KC1 LEVELS 1-3 ============================================================== . * . . . _ ( ) * /\ | | . /\ /\ / \ | | / \ . / \ ___ | | |_| ___ | | ___ | [] | | | | [] | | | | | | [] | | | /\ ___| |_| []|_| |_| |_| []|___| |_| []|__/ \___ | . [] . . [] . . [] . [] . [] . . | |___[]___.___[]___.___[]___.___[]___.___[]___.___[]___.__| ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ N I G H T S I N C A R C O S S A ----------------------------------- Every night the city comes a little closer. Every night the lamps of Thornwick burn lower. By the fourth dawn there will be one less village in the world. ============================================================== KNIGHTS OF CARCOSSA GAME CO. ADVENTURE MODULE For 4 to 6 characters of levels 1-3 $.75 KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA 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: Found in the same crate as KC0, wrapped in a theatre programme. Maps redrawn from the originals. This edition, text and maps, is released under CC BY-SA 4.0.] - 2 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 AT A GLANCE =========== Carcossa is a city that is only there at night. At sunset it rises out of the mist, lamps lit and music playing. At dawn it is gone, and so is anyone still inside it. Each night it appears closer to the village of Thornwick, because in Carcossa's theatre a troupe of masked players is performing THE TRAGEDY OF THORNWICK, one act a night. When the fourth act is played, the city takes the village with it at dawn. The party has three nights to stop the play. They can steal or burn the Script, free the Thornwick man trapped in its cast, keep its one true watcher out of his Box, silence the thing that prompts the players, or take the stage and give the play a better ending. If they fail, Thornwick is gone. The city should feel lovely and wrong: lit windows, kind strangers in masks, music from every door, and nothing quite as it should be. Let the players enjoy it. Then let them notice. HOOKS IN ======== 1. Hobb Tanner, Reeve of Thornwick, posts a notice at every crossroads: "HELP WANTED. LIGHTS IN THE FIELDS. 100 GP." 2. Wren Moss, 15, finds the party at an inn. Her father walked into the mist nine years ago. Last night she saw him in a lit window, wearing a mask. 3. The party, travelling at night, sees a city where the map says there are only fields, and hears a bell strike twelve. - 3 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 BACKGROUND ========== Carcossa is very old and very hungry. It does not conquer places; it collects them. It writes a play about a place, performs it, and when the last act ends the place belongs to the city. Its Garden of Statues (12) holds the villages it has collected before. Nine years ago Edric Moss, the miller's son, followed music into the mist and did not come back. The city kept him, put him in a mask, and has been teaching him a part: the Reeve of Thornwick. A play about a place needs one soul from that place, and Edric is the Tragedy's. The play is written by the Director, Ambrose Vane, and it is watched by the Stranger in the Pale Mask from his Box. A play in Carcossa must have four things: a SCRIPT, a CAST, an AUDIENCE and a PROMPTER. Take any one away before the fourth act, and the play fails. Carcossa then leaves, for good. The Knights of Carcossa, the city's night watch, know all of this. They were a village once too. RUMORS (d8, in Thornwick) ========================= 1. (T) Things have gone missing: a kettle, a cradle, the Reeve's chain of office. All from Thornwick houses. 2. (T) Those who go in must take a mask at the gate. 3. (F) The city is the old abbey, risen from its ashes. 4. (P) Edric Moss is alive in there. (Alive, yes. Edric, less every night.) 5. (T) The lights come one step closer every night. 6. (F) Iron burns the people of the city. 7. (T) A bell rings in the city before dawn. Run when it rings. 8. (P) Widow Pell says the Knights saved her life. (They did; they also took her husband's name off a list.) - 4 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 THE NIGHT CLOCK =============== SUNSET Carcossa rises from the mist. The city lasts until dawn; a night is about ten hours. MIDNIGHT The Bell Tower (7) strikes twelve. The play begins at the Theatre (11). Each act runs one hour. 1 AM The act ends. The Players drink at the Inn (5). DAWN One turn (ten minutes) before dawn, the Bell Tower rings the DAWN BELL. At first light the city fades. THE DAWN RULE. Anyone in Carcossa when it fades goes with it. A character caught inside may make a Hard Body save: on a success they wake in the fields at noon, their hair gone