Adventure Ideas: Page 3

Dimensional Sonata

Legend has it that Beethoven was a man possessed while writing his music. This rumor persists most often with his timeless piece, œMoonlight Sonata. There may be some truth to this legend.

The PC's are contacted to investigate a house in the woods, whose owners claim it to be haunted. All the typical trappings and stories about ghost/spirit activity are present, but the twist is that the owners are classical music aficionados, and the ONLY time they witness any paranormal activity is when they play Beethoven's music in the house! The activit its most active when they play œMoonlight Sonata, and its gotten to the point where objects are getting thrown around the house, sounds of sobbing or malicious laughter have been heard, things move in the shadows just outside the corner of your eye, etc.

The owners are too scared to go near their own cabin anymore, they need help!
The owners can even prove their claims to the PC's by playing a random piece of classical music. Sure enough, ghostly activity begins happening all over the house. If a Psychic Medium is present, they will notice that the entities are not lingering within the house as they usually do, they are invading the house, as if being drawn to it. However they leave (or flees) when the music stops.

As the PC's keep experimenting with various pieces of music, they'll discover that the louder the music plays, the most intense the paranormal activity in the house gets.
The house itself sits in the middle of the woods and the owners are the original owners / builders and the only people who have lived in it. They're not particularly interesting people themselves (unless a PC is a classical music afficianado); one is a highly regarded classical music pianist and the other is a music teacher and tutor. It's when the PC's consider examining the surrounding forest that things get interesting.

What's going on in these woods? Why does Beethoven's music attract and agitate these entities the most? What else might the music be attracting to the house? What might happen if the group gets professional grade concert speakers and blasts Moonlight Sonata throughout the woods?

Suggestion Box Bonus: It's been said that music mimics, transforms and creates œthe rhythm of the universe. You can use that theme here by saying that the mathematical rhythm of Beethoven's work creates a sort of harmonic significance with these woods. The forest itself has an unusually high and sporadic pattern of electromagnetic energy and other anomalies that can be detected with sensory equipment. In short, it's a unique location and Beethoven's music simply sings to it!

It's this unique harmonic energy thats weakening the walls of the dimensional worlds that neighbors BTS Earth, creating easier access for spirits, entities and other (more deadly) creatures to find their way into the forest. It may require the PC's to perform a magic ritual to alter the lands P.P.E. base, or perhaps theres a œgatekeeper that keeps creating a doorway when it hears the music. Killing/removing the gatekeeper œcould solve the problem.

Note: I chose Beethoven because I love his music; Moonlight Sonata, in my opinion is one of the most beautiful and haunting pieces of music ever written and you can find his music virtually anywhere. Playing his music during the game can add the greatest of ambience when done right. I would encourage you to have certain pieces of his music trigger specific effects/events.

Alchemy, Homunculi's and Golem's, OH MY!!

The PC's have been investigating reports of bodies/cadavers being stolen from any conceivable place that one can find them; the morgue, funeral homes, graveyards, etc. Their initial theory may be thinking that grave ghouls are involved, or perhaps zombies are being created for some evil purpose. But nay; it's the work of alchemists, going old school with new ideas.

Where you put it and how they find it is the GM's call, but the group will eventually find a converted alchemist laboratory. It's got all the trappings and belongings of old world alchemy materials with lots of new scientific equipment crammed in with it. But the more interesting items in the room should be the arrays of glass jugs and jars that line the walls. Whoever closely examine a jar first gets the œboo scare horror factor roll when something inside the jar of cloudy fluid jolts to life, as if trying to charge and attack the PC! Fortunately, its trapped within the jar, and after a moment of struggle, it settles down and begins squiring or twitching about in the fluid.

Inside each jar is a homunculi of some sort, each one's unique to the next, but all are built out a variety of body parts: bones, organs, tissue, flesh, fluids and more (if its in a human body, it will be part of the makeup). After one of them wakes up, the rest begin to stir and squirm in their own jars! If the group leaves them alone, they will ignore the group (at first), but the moment a PC tries to grab, move, stir, spill, or do anything to disturb a container with a homunculi inside it, the entire army of creatures will begin a psionic onslaught the size of which the PC's won't believe!

Otherwise, poking around in the lab, either by hacking a computer and/or searching file cabinets, the group will discover that the creatures are being created to be something along the lines of œP.P.E. batteries for alchemical uses. Judging by the plans and notes, all of the magic items, spells and rituals the batteries will be powering are dark and malicious in nature. The group should come to a realization that the lab and the batteries should all be destroyed, but doing so will be difficult as the creatures will put up a memorable psychic battle, using illusions, dreams, mind bolts, and more to protect themselves. PC's of good alignment may decide against doing this, but once it's pointed out that these are not truly living creatures, and are in fact fabricated minor supernatural beings, they should lose their hesitation.

