which point the party learns they can find the cures developed after the initial outbreak hidden in the temples.
Arcee is then shut out of the mainframe by Heimdall (the final boss in each dungeon). This gives the party their Secondary Mission: cure the infected. The other smaller vault has whatever treasure in it the DM sees fit, or no treasure if the party seems to be getting too much too soon (in which case, have the Helmet of Rostam be from this vault before it was stolen). The vault with the zombie cure must be more difficult to open than the other two vaults, as this one will not be freely opened by plot devices and it holds something more valuable than mere treasure. The party leaves out the way they came, no longer impeded by traps and enemies. Have the party decide where to go next.
The Temple of the Scholar can be reached in a number of ways: 1.) using a flying spell cast on all of the party members (extra strength for Arcee) unless they can fly AND carry others, 2.) using the Bifrost if they assault the Citadel early (not recommended and can only be done AFTER BOTH the Temples of the Magi and Warrior have been conquered), if so (READ THE SECTION ON ASSAULTING THE CITADEL), or 3.) if they brave the Calliope Wastelands at the edge of the Astral Rifts to reach a farming village that houses the old Bifrost (READ THE WASTELANDS SECTION). If the party returns to the longhouse to talk to Hapta or if they ask Arcee, relay the basic information above to them (i.e. that “You can get there by flying, if you can fly, by assaulting the Citadel, which would be suicide, or by seeking out the old Bifrost in the village beyond the Calliope Wastelands.”). Have the players decide what to do.
Temple of the Scholar (It is recommended that this is the final temple.)
You can still hear the words Hapta spoke to you back in the longhouse, “Temple of the Scholar, a technological marvel high above the clouds from which the most powerful minds and sharpest thinkers monitored the various worlds, searching for answers to the oldest questions.” Things to keep in mind:
The temple is in a geosynchronous orbit with the city of Asgard
Three encrypted security keys open main vault: Red Key, Yellow Key, Green Key
Hammer of Hephaestus in main vault
Heimdall has the encrypted data chit with the tech zombie cure, he must be killed to obtain it, but he will only drop it when he is killed (defeated a third time); no one can tell what is on the data chit
You find yourself in a large bay on the underside of the structure. Looking out over the edge, you can see far, far below you is the miniscule ring of the city walls around Asgard. The air is thin and crisp, the cold catching those under dressed by surprise. (if the party took the old Bifrost here, You must have traveled a hundred miles East and almost six miles straight up! All in only a few minutes! Looking westward, you can make out a faint rainbow stretching just over the horizon.) Turning back, you can see the whole of the bay is a large, empty room, with a raised dais in the center of the half-circle extending out over the drop. Set into the back wall is a large door, made of smaller, curved pieces of metal. Walking up to it, it opens, with a whoosh, like an iris. The air inside blows past you, indicating a difference in pressure, and carries with it a chemical scent. The whole of the temple appears to be constructed out of a combination of grey and greenish colored metals, with glowing panels lighting up the corridors beyond the iris door. The halls of this temple, (like the others,) appear to be quite spacious. The temple is constantly bathed in an eerie grey-green glow with red accents, an occasional smattering of blue and white light breaking up the monotony of the design and decor.
Those with genius intellect in the party can tell that the different colors of light emanating from the various sources could be forms of data transmission, showing just how advanced this place truly is. They also show a great reverence for this place, though they have never been here and cannot bring themselves to deface any part of the temple or its dungeon. This same compulsion effect doesn’t work on beings without genius intellects.
At this point, have the players adventure through the dungeon, gathering experience points, random loot, and using the information in the materials below for mini-boss and the dungeon’s main boss fights. This is a great location for teaching characters new skills, awarding those with knowledge of computer use new feats and free skill points as they progress through the dungeon that may be helpful/necessary or even for them to use the ancient, yet advanced computer software and technology to create their own weapons or tech, within reason. Each mini-boss drops one of the key cards/data chits listed above which are needed to open the vault, after defeating the main boss.
When Heimdall arrives, (The mechanically inclined in the party sense a feel the hair on the backs of their necks rise as they realize what all this giant tech is doing here, if there are characters with genius intellect and/or mechanical/computer skills/knowledge.) Suddenly, you hear clicks and whirs as a section of the floor slides away to reveal a massive hole in the middle of the arena. A giant creature rises into the arena. The giant form of Heimdall looms above you, his massive frame (now more) heavily armored and covered in antennae and spikes with lightning arcing between them (characters with genius intellect and/or mechanical/computer skills/knowledge can tell that these are a wireless charging mechanism and that stopping him (this time) will be extremely difficult, if not impossible…). With a resonating boom the giant mecha’s heavy footfall shakes the ground. “I am Heimdall,” the robotic voice announces. “I am death!” The mech’s immensely heavy armor plating is covered is untouched, having been repaired recently, foreshadowing the coming battle. He draws a massive greatsword, holding it with two hands. As steam shoots out of vents on his sides, he picks up the sword and makes two very quick slicing chops in front of himself. (The sheer amount of awe in the demonstration and the imposing figure strikes fear in the heart(s) of those who can recognize such immeasurable technological power. See Fear section below). Good luck, players! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
When they reach the vault, The elevator slowly raises you to a floor made up of a balcony overlooking the vast expanse of the world below, the bright blue sky, the green fields, and snow-capped mountains far below that look as though there never were a cataclysm that wiped out the Asgardians. Directly in front of the lift, opposite the room of the balcony windows, are three pedestals, each with a protective barrier shielding the contents inside, which are visible to the party. Inside the center-most forcefield is the Hammer of Hephaestus, inside one of the smaller ones is a raised panel with a small screen and a port, and the other smaller energy vault holds a number of rings.
The rings depend on the party. The suggested party for this campaign is at least an Earth-realm genius, a Jade-realm mage, and a bleeding heart; but, generally, you want the five or six pillars of a good roleplaying group which are DPS (damage per second, and usually two or one being a tank), mage, rogue, ranged specialist, and healer, so the recommended rings are 1.) Ring of Spell Knowledge I, 2.) Ring of Protection +2, 3.) Ring of Swarming Stabs, 4.) Ring of Maniacal Devices, 5.) Ring of Curing, and 6.) Scholar’s Ring, but feel free to random roll other rings or even other treasure in general.
Any character who is evil or has committed an atrocity (defacing the Catacombs, killing innocents, etc.; or has been self-proclaimed to be evil at any point unless they were lying, bluffing, or have been reformed since) is repelled from the vaults and can only move within a five foot area around the balcony and toward and out the doorway from which the players entered. It is not possible for these evil characters to approach or touch any vaults. Period.
The locks for all three vaults are voice identification devices mounted below a small holoscreen displaying a different riddle for each vault. The riddles listed below are examples and can be changed if necessary (like if someone knows it out of character because, preferably, this should be a brain teaser for the players as much as it is for the characters. And NO CHEATING! No phones allowed! These riddles should be familiar to almost everyone anyway). If you feel benevolent, ignore this and add keys to the loot they can.
The riddles are 1.(for the hammer) This thing all things devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers, gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal, slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountain down, 2.(for the rings) A nose of steel works afield, breaks, but remains unbroken, and 3.(for the cure slot) It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, it lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills, it comes first and follows after, ends life, kills laughter. Once they give the correct answers (1=Time, 2=a plowshare, 3=the dark), With a snap-hiss, the barriers withdraw into the pedestals, the objects inside suspended inside stasis fields, free for the taking.
Asking Arcee about the viewscreen and port (if this is the first cure they find) will prompt her to probe the mainframe for information, at which point the party learns they can find the cures developed after the initial outbreak hidden in the temples. Arcee is then shut out of the mainframe by Heimdall (the final boss in each dungeon). This gives the party their Secondary Mission: cure the infected. The information available from Arcee may be a tad confusing for the players if this is the first temple selected, as with this section, the cure needs to be taken from Heimdall after he is killed before it can be used here at the treasure vaults of the Temple of the Scholar, so beating him here first won’t give them the cure when they unlock the means to cure everything in the vaults.
It is recommended that this is the final temple for this reason. Otherwise the party will need to backtrack to this temple in order to cure the tech zombies. The other smaller vault has whatever treasure in it the DM sees fit, or no treasure if the party seems to be getting too much too soon. The vault with the zombie cure must be more difficult to open than the other two vaults, as this one will not be freely opened by plot devices and it holds something more valuable than mere treasure. The party leaves out the way they came, no longer impeded by traps and enemies. Have the party decide where to go next.
If they wish to brave the Calliope Wastelands:
The Calliope Wastelands
Masked by a small forest at the edge of the grassy fields outside of Asgard, you soon find yourself in a craggy and desolate land, devoid of life, that seems to stretch on forever. Luckily, you have Arcee to drive you there. (If there are bigger than medium sized characters, Thankfully Hapta was able to recover a sort of wagon to allow her to haul the biggest of your party, so they wouldn’t be left behind or brave the days of trudging through the rocky desert.) Even the sky seems to turn a dull grey, reflecting the land below. A couple hours in, you notice strange pools of lava dotting the landscape on either side of the crude road you now travel. Eventually, these disappear behind you. For now, the journey continues.
Pause for dramatic effect and to denote the passage of time before, You finally see the first sightings of small houses in the distance and as you get closer you can see they all sit along a main road, though staggered, with a small tower at the far end of the road and the large building nestled between the houses. The rocky landscape dramatically begins changing to low grasses and eventually you can make out low fences and farmland. Arcee stops to let everyone out a short way away from the first of the houses. Strangely, she does not speak.
If players try to talk, Arcee hushes you and puts a hand to her ear (audio receptor for those with genius intellect or mechanical knowledge). You hear only a deafening silence. Not even a breeze can heard through the grasses. Have the players decide what to do. Once they walk up to the farming village, You hear a shriek smash through the silence and see Arcee point to the nearest house as a little girl comes running from around from the back and onto the road! She runs straight at you and you see something chasing her, and gaining! Straining your eyes, you can see that it is the rotting corpse of a dog! The party needs to save the little girl! Clearly this place has already fell victim to the zombie horde. After they beat the lone zombie dog, the girl is inconsolable. Any attempt to ask her what happened or where her family/parents/relatives/etc. are are met with more crying, sobbing, and repeating “They’re all dead!” Let the players decide what to do.
If they try to kill the little girl, let them. If they let her live, they need to decide what to do with her. Suggestions are bring her along and protect her or clear a house and lock her inside for her safety until they clear all the zombies. Hopefully they remember to come back for her at some point, otherwise they will have committed an act of evil and cannot access the vaults. If they ask, she’ll be fine on her own because the farm houses and fields have food and a babbling brook flows nearby with fresh, clean water.
Bringing her along means they’ll have a target to protect the whole time, but the zombies won’t go after her no matter how open she is. Why is outline below.
They will need to leave her behind once they access the old Bifrost, however, so eventually they will need to barricade her inside a house with food and water until they can come back and rescue her. Or they could try and rescue her by taking her back to the shrine, but this will take another two days and they can’t afford to waste time. As an added bonus, the little girl is the Sorceress in a very convincing magical disguise.
If they try to kill the little girl, Your weapon embeds itself solidly in the small, innocent child, her eyes looking into your very soul in pain and questioning horror. The girl’s skin begins to crack, like fine porcelain, before the entire top half of her body explodes, violently! From out of a void, giant tentacles shoot forth! Impossibly, the Sorceress crawls out of the little girl, towering stories above you! If you feel like challenging your players and giving them the shock of their lives, have them fight her and show them just how powerful she truly is! Regardless, they cannot kill her yet and she must escape somehow. I would suggest just having her beamed out of the area by the Bifrost and back to the Citadel.
If they fight her before fighting through the village, then she does not get the +2 bonus in the final battle. If she survives disguised as a child until the party leaves or leaves her alone, she returns to the Citadel and gets a +2 bonus on all actions against the party in the final confrontation. Once they enter the village, random roll zombie encounters as you please until they reach the old Bifrost on the other side of the town past the guard tower. There is the guard tower on the West side, a general store on the East, and six farm houses of varying sizes staggered between them. The farm houses may not have much in them, but feel free to random roll loot in the guard tower and general store. They would have been well stocked considering how important food is and farmers probably wouldn’t have been able to raid a weapons depot or vault.
Once they reach the old Bifrost, You stand in front of a low dais with a small set of stairs. Stepping up onto the massive disc, it appears almost crystalline, throwing multicolored reflections onto the grasses, crops, and allies around you. Arcee stands directly in the middle of the warp pad and closes her eyes. Suddenly, a rainbow blasts down from the clouds and surrounds you in a pulsating light! The light parts like a curtain and you find yourself in a dark void surrounded by pinpricks of light. Before you lies a bridge made of multicolored, striated bands of hard light, stretching out into the darkness. In the distance you can make out the faint light coming from another rainbow beam shooting up into the abyss. It only takes a couple minutes to walk to the other end. When you arrive there, Arcee takes her place in the middle of the dais, raising her arms up and out. She pulls them into her sides, fists clenched, and moves her legs out in a horse stance. The barrier falls and you wait a moment to allow your eyes to adjust. Begin reading from the Temple of the Scholar section.
Assault on the Citadel before taking the Temple of the Scholar starts here but then certain encounters will be modified and will be in “alternate 4”
Once all hammers are acquired, or if they decide for some stupid reason to assault the Citadel early, party journeys back to city, fights through Citadel, face the Sorceress, she escapes in the Bifrost to the Valhalla accelerating her plans, giving the players a limited amount of time to stop her
The party needs to fight their way through the city. If they have the Comet Shard and/or have cured the tech zombies (assuming they aren’t coming here before the Scholar temple), use zombie types not already cured, which should be magic zombies since carrying the Comet Shard would instantly cure any plague zombies before they reach the party. Use tech zombies as well as magic zombies if they skipped the Scholar temple to assault the Citadel. Regardless of whether the party has all three hammers or not, all player characters must have had their hand shaken by Hapta. The players have another choice here: go through the Catacombs or go in for a full frontal assault at the main entrance.
If they go through the Catacombs, (if they backtracked and chose an alternate entrance, ignore the parts below about zombies while the party is inside the Citadel; have them get attacked in the Catacombs a lot unless they’ve cured all of the zombies) have them go in the same way as before and go through the Catacombs, but instead of going partway around the walkway, they must fight through the three levels above them, with a ramp leading up to each floor on the opposite side of the ramp they took to get up, so have them walk halfway around the walkway before being able to go up another floor.
