Beneath the Floors

For the past few sessions of my Swords & Wizardry Core Rules campaign, I have been weaving in incidents from the classic B Series Module B6: The Veiled Society. I have owned a copy of The Veiled Society since 1984 and I have always wanted to run it. But I have never had the chance. It was one of the first D&D city adventures and follows a unique for the time set of encounters rather than a dungeon map. In preparing to play it using S&W rules I found it was perhaps a little overly ambitious. The players have the option in the adventure of ending up working for either the good guys or joining the bad guys. Perhaps even working against each other.

I rewrote it a fair amount to fit my player's level and the game world we are playing in. I added in the local Harvest Festival. I also used its unique nature to gradually introduce the plot interspersed with other adventures the players were undertaking in the city. One thing I did is remove the handful of non-human monsters in the adventure and replaced them with humans. This made the module very scaleable and I felt it also made a lot more sense.

I also corrected what appeared to me to be a lot of holes in the plot. Why did the players have to track down two murderers when it seemed likely that the two men burying the dead Lady Lucia must be the murderers? The module notes even mention that the murderers were told to go back and hide the body. I just made it three murderers. One is reporting to the Veiled Society leadership (and will get into trouble later) while the other two are trying to bury the evidence.

This session was the first time the plot of The Veiled Society became the central plot of the game session.

Session 15: Beneath the Floors

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Sparky (Magic-user), Daen (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

The adventurers wake up on the first morning of the local Harvest Festival and little worse for wear. Lakima and Eathwund are still recovering from wounds received in Kardak’s Tomb. Starry the thief is nowhere to be seen [Another Party Thief goes missing - we have the worst luck with them]. Unsure of when they should proceed to the Festival Square and take their seats, Lakima asks the Huntley their servant. It turns out Huntley, who has lived in Edgerton his entire life, is a font of information. He tells them of the schedule of events and gives them some background on the origins and rules (there aren’t many) of the game of Castle.

Armed with this knowledge they leave immediately, a few hours after sunrise, for the Town Square. They stop first at Alayna’s Alchemy shop to pick her up for the event [callback to the Alchemist's Task adventure]. Alayna is enthusiastically decked out in Torenescu colors and confides in Lakima that she had a lot of money bet on Torenescu today.

Lakima, Alayna, Eathwund, and Daen take their seats and watch as the Priests of St. Cuthbert kick off the festival with the lighting of a brazier with the Everflame torch [callback to their Everflame adventure]. Then the Abbot and Brother Wakefield come to sit near the group. The Abbot inquires into Lakima and Eathwund’s sickly appearance. Lakima tells him about some adventures beneath the town. The Abbot listens with interest and then orders a few priests sitting nearby to cast Cure Light Wounds on the pair.

Not too far away in the stands, an apprentice magic-user enjoying a salted pretzel takes note of the three adventurers who are drawing stares from others as well. Eathwund and Daen clad in plate mail while trying to sit casually and Lakima’s glowing staff are quite a draw.

They sit and watch the coming procession of maidens into the square which is briefly delayed when an altercation occurs. A pair of men wearing Radu colors try to stop the Torenescu bodyguards of Lady Magda Torenescu from entering the square. Eventually, several men wearing Vorloi colors manage to diffuse the situation. The festival proceeds and the Abbot makes his excuses and leaves. The players watch a violent match of the local game of castle between the Radu and Torenescu teams. The Radu having hired a cohort of dock workers for their team attack with enthusiasm. But they are easily pushed back by the much more wiry men of the Torenescu team who appear to be enhanced in some manner. Alayna cheers happily from her seat in the stands. [Alayna was paid to make Giant Strength potions for key team members]. The Torenescu win but the crowd senses that they were cheating and there is a round of jeers and whistles. The next match between Longbardi and Farnoli is more balanced. During the match, they notice a middle-aged woman trying to force her way into the stands crying out for the Abbot. Since the Abbot has left, Brother Wakefield sighs and goes to investigate, stopping a town guard from dragging her off. The adventurers, Alayna, and the aforementioned apprentice magic-user also arrive on the scene.

Freed from the guardsman, the woman pleads with Brother Wakefield to see the abbot. She is terrified of voices in her cellar. At first, it was just rats but now she swears she hears voices speaking to her from the dark. Brother Wakefield, looks at the heroes and asks if they would mind checking it out and putting her mind at ease? The heroes volunteer at once. And the stranger who introduces himself as Sparky also volunteers. The woman, who tells them her name is Amelia, takes them away from the Harvest Festival games and out through the South Gate to the Old Mill part of town. She has a small cottage a short distance outside the town wall. She points out a trapdoor in the floor of her pantry but is too scared to investigate.

Daen opens the trapdoor and looks down into a dark cellar. Seeing a ladder he scrambles down. The cellar is stocked full of bags of produce stacked against the walls. They hear some scratching noises behind the south wall. Daen moves aside the bags of produce and sees a low tunnel at the base of the wall. All of the adventurers crawl through the hole into another cellar. Presumably under the building next door to the cottage. The room appears empty but a narrow passage heads south from the cellar. Daen tells them that the tunnel is not natural; it has been dug out by “amateurs”. They see the occasional rotten wood support beam holding up the mass of rock and dirt above them.

