I started writing this for Unconventional GMs, and thought I’d share on here, as my ‘ready-to-run’ (scare quotes intentional) scenarios and campaigns often provoke a bit of discussion. I’ve not got any maps, any game statistics (except for adversaries in the core book), and my descriptive notes are either concise or sparse depending on your tastes. Either way, I’d be interested in how this compares to your notes. It’ll be out on UGMs soon (we’re recording next week), so you can check it out in play there!

It was originally written for the Colossus of the Drylands campaign frame, and with 4 PCs in mind of Level 3, but I’ve shaved the non-SRD stuff off it to upload onto here. Just imagine a fantasy wild west full of monsters (although if you’re using this, I guess you’ve got the campaign frame to hand in the core book). Enjoy!

Introduction / Prologue

You have travelled many miles across the hills of the Caradondo Mountains – you’ve heard there’s a soul gem nearby, and your old ally Father Baltesar has gone forward to scout it, heading for the village of Andejoz, a small settlement high up in the hills.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

Scene One – Ill-met

You find Baltesar’s cart, tipped over, the Galapa sheltering inside it with Agatriz, a desert elf nomad, formerly of Andejoz. All is too quiet – roll backgrounds to find out what has happened. The cart has been attacked by the living dead – and they spill out to attack!

• A winding round up to the mountains, cold still air on your cheeks, a faint smell of death and rot
• A campfire has been hastily stamped out, and a tin teapot lies discarded by it
• A few dry trees crackle in the air, bleached white like bone

Agatriz – tan skin, well-built, sharp face with hair braided. Her leather armour is extremely well crafted – by herself, in fact. She collects secrets from people – and so knows all about the PCs from Baltesar’s tales.

She can tell you the fate of Andejoz, and what happened to the soul gem. The miners dug too fiercely and too deep, and awakened a gem deep in the mountains. Upon its discovery, hordes of monsters were released – the living dead, and huge creatures from before time. She barely escaped Andejoz – but, animated by the power of the gem, the villagers live on as spectres.

PCs	Opposition
3	3 Chaos Skulls, 2 Skeleton Warriors, 1 Horde of 3 Skeletal Dredges
4	3 Chaos Skulls, 3 Skeleton Warriors, 1 Horde of 8 Skeletal Dredges
5	4 Chaos Skulls, 4 Skeleton Warriors, 1 Horde of 5 Skeletal Dredges
6	4 Chaos Skulls, 5 Skeleton Warriors, 1 Horde of 12 Skeletal Dredges

Learn of the fate of Andejoz – destroyed by a Colossus, inhabitants still live and move around in spectral form. You must infiltrate it and find where the gem is.

Scene Two – Andejoz

You need to infiltrate the village – a Countdown task from 6. Each failed roll causes 2 Stress

A tight, cosy village nestled in a mountain path – one road in, one road out, lined with houses. Homesteads sit around it. Ghostly, spectral villagers go about their business.

• The smell of old ash and burning – the signs of devastation papered over. A chill across your skin – so many ghosts are nearby. The hubbub of a town, chattering, but somehow not quite right – the voices are too shrill and shallow

• The central square’s buildings are half-real, half-spectral; the results of the colossus attack. The farms, too, are burnt husks, the details filled in by ghosts.
• In the central square, a fire-and-brimstone preacher is holding forth – but he cannot mention any Gods by name, so the onlookers are bemused and heckling him

Some ghostly characters could be tricked to reveal the location of the mines – 

Ermeglio, a goblin astrologer, is loudly heckling the spectral preacher, Castellan – he suspects something is afoot, but will still be shocked to hear of his own death. He agrees to help the party if they will lay him to rest. He has a large scar on his arm (caused by the colossus), and is generally very obstinate, and a devoted atheist

Castellan, similarly, is confused by his situation. He worships an obscure god of fire, but cannot say his name – or indeed any name any other gods. He’s old and has no fear of death, but the prospect of hundreds of ghosts overrunning Andejoz will shock him.

Teresa is a bored teenager who sort-of remembers the colossus attacking, and is relieved that life is back to normal. She’ll latch on to any visitors, who she sees as ghosts, and ask them who they are and why they are haunting Andejoz.

If needed (such as a succession of failed rolls), or if you have time and want more of a challenge, a posse of spectral villagers can hunt the PCs at this point – a number of Spectral Guardians, armed with a range of villager-appropriate improvised weapons, equal to the number of PCs +1.

Scene Three – Into the Spectral Mines

They can find the mines beyond the village, in a hidden path that only appears if shown it by a villager. The mines radiate dark magic and have reality-warping powers; like the village, they are still overrun by miners. All kinds of monstrous creatures are trapped here, though, too.

Run this as a 13th-Age Style Montage.

Scene Four – final confrontation

Deep in the mines, you come across a huge chamber, a glowing gem twenty feet across at its centre. From it, a geometric cube and the final guardians emerge.

• The prickle of magic, a cloying warmth, the sound of spectral mining ongoing
• Scaffolding erected around the gem, miners hard hats and picks lying discarded in a heap at the foot of it
• The ground shakes and trembles as the gem throbs, bringing stones from the ceiling and making it feel like the chamber will collapse.

PCs	Opposition
3	Spectral Captain, 4 Spectral Guardians
4	Battle-Box, Spectral Captain, 3 Spectral Guardians
5	Battle-Box, 4 Spectral Guardians, 2 Chaos Skulls
6	Battle-Box, Spectral Captain, 4 Spectral Guardians, 2 Chaos Skulls