A Monstrous Birth
A Hero Wars Tournament for Four Players
By Martin Dick
Conquest 2001
“Hell and Night must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.”
William Shakespeare - Othello
Introduction
Running the Module
Scenario Layout
Scenes
1 A Disastrous Beginning
Running the Battle
The Enemy
The party wins
The party loses
2 Discretion is the better part
The Char-Un
Orlkarlman’s Final Scene
The Moon Boat
The Blue Waltzing Devils
3 Darkness Falls
4 The Path of War
The Starbright Clan
Raising the Tribe
The Tribal Ring
Getting an Audience
Persuading the King
The Tribal Assault
The Battle
5 The Path of Rebellion
Scouting the Temple
Infiltrating the Temple
The Eye of the Moon
Cast into a Lunar Hell
Escape from a Lunar Hell
6 The Path of Heroes
Gathering the Sacrifices
7 Visiting Old Temple
Arriving at Old Temple
Meeting the Leader of the Rebellion
Descent into Hell
8 The Gates of Darkness
9 The Obelisk of Dehore
10 The Path of the Twins from Darkness
11 The Path of the Child of Darkness
12 The Sacrifice to Darkness
13 The Marriage of Darkness
14 A Monstrous Birth
Character Sheets
Raising the Child of Darkness
Raising the Twinsfrom Darkness
Map of the Temple of the Reaching Moon
Map of Southern Sartar
Introduction
This scenario involves an alternate future in the Hero Wars, one where the attack on the Temple of the Reaching Moon fails and the surviving members of the assault must make a desperate Heroquest into Hell to call upon dark forces to keep the chances of a successful rebellion alive.
Cragspider sees this as an opportunity for the powers of Darkness to drive the Lunars from Dragon Pass and also assure the ascendancy of Darkness over the powers of Storm and Earth that currently dominate Dragon Pass. For the powers of Storm and Earth, it is a last desperate chance to raise the power to expel the Lunars from Sartar.
This scenario was originally run at Conquest 2001 in Melbourne, Australia. The scenario was play-tested twice and six teams played it at the convention. All eight teams which played it, took the Path of Heroes directly, none tried to sabotage the Temple or raise the Tribe as a starting point. Six of the teams raised the Child of Darkness, two teams raised the Twins from Darkness. 4 of the teams that raised the Child of Darkness had access to the Twins Heroquest, but chose the darker route anyway. The play-testers were mostly experienced Runequesters with some who had played Hero Wars. Nearly all the players at the actual convention were new to Glorantha with only a few exceptions.
Scoring for the tournament was done on a purely subjective basis with each player in the team rated on a score of 1-10 for roleplaying by myself (I was the only GM). The player’s scores were summed to give a team score.
Running the Module
- Sections in italics are to be read to the players.
- Players may jump around from the set order of scenes, this should be accommodated where possible.
- For purposes of the tournament, augmentations are equivalent to 1/10th the ability rounded down without rolling, this can be waived for experienced Hero Wars players if desired.
Scenario Layout
1 A Disastrous Beginning
2 Discretion Is The Better Part
3 Darkness Falls
4 The Path of War5 The Path of Rebellion6 The Path of Heroes
4a Visiting the Starbright Clan*5a Scouting the Temple*6a Visiting the Starbright Clan*
4b Raising the Tribe5b Infiltrating the Temple6b Visiting Old Temple*
4c Visiting Old Temple*5c The Eye of the Moon6c Gathering the Sacrifices
4d Assault5d Cast Into A Lunar Hell*6d Descent into Hell
4e Cast Into A Lunar Hell*5e Escape From Hell*
4f Escape From Hell*
7 The Gates of Darkness
8 The Obelisk of Dehore
10 The Path of the Twins from Darkness11 The Path of the Child of Darkness
12 The Sacrifice to Darkness
13 The Marriage of Darkness
14 A Monstrous Birth15 The Birth of the Twins
* indicates the scene may occur in several paths
italics indicate scene is optional in this path
Scenes
1 A Disastrous Beginning
Read the following to the players:
It is 1625; Tatius the Bright’s plan to create a Temple of the Reaching Moon and bring Sartar under the Glowline is in its final stage, within the day all prospect of rebellion will be lost. Kallyr Starbrow, leader of the rebels developed a plan to disrupt the ceremony at its peak, raising an ancient and unknown dragon to destroy the temple and allow them to destroy the Moon Stone, which is the central power source for the Temple of the reaching Moon. You are members of the Whirling Stone Band led by the Hero Orkarlman the Opener, Disciple of Vingkot Victorious and oathbound to Kallyr StarBrow. Your band plays a key part in the attack on the Temple.
