The original Caves of Chaos appeared in module B2, The Keep on the Borderlands. It introduced one generation of gamers to the flavorful exploration, careful planning, and exciting combat of role-playing games.
| Rules | • | Spyragia Setting | • | Monsters | • | Stories |
This is a sample adventure for the Nine Powers setting of Spyragia.
The original Caves of Chaos appeared in module B2, The Keep on the Borderlands. It introduced one generation of gamers to the flavorful exploration, careful planning, and exciting combat of role-playing games.
We can rework that module as a Nine Powers dungeon. What type of dungeon? Recall from the Summary of the Powers table on the Spyragia setting page that we have nine choices. But one choice seems obvious: a crowded place in which many different groups of villains and monsters are vying for power can make a great noirborhood!
As an extra layer of humor for Players familiar with the original The Keep on the Borderlands module, I have retained many of the loot items and done silly thematic things with the original monsters.
Both GMs and Players can learn from how the hard-boiled detectives genre set the foundation for prose structured like the best comic books.
In the 1940s, the author Raymond Chandler established a new archetype: the always perceptive and sometimes violent lone detective, whose adventure stories' exciting encounters outshone the scene in which the mystery was solved. Towards the end of that decade Mickey Spillane's character Mike Hammer became immensely popular by exaggerating that archetype in stories with a balance of what role-playing game designers today would call exploration, social, and combat encounters.
In this dungeon's story the local detective and his biggest rival both went missing three nights ago. The PCs can solve that mystery and/or arrange which of the rival groups and gangs now comes out on top.
The detective is dead. Who took his enchanted brass knuckles that reveal if someone is lying? Did anyone find his secret recipe for the incense whose smoke gave him super strength?
East End District has always been dominated by the Steamcycle Gang. But now many of their members are in hiding. What do they fear?
A rival gang from a neighboring district has sent some of its Neanderthals into the East End District. The locals worry muggings or raids will soon happen.
Maybe talking to people—with some encouragement to make them talk—will shed enough light in these shadows. No one wants to look for clues in the taxidermy shop, or the sinkhole.
The noirborhood named East End District has always had rival groups and gangs fighting over territory and wealth. There is enough to fight over. Although the streets are usually dim and empty, with quite a few vacant stores or workshops now boarded up, that is only the exterior. Surprising opulence can be found inside some of the taverns, clubs, theaters, and gambling dens.
Five years ago a mysterious kobalt who called himself The Detective arrived and tried to clean up the town. He failed, killed before a month went by. He tried to disband a cult operation under a pawn shop. It was an explosive confrontation that created the sinkhole.
Then the Detective was back, but worse. Clearly an ogre was using his form. But this ogre was tough, ruthless, and used powerful magic items. No one knew where he came from, or where in East End District he now lived. He must have used other people's forms too. Everyone saw that when the Detective acted as "The Detective" he was unstoppable, and often violent.
The new Detective got revenge on those who harmed his predecessor. Then he made a rule: East End District gamblers who could not pay their debts at the end of a month would be sacrificed to the oozes who live in the sinkhole. A stone stele was placed beside the sinkhole, on which the rule is engraved under the title The Gambler's Bane.
Somehow the Detective knew if you were in debt at the end of the month. There was already a lot of crime in the East End District. Now crime spikes as each month closes. It is better to be a thief than a sacrifice.
Two days ago the Detective was killed. Everyone knows it is true, even if the details are lost in a swirl of rumors. Who has his body? Who has his gear? What has his secrets?
The Steamcycle Gang has always been most ostentatious group in East End District. Now many of the gang members are in hiding—or gone. What happened?
The rival gang making inroads into the East End District are literal Neanderthals: stone-age lizard-men called picaroon argles.