Use A LOT of random encounters and make sure two zombies join the fight every round. More if necessary, this place is filled to the brim with dead people, after all, and is obviously the harder choice for assaulting the Citadel. You reach the doorway (if they didn’t get captured the first time, through which you watched the Sorceress disappear into back when you first braved the Catacombs,) that leads to the Citadel above. The massive vaulted halls, occasionally broken by tapered portals, lead you up, past storerooms filled with supplies, foodstuffs, and various materials for forging and crafting. Every few feet there are magical torches in ornate wall sconces, keeping the place well lit. When you all first entered the Citadel, the door closed silently behind you and cannot be opened. As you continue up through the golden halls of the Citadel of Asgard, you find your way into the vaults. Many have been opened, their contents emptied, but some still remain closed and locked.
This isn’t the time for it, but the players can attempt to open them. However, taking from the royal vaults is not a reward and therefore is considered theft, meaning the players will have willingly committed an act of evil, and cannot access the vaults in the Temple of the Scholar if they assaulted the Citadel before taking the Temple. If they really, really, want to, feel free to roll random loot for the small vaults or have a number of vaults contain weapons or items the players really need, because they will need them if they haven’t been to the Temple of the Scholar.
After this point, the players will randomly encounter zombie patrols inside the Citadel. These zombies will need to be big and tough, another reason why they shouldn’t be here before going to the Temple of the Scholar. Have the players adventure through the various levels of the Citadel before reaching the top level, where they will encounter the Sorceress in the Bifrost room. If a player manages to get a higher initiative roll than her, or has a higher speed, then they can initiate combat. They cannot win, however, but they can get experience points for surviving. At some point, the Sorceress needs to escape in the Bifrost in a flash of bright light that temporarily stuns and dazes you. They can loot the rooms of the Citadel, but other than the weapon storage rooms, this constitutes theft. The items found in the whole of the Citadel belong to the Empress, Odin. Everything outside the Citadel is fair game, considering Asgard’s current state and the treasure in the vaults in the temples are considered rewards, even by the Empress.
After the Sorceress disappears, have the players decide what to do next. If they need help deciding, they can either use the mass cure spell to cure one third of the zombies or they can chase the Sorceress. They also have the option of going back through the Citadel, if they really, really want to. (If they have beaten all three temples, you can have the Sorceress drop the Helmet of Rostam as she flees, providing the party the opportunity to cure all of the plague zombies; this combined with the mass cure spell they should have and having already cured all of the tech zombies assuming they beat all three Temples and used the cure chit at the data terminal in the tech temple, or at least they can backtrack now, but only if they beat all three temples already, then they can cure 100% of the zombies before moving on or when they get back.)
When they reach the Citadel main entrance, (if they backtracked and chose an alternate entrance, ignore the parts below about zombies) You reach the front entrance to the Citadel, which looms beautifully, yet menacingly, above you. The walls and the double doors seem to also be made out of the gold-alloy, gleaming in the light (of the sun or torches if it is night). The door has no handles and fits seamlessly into the wall; the only indication of a door is the ornate carvings that give the impression of an outline divided into two parts.
The players need to figure out that they all need to be touching the door, except for Arcee whose hand hasn’t been shaken. When the first player touches the door, A small area around your hand begins to glow with a blue light. After all the players have their hands on the door, The lights from your hands coalesce into a large glow that spreads out to the edges of the doorway before being drawn into the carvings and etchings, filling them with a cool blue light. The light could draw zombies if it is dark outside. The glow fades quickly, then the doors begin to part, swinging outward, forcing you to take a few steps back until they fully open. Peering inside, you can see high vaulted ceilings and portals tapered at the top, all made from the golden alloy. Every few feet there are magical torches in ornate wall sconces, keeping the place well lit. When you all enter the Citadel, the door closes silently behind you and cannot be opened. The hand trick seems to have been a one-time use.
The vaults, storage rooms, and entrance to the Catacombs are below the current level the players are on. This isn’t the time for it, but the players can attempt to open the vaults. However, taking from the royal vaults is not a reward and therefore is considered theft, meaning the players will have willingly committed an act of evil, and cannot access the vaults in the Temple of the Scholar if they assaulted the Citadel before taking the Temple. If they really, really, want to, feel free to roll random loot for the small vaults or have a number of vaults contain weapons or items the players really need, because they will need them if they haven’t been to the Temple of the Scholar. After this point, the players will randomly encounter zombie patrols inside the Citadel. These zombies will need to be big and tough, another reason why they shouldn’t be here before going to the Temple of the Scholar. Have the players adventure through the various levels of the Citadel before reaching the top level, where they will encounter the Sorceress in the Bifrost room. If a player manages to get a higher initiative roll than her, or has a higher speed, then they can initiate combat. They cannot win, however, but they can get experience points for surviving.
At some point, the Sorceress needs to escape in the Bifrost in a flash of bright light that temporarily stuns and dazes you. They can loot the rooms of the Citadel, but other than the weapon storage rooms, this constitutes theft. The items found in the whole of the Citadel belong to the Empress, Odin. Everything outside the Citadel is fair game, considering Asgard’s current state and the treasure in the vaults of the temples are considered rewards, even by the Empress. After the Sorceress disappears, have the players decide what to do next.
The party needs to eventually take the Bifrost in the Citadel to the Valhalla or the Temple of the Scholar, but they can take this time to do a number of things: backtrack to temples they haven’t been to, explore the Calliope Wastelands, check on the little girl if they didn’t kill her, go back and talk to Hapta and maybe convince her to come to the Citadel (you, the DM, can suggest this for reasons explained below) and have cleared every floor of zombies, hunt zombies, find and administer all of the cures, etc. They also have the option of going back through the Citadel, if they really, really want to. (If they have beaten all three temples, you can have the Sorceress drop the Helmet of Rostam as she flees, providing the party the opportunity to cure all of the plague zombies; this combined with the mass cure spell they should have and having already cured all of the tech zombies assuming they beat all three Temples and used the cure chit at the data terminal in the tech temple, or at least they can backtrack now, but only if they beat all three temples already, then they can cure 100% of the zombies before moving on or when they get back.)
Assuming they did everything correctly, the party should be ready to cure all of the zombies before leaving the Citadel, if they got the Helmet of Rostam from the Sorceress as she fled through the Bifrost. In this case, they can go back to the floor just below the Bifrost chamber and can try to unlock the Amplifier chair for the cures known as the Maharaja Ranjit Singh's throne. When the party reaches the floor just under the Bifrost room, the Amplifier room, You wind up in a room, circular and spaciously empty, that is lined around the circumference by walls of glass. Upon closer inspection, you notice the glass has a strange magnifying effect, allowing you to clearly see the city below and much of the surrounding countryside. The floor is broken up by large rings of the gold-alloy, save for a small circular section with a large lever, the only thing occupying any space at all on this floor of the Citadel.
When they players pull the lever, The floor begins to shift, the rings turning below your feet, forcing you all to step off, except for the one person who pulled the lever. The ring sections slowly begin to rise as they spin, creating steps that lead up to a golden dais. The topmost ring, a solid cylinder, instead slid out of the way, revealing a hidden chamber. The floor of the chamber rises, bringing the contents into view, before stopping above the final step. Before sits a throne made of solid gold, and not the alloy you are so accustomed to seeing around the city. (Those with knowledge of Norse mythology will recognize this as Lidskjalf, the throne of Odin, from which he was able to see all of the nine realms in their entirety.) As you stare in awe, a section of the ceiling slides away and a mystical contraption slides down from above: many large magnifying glasses attached to impossibly thin metal rods drops to cover the throne. As you watch, you see ghostly apparitions of the same glasses slide into the same positions.
Mages will recognize the ghost glass as aura lenses, used to focus spells, and the fact they are here indicates an extremely powerful mage created them, possibly more powerful than even the Archmage of Jade, the most powerful mage in the universe. Those with genius intellect may surmise that they are in a state of quantum superposition. Warriors and fighters may not care much for the garish display. What happens next is that One of the glasses shifts, creating an opening through which a character can slip through, allowing them access to the throne and the marvelous contraption above it.
If a character sits in the throne, You can see the whole of the realm of Asgard, but you immediately shut your eyes as you are very quickly overwhelmed by the sights. Opening your eyes again, you can just focus on the city of Asgard below you. You feel a rush of power moving through you, building up with nowhere to go. They need to figure out that the player in the throne needs to use the two cures they brought with them: the spell, and the Helmet of Rostam and Comet Shard.
When they use the spell, The scroll rises into the air in front of your and begins to glow. It doesn’t affect your eyes terribly, but those outside need to look away as the light from the spell explodes outward, through the focusing lenses, and further through the magnifying lenses of the outer walls, bathing the realm in a bright light, but only for an instant. When the spots and afterimages fade from your eyes, you can see, through the magnifying lens walls, that many of the zombies below lie on the ground, stunned. You won’t know if the spell worked until you go back down to check on the people.
When they use the Helmet of Rostam and the Comet Shard, You must sit in the lotus position, or cross-legged, in order to hold the Comet Shard while you put the Helmet of Rostam on your head. When the Helmet is in place, you can see through the demon’s eyes and, using the glasses, you can see the plague zombies glow with sickly yellow aura. You also find that you can will them to move one way or another. Taking the Comet Shard into your arms and holding it aloft, its light is amplified by the throne device and it begins to glow brighter. It doesn’t affect your eyes terribly, but those outside need to look away as the light from the stone explodes outward, through the focusing lenses, and further through the magnifying lenses of the outer walls, bathing the city in a bright light, but only for an instant. When the spots and afterimages fade from your eyes, you can see, through the magnifying lens walls, that many of the zombies below lie on the ground, stunned. You won’t know if the spell worked until you go back down to check on the people, but you can tell that (unlike the spell, if they used the spell first,) the power from the stone cannot reach beyond the city walls, even with the mystic power of the Amplifier throne. You will need someone to sit in the throne and use the unlimited range of the amplified Helmet of Rostam to draw all of the zombies in the realm to the city to be cure by the Comet Shard. Their options are to abandon a party member (not an act of evil), get Hapta as mentioned above, leave behind Arcee (she will volunteer before any suggestion from the party is made), or use healing magic on one of the cured zombies in order to get an Asgardian to do the job. Once they can do all they can do with the Amplifier throne, the party is free to chase the Sorceress through the Bifrost or leave, if they chose to use the throne after defeating the Sorceress on the Valhalla.
Party gives chase, ends up on Valhalla, need to stop Sorceress before she assaults Earth with necromancy
The party needs to eventually take the Bifrost in the Citadel to the Valhalla or the Temple of the Scholar, but they can take this time to do a number of things: backtrack to temples they haven’t been to, explore the Calliope Wastelands, check on the little girl if they didn’t kill her, go back and talk to Hapta and maybe convince her to come to the Citadel and have cleared every floor of zombies, hunt zombies, find and administer all of the cures, etc.
However, if they get to this point and have not yet explored the Temple of the Scholar, they must go there next. If they went to the Citadel to get to the Scholar temple before any other temples, and somehow beat their way through and scared the Sorceress off, the game ends and they lose with no reward (see Rank E “Bad End” below) since it would take too long to accomplish anything else before the Sorceress invades Earth and becomes impossible to stop, conquering two worlds and taking a Star Destroyer with interplanetary and interdimensional capabilities. If they need only explore the Scholar temple, they have a limited amount of time to do so. This can be determined by rolling 1d6 for the number of hours before it’s too late and the game ends (see Rank E “Bad End” below).
DO NOT LET THE PLAYERS KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING. They won’t need to worry about time if they immediately follow the Sorceress to the Valhalla, but they’ll be missing the last cure and hammer needed to defeat her, in which case the game also immediately ends, but the party gets a front row seat to the end of the universe (see Rank E “Bad End” below). It takes one hour to drive to any temple and nine hours to get to and through the Calliope Wastelands and to explore the village (if they take the Bifrost to the old Bifrost, they can explore the village and warp back in an hour), but only a few minutes to get to the Scholar temple. Keep track of the amount of time they spend in the Temple or wherever they go and whatever they do. Use tally marks for combat, each tally being six seconds or ten tallies for a minute. If they rush through, when they get to a boss fight, have every single zombie they didn’t kill join the fight. When they’re looting, searching, or generally wasting time by talking, keep track of the time they take to talk and roll a d10 for minutes it takes to loot and search individually. This is where the players will be punished severely for meta-gaming, breaking character, murderhobo-ing, not being thorough despite the time constraints, and doing anything that wastes time. If they meet or exceed the time limit, the game ends (see Rank E “Bad End” below).
If or when they warp to the Valhalla, After your eyes adjust from the bright light of the warp, you find yourself standing on a crystal dais, but this one has wires and tubes embedded into it that feed into consoles and terminals surrounding the pad. There are number of empty spaces through which you can step off and into the main area of the room you find yourselves in. The room is spacious. Oddly, the polished grey metal walls abruptly give way to more of the gold-alloy. It would seem the room has been altered to accommodate beings of Arcee’s height. The ceiling is broken up into large golden panels and smaller light panels that glow with a cold, white light. A large metal door, also two-tone, stands agape on the far wall.
The players need to navigate the maze of the Star Destroyer’s labyrinth of rooms and corridors. Don’t let them know it’s a Star Destroyer until they reach the command deck and can see through the forward viewports! It’ll spoil the surprise! I did already tell you than anything not in purple or blue text should not be read to the players unless absolutely necessary and there is absolutely no reason for you, the DM, to tell the players that the Valhalla is a Star Destroyer! If you feel they need a challenge, and if they aren’t pressed for time, you can random roll encounters for various zombies that were not present for curing on Asgard. They have all the time they need if they didn’t come here or assault the Citadel prematurely because the Sorceress doesn’t know they’re here or that they followed her, and thus has not accelerated her plans.
There is nothing of value to the characters to loot in any rooms, but the cafeterias will have food and various types of storage rooms will have tech and weapons that Earth-realm and genius intellect characters can use. If you remember, Jade realm characters cannot use tech because they don’t know how to and because advanced technology is banned on Jade and the surrounding realms and dimensions. Only a handful of individuals are allowed to bring tech to the magical worlds. Characters with genius intellect, feats or skills regarding languages, and/or computer use skills can hack or use computer terminals and command consoles to access maps of floors, reroute power to lights, doors, and lifts, and even learn alien languages if they roll high enough or have the right feats. This section can be further augmented by a horror atmosphere, raising tension. Have lights flicker, odds or evens to see if the doors and lifts work when they try them, mention the eerie quiet, the strange echoes, blood stains, bloody palm and foot prints, sparking panels half ripped out of terminals, walls, and ceilings, etc.
