Chaosium Digest Volume 15, Number 2 Date: Sunday, June 23, 1996 Number: 1 of 1 Contents: The Adventure of the Golden Rose (Shannon Appel) PENDRAGON Editor's Note: This time around, another adventure from my current Pendragon campaign, made general enough to be easily used by other gamemasters out there. Shannon MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS: * Runequest - "Dinner at Brimstones" is an 8 page adventure that has conversions for GURPS, T&T and RuneQuest. The adventure is not Gloranthan, but with that in mind its OK, Adventures Unlimited #6 [Summer, 1996]. Good magazine. Check it out. -------------------- From: Shannon Appel Subject: The Adventure of the Golden Rose System: Pendragon THE ADVENTURE OF THE GOLDEN ROSE [Copyright 1996, Shannon Appel] TIME: Anytime SETTING: The Forest of Dean (or any other magical forest) PROBLEM: A golden rose must be found to win a lady's love CHARACTERS: Romantic Knights, the Rusty Knight, Plant Creatures, an Amor SECRETS: the golden rose lies in a magical grove which is destroyed if the golden rose is taken away. SOLUTIONS: Take the rose; or leave the rose, and explain that a place of love was left unadulterated GLORY: 100 for the knight completing the quest, 10 for each of his companions; 10 for defeating the Rusty Knight in contests; 10 for defeating Sir Jean Marc; 100 for defeating Rusty Knight in combat; 200 for defeating him in combat after he has already died; 10 for each monster defeated in grove After a player has wooed a high ranking lady for a while, finally winning her favor, and perhaps her love, she will offer him one last quest, to ultimately prove himself to her. THE LADY'S SUMMONING This adventure begins when a romantic knight is summoned by his amor. She will tell him that she has been impressed by his deeds and words, and will ask of the newest victories that have been won in her name while wearing her favor. Assuming that the player's responses are favorable, the amor will tell the player that her father is prepared to offer her hand in marriage, if the knight will only prove himself to her one last time. He must bring back a certain golden rose about which many stories have been told. The Story of the Golden Rose The amor tells the player the following: "I have heard many stories of a Golden Rose. It is a magical flower that has bloomed for hundreds of years. Its petals are all made of the thinnest gold, as bright as the sun, yet still as soft as silk. It is said that an enchantment surrounds the rose, and that it brings good fortune to marriage and lovers. "It is also said that the rose has its magical guardians, those who protect it from interlopers. The rose may even protect itself from those people who are the antithesis of the romantic. "The rose's current location is unknown, for it has been uprooted and replanted many times in its long life. It was last seen in Northern Logres, but no knight in the land now seems to possess it." [Faerie Lore. Success = You have heard of the Golden Rose, and its powers. You believe it to be guarded by certain living and magical plants. Critical = You know the Rose is guarded by living plant animals, and also certain flowers with strange magical effects.] Encounter With the Rusty Knight As the players are leaving their discussion with the amor, they will have their first encounter with the Rusty Knight. He is a tall man, dressed head to toe in full plate mail. The armor looks terribly ancient, for there is not a single square inch which is not covered with rust. The Rusty Knight has been magically drawn to this location due to the impending quest. The Rusty Knight will introduce himself as the Protector of the Grove of the Golden Rose, and ask the players to give up their quest. He will not give specific reasons, but will merely say that completing the quest will bring sorrow. He might offer alternatives for winning a lady's love, such as: bringing her a great present from a foreign land; questing after the romantic beast (see below); or dedicating a year to helping lovers everywhere. He will not threaten the players in any way. Bright players will try and determine the location of the Grove of the Golden Rose from the Rusty Knight. He is unwilling to give away this information, but unfortunately is quite honorable. Thus, if pressed, he will tell players they may challenge him to win the information. He will offer to give it if he is defeated in the best of three contests. These contests will be determined by: the Rusty Knight, the player and, if a third tie-breaking contest is necessary, the player's amor. The Rusty Knight's contest will be one of Oration [opposed Orate rolls]. If the player wins two of the three contests, the Rusty Knight will keep his word, and reveal the grove is currently in the Forest of Dean. Because the Forest of Dean is a strange, confusing place, the Rusty Knight can only explain nearby landmarks, not tell precisely where the Grove is. Thus, the players will have to Hunt for the grove once they arrive in the Forest. If the Rusty Knight somehow dies during this encounter, so far from the power of the grove, he and his armor will immediately rust away into dust. He will be regrown by the time the players arrive at the Forest, and so the encounters listed there will take place as normal. Glory: 10 for defeating the Rusty Knight in the Three Contests Other Ways to Find the Location of the Grove If the players fail to win the