• The kobalts in the trap store sometimes sell faulty traps and locks. They can be paid to make someplace seem better protected than it is. [Can be True or False]
• Some of the taxidermy pieces in the therion tavern are not animals, but actually the remains of therions who were magically fixed into their animal forms before being killed by rivals. [False]
• The bouncer at the therion tavern, Khola Lastriver, has some of the Detective's incense that grants super-strength. [False]
• At the dweorg theater, some of the songs are coded messages for the local gangs. [False]
• A trapdoor somewhere in the dweorg theater leads to the sinkhole. [False]
• An elf woman knows too much. [Vaguely True]
• The picaroon argle gang from the other district has their beady eyes on the kobalt gambling den. [True]
• In the taxidermy museum, the stuffed creatures change position during the night. [Mostly False]
• The taxidermy museum, not the therion tavern, is where uppity therions get stuffed and stored forever. [Mostly False]
• The prison is now just the front for orc slavers to move slaves. [True]
• It is easy to bribe Patrol Officer Ferny Quartzfruit. [True]
• The gargoyles know how to make the Detective's super-strength incense. You can sometime smell it near their church. [True]
• Darsin Tealbulb has not been seen since very late at night, three nights ago, after he told his Steamcycle Gang about a gambling incident. Some say he is dead. Others say he is hiding from the argle picaroon gang. [True]
• The Steamcycle Gang leaders are in the back of their building, secretly trying to master making the Detective's magic incense. [False]
1 - A kobold trap-seller is walking the street with small traps for sale.
2 - A therion is stumbling home, drunk, from the tavern.
3 - A dweorg child is selling "magic shoe shines" on the street corner.
4 - An elf mutters about the district's rule, calling it a curse.
5 - The enforcer is on his way to do a job, probably by roughing someone up. He is only heard if the PCs are not in a place where seeing him makes sense.
6 - A large group of argles is trying to rob the kobalt gambling den! If the PCs are not in that building, have someone shouting the news arrive on the scene.
7 - A slave has escaped from the orcs while being transported to or from the prison. (Is there pursuit?)
8 - A gargoyle flies overhead, as if on patrol. Then it descends rapidly. (To talk to the PCs? As a hint of where something interesting is happening?)
9 - A large group of argles is trying to steal steamcycles from the Steamcycle Gang's building! If the PCs are not in that building, have someone shouting the news arrive on the scene.
10 - An eerie wind extinguishes torches. If the scene is outside, the wind also extinguishes lanterns.
11 - A trio of argles is harassing an impoverished local. When they see the PCs, the refocus on what appears a more lucrative target.
12 - A washed-up boxer confronts an argle. Violence is imminent.
13 - The next time the PCs are on the streets they are approached by a carter who says she "knows everything" about local happenings.
The GM can resolve the backstory however he or she desires. Here is the solution I used when testing this dungeon. Appropriate clues are mentioned in the building descriptions below.
The cult under the pawn shop had discovered a way to turn someone directly into a lich, without the usual steps of necromobility. However, the cult had not understood how a lich requires a bane.
The first Detective was a skilled alchemist who had infiltrated the cult. His confrontation was not a righteous police action, but an evil attempt to claim and use their secrets. He killed the other cultists and did become a lich—almost. The Detective became a dormant lich, waiting for a bane, only able to act by slightly influencing dreams.
An ogre had replaced Yudiz Plumknicker, the elf that owns the elf lounge. Dreams from the lich taught him the alchemy of magical incense, encouraging and empowering him to become the second Detective. His rule about monthly sacrifice became the bane that the lich needed to awaken. But that ogre had authority over the rule he had ordained, and thus could control the lich.
The lich took control of the smoke sludge oozes who had moved into the sinkhole. He caused them to grow, and split to become more numerous. He sent them out after magic items, which the ogre would claim. The most famous of these magic items is the magical brass knuckles.
A secret is that, after the first month when people were incredulous and did not take the rule seriously, no sacrifices have happened. Everyone in East End District has been successful about not being in gambling debt at a month's end. This weakened the bane, which weakened the lich.
The Detective has always been jealous of the Steamcycle Gang, especially its leader, Darsin Tealbulb. That gang is loved because they have money to spend, are fun and flamboyant, and invite the normally apathetic people in the noirborhood to try zany things. In contrast, Yudiz is uninspiring and the Detective is only feared.
Three days ago the ogre, in his public persona as Yudiz, gambled Darsin. For the first time their gambling got too intense, and both bet their building. Yudiz won: the Steamcycle Gang's building was his. However, Darsin could not force his gang to give up their building.
The Detective was hasty, and declared that Darsin was unable to pay the debt even though the month would not end for another day. That night the Detective took Darsin to the sinkhole and threw him down to the oozes. By breaking his own rule (by doing the sacrifice a day early) the ogre lost his authority over the rule. The lich was free, and in haste and spite killed the ogre who had controlled him. As a side effect, the stone stele now glows faintly with an eerie purple light.
