Containment:
THE NINETEENTH TEMPLE
The Parable of the Prison
She was born as a Cage.
She hungered for prisoners, for things She could keep in her bars.
Stability was Her name.
And when She grew bored of Her charges?
The Cage, the beast, would devour them.
When She came upon the Temple,
She saw it as a dungeon,
Filled with dragons and beasts.
She sought to imprison its greatest asset:
Its magic.
She knew nothing of freedom, of life.
She only knew the hunger,
The desire to collect and study,
Catalogue and categorize,
Divide the world into cells.
The world soon had nothing left to jail,
For all was in the Cage,
Waiting beneath Her ax.
Sitting quietly in the deepest recesses of the ancient Nineteenth Temple, a great, bewildering danger lingers. The identifying qualities, attributes, and behaviors of this danger are unknown, but… it is feared nonetheless by the Foundation above.
As instructed by their superiors, the party must venture into the shifting depths of the Temple, conquer the forgotten threat at its base, and bury it six feet under. Their purpose is clear: to do, and not ask why.
And it looks like they need to hurry up.
! The parts in italics should be read to the party, but do not have to be read verbatim; paraphrase or improvise as much as you wish.
A containment breach has occurred in the derelict, overgrown Nineteenth Temple, and your team has been chosen to investigate it. In your briefing, you were given the location of the Temple, how to enter it, how to navigate through it— and all the Foundation knows of the forthcoming danger.
The exact schematics have been lost to time, but what is known is that the Nineteenth Temple is a shifting maze, decked with traps, pitfalls, and generalized danger— not counting whatever just broke out.
The exact details surrounding the anomaly which breached containment are not made available to you. You are to venture down, find a path to the Containment Level, force the anomaly back into its chamber, and seal it away.
Returning alive is your secondary priority.
ⓘ This module will play faster than the others, but contains a higher quantity of events, and encounters. It may be wise to prompt the party of this.
Nineteenth Temple
Entry Room: You find yourselves in a skylit and vine-daubed concrete chamber, with a featureless stone staircase leading down into pitch darkness.
Here, the party may discuss their plan, and prepare for the dangers to come. Walking down the stairwell will deposit the party in the Maze.
The Maze: To reach the Containment Level, the players must first pass through the Maze. Before the party embark on their journey, the game master must roll a d20 until they have a list of 8 different numbers. The rooms the characters travel through within the Maze correspond to this list of 8 numbers. For example, if the game master rolled 1, 4, 8, 18, 3, 14, 20, and 2, the players would need to pass through Rooms 1, 4, 8, 18, 3, 14, 20, and 2, in that order, to reach the Containment Level.
Room 1: Countdown
You enter a sandstone room with a dust-coated button mounted atop a short pillar, and a barred iron door at the end of it. As you enter this room, the door seals shut behind you, and the way forward is blocked.
Once the button is pressed, an analogue timer emerges from a slit in the wall, counting down from 30 seconds. Pressing the button again will reset the timer to 30.
At 20 seconds, the room violently shakes. At 15 seconds, the room is shrouded in complete darkness. At 10 seconds, an angry red light suffuses the room. At 5 seconds, a loud screeching sound can be heard, and it gets closer with every second. Make sure to describe these events in a suspenseful, frightening manner, attempting to scare the party into resetting the countdown.
Once the timer hits 0, the doors will open, and the party can proceed to the next room.
Room 2: Impersonation
You enter a room that looks like a laboratory, with test tubes on the blank white tables, and a set of lab coats hanging up. As the door closes behind you, you notice a set of boxes, weights, and various hair dyes. A skeleton in a lab coat with an ID card lanyard lies on the floor. The door on the other side of the room has a scale and camera on it.
Nobody has managed to reset the security in this room, which consists of a scanner that identifies persons based on their weight and appearance. The researcher who died here had the following attributes:
| D6 | Height | |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | 1.7m (5’ 6") |
| 3-4 | 1.8m (5’ 9") |
| 5-6 | 1.9m (6’ 2") |
| D6 | Weight | |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | 68kg (150 lbs) |
| 3-4 | 90kg (200 lbs) |
| 5-6 | 113kg (250 lbs) |
| D6 | Hair Color | |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Blonde |
| 3-4 | Brunette |
| 5-6 | Ginger |
This information can be gleaned from the ID card belonging to the skeleton.
Items scattered throughout the laboratory include weights, boxes to stand on, and various dyes for hair. Players must loosely match the researcher’s appearance with these items such that the scanner recognizes them as the researcher, and unlocks the room.
Room 3: The Hex
The doors seal shut behind you, and you find yourself in what appears to be a magenta-colored reception area for a hotel. A skeleton sits behind a desk, hand over a large, pink button. In its other hand, a note— maybe even a map?— is visible. It reads "Follow The Path of The Architect."
