The Parasite Within- Complete Adventure
A 5-Room Dungeon Adventure for the World of Iix
Adventure Overview
Adventure Name: The Rescue
Central Conflict/Theme: Learn more about the Parasites. Pete to help them gather intelligence; political manipulation by Lord Lehion; transformation from soldiers to specialists
Connection to Campaign: Shifts party from conventional soldiers to spec ops investigators; reveals scope of UBL corruption and sets up larger ley line demon summoning plot
Room 1: Entrance/Guardian – The Commander’s Briefing
Purpose
Establish prophecy obsession, present choice between paths, introduce Lord Lehion subtly
The Setup: Return from Victory
The characters return from their triumph at the hilltop siege. They’re summoned to report to their commander for debriefing.
Lt. Xaobi’s Moment
As the characters wait outside the commander’s tent, Lt. Xaobi pushes through the tent flap, his face a mask of anger and humiliation. He’s just been dressed down by the Captain for:
- Getting his unit trapped and requiring rescue
- Failing to discover crucial intelligence the characters found
- While the characters are being promoted for their success
As you wait, a wounded Lt. Xaobi leaves the tent, pushing aside the flap angrily. His face a mask of annoyance. He immediately stops before bowling you over. He looks down avoiding your eyes, his scowl deepening. After a moment he finds his composure. Straightens up and offers a salute to the characters, only to realize that with his severed arm, his salute is incomplete. He looks at the arm sadly. Salutes with his other arm and wanders toward the medical tent with a far away look in his eyes.
The Encounter: Xaobi storms directly into the waiting characters – the very people who “stole his glory” and are now being promoted while he remains a Sub-Lieutenant. His scowl deepens as he looks down at them, resentment flashing in his eyes.
But then his military training kicks in. Despite his personal feelings, he recognizes they outrank him now and deserve proper respect. He straightens up and begins to salute his new superiors, only to realize with growing shame that his severed arm – the very sacrifice that should have earned him recognition – prevents him from giving them the honor they’re due.
The moment becomes painfully awkward as he switches to his other arm for an incomplete salute, his professional duty warring with his personal bitterness. He gives them a look that’s equal parts respect for their achievements and sadness at his own diminished state before walking away toward the medical tent.
The Commander’s Obsession
The Summoning: The characters are called into the tent.
“Let me see it.” The commander extends his hand, his face strangely hungry. “The intelligence, that scrap of prophecy, let’s see it.”
He examines their prophecy fragment with confusion, muttering to himself. He pulls out a locked box and removes a scroll. Three pieces of paper flutter to the tabletop.
The Commander’s Prophecy (Captian’s version):
Fragment 1:
“In the shadows of time, a streaking star shines,
Fragments from one thread of destiny unspun.
To weave a tapestry of fate, these filaments integrate,
Against the void, he’ll stand staunch against the night.”
Fragment 2:
“In shadows deep where time has lost its name,
Beneath stars anew, burns a lost and forgotten flame,
From peace and war’s entwined, enduring claim,
Shall rise a linage, a dark god’s bane.
Druid’s grace and Warrior’s resolve,
Losk’s night returns at their destiny’s dawn,
When waves crash and darkness falls,
A furious angel hears the call”
Fragment 3:
“A voice awakening oaths of old,
Forgotten promises once more take hold.
As a vanguard of the light, the night he scorns.”
The Commander’s Confusion: He’s deeply upset by the discrepancies between “his” prophecy (singular hero) and theirs (plural heroes). The prophecy has corrupted itself to stroke his ego.
Character Opportunity: If characters share their additional fragments, this further confounds and upsets the captain.
The Promotion
“You did well. You saved an entire platoon of soldiers and brought back valuable intelligence. Your tactical thinking and expert defense of the UBL base led to a great victory in this lingering confrontation. For your efforts, and more so for your achievements in this campaign, you have all been promoted. You are now no longer merely ‘sub-lieutenants.'”
He hands each character a small box revealing a silver pin. He salutes them. “Lieutenants!”
The New Mission
The Assignment:
“Your informant ‘Patchwork Pete’ has been providing us some small but meaningful intelligence. We have crafted counter-intelligence for him to put into the ‘message box.’ We expect him to be receiving an answer shortly. Ideally, they will be sending him to another enemy location. I want you to follow him to this location, observe and report back to me via this sending stone.”
He hands them you new sending stone and asks for their old one.