The Steamcycle Gang is divided. They had been asked by Darsin to surrender their building to Yudiz. But now both Darsin and Yudiz are missing. Most gang members are in hiding, unsure what is happening. Will Darsin return? Does Yudiz's disappearance mean they still own their building?
The lich still does not understand clearly how banes work. It knows the habitual lack of sacrifices makes the threatening rule weak and impotent, which in turn causes it to be weak. It worries its newfound strength (from Yudiz being sacrificed) is very temporary. What should it do next? It believes its best plan is to leave the East End District to find someplace with more wealth and a more empowering bane. But first it should take local wealth and resources.
The stool pigeon in the therion Tavern, Aubrea Hopgarden, is now working for the lich. She was given the brass knuckles, which do not actually detect lies (that was merely a convenient rumor spread by the Detective) but instead allow their wearer to travel through the sinkhole's tunnels safely by magically repelling the sinkhole's oozes. But Aubrea lost the brass knuckles to a mugger, who lost them to a gargoyle. Soon after the story starts this gargoyle can approach the PCs to "recruit" them to investigate a vaguely understood undead threat to the East End District.
As noted in the description of noirborhood dungeons, some elements of the Noir genre are scaled back in Nine Powers to maintain a kid-friendly story.
If the GM and Player agree, some whimsy can be added to the East End District to make the area occasionally absurd in the ways many kids enjoy. One example is the monster named Agar-agar in the trap store (described below). But perhaps there are also small rodent jazz bands that play sad tunes whenever something dramatic happens nearby?
Similarly, the protagonist as outsider is a Noir genre trope, but it might work better for the GM to establish a personal connection between the PCs and the East End District. Perhaps in this dungeon's version of reality a PC's eccentric aunt runs a small fortune-telling shop, and she asks the PCs for help because she is behind in her protection money payments to the Steamcycle Gang?
Before starting the story, the GM should be prepared to adapt this dungeon's threats to the number of PCs and the skills.
Note: Because this is a noirborhood dungeon, only a few pieces of treasure will be faintly glowing in a way that shows they will return to the real world with the PC. These are marked with a special font and color.
The once-bright paint on the large sign above the door has faded: Ferl Smalldrake's Traps. Two small flyers are tacked beside the entrance. "Today's sale: smoke bombs!" in recent handwriting, and in more faded ink "We buy used audiograph players."
The store sells magically crafted traps. Some are mechanical turrets triggered by tripwires or pressure plates. Others are made with musing, such as enchanted rugs that create pit traps underneath themselves when unrolled. A selection of alchemical trap enhancements is also for sale.
The store's founder, Ferl, died years ago in a work accident. His adult daughter, Lucney Smalldrake, now owns the store.
The kobalts who work in this store will also buy items found in the noirborhood for one-third the normal retail price. (Items from elsewhere will not be purchased.) Each kobalt carries 1d10 silver coins. None of the store's inventory can be returned to the real world, except for a piece of silk worth 80 silver coins.
In one hallway is a large alcove completely filled by a cubical, transparent monster named Agar-agar. It tests the gullibility of visitors. It has eyes and a mouth on its outward-facing side. When it sees new people it proclaims, "Hey kids! Toll time! Put something nice in me or I'll come out and block the passage." Agar-agar is actually harmless, stuck in its alcove. Inside it is a magic chain that causes the wearer to be immobile. If someone can talk Agar-agar into giving up the chain, the monster will be able to leave its alcove and become inconvenient.
A door leading to the back half of the building is currently nailed shut. A trap containing a dozen diseased rats malfunctioned, releasing the rats into that rear area.
This store can be a useful source of salt, electrical capacitors, or flame powder for battling oozes.
The kobalts are happy that the district's other groups tend to ignore them unless shopping for traps or information.
Clues: The kobalts will pay handsomely for any mechanical audiograph players (which they salvage for valuable parts). This should alert the PCs to be alert for such devices in other buildings.
Outside this tavern an oil lamp streetlight flickers unusually. According to rumor, when only one person is near it, the shadows in the flashing light spell out a cryptic phrase such as "big debt" or "double-cross tonight".