The players need to eventually get to the hangar bay so they can have room to fight the Sorceress before she takes the only ship on the Valhalla, a Lamba shuttle, fills it with various zombies, and sets it on autopilot to land on the surface. When the party reaches the hangar bay, You step through the large doorway and enter a room mind-blowingly big, but empty. This cavernous bay has not been altered like the other areas of the ship and is only polished gunmetal grey with many large, extremely bright glowing panels above. The far wall of the room is less a wall and more of a shimmery blue barrier through which you can see a large blue-green sphere smattered with white, partially eclipsed by a smaller, closer, white sphere. (Those from Earth recognize it as Earth) In the middle of the room is a large mechanical contraption (those from Earth and/or with genius intellect can identify it as a space ship or drop ship) half full of zombies and being filled by the minute. Behind the vessel stands the giant form of the Lovecraftian horror that is the Sorceress, in all of her frighteningly beautiful, tentacled glory. She hasn’t noticed your arrival just yet, but it’s only a matter of time before shoe does.
She’ll turn around in one minute, or ten rounds, and it will take a full round move action to get most of the way there, meaning she’ll see the party coming, but they can make a move action and then an attack action on their next turn after they start running. Otherwise, they need to decide what to do. The party needs to beat the Sorceress and stop the shuttle from delivering its payload of pestilence onto the planet below.
When the Sorceress sees the party, The Sorceress turns, seeing you (approach), and her expression sours, turning furiously hostile as she prepares herself for battle, her tentacles whipping back and forth and magic power glowing in her hands! The players must fight the Sorceress before they can stop the shuttle. She’s too big to get around. However, the party can delay the launch by killing the zombies that make their way to the shuttlecraft. The shuttle needs ten zombies to take off. Roll a d8 and subtract one from the roll, if you get a zero reroll it, and use the charts below to see where they come from. If they come from doors 1 and 7, they will make it to the craft with the Sorceress’ protection. Zombies from 2 and 6 have a 50% chance of being intercepted. 3 and 5, 75%. Zombies from door 4 will be caught in the fight. Killing the zombies or delaying them will buy time to defeat the Sorceress. If the shuttle takes off, then the players have all the time they need to beat the Sorceress, but will need to find a way to destroy the shuttlecraft or beat it to Earth.
This will be explored later. For now, if they let the little girl live, the Sorceress gets a permanent +2 on all actions against the party for the rest of the game. When the shuttle takes off, the Sorceress will be distracted and the person with the fastest speed and the person with the highest initiative will have a free action. If they use it to attack, they get max damage and the Sorceress will be at 0 EVA/Evasion. Any other action they get a +2 on, but only in this moment.
It’s possible to end the combat here. If a player decides to take a risk, they can catch everyone off guard by stopping the fight. This works on the Sorceress, too, and will afford the player an opportunity to open a dialogue with the Sorceress. She will be more receptive, now that her mission has been accomplished. The power she’ll wield from enslaving two worlds and knowing she’ll be raised as a zombie herself to lead the hordes will afford her a moment to relax and lower her guard. This is the only chance to take advantage of this opportunity, as once she realizes the players can still stop the ship, she will resume combat if she hasn’t been attacked by another player at this point. This must happen naturally. You cannot suggest this to them! They’ll get another chance to save/reform the Sorceress after they defeat her. It would just be a moment in which to be extremely proud of your players if they figure out what to do. You shouldn’t be disappointed or angry with them if they don’t at least try this option because this isn’t something you learn to do when playing other games. It’s okay. It just… could have been more beautiful. If that makes sense.
When combat resumes, go until someone remembers her weakness and can successfully pass four consecutive saves in reflex, Speed/SPD, acrobatics, or EVA/Evasion. These checks are how a character can get under the Sorceress and they get one free attack at her weak point, the cursed pearl embedded in her. One good hit from the activated gravity hammer will knock her over and expose her weak spot. It will take a combined attack from all three Hammers to destroy the pearl. If they can’t figure it out, have the ones who successfully passed checks in the Catacombs to see the pearl roll MIN/Mind checks to remember seeing it. Then mention it’s underneath the Sorceress and they can try and dodge around her tentacles to get underneath. If one of the other two hammers hit the pearl, it will be partially dislodged and the Sorceress will eject the player from underneath her.
Once all three hammers hit her individually (an unempowered gravity hammer will still work, but an empowered will knock her over and allow for the combined attack mentioned above), the pearl will fall out, dramatically weakening her and a combined attack from all three hammers will knock her out.
If the pearl is removed, as stated above, she will be weakened and transform back into Rachel after being knocked unconscious, but if the pearl is destroyed, she will begin transforming back into Rachel while she is still conscious. Here is the second opportunity for players to attempt to save/reform her. They need to stop attacking her and open a dialogue as she reverts. The last attempt to save/reform her is to wait for her to wake up either in the med-bay of the Valhalla or after taking her back to the Citadel on Asgard. If they even let her live.
Treat the Sorceress as your, the DM’s, player character. Treat her with as much love and care as you would any other character you would play outside this game. Once her hitpoints are reduced to zero, she becomes unconscious. This is the final decision-making point in the game. Have the players decide what to do.
If the pearl is removed (i.e. one hammer hits the pearl at a time), The pearl falls to the ground with a loud *plink*, bouncing then rolling away before coming to a stop a few feet from the Sorceress’s giant, prone form. Her expression fills with pain and anguish as she gets to her feet with much effort. (Throughout the next few rounds of combat, relay the following information as it is read here) She seems shorter and in the next few moments of combat you can tell that she is, indeed, shrinking. Once she reaches a height about average for a human, her monstrous features begin disappearing. You notice that, as she becomes more human, she also becomes more fatigued. As soon as all of the changes stop, she falls to her knees, struggling for air in her exhaustion. At this point she is open to the combo attack.
If the pearl is destroyed (i.e. if the empowered gravity hammer knocks the Sorceress over and she’s hit by the combo attack), The pearl either implodes in a brilliant flash of dispersed magical power, and ( begin reading here when the combo attack is used on the shrunken Sorceress in the paragraph above) the resulting explosion engulfs the Sorceress. After the ethereal smoke clears, you see the Sorceress, now fully transformed into a young woman, lying on the ground, unconscious.
Again, this is the final decision-making point in the game. Have the players decide what to do with the Sorceress.
Don’t let them get comfortable! They still have the dropship to worry about! The players need to destroy it or stop the plague on Earth.
Secret Mission: Save the Earth!
The players have two options, though you can certainly come up with more. The main options are use the Bifrost to get to Earth and destroy the zombies before they infect anyone and ride the shuttle back on autopilot OR if they have a genius intellect character or character with high computer use skills, they can reroute some power to the cannons and either disable the ship with an ion cannon or destroy it outright with a turbolaser battery. The cannons have a 30% miss chance and it will take a new check to get a new cannon online, with the Star Destroyer only having six turbolasers and two ion cannons. Each cannon can get in two shots before the ship gets too close to the Earth and the chances of doing major damage to the planet exponentially increase. If you roll a 1%, you hit the moon. The Star Destroyer cannot be taken into the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s too damaged and will not survive reentry, killing all aboard in a massive explosion that could significantly destroy a portion of the Earth.
If you wanna give it a chance, and there’s a pilot in the group, you can roll a percentile and see if you can get above 95%. If by some miracle this works, the pilot can take the only TIE fighter in the other hangar bay out to destroy the ship. If they can destroy or disable the ship, Earth is saved (and you could use the dropship full of zombies for a future campaign! Say, if a space mission found a derelict vessel full of undead, hmm?). If they can’t, they need to take the Bifrost down to Earth and fight twenty zombies. Each round, there is a percent chance equal to the remaining number of zombies that a bystander will become infected (20% when combat starts).
When the zombies and/or the ship are stopped, the players can finally rest, their missions accomplished.
End game: Save, Defeat, or Kill Sorceress
Save: return Rachel to her original form by destroying the magical pearl implanted by Dreadwing after Gothwrain corrupted her
Defeat: render the Sorceress unconscious
Kill: end Rachel’s life, permanently
Once the players have battled the Sorceress to a standstill and/or rendered her unconscious by either removing or destroying the cursed pearl implanted in her, the players need to choose whether or not kill her or spare her. If she is unconscious, they must wait for her to wake up before trying to save/reform her, or if she becomes exhausted and cannot escape they can attempt to save/reform her before dealing the final blow. Killing her outright will end the campaign with the Empress confronting the players on the Valhalla. Sparing her will mean either leaving her on the ship or bringing her back to Asgard, at which point when she wakes they can save and/or reform her. When the pearl is destroyed, she transforms back into Rachel.
Kill her: Killing the Sorceress means killing Rachel, daughter of the Empress Odin and the only hope to cure the zombies if the players have not cured all or most of them, thus plunging Asgard into ruin and damnation forever, as the Empress is a descendent of a god and without anyone believing in her (i.e. having no subjects in Asgard or no Earth), she will cease to exist, her only memory being carried on as a ghost bound to the amulet that Arcee will inherit. THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE ENDING. DO NOT LET THE PLAYERS KNOW THIS BEFORE THEY GO THROUGH WITH THEIR DECISION. They need to live with the consequences of their actions.
Spare her: Sparing the Sorceress, regardless of what is done with her after that, ensures she will survive and, rest easy, that Empress Odin will save and reform her in due time, saving Asgard by bringing back the one person who can cure them all without player intervention. Regardless of how many zombies the players cured, this is the optimal ending. DO NOT LET THE PLAYERS KNOW THIS BEFORE THEY GO THROUGH WITH THEIR DECISION. They need to live with the consequences of their actions.
Save/reform her: This is where the players give the Sorceress a chance to speak, to hear her side of the story. After being defeated or fought to a standstill, she will either tell the party who she is before falling unconscious, letting Arcee fill them in, or will angrily shout her story at the party while desperately trying to fight them off. This will happen after a designated point in the plot in the above materials. Knowing why she did what she did, smarter players may roll to sense foul play, but more compassionate players may console her by informing her that some/many/all of the Asgardians have been cured or can be cured, though her lover can’t be resurrected and that is okay. She will see the error of her ways. This is the best possible end, as Rachel is consoled by other people, not by her royal mother, and she decides to reform of her own volition, as well as being able to cure the zombies that have not yet been cured. This is the best possible ending, with room for extra rewards. DO NOT LET THE PLAYERS KNOW THIS BEFORE THEY GO THROUGH WITH THEIR DECISION. They need to live with the consequences of their actions.
Epilogue
Regarding Rachel/the Sorceress:
If they take her to the infirmary/med-bay, After using the computers to find the infirmary, you manage to get some of the life support systems online and place the woman on one of the medical beds. The data terminals indicate that she only needs rest. Roll 1d12 for the hours she’s asleep, then have the players decide what they want to do with her.
If they stay with her in the hangar or take her to the command deck, (You take the Sorceress, no longer transformed, to the command deck. Looking out the forward viewports, you can see the Earth partially obscured beneath the pointed bow of the ship, the massive cannons lining the sides.) You stay with the woman in the hangar, admiring the view outside of the distant stars. Have the players try to heal her. Once they do all they feel they can do, seemingly to no avail, then inform the players that she just needs to rest. Roll 1d12 for the hours she’s asleep, then have the players decide what they want to do with her.
If they didn’t knock her unconscious, she will be extremely tired and will need to rest for 1d20 hours, but you can feel free to read from the dialogue options below. The players can also decide whether to walk with her to the infirmary, take her to Asgard, or wait with her in the hangar or on the command deck if they find it until they’ve had a chance to talk, unless they don’t want to talk.
If they take her back to Asgard, conscious or not (can be before or after any of the options above), You are met by Hapta, uncloaked and puffy eyed. Upon seeing the woman she cries out, “Rachel!” Running over, she wraps her in a hug and won’t let go for some time. You can just make out the sounds of her sobbing. If the players try to ask Hapta what is going on, she won’t respond, but Arcee can. If they don’t know what to do next, have Arcee begin telling them the information outlined in the very beginning of this book on Rachel and Empress Odin. Read only the black sections. Have Hapta/Odin tell them the missing information (read everything in purple) after Arcee is done explaining her side of things. Start with Rachel’s info, then the Empress’, then Arcee’s hidden information. If the players ask about Gothwrain, Dreadwing, or Ancient Gina, have Empress Odin only shrug her shoulders.
If they kill her, You stand over the limp body of the Sorceress. Having ended her life, and her reign of terror, your mission is complete. Inform the players that they return to Asgard (have them decide whether they take Rachel’s body with them or not), and that when Hapta meets them, she reveals herself to be the Empress Odin, and that she saw what they had done. The game immediately ends. The players either get a Rank D ending or a Rank E ending. In case of a Rank D ending, tell them that their valiant efforts garnered them a substantial reward and that they were returned to wherever they came from. In case of Rank E, read the section below.
Rachel’s dialogue options:
(The Sorceress wakes with a start, if the players knocked her unconscious) “What’s going on!?” (If she wasn’t unconscious, start from here) The woman begins trying to get up too quickly and falls back down onto the bed/floor. “Ow, my head…” Allow the players to ask questions or talk to Rachel. She doesn’t remember much of anything, so her answers will be vague and when she hears about what she’s done, she has an appalled look on her face. Eventually have her introduce herself, “I am Rachel Odinsdottir, daughter of Empress Odin, descendent of Odin, and heir to the throne of Asgard.” If the party asks her what she does remember or her story, “I used to live in the Citadel with my mother when Asgard was golden stay of hope. I was a healing prodigy and fought the undead plague on the front lines, curing the infected one at a time. It wasn’t enough, so the scouts and probes began looking outside for cures while our scientists and Heimdall began looking inward for salvation.” She sighs, heavily. “I just wish it had been found sooner…” She trails off into a melancholy silence.
If they ask her about it, “I was once in love. They were a proud warrior who fought to defend me while I healed the sick and injured. It was during one such encounter that they became infected by the plague. They didn’t tell me, preferring I help the wounded and cure those already turned. The disease progressed too far for me to cure it before they turned and… After it happened, I found I couldn’t cure this disease. It was something new and more terrifying. I… I couldn’t let them escape and infect more of our people with this new plague…” She pauses for a long time, clearly struggling internally.
Let the players console her or tell her she doesn’t have to talk about it if she can’t or it’s too painful. Eventually, though, “When I saw this new plague begin spreading, regardless, I did what I knew I had to in order to stop it. I entered the vaults below the Citadel and searched for a tome of forbidden dark magicks. It was the only way. To stop the plague, I had to control it. The last clear memory I have is taking control of the undead horde and feeling the power surge through me. Then, something changed. I felt the power rushing back into me and it felt like I was exploding from the inside. I blacked out and when I awoke I saw what I had become and I lost myself in the madness and the evil that had been clawing at the back of my mind. I don’t remember anything else…” She can stop here, but you can have her blurt out at any time after this point, “I vaguely remember meeting a strange man and the pearl and… pain. I can’t remember anything else. I’m sorry…” Any further attempts to talk to her will always have her respond with “I’m sorry…” until she reaches the Citadel, at which point she won’t speak at all, preferring the quiet warmth of her mother’s embrace.