“This one is from my personal stash. I carry its partner on my person at all times. When you find this location, report back to me with details. This will allow you to send and immediately receive a response from me every six hours. This is a dangerous mission, but I understand that it requires subtlety. Do your best to report in on the six hour mark. If we don’t hear from you for 12 hours at a time, we will know something has gone wrong and we’ll send an extraction team to the location of the stone.”
Lord Lehion’s Entrance
An adjutant enters: “Sir, you asked me to notify you when Lord Lehion is here, sir.”
“Thank you Jorey. Please send him in.”
Lord Lehion’s Introduction:
The tent flap opens and a finely dressed man enters. He wears glistening chainmail and removes steel gauntlets as he enters. He reaches across to the commander and warmly shakes his hand, pulling him close in a half embrace.
“Duul,” he says, referring to the captain by his first name. “Good to see you.”
Then he looks over to you and comports himself. “Captain, are these the men you told me about?”
The captain nods.
“I am Lord Lehion. And I offer you the grateful thanks of the Coalition forces for your bravery. I brought gifts for you to show our gratitude.”
He calls to someone outside of the tent, and two men arrive carrying a chest. They lay it has his feet, bow and retreat. Lord Lehion lifts the lid and presents you with several items:
- Rusty: Great Maul that shimmers (+1 magic maul, glows dimly 10 feet)
- Frezuli: Small pearl (pearl of power)
- Akuma: Staff carved with constricting snake (Staff of the Python)
- Simon: Pair of fine gloves (gloves of missile snaring)
- Xenti: Armor made from bone plates sewn with sinews (Armor of the fallen)
- Group: Two jars of Restorative Ointment
After the presentation. The captain tells the characters that “you have your orders. Take a day or two to rest. Your ‘patchwork friend’ will send us a notification when he receives his next correspondence. He lifts the flap of the tent, showing you out. As you leave, you can hear the click of glass and the jovial conversation of the two men fading behind you.
Do you want to do anything while you wait to hear from Pete?
Dramatic Question
Will the characters recognize the commander’s obsession with prophecy fragments and notice the manipulation taking place?
Key to Advancement
Sets up inevitable infection while establishing political conspiracy
Room 2: Puzzle/Roleplaying Challenge – Pete’s Guided Journey
Purpose
Deep investigation requiring creativity through war-torn city to catacomb ritual
The Meeting with Pete
approaches the characters, having received new orders through his communication box. He explains he knows of a location where he’s supposed to deliver orders and gather a report from the group there.
Pete’s Demeanor: Nervous but determined, believing this might finally lead to his sister’s rescue.
The Journey Through Devastation
Pete leads them through eight distinct areas, each showing the war’s progressive impact:
Stage 1: Pete’s Ramshackle Home & Military District
A message from Pete shows up two days later. He asks you to meet him at his house.
You traverse the military encampment where disciplined soldiers march in formation, their boots striking the packed earth in perfect rhythm. Officers stride purposefully between command tents, maps and message pouches clutched in their hands. The air rings with shouted orders and the clash of weapons during training drills. Here, everything speaks of organization, purpose, and the steady machinery of war.
Stage 2: The Merchant Quarter
Moving deeper into the city, you enter areas where civilians go about their daily business with determined normalcy. Merchants hawk their wares from colorful stalls, their voices competing to draw customers. Shoppers bustle between vendors, examining goods, haggling over prices, children tugging at their parents’ sleeves. The buildings here are a mix of ancient stone structures centuries old—some showing battle scars but lovingly repaired—and newer constructions built within the last thirty years, their fresh mortar and timber speaking of prosperity and growth.
The people here move with purpose, their faces set with the stubborn determination of those who refuse to let war break their spirits.
Pete’s home sits at the edge of this ordered world—a ramshackle dwelling that once housed a working family. The windows are cracked, patched with cloth. Inside, you notice the telltale empty spaces where furniture once stood, darker patches on the walls where paintings or shelves were mounted. Everything of value has been sold. The emptiness itself tells the story of Pete’s desperation.
Stage 3: The Rebuilding Districts
The sounds of commerce fade, replaced by the scraping of shovels, the grunt of heavy lifting, and the rhythmic hammering of reconstruction. Here, families work together to clear rubble from their destroyed homes, their clothes dirty and patched. Children carry stones in makeshift baskets while adults strain to move heavy beams.
Some buildings are half-restored, their owners having made remarkable progress. Others show only the beginning efforts—cleared foundations and sorted piles of salvageable materials. The people here are tired but not broken, their faces lined with exhaustion but lit with hope. They nod respectfully as you pass, too focused on their work to spare much attention for travelers.
