Go to Part 1 – Maps

AREA 1-1 – BLUESTEEL DOOR

• Entrance from The Complex of Zombies.
• Someone has crudely carved the words “Athvor Krassek” into the lintel above the bluesteel door. (This is the password for the door.)

AREA 1-2 – STATUES OF THE SKULL-KING

Ceiling vaults up to 40 feet.

STATUES: Four identical depictions of a cloaked man with a skull-faced mask, standing 20 feet high. Carved from a black stone, standing in stark contrast to the cream-colored walls.

• GM Background: These depict Ghul the Skull-King.

AREA 1-3 – TEMPLE OF JESSUK

The room is paved in glistening ebony, rising in three tiers.

STATUES: Two horrific statues stand in the corners of the second tier.

• To the left is the pillar of Kihomenethoth (see Ptolus, p. 274)
• To the right is the statue of Shallamoth Kindred (see Chaositech, p. 91).
• The names “Kihomenethoth” and “Shallamoth” are inscribed in Issyl on the base of the pillars.

ALTAR: The altar on the upper level is a black slab of ebony.

• Any investigation of the altar reveals the sigil of Jessuk minutely carved in the rear corner of the altar.

TAINT: This area is tainted and under the effects of an unhallow spell.

AREA 1-4 – HALL OF ORCISH WARRIORS

These two halls are filled with varied statues of orcish warriors.

AREA 1-5 – SKULL SIGIL OF GHUL

BAS RELIEF: A dark-grey granite rises about three inches from the floor, forming an immense, skull-shaped sigil. The granite is laced with thick, black cords that twist like gleaming ebony across its surface, sucking the eye down into a void beyond emptiness.

• The stone is shadow-veined rock (see below).

CHILL AIR: The entire room is chilled — breath steams in the air.

• GM Note: This is the remnant of an ancient ward that is now failing.

DAMAGING THE SIGIL: Causes the rock to begin to bleed. The blood which pours from the wound is a dark, venal crimson.

• Those touching the blood must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or suffer 1 point of taint.

KNOWLEDGE (ARCANA):

• DC 15: First part of the Shadow-Veined Rock
• DC 20: First & second part of the handout.
• DC 25: Full handout (including shadow tokens).

SHADOW-VEINED ROCK

Deep beneath the roots of the mountains, where stygian blackness has never known the sun’s warm touch, the shroud of eternal night has forged a primeval connection between this world and the Plane of Shadows. In such a place even the rock itself is changed by the touch of eternal night, its very substance becoming one with the shadows in which it has lain for untold aeons.

Shadowveined rock is literally laced with primal shadow. Thick black cords twist like gleaming ebony across its surface, sucking the eye down into a void beyond emptiness. To the touch it seems both substantial and insubstantial, particularly along its veins of shadow-stuff, as if it were both solid granite and illusionary figment all at once.

The result is not only a captivating beauty, but an intrinsic and mystical bond within the rock itself to the Plane of Shadows.  Although this bond does not allow the passage of physical creatures from one plane to another, certain magical and supernatural effects can use the shadow veins to pierce the veil between worlds. And effects which actually involve the Plane of Shadows or its base material are generally more powerful and effective in the presence of shadowveined rock (as described in the sidebar on this page).

SHADOW-VEINED PROPERTIES

Shadowveined rock has the following effects on spellcasting and other magical or supernatural effects:

Arcane sensors and similar effects can pass through shadowveined rock into the Plane of Shadows. For example, an arcane eye or prying eye can move through a block of shadowveined rock and emerge upon the Plane of Shadows. Similarly, if a spellcaster touching or holding a piece of shadowveined rock uses a scrying spell to observe a creature currently on the Plane of Shadows, his target does not receive the normal +5 bonus to their Will save as a result of being on another plane.

When casting shadow walk a spellcaster can take advantage of nearby shadowveined rock to cut a more direct path through the Plane of Shadows. Upon casting the spell, the spellcaster, and anyone else affected by the spell, simply steps through a solid wall of shadowveined rock. Upon doing so, they are transported deep into the Plane of Shadows, allowing them to move at a rate of 100 miles per hour (instead of the normal 50 miles per hour). In addition, if their destination is a known wall of shadowveined rock they can increase this speed again to 150 miles per hour, emerging from the rockface at the other end.