contest with the Rusty Knight, they will need to determine the location of the Grove of the Golden Rose in some other way. Following are some suggestions: * Wandering Romantic Knights will have a small chance of knowing of the current location of the Grove of the Golden Rose. Some may warn the players off the quest, while others may try and follow or join them, to take the Golden Rose for their own (perhaps they were too weak or too cowardly in their own quest). * Searching the North of Logres, the players will eventually come to the Manor of Sir Rene, the aged knight who last held the Golden Rose. When his lady love died in childbirth, he carried the Rose away to the Forest of Dean, and planted it there. The players will need to convince Sir Rene that they are worthy to find the rose, through romantic skills [Compose, Courtesy, Dancing, Gaming, Orate, Play, Romance, Singing], or through the Romantic Virtues [Forgiving, Generous, Honest, Just, Merciful, Trusting]. * Randomly searching the lands of Britain, players may hear word of a magical grove in the Forest of Dean when they are in Northeast Cambria or Northwest Logres. * In the later phases, players may find information at Guinivere's Court of Love. THE JOURNEY TO THE FOREST OF DEAN Unless the gamemaster desires otherwise, the journey to the forest of dean should be a relatively uneventful one. The only encounter is with a Romantic Knight, who is destined to encounter the players because of the romantic quest they are on. Joust With Sir Jean Marc Sir Jean Marc sits at a crossroad, lance in hand. As the players approach, he announces that all who wish to pass must joust him. He will explain that his lady love has sent him away, and that he can not return until he has defeated 20 warriors. The joust is for love. Use Notable Knight stats for Sir Jean Marc. Anyone who purposefully throws the fight earns a [Deceitful] check, and either a [Generous] check or a [Modest] check. Glory: 10 for defeating Sir Jean Marc THE FOREST OF DEAN Due to its magical nature, the Forest of Dean is a confusing place. It is very easy to become lost within. Each full day the players hunt for the Grove, they may make a [Hunting] roll opposed by the Forest's [Confusion] rating of 20. If the players fail, or only achieve a partial success, they will be turned around and lost, without having made any real progress that day. Strange encounters should occur within the Forest. Each day which the players spend hunting, choose one of the following encounters, or make one up of your own. Random Forest of Dean Encounters 1.) Sir Vincent, a knight driven mad by love, is wandering naked through the woods. He is insane and will be dangerous to the players if they don't some how reassure him. [Use Ordinary Knight stats, but Sir Vincent is not wearing his armor or carrying his shield; he has only his bared sword.] [Cruel] or [Merciful] checks may result from the player's actions. If the players somehow return Sir Vincent's wits, they will learn that he was searching for the Golden Rose before his passion drove him mad. He may join the players or oppose them. 2.) The Romantic Beast charges by [See below]. 3.) A partially eaten animal is found. [Hunting. Success = the animal was attacked by a horse sized reptile.] If the players try and track down the reptile by hunting, they will be ultimately unsucessful. This is a foreshadowing of The Adventure of the Dolorous Wyrm. 4.) A group of Bandits [see Pendragon pg. 330] is encountered. They are lost in the forest, and will be grateful to those who offer to help them out of the forest, but cruel to others. [Check Cruel, Merciful, Suspicious or Trusting as appropriate.] 5.) The spoor of a wild animal is discovered (bear, boar or dear). Players may decide to hunt it. 6.) One of the grove flower creatures spies on the players. They may notice with [Awareness]. If spotted, it will flee with an [Avoidance] of 15. Players may [Hunt] it. Glory: as appropriate for encounters. Entrance to the Grove The grove of the golden rose is surrounded by a heavy screen of trees. There is only one entrance, and it is guarded by the Rusty Knight. He will refuse to let players pass unless they swear by their honor and their lady's love that the Golden Rose will not be removed from the Grove. [The players will lose 3 Honor and 1 point in the Amor/Love they swore on if they break this oath.] Assuming the players are intent on entering the Grove to take the Rose, the Rusty Knight will try to challenge them one at a time, but will fight them all to the death if need be, the entire time blocking the one entrance to the grove. If killed, the Rusty Knight will simply fall to the ground this time. It is only when he or his armor are far from the grove that they rot away. Glory: 100 for defeating the Rusty Knight in combat. THE GROVE OF THE GOLDEN ROSE Looking within the Grove, the players will see a beautiful scene. A screen of trees surrounds a large circular glade. Flowers of all types fill the glade, giving it wonderful color and a pleasing scent. Topiary animals, including a boar, a stag, a dog and a hawk dot the glade. In the distance, the babble of a small brook can be heard. The golden rose is immediately obvious in the absolute center of the glade. It is in the middle of a huge rose bush. As soon as players enter the Grove of the Golden Rose, have them sum the six Romantic characteristics: Forgiving, Generous, Honest, Just, Merciful, Trusting. Any