KC0 LEVELS 1-3 ============================================================== + (_) | | _________| |_________ / _ _ | _ _ \ / | | | | | | | | | \ /___|_|__|_|_|_|_|__|_|___\ | .--. .--. .--. .--.| | | | | | | | | || | | | | | _ | | | || ____|_|__|__|__|(_)|__|__|__||____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | >>> down. T H E U N D E R C R O F T ---------------------------- beneath the Abbey of St. Ossic, where the monks took a vow of silence and kept it after they died. ============================================================== KNIGHTS OF CARCOSSA GAME CO. AN INTRODUCTORY MODULE For 4 to 6 characters of levels 1-3 $.75 KC0 THE UNDERCROFT LEVELS 1-3 HOW TO USE THIS MODULE ====================== This module is for use with the KNIGHTS OF CARCOSSA adventure game rules. The referee should read it through before play. Statistics are given in the short form used in every Knights of Carcossa module; the RULE BOOK explains each in full. CHARACTER LEVELS 1-3 novice 4-6 seasoned 7-9 veteran 10+ heroic (for 4 to 6 adventurers) MONSTERS are listed like this: GHOUL MONK (x4) Threat 2 Hits Normal Armor None Harm Normal x2 (claws: Body save or paralysed d4 rounds) Nerve 9 Move Normal. Wants the warm; won't cross salt. Threat 0 villager 1 man-at-arms 3 ogre 5 troll 7 giant 10 and up: dragons and worse Hits Frail / Normal / Tough / Huge Armor None / Light / Medium / Heavy / Superb Harm Weak / Normal / Heavy / Brutal / Deadly (each attack) Nerve 2-12. Roll 2d6 when the first of them falls, and again at half strength: OVER Nerve, they break. Move Slow / Normal / Fast (also fly, swim, climb, burrow) SAVES BODY poison, paralysis, disease, turning to stone REFLEX blasts, falls, traps MIND fear, charm, illusion, possession A "Hard" save is a tougher one. CHECKS Easy / Normal / Hard / Heroic, and what it uses: "Hard check (Strength) to lift the slab." TREASURE Values are in gold pieces (gp). MAGIC Items: Enchantment +1 to +3, or as described. Spells by effect and Power: Minor, Major, Mighty. ROOM KEY > what the party sees on entering * something to examine (a, b, c on the map) ! danger: monsters, traps, and what sets them off $ treasure Designed by the Knights of Carcossa staff. Special thanks to the Tuesday night group. Copyright 1982 Knights of Carcossa Game Co. Printed in U.S.A. [ARCHIVE NOTE: Recovered from the warehouse with the others. Maps redrawn from the originals. This edition, text and maps, is released under CC BY-SA 4.0.] - 2 - KC0 THE UNDERCROFT LEVELS 1-3 AT A GLANCE =========== The Abbey of St. Ossic burned forty years ago. The monks under it did not stop praying; they stopped breathing. Now a pilgrim has gone missing below, and the bell in the ruined tower rings at night with no one to pull it. The party can: find the pilgrim (alive, in room 7), learn why the dead keep silence (the abbot's vow, room 5), and break it or keep it. If no one acts, the silence spreads: each night one more villager in Hallow Cross stops speaking. HOOKS IN ======== 1. The pilgrim's sister offers 30 gp to bring him back. 2. A scholar wants a rubbing of the chapter-house altar. 3. The party shelters in the ruin from a storm and hears singing from under the floor. BACKGROUND ========== Abbot Leofric swore his monks to silence "until the last trumpet." When fire took the abbey he sealed them below to die rather than let them break the vow by crying out. They kept it. The vow keeps them: any monk who hears a voice raised in the undercroft rises to silence it. The vow is written on a slate in the abbot's vault (room 5). Breaking the slate frees the monks to rest -- and to speak, once, everything they have not said in forty years. RUMORS (d6) =========== 1. (T) The bell rings itself on moonless nights. 2. (F) The abbot escaped the fire with the abbey's gold. 3. (P) The monks are still down there, praying. (Praying, yes. Alive, no.) 4. (T) Salt keeps the dead out of a room. 5. (F) The cistern is a holy well that cures fevers. 