A shadowdancer can use their hide in plain sight ability within 10 feet of shadowveined rock, even if they are otherwise in a completely illuminated area, as long as they are not carrying the rock in question. In addition, a shadowdancer can use their shadow jump ability with shadowveined rock as either their point of origin or destination (by stepping into or out of the shadowveined rock). When doing so the maximum distance of their shadow jump is doubled (or tripled if both the origin and destination is shadowveined rock).

SHADOW TOKENS

By carefully altering a piece of shadowveined rock, a spellcaster can enhance its connection to the Plane of Shadows. The result is a shadow token – a powerful aid in the casting of any shadow magic.

To create a shadow token the shadowveined rock must first be carefully fashioned into the token. This requires a Craft check (DC 20). Then a permanent shadow planar binding must be cast upon the token (using the greater shadow conjuration and permanency spells) in order to strengthen and, paradoxically, solidify its ties to the Plane of Shadows. Once the connection has been strengthened it must be magically tempered. This process requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat, uses 26,000 gp in raw materials, and drains 1000 xp from the caster.

Once the shadow token has been successfully created, it functions as a use-activated item. A spellcaster holding a shadow token may cast spells as if they were on the Plane of Shadows. Such spells may be cast as though they were prepared with either the Maximize Spell feat or the Quicken Spell feat, though they don’t require the higher slots. Furthermore, specific spells become more powerful: Shadow conjuration and shadow evocation spells are 30% as powerful as the conjurations and evocations they mimic (as opposed to 20%). Greater shadow conjuration and greater shadow evocation are 70% as powerful (not 60%), and a shades spell conjures at 90% of the power of the original (not 80%).

AREA 1-6 – EMPTY CENTURION CHAMBERS

Thick, black cables dangle from the walls here.

• GM Note: These chambers one held black centurions (see Area 2-10) charged with guarding the staircase in Area 1-7, but the equipment was ripped out centuries ago (possibly when the complex was originally abandoned).

AREA 1-7 – STAIRS DOWN

The floor is littered with shattered shards of pottery.

• If a mend spell is used, the shards can be crudely reshaped into four busts: These are largely unremarkable, although on depicts an orc and another appears to have some sort of goggles surgically attached to her face.
• GM Note: These were the head researchers in this complex during Ghul’s reign (although there’s no clear way for the PCs to discern that).

Go to Part 4

Go to Part 1

MAPS

CARTOGRAPHY BY ABIGAIL LALONDE

Scale = 5’ x 5’

LEVEL 1

LEVEL 2

(click maps for larger images)

Go to Part 3

With the 5^th Edition and Cypher System versions of Monte Cook’s Ptolus being announced this past week, I thought it might be fun to visit The Laboratory of the Beast. This scenario was originally designed as part of my ongoing Ptolus campaign, and I’ve discussed it quite a bit in the “Running the Campaign” columns that accompany the campaign’s journal entries. For those who haven’t read those journal entries, here’s the short version of the scenario’s origins:

Beneath the city-state of Ptolus there are a number of overlapping dungeon complexes. One of these is Ghul’s Labyrinth, the remnants of a vast and ancient underground citadel created by the dark lord Ghul. In the main Ptolus sourcebook there’s a scenario called “Trouble with Goblins” in which a number of goblins emerge from Ghul’s Labyrinth into the basement of an abandoned house and do various terrible things.

When I ran this scenario early in my campaign, the PCs backtracked the goblins and followed their trail down into the Labyrinth. In the published scenario, the trail goes cold and the PCs don’t find anything of interest in the dungeon. I decided it made more sense for the trail to lead somewhere, and so I designed a little mini-scenario.

I later published that scenario as The Complex of Zombies. As I described here, the published version of the scenario had been adapted to make it a generic scenario, notably changing the research complex so that it now belonged to the enigmatic Sons of Jade.