The mood inside this tavern is lethargic, almost somber. Its patrons drink alone, unsuccessful in forgetting.
This tavern's regulars enjoy hunting deer and foxes, and many trophy heads decorate the main room. A few other examples of taxidermy decorate the fireplace mantelshelf.
The bartender is named Jayre Oldboulder. The waitress is Darlez Tinblock.
When the tavern's bouncer, Khola Lastriver, hears of a visitor to East End District, she prepares a practical joke. She changes into her humanoid-animal hybrid form with a gorilla's head. She removes a taxidermy display from an alcove shelf, revealing a hole. She goes into a back room, from where she can put her head up into that hole and watch the main room while pretending to be a gorilla head taxidermy display. Khola carries an ornate shield enchanted with musing, and wears a ring worth 200 silver coins.
As a noirborhood, this dungeon exists in its own little version of reality. Here Maw Lute declared, a decade ago, that hunting trophies should not be valued as collections. The hunters have yet to find a different hobby or source of camaraderie.
The bar serves food and drink, and also has a small supply of healing potions.
One patron is an arsonist named Karan Tindercaw who carries a runeblock of fire.
Another patron is Agoz Brassyard, the only person present who recently returned from a hunt. At first he will say it was successful, but if pressed will admit he only saw and shot small animals such as rabbits and squirrels.
On a stool in one corner of the main room roosts Aubrea Hopgarden, a therion in her pigeon form. She delivers messages for a silver coin. Secretly, she tries to read messages and provide secrets to Patrol Officer Ferny Quartzfruit (at the orc prison, see below).
A number of tapestries hang on the walls in the hallways and rooms behind and above the main room. Some hide bloodstains on the walls.
Clues: Now that the Detective is gone, people start complaining about how some of their crafted magic items were stolen from their homes and somehow ended up among the Detective's possessions. A bit of eavesdropping in this tavern, and other buildings, should reveal examples.
A poster outside the door reads: "Obstacle course! The star of today's show can be YOU!".
The theater's plays normally feature elaborate marionettes and semi-autonomous puppets.
This week, as a change, the theater has been restructured as an obstacle course. A clearly marked path from room to room travels through most of the building. The path is blocked by barriers and hidden tripwires. A person may wager coins about how far they get before being struck by one of the puppets and turrets that defend the course.
It has been three days since anyone has tried the obstacle course. The dweorgs have been lazy about cleaning and maintenance, and have not noticed that several large centipedes have made a nest in one room.
A dweorg named Tylerin Bentrum has bought a barrel of wine and shut himself into a back room (thus blocking that portion of the obstacle course).
Two of the mechanical puppet creates are built, in part, from magic ropes that respond to verbal commands.
The dweorgs are looked down on by others in the district, who do not appreciate neither their artistic endeavors nor their obsession with parkour.
As a noirborhood, this dungeon exists in its own little version of reality. Here Yarnspinner has been inactive for decades. No one values sharing stories any more.
One back room is the costume storeroom. Occasionally, when no one is looking, a costume will shifts, settles, and let out a soft, theatrical sigh. The costumes are not otherwise magical or useful.
Clue: Three nights ago Tylerin was walking the streets despite the rain to scout new parkour routes. He witnessed the Detective throw Darsin into the sinkhole, and then saw the Detective die as oozes leapt from the sinkhole and swarmed over him. Tylerin feels haunted, and has told no one about what he saw.
Inside this private club languid elf men eat, drink, play darts, tell stories, gamble, and box.
Fragrant clouds of incense shimmer above their incense stick holders, creating a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere.
This lounge is owned by the wealthy Yudiz Plumknicker, who looks down on most of the district's non-elf residents even more than most of his club's patrons.
Paintings of grand elf heroes have spotlights whose lights make the gilded picture frames sparkle. The actual elf patrons, in contrast, mostly sit in shadows. Even the gambling and boxing seems lethargic.
Elf ladies are allowed in the lounge, but few desire to spend time with elf men who are not acting as gentlemen. One of the few women who is often at the bar is Luxalie Nugbranch, who was once engaged to Yudiz but broke off the engagement.
Luxalie holds a silver goblet that is the only item belonging to the club that can return to the real world as treasure. She also wears a thin gold necklace with a pearl pendant.