6. (T) There was a second way down, through the scriptorium. WANDERING (d6, every 3 turns or on a raised voice) ========== 1-2. 1d4 ghoul monks, gliding in single file, hushing. 3. A rat swarm boiling out of the ossuary, fleeing noise. 4. The pilgrim's voice, calling. A ghoul monk mouths along. 5. The bell rings above. Every monk faces the stairs for one turn. 6. Absolute quiet. Nothing happens. Note the time. - 3 - KC0 THE UNDERCROFT LEVELS 1-3 MAPS ==== [ THE GLOAMREACH ] ------------------------------------------ N^ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / ^^ \____/ ^^ \____/ nn \____/ TT \____/ TT \____ \ / \ I03 / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ ^^ \____/ ^^ \____/ nn \____/ TT \____/ ^^ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / ^^ \____/ ^^ \____/ \____/ TT \____/ TT \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ nn \____/ nn \____/ \____/ TT \____/ ^^ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ X05 / \ / / nn \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ TT \____/ \ / \ / \ @01 / \ / \ / \ \____/ nn \____/ nn \____/ \____/ TT \____/ nn \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / TT \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ nn \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ TT \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ nn \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / TT \____/ TT \____/ ~~ \____/ \____/ \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ !06 / \ \____/ TT \____/ \____/ ~~ \____/ \____/ nn \ / \ +02 / \ / \ / \ / \ / / "" \____/ TT \____/ ~~ \____/ \____/ \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ TT \____/ \____/ ~~ \____/ \____/ .. \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / "" \____/ TT \____/ \____/ \____/ .. \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ @04 / \ / \ \____/ "" \____/ \____/ \____/ .. \____/ .. \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / "" \____/ "" \____/ TT \____/ \____/ .. \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ "" \____/ "" \____/ TT \____/ .. \____/ .. \ / \ X07 / \ / \ / \ / \ +08 / / ~~ \____/ "" \____/ TT \____/ \____/ .. \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ "" \____/ TT \____/ TT \____/ \____/ .. \ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- blank = plain TT forest nn hills ^^ mountains "" swamp ~~ water .. waste @ settlement X lair/dungeon + ruin I tower ! site one hex = 3 miles The abbey ruin is at hex 02. Hallow Cross is 01. - 4 - KC0 THE UNDERCROFT LEVELS 1-3 [ THE UNDERCROFT, LEVEL 1 ] --------------------------------- N^ //////////////////////////+-----------+///////////////////////// //////////////////////////| << |///////////////////////// //////////////////////////| 1 |///////////////////////// //////////////////////////| |///////////////////////// //////////////////////////+---+-D-+---+///////////////////////// //+-----------+///////////////| |///////////////+-----------+/ //| |///+-----------+ +-----------+///| |/ //| a |///| |///| |/ //| |///| |///| 4 |/ //| 3 +---+ () () () () +---+ |/ //| D 2 D b |/ //| : +---+ +---+ |/ //| |///| () () () () |///+---+-S-+---+/ //+---+-D-+---+///| * |///////| |///// //////| |///////| |///////| ^ |///// //////| |///////+-----------+-D-+-----------+///+---+ +---+/ //+---+ +---------+/+-------+ +---------+/////| |/ //| |/| c |/////| 5 |/ //| 6 |/| 7 +-----+ |/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |/| L | * |/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |/| * +-+ +-----------+/ //| ~~~~()~~()~~ |/| d +-+ +-----------+/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |/+-----+-D-+-----------+ |/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ +---+///| |///////////| () () |/ //| : : +---+ +-------+///| 8 |/ //+-----------------+ : |///| e |/ ////////////////////+-+ 9 |///| |/ //////////////////////| |///+-----------------+/ //////////////////////| >> |/////////////////////// //////////////////////+-----------------+/////////////////////// ---------------------------------------------------------------- D door L locked door S secret door << stairs up >> stairs down ~~ water () pillar ^ trap * feature : rubble one square = 10 ft - 5 - KC0 THE UNDERCROFT LEVELS 1-3 KEYED LOCATIONS =============== 1. STAIR LANDING > Worn steps down from the abbey cellar. Candle stubs line the walls, all burned to nothing at the same height. * The door south is unlocked and swings without a sound (hinges oiled -- recently). 2. GREAT NAVE > Two rows of pillars, carved as hooded monks with fingers to their lips. A black stone shrine stands at the centre. * Shrine: a bowl of grey salt. Taking the salt is the best weapon in the dungeon (see Rumor 4). ! 2 ghoul monks (below) stand in the shadow of pillars. They move only if someone speaks above a whisper. 3. OSSUARY > Skulls stacked to the ceiling, every jaw wired shut. * a: one skull's wire is cut. It whispers a name: the next character to speak aloud. ! Rat swarm (BOOK II): Threat 0 Hits Frail Harm Weak Nerve 5 Move Fast. Flees fire and loud noise. 4. SCRIPTORIUM > Writing desks, ink long dried. Every page in the room is the same sentence, copied thousands of times. * b: the abbot's desk. Under the blotter, a plan of the undercroft showing room 5 and a secret door. * The secret door (south) is found by searching the bookcase that holds no books. Easy check if they have the plan; Hard without it. $ A silver inkwell (25 gp). A blank, never-used vellum book (60 gp to a scholar). TRAPPED PASSAGE (between 4 and 5) ! ^: a loose flagstone rings a hand-bell hidden in the wall. Every monk in the undercroft turns toward the sound and comes. Spotted with a Hard check (searching). 5. ABBOT'S VAULT > A bare cell. A cot, a kneeler, and on the wall a slate the size of a door, chalked edge to edge in a tiny hand. * *: the Slate of the Vow (p.8). Reading it aloud is the first spoken word in the vault in forty years; Abbot Leofric (room 8) wakes and comes for the reader. * Under the cot: the abbot's scourge and a key to the crypt door (room 8). $ Scroll of Silence (Minor), rolled inside the kneeler. - 6 - KC0 THE UNDERCROFT LEVELS 1-3 6. FLOODED CISTERN > Black water from wall to wall, waist deep. Two pillars rise out of it. Something pale floats near the far side. * The pale thing is a drowned monk, face down, harmless -- the only body down here that stayed dead. * The rubble (south-east) can be cleared in 2 turns to reach room 9. Loud work: roll for wandering monsters. ! Wading is slow and splashy. Anyone swimming must make an Easy check (Strength) each turn or go under. $ On the drowned monk's belt: a silver reliquary holding a saint's knucklebone (140 gp). 7. CHAPTER HOUSE > Twelve stone seats face a black altar. Tallow smell. A man is tied to the altar with a gag in his mouth. * The man is Wat, the missing pilgrim (p.8). He is alive. Untying him quietly is Easy; he will try to shout thanks the moment the gag is out. * c: the abbot's seat. Carved: "SILENCE IS OBEDIENCE." * d: a hole in the floor where the monks pour water from the cistern. Wat has been drinking from it. ! 4 ghoul monks kneel at the seats. They rise if anyone speaks above a whisper -- including Wat. $ Silver censer on the altar (90 gp). 