Stage 4: The Defeated Zones
The atmosphere grows heavier as you enter areas where the destruction was so complete that rebuilding seems impossible. Here, ragged people wander aimlessly through the ruins, their eyes vacant, their movements lacking purpose. Some sit on broken stones, staring at nothing. Others pick listlessly through debris, though it’s unclear what they’re searching for.
These are the defeated—those who lost everything and lack the strength or resources to begin again. They watch you pass with hollow expressions, some extending trembling hands in silent pleas for charity, others too broken even for that. The silence here is oppressive, broken only by the occasional sob or muttered prayer to uncaring gods.
Stage 5: The Orphan Wastelands
You enter a landscape of complete devastation where entire city blocks have been reduced to skeletal frameworks and ash-covered lots. The destruction here appears almost artistic in its thoroughness—not the random chaos of battle, but something more deliberate, following patterns that suggest the ley lines beneath.
Suddenly, small figures dart from the shadows—children, their faces gaunt with hunger, their clothes little more than rags. They swarm around you with desperate energy, tugging at your clothes, their tiny hands extended. “Please, sir!” “Just a copper!” “Haven’t eaten in days!” Their eyes are too old for their faces, wisdom carved by suffering no child should endure. Some are missing fingers, others bear scars from whatever disaster claimed their families.
Stage 6: The Bandit Shadows
As you move deeper into the devastation, the very air seems to thicken with menace. Half-burnt buildings lean at dangerous angles, their charred timbers creating a maze of shadows and hiding places. The ground is treacherous with hidden holes and unstable rubble that shifts unexpectedly underfoot.
Here, darker shapes move in the periphery of your vision—figures that duck behind broken walls when you look directly at them. Eyes glint from burnt doorways and collapsed rooftops. The occasional clink of metal on stone or whispered conversation drifts from the shadows, but the speakers remain hidden. These are the desperate ones who have turned to predation, those who have chosen to take from others rather than rebuild. The air itself feels hostile, pregnant with the threat of violence.
[Potential bandit encounter location]
Stage 7: The Dark Worshippers
Near the sewer entrance, you encounter the most disturbing sight yet. A small group of people—perhaps a dozen—kneel in a circle among the ruins. Their voices rise in a low, rhythmic chant, but the words are wrong somehow, spoken in tones that make your skin crawl. They sway back and forth, their faces turned skyward, their hands stained with something dark.
As your footsteps echo off the broken stones, they suddenly freeze. Heads turn in perfect unison toward you, and for a moment, their eyes reflect the dim light like those of nocturnal predators. Then, without a word, they scatter like startled rats, disappearing into holes and crevices in the ruins with unnatural speed and silence.
The place where they knelt bears a crude symbol scratched into the stone—something that hurts to look at directly, its lines seeming to writhe when glimpsed from the corner of your eye.
Stage 8: The Sewer Entrance
Finally, Pete leads you to a shattered storm drain, its iron grating twisted and broken. The entrance yawns like a mouth, exhaling the stench of decay and something worse—something that makes your stomach turn and your mind recoil. Carved into the stone archway, barely visible in the dim light, are words that seem to shift and change as you read them:
“The Coalition has forgotten us”
And below that, in what might be dried blood:
“What’s worse—the Monsters or the Lords of the lands?”
Pete hesitates at the threshold, his face pale in the gathering darkness. “This… this is the way,” he whispers, his voice barely audible above the sound of dripping water echoing from the depths below.
Dramatic Question
Can the party successfully navigate the journey and reach the ritual site before the parasite implantation ritual?
Alternative Solutions
- Stealth through dangerous areas vs. direct confrontation
- Different routes through the city
- Social interaction with various groups encountered
Room 3: Red Herring/Setback – The Underground Descent & Trap
Purpose
Epic battle that PCs cannot win; witness horror of infection process; discover ley line connection
The Underground Descent
The Storm Drain Tunnel
You follow Pete into the storm drain’s mouth. About fifty feet in, all light from the outside world fades into absolute shadow. Those without the gift of night vision must provide some external light source or suffer the effects of blindness in this stygian darkness.
The curved walls bear disturbing marks—Abyssal characters scrawled in charcoal and what appears to be crimson paint. The symbols seem to writhe in your torchlight, their alien geometry suggesting meanings that your mind recoils from understanding. Some appear freshly drawn, while others have the weathered look of old blasphemies.