One of the notes the group finds should also worry them into action, for there is another lab located in the city/area, where the alchemists responsible for these batteries are creating a giant golem! And by the look of the notes, they have nearly finished builing it! Where is this lab? How do they find it? Who will try to stop them from doing so? When they find it, is the golem completed? If so, Golem's are said to be nearly indestructible, so how do they stop it?

Note: I encourage the GM to look up Jewish folklore concerning golems as they are very unique and deep rooted within it. I'd go so far as to use the Jewish process of creating one and therefore only the Jewish method of stopping them would apply. In this case, all golems are brought to life by inscribing the Hebrew word EMET (meaning œtruth) on its forehead, but one could stop and destroy the golem by removing the first letter of this word, changing it to MET (meaning œdead). Its up the PC's to figure out how to remove the letter (I'd say covering it with cement or clay or something that would fill in the chiseled letter entirely would work).

Take me out at the ball game.

Note: The College World Series takes place here in Omaha, NE, so creating an adventure based on it seemed ideal for the local game conventions.
The year I used this adventure idea, the championship games of the CWS involved long time team rivals and periods of foul weather, creating a great atmosphere for an unexpected BTS setting.

The CWS has been going on for the last two weeks, and it's down to the last two teams. Both teams are not only really good, but are really hated rivals of one another that goes back decades. Both teams are 1 and 1; next game is the championship game!

However, every game played this year has gotten more heated and agitated over the two weeks and a lot of fans (and even a few staff & players) have committed acts of violence against each other, and the brawling, levels of violence (and the damages) are escalating. The news is playing it out as a heated rivalry that's getting out of hand, but members of the Lazlo society recognize that something more is at work here.

How they discover it is up to the GM. Perhaps a character attends a game to cheer on their old college team and feels the rising tempers and projected aggression and anger. Perhaps the news reports of the flaring tempers and escalating violence caught their attention enough to investigate, or perhaps a latent psychic has a premonition. Whatever the reason, they will feel œsomething in the air when they get within a block of the stadium. Those that go inside, the closer they get to the field, the stronger the sensation of a presence of œpure anger and œhatred can be felt. The Psychics will feel a slight psychic adrenaline bump (x2 boost) just by being in the stands, signaling that something horrible is lurking in here somewhere and seems to be instigating the aggressive behavior of the crowds. It also seems to be revving up for the championship game.

Getting into the inner workings of the stadium to deal with the presence will be difficult at best. During the day, people are being watched closely and padded down by police if they appear suspicious (wearing long coats to hide things under in the summer is ALWAYS suspicious looking) and attending a game has the obvious risk of collateral damage or injuring someone. At night it's not any better as armed guards patrol the grounds (people try to break into the stadium at night every year). And worst yet, the presence cant be felt when the crowds are gone.
Note: This may give the impression that something big is trying to get to BTS Earth and needs the energy of the crowd to do it or something like that.

So what do the PC's do? Do they wait for something to happen and try to thwart it when arrives? Do they disable the stadium (like the power) so the games are delayed, if not cancelled all together? (a difficult, but not impossible solution), what are they even dealing with? And why does it seem to want to cause violent riots at the stadium?

My optional suggestion: The presence wants a massive riot as the potential energy provides the energy needed (especially if people start killing each other) to dimensionally teleport to BTS Earth. During the two weeks leading up to the final game, Entities, Banshee's and other supernatural beings will be attracted to the stadium, giving players more problems (and incidental clues) to deal with. I would encourage getting the players to attend the championship game and buy tickets, which lets them sit closer to the field. To get good seats close to the firld, theyll likely have to seek out a shady scalper or get their tickets through other unsavory means, and I encourage this as it makes for interesting role-playing opportunities. Another option would be for the PC's to infiltrate the stadium as food vendors or janitory services (they can hide their weaponry in food storage area and janitor closets, etc). Either way, they should be close to the field when the trigger is pulled.

Both of the team mascots will be jeering and jumping at a near fever pitch by the middle of the game, and eventually one moves too far around the field and collides into the other (right in front of the PC's). The fallen mascot loses his temper and goes off on the other who œcollided into him. This may look comical when you think of it, but the crowd is in the wrong mood (and is being influenced into too much anger) for comedy, and instead an instant swaring of the field by fans and a riot ensues, and the players are sitting between the masses and the mascots! Once the crowd has swarmed the mascots, they turn on each other. And with a supply of baseballs, baseball bats, benches and other dangerous objects, this can become a killing frenzy in a matter of minutes!

