Thursday HERO Adventure

The Freakshow comes to town

It all begins with Halfjack coming to town.
He attempt to perform a robbery of an armored car and fights with one of the heroes (alone on patrol), during the fighting his cybernetcs take a hit , he fires a blast at a passing bus full of nuns or tanker truck and while the hero saves the day he dissappears , leaving behind a damaged cybernetic limb.  He goes looking for a mad scientist who can do repair work.  He finds Dr Kirby Loo. Dr Loo repairs him and offers to upgrade him.  Halfjack makes a return engagement (now armed with 45 Villain Points of upgrades and the limits physically forced loyalty to Dr Loo and an unknown GM determined 2d6 susc) , calls the hero out , and (maybe) defeats the hero with upgraded weaponry then leaves.  Other villains hear of the success thru the grapevine and come to Dr Loo to get helped or fixed.  Halfjack recruits Fire and Ice, Piledriver, Sledge, Occulon and the Scorpion to begin a wave of crime hitting a wide variety of targets to get the components to build a version of Pythias Pomegrantes Ubermachine.  Beyond financing cash they need to steal a number of things for the Doctor's upgrades. After each theft a roll will be made to give all the villains a villain bonus.

Act Roll     Theft
8-              A set of specialized harmonic bells which they will steal from sun valley chip makers
9-              A pound of Vibranium , which they will have to steal from the antigravity research center at Cape 
                 Canaveral.
10-            A kilo of yittrium earths from the Florida Superconductor Project
11-            A special osmium alloy - the best source of which whould be - the (hi tech device of a PC)
12-            Experimental blood substitue fromt he Miami State Seratology dept.
13-            An experimental anti-rejection drug used with PRIMUS agents who take cyberline
14-            The METE environmental chamber

After each heist an upgrade attempt will be made on each of them (use act roll) if successful give all the villains a 10 point villain bonus.

The press will dub the marauders THE FREAKSHOW and the name will stick.

Once he has all of these things he will remove the villains prosthesis and attach them to Halfjack, drain off Fire and Ice's powers to charge the device, and replace Occulon's eyes.  Halfjack will then become Dr Kirby Loos ultimate bodyguard. Halfjack will have stats comparable to that of his own creator Mechanon.

Of course when the heroes thwart the scheme Loo will be sent to Prison and the others to Stronghold where they will tell their tale to other inmates.  The inmates will stage a breakout to recover Loo, and make him repair their maladies.  The second Freakshow will be Griffin, Dragonfly, Ogre, Brick, Grond, Leech and Hideous.  Loo will instead plan to transfer their minds to "worthless" human bodies and replace them with those of his brainwashed lieutenants/sons.  Guarding Loo during the proceedings will be the Green Dragon and the Red Dragon his mind washed martial artists and if he gets the device up and running full time an army of frankensteinian half men.

The Quest for the Temple of the Emerald Goddess

A quick campaign for fantasy games by Chance Palmer.

The Heroes are starting on Turtle Island, a small island named for the bowl shaped mountain at it's center.  The Island is fairly marshy , and quite warm because of the volcanic fumaroles beneath the island.  Turtle Island's population is centered in Jade City. Jade City is named for the color of the local stones, and not for famous jade deposits.  The local stone is a lustrous , oily green colour, much prized by artisans and builders as a finishing stone.  The city is prosperous and thriving, combining much of the thrill of a border town with the developments of a metropolitan center.  Population is around 20,000.  The City is led by the guildmaster of the mason's guild Dagorath Vindal , a bear of a man with a corrupt streak a mile wide. 

The group's patron is an old , burned out dwarven magician turned enchanter/merchant known as Karlon Ironhand.  He deals in rare goods, the kind that come from the lost and abandoned places of the earth.  He stands 4 foot high and 3 feet wide with a bald head and a braided white beard.  Karlon is an autum person, with a taste for the somewhat macabre.  He owns stake in a dozen local artisan's shops and is a member of the Magicians Guild.  He is always accompanied by Thingamabob, his animated steel gauntlet, which it is rumoured is home to a powerful free spirit. He also keeps a fair stable of excellent quality dwarven mountain ponies, fiercely strong and durable if irracible beasts of burden which are ostensibly used as riding beasts.  Karlon is old for a dwarf, being nearly 220 years old, and attributes his good health to a daily regimine of martial excercises he learned from monks at a nearby monastery.  His home , Caer Lindael , is a stone keep just outside of the city walls.  Caer Lindael is half merchant storehouse half museum. 

Karlon has a human wife, his 8th human wife to be exact, named Sheeba, who is , by turns, crafty and cruel or sweet as honey mead. She is 5'7", blonde haired and blue eyed, and all of 25 years old.  They've been married for 5  years now and she has , by all accounts been a great drain on Karlon's finances.  Her father is a high ranking member of the shipwright's guild and thier marriage has thus far been fruitless.  She has a taste for exotic foods and saphire stones, and silver.  His other 7 wives are scattered across the Isles , having left him because of his eccentric ways. Sheeba is deeply in love with him , well educated and sadly refuses to see that her need to be pampered is driving Karlon into the poorhouse.