Clue: Yudiz has not been seen for three days.
Clue: Luxalie Nugbranch broke off her engagement after Yudiz had two personality changes: once when he was replaced by the ogre, and again when the ogre's behavior (when acting as Yudiz) was altered by dreams from the lich. She is dressed as a femme fatale, listless (especially about emotions) but willing to talk to a sympathetic ear about her woes and suspicions.
This flophouse has five rooms, but only one is occupied. No one wants to live near The Enforcer.
A huge therion who can turn into a rhinoceros lives here alone. People call him The Enforcer. The other groups hire him when they can afford his rate.
The Enforcer is blunt and harsh, but honors his contracts.
The Enforcer sleeps on a thick bearskin rug. To make this bed softer, he has piled worn-out rags and clothes underneath it. In the shadows it might at first appear to be an actual bear!
The Enforcer's gear includes magic arrows and two healing potions.
The other four rooms in this small flophouse are empty. One room is where the first Detective lived for a month.
Clue: The first Detective's diary is in the room he lived in, under the room's mattress.
This lively gambling den is a contrast to the sluggish atmosphere of the rest of East End District.
This building is a gambling den run by kobalts. A stout, barred door blocks entry until the bouncer opens it.
All its rooms are densely cluttered: both the large public gambling rooms and the backrooms used by the kobalts. The furnishings are a senseless mix of ratty and garish, sometimes marked by bloodstains that were not completely cleaned up.
Mesmerizing kobalt women offer to sit beside winners and feed them peeled grapes.
At one table someone is cheating at a version of mumbly peg by using a dagger enchanted with musing.
In one room partially hidden from guests a strange game is played in which contestants try to use whips to knock coins off of posts. The skill of the contestants is less important than how spectators bet on the outcome.
The owner of the building is the wealthy kobalt Aubnor Bloodworthy. He collects poisons as a hobby, and two vials of poison in his room are treasure that can return to the real world.
Clue: Yudiz's dislike of Darsin is well known. When they gambled, Yudiz would become especially intense and bitter, unlike Darsin who remained lighthearted. However, the night both disappeared they were not in this building. Someone had heard them talk about gambling, but it must have happened elsewhere, perhaps somewhere more private.
The doors and windows of this building are not only boarded up, but are covered with metal bars.
This building was once a large and opulent taxidermy museum, with a shop in the back. Wealthy clients could have their monster hunting or game hunting victories memorialized. However, some evil influence has turned many of the exhibits into undead.
The cult that was destroyed by the first Detective also used this building as a place study animal necromancy with less risk of provoking suspicion.
Most dangerous undead are the remains of two bigbeasts: a bear and an owl.
In a back room are three flasks of gas that harms undead. While still in East End District this gas will quickly defeat any undead. If removed to the real world it causes damage but no longer causes immediate victory.
Clues: A few old cult records survive, especially in this taxidermy building. Written notes and recordings onto mechanical audiograph players describe how the cult discovered a way to turn someone into directly a lich, without the usual steps of necromobility.
Once a prison, this building is now owned by orc slaves and used to keep their slaves until buyers are found.
This building is an old prison run by orcs. Many of the prisoners cannot see their wardens.
The prison is dark and gloomy. Shadows conceal the corners of hallways, and alcoves in which storage boxes are stacked. Only two wardens, Axoh Slimeclasp and Tristella Quietwheel
Only one policeman, the orc named Patrol Officer Ferny Quartzfruit, remains on duty in this district. He is bribed to ignore most crime, but blatant criminals and troublemakers are locked up in this prison for a few days, during which the other orcs rough up the criminals enough to make them shun repeated incarceration.
One prisoner is actually a therion slave owned by Ferny. This particular slave is special, and not for sale. He is muscular, with shaggy hair and beard, and staring eyes. Ferny has mockingly named him "Wild Hero". He desperately wants to escape, and if possible slay his owner.
Even standing near this sinkhole feels creepy. Not only does it smell vaguely of death, but your mind tends to fixate on your most guilty memories.
Years ago a building with many basement layers collapsed. Now only a large sinkhole is visible from the streets. The stele that records the Detective's rule still stands near the sinkhole.
People avoid blame for lost items (especially magically crafted items) by saying "the sinkhole took it". At night slimy trails sometimes appear leading from or into the sinkhole.
