PDA

View Full Version : Ka kaw, ka kaw! Tookie tookie! (D20 Modern adventure)



Jibar
2007-08-06, 10:01 AM
I was bored, and having just watched Evolution, I thought what a good adventure the mall scene could be, so I present to you an adventure from the mind of the Cat-Muffin.

Ka kaw, ka kaw! Tookie tookie!

When an unknown creature starts messing stuff up in a mall, it's up to somebody to take it down. This adventure is designed for players around 3rd-5th level.

Background
A wyvern hatchling (page 265) has become lost in the city and has got quite confused with the change of surrondings. Smashing its way through the window of a downstairs clothing department, the vast amount of meat has tempted the wyvern to take up residence here. A couple people have been hit by debris as the creature smashes its way through the complex, and the wyvern has carried off a few people to wherever its making a nest.
It's been a few hours since the initial landing, and people are still panicing. Local law enforcement have attempted to corner off the building, but nobody dares go inside. Meanwhile, a good hundred people are still inside, many of them attempting to hide inside shops, while a few have been trying to make a run for it. Worrying still, is the looters breaking their way in through fire escapes to steal from the shops. The police only have the main entrance and back entrance to the car park covered, making it all the easier for looters to get in.
It's up to the GM where the wyvern came from. Perhaps there's an adult wyvern somewhere out in the city looking for its young, perhaps there's a batch of eggs hatching somewhere outside the city. This adventure can be a nice lead up to monster hunting full time if this is the players' first adventure together.

Supporting Cast
There are roughly 100 1st level ordinaries located inside. There are also roughly 30+ looters inside, treat these as Low-Level Thugs (page 273) with the occasional Mid-Level Thug (page 273).
Officer O'Wieley, a police officer doing a routine patrol is inside as well. Treat him as a Mid-Level Police Officer (page 275). Officier O'Wieley arrived shortly after the wyvern broke in, and believes a group of thugs had ram raided the place. O'Wieley is always accompanied by two injured 1st level ordinaries. He'll ask the PCs to escort the ordinarys out of the building for him while he trakcs down the thugs. If the PCs do this for him, the Officier will locate the Wyvern, but be killed by the beast. If the PCs refuse to take the injured away, O'Wieley will instead take them. With a successful Diplomacy check (DC 20), the PCs can get O'Wieley to help them take on the Wyvern if they escort the injured out with him.
As well as all these, a Low-Level Criminal named Winston Briggs is hiding in the mall. Briggs knows where the wyvern is hiding, as it chose to land in the area he has hidden a large sum of money from a robbery. Briggs can be persuaded to help the players with a successful Diplomacy check (DC25), or can be forced to tell where the Wyvern is with an intimidate check (DC15). If the players beat either roll by 10 or more, Briggs will mention the money stashed there, and may offer to split with the PCs if they let him keep part of it. Officer O'Wieley is very interested in this money, having been one of those working the robbery that Briggs perpetrated.

Things to Consider
Due to the nature of the event, police are loathe to let people enter. The players may have to locate a fire exit and beat up some thugs to gain entry, talk their way past the police chief, or sneak in through the broken window. The players should also have a good reason for entering, whether its due to curiosity, a willingness to help or a chance to loot. The government could have sent them in, or they could hunt monsters freelance. In Urban Aracana setting or Shadow Hunters, this might be their first encounter with monsters.
If this is the players' first adventure, chances are they're not armed for this kind of thing. The mall contains a gun shop or a hunting shop, and both can be raided for supplies. The owners might require a talking to or threatening to get the goods, or they might have been killed by looters or the wyvern. Give the players the kind of weapons they'll need without turning them into walking armouries.
Each shop of the mall has been visited by the wyvern or by looters, so the players will find plenty to do. Try to think of situations where each player can shine. The Intelligent Hero could find a security room and use his impressive technological skills to hack into the security system and trap looters inside a room. A Strong Hero could put their strength to good use and shift debris off a trapped person, or force open a door to where a group of people are trapped. The Charismatic Hero could talk down a person whose mind has snapped and armed themselves with a gun. If the players enter the mall at a low level then use these encounters to level them before they fight the wyvern.
In direct combat, the wyvern hatchling would overpower most players. However, this wyvern is very interested in survival. Each time the wyvern engages the party, it will flee after being hit three times. The wyvern favours surprise attacks, and so after the first encounter it will start hiding places to attack the party. Each time the players exit a shop, roll a d20. If the result is 15+ then the wyvern will attempt to attack them. When the player's find the wyvern's nest, the wyvern will engage them in full combat, but by then it should be weak enough for the players to stand a chance.
The wyvern will nest in a random part of the mall, usually in an area that most people never go. This could include a security room, a closed down shop or even just a service corridoor. In the wyvern's lair you can find 1d10 corpses, an injured Thug, and a locked steel container, requiring a DC20 Search check to find. Briggs has the key to this container. If the players have brought Briggs with them, he'll open the container. If the players killed Briggs, they can find the key on his body. A DC20 Disable Device check can open it as well. If the player successfully open the container, they gain a +3 to their wealth bonus each.

Neon Knight
2007-08-06, 01:43 PM
Hey, this is pretty cool.

Were-Sandwich
2007-08-06, 02:16 PM
Harry: "Wayne, we've already established that Ka Kaw, Ka Kaw, and Tookie Tookie don't work"
...
Wayne: "#You are, so beautiful, to me..."
Ira: "Wayne, thats never gonna work"
*Squawkin distance*
Harry: "Keep going, rub some funk on it!"

Best film ever.

Jibar
2007-08-06, 02:30 PM
I was going to add a microphone that characters with high ranks in Performance could use to draw it out, but I thought that was taking it a bit too far.

Dhavaer
2007-08-06, 06:24 PM
Is the cop's name O'Rieley or O'Wieley? It's seems to change back and forth.

Jibar
2007-08-07, 01:53 AM
He's meant to be O'Wieley. That's what I get for letting my mind wander while I wrote this.