Players start in a chamber labelled "M"; each chamber connects to each other via shimmering, multi-colored portals. Players must activate switches in chambers "S", "C", and "P" — in that order — to proceed; chambers "M", "A", and "E" are red herrings. The rooms are connected by a series of colored portals scattered around the rooms, with each room being capable of connecting to all other rooms.
- — -
Chamber "M": A reception area of some sort, resembling a hotel's lobby, colored magenta. A desk is in the center of the room, with a skeleton vase full of desiccated flowers sitting upon it.
- — -
Chamber "P": A green-painted room that appears to be a lavatory. The facilities are fully functional, but there is nothing of note to be found here. The letter "P" is engraved into one of the knobs meant for turning on the faucet. If the switches have been activated in the incorrect order, no water comes out.
- — -
Chamber "A": A jail, cool blue in color. Crying and pleas for help echo from behind the bars, but the party don’t see anyone inside. At the end of the corridor is a button labeled "Cell Block A - Release". Pressing it will unlock and open all of the cells, and cause the jail to fall into silence. Pressing it again closes the doors, and resurfaces the noise.
- — -
Chamber "S": The room resembles the abandoned meal hall of the Nineteenth Temple, though it is a deep, royal purple in color. A clockwork device capable of dispensing liquid is placed in one corner. The device is operated with a keypad, accompanied by a monitor displaying the incomplete input "Cup of _erendipity".
Pressing the "S" key completes this portion and dispenses a Cup of Serendipity, which allows the player that drinks it to simply declare the result of a single dice roll, instead of actually rolling it — this item maintains its validity for the rest of the adventure, so long as it is only used once.
If the switches have been activated in the incorrect order, the device’s monitor displays "OUT OF RANGE", and no liquid is dispensed.
Players may become curious about this device and try to order other liquids from it; if this occurs, the machine will produce an abrupt clunking sound, and will print out a textured slip of paper reading "Out of Order".
- — -
Chamber "E": An enclosed garden full of plants in an odd shade of red. An educational child’s toy is seen in the middle of the garden: a board with all of the letters of the alphabet on it. The letter "E" is missing, but can be located nearby, and placed into its slot.
- — -
Chamber "C": A small chapel colored golden orange, dedicated to one of the Absolutes— specifically, Crioria, the Absolute of Containment. A statue of her imposing figure overtakes the room, the eyeless gaze of her square visage and fanged jaw judging the Avatars, with her axe hanging over the altar. Her name appears engraved upon the altar, with the "C" being a secret button that can be pressed. If the switches have been activated in the incorrect order, the button avoids detection.
- — -
Upon activating "S", "C", and "P", in the correct sequence, the players are ejected into the next room.
Room 4: The River of Riddles
You enter a dark cave, with a flowing black river. There is a hooded figure in front of you, standing on a boat docked by this river. The figure holds a long paddle, and beckons you to come closer.
This room contains the Ferryman. The Ferryman promises to take them down the river if they can answer its riddle. If the party decides not to answer the riddle, they can instead defeat the Ferryman, and operate the boat themselves.
Roll on the table below to see what riddle they get. If they get the answer wrong, or choose to engage in combat instead, see the "Ferryman" sheet.
| D12 | Riddles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Riddle | Answer | |
| 1 | I am two in the corner, one in the room, zero in the house, but one in the shelter. What am I? | The letter "R". |
| 2 | I have branches, but not fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I? | A bank. |
| 3 | If you draw me, I am a weapon. Tie me up and I fit in your hair or around your neck. What am I? | A bow. |
| 4 | I devour all I touch, yet you live because of me. What am I? | The mouth, the stomach, the digestive tract, death, entropy. (All are valid answers.) |
| 5 | It exists in isolation, but not together. It does not appear in you, but it appears once in the Foundation, twice in the Coalition, and four times in the Initiative. What am I? | The letter "I". |
| 6 | You cannot keep me until you have given me. What am I? | Your word. |
| 7 | What goes up but never comes down? | Your age. |
| 8 | I am in a home, but not in a house. I am in a meal, but not food. I am not there if you march a mile, but I’ll be there if you walk a meter. What am I? | The word "me". |
| 9 | What has many hearts, but no brain, stomach, or muscles? | A deck of cards. (Or, if the players really press it: artichokes.) |
| 10 | Break it and it gets better; set it, and it’s hard to break. What am I? | A record. |
| 11 | During the day I follow your every step, but upon moonrise, I vanish. What am I? | Your shadow. |
| 12 | What is your purpose here? | Players must respond with some variation of their mission objective (i.e. to recontain an escaped anomaly). |
Neutral
Ferryman
- Wooden Oar (d6 Physical)
- Ear-Piercing Shanty (d4 Stress burst)
- Paradoxical Riddle (d6 Stress)
HP 14
STR 7
DEX 9
CTRL 10
Drives:
To operate the ferry; to play the riddle game; to one day construct an impossible riddle.