Regarding the Asgardian zombies:
If they cure no zombies, Your efforts to cure the zombies were a complete failure and an utter disgrace. None of the zombies have been cured. Asgard is still in ruins and it will be extremely difficult for those that remain to fight off the ravenous hordes for very long (If they let the Sorceress live, but with the ex-Sorceress’/lost Princess Rachel’s help, they may yet be able to survive and preserve their way of life in their new world).
If they cure one type, Your efforts to cure the zombies yielded few results. Only about one third of the zombies have been cured. It’s a start, but there is a longer, blood-stained road ahead for Asgard (If they let the Sorceress live, but with the help of the ex-Sorceress/lost Princess Rachel, they should be all right).
If they cure two types, Your efforts to cure the zombies yielded much success. About two thirds of the zombies have been cured. Asgard is well on its way to beginning to restore itself to its former glory (If they let the Sorceress live, especially with the help of the ex-Sorceress/lost Princess Rachel).
If they cure all types, Your efforts to cure the zombies were a total success! All of the zombies have been cured! Asgard is safe and they now posses the defenses necessary to repel another such invasion (If they let the Sorceress live, and with the return of the lost Princess Rachel, the realm is once again filled with hope and light)!
Regarding the specific End Ranks:
Rank S, read Cure all zombies after going through the appropriate ending for Rachel and her epilogue above. Have the players decide which epilogue option(s) they will go with. Once Rachel is saved, possibly reformed, and taken back to Asgard, Empress Odin thanks you many, many times, for your help in bringing her daughter back (who can be standing next to her or asleep in her bed, resting from the ordeal.) and gives you each a chest full of gold. She promises you will always be welcome in Asgard and to truly show how thankful she is that you even cured all of her people and restored the glory of Asgard, she offers to trade you the Valhalla for the Hammers. You can choose to keep the hammers. Either way, she is confident that you will take care not to let your reward fall into the hands of evil. Arcee does not receive a chest of gold, but instead is given the Mainframe and Heimdall’s job as protector of the Realm of Asgard and primary CPU for the universe’s largest data collection facility. She gladly accepts, choosing to stay on Asgard. You all exchange fond farewells and prepare to leave. As you depart, Empress Odin offers to send you back to where you came from, though you can always stick together as the greatest group of adventurers ever assembled. Though this adventure leaves you feeling triumphant and powerful, you cannot help but feel a looming sense of danger on the road ahead. (If the players learned about him, Who was the mysterious man Rachel mentioned who gave her the pearl?) For now, though, you look forward to using your rewards and continuing your adventures! This chapter of your lives closes as a new one prepares to open. Your quest over.
Rank A, read Cure some/no zombies after going through the appropriate ending for Rachel and her epilogue above. Have the players decide which epilogue option(s) they will go with. Once Rachel is saved, possibly reformed, and taken back to Asgard, The Empress thanks you profusely for saving her daughter and gives each of you a chest of gold as a reward. Arcee decides to remain on Asgard. The reward is substantial (If the players learned about him but you cannot help but wonder, just who was the mysterious stranger Rachel received the pearl from?). For now, though, you look forward to using your rewards and continuing your adventures! This chapter of your lives closes as a new one prepares to open. Your quest over.
Rank B, read Cure all/some zombies after going through the appropriate ending for Rachel and her epilogue above. Have the players decide which epilogue option(s) they will go with. Once Rachel is defeated, and possibly taken back to Asgard, The Empress thanks you for sparing her daughter and for giving her a chance to save her. She rewards you all with a small chest of gold and asks that you leave the hammers you found with her, though you feel it is less a request and more of a demand. You prepare to leave Asgard, but Arcee decides to stay behind. The Empress offers to return each of you to where you came from. Your quest is over.
Rank C, read Defeat Sorceress and Cure no zombies after going through the appropriate ending for Rachel and her epilogue above. Have the players decide which epilogue option(s) they will go with. Rachel is defeated, and possibly taken back to Asgard, The Empress seems displeased with you, but gives you a small thanks and a small chest of gold each. Upon your return, you find the Citadel houses some cured individuals, but is being fortified against the ever-present zombie threat. The Empress offers to send each of you back where you came from after taking the hammers back. Arcee remains on Asgard. Your quest is over.
Rank D, read Cure all/some zombies after going through the appropriate ending for Rachel and her epilogue above. Have the players decide which epilogue option(s) they will go with. Rachel is killed, and possibly taken back to Asgard, The Empress is overcome with grief and sadness, but she still thanks you for saving her people and gives each of you a small box of gold. She takes the hammers and offers to send you back where you came from. Arcee stays behind to console the Empress. Your quest is over.
Rank E, read Cure no zombies after going through the appropriate ending for Rachel and her epilogue above. Have the players decide which epilogue option(s) they will go with. Rachel is killed, and possibly taken back to Asgard, The Empress summons all of her willpower, trying not to murder you on the spot. She forcibly takes the hammers back and demands you return all of the treasure you’ve acquired, as it is all property of Asgard and thus property of hers. Her facial expression bluntly displays how livid and enraged she is as she banishes you from Asgard forever. “Any drones that cross your path with be openly hostile towards you. You’d do well to avoid them at all costs.” She grins and pointedly offers to send you back to where you came from as a consolation prize. To herself. Arcee is instructed to remain no Asgard. You have failed. Your quest is over. If the players refuse to return the hammers and treasures, they are executed on the spot by Empress Odin as she spears them through the chest with Gungnir. Anyone who attacks her is likewise executed. Arcee cannot act as she is sworn to serve Empress Odin, though she can look on or away in sadness.
GAME OVER
GAME OVER: for two new characters, for each additional character add 50% (x1.5, x2.0, x2.5, etc.)
“Good End” Rank S: Save Rachel, cure all zombies
2000gp + Valhalla
Rank A: Save Rachel, cure some/no zombies
2000gp
Rank B: Defeat Sorceress, cure all/some zombies
1500gp
Rank C: Defeat Sorceress, cure no zombies
1000gp
Rank D: Kill Rachel, cure all/some zombies
500gp
“Bad End” Rank E: Kill Rachel, cure no zombies
No reward + banished from Asgard forever
RANK:
DM Screen info pages: (increase numbers as necessary)
Asgard, The City of
40% random encounter chance
60% if they make loud sounds
80% if they have bright lights (at night)
100% if they have lights and sounds (at night)
1d4 zombies, mix
High/low or Evens/Odds +1 or +2 zombies per round
1d12 restaurants on thoroughfare
DC 10 for breaking windows
DC 15 for breaking locks, to locate safes/lockboxes, to find torches/candles in the mansion
DC 20 for breaking doors, boarded windows, lockboxes
DC 25 for breaking safes
1d20 gp per box/safe
Asgard, The Realm of
20% random encounter chance
1d4 zombies, mix
20% chance to add 1 or 2 zombies each round
The Catacombs
80% random encounter chance
1d6 zombies, primarily magic and plague
+2 zombies per round
DC 30 to spot Sorceress’ Pearl
DC 20 MIN/Spellcraft to see Sorceress’ cast spells on the players
The Temple of the Magi
1d4 zombies, magic
DC 20 to pick vault locks
DC 25 MIN/Perception to find Cure in smaller vault, to break smaller vault locks, reopen locks after triggering the traps
DC 30 to destroy vault door hinges
The Temple of the Warrior
1d4 zombies, plague
DC 20 STR/Acrobatics to jump over lava piles after trap is sprung
DC 20 + 5 for each minute that passes
The Calliope Wastelands
10% random encounter chance
1d4 zombies, plague
The Village
100% random encounter chance in each house
40% random encounter chance outside
60% if they make loud sounds
80% if they have bright lights (at night)
100% if they have lights and sounds (at night)
1d4 zombies, plague
The Temple of the Scholar
1d4 zombies, tech/mecha
DC 20 MIN/Knowledge for big and ring vault riddles (unless the players themselves can figure it out)
DC 25 MIN/Knowledge for cure vault riddle (unless the players themselves can figure it out)
The Citadel
1d4 zombies, mix (unless they’ve been curing zombies)
DC 15 to pick room locks
DC 20 to pick storage locks
DC 25 to break room/storage locks, pick vault locks
DC 30 to break vault locks
The Valhalla
80% random encounter chance
1d4 zombies, mix
+2 per round
DC 15 MIN to remember seeing Pearl in Catacombs for those who saw it
DC 15 to use terminals/consoles, activate lights and lifts
50% chance the doors and lifts don’t work the first time
DC 20 to reroute power, learn some of the Galactic Standard alphabet, access maps of floors, activate first three of any cannon type
DC 20 reflex, SPD, acrobatics, or EVA to dodge first three tentacles to get underneath the Sorceress
DC 25 to dodge last tentacle to get a shot at her weak point, to learn Galactic Standard alphabet from consoles/terminals, to pilot the TIE fighter if there is one, to activate another two of any type of cannon
DC 30 to reactivate all turbolasers and ion cannons, restore power to the whole ship (no fail chance for doors and lifts, all lights work)
30% chance to miss with turbolasers and ion cannons
Quagmire, USA
20 zombies, mix
% = # of remaining zombies to infect bystanders each round, they join the fight
Only plague and magic zombies can infect, Quagmire circa 1993 doesn’t have a lot of computer technology floating around
1 Fear
When you are subject to a fear effect whose level exceeds your current fear level, your fear level increases to that level. If you are subject to a fear effect of a level equal to or lower than your current fear level, your fear level usually increases by one.
However, multiple fear effects can’t force you to progress from a lesser fear level to a greater one. If you are scared and are subject to an additional lesser fear effect, you are staggered for 1 round, rather than becoming frightened. You can, however, accept the frightened condition rather than be staggered while scared if you prefer (such as if you actually want to run away).
1. Spooked: The nature of your surroundings or events that you have witnessed makes you uneasy. You take a –4 penalty on saving throws against fear effects and on Perception checks, as your mind conjures potential horrors in every shadow. However, you are ready to face danger, and gain a +1 circumstance bonus on initiative checks.
2. Shaken: Fear has taken hold of you and you are no longer thinking or acting clearly. You take a –4 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.
3. Scared: You are noticeably afraid, jumping at shadows and easily panicked by odd sights and unexplained noises. You take all of the penalties of the shaken condition, except the penalty on saves against fear effects becomes –8. In addition, if being subject to a lesser fear effect would increase your fear level, you are staggered for 1 round instead.
4. Frightened: You are so afraid that you must flee from the source of your fear. On your turn, you must move away from any source of fear you perceive. Once you can no longer perceive any source of fear, you can act as normal, but you still take all the penalties of the shaken condition. You can use special abilities, such as spells and equipment, to flee and must resort to such abilities if they seem like the only way to escape. If you flee from the source of your fear and it later reappears while you are still frightened, you must immediately begin fleeing again. If unable to flee, you can fight.
5. Panicked: This functions as the frightened condition, but you drop anything held whenever you are forced to flee and you flee in a random direction (roll a d8 for direction). In addition, you treat all sources of danger as fear sources and must flee from them as well. If unable to flee, you cower in fear.
6. Terrified: This functions as panicked, but you do not treat any other character as an ally and thus must attempt saving throws against spells that allow them, even if the spells are beneficial. If unable to flee, you cower in fear. In addition, once you have fled from fear, you do not act as normal. Instead, each round you roll on the following table to determine your course of action.
|d% (or 1d4) |Result |
|1–25 (1) |Continue to flee, moving away from any known source of danger. |
|26–50 (2) |Find a place nearby to hide, using Stealth as normal. You do nothing until you are discovered (and forced to run |
| |again) or you are no longer terrified. |
|51–75 (3) |Lash out at the nearest creature, even an ally, attacking it with whatever weapon is available. |
|76–100 (4) |Do nothing. If you get this result in two consecutive rounds, you no longer need to roll on this chart starting on |
| |the third round and can act as normal unless you encounter a source of fear or danger, in which case you are still |
| |terrified and act accordingly. |
7. Horrified: You are transfixed with fear and can take no actions. You take a –2 penalty to your AC, are flat-footed (even if you normally cannot be), and are considered helpless.
Fear Duration
Using this system can make the tracking of your overall fear level a bit more complicated. Track each fear effect separately, evaluating your current fear level whenever an effect is added or removed, starting with the most severe effect and adding levels on top of that for each new effect. Remember that lesser fear effects cannot add up to a greater fear effect, regardless of their number, and the staggered condition that can result from being scared and then suffering another fear effect applies at the moment when the new fear effect begins (not when it expires).
For example, a character becomes subject to an effect that causes him to be shaken for 1 minute and another that causes him to be panicked for 1 round. On the 1st round, his fear increases to panicked. On the following 9 rounds, he is shaken. If, on the 3rd round, he becomes spooked for 1 minute, he becomes scared for 7 rounds (the overlap between the spooked condition and the remaining rounds of the shaken condition), then spooked for 3 rounds.
Campaign-specific Items:
Comet Shard
“A metal shard the size of a human arm that glows with a dull, pulsing green light.”
Instantly cures physical/plague zombies within 30ft of the bearer, can only cure zombies when they are directly exposed to it, so a player character must carry it in the open for it to work while they adventure
Data Keys (Red, Yellow, & Green)
“A big cylinder covered in holes and etchings that glows with a bright [red, yellow, or green] light, one end has a large handle. It would appear this object needs to be inserted and then turned a direction for it to activate its associated lock mechanism.”
Used to unlock the door to the Final Boss fight in the Temple of the Scholar, which leads to the vaults
Hammer of Hephaestus
“A large hammer that serves as an excellent and powerful melee weapon, this powerful weapon can also be used to manipulate gravity, allowing it to push opponents away or pull them towards the wielder, as well as deflecting incoming projectiles. This weapon consists of a shaft, head, and blade. A field generator, which is located in the head, emits a kinetic pulse (~4.5 meters).”
The hammer has a limited number of charges in its field generator and must be recharged, but at a rate of 1 charge per 8 hours of charging. It is an imposing weapon on its own, so it should be emphasized how important these charges are.
12 dmg, bludgeoning, x3 crit, two-handed
Heimdall’s Data Chit
“A small metal square with etchings and markings, it is yet another mysterious piece of Asgardian technology that does not fit into any slots or holes in the main areas of the Temple.”
No one knows what is on it, regardless of feats and skills, but it is the only item that fits into the terminal in the vaults of the Temple of the Scholar; used to cure tech/mecha zombies and can only be obtained after beating Heimdall the third time and destroying him
Helmet of Rostam
“A large demon’s head made into a helmet, it still reeks of blood and decay.”
