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Dungeon Crawl Classics #48The Adventure Continues

A COMPILATION OF ADVENTURESFOR CHARACTER LEVELS 4-6

Credits

Developers: Harley Stroh, Joseph Goodman

Writers: Eric Artis, B. Matthew Conklin III, Ken Hart, Phillip Larwood, Jeff LaSala, Brendan LaSalle, Jason Little, MikeFerguson, Stephen S. Greer, Greg Oppedisano, Artem V. Serebrennikov, Justin Sipla, Jessica Van Oort

Front Cover Artist: William McAusland Back Cover Artist: Eugene Jaworski

Interior Artists: Chris Arneson, Gary Dupuis, Jason Edwards, Friedrich Haas, Cory Hamel, Doug Kovacs, Cliff Kurowski, GaryDupuis, Brad McDevitt, Jesse Mohn, Mark Parsons, Chad Sergesketter

Cartographers: Rob Conley, Jeremy Simmons Line Editor: Harley Stroh

Editors: Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel, Ken Hart, Elizabeth R. A. Liddell, Liz Rich

Graphic Designers: Joseph Goodman, Greg Porter

Proofreaders: Mike Ferguson, Rick Maffei, Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel

Playtesters: Dave Bean, Andy DeSimone, Nanci Moy; Stanley Cramer, April Greer, Ben Williams; Ginni Bain, Lori King, DuaneWaldrop, Micki Waldrop; Bret Boyd, Scot Boyd, Chuck Cuthbert, Heather Cuthbert, Greg King, John Geoghegan, Brad Nieder;Toni Easter, Matt Gossett, Haden Huffaker, Stephanie Huffaker, Dave Husted, Erin McSpadden, Jeff McSpadden; KathrynSipla; John LaSala, Marisa LoPrete, Kate Baldwin, Richie Procopio; Ed Artis, Barry Buchanan, Bill Harris, Bob Vought, MaryJo Pupala, Daryl Corey, Jon Lillemoe, Paul Steele; Sara Hannon, Sarah Hagenmaier, Amanda Williams, Emily Gaines, and KittEvans; Michael Aitchison, Glen Hogbin, Kevin Knight, Trevor Magrath, Adam Ryder, Lee Wise; Jay Albrecht, Clint Carrell, ChadMacPhee, David Ticheler, Paula Ticheler

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Table of Contents

Adventure Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page

Madness at the Mutilated Oak . . Ken Hart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Arneson . . . . . . .3

Ghosts of the Mastodon Clan . . . Brendan LaSalle . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Parsons . . . . . . .15

Heroes’ End. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen S. Greer . . . . . . . . . . . Gary Dupuis . . . . . . . .29

Tide of Evil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eric Artis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doug Kovacs . . . . . . .53

Mistfall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Ferguson . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chad Sergesketter . . .66

Yellow Jade Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy Simmons . . . . . . . . . . . Cory Hamel . . . . . . . . .82

Nightmare Closet. . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff LaSala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friedrich Haas . . . . . .92

Dale of the Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Lampi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doug Kovacs . . . . . . .108

Like Clockwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jason Little . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cliff Kurowski . . . . . . .118

The Crawling Tower. . . . . . . . . . . Phillip Larwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cliff Kurowski . . . . . . .131

Fortune’s Folly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ed Gentry & Lara Gose . . . . . . Brad McDevitt . . . . . . .145

Snare of the Shadow Sylphs. . . . Jessica Van Oort . . . . . . . . . . . Jason Edwards . . . . . .153

Scourge of the Wasp Lord . . . . . Justin Sipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jesse Mohn . . . . . . . .165

The Ruby of Rak’shaz. . . . . . . . . Artem Serebrennikov . . . . . . . . Doug Kovacs . . . . . . .185

Vale of the Indus . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matt Conklin & Greg Oppedisano. . Chad Sergesketter . . .199

Appendix 1: New Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

Bonus! Xcrawl: Dungeonbattle Brooklyn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231

Questions or comments? Visit us online at:

www.goodman-games.com

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Introduction

Remember the golden days of role playing, whenadventures were underground, NPCs were there to bekilled, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragonon the 20th level? Well, those days are back. DungeonCrawl Classics feature bloody combat, intriguing dun-geons, and no NPCs who aren’t meant to be killed.Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl,with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and thesecret doors you know must be there somewhere.

Madness at the Mutilated Oak is designed for four to sixcharacters of 6th level. While the characters can be ofany class, a druid or ranger may be especially useful.Some characters may suffer ability damage in thisadventure, so access to a lesser restoration spell orpotion would be handy. See the “Scaling Information”section for ways to tailor this adventure to your group’ssize and unique style of play.