Players dealing with a Stadium Riot: Per the œworst case scenario info, the player's best chance of surviving a Stadium Riot is as follows:
  Create a protective helmet: stuff crumpled newspapers or cardboard under a hat or empty popcorn tub or other type of container to protect their melon.
   Move away from mascots: While this is obvious in this case, in a given riot the team mascots are particularly vulnerable to attack.
  Watch for projectiles: bend the knees and keep your head low to avoid flying cans, bottles, pennants, water balloons, rocks, pipes, benches, seats, people and other objects.
  Move sideways through the crowds: Always avoid running forward (towards the center of the riot) or backwards (against the surging mob).
Note: If the player's bring up these points, I would give bonuses to getting out safely. I'd say put their I.Q. and P.P. attributes together and have them roll below the total to get out unharmed.

Once free of the riot, the PC's could try to do something to stop the mob, like turning on the fire hoses (or the stadium sprinklers) or turning out the lighting if the game has gone on long enough to become dusk or dark. This could be enough to stop the evil presence from getting to earth if the PC's can get the riot under control. If not, the players need to locate the source of the trouble and deal with it directly, which has probably taken physical shape at this point or is hiding nearby in the astral plane, ready to come to the physical plane.

He dies through the air, with the greatest of ease!

œFearless Moe Jackson is not only one of the greatest entertainers of the 21st century (thus far), he's one of the greatest magicians and daredevils ever seen! And your PC is amongst the lucky bunch of Lazlo Society buddies that has tickets to his show when he comes to town next month!

The same night the PC's purchase their tickets, while out œhunting or investigating, they spot a large dog (or something vaguely similar to one) in the shadows with tiny white glowing dots for eyes staring at them. As the PC's try to get a closer look, the dog's eyes suddenly flash like bright camera bulbs, blurring the player's vision for a moment. When their vision returns, the beast is gone, vanished!

As Moe's tour kicks off, he's performing all sorts of bizarre and dangerous stunts.
Each one's more death defying than the last, yet Moe keeps surviving them without as much as a scratch to show for it! However, the local newspaper of every city he visits reports a bizarre and tragic death that share similarities to the spectacles Fearless Moe performs. These reported incidents are genrally glanced over by the news, never gets any real attention and is eventually forgotten about as life goes on.

But those who look at the reports with the right eyes will realize that the same night Moe visits that city, there's a small article about a transient, homeless or some other œignored or unknown person found dead. What's puzzling is that their deaths were similar to the stunts Fearless Moe had performed that night, or more appropriately what might've happened to Moe if his stunt had failed.

One of the PC's gets a message from a Lazlo Society member, one who lives in a city Fearless Moe had recently traveled to. He sends a police report to the PC's that states a homeless man drowned to death while inside the grimy tent he was using as shelter that night, which was dry as a bone when the police arrived. One of the homeless people questioned by the police stated that the deceased had talked to him earlier that evening about seeing a œbig, ugly dog that had these really bright eyes, he went to sleep shortly afterwards and inexplicably drowned.

His time of death reveals that he drowned roughly 12 hours after Moe performed his œfeature stunt that night; being locked inside a water tank for several minutes and œjust barely escaping before drowning. Doing more research will show a similar pattern of the other transients, homeless and castaways dying after the 13th hour of one of Moe's featured stunt.

What do the PC's do? At least one of them is now marked for death after seeing the dog with bright eyes! Rumor has it that Moe plans to perform a death defying stunt at the show in town tonight that will burn him alive if he fails (a most painful and horrible way to die).

Do they try to stop Moe from performing his feat? Is Moe making deals with devils?
Or is someone (or something) helping him? Like his management? Or an overzealous fan?

What happens if they find and kill the bright eyed dog? Will Moe burn to death without supernatural assistance? That would be a death he doesn't deserve if he's truly not involved in the supernatural. If Moe's not the one making deals with devils on his behalf, those who are responsible will not take the PC's interference lightly. What do the PC's do about it? And what will the PC's have to do to break this deal, or pact, or curse, or whatever it is?

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out...

One of the oldest buildings in the city collapses in the middle of the night (it was empty, so no casualties reported). It takes the authorities two days to determine that the cause was from an unstable foundation, perhaps soil erosion under the concrete foundation or perhaps the concrete foundation itself was badly designed, or simply crumbled apart and finally collapsed.

However, after being sworn to secrecy, the PC's are sent in to examine the ruined building's foundation as œconsultants. They may be wondering why they were asked to take a look at the place, but theyll quickly understand that the supernatural was somehow involved.

They will find the remains of THOUSANDS of squashed earthworms under the wreckage, and sections of the concrete foundation look as if large holes (or perhaps tunnels) were bored through it and likely contributed to the building's collapse. Finally, during inspection of the bottom floor of the building, under a recently replaced carpet is a conjuring symbol of some sort.

The big clue besides the œconjuring circle on the bottom floor are all the squashed earthworms, dictating that they were probably conjured here as part of a summoning ritual, being used as the body and anchor of a summoned supernatural burrowing worm of some sort. Once anchored, the creature(s) burrowed through the foundation until the building collapsed, killing the supernatural worm and crushing the earthworm anchors as they discorporated.

