Blimey, blemmyes!
a Shadowdark adventure for 4–6 crawlers of LV2
Victory was hard won and you’re headed back to home in luxury! The carriage is plush and your road is as smooth as your conversation ─ until ── BLIMEY, BLEMMYES !
It works perfectly as a convention game or early within an ongoing campaign.
BLIMEY, BLEMMYES! is an independent product published under the Shadowdark RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG © 2023 The Arcane Library, LLC.
Writing and dtp. by Sean F. Smith
Dungeon cartography by Dungeon Scrawl
Village cartography by Watabou
All rights reserved © 2023
PROLOGUE
The carriage is comfortable and not quite decadent enough to get your hackles up and the ride back to your hometown has been pleasant so far.
The sun set about two hours ago and your driver ─ a man named Mandevil who is cursed with a real lack of brows ─ lets you know you’ll soon pull into the village of Kilt to spend the night.
But the ride heaves and you hear Mandevil curse and you feel the horses spook. ( Looking beyond the curtains sees the silhouette of a headless horseman riding a headless horse! )
Within moments, the carriage comes off the road and tumbles into the valley.
If you’re running a convention game, this is the optimal moment to have your players introduce their crawlers.
Eventually the carriage comes to a stop, and then there’s another thunk as a root gives way and the carriage plummets through soft soil.
- DC 12 CON or 1d4 damage.
Mandevil was outside throughout the tumble. He does not survive the crash.
ACT ONE
Generations back, the site was used as the gaol for several clans of itinerant shepherds. The rooms off the tunnel are the decades-old alchemists’ chambers.
LIGHT ─ darkness throughout, except wan moonlight down stairs at X and ozone-glow from the chair in 9.
SURFACES ─ tiled floors, cinderblock walls, raw stone ceilings.
DOORS ─ rooms 1 to 3 are banded oak doors, all locked ( DC 12 STR smashes ). Rooms 5 onwards are solid walnut, all with keyholes but never locked.
ROOM DESCRIPTIONS
1 ─ alchemical office: desks and chair of high quality but in poor condition; smears of ash where once were papers.
2 ─ laboratory: balsa wood crates, warped; glass vials, deformed like plastic left in sunshine; dusty hand of glory candle ( normal treasure, 1XP, 30gp ).
3 ─ intermittent sound of thudding
Shelves and storage, all stripped. Secret door mechanism visible from this side.
- desperate VARGGANALAN with golden molar ( poor treasure, 0XP, 1gp )
4 ─ shrine to ancient sheep gods: seaglass mirrors behind curtains
5 ─ rustling noises within
Bent iron bars impede access ─ it’s one at a time to get through. Warped walnut shelves and rodent manure. Water damage visible around secret door to 9.
- five VARGGANALANs attempt ambush
6 ─ bare room: gouges in walls where fixtures have been stripped; black chalk graffiti reads “ do not kiss them ”.
7 ─ distant urine reek
Communal toilets: most terracotta and one porcelain ─ yellow glint within ( gold ingot ( normal treasure, 1XP, 50gp ) ).
8 ─ store room: outdated manacles and trodden oakum.
9 ─ strong ozone scent
Murder basement: galvanic chair in corner emits blue glow and sinus pain. Touching the chair inflicts 3d10 damage ( DC 18 CON halves ).
Upon a walnut-panelled pedestal, a fine golden bugle ( fabulous treasure, 3XP, 300gp ).
X ─ deep rumbles and swampy smell
Gaol: oakwood pillars stained with chain rust. Mulch across floor. Wan moonlight down staircase ( leads to surface ).
- one territorial SURINAM HYDRA
MONSTER DESCRIPTIONS
VARGGANALAN
A human head with shrivelled skin and matted-hair wings. No thought, only bite.
AC 14, HP 3, ATK 1 bite +1 (1d6), MV near (fly), S -1, D +1, C +0, I -2, W +0, Ch +0, AL C, LV 1
Kiss. After second bite on same target, DC 15 CON or infection. Infected cannot gain hp and will become vargganalan upon death.SURINAM HYDRA
Pockmarked back hides several heads.
AC 10, HP 26, ATK 4 bites +2 (1d6), MV near, S +2, D -2, C +2, I -2, W +0, Ch +0, AL N, LV 4
ACT TWO
The night air is cool but clammy.
A storm is coming.
Having reached the surface, the crawlers are able to see the distant lights of Kilt barely three miles away.
LIGHT ─ weak moonlight makes it possible to see ( with disadvantage ).
SCENE ONE
Crawlers have the option of taking the open road or making their way through waist-high grassland.
OPEN ROAD ─ the gravel is loose underfoot, having been disturbed by broad hoofprints.
Several flowering weeds poke through the loose stone, but every single one of them has been snapped high up the stem. ( Close inspection reveals blunt trauma at the break ─ these were no bites or cuts, but manually pulling off the heads ).
DC 12 CON or take 1d4 damage from fatigue. This is increased to 1d6 if a crawler has more than half of their gear slots filled. This fatigue damage will never remove a crawlers’ final hit point.