This helmet controls the undead and supersedes the Sorceress’ control, but can only be used when one sits in the Amplifier in the Citadel
+2 DEF, +2 S. Def
Magic Pearl
“A pearl the size of two fists placed next to each other, this artifact appears to glow with a dull silvery light. The naked eye, it looks too impressive to be a real pearl.”
This pearl, when held, slowly begins to permanently increase its holder’s magical power, but also starts to transform the body and mind of the wielder, turning them into a crazed and evil monstrosity.
For each hour the pearl is held, the bearer’s MP, WIS, and MIN go up one point, but every hour the pearl is held, the wielder also has a chance to develop negative habits and character flaws and/or physical transformations. This chance increases exponentially with each hour the pearl is held, consecutively or not. These changes will undoubtedly have very negative side effects when interacting with NPCs and other player characters. It must be held a full hour for any benefits. After three total hours held, the pearl imbues its wielder with an evil aura. (Though this doesn’t mean they are evil, just that they can be detected and sensed as being evil.)
+4 WIS & +4 MP/MANA per hour; +10% TF chance per hour, +1 negative trait/flaw/habit per hour
Mjolnir
“The hammer of Thor, the Norse god of thunder, Mjölnir is one of the most fearsome and powerful weapons in existence, capable of leveling mountains.”
Allows its wielder to cast Fly on themselves at will; as well as cast Call Lightning
8 dmg, bludgeoning, x3 crit, has a leather strap that must be secured around wrist (bonuses against disarm attempts)
Servo-motor/Mechanical Device/Metal Cylinder
“A large metal cylinder with some exposed wiring, it is quite heavy and unwieldy.”
Must be carried in two hands by a single player. It can be set down, but this uses an action in combat. If it is dropped, it has a 10% of sustaining damage (this increases by 10% each time it is damaged). It can be damaged eight times before it becomes unusable and ten times before it is destroyed, in case someone in the party can repair it.
Stone Shield
“A shield only slightly larger than an average heavy steel shield, only this is much, much heavier. It is made of solid stone and seems to have aged exceedingly well, showing little sign of wear from the ages it’s seen.”
+4 DEF, must be two-handed due to weight
Stone Sword Lower & Upper
“A sword only a little larger than an average longsword, only this one is much, much heavier. It is made of solid stone and seems to have aged exceedingly well, showing little sign of wear from the ages it’s seen.”
10 dmg, slashing, 19-20/x2 crit, must be two-handed in combat due to weight
Uchide no Kozuchi
“A legendary Japanese "magic hammer" which can "tap out" anything wished for, it is quite small, but holds immense magical power.”
Allows the user to cast Reduce Person and Enlarge Person on themselves at will; as well as cast Limited Wish, and can create any mundane item and provides a bonus to crafting wondrous and magical items
4 dmg, bludgeoning, x2 crit
Ultimate Mass Remove Disease Spell Scroll
“A scroll the length of an average human, it is covered in gold Ribbon script.”
This artifact can be seen by non-mages and will not spontaneously go off, as it has magical failsafes in place. It can only be used when its bearer is seated in the Amplifier in the Citadel.
Unique Monster Stats:
Heimdall, Epic Mecha Zombie
XP 4,800
Huge mecha zombie
Huge undead
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
DEF 9
HP 126
Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +13
DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune construct traits
OFFENSE
Speed 35 ft.
Melee mwk greatsword 29, slam 30
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
STATISTICS
STR 95, EVA 32, HP 126, MIN ???, ACC 32, SPD 36
Base Atk 29-30
Skills Computer Use, Knowledge +19
SQ staggered
Gear masterwork greatsword
Trample
Heimdall occupies a large area in his own right, but he has a open space underneath him and between his massive legs that players can take advantage of in order to damage him without hitting the Core (read below), but players inside this area have a 30% chance to take 15 damage from being kicked or stepped on. This changes to 90% if Heimdall moves with them beneath him.
Heimdall has three forms that modify his abilities in each Temple where the players encounter him as the final boss. As usual, increase his stats if needed. His forms are detailed below.
Temple of the Magi Heimdall
The players need to destroy the Heimdall’s magic Core. Mages can detect the immense amount of magical energy stored in Heimdall’s chest, or characters can roll a MIN check, DC 20, to figure out that they need to hit his power source. Characters with genius intellect or high mechanical knowledge/skills will automatically pick up on this after three rounds. Here’s what combat should look like:
Round 1 = fight as normal
Round 2 = Overdrive activates (see below)
Round 3 = Overdrive on cooldown, the hatch no his back covering the Core opens to vent (this is his weakness)
Repeat rounds 1-3
Overdrive
Heimdall gains a second attack which ends with his greatsword being driven into the ground, allowing players to run up the sword and make an attack at the Core before the weak point disappears. Players can also fly or climb (DC 15 climb check) up Heimdall to make additional attacks during the cooldown window. When in his cooldown round, Heimdall can only move or attack and if he attacks, he punches for 25 damage. If a player is hit, they are knocked back and prone. Players who jump onto Heimdall must make a STR or Acrobatics check, DC 20, to stay on long enough to hit the Core. Heimdall can swivel around his midsection, so if he turns to attack someone, his Core is hidden from anyone currently attempting to climb up to the Core or fly down to it.
When Heimdall reaches 2/3 hit points or the Core is hit once, he loses his lower legs, crippling his move speed and making it so players cannot stand beneath him (they can still hit him, but won’t have a chance to be trampled).
When Heimdall reaches 1/3 hit points or the Core is hit a second time, Heimdall loses his arms, dropping his greatsword, and needs to rely on his spells he can cast from his Core and his slam attack. When in Overdrive, he can slam in front of himself and slam backwards. Players need to make a Reflex check, DC 20, to avoid being knocked over. If they pass, they can get a free attack at his Core as he is getting up in his cooldown round.
When Heimdall reaches 0 hit points or his Core is hit a third time, his Core explodes and his head shoots up through an escape tunnel.
Recommended Spells (change as necessary or at DM’s discretion)
Stone Call (Smashing the ground with his sword, the broken rock and stone rises into the air before crashing down around Heimdall.)
Frost Fall (Small openings in the armor begin to vent magical coolant onto the ground around Heimdall.)
Covetous Aura (The spell you would have cast is sucked into the Core and you watch in horror as Heimdall uses the spell energy on himself.)
Archon’s Trumpet (Heimdall sounds a war-cry, loud enough to shake the ground.)
Rain of Arrows (Armor plates slide aside, unleashing torrents of magic arrows.)
Temple of the Warrior Heimdall
The players need to destroy Heimdall’s main Engine. It functions like the Core, but the Engine inflicts 8 fire damage per round that a player touches Heimdall’s body (due to the heat it puts out) and during the cooldown round it vents flames, dealing 16 fire damage to whoever is caught in the blast.
The trick to this fight is that the players must target the joints with magic and ranged weapons to disable him (take his number of hit points and divide it by five, that’s one section for each limb and one for the rest of his body) OR to use the water storage tanks around the arena to cool off Heimdall’s body for two rounds, allowing someone just enough time to get up to the Engine and hit it. Going into Overdrive begins to evaporate the water and during the cooldown phase, his searing body temperature is restored.
For this fight, his Overdrive attack should be a spin attack. He’ll protect his head and Engine, but will make one complete spin after using his sensors to track and chase a target. The players will need to figure out how to lure him during his Overdrive toward one of the storage units and position him so that when he spins, he’ll hit one. This will dump water on him, cooling his body off.
Damaging the Engine three times will destroy it, the metal becoming brittle and cracking under the strain of the repeated heating and cooling.
Destroying limbs will make Heimdall move slower and when all four limbs are gone, he cannot have water dumped on him. At this point, the players will need to find a way to destroy his body without dying from third degree burns.
Same as above, when his body or Engine are destroyed, he will eject and fly away up an escape shaft or tunnel.
Temple of the Scholar Heimdall
The players need to destroy Heimdall. This should be the last fight and should be the toughest, since he will have no weaknesses or stages of combat. As the fight drags on, you can have Heimdall lose armor pieces until he is nothing but a skeletal frame covered in exposed wires, tubing, and hydraulic muscles. Once he is free from his chassis, he will automatically have one more attack action, meaning he will get three attacks per Overdrive round.
For added difficulty, have repair drones try to heal Heimdall and force the players to fight them as well.
For this fight, the players just need to use their Hammers, spells, and ranged attacks to pick off armor pieces and get at the literal core. If you want to help your players or offset any added difficulty, have them deal additional damage when Heimdall loses all his armor. Or have them be able to destroy his limbs when their armor goes away. Once Heimdall is defeated, the players need to find a way to destroy his brain or sever his connection to the mainframe.
Once this is done, The lights and sounds coming from the exposed sections of Heimdall’s mechanical brain begin to die down, dimming and diminishing in tone, respectively. Once all activity ceases, and after a moment of silence, you hear a click and clatter as a small piece of metal is ejected from a storage compartment inside the think armor plating. The players acquire the data chit with the tech zombie cure.
Dialogue
Feel free to use whatever Pentakill and Dragonforce and Sabaton (or whatever) lyrics you want for his dialogue during fights! (The Last Stand would be cool to use.) When or if he does speak, you can say that When Heimdall speaks he shouts and murmurs, though not all of what he says seems to be directed at you. Clearly, sadly or luckily, you know not which, his mind is deteriorating. An example is Mortal Reminder by Pentakill:
“You will feel my vengeance as I claim your mortal soul!”
“I will seek a thousand deaths! I will bring a thousand years of war!”
“As the masses came, like a shadow through this land, they laid siege to all we ever had.”
“I stood strong, I was honor bound! I stand defiant, I stand ever proud!”
“I am the chosen! I am the guardian!”
“I will hunt the enemy to the last!”
“I will banish and rejoice in the final breath of my foes!”
“You will see what you have made. You will see what I have finally become!”
“All that I had laid to the waste…”
“My spirit broken, just memories remain…”
“For every day claims a piece of me, every waking hour claims my inner peace!”
“My inner peace…”
Another good example is Lightbringer by Pentakill:
“Fellow armsmen, I ask you, will you follow me tonight to break their spine? And reclaim what once was mine?”
“Those cravens backstabbed me, deceived me. Never shall I tolerate their crimes again!”
“Now let the hunt begin!”
“7000 souls, scared and daunted, such a tale of woe…”
“Not too long ago, this village was a golden scene of hope…”
“Call down the reckoning to bring back hope and peace! Restore our glory!”
“To live forever.”
“Bring down the dark regime!”
“I know how to unleash eternal power!”
“I am the Lightbringer!”
“Now listen, fellow warriors, I ask you, should my campaign come to an end? There's way more to avenge!”
“15 million souls living in this realm without much hope…”
“Not too long ago, this kingdom was a golden state of hope…”
Zombie Lieutenant
XP 1,600
Male zombie
Large undead
Init –2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
DEF 6
HP 66
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +9
DR 5/slashing; Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam 17, broken greatsword 16
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
STATISTICS
STR 60, HP 66, MIN 44, ACC 32, EVA 24, SPD 32
Base Atk 16-17
SQ staggered
General Monster Stats:
Zombie (generic zombie, enhance as needed)
XP 200
Medium undead
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
DEF 2
HP 12
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +3
DR 5/slashing; Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam 10
STATISTICS
STR 40, HP 12, MIN —, ACC 32, EVA 32, SPD 32
Base Atk 10
Special Qualities staggered
SPECIAL ABILITIES
1 Staggered (Ex)
Zombies have poor reflexes and can only perform a single move action or standard action each round (it has the staggered condition.) A zombie can move up to its speed and attack in the same round as a charge action.
Types
These are the stats for generic zombies, but to make them thematic with the various Temples, you can call them by different names.
Magi Temple names:
Voodoo zombies
Magic zombies
Demon-/Daemon- spawn/touched zombies
Deadites
Warrior Temple names:
Zombies
Infected (infection zombies)
Plague zombies
Fungal zombies
Walkers (runners, spitters, etc. depending on abilities)
Infested (parasite) zombies (not rats or bats or anything like the actual infested zombies in Pathfinder, but just more maggots and worms than the average zombies or, if characters pass a MIN check, DC 15, they can surmise that the worms/maggots are controlling the corpse)
Scholar Temple names:
Hacker zombies/drones
Hijacker zombies/drones
Resident zombies/drones
DAV (Direct Action Virus) zombies/drones
Infector zombies/drones
Macro zombies/drones
Overwrite zombies/drones
Spacefiller zombies/drones
MP (multipartite) zombies/drones
PM (polymorphic) zombies/drones
Trojan zombies/drones (When these zombie robots die, they implode, leaving behind a small shimmering light. Characters with genius intellect or high computer use/mechanical skills/knowledge can figure out that these are the types of tech zombies that infect other machines and that the light left behind is a hard-light data packet construct, transmitting the virus infection to any machines in the area that can detect the high frequency sounds and specific data emissions made by the seemingly innocuous light. And that’s why tech zombies wouldn’t work so well on Earth.)
Zombie Horde (primary for Catacombs location)
XP 38,400
Giant undead (horde)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
DEF 3
HP 110
Fort +6; Ref +0; Will +0
Defensive Abilities: DR10/slashing; Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee horde attack (18) when inside horde, slash attack (6)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks feral rage, rend (+18)
STATISTICS
STR 55, HP 110, MIN 0, ACC 32, EVA 32, SPD 32
Base Atk 18; (can’t be tripped)
Feats Improved Overrun
Skills Stealth –16
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Feral Rage (Ex)
The horde attacks as a ruthless mob, intent only on tearing apart those that fall into their clutches. This frenzy prevents them from using any sort of tactics, and frees them from any form of control by other beings. However, the sheer force of the wave attack allows them to deal 18 points of damage to any creature whose space they occupy at the end of their move. This ability is lost if the horde is broken up.
Horde Traits (Ex)
Hordes are not so called because of the size of the group but rather the size of the creatures that compose the horde. Unlike normal swarms, hordes are composed of Medium creatures which are usually a normal version of a creature but otherwise behave in a swarm-like manner. There are usually around 50 creatures in a horde. The net effect is that they take only half damage from piercing weapons but take normal damage from other weapons. In addition when the swarm is reduced to 0 hit points or lower and breaks up, unless the damage was dealt by area-affecting attacks, then 2d6 surviving members of the horde continue their attack, though now only as individual creatures. Otherwise, a horde conforms to all of the other swarm traits.
Rend (Ex)
Due to the grasping and clawing nature of the zombie horde attack, any time the horde fills every square around a single target, add 18 slashing damage from the additional pulling and tearing. This ability is lost if the swarm is broken up.
