Dark Seeds
Black Sword Hack — Ultimate Chaos Edition · p.78
Open source p.78Adventure: Dark Seeds
This adventure is meant to kickstart your campaign. It gives your players threads to follow as they wish. It will also allow your table to set the tone: will the heroes work for the greater good or out of self-interest?
How does it start?
You wake up inside the ruins of a temple, you're naked and covered in blood. With you is a flayed corpse, standing. They make a gesture and your gear and clothes appear on the ground. The body then speaks: "You have served your sentence and the memories of your crime were erased, as requested." The figure turns into a red mist and disappears through the cracks in the roof.
What do the characters know?
Only what was established during character creation, the rest is a blur. They do remember each other's faces (let the players describe their characters) and have the feeling they can trust each other.
GM note: is this happening in a desert? A tundra? A dark forest? That's up to you! Place this adventure wherever you want on your world map.
What's outside?
The ruins of a city. Behind the temple is a massive tower made of some strange green metal. Its name comes back to the characters: the Redemption Spire.
As soon as they step out though, they hear someone shout: "Fresh meat from the Spire!", the cry comes from a small warband (twice the number of PCs). They wear makeshift armour and carry various weapons, bows, claymores, war hammers. Roll for initiative!
- The raiders [LVL 1] 5 HP, two with bows, the rest with melee weapons (3 damage). They try to flee as soon as half of them are down. One of them carries a map (give a copy to the players). They also carry water and some dried meat (the equivalent of a day's ration). Any prisoner can describe each place on the map and can take the PCs to their hideout (lying about their numbers: "you got all of us here").
If the characters are overwhelmed
Two hooded figures kill half the raiders with their bows and disappear. These are watchers from the Retribution Company. Some people want to take revenge on the penitents and pay the Company to keep watch on those the Redemption Spire spits out.
What happens next?
The characters have the map. They're free to go wherever they please. The rest of the adventure will depend on the players' decisions.
Wrapping Things Up
A good way to end the session is when the characters leave for the nearest town. They probably want to follow a particular lead or answer a question: why did they go to the Redemption Spire? Who was this Narvas who went with them? Do they want to help Tharkus rebuild her flying pirate ship? What do they do with the black lotus they found?
Maps (1)
Sections (4)
Dark Seeds — Ruins & Redemption Spire p.79
RUINS
All that remains of the city are a few buildings and the temple the heroes woke up in. Besides the ravages of time, the town bears the traces of a fierce battle: huge claws have defaced some buildings, parts of the streets are vitrified by unimaginable heat.
REDEMPTION SPIRE
The tower doesn't have any doors. Its walls are abundantly decorated with strange creatures, unknown characters, and other markings. Touching it requires a WIS test. On a success, the character has a vision of their body being torn apart by beings made of flesh and metal, and on a failure they lose 1 HP (2 for a critical failure).
- Watchers [LVL 3] — Claymore (STR): 6. Warband (DEX or STR): If other watchers are present, take U ongoing damage.
Dark Seeds — The Wastes p.79
THE WASTES
There's no way humans can survive the wastes (it might be due to scorching heat, freezing cold, or any environmental or magical condition, depending on the region). There's nothing to be found in the ruins, scavengers and scholars have long taken anything of interest. There are however two watchers lingering here: they're not aggressive and gladly explain their task: some people wish to take revenge on those from the Spire and want to be warned as soon as someone is released. If the characters ask if someone is looking for them, the watchers say they're not allowed to answer. (If the PCs manage to get the answer anyway, they'll learn that a man named Narvas bears them great interest – see the captain's quarters).
Dark Seeds — The Hideout p.80
THE HIDEOUT
The hideout is located inside a shipwreck. The ship seems to have crashed on top of a hill (and if there's no body of water around, it's even better). Once the characters get closer they'll notice the ship has been patched up quite recently.
What's going on here?
The raiders are led by a woman named Tharkus. Her plan is to get the flying ship repaired, recruit a crew, and go back to her life as a sky pirate (or a space pirate, you decide!). Four raiders are still here: one is a lookout, the other three are below decks, working on the ship's demonic engine.
Whether they learn this depends on their approach. Though a character with the right background will figure out what the raiders are trying to achieve: they still lack a few materials that need to be bought in the nearest city (and of course, they're quite pricey). Let's call the missing piece... An orichalcum gyroscope?
- Tharkus, raiders leader [LVL 3] — Blood-stained axe (STR or DEX): 6. Cannon fodder (DEX or STR): if other raiders are present, take U ongoing damage.
What can the characters find in the captain's quarters?
The upper half of a humanoid made of flesh and steel (looking like the ones in the Spire's vision). It only has one remaining function: to tell the raiders when penitents are being released from the tower. If asked questions, it can partake with this bit of information: the heroes arrived at the Redemption Spire exactly one year ago. Another person was with them: a man who looked like a monk, named Narvas. (This is left deliberately vague so you can use Narvas as you see fit, perhaps in relation with the characters' past). coins. A collection of weapons (roll a few times on the weapons table on page 29).
Dark Seeds — The Village of Flowers p.80
THE VILLAGE OF FLOWERS
When the characters arrive, they find all the villagers dead, as well as a number of soldiers. They all seem to have been torn apart by wild beasts.
What happened?
Hannon the alchemist has produced a new variety of black lotus with an unexpected side effect: once the user falls asleep, their nightmares appear as monstrous creatures that kill everyone in sight. A few villagers tried the new drug, and unwittingly unleashed murderous nightmares on their people. Two villagers are still alive, Lazalla and Garam, who both took the lotus and slept through the massacre. They're in shock, having no clue of what really happened, and will try to eat more lotus as soon as they can. If the characters are still around when these two fall asleep, the monsters will return.
- Two nightmare spiders [LVL 3] — Sting (DEX): 6. Killing Lazalla and Garam makes the spiders disappear.
What can the characters find in the village?
coins and ten sacks full of dried black lotus, the village's latest harvest. You can imagine what will happen if these are sold in a big city... Though the PCs can earn 200 coins per sack before all goes to hell the next night.