Adventure Summary

Answering a call for help, the heroes arrive in the smalltown of Cillamar, where they learn that a bard of grow-ing fame (and dubious talent) has disappeared, alongwith several other men. In addition, an unearthly shriekof agony has been heard coming from the region to theeast – an odd landscape of sharp stones, barren paths,and twisted trees. A huge oak tree towers over thatarea. An evil elven druid is inflicting great damage onthe tree and its protective dryad in her desire to possessthe “fey treasure” that she believes lies within the oak.She possesses a fey-created staff that has enabled herto manipulate the missing townspeople into serving her.

The PCs must get past her bugbear minions, defeat asatyr ranger and his dire weasel “pets,” and avoid thestings of giant wasps to reach the great oak. Oncethere, they must deal with the powerful druid herself andher charmed protectors. The challenge for the heroes isto defeat the druid without killing the four innocenttownspeople, who have few qualms about using deadlyforce against the adventurers.

Should the valiant heroes succeed, they earn the grati-tude of the badly injured dryad, who rewards them andgives them information about the region and the secretof the great oak.

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Dungeon Crawl ClassicsMadness at the Mutilated Oak

By Ken HartAN ADVENTURE FOR CHARACTER LEVELS 4-6

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Game Master’s Section

Encounter Table

To help the GM prepare, we have included a quick ref-erence table showing all encounters at a glance. Loc –the location number keyed to the map for the encounter.Pg – the module page number that the encounter canbe found on. Type – this indicates if the encounter is atrap (T), puzzle (P), or combat (C). Encounter – the keymonsters, traps, or NPCs that can be found in theencounter. Names in italics are classed NPCs. EL – theencounter level.

Loc Pg Type Encounter EL

1-1 7 T/C Rolling rock trap 7Groth Greenstab,bugbear Drd12 bugbears Fgt1

1-2 8 C Kalan, satyr Rgr2 74 dire weasels

1-3 9 C 3 giant wasps 6

1-4 10 C Lucia Saralonde, Drd7 8Phinneas Muddey, Brd4Kelvin and AmbroseWickworth, Com1/War1Arvik Duerlagg, War2

Scaling Information

Madness at the Mutilated Oak is designed for four to sixcharacters of 6th level, but can be modified for partiesof different sizes or levels. Consider adapting theadventure using any of the following suggestions:

Weaker parties (3 or fewer characters, or lower than

6th level): Remove the class levels from the bugbearsin area 1-1 and have the rolling rock trap affect only onesquare. Remove one of the dire weasels in area 1-2. Inarea 1-4, reduce Lucia to 6th level.

Stronger parties (7 or more characters, or higher

than 6th level): Increase the class levels of the bug-bears and Kalan by +1. Add one more giant wasp to theencounter in area 1-3 or increase their hit dice by +2.Increase Lucia’s level by +1.

Getting the Players Involved

The following hooks can be used to get the playersinvolved in the adventure:

If there is a druid or ranger in the party, or if any mem-ber has established friendly relations with non-evil fey,that character can be haunted by disturbing nightmares,full of violence and pain. The great oak appears promi-

nently. If the party has a fey ally, then have that feyplead for aid in the dream. Upon waking, the PC real-izes that something bad is happening near Cillamar.The nature of the threat isn’t clear, but the need for helpis urgent.

Phinneas Muddey and Arvik Duerlagg are well traveledin the Kingdom of Morrain, so it’s possible they encoun-tered one of the adventurers during a previous exploit.That hero could desire to make a quick stop in Cillamarto visit a good friend or settle an old score (dependingon the nature of the earlier encounter).

The eerie shrieking is apparently causing many animalsand monsters to flee the odd region – and enter thetown! The heroes, while traveling nearby, hear thatPatriarch Ranz Mentzer of Cillamar is seeking adven-turers to deal with the source of the disturbance.

Background Story

Several hundred years ago, a band of evil fey – mem-bers of the “Unseelie Court” – entered the KnownRealms through a shadowy gateway at the bottom of awell. This portal led to a dark dimension where crea-tures such as themselves thrived. Once they arrivedhere, they attacked and manipulated innocents, espe-cially children, driving them to commit tragic acts.Powerful druids banded together to defeat this threat.The angry fey retreated, but they swore they wouldreturn and cursed the land around them. The druids’ vic-tory was thus tainted, as the natural landscape wastransformed by the fey oath into a bizarre mix of forest,dust, and volcanic rock. The druids sealed the well withthe creation of a magical oak above it. As long as theoak lives, the gateway to the dark domain cannot bereopened.