The assault started well, the Whirling Stone Band was assigned to destroy the priests who were guarding the Outer Spiral Gate where the entrance to the works of the temple began. It was a vicious and violent battle with many casualties on both sides, but the Whirling Stone Band had prevailed and the entrance was open for Kallyr’s other forces to begin their work. From the Hill upon which the Outer Spiral Gate stands, the Whirling Stone Band watched the ceremony begin and then begin to be disrupted as Kallyr’s plan went in to effect.
Then catastrophe ensued, as the Brown Dragon arose to destroy the Lunars, bursting out of the body of one of the Lunar priests, came a six armed demon, growing nearly as large as the dragon, the battle was tremendous but instead of the Lunars being surprised and devastated, there were great losses on both sides. The dragon eventually ate the demon, but near death it sank back down into the earth. Lunar magics fought with the Storm and without the element of surprise, the Storm was finally beaten back. Orlkarlman held back the band from the battle, because you hold the escape route for the rebel forces. As the remains of the assault flees back towards the gate, you see a force of Lunars approaching the Outer Spiral Gate from the outside, hidden from you before, they are clearly moving to trap the rebels inside the Temple.
Orlkarlman gestures to you, his lieutenants, “Someone has betrayed us, take the band and scatter those approaching to the seven winds, I will hold the Gate until the others escape”.
A heavily armoured force of Lunars is advancing in formation up the Hill from a grove of trees towards the crest of the hill, leading them is a man in glowing black and silver armour, floating in the air behind them is a bald women dressed in red robes. The rest of the band is looking worried, as you are outnumbered two to one.
A Military Strategy roll against 10w will reveal two strange gaps in the line approaching or Perceive Invisible/Sense Chaos against 10w (10w2 to non-magical perception) reveals that there are two enormous Broo hidden amongst the troops. If the party do not detect the Broos before contact, they will automatically act first in the first round of the battle and have a bonus of 15 in the first round to their Close Combat and in the second round have a bonus of 10 to their Close Combat, their action points are also increased by 15 for the battle as well.
Running the Battle
The simplest way to run the battle is to assume that the two opposing forces of soldiers fight amongst themselves while the party and the leaders of the Lunars fight each other. The party have three rounds of actions before the Lunar troops reach them charging up the hill towards the Outer Spiral Gate.
A necessary action is for one of the player characters to inspire the members of the Whirling Stone Band to hold against the troops in the face of this disaster. If they fail to do this, assume that in Round 5 of the battle, approximately 10 Lunar Soldiers will fall in behind one of the remaining Lunar leaders adding 150AP to them.
During the battle, have ordinary members of both the Whirling Stone Band and the Lunar soldiers die horribly in the forces unleashed by the players and the Lunars: men dying as the acidic blood of the broo splashes upon them, men withering as they are caught in the edge of death spells, men tearing themselves apart as the madness of Chaos whirls about them, warriors trampled beneath creatures of the earth, men slashed/torn apart by single blows.
To simplify matters even further, rather than running the combat as an extended contest, you can run the battle between the main characters as a series of three simple contests.
A character is out of the battle when they take three marginal defeats, a minor defeat and two marginal defeats, or a major/complete defeat. As the GM, you should track this for everybody. As always, graphic descriptions of the results are vital. This method seemed to work better with players who had not played Hero Wars before.
The Enemy
The Lunar’s statistics assume that they have cast their relevant magics to prepare them for the battle.
Yanafal Tarnils Centurion
Close Combat 15w2
Combat 5w2
Military Magic 5w2
Warlord 5w2
30 Lunar Soldiers
Close Combat 10W
Rufelza Priestess
Chaos 10w2
Madness 10w2
Revenge 10w2
Dodge 10w2
Monstrous Broo
Large 5w2
Strong 15w2
Disgusting Stench 20w
Great Leap 15w
Invisible Cloak 15w
Acidic Blood 5w2 (sprays from wounds)
The party wins
Orlkarlman is able to hold the gate open for many of the rebels to escape, as the bulk of the Lunar forces approach the gate, he tells them he cannot leave, the moment he releases the powers that he holds to flee, the Lunar Priestesses will destroy him. They must flee to continue the fight. Argument will get them nowhere; they can stay and die with him or flee. As they leave he tells them:
“Fear not friends, though this is not the blow that we wished to strike, still it was a potent blow indeed, the Lunars will long remember this day in horror and soon you will return to strike a second finishing blow to their hopes and dreams. Now, flee while you can and raise a toast to me in the Prince’s Palace in Boldhome when we have driven the Lunars from our land.”
The vast bulk of the Whirling Stone Band have been killed along with the Lunar soldiers, a few survivors have been picked up by flying rebels as they retreat through the gate, more fly past (all those involved in the attack on the Temple proper were able to fly). The party is free to flee on their own. In the distance, a full Lunar legion can be seen approaching.