white. On a failure they are gone. (The referee may let them appear in a later module, wearing a mask.) ONE STEP CLOSER. Carcossa does not move by nights. It moves by ACTS. Each act performed brings it one step closer: ACT THE CITY APPEARS THORNWICK ROW (14) I a mile off, in the fields one house II at Widow Pell's orchard two houses III at the village gate three houses; villagers sleepwalk toward the gate IV around the whole village four houses. At dawn, Thornwick goes with it. If an act is disrupted, it is played again the next night, and the city does not move. A clever party can buy nights. DAYS IN THORNWICK. By day there is nothing in the fields but mist and flattened grass. The party can rest, ask questions, and prepare. Useful places on the Thornwick map: 01 Thornwick. The Reeve; Marta and Wren Moss; the inn. 02 Holloway Mill. Edric's old room. Under the floor, his journal: "the music is in the mist again tonight." 03 The Grey Stones. The mist rises here first each dusk. One stone is carved with a sign in faded yellow paint. 04 Gallows Hill. From the top you can see the whole city at night, and count the houses on Thornwick Row. - 5 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 MAPS ==== [ THORNWICK AND THE FIELDS ] -------------------------------- N^ ____ ____ ____ ____ / \ / \ / \ / \ / nn \____/ TT \____/ TT \____/ nn \____ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ nn \____/ TT \____/ \____/ nn \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / TT \____/ \____/ \____/ nn \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ nn \____/ TT \____/ \____/ nn \ / \ / \ / \ / \ +03 / / ~~ \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ \ !02 / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ "" \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / ~~ \____/ \____/ \____/ "" \____/ \ / \ X3 / \ / \ / \ \____/ \____/ TT \____/ \____/ "" \ / \ @01 / \ X2 / \ X1 / \ / / ~~ \____/ \____/ TT \____/ "" \____/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \____/ TT \____/ \____/ \____/ "" \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / / ~~ \____/ TT \____/ nn \____/ \____/ \ / \ / \ !04 / \ / \ \____/ TT \____/ \____/ \____/ "" \ \ / \ / \ / \ / \____/ \____/ \____/ \____/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- blank = plain TT forest nn hills "" swamp ~~ water @ settlement X Carcossa on nights 1, 2, 3 + the Grey Stones ! site one hex = 1/3 mile X1, X2, X3: where Carcossa rises after acts I, II and III. After act IV it stands all around 01. - 6 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 [ CARCOSSA, THE CITY BY NIGHT ] ----------------------------- N^ //////////////////////////////////////////////+--------------/ //////////+-------------------------------+///| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| () () () ()+---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| 12 * | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+---------- ----------------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+-------+-- --+-------------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | * | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| () ()| * | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | * | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| 6 | | 11 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | 4 | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //+-------+ | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //| | () ()| * | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //| 2 | | * | | ~~~~~~ ~~ //| | | | | ~~~~~~ ~~ --+---D---+---D---+-- --+-----D-D-----+ ~~~~~~ * ~~ D 1 9 ~~ D 3 ~~ --+---D---+---D-----+ +---D---+---D---+ ~~~~~~ 13 ~~ //| | | | | | ~~~~~~ ~~ //| | | | | | ~~~~~~ ~~ //| a | | | | 7 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //+-------+ 5 | | 8 | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | << | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | +-------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| <<| | | b | 10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | | >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+---------+ +-------+---D---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+---D---+---D---+---D---+---D---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| 14 | c | c | : | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | +---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+-------+-------+-------+-------+///| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////////////////////////////////////////+--------------/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- D