A key feature of this mini-scenario is that, ultimately, the goblins’ trail leads back through a bluesteel door: These doors, which are a common feature in Ghul’s Labyrinth, are essentially impassable for low-level characters unless they know the password. (As I discuss in “The Blue Doors of Ptolus”, this is a great way to control and define transitions in a megadungeon complex.)

The basic design goal here was to give the PCs a reward for successfully pursue the trail, but then definitively end the scenario so that they could move on to other things.

But it didn’t work out that way.

As described in “Tales from the Table: Unexpected Successes” (which is probably worth a read, if I do say so myself), the PCs managed to pull a rabbit out of their hat and successfully guessed the password, causing the bluesteel door to open.

The Laboratory of the Beast is what lies on the other side of the door. (The goblin trail ultimately leads through the laboratory to another scenario called The Goblin Caverns of the Ooze Lord. If response is positive to The Laboratory of the Beast, perhaps I’ll be able to share that latter adventure in the near future.)

With all this in mind, there are a few ways that you could use The Laboratory of the Beast in your own campaign:

• You could use it as designed, attaching it to the door at one end of The Complex of Zombies.
• You could make it a stand-alone dungeon. You could put the door leading to the laboratories almost anywhere: In the basement of a ruined keep. Or found in the aftermath of a tragic collapse during sewer construction. Or carved into the side of a mountain. Or it’s actually a portal that you leap into from a lich’s sanctum.
• You could incorporate it into some other megadungeon complex, with or without The Complex of Zombies.

I’m presenting the scenario here basically in its original form (with a minimal amount of clean-up to hopefully make my intentions clear to people who don’t live inside my skull), so if you use it in combination with The Complex of Zombies you’ll probably want to make a decision about whether you’re using the Skull-King Ghul or the Sons of Jade.

If you’re planning to use this scenario in your own Ptolus campaign, you should also note that it was written for the version of Ptolus as it exists in my personal campaign world and may, therefore, have any number of metaphysical inconsistencies with Ptolus Prime.

GENERAL FEATURES

During the time of Ghul the Skull-King, this complex was being used to breed the hounds of Ghul — powerful war hounds who, through the machinations of this laboratory, became ever more dire and horrific.

Walls: Cream-colored stone (hardness 8, 15 hp/inch).

Unkeyed Rooms: These are empty, dusty rooms. Some might contain vague discolorations on the floors and walls, suggesting that they might have once contained equipment which has been removed. Or strange alchemical stains.

Bluesteel Doors: Indicated by a shaded door on the map. Made from steel with a distinct bluish tint. One cannot open them by normal magical means and they have no lock to pick. Instead, each door will open in response to a specific word. (3 inches thick, hardness 12, 120 hp, Break DC 31)

Glass & Bronze Doors: Indicated in room keys. Made of glass bound in bronze. These doors are very fragile, but have been laced with dark magic which curses whose who break them. (The effect will be described in the key entry when appropriate.) Resisting the curse requires a Will save (DC 24) and can be removed only by a cleric of at least 13^th level casting remove curse on sanctified ground.

Taint: Various items and locations are tainted. See Advanced D20 Rules: Taint for rules on this dark perversion of reality.

Kaostech: Kaostech items can be found throughout the laboratories. See Kaostech for more information on this technomantic art.

Go to Part 2: Maps

Go to Part 1

NODE 3: ALICIA COREY’S BOARDING HOUSE

• A wooden, hand-painted sign declares as much on the sloped front lawn. An attached lower placard reads ROOM FOR RENT.
• Ma Kelley is a woman in her mid-50s. Widowed when her husband was killed in the war. She knows what the Girls know (below), and can also provide Alicia Corey’s rental application.
• Men are generally not allowed through the door at any hour; if they have official credentials, she won’t make a fuss about it, but it will nevertheless startle the girls.

Bedrooms: One of the second floor Chambers is occupied by Ma Kelley. The other four are furnished for rental. Three are occupied (including Alicia’s); the fourth is currently available for rent.