Spellgorged Zombie (primary magic zombies)
XP 800
Medium undead
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1
DEFENSE
DEF 3
HP 27
Fort +1; Ref +2; Will +5
Immune undead immunities
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam 4
Special Attacks spell storing (CL 10th, 5 total levels)
STATISTICS
STR 36, HP 27, MIN —, ACC 36, EVA 36, SPD 32
Base Atk 4
SPECIAL ABILITIES
2 Spell Storing (Su)
A spellgorged zombie can store any spells cast into its mouth as if it were a ring of spell storing. The spellgorged can store a number of spell levels equal to its Hit Dice. Each spell has a caster level equal to that of the spellcaster that placed the spell in the spellgorged zombie. The save DC for any spell stored in a spellgorged zombie is determined using the ability scores of the spellcaster who placed the spell.
The spellgorged zombie need not provide any material components or focus and there is no arcane spell failure chance for wearing armor (since the spellgorged zombie need not gesture). When the spellcaster stores the spells in the spellgorged zombie, however, he must use all required components for the spell.
For randomly generated spellgorged zombies, treat the spellgorged zombie as a scroll to determine what spells are stored in it. If you roll a spell that would put the spellgorged over its spell level limit, ignore that roll; the spellgorged has no more spells in it. (Not every spellgorged need be fully charged.)
A spellcaster can cast any spells into the spellgorged zombie, so long as the total spell levels do not equal more than the spellgorged zombie’s Hit Dice. Any excess spells or spell levels are lost.
In addition, one of these spells will always be Animate Dead and any players or NPCs who die will be brought back as zombies under the control of the Sorceress (or whoever wears the Helmet of Rostam).
Suggested spells include:
Hydraulic Push
River Whip
Geyser
Sea Mantle
Wave Shield
Freezing Sphere
Icicle Dagger
Ice Slick
Snow Shape (in combo with Ice Slick, Creeping Ice, Wall of Ice)
Ice Spears (for mini-bosses)
Creeping Ice
Ice Storm (for mini-bosses)
Wall of Ice
Icy Prison (for mini-bosses)
Cold Ice Strike
Create Ice Mummy (instead of Animate Dead, Ice Mummy details below)
Plague Zombie (primary physical type zombies)
XP 200
Medium undead
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
DEF 2
HP 12
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0
Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam 6 (plus disease)
Special Attacks death burst
STATISTICS
STR 44, HP 12, MIN —, ACC 32, EVA 32, SPD 32
Base Atk 6
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Death Burst (Ex)
When a plague zombie dies, it explodes in a burst of decay. All creatures adjacent to the plague zombie are exposed to its plague as if struck by a slam attack and must make a Fortitude save or contract zombie rot.
Disease (Su)
The slam attack — as well as any other natural attacks — of a plague zombie carries the zombie rot disease.
Zombie rot : slam; save Fort DC 11; onset 1d4 days; frequency 1/day; effect Total HP -1d6, this damage cannot be healed while the creature is infected; cure 2 consecutive saves. Anyone who dies while infected rises as a plague zombie in 2d6 hours.
Staggered (Ex)
Zombies have poor reflexes and can only perform a single move action or standard action each round. A zombie can move up to its speed and attack in the same round as a charge action.
Mecha Drone Zombie (primary tech type zombies)
XP 200
Medium undead
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
DEF 6
HP 18
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +3
DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune construct traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam 8
STATISTICS
STR 48, HP 18, MIN —, ACC 36, EVA 32, SPD 32
Base Atk 8
SPECIAL ABILITIES
3 Staggered (Ex)
Zombies have poor reflexes and can only perform a single move action or standard action each round (it has the staggered condition.) A zombie can move up to its speed and attack in the same round as a charge action.
Black Skeleton (secondary magic zombies)
XP 1,600
Medium undead
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10
Aura frightful presence (60 ft., DC 15)
DEFENSE
DEF 10
HP 45
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +5
Defensive Abilities: DR10/bludgeoning; Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 short swords 10, 2 claws 9
Special Attacks superior two-weapon fighting
STATISTICS
STR 32, HP 45, MIN 36, ACC 32, EVA 48, SPD 36
Base Atk 9-10
Feats Improved Initiative, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (short sword)
Skills Acrobatics +11, Climb +10, Escape Artist +11, Perception+10, Stealth +14
Gear 2 short swords
SPECIAL ABILITIES
4 Superior Two-Weapon Fighting (Ex)
A black skeleton usually fights with a short sword in each hand. Because of its magical nature, its Two-Weapon Fighting feat allows it to attack with both weapons at no penalty.
Golden Skeleton (secondary physical zombies)
XP 400
Gold-clad human burning skeleton
Medium undead
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception –1
DEFENSE
DEF 6
HP 8
Fort +4, Ref –1, Will +1
Defensive Abilities light fortification; DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune fire, undead traits
Weaknesses vulnerability to cold, electricity
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee broken scimitar 4+3 fire, claw 5+3 fire
Special Attacks fiery aura
STATISTICS
STR 40, HP 8, MIN —, ACC 28, EVA 28, SPD 24
Base Atk 3-4, +3 fire
Feats Improved Initiative
SQ fiery death (1d6 fire damage, Reflex DC 11 half )
Gear broken chain shirt, helmet, broken scimitar
SPECIAL ABILITIES
5 Fiery Aura (Ex)
Creatures adjacent to a golden skeleton take +3 points of fire damage at the start of their turn. Anyone striking a golden skeleton with an unarmed strike or natural attack takes +3 points of fire damage.
6 Fiery Death (Su)
A golden skeleton explodes into a burst of flame when it is destroyed, dealing +6 points of fire damage to anyone adjacent to it. A Reflex save (DC 11) halves this damage.
7 Light Fortification (Ex)
Whenever a sneak attack or critical hit is scored against a golden skeleton, there is a 25% chance that the extra damage is negated and damage is rolled normally.
Four-Armed Mecha Drone Skeleton (secondary tech/mecha zombies)
XP 200
Medium undead
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
DEF 5
HP 4
Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +2
DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee short sword 8, 3 short swords 7, 4 swords 6, 4 claws 6
STATISTICS
STR 40, HP 4, MIN –, ACC 32, EVA 44, SPD 32
Base Atk 6-8
Feats Improved Initiative, Multiweapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
Gear 4 short swords
Mummy (alternate zombies in case of needed difficulty)
XP 1,600
Medium undead
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +16
Aura despair (30 ft., paralyzed for 1d4 rounds, Will DC 16 negates)
DEFENSE
DEF 10
HP 60
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +8
DR 5; Immune undead traits
Weaknesses vulnerable to fire
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee slam 14
STATISTICS
STR 60, HP 60, MIN 24, ACC 24, EVA 32, SPD 24
Base Atk 14
Feats Power Attack, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus
Skills Perception +16, Stealth +11
Languages Common
SPECIAL ABILITIES
8 Despair (Su)
All creatures within a 30-foot radius that see a mummy must make a DC 16 Will save or be paralyzed by fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same mummy’s despair ability for 24 hours. This is a paralysis and a mind-affecting fear affect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Ice Mummies
An ice mummy, sometimes called a mountain mummy or a glacial mummy, lacks a mummy’s normal despair and mummy rot abilities, and instead gains the chilling touch and entangling wrappings variant mummy special abilities.
Chilling Touch (Su)
This mummy’s touch carries the chill of glaciers and mountain heights. Its slam attack deals an additional +3 points of cold damage, and creatures struck by it are slowed for 1d4 rounds (Fort negates). The save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the mummy’s Hit Dice + the mummy’s Charisma modifier. This ability replaces mummy rot.
Entangling Wrappings (Su)
A mummy with entangling wrappings can unravel and detach some of its linen strips to make a grapple check against a creature up to 10 feet away (or twice the mummy’s reach for larger mummies). This attack doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. It can constrict for an amount of damage equal to its slam attack with a successful grapple check. The linen strips remain wrapped around the victim and attempt a grapple check to pin each round on the mummy’s turn. They continue to deal constrict damage on a successful grapple check. The wrappings cannot be damaged by any attack or effect while detached, but turn to dust if their victim escapes or dies, or if the mummy is destroyed. If the mummy still lives, its wrappings reappear at the end of its next turn.
The mummy is not inconvenienced in any way while its wrappings are detached and grappling, but it cannot use its wrappings to entangle again until they return. This ability replaces either despair or mummy rot.
Magic Mummies
Spellscribed Mummy
When scrolls and magical texts are used in place of linen wrappings, the result is a spellscribed mummy. A spellscribed mummy has the complete text of up to three spells written on its wrappings. The total spell levels scribed cannot exceed the mummy’s Hit Dice, and the spells must be of a level no higher than half the mummy’s Hit Dice. This allows a standard 8 HD mummy spells of up to 4th level that add up to no more than 8 levels. The spells need not be from the same spell list, and arcane and divine spells can both be used in the creation of a spellscribed mummy. Individual spells cannot be repeated. The mummy can use each spell scribed in its wrappings once per day as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to its Hit Dice. Save DCs are Charisma-based. A spellscribed mummy’s CR is 1 higher than that of a normal mummy.
Lesser: A lesser spellscribed mummy bears a single 1st or 2nd-level spell in its wrappings, usable once per day with a caster level equal to half its Hit Dice. Its CR does not increase.
Greater: A greater spellscribed mummy operates as a normal spellscribed mummy, but its wrappings can hold as many spells as it has Hit Dice. The total spell levels scribed cannot exceed twice its Hit Dice, and the spells must be of a level no higher than half its Hit Dice. Spells cannot be repeated, but spells of a level no higher than one-quarter the mummy’s hit dice can be used 3 times per day instead of 1. (For example, a standard greater spellscribed mummy with 8 Hit Dice can have up to 8 different spells, of no higher than 4th level, and a total of not more than 16 spell levels. It can use spells of 2nd level or lower 3 times per day, and spells of higher levels once per day.)
In addition, a greater spellscribed mummy has S. Def equal to its adjusted CR + 11.
A greater spellscribed mummy’s CR is 2 higher than that of a normal mummy.
GDND Campaign 1: Beyond the Fading Light
Optional Materials
Mind Games
In the original draft of the game, the enemies and bosses used a lot more mind-altering spells and abilities to force players out of their comfort zones and mess with their heads. This creates confusion and agitation, which can be enjoyable to watch! It also encourages critical thinking and creativity or flexing one's imaginative muscles. If you find that your game may be too easy or you want to spice things up, throw a wrench in the players' plans, or just f*ck with your players, then try reincorporating these concepts into the new campaign:
Add mind-affecting spells to enemy spell lists, both for magical enemies and bosses
Bring back the “alien artifacts”; originally, one of the hammers was locked in a vault that could only be opened by one key, the players were given three, but they were alien artifacts of a nature that could not be identified, meaning the players didn't know if it was a key or not (think “the shape is so bizarre, so alien, as to thwart any attempt to discern its function or purpose” or come up with some Lovecraftian explanation, i.e. to comprehend such an object would be to go insane)
Set mind traps, wherein the players could be trapped in their own memories; originally, they had to use their “future” knowledge to unmask the sorceress when she was disguised in order to break out of the mind prison (they were given a key or way to exit the trap, but they didn't know what it was and had to figure it out for themselves); this can be used as a transition or to buy time for the big bad or the DM
Add more riddles and ban the use of electronic devices so they can try to figure it out on their own (it may be fair to give each player a chance to answer once)
Ghost Subplot
Early on the development of this campaign, Rachel's lover, the fighter who died due to the zombie plague, could be encountered as a ghostly npc trapped in a specific location or item. One of the hammers could free him and he would disappear, only to return and distract the sorceress in the party's darkest hour (which could be used to keep the party alive, give them a chance to escape, or turn the tide of the battle in favor of furthering the story, as opposed to wiping the party). Initially, he was removed due to the fact that he could reveal too much of the backstory and therefore spoil any surprises. He could be brought back into the campaign as an Obi-wan type character in that he could omit certain information (“from a certain point of view”).
The Expanded World
In the oldest versions of Beyond the Fading Light, the realm of Asgard had many different biomes and features, including a desert, lava field, icy north, dense jungle, and an ocean, in addition to the plains, hills, grasslands, farmland, and mountains it currently has. The players could travel to a new biome for each Temple (the Warrior being in the lava fields, the Mage in the mountain cliff in the jungle, and the Scholar in a fortress in the icy north), but this was changed for simplicity's sake. The original concept even had a few other locations, such as a small city (smaller than Asgard proper) with a complicated sewer system that could be explored and a small town.
The small town, named Dandwiki in the beginning but now should be called Valhalla proper, was located on the edge of the desert, bordering the Astral Rifts and was where the players would have been taken to by Odin when the campaign started. The desert, called the Calliope Wastelands, led to the farming village ( now Emberbrook, which you could think of as a desert reclamation project by the Asgardians) which played host to the disguised sorceress and zombie dog encounter, setting the tone for the rest of the campaign from get go. The small city, Alfheim, was at first set between the Emberbrook and Asgard proper. Instead, you could have it be found to the South on the edge of the ocean, which makes sense that there would be a water-themed sub-level. It was removed for being too linear, though the puzzle challenges in the sewers were missed.
Since the Temple of the Scholar was moved into geosynchronous orbit above Asgard proper, you'll have to come up with a new reason to visit the icy north, unless the players just decide to screw the campaign and go off on their own to this location. Or just don't use it. It is recommended that this be a shortcut over a mountain range in order to reach the ocean city, and be an alternative to a way under the mountain (an idea that has not yet been fleshed out, but would make a nice reference to Lord of the Rings). New locations are detailed below:
Alfheim (coastal region)
The southern and coastal area of Asgard, the sea actually wraps around the whole continent on which Asgard is located, but the desolate and uncrossable wastes coupled with the the whole region bleeding out into the Astral Rifts makes the vast majority of the ocean inaccessible except by boat or another type of aquatic, aerial, or sub-aquatic transportation vessel.
Algron (island)
Algron is an island in the ocean, Gandvik.
Amsvartnir (lake)
A large lake located at the base of Niflheim, just North of Asgard proper. In the center is the island of Lyngvi. The lake is fed by a number of hotsprings, specifically Hvergelmir in Niflheim, and feeds a handful of rivers, such as Gjöll, which flows around the Eastern side of Asgard proper until it meets the base of the Helheim mountain range. Ífingr is the river that flows along the Niflheim mountain range for a stretch. Slidr is a river that flows from the peaks of Helheim, being fed by melting snow and rain, into the Gjöll below. Körmt and Örmt are two rivers flowing East from Amsvartnir toward Yggdrasil. Other rivers in Asgard include Vadgelmir and Vimur, which flow west toward the rest of Asgard.
Asgard
Asgard, the realm, is actually a central hub, surrounded by spacial rifts that lead to the other eight realms, each in their own, respective dimension. They all bleed into each other in a nexus, Asgard. It was here the gods settled and built the city, and fortress stronghold, of Asgard proper. The various biomes are each a small part of the respective realm they belong to that is easily accessible throughout Asgard, unlike the chaos of the Astral Rifts.