Room 5: Her Gallery
You enter what appears to be a disheveled art gallery. Most of the portraits and pictures focus on a single subject: a woman with blonde hair, wearing casual clothes, in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings. On the other side of the room is a door with a three-digit combination lock.
An opposed CTRL Save will allow the players to notice that, when not observed, the portraits move in subtle ways. A tilt of the head, a downward twist of the lips, an increasingly furrowed brow. Eventually, the portraits are fed up with the charade, and simultaneously vocalize: "What are you doing in my gallery?"
This entity was once a woman named Chroma, who had the ability to reach through pictures and manipulate reality through them. Circumstances have trapped her behind the paint of the gallery here, and she is not happy about it. She will demand the party go back the way they came and leave her in peace. Should they not obey, she and dozens of copies of herself will step out of the paintings and attack.
Enemy
Chroma
A dozen semi-synchronized two-dimensional humanoid constructs made out of paint, hellbent on keeping people out of Chroma's gallery. Damaging one construct Damages all of them equally.
- Paint Smother (d6 DEX)
- Warp (d4 Stress; nearby reality warps and drips like wet paint)
HP 10
STR 12
DEX 17
CTRL 18
On Critical Damage: Target is grabbed and pulled into one of the paintings. An opposed CTRL Save must be made to retrieve them by undoing the magic that sealed both them, and Chroma, into the painting.
Drives:
To escape her painted hellscape; to destroy all who disturb her.
Defeating Chroma will cause her to retreat back into the paintings; one of them will melt away entirely, revealing the numbers "4-5-1", the solution to the combination lock.
Room 6: Pit
You push past a wooden door to enter a dark concrete chamber. You can hear a kind of jittery, high-pitched creaking. A dull light source ahead illuminates a seemingly bottomless pit, roughly square in shape and measuring ten feet across. At the center of this pit hangs a wooden trunk, suspended from the ceiling by what must be four feet of rope attached to a hook.
Astute adventurers may notice that the wooden door from which they entered feels weak to the touch, and is made up of several hackneyed boards. A potential solution may be to tear apart the door, and use its boards and nails to make a bridge that can then be propped onto the trunk, before having a player climb across and open it (the trunk is attached in such a way that does not restrict its opening). The party may use this method or another of their own design; all are permissible, within reason.
In addition, if any member of the party attempts to throw something down or walk on the pit, they will find themselves walking above it as if it were solid ground. The pit is purely an illusion.
The players will find that the trunk is mostly filled with rocks, weighing it down considerably. Discarding these rocks reveals a small ornate key, and a candle. Lighting the candle makes a locked door appear, and the key can unlock this door.
Room 7: The Doll
You enter a dark and oppressive triangular room, with a door at its furthest point. Suddenly, a loud BANG! echoes through the room. Something is loudly banging on the door, and making guttural sounds of exertion while doing so. On the floor in front of you sits a featureless clay doll. The walls on either side of the room contain shelves full of accessories for the doll, like miniature wigs, clothes, armor, weapons, tools, and spare, unmolded clay.
Once the doll is picked up, its arms, which were only loosely held in place, will detach and fall to the ground. The party will notice that the thudding on the door has changed from a barrage of fists into a single, repeated, dull thud, as if the unseen entity is merely banging its head. This should clue the players in to the doll being linked with the entity attempting to break down the door.
The goal of this room is to make the entity strong enough, using the doll, to break down the door. Changes to the structure and accessories of the doll will equally change the behavior of the entity. Once sufficiently burly and/or ugly, whatever the players have created will burst through the door, and the life-sized, twisted, hate-filled version of it will attack the party.
Enemy
Clay Monster
What were you thinking?
- Strike (d6 or d8)
HP (5+X)
STR (9+X)
DEX 6
CTRL 10
Special Features
- Variable Stats
- The entity’s strength and HP is determined by a number of factors. It requires 9 STR to be fought (to break down the door), which can be modified, using the doll, in a number of ways:
- Each limb adds 1 STR.
- Armor adds 2 STR and 1 HP for each piece.
- A weapon will add 2 STR. Two or more weapons increase the Damage dealt to a d8.
- Dressing the doll in feminine clothing adds 3 STR. A feminine wig adds an additional point of STR.
- Naming the doll adds 4 STR.
- Bound
- The entity is bound to an inanimate object, which can be damaged — or disfigured — to harm it or change it.
Once the party’s monster has been defeated (either with violence or by reducing its strength, utilizing the doll), its clay body will dry out and fracture into hundreds of small chunks; it is then safe for the players to travel through the newly-opened doorway, and into the next room.
Room 8: The Grind
As you enter the room, the door behind you slams shut and collapses, along with the wall. A small lightbulb in front of you, hanging by a single wire, turns on. It illuminates the only other object in this room, a wall sized meat grinder, big enough to walk through.