players with a total of 60 or more feels at peace in the grove. The temperature is perfect; the stream has pure, cold water; a feeling of peace and love fills the player. While in the grove, all amor or love passions are at +5 for these players. Any players with a total of less than 60 feel a sense of unease when they enter the grove. They are constantly on edge. It's as if someone was dragging their nails across a chalkboard. Such players may even become physically sick, if they fail a [CON] roll. While in the grove, all skills are at -5 for these players. The Battle It is most likely that the players have entered the grove violently, and thus a battle will quickly ensue. As the players gaze upon the grove, entering cautiously into it, the Rusty Knight will stride up behind them. He may very well have been disarmed or disrmoured by his opponents. His wounds are still clearly obvious. As he walks in, he will state: "Is there no way to turn you back from your quest?" Unless the players decide to give up, a battle will begin shortly afterwards. Three events will all occur simultaneously, marking the start of the battle: if necessary, the Rusty Knight will break a deadly sharp stick from a nearby (magical) plant [treat as a sword]; the six magical creatures (the topiary boar, dog, hawk and stag, the orchid thing and the rose snake) will spring to life; and a nearby poppy will emit a cloud of yellow gas. The yellow gas is a sleeping agent. All players must roll their six romantic traits. If any player succeeds at less than three of them, he will fall into a deep sleep that can not be broken until he is dragged from the grove. Any sleeping players left in the grove will eventually wake up outside, a few days later. The Rusty Knight should once more be treated as if he was at full strength. He can be killed normally, as can the plant creatures. They will fight to death, although they will not kill any downed players. If all the players fall, the survivors will wake up beyond the grove the next morning, healed to consciousness. They will not be able to find the grove again. The above battle will not occur if the players entered peacefully, unless they break their oath and take the rose. Glory: 200 for defeating the Rusty Knight again, 10 for each magical plant monster. Exploring the Grove Assuming the players win their battle, they will be able to explore the grove. As they move cautiouslly towards the golden rose in the center, they may accidently fall afoul of other magical plants. Each player should make a [DEX] roll. If he fails, a random plant is stumbled into. Random Magical Plant Table 1. Dye Plant spurts out a burst of color, dying player and equipment a random color. 2. Stink Plant makes player smelly for 2d6 days. 3. Sword Plant (like the one the Rusty Knight may have grabbed his sword from) makes a 5d6 [Sword] attack on a knight with a skill of 20. Unless the knight succeeds at [Awareness], he gets no defense. 4. Grabby Plant begins to twine around the player. An Opposed [Strength] roll against the Plant's [Grab] of 20 is needed, or the player will be unable to free himself. Afterwards, others may make the same attempt, adding their Strengths together if a number try at once. 5. Romance Plant acts upon one of the Player's Romantic Traits [(1) Forgiving, (2) Generous, (3) Honest, (4) Just, (5) Merciful, (6) Trusting]. The player must roll that trait. If he succeeds, he feels utterly controlled by that single passion for the next day. 6. Prudence Plant forces a Prudent Roll. If the player succeeds, he feels exceedingly Prudent for one day. If magical plants are taken from the garden, they will begin to fade and wilt when they are beyond a half-mile or so from the golden rose. Players making [Faerie Lore] rolls may find other non-magical plants which will be highly useful to herbalist, potion makers and magicians. Eventually, the players will arrive at the center of the grove, where the golden rose sits in the center of a huge rose bush. It is very beautiful, and even glows with a soft light. Extracting the rose from the bush will be a minor task. Simply burning the bush or such will likely damage the rose (in actuality, it will probably destroy it). However, the rose bush is deadly sharp and semi-animate, thus just grabbing the rose is not easy. If a player tries to grab the rose, oppose his [DEX] Roll to the Rose Bush's [Thorn] Attack of 20. If he fails, he does not grab the rose, and gets whacked for 3d6 of damage (no shield). There is one exception to this: the first time a player reaches in, he may try to roll all 6 of his Romantic skills. If they all succeed, the Rose Bush never attacks the player reaching for the rose. If players decide to hack at the thorns with weapons, they will also get attacked in a similar fashion, opposing instead the Player's [Sword] against the Bush's [Thorn]. Again, no Shield may be used because weighty double-handed strokes are necessary to do any damage to the plant. The Rose Bush can sustain 50 points of damage, but has no armor. Leaving the Grove As the players leave the Grove with the Golden Rose, have them all take one last look back. [Awareness. Sucess = You see the beautiful grove, and all its wonderfully plants literally rotting away, fading to dust behind you.] If the players immediately return the rose, the garden will return to its old vitality. Otherwise, this grove of the golden rose will be lost