Astral Rifts
A fourth-dimensional tear in the fabric of space through which bleeds other realms and dimensions. This can be used to access any realm known or unknown, but is plagued with hurricane-like storms and areas where time and gravity can radically change in an instant. The rift is full of extremely dangerous creatures and peoples, which combined with weather and hazardous phenomenon, makes traversing the planes all but impossible except by the most experienced warriors, guides, and explorers. Not to mention the various realities can phase in an out of the rifts, like water ebbing along a shore, there one minute and gone the next, only to return at a later, random time. Some denizens may refer to the Astral Rifts by the ancient name of Ginnungagap.
Calliope Wastelands (desert)
Pretty self-explanatory, it's just a desert that's mostly sand, but with rocky crags and outcroppings here and there. Home of Fafnir.
Eljudnir
Hel's stronghold in Helheim where special souls are kept, such as Balder and Hodr.
Emberbrook (farm village)
The farm village detailed in the campaign guide, just with a name, now.
Gandvik (ocean)
A vast sea, once a dangerous home to the most ferocious of aquatic beasts, it was eventually conquered by the gods and given to the mortals of the realm as a paradise and haven. The coastal region is called Alfheim. Home of Jormungand.
Halls of Valhalla (central structure of the small town)
The very halls where great warriors and gods of battle would train their legions before sending them to outposts throughout the realm of Asgard.
Helheim (southern mountain range)
Pretty much the same as the ice fields. For added flavor, have an frozen army of undead covering the ground and forming a sort of forest of frozen corpses. Home of the giant, Hel, who rules this realm.
Hlesey (ocean island)
An island out in the ocean, Gandvik, under which two giants, Aegir and Ran, live in an unnamed underwater kingdom, from which they rule the sea under treaty with Odin.
Hnitbjorg
A giant stronghold in Jotunheim.
Ida (plains)
The area around Asgard proper and most of the realm of Asgard. The specific area around Asgard proper is known as Idavoll.
Jomsborg (undersea structure)
A sunken stronghold in the ocean, Gandvik, it was initially constructed as an aquatic research base in the form of a tall tower that stretched from the ocean floor to just above the waves. Eventually, due to erosion of the sea floor and the foundation being made on top of softer stone than mainland structures, the facility began to sink into the ground. At this point, it is found a hundred feet or so below the ocean's surface and, thus, has a number of floors now underground. (which may or may not have people, survivors, or undead guarding a quest reward)
Jotunheim (jungle)
Home of the Giants, this dense jungle is dotted with over-sized ruins (to be more accurate to the original myths, you could have the jungle be located at the bottom of a deep valley in the ice fields that is kept hot and steamy by volcanic hot springs, the hot air being trapped underneath the layer of frigid air high above).
Lyfjaberg (mountain)
A mountain Northeast of Jotunheim.
Lyngvi (lake island)
The sole island in Amsvartnir on which Fenrir is chained up. (which could be an interesting side quest)
Muspelheim (lava fields)
A desolate wasteland of perpetual, orange twilight caused by the light of the fires and lava pits reflecting off of the dense clouds of smoke and ash high above.
Nastrond
A stronghold in Helheim, far to the East near Yggdrasil. Home of Nidhogg.
Niflheim (ice fields/icy north)
Self-explanatory, lots of ice, glaciers, frozen waterfalls, ice caves, etc. One specific cave is known as Gnipahellir, where the hound Garm is chained up.
Odin's Beard (northern mountain range [where the Mage temple is located])
The northern mountain range between the jungle valley and the plains where the Temple of the Magi is located. Above, it's like the ice fields, but the majority if not all of the dungeon is underneath this mountain range.
Ruin of Knights (southern mountain pass)
The ice fields of the southern mountain range, but this is one of two ways to get to the ocean from the plains.
Svartalfheim (way under the [southern] mountain)
Think Mines of Moria, this is where Dwemeor warriors were brought to to pursue the arts in terms of metallurgy and crafting of various kinds. Here, they supplied the ores to the Temple of Warrior for crafting weapons of war, while they kept the more precious ores to craft the most beautiful and luxurious items.
Thrymheim
A stronghold in Jotunheim.
Thunder Pass (northern mountain pass)
The same as the ice fields.
Utgard
What is left of Loki's kingdom in Jotunheim.
Valhalla, proper (small town)
City of Men, this small town was home to the training grounds that would have prepared warriors of all kinds and races for the coming Ragnarok.
Vanaheim (Mage temple mountain)
This is the largest mountain in the Odin's Beard range that was cut in half and where now is hidden the Temple of the Magi. On the outside, it's the same as the ice fields.
Vigrid (grasslands)
The region between Asgard proper and Yggdrasil.
Vineta (small city by the ocean)
City of Elves, this coastal city was once home to a sizable population of elves of various kinds, all brought together by the Asgardians in order to pursue the arts, in all forms. The coastal region is called Alfheim.
Yggdrasil
The world tree that protects the realm of Asgard, just as the world tree of Eden protects Earth Realm. It is located far, far to the East of Asgard proper. It is rumored to have had a sacred temple carved from one of its massive roots which holds a relic of limitless power, but none have dared to visit the tree since the days of yore when Thor walked the realm. The tree remains under the protection of Odin who protects and heals it from the ravages of the gargantuan serpents that eat and poison its roots, specifically Nidhogg. Home of Nidhogg.
Optional Quests
Even though this is primarily a hack-and-slash game and everyone is either killed or zombified, you could still have side quests. At any point, you could force the party to go on one or more of these quests at the behest of the Norns, magical beings who control fate. Merely speaking of the players attempting these quests will force the players into these quests. You could have the Norn communicate their will through the old woman. If you prefer not to force them, or they look for other quests on their own, have them discover the catalyst on their own or have the old woman suggest side quests. Here are some hooks:
The old woman from the main campaign materials receives a magic message of some sort alerting her to the presence of a group of survivors in Alfheim, for which the players must climb over the mountain pass or go under through the Dwarven realm in order to save them. This could be a search and rescue followed by an escort mission and doesn't necessarily need a boss or mini bosses. On the return, you could have a cave in or avalanche block off the path they used when they came to Alfheim, making the return journey different.
Those left in Valhalla are plagued by zombies that have crossed the desert and begun to infect the warriors who remain. They have been cut off from Asgard proper and don't know what's going on, other than they are on their own and could use a little help. This could be a Helm's Deep kind of mission in that the players must survive an army of undead or just an extermination job. Given the location, this could be a good starting quest with decent rewards in the form of good equipment and supplies, if you make it simply an extermination job. Of course, they could also use supplies and new weapons, which could connect to other areas and optional quests.
If you have the Temple of the Magi, Vanaheim, and Odin's Beard in the far North, you could put the ice fields between the mountain and the jungle valley, putting the valley next to the plains. If that's the case, you could have the players choose to brave the cold and go around the valley, or go through and negotiate safe passage with the giants who reside there. This could be a good opportunity to have a fetch quest wherein the leader of the giants needs something specific or a stealth mission where they need to sneak past the giants or risk a fairly one-sided, literal uphill battle. Why would there be giants? I like to think that giants would be able to safely handle any zombies that wander into their territory. That said, of course some will be infected, and that's why you can find giant skeletons and zombies in the main campaign. Or perhaps this quest could be associated with the Well of Wisdom? Maybe it's blocked by a monster or controlled by undead or something.
Due to the nature of the GDU, most undead retain some semblance of intelligence and personality, though this may radically differ from their original. Think the mind control Loki's scepter uses in the first Avengers movie, where people are mind-controlled but still retain elements of their personality. Not all undead should be perverted like the pervert skeletons, but feel free to play around with different ideas. Perhaps there is one or a number of undead who may have been zombified, but aren't fully under the sorceress' control. Maybe her control weakens with distance. You could have an undead npc or group help the party or have the party help them. Or you could have a co-DM introduce another npc party member who is a zombie or a person undergoing zombification, but can resist the mind control, though they still struggle with it. Hell, have a player playing an undead character slowly become more and more influenced by the sorceress' will and eventually betray the party!
One of the farm houses in Emberbrook has a cellar, not unusual except for the fact that it has a large vault door sealing it off from the world above. After breaking in, one way or another, the players discover a number of farmers and their families. At this point, the players must decide whether to fortify the farm house, escort the farmers to a safe location, or to seal the vault and come back for them later.
The old woman has evidence that a group of survivors live in Asgard proper, ground zero for the zombie plague. The players could go in guns blazing or stealthily to investigate. Should they find any survivors, they would most certainly need to escort them to safety.
A village up in the mountains (either mountain range) is full of starving villagers as their supply deliveries have stopped, due to the plague, and no one can leave to fetch supplies due to the roaming bands of zombies. They either need supplies delivered to them or to be escorted to a place to get supplies. Luckily, once up in the mountains, zombie encounters become more and more rare, as the undead simply freeze solid in the snow.
A group of survivors are hiding in caves out in the lava fields of Muspelheim. Though it has many natural barriers to protect the people from undead incursions, the toxic nature of the region is slowly poisoning them and they need to be escorted to safety.
Since the Temple of the Warrior fell under undead control, the dwarves of Svartalfheim need ore to make weapons to help the other survivor groups. With magical communication with the old woman, this could be a safehouse and base of operations, wherein the players can load up supplies and weapons to take to groups of survivors and/or escort them to the underground stronghold, giving them a central hub from which to locate and liberate and retrieve other survivor groups. Or maybe there could be a secret threat to Asgard and the sorceress lurking in the depths of the mines and cave systems and eradicating it may garner respect from the sorceress? Not enough to spare them, unless they ally with her, but enough that their deaths would be honorable, should that be something they desire. The hidden, rising evil could be Surt, the fire giant prophesied to destroy Asgard in Ragnarok. Perhaps, sensing that Fenrir is about to be released (whether the party knows it or takes that quest or not), he is rising early to destroy the very continent on which Asgard rests.
Refugees of the plague from Alfheim boarded a massive boat, hoping to use large supply stores and the ocean itself to save them from the hordes of undead. Unfortunately, the life-giving sea they once loved isn't as safe as they once thought. For this quest, you could have aquatic undead or a fleet of ships built on a secret island by a race that invaded Asgard through the Astral Rifts. Or go with a classic Kraken/Jormungand or pirate fight, seeing as how other survivors could have had the same idea, but are running out of provisions or there could be a ship full of undead razing the high seas. A ship, or many ships, could be called Hringhorni, Sessrúmnir, and/or Skithblathnir. Naglfari, if the boat belongs to the side of evil.
With Odin and the other gods missing, no one is left to protect Yggdrasil from Nidhogg's relentless attacks. It is up to the party to go and investigate and, if necessary, stop Nidhogg. Perhaps this shrine belongs to the Norn and could facilitate the delegation of side quest responsibilities and communication or information exchange.
None are left to guard Asgard's treasures, leaving them unprotected and at the mercy of Fafnir, raised from the dead by the zombie plague, though it is not sure whether he is under control of the sorceress or not. He may be gathering treasure for himself, or for more nefarious purposes.
The chains binding Fenrir, without maintenance, are threatening to break before the time of Ragnarok. As such, the party needs to procure the ore and/or new chains from either the Temple of the Warrior or Svartalfheim in order to replace the existing chains. Should the chains break, Fenrir's power would build until it tore the entire dimension apart, destroying the whole reality of Asgard in mere hours, with no hope of escape.
The other gods of the Norse pantheon have been sealed into items until such a time as they are needed or balance is restored to Asgard. Unfortunately, these items, unless activated, are defenseless and helpless. The various vessels holding the gods are scattered around Asgard and need to be retrieved and rescued from the forces of evil. They will be safe enough, unless they are taken before the sorceress, but their power could prove useful on the party's journey.
The undead invasion has upset the land spirits, earth elementals who inhabit the very earth of Asgard, and they threaten to wage war against the undead and the rest of Asgard for not preventing such an invasion. Responsibility falls to the players to resolve this conflict, by any means. Their decision comes with much regret and sadness, but the plague must be stopped here before it spreads, and they do not believe such a small force as the party can stop it.
The spirits of the human ancestors brought here from the ancient past of Earth realm have grown displeased and agitated. With no more reverence or worship, they seek retribution. Much like the earth elementals of the aforementioned quest, this is another faction bent on wreaking havoc upon all in Asgard, though they cannot be reasoned with so easily. They are wrathful and furious, but perhaps their rage can be guided, pointed in a new direction, focused no a specific target or objective.
Hel, ruler of Helheim, is royally pissed that the dead return to life, cheating her and undermining her rule. Perhaps she would meet the party and instruct them to destroy a specific number of undead, so that the foul pestilence may be in balance with the surviving life on Asgard, once more. They won't all be returned to death at once, but it is a start, a means to an end for the god-queen.
Baldur, still dead, is raised by the plagues and, reluctantly, fights for the forces of evil. Should the players encounter him, he will kindly ask that they return him to his grave.
The same mission as the Fenrir one above, but with Garm in the ice caves of Niflheim. Only if Garm escapes, the realm won't blink out, instead it would just be a really intense battle in the snowy wastes. Perhaps a random encounter should the players venture too far into Niflheim?
New Items
These artifacts grant the users powers because they were created by Odin as a way to safeguard the gods from the zombie invasion. At the end of the campaign, all gods are returned to their physical forms and keep the items they were once bound to. Their power comes from Odin, who, during the campaign, is alive, though disguised. Other bound artifacts belong to gods with no gifted power or followers to allow them to power their artifact. Should these artifacts be taken outside of Asgard, they would lose their powers, but the gods would still be bound to them. This should not be possible, however, because the realm is locked and Odin takes away all artifacts when the campaign ends, regardless of how it ends, unless it is a lesser god that the DM allows the party to try to convince to join their party. It should be noted that all artifacts have the ability to summon their respective god and that these gods can choose to manifest themselves at any time. They can also deny a summons. Below is a list of artifacts:
Aegir's Harpoon
“A long, barbed metal blade attached to a slender, wooden handle, this weapon feels moist the the touch and is covered in etchings of sea life and ocean waves.”
Repels water, parts bodies or makes a bubble of air underwater. It can also be used to create a dome that shields from rain or other falling liquids. Can even shield against vapors and clouds.
Bor's Greataxe
“A two-headed axe of considerable size and weight, the crescent shapes of the blades are covered in intricate, looping etchings and designs. The handle seems to hum and vibrate with stored energy.”
Holds a number of charges that recharge daily, when expended the charge becomes a wave of kinetic force that follows the curve of the user's swing, creating a sliashing arc that travels a short distance before dissipating. Recommended 10 charges per day, adjust as necessary.