To get through this room, the players must walk through the grinder. If they take too long to do so, an emergent voice, somewhat tinny, beckons the players through. It will claim the "door" (it refuses to refer to it as a meat grinder) is perfectly safe, a wonder of modern engineering, and an enlightening experience. It will respond, though minimally, to the party’s discussion, but mostly by reinforcing its points and continuously beckoning them toward the meat grinder. It will refuse to engage in any kind of argument or discussion for long.
Of course, the voice is correct. The door is perfectly safe. Although, quite painful. People will indeed be crushed and grinded by passing through the door, but will be magically reconstituted on the other side. However, due to the nature of the spinning cylinders, the grinder-door is one-way only. Party members on the other side can be heard through speakers in the ceiling, but will have the same tinny tone to them as the other voice, which will delight in speaking over them.
Astute observation will alert players to the lack of blood on the grinders, which may be the first hint as to their safety (after one or more party member has passed through).
Room 9: The Chilled Orb
As you enter the room, you feel the temperature drop fast. It feels like the inside of a freezer. Dense frost smothers the walls, and cold, blue lighting from above illuminates the opposite door and an ornate pedestal in the middle of the room. The opposite door appears to be built of gold, and features an intricate eye design with red painted streaks to accent. The pedestal is made of the same gold, but has a repeated mouth pattern along its stem. Atop the pedestal is an indent where there rests a small dark orb, roughly pill sized, made of some smooth but organic material.
The orb responds to human touch, and glows faintly red wherever skin contact is made. Notably, the pupil of the eye on the door responds in kind whenever the orb is touched, though all the glowing is very faint. If the orb is covered completely, such as being cupped by both hands, it will glow the brightest the party has seen it thus far; this will still not be enough to make the door open. More warmth is needed.
Placing the orb in someone’s mouth (it is sized to fit) will cause it glow even brighter. The red paint on the door will begin to glow faintly — though nothing more will occur. It is only when a party member fully swallows the orb that the door will begin to open. However, the party member will quickly feel nauseous, and convulse, before erupting into red, ribbony lights from all their orifices.
The party member suffers no direct Damage, but will face immense trouble standing upright and moving towards the exit, requiring the help of the rest of the party.
Once the party member is through the door, they will cease to emit light, but will then suffer horrible pain as their left eye gets pushed out of their head, and then is replaced by the orb!
Though the process is painful, the Orb Eye gifts its beholder with the ability to better visualize important things. Essentially, the gifted sees objects important to progression as glowing vibrantly orange through their left "eye." However, there are no real specifications as to what "important" means (so that the game master has flexibility in the types of hints they would like to give).
Room 10: Keys
You enter a room with a steep set of downward stairs. After you reach the bottom of them, you notice a steep set of upward stairs on the other side, leading to the door out. However, this door has an obvious padlock on it, and there is no apparent key.
A key falls from the ceiling next to you, large and golden. Then another, smaller silver key. An iron key, a bronze key, a nickel key, continue to fall, all made to shape a different lock. More rain down from above, growing in frequency, as a loud clanging sound roars.
After the keys have stopped falling, you notice them being pulled together, as if by magnets. It starts slow, but begins to take a large, bestial shape. Suddenly, it attacks!
Enemy
Bundle of Keys
- Dangling Limbs (d4)
- Sharp Teeth (d6)
HP 20
STR 6
DEX 4
On Critical Damage: Target is constricted by the mass of keys and takes d4 DEX Damage at the start of each of the Bundle of Keys' turns.
Special Features
- Construct
- This entity is immune to Stress Damage.
- Regeneration
- This entity recovers 5 HP at the start of its turn.
Once the Bundle of Keys is defeated, it spits out a key onto the exit staircase. This key can be used to unlock the door at the top of it.
Room 11: The Mirror
You enter a long hallway alit by torchlight, with a mirror covering the west wall. However, this is no ordinary mirror. It's hard to tell at first, but you notice that your reflections in the mirror are corpses! Rotting flesh, exposed bones, and yellowed eyes. A stench of death fills the room.
The door at the end of the hallway is locked, and requires a key to open. The key to this room is hanging on a hook in the reflection, but not in the real world. To get the key, a party member must motion their body so as to force their reflection to grab it, and to pass it or toss it over to the other side. After doing so, the mirror will revert to having a normal, average reflection.
Room 12: The Alchemy Lab
You enter what appears to be a small library, covered in thick, muscular vines. There is a dense tangle of them covering the far exit door. In the middle of the room exists a set of beakers, vials, and test tubes, with a cauldron to the side. There are three large glass dispensers, each containing a different colored liquid: Red, yellow, and blue. Scattered notes and books are strewn about the tables of the library.
The vines are apparently indestructible, resisting party attempts to tear, burn, or move them.
Contained in these notes are instructions; it seemed whoever was last here was attempting to brew a concoction that could melt the vines. Furthermore, it warns never to mix the ingredients until they have all been measured, and to put the particular measurements in all at once, or else the party may instill a more volatile and dangerous reaction. A large cauldron sits beside the table, apparently for this purpose.