ALICIA COREY’S RENTAL APPLICATION

• She moved into Ma Kelley’s in July.
• Lists a forwarding address: 169 Page Street West, St. Paul, MN.  (Node 5: Fatima’s Shrine)

QUESTIONING THE GIRLS

• Betty, Grace
• They probably don’t’ know that Alicia is dead (unless it’s been a couple of days, in which case the cops have followed up).
• Alicia always paid her rent promptly in cash.
• She worked as a secretary, but they realize they don’t know for what firm.
• She never had any guests that they can recall, but she did keep strange hours from time to time. (Ma Kelley doesn’t have any sort of curfew, so this wasn’t considered a problem or anything.)
• She’d once mentioned during dinner that she had been in Cairo. The girls thought this was terribly exotic, but it didn’t seem as if Alicia wanted to talk about it. (Betty is convinced this means that she has a dark and mysterious past; probably featuring a lover who tragically died.)

ALICIA COREY’S ROOM

Furnished with care and love. A handmade quilt on the bed. (Features an arabesque design indicative of it being Egyptian in origin.)

Writing Desk: Everything is meticulously clean. Any written matter has been carefully destroyed.

Loose Floor Board: Under the bed. Alicia Khouri’s Diary is hidden inside.

ALICIA COREY’S BACKGROUND

Alicia’s real name is Alicia Khouri. She is of Egyptian descent.

Rashida Khouri, Alicia’s mother, is a Hu-manifestation of Ra and a Sister of Fatima. Alicia learned the teachings of the Sisterhood from her mother, but had not yet been indoctrinated into the inner mysteries of the coven. (She didn’t know that her mother was a Hu-manifestation of Ra.)

Gladys Roy had alerted the Sisterhood that there was Tanit activity in the Twin Cities. Alicia was sent to conduct an investigation. She had tracked the cult activity to kidnappings at Harriet Tubman’s Asylum for Colored Orphans (Node 4), but gotten no further in her investigation at the time of her death.

Investigators may suspect that Corey was directly targeted in response to her investigation, but this is not the case. Her exposure to the Tophet serum whiskey was coincidental.

ALICIA COREY’S DIARY

Flipping through this thin red volume – well-worn and weather-beaten despite containing pre-printed entries only for the year 1925 – reveals that the first half is completely blank and unused. In July of this year, however, entries in a fine and elegant script begin (mostly in a blue ink, although there are some scrabbled out in pencil and others in a black ink; all appear to be of the same hand, however).

At first glance, most of the entries appear to be concerned with sightseeing around the Twin Cities. But in aggregate an odd pattern appears: The sites she is notating as if they were tourist attractions generally… aren’t. They’re common businesses or even private residences. Mixed in among these curious entries you notice a recurring mention of the name Tanith, and also one reference to “a defacement of the eye of Ra”.

Over the past month, the entries become fixated around a single location: Harriet Tubman’s Asylum for Colored Orphans, located in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul. The exact nature of these notes is difficult to discern as they are partly written in some form of code, but they seem to catalog the comings and goings of numerous individuals, tracking their movements in some detail.

If Lost, Please Return Me to
169 Page Street West, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Go to Node 4: Harriet Tubman’s Asylum for Colored Children

Hong Kong Task Force 88 was included in Free RPG Day 2016 as an introduction to Feng Shui 2. (You can still grab a PDF of it for free.) We’ve being using the scenario at conventions as part of Atlas Games’ Special Ops program. Our playtesting, however, has revealed that the scenario is running a little too long to fit comfortably into our four hour convention slots.

These notes, therefore, are designed to streamline the adventure, reorganizing its core structure largely around a 5 Node Mystery (with a twist!). You’ll need a copy of Hong Kong Task Force 88 to provide full background details and stat blocks. These notes are also likely to make more sense if you have already read the original scenario.

INTRODUCTION

A new designer drug is ravaging Hong Kong. DietRiot has exploded both uptown and downtown; it seems equally appealing (and equally available!) to both the upper classes and the lower classes. Reports on what the drug actually does are all over the place: Some describe it as a methamphetamine. Others as a hallucinogenic. It also appears to be almost supernaturally effective as a diet drug.