door << stairs up >> stairs down ~~ water () pillar * feature : rubble one square = 20 ft - 7 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 THE CITY ======== Everyone in Carcossa wears a mask: plain white, gilded, feathered, beaked, mirrored. They are courteous, curious about visitors, and never unkind. They do not remember any day, because they have never seen one. MASKS. The Knights at the Gate offer every visitor a plain white mask. A masked visitor is treated as a citizen. An unmasked one is stared at, followed, and attracts the Pale Hounds (roll twice for encounters). But a mask is sticky: each time a masked character leaves the city, they must make a Mind save or keep it on and refuse to take it off (a Normal check by a friend talks them out of it). Anyone masked in Carcossa on a third night is a citizen, and goes with the city at dawn, whatever the Dawn Rule says. NO BARE BLADES. The Knights disarm anyone who draws a weapon in the street (they ask first, once). Fighting in a building is the building's business. COIN. Carcossan silver is real. It is only very old. Prices in the city are paid in coin or in MEMORIES: a memory costs the payer 50 experience points and one specific thing they will never remember again (the player chooses). ENCOUNTERS. Roll d8 once an hour while in the streets. Use the column for the act the city is on. 1 LAMPLIGHTERS. I: masked children offer to guide you for a copper. II: their lanterns are Thornwick's lanterns. III: one of them is a Thornwick child, sleepwalking. 2 A KNIGHT ON A PALE HORSE. I: asks your business. II: warns you to leave before the bell. III: asks, very quietly, whether you have brought the flower (see 6). 3 A MASKED CITIZEN asks to trade masks with you. I: just curious. II: insistent. III: the mask has your face. 4 PALE HOUNDS (1d4). Only hunt the unmasked; otherwise they trot past, grinning. 5 A PROCESSION carrying something under a sheet toward the Garden (12). It is a statue. Later, it is a plinth. 6 A PLAYER, rehearsing alone in the street. Will run lines with anyone who asks. Learn one line of the next act. 7 MUSIC from an open window. Mind save or dance until the tune ends (one turn). It is a Thornwick song. 8 THE STRANGER, walking. He tips his hat. He knows your names. He hopes you are enjoying the play. - 8 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 KEYED LOCATIONS: THE CITY ========================= 1. THE GATE > Two bronze doors stand open on the road out of the mist. Two Knights of Carcossa (p.16) sit their pale horses on either side, lances upright. * A Knight asks each visitor: "Have you a mask?" Those without are given a white one from the guardroom (a). * The road behind you is mist. Leaving is always allowed. 2. THE GATEHOUSE > A Knight writes in a great Register by candlelight. * Every visitor's name goes in the Register, true or not. Edric Moss signed in nine years ago. He never signed out. The latest page has room for 300 names: the population of Thornwick. * a: the guardroom. A basket of white masks; the Knights' spare lances; a cold supper nobody has eaten. 3. LAMPLIGHTERS' WAY > The main street, lit by tall lamps that burn yellow. Every door is open and every window is lit. * The lamplighters (encounter 1) live here. Ask them anything: they answer truthfully, and they are seven. 4. THE MARKET OF MASKS > A square of striped stalls (*), lanterns strung between them, and a crowd in masks, bargaining softly. * For sale, in coin or memories (d6, or choose): 1 Bottled moonlight: lights a room for one night. 10 gp 2 A mask of your own face. Free. Do not wear it. 3 Tears of a happy man. Heal d6 Hits. One memory. 4 A map of a city that is not here yet. 40 gp 5 A tune in a box. Once a night it stops anyone who hears it for one round (Mind save). One memory. 6 A ticket to the play, front row. Free to anyone. 5. THE INN OF LAST LIGHTS > A long room of candles, no two the same height. Mother Lanthorn, beaked mask, pours something warm and gold. * After 1 am the Players drink here, still masked. Edric (p.15) sits apart, turning a mill-wheel token over and over. He does not know his own name. He knows Wren's. * Mother Lanthorn sells the LANTERN OF LAST LIGHT (100 gp or two memories): its flame burns blue an hour before the dawn bell, every night, anywhere. * <: the guest rooms upstairs. The beds are made for visitors who are expected to stay. - 9 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 6. THE KNIGHTS' HALL > A cold stone hall with four pillars, and twenty helms on twenty hooks. No Knight here has lifted his visor in living memory. * Sir Corvin Hale, Captain of the Knights (p.15), will talk with anyone polite. The Knights were the men of a village called Harrowmere. They swore to keep the peace of Carcossa, and cannot act against it. * His price for help: "Bring me something that has seen a sunrise. A flower, picked by day." (It crumbles if it sees the city's light; it must be carried shut away.) Given one, the Knights break their oath for ONE night: they bar the Theatre doors, or ride where asked. 