The Breach
Shortly past the threshold of darkness, you come upon a jagged break in the wall. Bricks lay stacked neatly around the hole, which leads into a tunnel of rough-hewn rocky dirt. The arrangement suggests deliberate construction rather than accidental damage—someone wanted access to whatever lies beyond.
A few yards into this earthen passage, another set of stone bricks lay stacked neatly around another opening. These stones appear older, more worn, and of a different style than those that lined the walls of the storm drain. The craftsmanship speaks of an earlier age, when different hands shaped stone for purposes now forgotten.
The Descending Corridor
You move down the exposed tunnel into architecture that predates the storm drains above. Sconces line the walls, each shaped in the mask of a faceless man. It’s unclear if time eroded the features, or if they were carved intentionally blank—eyeless, noseless, mouthless visages that seem to watch your passage with invisible gazes. Dim, flickering light emanates from each sconce, illuminating the hallway while leaving shadows to dance at the periphery of your vision.
More Abyssal script decorates the walls here, painted in substances you’d rather not identify. The symbols grow more elaborate the deeper you go, forming what might be prayers, threats, or invitations to powers that should not be named.
“It’s this way,” Pete says, his voice strained, “but we’ll have to ‘pass’ a checkpoint.”
The Spiral Descent
You follow him down the long hallway, and gradually become aware that the passage is curved and subtly descending. You’ve been walking in a slowly descending spiral around something—perhaps a central chamber. The realization brings an uncomfortable sense of being drawn inexorably inward, like water circling a drain.
In the distance, you begin to make out a rhythmic chanting—voices raised in unison, speaking words in that same guttural tongue that decorates the walls. The sound seems to emerge from the very stones around you.
Hearing this, Pete becomes visibly distraught. “That can’t be good,” he says, his face pale with fear.
The Checkpoint
After several more minutes of walking through the spiraling tunnel, an open doorway ahead shines light into the corridor on the outer side of the curved wall. Silhouetted against the warm glow sits a burly figure in a heavy cloak, dozing on a wooden chair. His breathing is deep and regular, but his hand rests casually on the pommel of a sword.
“The checkpoint,” Pete whispers.
Beyond the sleeping guard, you can make out movement in the lit chamber—several figures hunched over something on the floor, the sound of bone dice clicking against stone walls mixing with low, muttered curses and laughter.
[COMBAT ENCOUNTER] The dozing figure is a cultist soldier wearing armor beneath his robe, armed with sword and shield. In the room beyond are six other cultists gambling with bone dice. Pete will stumble during any stealth attempt, alerting the guards and forcing a fight. During the fight, Pete will scamper and hide from the combatants.
Pete’s Disappearance
After the chaos of combat, you find that Pete has fanished. Whether he slipped away during the initial moments of surprise or used the confusion of battle to make his escape, when the last cultist falls, you realize he’s nowhere to be seen.
A trail of blood leads deeper into the ruins—droplets that glisten darkly in your torchlight, spaced as if from someone moving quickly despite an injury.
The Final Approach
Following the blood trail, you move deeper into the ancient structure. The chanting grows louder with each step, no longer distant but immediate—a chorus of devoted voices raised in terrible unison. The Abyssal script on the walls becomes more frantic here, symbols overlapping and intertwining until they cover every available surface in a tapestry of blasphemy.
Ahead, you see Pete limping through the flickering shadows, obviously wounded but driven by desperate purpose. He stays just out of reach, his form wavering between the pools of light cast by the faceless sconces. Blood drips steadily from beneath his torn clothing, leaving an easy trail to follow.
He reaches a massive set of double doors carved from black stone, their surface embossed with more of those empty, watching faces—dozens of them, all staring outward at the hallway with their hollow, featureless visages. Pete’s hands leave bloody prints as he grasps the ancient handles.
As you approach, the doors swing open inward with a grinding of stone on stone.
The Ritual Chamber
You emerge into a wide, circular stone chamber, finding yourselves on a high ledge overlooking the scene below. What sprawls out beneath you is like a macabre theater—a nightmare unfolding in slow motion.
The chamber is shaped like an ancient amphitheater, its walls descending in concentric stone tiers toward a ritual stage at the center. Dozens of robed cultists sit in rapt silence upon the curved benches, their eyes gleaming with fanatic devotion as they witness the ritual below. The air is thick with incense, blood vapor, and the low drone of infernal chanting that rises like smoke.
Several stone slabs decorate the chamber, built for one purpose only. All but one are empty of victims, their blood-draining grooves dry, yet somehow appearing thirsty at the same time.