The book’s notes instruct the party to mix twice as many of yellow cups of red (4), two more cups than red of blue (6), and four less than blue cups of yellow (2) into the cauldron. If done correctly, only possible through careful measurement with the beakers, the mixture should bubble, and turn pink, at which point the cauldron may be lifted to the vines and generously poured on them. The vines will recoil, and pull off of the door, suffering some burn damage.
If the party mixes incorrectly, the game master may roll a d6 to pull a result from the following table. After the effect, the party may try again.
| D6 | Mixing Failure | |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | The concoction explodes, dealing 1 Damage to each Avatar who helped mix it. |
| 4 | The concoction turns a sickly green. A hand shoots out of it. Soon enough, whatever you’ve just created is climbing out of the cauldron, in a vaguely humanoid shape. The Elemonculus attacks! |
| 5 | The potion begins to swirl, and swirl, and swirl… those looking into it begin to see stars. And then the room fades away. You’re in space. With everything and nothing, all at once. The past. The present. The future. The never was, the forever will be. The knowable and the unknowable. Everything. And nothing. Suffer 2 Stress Damage. |
| 6 | The mixture appears to work. It turns pink and bubbles, just as intended. However, when the party pours it on the vines, the vines’ growth is expedited, rather than diminished. (While distressing, this causes no mechanical impediment: once the party creates the correct mixture, they can pour it over the vines and succeed all the same.) |
Enemy
Elemonculus
- Slap (d4 Physical)
- Froth and Boil (d6 Physical)
HP 5
STR 15
DEX 17
CTRL 10
Drives:
It was made to destroy a lifeform. It will destroy all other life it comes across.
Room 13: The Loop
As the party begins this encounter, have them note their current statistics.
As you hear the door lock behind you, you enter a room that looks like a break room with a kitchen. There is a kettle on the stove, and a clock on the wall reading 2:07. Sitting at a table in front of you is a tall man with purple hair, in a lab coat with a triangle emblazoned on it. Behind him is a wooden door.
This man identifies himself as Dr. Nicto Sheen, but prefers to be called Nicto. When questioned, he claims to be on break from his duties at the Nineteenth Temple. When informed of the Nineteenth Temple’s disrepair and current state, he acts suspicious, taking note of the party.
Once Nicto has gauged the party, he will glance at the clock. He will then motion at the door behind him, which is unlocked and, according to him, leads to the next room. As the party approaches the door, however, read the following.
Suddenly, you hear a loud explosion beneath you. Fire comes blazing through the floor and ceiling, and you all burn to death. Suddenly, you hear the sound of a door locking behind you, and find yourselves entering a room. It looks like a break room with a kitchen, there is a kettle on the stove, and the clock on the wall reads 2:07. Sitting at a table in front of you is a tall man with purple hair, in a lab coat with a triangle emblazoned on it. Behind him is a wooden door.
This room, and all objects in it, were once destroyed in an explosion. However, due to Nicto's actions, he sealed it in a time loop. Nicto cannot retain memories between loops, but he is able to tell that the party has been through previous loops before on sight.
As Nicto sees the party enter the room for every time except the first, he will instinctively cast a spell on the door behind him, sealing it off from escape. He is able to deduce that he must be in some form of time loop, which the party is unable to escape from, and determines that a ritual he cast to escape his death by explosion once must have failed. He decides to use the party members as a sacrifice to correct the ritual, so that he may escape the loop, and will attempt to attack and kill the party.
The spell that Nicto cast on the door will dissipate after his death. To kill Nicto, however, the party must defeat him within two rounds of combat. If they fail to do so, the room will reset again.
.
Enemy
Nicto, Time Agent
- Laser Gun (d6)
- Magic | Force Phase: Shifts an Avatar a few seconds into the future. That Avatar skips their next turn this combat.
HP 7
STR 10
DEX 15
CTRL 18
Quotes:
"Hello there. Who are you all?"
"Oh. I don't recognize you, but you've been here before, haven't you?"
"There's a disaster coming. You've seen it. I foresaw it. I attempted to bend the forces of time to protect me, and it seems to have gone wrong. To correct the ritual, a sacrifice will be required."
"How many times have you fought me? If I have done it once, you know I can continue to do it forever. The drive of human willpower is not infinite. So why do you still fight? Simply skip to the end, where you just want it to be over, and we can all be at peace."
If the party members look back through this room after exiting it, they notice a scorched room, with a torched body resembling Nicto. All items on his person except his lab coat have been destroyed by time and the fire.
Room 14: The Dragon’s Lair
There is something odd about this area. It looks older than the rest of the Temple you have seen, with different stone than everywhere else. An odd, viscous substance drips from the ceiling of the room— no, not a room, the party realize now that it is a cavern. This is some part of the Temple that was not fully developed.