7. THE BELL TOWER > A tall, narrow tower. The rope hangs down to the floor. * <: stairs to the bells. Ringing them out of turn is heard across the city and the fields. * b: the ringer's room, off Ash Lane. Old Mag, masked in grey, counts the hours on a string of beads. She is blind and very proud of her ringing. * If Old Mag can be convinced it is nearly dawn (a Hard check, or a good trick), she rings the DAWN BELL early. The act stops wherever it is, and the city scrambles to be ready to fade. That act is disrupted (p.5). It works once: after that, Mag checks. 8. THE MILLINER OF MASKS > Shelves of half-made masks, ribbons, gilt and plaster. Madame Vell works by one candle and does not look up. * The back shelves hold a mask for every soul in Thornwick, each with the right face. More each night. * A character wearing a Thornwick mask is taken by the Players for that villager. With the Reeve's mask, one could take Edric's place on stage (see 3, Theatre). $ Gilt masks worth 30 gp each; there are six. 9. THE BRIDGE OVER HALI > A narrow stone bridge over still black water. The lake reflects two moons. There is only one in the sky. * The bridge-keeper charges one secret to cross. Lies do not count; he can tell. * Drinking from the lake: Mind save or sleep until dawn, which in Carcossa is very bad. - 10 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 10. THE DROWNED STAIR > Wide steps go down from the quay into the lake (>). Lamplight shows them going down a long way. * The stair leads to the city under the lake. That is another adventure; the water is cold and very deep. $ On the third step down: a sealed bottle holding a letter, a ring (40 gp) and a pressed flower that has seen a sunrise. It is what the Captain asked for. 11. THE THEATRE > A theatre of white stone. Posters on every column: THE TRAGEDY OF THORNWICK, IN FOUR ACTS. TONIGHT: ACT I (or II, III, IV). The doors open at half past eleven. * Inside: see THE THEATRE (p.12). 12. THE GARDEN OF STATUES > A long garden of white gravel and white statues of masked people. Each stands on a plinth with a name. * The names are places: HARROWMERE, LITTLE DUNNING, SALTCOMBE, ST. OSSIC'S. At the far end (*) stands an empty plinth, freshly cut: THORNWICK. * Smashing the plinth does nothing. Carcossa simply cuts another. But it does annoy the Stranger. 13. THE STRANGER'S ISLET > A small island of lawn, a white pavilion (*), a table laid for tea for as many guests as have come. * The Stranger in the Pale Mask (p.15) is here before midnight and after 1 am. During the play he sits in his Box (Theatre, 9). * He is charming. He offers each visitor a part in the play. Accepting means a mask, a costume, and no dawn. 14. THORNWICK ROW > A short street of village houses, thatched and leaning. They are Thornwick's houses, exactly. * Each act adds a house (p.5). Inside are the things that went missing from Thornwick: the kettle, the cradle. * c: houses that appear after acts II and III. * The fourth plot is rubble (:) until act IV is played. $ In the first house, in a drawer: the Reeve's chain of office (silver, 120 gp; the Reeve wants it back). - 11 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 THE THEATRE =========== [ THE THEATRE OF CARCOSSA ] --------------------------------- N^ //////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////+-------+///////////////////////////+-------+/// ////| a |///////////////////////////| b |/// ////| |///////////////////////////| |/// ////| |///////////////////////////| |/// ////| 4 +---------------------------+ 5 |/// ////| | | |/// ////| | 3 | |/// ////| D D |/// ////| | >> | |/// ////| | | |/// //+-+-D---+-+---- * * ----+-+---D-+-+/ //| | | * |/ //| | | |/ //| 6 | () () | 8 |/ //| | | |/ //| | | |/ //+---D---+ () () +---S---+/ //| | 2 | |/ //| | | |/ //| 7 | () () | 9 |/ //| | | |/ //| | | c |/ //+-------+ +-+-D-+-+/ //////////+-----+---D-----------D---+-----+/| |/// ////////////////| * * +-------+ |/// ////////////////| 1 D |/// ////////////////| +-----------+/// ////////////////| |/////////////// ////////////////+---+---D---D---+---+/////////////// ////////////////////| |/////////////////// ---------------------------------------------------------------- D