His accountant is a windling named Flutterbye, a pink haired and green winged Sylph who wear glasses with no lenses. Flutterbye suffered horrible tortures as a child and in rebellin against the cruel Windling Duke Artee turned his back on all fae tradition and became a chartered member of the Guild of Accountants. It is with Flutterbye the party must debate any additional expenses. 

His personal bodyguard is a steely eyed Dwarven ex-thief named Bones, who has ashen skin and dark brown eyes, and long, whispy hair that circles a pale bald spot.  Bones keeps a hand crossbow handy at all times , as wells as a brace of dwarven throwing axes.  He favors lorica segmentata for armor. 

He has enemies , both from his adventuring youth and his current trading companies competitive habits.

His first call of the heroes to him is," to dispose of two problems at once, a dangerous spirit that he has bound into a small idol needs to be gotten rid of , the accidental result of a failed binding enchantment, and in so doing confiming the validity of a map to the Temple of The Emerald Goddess.  There with any good fortune you can dispose of the idol at the portal of mists and if they so choose pray to the Emerald Goddess for blessings and wisdom. Plus whatever loot may be there.  The Temple was known to be in the area now known as the Tangle Vale before it was over-run by Ogres 500 years ago.  The Emerald Goddess was known as a devourer of demons so double score there as this staue and it's bound demon will certainly please her. "

The Tangle Vale is located northeast of Turtle Island , on Thurald , a largish and overgrown mountainous Island a months travel away. The Temple map is good as gold , except for being 650 years old , all the old routes it suggests have long since flooded over and will be difficult to find. The area is spare on big game , as many tribes of ogres live in the area. Thier tracks are all over the area and will be apparent to the adventures if they take the most cursory observation. The Ogres have all themselves converted to the worship of the Emerald Goddess , but in their own fashion . They have been kidnapping and sacrificing people and beasts to summon demons ... to feed the goddess, and their corrupt worship has changed the once kind hearted demigoddess into a raging evil beast. The ex-goddess should have total hit dice equal to the sum of the parties own  plus 3, with her other stats and abilities equal to that of a type 5 demon sans the gate powers. She has changed in appearance from her original beatific female form to a multi-limbed demoness.  The clues to this transformation are all over the Vale , her beastial likeness is carved into trees and totem poles, and observations of the small ogre tribes will find the original goddess's temple statues have been moved and placed before the Ogre Shaman's altars.

There are 15 major Ogre camps in the Vale , most of which border a single , somewhat toxic with filth river. The area is heavily overrun with briars and spikethorn creepers. Each of the Ogre camps houses 3d3+4 adults with 3d6 children, and several pens of boar and ponds of fish. 4 of them have witch doctors and the rest have shamans. The temple is located half way up the western valley wall .  The river is home to mudfish and snakes and a few water weirds.

Wandering Monster Chart for the Vale

Night Time
Roll encounter checks every hours on a 1-4 on 1d12
Roll 3d6
3   Leucrotta on the hunt for victims
4   1d6 Ogres hunting for flesh
5   2 Ogres trysting
6   a hunting pit lined with spikes
7   a totem pole or tree carving of the Beastial Emerald Goddess
8   an old marker of the worship road
9   2d4 wild boars
10  a forest spirit - brownie or pixie or a gaggle of 2d4 flesh eating cannibal sprites
11   2d4 Ogre children (hobgoblin stats) playing hide and seek
12   The Ogre Witchdoctor , followed by 2d4 zombie ogres and 2d4 ogre skeletons looking for rare magical herbs
13   The Ogre Shaman communing with daemonic spirit (same stats as banshee)
14  open hunting pit with squealing boar
15  a young Ogre hunter seeking game or a stuffed giant snake with a half digested ogre
16  a patch of shriekers
17  a shambling mound or a patch of rare hallucinogenic herbs
18  2d4 geonids , who are seeking to remain hidden from the Ogres, if talked to and bribed they could explain some of the situation

Day Time
Roll encounter checks every hours on a 1-4 on 1d12
Roll 3d6
3   Cockatrice on the hunt for victims
4   Game birds feasting on wild fruit
5   Bear hunting for food
6   a hunting pit lined with spikes
7   a totem pole or tree carving of the Beastial Emerald Goddess
8   an old marker of the worship road
9   2d4 wild boars
10   Poisonous snake
11   Frilled tree lizard that spits poison
12   a jungle cat on the prowl and hungry
13   an old and burnt out homestead
14  open hunting pit with squealing boar being feasted on by carrion ants
15  a stuffed giant snake with a half digested ogre
16  a patch of rare healing herbs
17  a shambling mound or a patch of rare hallucinogenic herbs
18  2d4 geonids , who are seeking to remain hidden from the Ogres, if talked to and bribed they could explain some of the situation