They continue south and enter another cellar. This cellar is full of charred debris. Blackened wooden posts sag under the weight of the rock above. As they move through the cellar they hear cackling laughter somewhere around them and each swears he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Just as Daen reaches the edge of the cellar, arms reach out of the debris below and knock him down. Three zombies pull themselves from the debris clutching at the heroes. Daen, Eathwund, and Sparky are attacked. The heroes are caught by surprise at first but then fight back strongly, Eathwund and Lakima kill one zombie, Sparky hits one with a Magic Missile and then clubs it down with his staff. Struggling to stand, Daen misses the zombie attacking him repeatedly before finally hitting it to the ground destroying it.

The heroes then quickly leave the cave and follow a tunnel further south. They enter yet another cellar. There is a large pile of dirt in this chamber, some wooden posts, shovels, and a wheel barrel. A ladder leads up to a trapdoor. As they slowly enter the cellar, a beam of light illuminates the room. The trapdoor above slowly opens. Everyone scatters to hide, as a man comes down the ladder. The man does not see them at first. They notice that he is wearing a dark blue hooded robe that completely covers his face. The man picks up a shovel and heads for an exit. Sparky is standing in the exit the man heads towards and the man shouts out in surprise, “What are you doing here?” Lakima immediately casts Charm Person and the man pauses, shakes his head, and then greets Lakima as a lifetime friend. He looks at the other adventurers with a puzzled expression. But Lakima convinces the man that they are here to help him.

Lakima questions the man who reveals he is a member of the Veiled Society. He doesn't know any other members by name or the leaders because everyone wears a hooded cloak when they meet. The tunnels have been used to smuggle contraband wine, lantern oil, and weapons into the town. In fact, he tells them there is a big cache of weapons in the warehouse above. But lately, they have really been expanding the tunnels north into the town. He does not know why but he would be happy to show them.

The unnamed cultist leads the adventurers north through more narrow tunnels past several intersections. The man leads them right to a wooden barricade across the passage blocking the way forward. He points at the wood barrier. “I am not supposed to go any further.” Sparky listens at the wall and hears voices talking about burying something deep so no one can find it. The adventurers huddle and decide with an aggressive plan.  Daen shoulders the barrier aside and he and Eathwund lead a charge into the cellar beyond. They see two men in the Veiled Society hooded cloaks digging what appears to be a grave. A white sheet covers a body on the floor. The cave is a mess of posts and wooden boards holding back the dirt.

The two men cry out in alarm and defend themselves with shovels. They prove to be competent fighters and push back the first exchange of attacks. Sparky casts Sleep on one of the thugs and the man groans and slumps to the ground. The other man yells at his compatriot in alarm calling him Akarios. Daen and Eathwund press the attack on the remaining thug. Meanwhile, the fighting breaks the spell on Lakima’s charmed friend. He shouts at Lakima and draws a dagger. Lakima casts Sleep on the unfortunate man who groans and collapses. In the cellar, the remaining thug leaps over the open grave and kicks his friends awake. Both men stand and defend themselves with shovels. But it is not enough. Several blows from Daen’s hammer and Sparky’s staff knock one man down and Eathwund runs the other man through with his sword.

With the fight over, everyone gathers in the cellar. They pull back the sheet and find the corpse of a young noblewoman who has been strangled. She is also splattered with blood, but it is not her own. Looking up they see a trapdoor above the ladder. Lakima tells Daen to check it out. The stout Dwarf grumbles but heads up the ladder and the top he pushes open the trapdoor. “It’s a closet,” he yells. He climbs up into the closet, there is light on the other side of the closet door. Everyone climbs up into the confining closet. They push open the door and see a kitchen. Windows look out over the river. They are definitely back inside the town walls.

As they discuss the situation they hear footsteps approaching. They spread out on either side of the door as an older manservant entered carrying a tray. He screams on seeing the four men in the kitchen, splattered with dirt and blood. The tray falls to the ground. The terrified servant tells them they are in the Fortunato estate. Fortunato is a member of the Vorloi family. But at the moment only his daughter Lucia is in the home. After some convincing, the adventurers send the servant to run and get the town guard. The adventurers wait patiently in the kitchen for the town guard. They are unable to find anything to eat. The guard arrives and after some convincing check out the cellar and the rest of the estate. There are signs of a struggle in a nearby entrance and the body is identified as that of Lucia Vorloi. A sergeant of the guard arrives who has met the adventurers before. He clears them of any wrongdoing but insists they join him before a magistrate to give a statement.

They head to the magistrate's office near the castle. The Harvest Festival games are over. They hear that Torenescu won. The magistrate takes their statement and on the recommendation of the sergeant asks them to investigate. They learn that Lady Lucia and recently rebuffed the advances of Stephanos Torenescu publicly in humiliating fashion. The adventurers tell the magistrate they will investigate, “Tomorrow”. On their way back to their home in the early evening Lakima purchases some flowers for Alayna and stops at here shop. She is hosting a party for Torenescu supporters but thanks him. 

Finding that they gave the servants the day off, the adventurers head over to a crowded Dancing Dragon Inn. Over dinner, they note an undercurrent of anger directed against the Torenescu family. Everyone agrees they cheated at the games, whether the person is angry at this or not depends on how they wagered. As the news of Lady Lucia’s murder starts to circulate the anger grows and people openly talk about getting Stepahnos Torenescu and making him pay.

The adventurers head back to their home for the night ready to continue the investigation the next day.