door S secret door >> stairs down () pillar * feature one square = 10 ft - 12 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 1. FOYER > Gilt, velvet and mirrors. Two masks of painted plaster (*) grin down from the walls: one laughing, one not. * An usher (a Masked Player) takes tickets, or sells them for any small thing. Without one, a Normal check (Charm) or a coin will do. * A curtain on the east wall hides a door and a passage to the Box (9). Ushers use it to take up the tea. 2. THE HOUSE > Rows of red seats, full. The audience is masked, silent, and perfectly still. Four pillars (o) hold the roof. * The audience are citizens who will not move or speak until the act ends. Then they applaud, all at once. * The party's seats are in the front row, whoever they are. They are always free. 3. THE STAGE > The scenery is Thornwick: the green, the well, the Reeve's house. It is painted better every night. * The footlights (*) are real fire. Burning the scenery during an act disrupts it. * >: a trapdoor to UNDER THE STAGE (10). * A NEW ENDING. Anyone may walk onto the stage during act IV and change the play. Each PC makes one check (Normal; Hard if they are not masked) using whatever they do: a speech, a song, a sword-fight, a joke. The Players try to carry on (d6+1 rounds). Three successes before then, and the audience rises and applauds the new ending. The play is over, and Thornwick is spared. 4. STAGE LEFT > Ropes, flats, and a long table of props. * a: the props are Thornwick's. The Reeve's walking stick, the miller's sack, a baby's rattle. Taking a prop the act needs disrupts it, if no one notices for a turn. 5. STAGE RIGHT > Ropes, pulleys and sandbags for flying scenery. * b: one cut rope drops a sandbag on the stage (2d6 to anyone there, Reflex save for half) and disrupts the act. 6. DRESSING ROOMS > Mirrors, paint pots, costumes, and six masked Players before an hour to curtain. * Edric's table holds the Reeve's costume and a letter to Marta, never sent. Read it to him: he makes a Mind save to stay in his part. If he fails, he remembers his name. - 13 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 7. GREEN ROOM > A small parlour with a samovar and a clock with no hands. The Players wait here between scenes. * 2d4 Masked Players (p.16) are here during an act. 8. DIRECTOR'S OFFICE > A desk buried in paper. Ambrose Vane (p.15) writes, crosses out, and writes again. * *: the SCRIPT, four acts, bound in yellow. Burning it or carrying it out of Carcossa before act IV ends the play. Vane can rewrite ONE act in a day; no more. * S: a door behind the bookcase opens on the Box (9). 9. THE BOX > A private box above the stage, two chairs, a tea tray. * The Stranger sits here for every act. Without him, the play has no AUDIENCE: the Players will not begin. * c: the second chair is for the Reeve of Thornwick. It will be filled on the fourth night. * UNMASKING. Anyone who reaches the Stranger can try to lift his mask: a Heroic check (Reflex), or Hard if he is distracted. Beneath it is nothing at all: the empty coat falls into the chair, and the act stops. He is back tomorrow, masked, and very cross. Unmasked during act IV, he is gone for good, and so is the play. 10. UNDER THE STAGE > A low, dark crawlspace. A long-fingered thing in a hood crouches by a slot under the footlights. * The PROMPTER whispers every line to the Players. Kill it, gag it or lure it away and the Players forget their lines: the act is disrupted. If it is gone for good, the play has no PROMPTER and cannot be finished. ! The Prompter (p.16) fights only if cornered. - 14 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 WHO'S WHO ========= SIR CORVIN HALE, Captain of the Knights. Wants rest for his men. Fears his own face. Secret: Harrowmere's statue is in the Garden, and his wife is the one by the fountain. "We keep the peace. Even this peace." AMBROSE VANE, the Director. Wants a perfect play. Fears the Stranger's disappointment. Secret: he was a real playwright, of a real town, and this is his eleventh Tragedy. He writes them because he cannot stop. "Again. From the top." EDRIC MOSS, the Reeve of Thornwick (the part). Wants to get the part right. Fears the dawn. Secret: some nights he goes to the Gate and stands looking at the mist. Freed (unmasked and walked out of the city before dawn), he is the play's lost CAST, and the play cannot be finished. "Wren? No. I don't know a Wren. Who is Wren?" THE STRANGER IN THE PALE MASK. Wants a full audience. Fears nothing, except the day, which he has never seen. Secret: there is no one under the mask. "I wear no mask. Do sit down. Milk?" WREN MOSS, 15, of