The authorities have decided action must be taken. A special task force – Hong Kong Task Force 88 – has been formed. You have all been selected (or volunteered) to be a member of this task force.

As you choose your characters, think about why or how your character was selected.

SCENE 1: THE DOCKS

• Generally effective to have 1-2 of the PCs be the “local cops” who are meeting the others at the Docks.
• Allow time for a brief discussion.

THE FIGHT: Blondie calls out some insult from the end of the dock. They turn to see him and a bunch of mooks wielding machetes.

• Blondie (HKTF88, p. 10) – make sure to mention the wifebeater he wears covered in English swear words
• Machete Mooks (HKTF88, p. 11) – 2 per PC

DURING THE FIGHT: At least one of the PCs should see Jian Wu watching the fight from the roof of a nearby warehouse. He has a distinctive dragon tattoo on one cheek. As soon as they notice him, he walks away from the edge of the warehouse and disappears.

SCENE 2: INVESTIGATION MONTAGE

Hard cut from the end of the fight to the precinct headquarters Task Force 88 is based out of.

CHEWED OUT BY THE CHIEF: The local police chief is screaming at them about property damage, disturbance of the peace, wielding weapons (do you know how much paperwork?!), etc. Whatever happened during the awesome fight in Scene 1, he’s pissed off about it. “GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!”

• After the door slams shut behind them, the rest of the detectives at their open office desks give the PCs a round of applause. One of them whispers that the chief is actually very impressed and wants them to keep up the good work.

TASK FORCE OFFICE: The Task Force has been assigned a random office in the precinct headquarters. There’s not a lot in there right now: A thin file folder with the DietRiot case file. An empty file cabinet. A desk. An empty cork tackboard.

• Note: Establish the tackboard because you’ll frame up on it later.

INVESTIGATION MONTAGE: Tell the players you’re going to do an investigation montage: Each of them will choose one line of potential investigation. Likely options include:

• Checking the casefile.
• Trying to track down that guy with the weird tattoo they saw.
• Roughing up local dealers for information.
• Talking to an old friend or other local contact for information.
• Analyzing samples of DietRiot in the crime lab.
• Conducting drug buys to roll up the local distributors for interrogation.
• Putting surveillance on known DietRiot dealers and monitoring their communications.

The actual methods they choose don’t matter except by context. Group them together in ways that make sense and present fast-paced, hard-hitting sequences that rapidly spill out the three major leads:

• There is a victim of DietRiot named Fen. You can talk with her at the Lucky Cat Apothecary.
• Jian Wu (“the guy with the tattoo”) can be found at the Neon 77 club.
• There are a pair of well-connected street dealers named Snake Eyes & Ed who are selling out of the Bird Gardens.

Each of these point to one of the Scene 3 investigations.

SCENE 3: THE INVESTIGATIONS & THE FIGHT

There are three different leads that the PCs can pursue after the investigation montage. Generally speaking, the order in which these scenes occur doesn’t make a difference.

At some point during this sequence, Blondie’s brother shows up. He’s pissed off that the PCs killed/arrested his brother and he’s looking for revenge.

(This probably works best with Scene 3A or Scene 3B, as Scene 3C already has a fight sequence in it.)

THE FIGHT:

• Blondie’s Brother (HTKF88, p. 14): He wears the same wife-beater that Blondie does, but his is covered with swear words in Chinese. And he has a pair of katanas, because everyone knows katanas are better. (To be honest, Blondie and his brother are basically tools.)
• Fist (HKTF88, p. 14)
• Reaper’s Boys (HKTF88, p. 15) – 2 per PC
• Interrogation: If interrogated, these mooks can give up the location of Reaper’s lab (see Scene 4).

SCENE 3A: FEN & LUCKY CAT APOTHECARY

• This scene is described in HKTF88, p. 12-13.

