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Missing in Battersea: A Five-Node Mystery for Maze Rats

The kids have been settling into a steady diet of murderhoboism, so I wanted to get them investigating and interacting a bit more. I pulled a slightly undercooked adventure out of a collection of Five Room Dungeons, and reworked it as a Five Node Mystery.

The original adventure: The Nobleman's Daughter
Five Room Dungeon
Five Node Mysteries by the Alexandrian
The system: Maze Rats, 2nd Edition
Assisted by Adventuresmith for Android

I hadn't really paid much attention to Maze Rats as a game, until today. I was a little miffed that the 2nd Edition departed so much from its Into the Odd roots, and had bought the pdf just for the random tables. But it's a great little game, and I'll want to play it again. Perfect for a spontaneous Saturday afternoon.

Here's the resultant adventure:



In the seaside town of Battersea, the PCs have two different job offers: One from Lord Cazalet, whose daughter is missing, and one from the merchant Geraldo Luxurioso, whose ship has been stolen by pirates. A rival party is eavesdropping and will go to whichever job the PCs don’t choose.

The Rival Party
These guys will cause trouble whenever their investigations crosses paths with the PCs.

Jiles Relish. Filthy, grey hair. Snob, slacker. Wears a thick, old, smelly bearskin cloak.
HP: 4. Attack: +1. Armor: 7.
Hunting Bow, Etched Glaive (+1 dam). Pickaxe, pliers, beartrap.
Godwin Beetleman. Handsome, dark skinned. Gossip, sophist. Dressed in studded leather over goldenrod robes.
HP: 3. Attack +1. Armor: 8.
Spiked club, shield.
Ursula Calaver. Disfigured: 3 extra eyes arrayed on her forehead, one on the back of each hand. Suspicious, misanthropic, arrogant.
Dressed in bright red dress with a black cape.
HP: 5. Armor: 6.
Pet rat.
Spell: Blazing Nightmare: Turn pet rat into giant flaming rat (Health: 2d; successful attack may catch you on fire).
Elsbeth Erelong. Pierced, gaunt, refined, playful. Dressed in soft, grey, hooded cloak.
HP: 4. Armor: 6.
Knife, dart gun. Wire, acid.
Skill: Shadowjack.

Location 1: Castle Cazalet
Lady Calindy, the daughter of Lord Cazalet, has been kidnapped!
Clue 1: She went shopping at the Market, and hasn’t returned. This was a week ago.
Clue 2: In her room is a love letter from Peregrine, the son of Geraldo Luxurioso, a wealthy and well-respected merchant.
Clue 3: She was studying elementary magic at the Wizards Academy, and should be able to send a simple message back to her parents, unless something terrible has happened.
Clue 4: In her room: notes on the late hermit-wizard Porphyrius.

Location 2: Luxurioso’s Merchant Palace.
My ship, the Blue Monkey, has been stolen! Oh, also my son is missing.
Clue 1: Peregrine had a big atlas, creased to pages with maps of the Dragon Islands, and a letter of lease on a small, almost valueless island, Porphyrius’ Isle.
Clue 2: Peregrine failed his entrance to the Wizard’s Academy. He turned instead to sailing.
Clue 3: Peregrine works at his father’s stalls in the Market and was about to take over captaining one of his father’s merchant ships, The Blue Monkey.
Clue 4: A half-finished love poem to Lady Calindy. It is terrible.

Location 3: The Marketplace
Clue 1: The Blue Monkey was stolen! By pirates? No one has seen pirates in these parts since The King increased sea patrols, months ago.
Clue 2: Lady Calindy comes to the Market to buy very peculiar items—a bottle of widow’s tears, pickled newt’s eyes, firedrake toenail clippings—maybe spell ingredients? This time, she was buying special onyx ash and alabaster smoke (which are used for summoning).
Clue 3: She always spent a lot of time at the stalls of Geraldo Luxurioso, although she rarely bought from them.
Clue 4: Geraldo Luxurioso’s stalls are selling textiles from the Dragon Islands, which Peregrine brought back from his first merchant-voyage.
Clue 5: Geraldo often left the stall early and headed off towards the Wizard Academy—right about when the students would get out of classes in the early evening.

Location 4: The Wizard’s Academy
Conflict: Accidental Monster rampaging through Academy after summoning mishap.
Amberclaw. Armor 8. Health 3d. Lobster-shaped, made of translucent amber. At its center swirls what looks like blobs of black oil. The lobster’s mouth produces a froth of colorful bubbles. Each round, 1d10 bubbles float out and turn whatever they touch into amber. Save means only inanimate objects, like clothes, are turned. The amberclaw does not speak, but can understand tone of voice, and is susceptible to flattery.
Clue 1: Calindy was a powerful prodigy, who had quickly advanced to the highest level spell casting.
Clue 2: Summoning spells can easily go wrong, but you can undo them by subduing the monster and pouring iron salt over the summoning circle. Once it is used up on the amberclaw, an apprentice will be sent down to the Market to buy more.
Clue 3: Although Peregrine failed to enter the Academy, he was often seen lingering outside its doors, in the early evening.
Clue 4: Porphyrius was a master of summoning imps, and although he lived alone in the Dragon Isles, he was well cared for by dozens of imp servants.

Location 5: Porphyrius’ Cottage, The Dragon Islands
On a rocky, largely barren little isle about 5 miles from the main island. The only safe place to dock is a cove. Tucked into the cove is the Blue Monkey (and possible a second boat—belonging to the rival party). The only way out of the cove is a stone tunnel. Tunnel leads to barred door. An imp will demand to see an invitation. It is illiterate, impatient, and obstinate.

Past door are spiral stairs that go up cliff. The rival party may ambush, here.

At the top of the cliffs the PCs will find a little stone cottage. Here Peregrine and Lady Calindy have chosen to live in quiet exile, tended by imp servants.

If pressed to go home, Lady Calindy will attempt to summon an enforcer, but it will go wrong, and bring up too-dangerous a demon.

Demon Hruff the Thrasher. Three goat heads, six arms, 12’ tall. Breathes out blue flame (no damage, just spooky). Speak in strange syllables. Shadow shields float around it.
HP: 5d. Attack: +2. Armor: 9. Wields a flail or fire, a flail of ice, and a flail of shadow.

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