Call of Cthulhu D20 - Where Madness Dwells.pdf - Call of Cthulhu D20 - Dihercen

Authors:

Thomas Knauss, The Inner Circle

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Jeffrey J. Visgaitis

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Jason Rosenstock

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Jason Rosenstock, Jeffrey J.Visgaitis

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Mike Mumich,

Jason Rosenstock, Jeffrey J.Visgaitis

Editors:

C. D. Bennett,

Robert Dorneman

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C. D. Bennett,

Jeffrey J. Visgaitis

Project Manager:

Jeffrey J. Visgaitis

Special Thanks:

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Marduk Slayer of Tiamat, H. P. Lovecraft,

and Fantasy Fans Everywhere!

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Where Madness Dwells

W HERE M ADNESS D WELLS

ize yourself with all aspects of this module and its

many encounters before your players begin their

adventure. Each encounter has been given an

encounter level (EL) to give you a quick overview

of its dificulty. Some encounters may be altered

(or omitted) to better scale the adventure to the

abilities of the players. Take care not to scale

back the dificulty too far, as this module has been

made challenging for a reason.

Where Madness Dwells is a d20 adventure

suitable for four 7th-level characters. Where

Madness Dwells offers a good mix of roleplaying,

problem solving, and combat and can easily be

adapted for characters of levels 6–8, as noted in

the “Scaling the Adventure” section below. The

party should include at least one spellcaster. A

rogue will also be very useful, but is not essential.

A good mix of classes and races will work the

best. The last encounter is very dificult and the

players will have a much easier time if they pos-

sess several +2 magic weapons.

A DVENTURE S UMMARY

The PCs are hired to investigate the Witten Asylum

in the city of Niarva. Entrance into the Asylum

proves dificult and the PCs must ind a way to

breach its defenses. The PCs search for infor-

mation around the town and they learn that the

asylum has been slowly degrading over the past

20 years. Once they breach its foreboding exterior

and venture inside, they learn that the patients are

kept in very poor conditions. They slowly begin

to discover various clues that hint to a sinister plot

hiding behind the façade of the asylum.

Eventually by talking to Vunik, an eccentric

old man held captive in the asylum, the PCs dis-

cover that the place is being held under control

by two mind layers and they plan to establish a

portal that will open up into their city far beneath

the surface. Vunik knows that the plans for his

portal have gone horribly wrong and he doesn’t

want the portal to be opened for fear of what is

on the other side. Eventually, the PCs confront

the mind layers and the hideous beast that comes

forth from the portal. With the aid of Vunik they

inally manage to destroy the portal.

S CALING THE A DVENTURE

Balanced for four PCs around 7th-level, the adven-

ture can easily be adjusted to accommodate weaker

or stronger parties by decreasing or increasing the

number of villains. Weaker parties may reduce

the asylum guards from groups of four to groups

of two or three, reduce the mind layers from

two to one, or simply omit an especially danger-

ous encounter. Stronger parties can add at least

one more group of asylum guards or increase

the number of mind layers from two to three. If

adjustments are made, the treasure ratio should be

adjusted accordingly.

GM N OTES

Where Madness Dwells can be a challenging

adventure even for experienced players. The

encounters within this module can prove to be

incredibly dangerous unless the players are clever

and play well. The inal encounter at the portal

will test the mettle of new and veteran players

alike, and may result in the death of one or more

player characters. This module is designed to be

a challenging experience for your players, and if

they survive, they will have bragging rights for

years to come.

Where Madness Dwells requires the use of

the Dungeons & Dragons® Player’s Handbook ,

Third Edition , published by Wizards of the

Coast® .

Throughout this module, you will ind

blocks of text inside gray-shaded boxes. These

may be read aloud to the players or paraphrased

as needed to help set the mood for their corre-

sponding area. The general feel for Where Mad-

ness Dwells should be one of lurking dread, where

the players ind themselves nervously examining

every corner of the asylum. You should familiar-

A DVENTURE B ACKGROUND

Forty years ago, Doctor Josias Illhausen founded

the Witten Asylum; an institution dedicated to

serving the needs of the mentally ill. Renowned

throughout the area for its innovative treatment

of insanity and other mental disorders, the institu-

tion’s reputation spread beyond the city of Niarva.

Over the course of the irst twenty years, the

asylum enjoyed great success and boasted a very

high percentage of rehabilitated patients. How-

ever, the overwhelming task of administering the

asylum became too great for Doctor Illhausen to

undertake alone. In order to lessen his burden,

Doctor Illhausen hired a young and ambitious

physician named Heraladus to serve as his assis-

tant.

Heraladus cared little for the patients’

welfare; in fact he viewed them merely as test

subjects for his unusual experiments. After a

Introduction

few months of intense study, Heraladus began

to formulate a bizarre theory. He postulated that

if humans developed their mental abilities rather

than their physical prowess, they would evolve

into a more advanced and intelligent species.

Heraladus speculated that an ancient group of

humans actually achieved such a feat and evolved

into mind layers. Consumed by the notion that

mind layers were once human, he contacted an

inquisition of mind layers willing to examine his

theory. With his assistance, a team of two mind

layers transported themselves into the institu-

tion. The mind layers quickly dominated Doctor

Illhausen and installed Heraladus as the asylum’s

administrator.

While Heraladus sought conirmation of his

idea from the mind layers, the mind layers

utilized the asylum’s unfortunate patients for

their own gruesome experiments. Witten Asy-

lum’s reputation decreased substantially as unset-

tling rumors of macabre and barbaric experiments

spread throughout the community. Under com-

plete control of the mind layers’ mental control,

Doctor Illhausen’s impassioned personal appear-

ances allowed the institution to survive. Now, the

asylum serves as the last refuge for the city’s

less dangerous criminals and substance addicts.