Bragi's Harp
“A small, portable harp made of gold, with glowing white strings made from an unidentifiable substance, the very harp itself seems to ring like a bell when it is moved.”
Casts varying charm spells depending on the skill of the user. The complexity of the song correlates to the strength or type of the spell, at the behest of the user. Can be played with a MIN or Perform check. No spell is impossible to conjure, so the DC should be within reach of the user. Adjust accordingly.
Buri's Shield
“A massive round shield, covered in carvings, etchings, and inlays of various precious metals and stones depicting a stoic warrior in battle, the shield itself is completely unmarred by damage from battle or time.”
Boosts ally DEF by 5 within 30' of the user.
Earth's Breastplate
“An ornate, silvery, green breastplate, clearly meant for a woman to use, even those standing near it can feel their constitution and fortitude grow.”
Boosts user's HP 12.
Eir's Horn
“A decently sized horn of unknown origin, it has a plug in the small end and an iron band with detailed etchings around the open end. A leather strap is attached to two points on the band, making a sling for carrying. The plug indicates that this is horn for drinking or pouring.”
Magically converts and and all contents into healing potions. It can be used only a certain number of times per day and can only produce one potion at a time. Any liquid will produce a minor potion, but successions of additional potions will produce gradually stronger potions.
Fjorgyn's Ring
“A small iron band studded with various precious gems, upon picking it up, you can feel the very air around you vibrate, if ever so slightly.”
Protection from earth as an aura that extends 5' around the user. This invisible and intangible shield will block any earth-based attack or spell directed at the user.
Forseti's Axe
“A shorter axe with an oversized head, this weapon requires two hands to lift and use. The weighted head has little detail, but does have a reddish color. It almost feels like an executioner's axe, if not for the shortened handle.”
Ignores 50% of target DEF.
Freyja's Brisingamen
“A golden necklace replete with shining and elegant amber gemstones glistens in the light, or what light there is. Those standing near it even find themselves feeling more alert and intelligent.”
Boosts user's MIN by 12.
Freyr's Sword
“A typical Viking longsword, but this particular blade glows with a pale light, as if reflecting the light of a full moon. The hilt is inlaid with silver tracings. Those bathed in its glow feel themselves filled with energy and power.”
Boosts ally S. Atk by 5.
Frigga's Feather Cloak
“A cloak covered in feathers of all different hues, the different colors are arranged into paterns, images of birds and leaping animals. The cloak itself is extremely light and almost feels weightless when worn.”
Boosts user's EVA by 12.
Fulla's Eski
“A small chest made of hardwood with iron accents, it seems unassuming to the eyes unless opened. Upon further examination, the box contains a number of silver and gold pieces. This amount changes whenever thebox is closed and opened again, sometimes containing mundane or magical items, but always containing the same value of treasure.”
A small box full of amber and gold, worth 200gp total, that can also produce mundane items, some with minor magical effects if the user wishes. The item cannot be worth more than the worth of the box's contents, and the magical ability of an item cannot exceed the value of a spell scroll that also costs less than the value of this box. Thusly, it is recommended that no money or treasure be removed from the box. However, gold or amber could be added to the box (or an amount of silver, copper, or other precious stones/metals/items that can be converted into a gold value). This new value modifies what items and effects can be generated from within the box. The box functions like a bag of holding only in that there is no apparent limit to the amount of wealth that can be stored, and nothing else.
Gefion's Lucky Belt
“It appears to be a small rope made from strands of gold that shows no signs of wear or damage. Holding it produces a tingly sensation.”
+2 to all die rolls or boosts the user's Luck stat if they are using the optional system. When equipped, give the player the option to opt into the optional Luck system. If they opt in or are already using the Luck system, this item boosts the user's Luck by 12.
Hel's Staff (she could be summoned and her aforementioned quest would start, otherwise it's either the item or the quest, as Hel cannot start the quest if she's an item that is not found or activated)
“A black staff tipped with a large, spherical obsidian gemstone. The stone seems to glow with a dull, muddy light.”
Allows the user to control any one biological undead, but only one at a time. Has a number of charges per day, recharges daily. Changing a target, no matter how this comes about, expends a charge. Controlling stronger enemies uses more charges. Once controlled, the target is not released until midnight, when the staff goes dormant to recharge. Recommended 10 charges per day, adjust as necessary.
Hermod's Draupnir
“A gold band ring with little detail and no ornamentation, this item appears useless, though it feels quite valuable. You're not sure, but there is definitely more to this item than meets the eye.”
Every nine nights, it produces eight copies of itself, each worth 300gp. The duplicates cannot duplicate. Has no effect when worn, the duplicate rings will simply fall off of the user's finger. This functions when not worn, but only functions when in the posession of a character. It cannot be found amidst a horde of similar rings.
Honir's Halberd
“An ornate halberd, more fitting for a guard than a warrior, is highly detailed, though it has some wear, indicating recent use in battle. Merely holding this weapon causes you to grow a few inches taller as your legs stretch and grow slightly, causng you to feel faster and stronger.”
Boosts user's SPD by 12.
Idun's Chest
“A large wooden chest, lightly gilded and made of a white wood. Inside, there are always six beautiful, golden apples. The older a person is, the more they seem drawn to the apples. They are clearly magical, in nature.”
Magically produces six golden apples of youth daily, which, upon consumption, return any individual to the minimal adult age of their race. Any apples not consumed disappear at midnight.
Lofn's Goblet
“An iron goblet studded with all manner of red colored gems and lined with some kind of red gold, probably magical in nature, this goblet gives al who hold it a warm, buzzed sensation.”
Magically converts any and all contents into love potions. Converts love potions into stronger love potions; see Eir's Horn above.
Loki's Laevateinn
“A long wooden staff with a bulbous head, it has etchings of mistletoe and holly. Partway down the length from the top, there is a silver band with a small red gem. Touching the gem produces an audible click and the top of the staff becomes loose. Upon removal, a hidden sword blade is revealed. The sheath can be returned to its original position with another clicking sound. The blade itself is covered in magical rules that seem to faintly glow green and red, shifting between the two colores.”
A returning staff with a hidden blade. It can be thrown as a spear if the sword is unsheathed or as an improvised weapon if not. Once thrown, at any moment, it can be commanded to return to the user's hand. It will do so without fail or error. It can be used as a piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning weapon and is the only artifact that can be imbued with magical abilities and effects from an outside source. Can be two-handed for 1.5x ATK or for multiple attacks.
Magni's Greathammer
“A massive hammer attached to a long pole, the end of which is capped with an iron ball, there are two sections of the pole made of gold-alloy and are cool to the touch. The mysterious nature of this weapon comes from the magical properties of the wooden handle. The cap at the bottom shocks any who touch it with a small electric jolt. Above this is a section that is nearly too hot to touch, at which point, going up the handle to the head, the pole becomes warm, cool, damp, cold, and freezing. The head itself seems to be made of some kind of unknown, magical element. It is heavy, but durable able to be wielded without too much effort. The head is covered in simple etchings and designs of varying elemental themes.”
Channels elemental energies. Before swinging, the user must describe the elemental energy they wish to use for that attack. The additional energy damage is 6 [insert energy type].
Modgud's Lantern
“An unassuming, dented, old lantern, the inside is lined with an almost liquid silver which holds a brilliant flame. The sides of the lantern can be parted and slid to the side to reveal the flame. The more sides that are open, the less area the flame illuminates. The flame cannot be extinguished except by command of its wielder and it appears to need no fuel source. You can sense that, though this item appears innocuous, it holds a greater, hidden power.”
A lantern that requires no fuel and works in magical darkness. Can be activated and deactivated on command from its user.
Modi's Bracers
“A pair of studded leather bracers, they seem entirely normal until worn, whereupon the wearer can feel their vision become sharper and, if they focus, even amplified.”
Protection from lightning, as Fjorgyn's Ring above.
Njord's Purse
“A purple satin coin purse with a golden drawstring, the outside is stitched with runes and depicts an open bag with money falling into it. From below. With the bag upside down. No, it isn't falling out of the bag. Upon further inspection, the bag contains 200 gold pieces' worth of gold and silver. When new pieces are held above the opening, they are practically sucked in. No matter how much is added, the bag never grows in size. Perhaps it could hold more than just coins?”
A virtual “bag of holding” full of gold and silver when found, approximately 200gp's worth, and has the unique ability to vacuum up wealth when opened in the direction of treasure. The rate at which it takes in treasure depends on many factors and is ultimately up to DM discretion. It can only take in treasure that can fit through a medium fist-sized hole at a suggested rate of approximately 5lbs of solid material per round.
Ran's Net
“A simple net, it cannot be picked up, except when a key word is uttered.”
When thrown, this net can be commanded to return at any time. It cannot be lifted except by thrower's command, meaning it will sink to the bottom of any non-solid material and will hold any creature that can fit beneath it. It covers an area of 100 square feet, or ten feet by ten feet (two squares by two squares).
Rind's Ring
“Ring made of a crystalline substance that looks like ice, but feels neither cold nor wet when held. When worn, the very air around you feels as if it is vibrating, if only slightly.”
Protection from cold, as Fjorgyn's Ring above.
Saga's Flagon
“A small iron flagon covered in etchings and inlays of various fruits and vegetables, this item produces a sweet, nectar-llike scent that draws any with a propensity towards alcohol to it. Otherwise, it seems harmless and innocuous.”
Magically converts any and all liquids into any alcohol desired by the user, as Eir's Horn above.
Sif's Horn
“A small horn with a cap at the end attached to a small peg in the smaller end of the horn, clearly meant to be removed, this horn must be for use in battle, most likely as a rallying sound. It feels magical, though you're not sure how. Holding it, you feel stronger and more courageous.”
Boosts ally ATK by 5 when blown in a 30' AoE centered on the user. Can only be used once per encounter, the effect lasting five rounds.
Sigyn's Challice
“A small crystal chalice, this item seems otherwise perfectly normal, though holding it makes you feel somewhat uneasy.”
Magically converts any and all liquids into any poison desired by the user, as Eir's Horn above.
Sjofn's Negligee
“This set of clothing is simple, yet elegant. The white fabric is hemmed with gold, though upon donning this set, the colors shift and change, before settling on the most attractive color in the mind of the user. The set consists of a long skirt and a midriff-baring top with long sleeves. The fabric is sheer and almost transparent.”
+5 S. Atk with charm spells only, provides no DEF. Can work with Bragi's Harp.
Skadi's Bow
“A bow made from a single piece of blue ice that seems unable to melt. It Is cool to the touch, but not cold, and upon drawing the string it generates an arrow of ice.”
Shoots ice arrows, up to thirty times per day, recharges daily. Use bow and regular arrow stats for attacks, then choose a low-level ice or cold spell effect if a target is hit, at the DM's discretion.
Syn's Hooked Spear
“This hooked spear has an ornate head, befitting a guard, though it has seen some recent battles. The nature of the tip has two points, one pointing to the target and one pointing back to the wielder. Holding it, you feel compelled to tell the truth. Clearly, this weapon is magical in natrue.”
At any point, the user can point the spear at a target and command the target to speak the truth, magically forces the target to tell the truth. Also forces the user to tell the truth at the same time. The effect lasts until the user dispels it, but for each truth the target speaks, the user must speak the same number of truths if the effect is dispelled unjustly. Specifically, this caveat comes into play if the target answers a question and the user immediately dispels the effect in order to prevent themselves from being effected by the ability of this item, lest they be asked a compromising question.
Thor's Hammer
Use the description above in the main campaign materials.
Simply keep the hammer Mjolnir as it is in the main campaign materials, but with the added ability to summon the god of thunder.
Thrud's Battle Axes
“These hefty axes appear to be simple, if oversized, Dane axes, though when held in each hand, you feel yourself becoming stronger.”
Boosts the user's STR by 12.
Tyr's Chopping Spear
“This long spear has a tip that appears to be a fusion of a cleaver and a typical spear. As it can be used for more than just piercing, this is obviously a superior weapon. When held with both hands, you feel your senses sharpen and your muscles tense, ready for combat.”
Boosts the user's ACC with melee attacks by 12. Can be used as a piercing or slashing weapon. Can be two-handed for 1.5x ATK or for multiple attacks.
Ull's Bracers of Archery
“These leather bracers are highly detailed with the shapes of birds of prey. When both are worn, you feel your senses sharpen and your mind clear.”
Boosts the user's ACC with ranged attacks by 12.
Vali's Circlet
“A delicate looking gold headpiece, it feels warm to the touch. When worn, you feel the very air about you vibrate, if only slightly.”
Protection from fire, as Fjorgyn's Ring above.
Var's Rings
“Two gold wedding bands, when worn they transform to suit the tastes of the wearer and can be transformed into any design or shape at will by the user and retain that shape when not worn. If one is already wearing one ring, they will vehemently refuse to allow anyone except a chosen partner to wear the other.”
Two rings that, when worn by two individuals, binds the two souls, allowing them to sense each other and share sensations and emotions over any distance, even different dimensions. Maybe even different times.
Ve's Horned Helm
“A simple iron half helm with two large horns set onto the sides. All those around this helm feel their wills and resolves strengthen.”
Boosts ally S. Def by 5 within 30' of the user.
Vidar's Shortsword
“A viking shortsword, it seems that there is nothing unusual about it. If you try hitting a tree with it, the tree is felled in one strike, cut clean through. Attempting this feat on rocks or armor or ice, has no effect. The weapon simply bounces off of it, though it does cause some damage.”
Works like a lightsaber on organic material or 2x ATK against light or no armor on targets. Basically, however the DM thinks a weapon that deals extra damage against flesh would work best.
Vili's Armor
“A full set of Viking armor, it is mostly studded leather lined with chainmail and furs. You can see that the armor set is scuffed and knicked, but otherwise has no significant damage. Parts of the leather even seem to be scarred, a feat that should be impossible.”
DR 5 all.
Vor's Mirror
“A simple silver mirror with little in the way of details, the mirror surface itself seems almost liquid and shifting, as if it were a pool of silver trapped beneath a clear glass pane. Should any question be asked in its vicinity, the mirror stirs, the answer to the question forming from the mirror, either as words or images. Some of these images may even move.”
Shows, in text or imagery, the answers to whatever question is asked of it about any subject past or present (only Norns know the future) by the user. Any specific questions relating to the campaign can be answered at the DM's discretion. It is advised that no campaign-specific be answered if the answer would give away any special knowledge or surprise details. If players do ask these questions, simply state that a fog obscures the answer. This is because the power of the mirror comes from Odin, who withholds information from the players from the start, even through this artifact. Players can ask about anything else they're curious about, especially if it's used for role play purposes, such as viewing their loved ones in another realm, proving something in their past to the party to gain their trust, etc.
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