But why? Who did this? Was it a test for something more devious to be unleashed later? Are they planning to conjure this/these burrowing worms again for another building?
Are they planning something as simple as black mailing the building owners? Are they planning to kill a lot of unsuspecting people in another building? Could they make enough giant worms to level the whole city? Are they doing it themselves or are they being manipulated or encouraged by other supernatural forces?

A man buys tools cheap at a pawn shop for his new handyman business, including a clawed hammer. The hammer however is inhabited by a Syphon Entity. As the man becomes a killer (using the hammer as the murder weapon no less), the characters get involved and stop him and or destroy the Entity.

However, if the group follows the paper trail as to where the hammer came from, they find that many of the old tools in the pawn shop are possessed by Syphons, hibernating in wait for their next victim. All are tools that can be used to efficiently and brutally murder someone are inhabited, like hatchets, saws, power drills, sledgehammers, and so on.

Why are so many slumbering Syphons in one place? Is the store owner some kind of ring leader of Syphons? Did someone sell or give the tools to the shop, knowing that the Syphons would spread around as the tools are sold? Are the Syphons the by-product of a greater supernatural danger in the area?

Imagine a mental health hospital, one that house many people that live in their own alternate realities (dementia, delirium, schizophrenia or other psychosis). Now imagine all of the various psychic impressions being pooled within such a place. Now imagine that pool of “unreal” psychic impressions attracting Haunting Entities, and lots of em.

What would/could happen in such a place? Would its resident's altered views of their maek belive world become real as the haunting entities take on the persona's of the fictional people in their fantasy world? Would alternate realities begin clashing with one another, especially within the Astral Plane? What kind of demented and bizarre haunting entities might be created from such minds? Would they became a serious threat to those who live there?

The Corpse Road

This adventure was submitted by Raven Davenport on the House of BTS Face Book page and was designed for two or more PC's in mind, at any level, with at least one of the P.C.'s possessing the skill Lore: Superstitions.

But first, a bit of background: œI was reading about Saint David's Day recently, and that lead me to read Wikipedia's article on Corpse Roads and Corpse Candles. Corpse roads are paths which are cut specifically for transporting the dead to graveyards. Corpse candles are unexplained lights seen along the corpse roads. Many practices are involved which are designed to prevent the dead from returning from the grave and other associated misfortunes. For example, these include making the paths straight to allow the ghosts clear passage and passing over running water which will supposedly block or at least slow upset ghosts who try to return. Specific stones are laid by the path so the corpses may be set down without touching the ground.

Hook: A friend and ally of the PC's recently died and they are in town to attend her funeral and the reading of her last will and testament.

Line: This friend and ally was a well-regarded and skilled hunter of cultists and supernatural monsters. She was also well regarded for her cleverness. Before she died, the ally had received a premonition about possible events after her death. She saw (or was told) that her enemies would impersonate her and cause destruction in her name. To prevent this, she devised a strategy. In keeping with her own cultural heritage (pick one), she designed and built her own corpse road. In her will, she left specific instructions for her family and friends (the PC's) to carry her body along the road and perform certain tasks en route to her grave. She was not wealthy, but she will bequeath some tools to the PCs to help them in this task. If the PCs are neophytes, this will include weaponry with which to defend themselves and other tools/items. If they are experienced, the gifts will be superstitious trinkets and what little wealth she had to leave.

Sinker: She did leave behind some enemies who will try to steal her persona in one way or another. These monsters will be encountered en route, each more dangerous than the last. Perhaps a Haunting Entity will be first, and at the end, an illusion-casting Sowki (whatever would be a threat to the PCs if they need to fight their way out).

The superstitions are working as the instructions are being followed. Mechanically, this can work like a saving throw that grows more difficult for the monsters with each marker passed on the road until at the grave site, the difficulty for impersonating her becomes 100%. A more combat oriented way would be to increase the Threat Level (and thus the power of psychic PC's) at each stage along the route, thus allowing them to destroy the monsters at the grave site. Any monsters still alive will meet the PC's at the graveyard for a final battle. If all the monsters were destroyed along the way, one more will appear the graveyard, perhaps a Tectonic Entity who possesses her corpse.

Alternate Sinker: If you like a twist in your stories, here's one. The superstitions are *not* working. However, the ally knew this, and it is part of a ruse she'd set up to trap her old enemies. Only one of the PC's, perhaps someone with Mind Block, knows about the trick, but they should not reveal it until the trap is sprung. Their task is convincing the other PC's to continue with a strategy which doesn't seem to be working. After the road is travelled, and the corpse arrives at the graveyard, it should be placed inside a certain tomb. This tomb was built with either psi-device technology or certain wards designed to trap the supernatural creatures inside with her body in the tomb with her.