forever VICTORY? The players have many options in completing the Adventure of the Golden Rose, and the gamemaster will need to determine which ones are considered successful by the knight's amor. If the players failed to get the rose because they were overpowered or outwitted by the rose's guardians, they have clearly failed. If the players retrieved the rose and got it home, they are clearly victorious. The amor may be slightly sad about the destruction of the rose's old grove, but she will quickly realize that it will be create a new one. This resolution is the most likely, and the results of it are described below. If the players did not retrieve the rose, because they did not want to destroy the old grove, wanted to share the rose with another questing knight, or had some other romantic reason, they are probably victorious. This will depend, however, on the exact attitude of the player's amor. A true romantic will be perfectly pleased with this result, and will occasionally accompany the player knight to see the rose. An amor who is [Worldly] or [Greedy], however, might insist upon having the rose for her own. GETTING THE ROSE HOME It is most likely that the players retrieved the rose from the grove, and determined to bring it home. This option is detailed here. Getting out of the Forest of Dean will be a small problem, since it is still Confusing. The players must again oppose [Hunting] rolls to the Forest's [Confusion] of 20. More encounters from the above list may be used, but it is suggested they be much more sparse. Afterwards, the rest of the trip home should not be a problem. Planting the Rose The knight's amor will be very pleased to see the Rose. As promised, her father will announce an engagement that knight. At the first light of the next morning, the knight's amor will want to see the Rose planted. Although the players have destroyed one place of beauty, they will eventually create another. For each full year the Rose remains planted, amor and love passions for Romantic persons are at +1 in the area, and skills for non-romantic persons are at -1, to a maximum of +5/-5 (as in the old grove). After 5 years, the new grove will be fully as beautifully and romantic as the last one. Glory: 100 for the knight completing the quest, 10 each for those that helped him FUTURE STORY IDEAS The Golden Rose creates an enchantment, and this may cause repercussions in future stories. * Romantic adventures will be naturally drawn to the grove. * The Rusty Knight will be reborn, and his honor may force him to lead others to the Golden Rose, and these others may hope to steal it away. * The nearby plants will eventually become magical (after 5-10 years) and this may cause problems or strange happenings for those living near the grove. * If the Rose is planted in or near a manor (as the lady will desire) everyone in that manor will experience the +5/-5 effects of the rose. NPCs The Rusty Knight, Protector of the Grove of the Golden Rose The Rusty Knight is a hulking behemoth of metal, covered head to foot by a massive suit of terribly rusty plate. Not a single inch of his flesh is visible. And, there is good reason for this, for the Rusty Knight is actually a walking, talking plant. Like the topiary creatures, and other strange plants in the Grove, the Rusty Knight was magically grown due to the influence of the Rose. If the Rusty Knight is killed more than a half-mile from the grove, he and his armor will rapidly fall away into dust. SIZ 18 Move 3 Major Wound ** DEX 12 Dam 6d6 Unconscious ** STR 15 Heal * Knock Down 18 CON 18 HP 36 Armor 14 (rusty partial plate + helm) * Until the grove is destroyed, the Rusty Knight will rise fully healed a short time after he is killed each time. He will even be grown anew is he is burned. ** The Rusty Knight can not be major wounded. He fights until he drops to 0 HP. Glory to Kill: 100 Notable Traits: Valourous 18, Honor 18 Combat Skills: Sword 21, Lance 16, Horsemanship 16 Other Skills: Awareness 12, Courtesy 10, First Aid 10, Heraldry 10, Hunting 10, Orate 18, Tourney 10 The Romantic Beast A cousin of the questing beast. It is distinguishable by the fact that the sound of a hundred song birds can be heard from inside its belly. It is considered Romantic to quest after this Beast, for occasionally those who search for it have magical visions of romance. Use the Questing Beast stats [Pendragon, pg. 325]. It is worth 50 glory to spend the entire year questing after the Romantic Beast. The Six Grove Plant Creatures Like the Rusty Knight, the plant creatures can not be major wounded, and fight until they have 0 HP. Glory to Kill: 10 each Orchid Thing A humanoid mass of orchids and vines. HP 20 Move 1 Armor 0 Combat Skills: Mist 15, Roll [Con] or be blinded for 1d6 days Rose Snake A snake-shaped mass of vines, covered with blood-red roses. HP 15 Move 7 Armor 0 Combat Skills: Bite 15, Damage 3d6 Topiary Boar HP 40 Move 6 Armor 6 Combat Skills: Tusk 15, Damage 6d6 Topiary Dog HP 20 Move 6 Armor 4 Combat SKills: Bite 15, Damage 3d6 Topiary Hawk HP 10 Move 8 Armor 2 Combat Skills: Claw 15, Damage 2d6 Topiary Stag HP 30 Move 7 Armor 4 Combat Skills: Antler 15, Damage 5d6 -------------------- The Chaosium Digest is an unofficial discussion forum for Chaosium's Games. To submit an article, subscribe, or unsubscribe, mail to: appel@erzo.org. All articles submitted to the Digest remain copyright their respective authors, unless noted otherwise.