But one altar is not empty. Lit by guttering torches and the hellish violet glow of arcane sigils carved into the floor, lies a stone table slick with blood. Upon it, a restrained woman thrashes weakly—limbs bound with iron cuffs inscribed with binding runes. Her chest has been crudely opened: ribs cracked wide, organs exposed, blood flowing in rivulets into neat channels carved into the altar’s surface. The woman remains conscious, eyes rolled back in pain, lips pulled in a silent scream.
Hovering just above her open chest cavity is a parasite—a six-inch, centipede-like abomination, slick with mucus and chitin. Its segmented body pulses with unnatural life. Dozens of tiny clawed legs twitch along its flanks, and its bristled tendrils reach eagerly downward toward the exposed, beating heart. Its barbed mandibles chatter, anticipating union.
Around the altar, a small circle of cultists murmur in a guttural, spiraling tongue that seems to bend the air. They move with ritual precision, hands soaked in gore, holding bone tools and iron spreaders, while moving bloody hands reverently above the macabre surgery.
Pete cries out: “NO! I brought them to you. You promised you’d not harm her if I did as you said.”
He charges into the room drawing a tiny blade from his belt—more of a utility knife a tailor might use than a dagger. As he runs down the steps, the ritualists clap their hands and the suspended centipede creature drops into Pete’s sister’s chest, encircling her heart. Its legs stab into the muscle like needles, its head burrowing in like a tick.
Heads turn in unison. The seated cultists rise from the gallery like a wave of black-robed zealotry. One by one, they begin to scream, chant, or charge—scrambling up the stairs or vaulting over the ledges to intercept you.
A voice rings out from the center of the room.
“How nice of you to come. We’ve been waiting such a long time.
The Portcullis Trap: The characters hear the grinding sound of stone against stone as a heavy block of black basalt slams down behind you, cutting off your retreat.
ROLL FOR INIATIVE
The Epic Battle
Phase 1: High Ground Advantage
- Characters have tactical advantage from the ledge
- Bottleneck allows them to fight effectively
- Let them feel powerful killing cultists from their position
Phase 2: Area Effect Flush
- Use gas/acid area effect spells to force them from protected position
- Nothing deadly enough to kill outright, but forces movement
- Once in main chamber, they lose limited advantage
Phase 3: Systematic Defeat
- Start isolating characters and picking them off
- Barbarian squires fall first (player controlled)
- More cultists charge if needed
- Introduce cult leaders if characters are too successful
- Goal: Characters fight valiantly but are overwhelmed
Resolution: Characters fall unconscious, captured for ritual
Dramatic Question
Can the PCs survive the infection process and maintain their identity while learning the true scope of the threat?
But Reversal Moment
Setup: Rescue mission to save Pete’s sister
Reversal: “But Pete has led them into an elaborate trap, and his sister is already being sacrificed”
Room 4: Climax/Boss – The Parasite Implantation & Xaobi’s Rescue
Purpose
Body horror of implantation; Lt. Xaobi’s character transformation through shared trauma
The Dream Sequences
Take each player aside individually and deliver their personal nightmare:
Standard Dream (For Characters with Hearts)
You awaken to pain.
Not sharp—something worse. Deep. Grinding. Wrong. Your chest is open, cold air moving across exposed bone and wetness. You cannot scream. Cannot move. Only your eyes obey, heavy and sluggish.
You lie on slick stone. The air reeks of incense and iron-rot. Above you, torchlight casts mad shadows. Robes drift past. Hands.
Then you see it.
They lower it slowly, reverently. Six inches long, moving like a centipede but wrong. Its black carapace glistens wet, legs twitching in silent rhythm. Hooked mandibles flex. Tendrils writhe, tasting air.
You remember—the amphitheater, the altar, the woman’s body laid out as sacrifice.
Now you are the offering.
The creature dangles, then drops into your chest. You feel it land. Feel it slither around your heart. The pain surges—not stabbing, but building, climbing your spine like fire. Every heartbeat becomes a soundless scream.
When the parasite tightens around your heart, the pain becomes everything.
Everything goes dark.
You wake with a start. The room is dark, the floor wet. Rough stone presses against your naked body. Your chest aches.
Rusty’s Dream (Parasite Resistance)
You lie face-down on cold stone. They pry open a metal plate at the base of your neck—you feel the mechanisms inside you exposed to air. The creature drops inside.
It scuttles through your internal pathways, mandibles clicking against metal conduits, legs scraping along your inner workings. You feel it exploring, seeking something organic to corrupt. The sensation is violating—foreign claws inside your very essence.