Key Clues:

• Reaper’s Card
• Fen’s grandmother thinks the drug blocks chi

SCENE 3B: JIAN WU @ NEON 77

• Neon 77 is a glitzy club of chrome, mirrors, and trance music.
• Or maybe it’s a sedate club with soft-tune jazz disco balls casting starscapes on the walls. Whatever works.

Jian Wu is framed differently in this version of the scenario:

• He has a dragon tattoo on his cheek.
• He’s Reaper’s Kowloon dealer for DietRiot.
• He’s not happy: The money was good; now he thinks it was too good. The drugs are too cheap; there must be some hidden agenda behind all this, but he hasn’t figured out what it is.
• He can point the PCs in the direction of Reaper’s lab (see Scene 4).

SCENE 3C: THE BIRD GARDEN

This scene is heavily revised for this version of the scenario.

• Snake Eyes & Ed (HKTF88, p. 10) are selling DietRiot in the Bird Garden (as described HKTF88, p. 17).
• Rather than an out-of-control talent manifestation, Ed casts spells to summon the fireworks foes (HKTF88, p. 18):
  • He summons the first one on his first turn.
  • On each subsequent turn, he can initiate a 5-shot action. If not interrupted, at the end of those 5-shots another fireworks creature is summoned.

In one run-through of this scenario I had Snake Eyes open up a door in the side of a tree and run through it, emerging back at Reaper’s lab. You could do that; or maybe it just turns into a chase sequence.

Key Clues:

• They know the drug blocks Chi.
• They can point the PCs in the direction of Reaper’s Lab (see Scene 4).

SCENE 4: REAPER’S LAB

This scene is described on HKTF88, p. 20-21.

• Don’t bother including Jian Wu.
• The key framing is that the PCs can observe the grungy warehouse from outside; and then only later catch a glimpse or burst into the gleaming, ultra-clean drug lab inside filled with scientists in hazmat suits watched over by goons in suits with SMGs slung over their shoulders.

THE FIGHT:

• Repeat (HKTF88, p. 21)
• Alora (HKTF88, p. 21)
• Mittens (HKTF88, p. 21) – I gave him the ability to jump around like a cat. Pretty much entirely descriptive, but gave him some nice
• Gangsters (HKTF88, p. 22) – 3 per PC

THE BIG FINALE?

In my playtests, time was generally running out at this point. The fight in Reaper’s Lab provides a great conclusion here, and you can generally wrap it up here.

Alternatively, the action can be carried into Scene 5 with these clues:

• Questioning anyone in the laboratory indicates that the drug design comes from the company DruDekTel.
• Searching Reaper’s unconscious/dead body finds a business card for Curt Raglan of DrukDekTel.
• Looking at the documentation in the lab links the process back to DruDekTel

SCENE 5: DruDekTel HEADQUARTERS

Okay, you know that incredible long-take fight from Tony Jaa’s The Protector? The one where he fights his way up a long spiraling ramp inside an office building before finally reaching the luxurious office of the Big Boss at the top?

You’re not? Okay. Watch that.

Yeah. We’re going to do that: DruDekTel’s HQ has that same architecture, with a big hollow center and a spiraling ramp that goes from one level to the next.

Things they can encounter on their way up:

• Massage parlor.
• Tea shop.
• Office cubicles.
• Slot machines.
• Food court.
• Copy machine nook.
• Video conferencing room.
• Drug research lab.

Have 3-5 levels. Each level has a number of mooks (use Reaper’s Boys and the Gangsters) equal to half the number of PCs.

Curt Raglan’s Office: At the top is Curt Raglan’s office.

• Curt Raglan (HKTF88, p. 22)
• Gangsters (HKTF88, p 22) – 1 per PC

During the fight, have Raglan monologue loudly about the true purpose of DietRiot:

• We will seal magic away forever by blocking chi!
• You fools are putting the entire world in danger! You can’t imagine the real stakes!
• The Guiding Hand will protect him. They cannot possibly win!
• The testing is almost complete! As soon as it stops killing people – well, as soon as they can get the mortality rate down to a reasonable level – they’ll put it in the drinking supply!
• The Four Emperors will never return!

Yada, yada, yada, and so forth.