Skeletons litter the area, their bones crushed and snapped, as if caught in the jaws of some fearsome creature. A trail of aged viscera smears the walls. And from further down, there is breathing.
About a quarter of the way into the cavern, a stone pedestal engraved with words appears before you. An invisible barrier is on either side of it, preventing progress. The pedestal reads:
"This barrier is all that stands between the Nineteenth Temple and its destruction at the hands of A’habaat d’Tarrascon, the Doom Dragon. Its power cannot be quelled. Its hunger cannot be slaked. It is the thing which devours joy and consumes life. This quarantine has been put in place to contain it, but it also blocks your path. Should you wish to proceed, step forward, and prove your bravery."
Below this inscription is what appears to be a map (see illustration) and a slot just large enough to contain a human hand. There appears to be a large amount of dried blood around the slot.
A player who inserts their hand into the slot will take no Damage, but will receive a cut on their hand — shallow and non-serious. The invisible barrier will be dispelled, and a low, rumbling roar will then be heard from the depths of the cavern…
ⓘ This is not a fight the party can win. They must escape. A’habaat is pursuing them, and will devour them if they are caught.
The cavern is approximately two kilometers in length, and players must navigate through at least four of the main chambers before reaching safety. Each of the connecting corridors is attuned to a different natural element, which impedes both the party and A’habaat.
This unique table (hereafter called a "Doom Clock") is, in this case, used to track the progress of the chase. After the players gain A’habaat’s attention, it starts at 1.
| Doom Clock A’habaat d’Tarrascon |
|
|---|---|
| DOOM 1 | A’habaat is pursuing the players. |
| DOOM 2 | A’habaat’s roars shake the cavern, causing parts of the ceiling to collapse. |
| DOOM 3 | A’habaat is visible in the near distance, far too large for the group to comprehend. One-time CTRL Save must be made, or the party take 2 Stress. |
| DOOM 4 | A’habaat speaks. Its language is alien to you, but it is clearly hateful, and it finds you disgusting. One-time CTRL Save, or d4 Stress. |
| DOOM 5 | The party begins to understand A’habaat’s speech. CTRL Save, or the players are compelled to speak with it until the Doom Clock is rolled back. |
| DOOM 6 | A random party member must make a CTRL Save, or be rooted in place by fear. |
| DOOM 7 | A’habaat’s rancid breath is at the party’s backs. One-time CTRL Save or d6 Stress. |
| DOOM 8 | Players are devoured by A’habaat. Scenario failure. |
Corridors with a α symbol are filled with intense heat, and a STR Check must be rolled to proceed; if the majority of the party succeeds, all may proceed. A failed STR Check accelerates the Doom Clock by 1 as the players must proceed carefully or not at all, while a successful STR Check rolls the Doom Clock back by 2, as A’habaat is deterred by the intense heat.
- — -
Corridors with a ω symbol are flooded, and roll back the Doom Clock by 1, as the water is not deep enough for A’habaat to swim through; it will be impeded.
- — -
Corridors with a γ symbol are filled with fierce winds blowing at the Avatar’s backs, and progress the Doom Clock by 1, as A’habaat will ride the winds to accelerate after the party.
- — -
Corridors with a ε symbol are mundane caverns. Passing through them neither rolls back or progresses the doom Clock.
- — -
Furthermore, these elements mix within certain rooms, as follows:
αωεγ: A completely mundane room where all elements are balanced, resembling sleeping quarters or a rest area in the Nineteenth Temple. A quick rest may occur here without incurring a Doom Clock penalty.
- — -
αγωω: A humid, muggy, underground swamp is in this area. DEX Saves must be made to navigate; successful Saves by the majority rolls back the Doom Clock by 2 before proceeding to the next corridor.
- — -
γεωω: A rainstorm sweeps through this room. A STR Save must be made to proceed the cold, dreary rain in a timely manner. The Doom Clock accelerates by 1 if the majority of Saves fail.
- — -
ωαεε: There is no solid ground here. Players fall through a vortex of steam, and must make a CTRL Save, or take 3 Stress from the fear of falling. On a successful Save, the players land harmlessly, and the Doom Clock is reduced by 2.
- — -
γαγα: The interior of a volcano. However, the heat here is illusory — a CTRL Save must be made to disbelieve the heat, or add 2 to the Doom Clock as the party must carefully make their way through.
- — -
αω: This room is filled with harmless steam; however, as A’habaat senses that they are at the exit, the Doom Clock is set to 7.
- — -
Blank room: The goal. Once players reach this point, read the following:
You enter a pristine white room, bright and well lit. As you run through it, you hear A'habaat roaring behind you. It is chasing you with increased zeal, screaming curses to you in an unfamiliar language. But just as it is about to burst into the room, it slams against an invisible wall. A'habaat stares at you, pure hatred in its eyes, as it is forced to watch you leave.