Then warmth washes through you. Familiar. Good. Hope.
The Iixian Manifesto. The book’s blessing flows through your mechanical soul like cleansing light.
“It worked on the other Verone units,” mutters a cultist. “Why not this one?”
Other Verone units. Others like you. The words hit like a physical blow—you are not alone. Were not alone. How many of your kind have they captured? How many have been corrupted?
“New plan. String him up. Let him watch.”
They clamp your neck plate shut and attach ropes to your limbs. As you rise, the amphitheater spreads below—but the tables are no longer empty.
Frezuli lies wide-eyed as cultists swab his chest with red fluid. Akuma unconscious while a magical saw grinds into his ribs. Xenti’s chest pried open with spreaders, her horrified eyes locked on her own beating heart. Simon stares between his ruined torso and the centipede hovering above him.
You watch helplessly as each creature burrows into your family’s hearts, mandibles biting deep, legs stabbing into muscle. One by one, they suffer the same fate.
Darkness takes you.
You awaken bound to a wooden board with glowing manacles, unable to move. The room is pitch black.
The Escape Sequence – Complete Reference
Initial Awakening – Individual Cells
Cell Setup
- Characters wake in individual cells, side by side
- Can communicate through cell walls if they speak normally
- Guard Response: If they talk too loudly, guard enters commanding silence
- Whispering: Guard cannot hear whispered conversations
- Cells are dark, damp stone chambers
Character Conditions
You lay on the hard stone floor manacled at ankles with glowing chains that snake to heavy floor bolts
Rusty, you are bound to wooden board with glowing manacles stapled into the wooden board behind you.
You are all naked, weaponless with a persistent chest soreness. Rusty you are suffering from mechanical discomfort
You recognize the manacles, they suppress magic but NOT natural abilities.
The good news is that you are now 4th level with the benefit of a long rest.
Escape Methods (Each Character’s Solution)
- Simon: Rabbit form can wiggle out of ankle chains
- Rusty: Pure strength breaks his restraining manacles
- Akuma: Shapeshifting fools the magical chains
- Frezuli: Shapeshifting fools the magical chains
- Xenti: Notices piece of metal that works as crude lockpick
Let players roleplay their escape attempts – give them agency back after taking it away
The Guard Encounter
Guard Details
When the players manage to exit their cells, they hear loud footsteps coming down the hall toward them.
Emerging from the gloom is a massive, brutish ogre — his hunched frame wrapped in crude armor stitched together from scavenged metal and leather. His scarred, mottled hide is marked by old wounds and ritual carvings. In one massive hand, he carries a brutal, spiked club fashioned from iron and bone. His small eyes glint with cruel cunning, far more intelligent than one would expect.
Creeping alongside him are four oversized rats, their mangy fur slick with filth. They move in eerie synchronization, sniffing the ground and tasting the air as they pace with their master. Their twitching noses and beady eyes suggest unnatural awareness, as if magically bound to the ogre’s will — living sentries that serve as both scouts and alarm.
- Player State: Naked, no weapons, weakened from ordeal
- Tactics: Let players figure out how to handle this creatively
Guard’s Equipment (Loot)
- Heavy club (oversized)
- Whip made for huge hands
- Dagger (normal sized)
- Keys (multiple cell keys)
- Small purse with coins
- 1 healing potion
The Zombie Discovery
The Horrific Revelation
After defeating the ogre and his rats, you find another cell filled with the undead. At first, only one figure presses against the bars, reaching out with decaying fingers. A number of sewn buttons of interesting shapes decorate its patchwork tunic – buttons that seem achingly familiar.
But then others emerge from the darkness, shuffling forward into the dim light. Each wears clothing and armor you recognize with growing horror:
Trina –
A dried husk of a woman, her dark hair cut short for practicality, hidden under a mottled cloth wrap. She wears form-fitting, dark leather clothing with numerous hidden pockets. Her once bright, alert eyes are now nothing more than dull milky orbs. A necklace of small, varied tokens hangs around her neck, clinking softly as she shuffles forward, each small sound a mockery of the life she once lived.
Crixtopher –
A giant dead thing, muscular and imposing, standing taller than all the others in the cell. Wild, unkempt hair tied back with a leather thong. His exposed dried arms are covered in ritual scars and tattoos. Where he once wore a determined expression that occasionally faltered, revealing moments of uncertainty, now only hunger creases his desiccated face. His head balances precariously on a torn open neck, exposing numerous vertebrae to the open air.