LONG GRASSES ─ the soil is solid but the grass grows erratically and it’s a hassle to plot a simple path.
The grasses have rough undersides that scores ugly scrapes on brittle leather.
There are snakes in the grass ( spot them with DC 09 WIS ).
- two LERNEAN SERPENTs
SCENE TWO
The grassland gives way to a sparse walnut woodland which cuts close to the road. Another choice: land or tree?
OPEN ROAD ─ the gravel shifts underfoot but remains stable and easy to walk upon. Invariably, the shelter from the trees has slowed erosion here.
Despite being more obscured here, thieves and anyone with +2 WIS or better get a funny feeling. Those crawlers get advantage on initiative as the headless horseman attacks !
- one HEADLESS HORSEMAN
After two rounds, the horseman disengages and gallops away ─ away from Kilt.
WALNUT WOODLAND ─ the trees are tall and lush, though not implausibly so. Walnut trees have few low-hanging branches and their leaves are shaped like teardrops. The crushed leaves underfoot have a subtle polish smell.
Looking for signs of intelligent life will find some ( DC 15 INT otherwise ). There are carved and stained marks on some trees, each of which have signs of their branches and twigs being harvested. Following these signs brings the crawlers to the tent of a dwarfen woman named BRIGG.
She wants to be left alone and has been doing perfectly fine out here on her own thank you very much. Look, if I give you some information will you just go away?
She will answer any one question and knows literally everything the Game Master knows. If the crawlers don’t have a question, she suggests you can beat horsemen by un-horsing the man.
SCENE THREE
Eventually the trees give way to steeper land, where the road cuts through sidings or the bluff can be scaled.
OPEN ROAD ─ the gravel here is firm again. ( In fact, it is regularly repaired by the townsfolk and supplemented by scree from the bluffs. ) Walking the road this close to Kilt gives welcome respite from additional danger.
THE BLUFFS ─ scaling the slope isn’t especially difficult and under the anemic moonlight the short grasses look sickly. At the very top of the hills, the crawlers get an excellent view of Kilt ( you can show them the map now ). Taking it all in grants advantage on tactics within Kilt that rely upon understanding its layout.
MONSTER DESCRIPTIONS
BRIGG
Killing her makes you the monster.
AC 8, HP 2, ATK 0, MV near, S -2, D -2, C +1, I +2, W +5, Ch +0, AL N, LV 0LERNEAN SERPENT
A short fat poisonous snake.
AC 12, HP 6, ATK 1 bodyslam +1 (1d4), MV near, S +0, D +1, C +2, I -3, W +0, Ch -2, AL N, LV 2
Poisonous. If eaten, DC 09 CON or die.
Regenerate. Regenerates 2d6 hp on its turn as it regrows new tails ( always more tails than before ). Fire cauterises.HEADLESS HORSEMAN
HEADLESS HORSE
( Full description below. )
ACT THREE
The atmosphere in Kilt is one of distress and barely suppressed panic. The HEADLESS HORSEMAN has been attacking the village nightly for a good week now. Barricades are at breaking point and the arrival of some armed outsiders might be the perfect moment for us to strike!
- one VILLAGE MOB joins the fight!
VILLAGE MOB
Wild-eyed and desperate. Barely armed.
AC 08, HP 110, ATK 1d4 tools +0 (1d4), MV near, S -1, D -2, C -3, I +0, W -2, Ch -2, AL N, LV 0
Mob. Yes, 110hp equals 110 population.
Crawlers can spend their actions to direct the mob ─ DC 12 CHA increases either AC or ATK bonus to match the directing crawler’s. If this check fails, the increase lasts one round; success and the increase lasts this whole battle.
The party can also instruct the mob once each round. Instructions remain until dismissed and can stack. For example, the crawlers might ask the mob to block certain routes, or to drive the headless horseman into the fields, or to trap the bridge. These instructions never require a check to enact but the horseman may get a check to avoid the effects.
The horseman will attack for 1d4+2 rounds, after which it will leave the area for a year and a day.
MONSTER DESCRIPTIONS
HEADLESS HORSE
Peculiar mutant horse ( no head ).
AC 11, HP 11, ATK 1 hooves +3 (1d6), MV double near, S +3, D +1, C +2, I -3, W +1, Ch -2, AL N, LV 2HEADLESS HORSEMAN
A shirtless man the size of a weightlifter, with no head and instead eyes and a face right smack in his chest.
AC 16*, HP 22, ATK 2 sword +3 (2d6)*, MV near, S +3, D +1, C -2, I +2, W +1, Ch +0, AL C, LV 4
Horsed. If unseated, AC becomes 10 and ATK becomes 1 sword +3 (1d6).
CONCLUDING THE ADVENTURE
There are three potential outcomes:
- Failure ─ the horseman leaves, but fewer than sixty villagers remain. The party gains 0XP and each crawler loses any luck tokens
- Survival ─ the horseman leaves and more than sixty villages survive. The party gains 3XP and a plaque is made in their honour.
- Victory ─ the horseman is killed! The party gains 10XP and a festival is held in their honour. If more than ninety villagers survive, the party is also awarded an egg of the cockatrice.