The sinkhole is 20 meters deep. At its bottom are caves that lead into a maze of twisting tunnels. A curse makes it difficult to navigate or map these tunnels without getting lost.
Inside the tunnels live smoke sludge oozes who do indeed emerge at night to steal magical items from surface dwellers. Currently the only magic items here are those that were carried by the Detective when he died: brass knuckles that reveal lies, a potion of gaseous form, and a necklace of healing.
Clues: A few people remember that the stele originally had an eerie purple glow, but that glow vanished for a long time, only to return three days ago.
Most of the gargoyles that live here are dormant. But two are awake and talkative.
The gargoyles occasionally fly above the district, scouting or spying. They seldom land and talk to anyone.
The gargoyle guarding this building's entrance is polite and interested in what is happening in other parts of the East End District.
Visitors are not welcome inside the building, which is an old temple to Iceforge that is under repair but with evidence that no new work has been done for a long time. Scaffolds, cans of paint, etc.
A storeroom full of dust contains a collection of cursed weapons that long ago the priests of Iceforge had collected to study and perhaps cleanse of the curses.
The two gargoyles named Crimble and Crumble, in response to a vision they shared about undead in the district, have started the slow process of awakening the others. But this takes a few days, and the other gargoyles will have memories decayed proportionally to how long they have been dormant.
If the PCs do not find in the taxidermy museum one solution to overcoming the lich, the gargoyles can become a backup plan. Perhaps the PCs help the gargoyles reconsecrate their church, then lure the lich into its sacred ground?
The gargoyles played an important role in supporting the stability of the East End District. They had the alchemy skill to make the super-strength incense for the Detective, after he found that recipe. (Yudiz Plumknicker lacked such alchemy skill himself.) Yudiz trusted them to do this task, and paid them fairly for their service. The gargoyles are ignored by the rest of the district, and never faced any temptation to use the incense for themselves.
Clues: During the past two days a few people have been asked by flying gargoyles if they have seen or heard about any undead in East End District.
East End District locals tend to adore the Steamcycle Gang for injecting noise, color, and revelry into a predominantly sluggish atmosphere. But the larger, organized groups that live near Steamcycle Gang resent their visibility and wealth.
Yesterday a gang of picaroon argles arrived from outside East End District. They took over the Steamcycle Gang's building, but are unable to use the steamcycles. The Steamcycle Gang members have all escaped the building.
The Steamcycle Gang is a group of kobalts that until very recently was led by Darsin Tealbulb. Gang members sometimes put up flyers near their building with slogans like "Productive chaos is better than stagnant orderliness!" or "Build what you imagine, don't just imagine what you can build!".
The gang members use a building whose layout resembles a motorcycle dealership with a service bay. The main rooms have high ceilings and sumptuous furnishings, intended to impress visitors by displaying the group's wealth. On display are various vehicles that the gang has built, with prices far above what anyone in the noirborhood could possibly afford. The back rooms are workshops and warehouse storage rooms: large but dirty, with low ceilings, the smell of machinery, and substandard lighting.
Many of the gang members carry a runeblock of detect magic. They enjoyed riding their eccentric motorcycles through the noirborhood, to show off or race. Seeing where magic items were as they drove by was an added bonus.
Three gang members, Manny, Moe and Jax, carry a chain enchanted to turn into a snake as a favored weapon.
The Steamcycle Gang are freedom-loving kobalts, and half the members are ready to ambush the orc slavers the next time they move slaves into or out of the old prison. Darsin had known about this division, and postponed any action while finishing some secret dealings with Ferny Quartzfruit. Now that Darsin is gone, the anti-slavery gang members will certainly act when they next have opportunity.
A gang of picaroon argles from outside East End District heard about how the Steamcycle Gang lost their leader and was divided about what to do next. Yesterday a number of the argles arrived in the East End District, led by their commander, Golis Fast-tooth. They tried to steal the steamcycles, but were unable to use them. (Remember that argle are stone-age lizard-men.) The argles have for now settled with claiming this building and the streets around it as their territory.
Clues: Any member of the Steamcycle Gang knows what happened three nights ago at the gambling table. Darsin was crushed when he returned to the gang with the news. Gang members can be found in this building and other places. Their building also has written notes and recordings on mechanical audiograph players.