Grix –
Half the size of the giant man, his dry rotted body twitches and jerks as he stares at you. Memories of his youthful features haunt you as his face is now crushed and torn as though from a great wound. His tiny child-sized hands reach through the bars, fingers snapping open and closed quickly as he grasps for you with desperate hunger.
Norbu –
A girl whose long hair is braided tightly against the dried skin of her scalp. The remnants of blood-stained leather armor cling to her wiry figure. A gentle expression rests on her face, but when she notices you it transforms into a rictus – lips pulled back, exposing teeth and rotting gums. Strong arms once capable of both fighting and carrying wounded comrades are now stripped of flesh. The bones of her arms push through the bars toward you, skeletal fingers grasping desperately.
Puallo –
Another towering figure with broad shoulders and powerful limbs. His thick, dark hair is shaved on the sides, the top braided intricately. In life his fierce appearance never matched his softer, more thoughtful expression. But now in death, his features twist into an expression worthy of his intimidating stature. From shoulder to chest, he is split open, broken clavicle exposed for you to witness. But despite this injury, he grips the bars fiercely. As he shakes the door, dust rains down from where the iron rebar meets the ceiling. The more he shakes, the more debris falls to the floor.
This should be played as a gut-punch realization moment – these were their loyal companions
Fighting Through the Complex
Background Sounds
- Distant fighting: sword clashing, screams
- Explosive sounds of destructive magical spells
- These sounds grow louder as they move toward them
Enemy Encounters
- Enemies: Various cultists throughout complex
- Loot Opportunities: Weapons and armor from defeated cultists
- Armor Limitation: Cultist armor is fitted – only provides +2 AC boost
Equipment Choices – The Moral Dilemma
Cultist Robes Available:
- Benefit: Provide some protection/disguise
- Cost: Emit foul smell, disadvantage on ALL actions (Losk’s corruption weakens them)
- Let players decide if protection is worth the corruption
The Antechamber Battle
Tactical Setup
You approach a large antechamber blocked by a familiar steel bar door – the same type as your own jail cells. The keys you took from the ogre fit perfectly in the keyhole.
Enemy Position:
Through the bars, you see several cultists with desperate faces pressed against the opposite door, their bodies straining as they try to keep something out. These are hard men, scarred veterans with the look of those ready to die if needed. Sweat pours down their faces as whatever forces press against the other side of that door grow stronger.
Ready Defenders:
Other cultists stand ready, facing the door they’re trying to barricade, weapons drawn and eyes wild with a mixture of fear and fanatical determination. They know death is coming, but their faith in their dark cause burns bright enough to make them willing to face it.
Initiative Conditions
- If No Loud Spells Used: Characters get surprise round
- If Loud Spells Were Cast: Straight initiative roll (some cultists are alert)
Alternative Engagement
- If Door Unopened: Guards fire shortbows through steel bars
- During Battle: Cultists holding the door will lose their battle
The Breakthrough
As the battle rages, the door the cultists were barricading finally gives way with a thunderous crash. Men in Iixian coalition armor pour through like an unstoppable tide, cutting down the remaining defenders with professional efficiency. Several remain with you offering you assistance, while half of the group sprint into the hallways from whence you just came.
Lt. Xaobi’s Entrance & The Ritual Chamber
The Dramatic Arrival
The door bursts open during the antechamber fight, and a group of armored men rush in an devastating charge. They help mop up the remaining cultists with ruthless efficiency.
The Ritual Chamber Revealed
Where once shadows had hidden the true horror of this place, now brilliant illumination exposes every gruesome detail. Multiple lanterns cast their warm glow into corners that had been mercifully dark before. Above it all, a bright ball of magical light sheds pure white illumination over the entire scene, making every surface glisten with terrible clarity.
The chamber’s terror no longer comes from the unknown and darkness, but from the stark reality now laid bare. Macabre instruments and altars bathed in the light show a different horror – one of clinical brutality rather than mysterious dread. Filth and fresh corpses lay spread across the floor like discarded refuse. Surgical implements crusted with dried blood rest upon stone slabs whose surfaces are cracked with thick, coagulating blood. Some of it might be yours.
Pete’s Sister:
Suspended from the ceiling by chains that bind her wrists and ankles hangs Pete’s sister. Her eyes are open, her face frozen in an eternal mask of agony – a monument to the futility of their rescue attempt and the cost of Pete’s desperate gamble.
Coalition Forces:
Wounded Coalition soldiers sit or lie on the floor, being treated by battlefield medics and a lone healer who hurriedly casts spells on the worst of the injured. Others stand nervously above their fallen comrades, the reality of what they’ve discovered in this place etched in their haunted expressions.