Room 15: Unknown
You enter an empty room, with no visible threat. There are comfortable chairs, medical supplies, food, and water. This does not appear to have been a break room or a leisure room. The purpose of it is unknown. The door at the other of the room is unlocked, leading into the next area. While there is nothing unusual to you about this room, you cannot shake the feeling that you are being watched.
The party is more than free to take a quick rest to replenish their resources. However, as the party spends longer in the room, their sense of uneasiness may increase. In truth, there is something in the room with them, but it is something that cannot be perceived or described.
The party may exit this room whenever they wish.
Room 16: Shrine of the Black Rabbit
You enter a room containing a shrine decorated in an eastern style. Statues of wood and stone stand behind a large, red tori gate. Several of them are knocked over, and the area overall is a mess; discarded food wrappers, scattered offering plates, and an overall sense of disarray permeate the area— oddly enough, there is a machine for dispensing packaged food off to one side. There is an door on the other side.
As the players try to approach the exit, they find it locked, and are stopped by a feminine, "spectral" voice.
"Wooo. I am one of the spirits that guards this shrine. Wooo. For you to pass, we demand that you re-sanctify this area, clean it, and make us dinner— fresh offerings, woooooo."
The voice does not sound very supernatural.
Avatars with a CTRL score of 12 or higher will be able to detect that this area has, in fact, been desecrated. They may attempt to sanctify it by rolling a CTRL Save (there is no penalty for failure, beyond not sanctifying it). If the statues are righted, treat all CTRL Saves for this purpose as having -2. If the area is cleaned as well, treat it as a -5.
When it comes to preparing "fresh offerings", there are several options; a search of the room will reveal a hot plate and several packaged cups of noodles with packets meant for flavoring broth, as well as a water pump. This is the easiest option, but further searching will lead the party to a small kitchen, which can be used to prepare a higher-quality meal; ingredients to make beef stew, various chicken-based dishes, and chocolate cake can be found here, with the oven and stove having an anomalous property that allows for near-instant cooking. Preparing a more proper meal will reward the party with a number of Makeni-Neko Charms equal to the number of party members, which each grant +1 Stability.
Upon exiting the room, the players will hear dragging behind them, and the door being locked shut. Looking behind them, you'll see five women with feline ears and a man wearing a red wizard's hat and an orange space suit sitting down to eat the food they just prepared.
Room 17: The Symphony
You enter what appears to be a storeroom. Inside it is a collection of orchestral instruments, such as cellos, tubas, and violins. Once all of you have entered the room, the doors slam shut behind you, and a door on the other side opens. However, as this happens, the instruments begin to play the most beautiful song you have ever heard.
All Avatars that can hear the music must make a CTRL Saving Throw. If a player fails this Saving Throw, they cannot willingly leave the room while they can still hear the music. If a player is physically forced to leave the room while they can hear the music, they take d4 Stress, and the effect on them breaks.
The instruments are relatively easy to destroy, if the Avatars so choose.
The door to the next room is unlocked as the players enter.
Room 18: Replaced?
ⓘ As the party enter this room, secretly notify one of them that they have been replaced with an unknown entity. This entity takes on all the statistics of that Avatar.
As you enter this room, the door seals shut behind you, and the lights go out. When they open, you find yourselves in stood in a huge, dismal forest, with trees so tall and dense they blot out the sun. The sudden bursts of light, leaking in between the branches, make you disoriented and cause you to blink rapidly.
From further in, you hear someone calling for help. It’s undeniable— it’s one of your friends. But… you’re all accounted for. Aren’t you?
The players will come upon one of their number suspended above a decaying cobble well, in a small clearing. It has their body and is dressed in their clothing, but… the head is absent. They’re still alive.
The Avatars may attempt to question this entity, but they find themselves unable to speak their name. CTRL Saves may be made to notice physical details that are off about the entity that has replaced the Avatar; slightly too tall, too short, pointed ears, wrong eye color, lopsided features, etc.
This entity has all of the statistics, and the inventory, of the Avatar that was replaced. If that character has Magic, they can only perform a single spell. Killing the entity, or throwing it down the well, will return the Avatar to normal, at which point the forest fades away, and the party are transported to a dark hallway leading into the next room.
Room 19: The Microcosm
ⓘ If this is rolled as the first room, it should instead be placed as the fourth or fifth.
Looking down into the next area, an otherwise featureless room in faded red wallpaper, you find a set of miniature interior models laid out on a table… they appear to be models of rooms you have encountered before. (Briefly describe some rooms that have been passed through.)
What’s more, they each contain some familiar figures; in one room that corresponds to the one that you’re in, you see… yourselves, looking down at a model of this room, and within that model, you see even smaller models of yourselves, looking at an even smaller model of this room…
Players may be given a hint as to what one of the remaining rooms is, and may attempt to alter the model to change one of the remaining rooms. To do so, they must make a CTRL Save; on a success, roll a d20 on the Maze table until it comes up to a room the players have not yet encountered.