The party loses
As the last member of the party falls to the Lunars, Orlkarlman turns around and raising his arm in the air, unleashes a great blast of lightning, the Gate disintegrates around him, stones and debris fly everywhere. As the dust clears, he staggers out of the cloud, one arm missing, bleeding from many wounds and proceeds to kill the remaining Lunars. He goes to each of you in turn and touches your forehead with his remaining bloody hand, your wounds heal over, but you can feel the strength draining out of him and into you. He says:
“The Gate is closed and many are still trapped within, I must stay and do what I can to help them pass through to freedom, but this body will not last beyond the hour, I have given you what strength that I can spare, flee and do not despair, we have paid a terrible price for this attack, but the Lunars have paid greatly as well. Go my friends and free our land.”
With this he takes his torn and shattered body back to the Gate and with great effort he is able to open a small hole in the wardings surrounding the Temple.
Far fewer escape through the Gate as the Lunar priestesses who were trying to close the gate and trap the rebels turn their attention to them rather than Orlkarlman and kill many of them before they can reach the gate. In the distance, a full Lunar legion can be seen approaching. The party can stay and die or flee into the forests and mountains.
2 Discretion is the better part
Fleeing from the Temple, they are pursued by Lunar elements such as Moon Boats and cavalry units. The party may fight these Lunars, but if they turn and fight three times, then the bulk of the Lunar forces will reach them on the third skirmish and they will be captured. The party will awake in the scene Cast into a Lunar Hell. Alternatively, in the event of their capture, you can have the party all spend a hero point and just as they are about to be captured, a group of rebels intervenes and the party escapes from the Lunars injured (-50% to all abilities).
The Char-Un
The first group to attempt to intercept the players are a unit of 15 Char-Un cavalry. As the players near the edge of the forest, they can see a unit of cavalry trying to intercept them. The players should be easily able to avoid them if they wish, by losing the cavalry in the forest. Vicious and brutal as they are, these horsemen are no match for the players. If the players decide to fight the Char-Un, it can be resolved by a simple contest against their Mounted Combat of 10W for each player. Any sort of victory will result in the death of the Char-Un, a marginal defeat will inflict a wound, a minor defeat, two wounds, a major defeat will leave the character injured and a complete defeat will leave them unconscious. In this case, one of the other players must handle the defeated character’s group of Char-Un. In any event, it takes several minutes to deal with them.
Orlkarlman’s Final Scene
About an hour after they have fled, from the direction of the Outer Spiral Gate, they will hear a great sound and a tall pillar of fire and smoke rise into the air. In their hearts, they will know that Orlkarlman the Opener has died.
The Moon Boat
As the party heads deeper into the mountains, as they reach a clear ridge, in the distance, they can see a Lunar Moon Boat, a great red ship flying though the air, chasing after flying rebels. From it, beams of red light fly and every now and then connect with a rebel who falls out of the sky, a smoking corpse.
It would take the party about half an hour to intercept the Moon Boat, but it will require them to head back towards the Temple of the Reaching Moon. The players can set an ambush if they wish. To simplify matters, it is best to run this as a simple contest against the Moon Boat’s Protection of the Moon of 5W3. Let the party choose a major attack and allow them to augment with their other capabilities and ideas.
Complete Victory / Moon Boat explodes, destroying all aboardMajor Victory / Moon Boat brought down, a few escape from the wreck
Minor Victory / Moon Boat seriously damaged and forced to flee
Marginal Victory / Moon Boat damaged and forced to flee
Tie / Party all take a wound, Moon Boat damaged and forced to flee
Marginal Defeat / Party all take a wound and forced to retreat when reinforcements arrive
Minor Defeat / Party all take 2 wounds and forced to retreat when reinforcements arrive
Major Defeat / Party all injured and forced to retreat when reinforcements arrive
Complete Defeat / Party captured
The Blue Waltzing Devils
Just as they feel they have almost lost any possible pursuit deep in the Mountains, in the distance they hear a strange fluting and wailing. They can choose to head away from it, or head towards it. In the latter case, they will encounter the Blue Waltzing Devils, a Lunar Hero Band from Glamour brought in to help handle the rebel attack. They will see in the distance a group of 30 or so men and women garbed in blue rags, dancing and careering across the landscape, while wailing and playing weird wind instruments.
The band is equivalent to the Whirling Stone Band at its full strength and more than a match for the party, though chance may let them win. Run a simple contest against the band’s strength of 15w4 with the party’s choice of ability. They will only get one round to prepare as a second part of the band has circled round and surrounded them.