The Oddporium of Rukh

The Oddporium is a pseudo-dimensional structure located in-and-out of the Prime Material Plane.  The Oddporium appears from outside to be a 3 floored tower with 3 bulbuous saucer shaped floors at 30 , 60 and 90 feet.  Circular , deep , thick pained glass windows are set every 13 feet around the saucers and 7 around each base of the tower.  The whole structure is made of an unknown gray-green stone and it's stones are mortared with blackish fine mortar.
An open arch door with a bright green covered awning gaurds the entrance.  The Oddporium deals in the strange and unusual , spell components, and utility magic items.  The proprietor of the Oddporium is the irascible Rukh. A wizened, brown skinned humanoid, who looks to be half dwarf and half gnome.  4 foot 11, shaped like an upside down turnip , with a 5 inch long nose and ears that would shame a wood goblin.  He speaks with a clever , old sounding rasp.  The Oddporium's interior is a maze of shifting palettes of living shelves and tables, walls with unplanned twists and turns and omnipresent faerie lamps and odd shaped hangers on every wall (mostly in the form of hands and heads which often bite or grab things to take possession of them).  The oddporium is staffed entirely by Rukh and his helping hands (a group of sentient moving hands that "see" the world through a kind of sonar as they tap along.

Rukh
    Magic User - 12 , Sage - 12 , Merchant - 12
    AC -2 (bracers of AC 5 , robes of eyes , ring +3 , dex +4) , HP 90
    Ring of Spell Turning , Amulet of Protect vs Detection and Location 30' radius
    Rod of Cancellation, Wand of Negation, Wand of Conjuration
   
Rukh sells good based on need rather than want.  As well as on spec for higher powers.
The Oddporium is not always a safe place to shop, nor is it a place for those of ill intent.

For sale at the moment

A miniature garden which the owner can step into.  The garden is a rich and abundant flower and herb garden with a small fish pond and stand of trees.  The garden itself is 8 inches wide, 12 inches long and 4 inches deep , set into an oak box, with a sliding wooden lid.  The price of the Garden is the 20 orichalcum rings, hide of a displacer cat, the laughter of stone caught in the ear of a sow, a giant conch shell & the last coin stolen from a rich dwarf's purse.

A ladle made from brass with runes up and down it's shaft.  The ladle when plunged into boiling water fils itself with soup upon withdrawal. The ladle will fill a single bowl per draft , and may be used 7 times a day providing (2 days rations).  The soup produced is warm and nourishing although the type is random at each draw.  Roll 1d6 on a 1-3 the soup is tasty, 4 foreign and gross, 5 spicy to the point of painfulness, 6 closer to porridge than soup.  The price 10 orichalcum rings.

A dancing statue of an elven maiden.  The price the pelt of a lycanthrope filled with silver coins.

A pile of size adjusting cloaks of various colors, each is priced at 3 orichalcum rings.

An animated mummy hand.  It will attack anyone who disturbs it.  AC 0 HP 10 HD 5 AT 1 (tk) D 1-4+4 choking (18-90 strength).  Once killed it will heal itself and de-animate.  It's price 10 orichalcum rings and the left hand of a thief or assassin.

A feather sailboat token, the price 3 orichalcum rings, a magical blade taken in battle with an elf and the horn of an Ogre Mage.

A chalice of ice that never melts , the price 2 rings of orichalcum.

A tapestry showing the birth of Venus from the sea that is animated and amazingly gorgeous.  It's price a bottle of dwarven tears and 10 tongues cut from giant frogs and the promise of a maiden widower.

A pile ( 8 )of size adjusting leather armors +2, all for sale for 6 rings of orichalcum and a test of will.  Challengers must play mumbledy-peggity with the fashion golem hand. A simple test of 35/attacks per round - level  rolls to hit AC 10, miss and you spike your hand and on a max roll skewer a finger .  If that happens you loose the test of will unless you roll 1 point of damage.
The dagger that is used for the game is also forfeit. Any fingers lost are lost as well.

A self pumping forge bellows, the price 200 pounds of gold and a forgotten song.

The Talking Skulls of Lu Shong , the price an enchanted axe, a pearl from a giant oyster, and the head of a minotaur killed with a single blow. 

A bundle of self lighting long burn torches. 1 Silver ring each. Each lights when struck on a surface and burns hot and bright for 4 hours.  Each can only be struck once.

A stuffed and mounted owl that hoots loudly when disturbed.  Serves as an excellent night watchman.  2 orichalcum rings and a magic dagger. 

A Ring of Tenser's Floating Discs with 20 charges remaining.  The price the eyes of a giant wasp queen and 12 hell hound pelts.

An old and tattered Flying Carpet , 12 feet by 8, that flies at 20 , maneuverability class D.  The price - the eyes of a beholder and the spikes of a manticore.

An Iron Cobra and the phylactery of its control.  The price the claws of a Type III demon or feathers from a Shedu's wings.

A bottle of pickled Firedrake Eggs. 2 silver rings each. Eating one will give the imbiber +3 on saves vs fire for 1-2 days.  Also a save vs poison, if failed the character will at some point in 1d30 hours belch a cloud of flame for 1d4 to himself and 1d6 to everyone withing 5 feet. If wearing a helmet a potentially deadly situation.