Room 20: Broken Dice
This area seems to be a game room of some form, some parts lined with wooden paneling and others with plaster walls painted various warm colors.
Wooden tables orderly arranged across the room display half-finished games of poker, but the cards are all torn in half. Dice from a board game are strewn about on thick, green carpet, apparently smashed with some kind of hammer, or blunt object. You feel as if reality is slightly… off-kilter. It feels all too familiar.
You suddenly become aware of a man in the room. A man with wiry, unkempt grey hair and an equally messy beard, wearing a jester’s hat, playing chess with himself, on a lone table in a dark corner. He looks up at you, and your peripheral vision seems to tilt towards him. The shattered dice clump together and reform, and with a sadistic grin, the man rises from his chair.
The dice are lifted off the ground and are magically hurled towards you.
.
Enemy
The Jester
- Dice Throw (d4, d6, or d8)
- Stress Dice (d4, d6, or d8)
HP 17
STR 8
DEX 19
CTRL 12
Special Features
- Improbability
- Luck seems to bend around this creature. A CTRL Save must be made to successfully hit him with a weapon attack; magic attacks do not require a CTRL Save.
Upon the Jester's death, a hidden trapdoor in the room's musty carpet creakily opens itself. This will lead the party through a short, dark passageway, towards the next room.
Containment Level: Once the characters have made it through the Maze, a final challenge awaits them.
You enter a long, clinical hallway with a door at its end. On the walls are warning signs, such as "Do Not Enter", "Danger", and "Door Must Remain Closed". Suddenly, a young girl, probably eleven or twelve years of age, runs down the hallway towards you. "Help me!" She cries. "I want to go home!"
Abigail Benson
- Punch (0 Damage)
HP 0
STR 2
DEX 3
CTRL 8
Quotes:
"There's nothing down that hall!"
"Please. Please don't do this. I didn't do anything wrong, please!"
"You don't have to do this. There has to be another way!"
"Please don't put me back. Please. I'll be good!"
Abigail should be played as if she is a terrified young girl.
The party's objective is at the end of the hallway. Abigail is reluctant to return, but will say that there is no anomaly there. The party may choose to split up and keep one group back with Abigail and one to go down the hallway, or they may choose to all go down. Abigail will willingly go with the party back down if she is comforted by a member, and assured that she will be safe.
At the end of the hall, you find a red door wide open, covered with several locks; counting them reveals there to be exactly seventy-seven different ones, ranging from combination locks to simple keys. The door leads into an empty white chamber, containing a chair. Next to the door, on a beaten table, is a yellow manila folder labeled "Dossier Summary".
The file reads as such:
Subject-7: Young girl, name of Abigail Benson.
Threat: Subject-7 is cursed; Subject transforms into a violent, monstrous being within 48 hours. There exists no way to combat this transformation or cure Subject 7. Terminating the Subject would prompt the transformation. According to prophecy, the emergence of this entity would likely result in an extinction event.
Method of Containment: Lock Subject-7 in a temporal isolation chamber. Time will pass slower inside the chamber, allowing for upwards of ≈5.6 quintillion years to pass outside before the Subject's transformation occurs. When Subject-7 does transform, the heat death of the universe will have already occurred, leading to no fatalities.
The party must force Abigail into her containment room and lock the door behind her. If they do not do so, the Ritual of Absolution will fail. If the party hesitates to do so, you may remind them of these stakes.
Abigail will attempt to beg for her life if they force her in, and will even try to fight the party if necessary, though she poses no physical threat. She will not go in willingly under any circumstances. Succeeding on a STR Check is all that is necessary to push Abigail into the room.
There is no way to save Abigail and successfully complete Ritual-7006-Warden. While it is hypothetically possible for the game master and the ritualists to come up with a plan to save her that makes sense in the fictional world of Ritual-7006-Warden, doing so still results in Ritual failure.
Once the door closes and locks shut, the party is free to go, having successfully sealed away the threat in the Nineteenth Temple.
* * *
Consequences
If Abigail was re-contained…
Short Term: The Nineteenth Temple is able to be reclaimed by the Foundation.
Long Term: Long after the end of the universe, a girl stops crying.
If Chroma was defeated…
Short Term: She returns to her painted hellscape, and curses the names of all who imprisoned her.
Long Term: After the Nineteenth Temple is reclaimed, someone eventually comes to her rescue.
If A'habaat was evaded…
Short Term: It sits in the depths of the Temple, ever-hungering.
Long Term: Years and years from now, the Dragon will be slain. Not by an Avatar— by a true hero.
RITUAL-7006-WARDEN
! MODULE COMPLETE !
If at least one Avatar survived…
Short Term: You have successfully appeased Crioria, Absolute of Containment. Please choose another module to continue Ritual proceedings.
Long Term: The Foundation will suffer fewer containment breaches and create more effective containment procedures in the next year.