While Heraladus oversees the asylum’s operation,

Doctor Illhausen remains conined to his quarters

in the asylum, just in case the city or a suspicious

public demands his appearance.

to be an expert on the subject of planar travel.

Intrigued by the unusual boast, the asylum guard

brought the matter to the attention of Heraladus,

who in turn relayed the information to the mind

layers. The mind layers demonstrated a keen

interest in Vunik’s claim, removing him from the

asylum’s general population and placing him in

solitary coninement. Once alone, the mind lay-

ers charmed Vunik and ordered him to design a

portal that would open a gate to the mind lay-

ers’ underground city. While Vunik designed the

elaborate schematics for the portal, Heraladus

obtained the raw materials and contracted skilled

masons to construct the portal. Heraladus, falsely

believing that the mind layers intended to trans-

form him into one of their own, foolishly agreed

with the plan. The mind layers, however, had no

intentions of returning through the portal or grant-

ing Heraladus his misguided wish. Instead, they

endeavored to use the portal in order to substan-

tially add to their numbers and place the entire

city of Niarva under their unyielding control,

disposing of Heraladus in the process.

Vunik resides in the asylum now, unwittingly

laboring for the mind layers, advancing their

plans for a quiet coup of the city.

A DVENTURE H OOKS

The following three adventure hooks each offer a

different motivation for your players to undertake

this adventure. As the GM, feel free to add your

own special touches to give the chosen adventure

hook the right feel to better accompany your play-

ers’ current campaign, or simply use Where Mad-

ness Dwells as a lead-in to a larger campaign of

your choosing. The city of Niarva can be easily

adapted into any campaign as a generic, walled

city surrounded by a forest.

Vunik

Vunik, always the eccentric sage, has teetered on

the ine edge of insanity for years. Although he

has always demonstrated unusual behaviors, his

outbursts remained non-violent. Yet, over the past

few years, Vunik has become more confronta-

tional. Recently, after a heavy night of drinking,

Vunik stumbled through the city’s more afluent

neighborhoods, accosting its privileged citizens

and shouting slanderous accusations against the

city’s leaders, the Lords of Enlightenment. Finally

disgusted with his boorish antics, the city authori-

ties gave his sister, who also serves as his legal

guardian, two choices. Either voluntarily commit

him to Witten Asylum, or the authorities would

imprison him. Uncertain of his prospects for

survival in the city’s harsh prison system, his

sister convinced him to commit himself to Witten

Asylum.

After two uneventful months in the asylum,

one of Vunik’s offhanded remarks garnered the

interest of the asylum staff. Vunik purported

Long Lost Uncle

The default adventure hook for Where Mad-

ness Dwells . The adventure’s events commence

shortly after one of the party’s human charac-

ters receives an urgent letter from his mother.

The letter explains that the character’s mother

believes that her brother Vunik, currently a patient

at Witten Asylum, is in grave danger. A month ago

during their last visit, Vunik confessed to her that

he had a great secret. Since their last meeting, her

efforts to contact Vunik have been rebuffed by the

asylum’s staff. Her last correspondence informed

her that Vunik’s visiting privileges were revoked

indeinitely. She desperately begs her son to inves-

tigate the asylum and assure her of his safety.

Where Madness Dwells

Vunik’s nephew/niece has not seen him in

almost ive years. Although he knows Vunik per-

sonally, he has very few details about him. He is

middle-aged man with gray hair, thick spectacles

and a generally unkempt appearance. Vunik is

a sage specializing in a number of disciplines,

including architecture, engineering, magic,

nature and the planes. His personality makes

him extremely dificult to tolerate. His uneven

demeanor often changes abruptly from distant

and unconcerned to manic and obsessive and

vice versa. Because of his shortcomings, the PC’s

mother has always treated him as if he were her

child rather than a sibling. The adventure should

begin with the party either currently residing in

the city of Niarva or in close proximity to it.

500 gp per person. If this hook is chosen, treat

Vunik and Kelym as nothing more than pitiful

old men the PCs encounter within the asylum.

The adventure can begin with the party members

within Niarva’s borders, or in close proximity to

the city, perhaps traveling an old road through the

forest on their way to some other destination.

Missing Lord

The Lords of Enlightenment have been secretly

searching for a party of individuals to perform a

clandestine mission on their behalf. One of the

Lords of Enlightenment, Kelym Aradamore—a

man of keen wit and suspicious mien—has

expressed his opinions on the Asylum’s reputabil-

ity rather openly as of late, and has subsequently

been discovered missing. The remaining Lords

send one of their agents, a man called Maylath

(see Appendix I: Primary NPCs) , to contact the

party with a plea to covertly investigate the asylum

and discover what they can of Lord Kelym’s dis-

appearance. The Lords offer a hefty reward (a ine

silk purse illed with gems worth 3000 gp) for the

return of their fellow, to be delivered only after

the PCs have completed their task. The agent will

give them a small wax symbol made in the design

of Lords of Enlightenment crest, telling the PCs

that Lord Kelym will be wearing a ring with the

same symbol. If this hook is chosen, simply treat

Vunik as a poor old man that the PCs encounter

within the asylum. The adventure can begin with

the party anywhere in close proximity to the city

of Niarva.

Inspection Time

With the majority of Niarva’s troops and militias

patrolling the city, The Lords of Enlightenment

are sometimes forced to hire parties of adventur-

ers to perform various tasks within the city. This

is the case when a city oficial, Noric Chaunnor

(see Appendix I: Primary NPCs) , contacts the

party with an offer of employment. He needs to

inspect the asylum and wishes the party to accom-

pany him both for security reasons, and to assist

with some minor tasks. He offers to pay the party

Call of Cthulhu D20 - Where Madness Dwells.pdf

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