Unable to “heal” the landscape, the band of druids grewdespondent. Trusting to good-aligned fey to watch over thegreat oak, they soon retreated from memory. The decadespassed, and much of this history was lost, although sometales of the fey’s influence in this region remain.

Lucia Saralonde, an evil druid, believes that she is adirect descendant of fey and is obsessed with gatheringfey knowledge and power. She recently discovered amagical staff, the switch of the unseelie, and she hastraced its origins to this region. She believes that ahoard of druidic or fey treasure lies within the great oak.With her allies – a satyr ranger named Kalan and a trioof bugbears she has anointed “the Greenstab Tribe” –Lucia arrived at the great oak, captured Tangle, thedryad assigned as its protector, and has since been tor-turing the dryad in a futile attempt to uncover the sourceand nature of the treasure. To further torment Tangle,Lucia has inflicted great damage on the oak itself. In arage, she cast blight, which would have killed the tree if

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not for its magical nature. The power of the oak is suchthat the nearby trees are also feeling its pain, and aninhuman “shriek” of agony is reaching from the forest tothe town of Cillamar.

Frustrated by her failure, Lucia entered the town twonights ago, hoping to gain more information about theregion’s history. She met and charmed herbalist StefanBarclay, who introduced her to local bard (and part-timesheepherder) Phinneas Muddey. Phinneas, never wast-ing a chance to impress an attractive woman, regaledher with tales of his adventures. After Lucia describedher interest in the great oak, Phinneas said the forest issupposedly haunted or bewitched. Then, tapping intohis bardic knowledge, he whispered he’s heard rumorsthat the tree is a portal. This certainly attracted Lucia’sinterest. She used the staff to charm Phinneas, tellinghim that she needs his help to convince the oak’s evilguardian to reveal its dark secrets for everyone’s sake.Based on what she learned from Stefan and Phinneas,she also charmed the irascible dwarf Arvik Duerlaggand the farmers Kelvin and Ambrose Wickworth – allwere good with an axe, so they could serve dual rolesas defenders and oak “persuaders” if necessary.

Lucia knows that her actions are born of desperation:Not only is she rapidly using up the staff’s charges, butthe disappearances will certainly provoke a responsefrom the town. Yet she must know the truth. Ghostlyimages of bizarre creatures trying to step through theweakened portal have her pulse racing. She haswarned the three bugbears and Kalan to prepare for anattack.

Since then, the shrieking from the forest has redoubled,but Lucia is no further to learning the truth, even withPhinneas pleading with the dryad in her own language.Tangle knows Phinneas and the others are enchanted,so she has remained silent. Just before dawn, while thetownspeople still slept, a furious Lucia ordered Kalan tochop off one of Tangle’s legs. She then used modifymemory on Phinneas, Arvik, and the Wickworths toimplant the memory that the “evil dryad” briefly escapedand murdered their friend Stefan (now useless to Lucia)inside the tree before the dryad was brutally recapturedby Kalan.

Adventure Prelude

Phinneas Muddey, Arvik Duerlagg, and herbalist StefanBarclay were all last seen at the tavern The InfamousOath the night before last. The two missing farmers,Kelvin and Ambrose Wickworth, disappeared arounddawn the following morning. If the PCs attempt touncover clues about the last actions of the missing peo-ple, give them the following information based on theirGather Information or Diplomacy checks:

Gather Information Checks at the

Infamous Oath Tavern

Check DC Result

10 Phinneas often tries to romance womenwho enter the tavern, particularly newcom-ers to Cillamar who might not know that theirresponsible though talented bard spendspart of the year as a sheepherder. Arvik isan armorsmith with a bad temper; rumorhas it that he settled in Cillamar after failingto join the Morrain military. Stefan is a goodfriend of the Wickworth family, who run afarm at the southeastern edge of town.

15 In the hours before he disappeared,Phinneas spent a lot of time talking to anattractive elven woman who arrived withStefan. No one recalled having seen herbefore, but that wasn’t unusual; many trav-elers pause at The Infamous Oath on theirway through the region. For a good portionof the night, the elven woman held theattention of a number of men, which didn’t

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DCC World

Each of the adventures in this book can be usedstand-alone, or set in the world of Áereth from DCC#35: Gazetteer of the Known Realms. Madness atthe Mutilated Oak takes place just east of the wilder-ness town of Cillamar, in an odd landscape of sharpstones, barren paths, and twisted trees. Here, amidthe craggy foothills that climb towards the mighty UlDominor mountains, strange beasts lair amongststranger secrets.

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