Securing the Area:
A larger force moves purposefully about the room, finishing any living cultists and binding tightly one figure wearing robes finer than those of the slain blasphemers – apparently a leader who survived the assault.
Xaobi’s Character Moment
Suddenly Lt. Xaobi stands before you smiling. You notice his severed arm has changed – it’s now slightly longer, with tiny fingers emerging from the stump. He raises this malformed appendage in a salute that’s both triumphant and deeply unsettling.
Initial Response:
“Looks like we’re even now,” he says with a wry smile, only a hint of derision in his expression.
But the the smile fades as he takes in you condition. He straightens and offers a proper salute with his good arm.
He points to an open chest containing their equipment (including sending stone)
“We tracked your sending stone to this location”
“Judging from the bloody sacrificial altars, looks like we arrived soon enough to ‘save’ you.”
“Where are your other soldiers, those Bloodsworn Wrathborn?” He asks with only a hint of derision.
The Parasite Revelation
The Jar Discovery
Before you can respond a soldier approaches with a chest, foul and covered in abyssal writing.
“We managed to get it open sir.”
Chest Contents:
2 Jars with Living Parasites: Still wriggling inside
5 Empty Jars
All Jars Labeled in Abyssal
The Empty Jar’s label’s read: “Druid,” “Druid,” “Priest,” “Sorcerer,” “Bait”
The jars still containing the parasites read: “Courier,” “Verone Unit”
Xaobi’s Reaction
Initial Response: “Odomox’s fist!” (shocked exclamation) Exposition:
- Everyone knows about these parasites
- No one has ever captured living specimens before
- They either die with the host or flee into ground when host dies
The Standoff
Realization Dawns
- Xaobi’s men slowly piece together the implications
- Growing tension as they stare at the characters
- Finger pointing begins
The Accusation
Soldier Shouts: “They didn’t escape the sacrifice! The fucking Collared put those things in them!”
- Creates immediate standoff between characters and soldiers
- Weapons drawn, extreme tension
Xaobi’s Intervention
Xaobi’s Initial Response: Remains silent, watches with haunted eyes. Then he steps between his men and the characters. “We don’t know anything. Certainly they didn’t volunteer to have those things put in them. If they in fact even have them. And even if they did, we now have living samples. Perhaps we turn this to our advantage.”
He turns to you.
“Given the circumstances, Might I ask that you submit to a couple of questions from our priest? Just to be sure you are not under the influence of some dark force?”
Questions:
“Do any of you have those parasites inside of you?
“Have you given your self over to Losk or some other element of the UBL?”
“Do you feel compelled to follow orders from some other entity than your own best judgement?”
“If I asked you to lie, would you tell me if any of your companions have fallen under a dark influence?”
Resolution Method
Xaobi’s Men: Reluctant to accept this
Outcome: Xaobi convinced, his men mollified (for now)
The Final Heartbreak
Soldier’s Report
Another soldier approaches. you recognize him as one of your rescuers who took off deeper into the complex after the fight at jailor room: He smells strongly of burnt rotting meat
“Damn, Horlin, you smell like a barbecue gone wrong.”
The Report: “We cleaned out the rest of the cultists. We did find a pack of jerky in one of the cells and lit them up. Sorry about the smell.”
The Horrible Truth
- The “pack of jerky” = their zombified Bloodsworn Wrathborn companions
- Casual military humor about burning their loyal friends
- Characters realize their brave squires were reanimated and then destroyed
- Even in rescue, there is loss and trauma
Site Looting
Available Treasure
- 290 gold pieces in various coins
- Silver surgical implements (total value: 500 gold)
- Iron chest spreaders (multiple sets)
- Basic weaponry and armor from cultists
- Multiple robes (regular clothing)
- Cursed robes (Losk worship regalia – dangerous to non-worshippers)
- Daggers and basic weapons
- A broken wand of stinking cloud
Military Slang Reference
UBL Force Terminology
- “Collared”: UBL forces as a whole (mocking their “bound” status)
- “Greybacks”: Obwez forces specifically
- “Jerky”: Individual undead husks (dried, not rotting)
- “Pack of jerky”: Multiple undead husks
- “Rack of jerky”: Large group of undead forces
Usage Examples
- “Jerky incoming!” (undead charging)
- “Whole rack of jerky coming over the hill!” (large undead force)
- “Pack of jerky in the cells” (multiple zombies found)