8. THE CRYPT > Locked from this side (key in room 5; a Hard check to pick or force). Six stone coffins. The largest stands open, and empty, unless the abbot is at rest. * e: the abbot's coffin. Its lid is carved with a kneeling monk holding a finger to his lips. ! Abbot Leofric (p.8) lies here until the slate is read or a voice is raised in this room. $ In the coffin: an abbot's ring (Enchantment +1 on any save against fear) and 210 gp in old coin. 9. WELL CHAMBER > A round chamber around a stairway that spirals down into the dark. Cold air rises from it. The steps are wet, as if something came up them recently. * >: the stairs go to Level 2 (not in this module). This is where the bell-ringer came from. * Scratched on the wall at child height: SHE IS LISTENING. - 7 - KC0 THE UNDERCROFT LEVELS 1-3 WHO'S WHO ========= WAT, the pilgrim. Wants to go home. Fears the dark and the quiet. Secret: he rang the abbey bell for a dare, the night the monks took him. "I only pulled it once. Once!" ABBOT LEOFRIC. Wants the vow kept until the last trumpet. Fears nothing but the sound of his own name. Secret: he broke the vow himself on the night of the fire, screaming, and has never forgiven his monks for hearing it. AGNES, Wat's sister, of Hallow Cross. Wants her brother back. Pays 30 gp and the mule if he lives; 10 gp for his body. "He's an idiot, but he's our idiot." NEW THINGS ========== GHOUL MONK Threat 2 Hits Normal Armor None Harm Normal x2 (claws: Body save or paralysed d4 rounds) Nerve 9 Move Normal. Wants the warm; will not cross salt. A ghoul (BOOK II) bound by the vow: never makes a sound. ABBOT LEOFRIC Threat 4 Hits Tough Armor Light Harm Heavy (scourge of iron chain) Nerve 12 Move Normal. Hunts the loudest creature first. Hush: once per round, one target makes a Mind save or cannot speak (or cast spells aloud) for d6 rounds. Saying his name aloud makes him stop and shriek for one round. He takes no action that round. SLATE OF THE VOW. A slab of slate 7 feet tall. Breaking it (Normal check, Strength, with any heavy tool) ends the vow. Every monk in the undercroft stops, turns to the nearest living person, and speaks: a confession, a name, a recipe, a curse. Then they fall and do not rise. Abbot Leofric does not fall; he is now only a ghoul with a scourge (Nerve 7) and a lot to say. SCROLL OF SILENCE (Minor). Read aloud, it makes a room perfectly silent for one hour. The monks cannot hear anything inside it, and they do not like what they cannot hear. HOOKS OUT ========= * The pilgrim says the bell-ringer is not a monk. It is something that came up from the stairs in room 9. * Breaking the vow lets the monks speak once. One of them names where the abbey's real treasury was sent. * Hallow Cross's priest wants the slate. 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11 - [ THE UNDERCROFT, LEVEL 1 ] --------------------------------- N^ //////////////////////////+-----------+///////////////////////// //////////////////////////| << |///////////////////////// //////////////////////////| 1 |///////////////////////// //////////////////////////| |///////////////////////// //////////////////////////+---+-D-+---+///////////////////////// //+-----------+///////////////| |///////////////+-----------+/ //| |///+-----------+ +-----------+///| |/ //| a |///| |///| |/ //| |///| |///| 4 |/ //| 3 +---+ () () () () +---+ |/ //| D 2 D b |/ //| : +---+ +---+ |/ //| |///| () () () () |///+---+-S-+---+/ //+---+-D-+---+///| * |///////| |///// //////| |///////| |///////| ^ |///// //////| |///////+-----------+-D-+-----------+///+---+ +---+/ //+---+ +---------+/+-------+ +---------+/////| |/ //| |/| c |/////| 5 |/ //| 6 |/| 7 +-----+ |/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |/| L | * |/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |/| * +-+ +-----------+/ //| ~~~~()~~()~~ |/| d +-+ +-----------+/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |/+-----+-D-+-----------+ |/ //| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ +---+///| |///////////| () () |/ //| : : +---+ +-------+///| 8 |/ //+-----------------+ : |///| e |/ ////////////////////+-+ 9 |///| |/ //////////////////////| |///+-----------------+/ //////////////////////| >> |/////////////////////// //////////////////////+-----------------+/////////////////////// ---------------------------------------------------------------- D door L locked door S secret door << stairs up >> stairs down ~~ water () pillar ^ trap * feature : rubble one square = 10 ft