Thornwick. Wants her father back. Will follow the party into the city if not stopped. Edric cannot forget her voice: with Wren beside him, his saves to stay in his part are Hard. HOBB TANNER, Reeve of Thornwick. Wants it all to stop before the harvest. Pays 100 gp, more for his chain. - 15 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 NEW THINGS ========== The Knights, Masked Players, Pale Hounds and the Prompter are described more fully in BOOK II. KNIGHT OF CARCOSSA Threat 3 Hits Tough Armor Heavy Harm Heavy (lance or long sword) Nerve 12 Move Fast (pale horse). Will not harm a citizen of Carcossa, masked or not, unless the peace is broken. Will never lift his visor. Under it: the face of a man of Harrowmere, very tired. MASKED PLAYER Threat 1 Hits Normal Armor None Harm Weak (stage dagger; it is real) Nerve 7 Move Normal. Call a Player by their part's name and they must answer in character, for one round. PALE HOUND Threat 1 Hits Normal Armor None Harm Normal (bite) Nerve 8 Move Fast. Long white dogs with too many teeth and a grin. Hunt only the unmasked. A mask thrown to a hound stops it to play. THE PROMPTER Threat 2 Hits Frail Armor None Harm Normal (fingers) Nerve 5 Move Normal. Whisper: one target makes a Mind save or forgets what they were doing and loses their next round. THE STRANGER Threat 8 Hits Huge Armor Superb Nerve 12 Cannot be harmed by anything brought from outside the city. Only unmasking stops him (Theatre, 9). He will not fight; he will simply ask the Knights to see you out. AMBROSE VANE Threat 1 Hits Frail Armor None Nerve 4 Surrenders at the first raised hand. Will bargain the Script for his own freedom from the city. (He cannot be freed; he does not know that.) THE SCRIPT. Four acts in yellow binding. Reading it all in one sitting: Mind save or spend the next night trying to find the theatre. It is worth nothing, and everything. HOOKS OUT ========= * The Drowned Stair (10) goes down to a city under the lake. * The Garden of Statues holds other lost places. One of them might still be saved. * If Thornwick is lost, it will be back one day, at night, with its lamps lit and its people in masks. * Sir Corvin asks for one more flower. 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17 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 NOTES ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ - 18 - KC1 NIGHTS IN CARCOSSA LEVELS 1-3 NOTES ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ - 19 - [ CARCOSSA, THE CITY BY NIGHT ] ----------------------------- N^ //////////////////////////////////////////////+--------------/ //////////+-------------------------------+///| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| () () () ()+---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| 12 * | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+---------- ----------------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+-------+-- --+-------------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | * | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| () ()| * | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | * | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| 6 | | 11 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | 4 | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //+-------+ | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //| | () ()| * | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //| 2 | | * | | ~~~~~~ ~~ //| | | | | ~~~~~~ ~~ --+---D---+---D---+-- --+-----D-D-----+ ~~~~~~ * ~~ D 1 9 ~~ D 3 ~~ --+---D---+---D-----+ +---D---+---D---+ ~~~~~~ 13 ~~ //| | | | | | ~~~~~~ ~~ //| | | | | | ~~~~~~ ~~ //| a | | | | 7 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //+-------+ 5 | | 8 | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | << | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | +-------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| <<| | | b | 10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | | >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+---------+ +-------+---D---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+---D---+---D---+---D---+---D---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| 14 | c | c | : | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////| | | | +---+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////+-------+-------+-------+-------+///| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //////////////////////////////////////////////+--------------/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- D door << stairs up >> stairs down ~~ water () pillar * feature : rubble one square = 20 ft