The Day Urda Sank: On Alien Tides

Welcome, dear Guest!

The day Urda Sank is a three-arc pulp horror scenario in which Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen counter the vile plot of Deep Ones and their alien deities wishing to submerge the world under a catastrophic flood. Each arc of this adventure should take one gaming session, but if you have a spare day (or, even better, a night) you can invite your friends for a gaming marathon and complete the entire story during one long play. What I have for you today is the second part – On Alien Tides, an adventure taking place in a northbound, chased by a kraken submarine full of spies. Have a good read!

By the way: this week is Technology Week on Steamagination’s Facebook. It means that every day I’ll post there an awesome gadget for Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen. When the week is through I’ll collect them in one post and show here as well. Why technology? On Alien Tides is mostly about cool steampunk technologies – submarines, airships and even time machines.

 

On Alien Tides

The First Arc

Plot overview

Our second arc begins just after Our Ladies and Gentlemen have defeated – or, Goddess forbid, have been defeated by – the mysterious Messenger possessing the body of a wicked, mutated halfling godmother. Remind your players what happened so far and then show them the fate of Lyonesse.

 

Did the doom come?

This fate depends on the results of two conflicts from the last session – a combat with the kraken as well as the final showdown against The Messenger.

If the kraken won, most of Lyonesse is currently under water and the city is being evacuated. If The Messenger also won all the halflings from scyllas got transformed into Deep Ones and now these small piscine creatures sabotage the evacuation.

If the kraken lost but The Messenger won the Lyonesse is being flooded by the river Tetera, but it isn’t even half as dangerous as the sea would be. Only the riverside districts will be underwater.

Finally if Our Ladies and Gentlemen won both conflicts the city is saved thanks to them! They clearly deserve an additional token at the beginning of this session.

And what happened to The Messenger? Thankfully such alien beings can’t remain in this mortal coil for long. Even if it won it had to retreat to its alien dimension just after the ritual was completed. Any Lady or Gentleman trained in occultism feels that this evil presence wanes and disappears from Lyonesse.

 

The League of… well, you-know-who.

Indeed it is time to feel like classy, unstoppable heroes.

Let the session begin with something awesome: an airship! Just as Our Ladies and Gentlemen leave the Tall Tom a rope ladder falls to the ground next to them. The ladder leads to an impressive airship in Alfheim national colours and our old friend, lieutenant Griffin, waves at the PCs from the top of this ladder to invite them to this flying wonder.

Inside they meet not only the lieutenant, but also duchess Aethylswith Fatestring of Velvetmoor, a beautiful Elven aristocrat known to be a distant relative of Queen Tytania. The duchess of Velvetmoor introduces herself to be a member of country’s intelligence (without any details of her exact post) and informs the PCs that the expedition to the North Pole is ready to depart – only its leaders, Our Ladies and Gentlemen, are being awaited. Well, they weren’t aware that they are leaders of anything, but they agreed to help the government, didn’t they? Besides, who on Urda would refuse to take part in such an adventure?

The duchess gives following instructions and explanations: the North Pole is surrounded by a savage storm so the expedition has to travel in a submarine! This vehicle was built for such emergencies below the riverbank of Tetera and right now it emerges at the harbour, waiting for Our Ladies and Gentlemen. It is crewed by two dozens of trusted (but not trustworthy, as we’ll soon see) mariners. The submarine wasn’t christened yet – it’s up to the PCs to choose its name.

When the conversation ends the airship is already above the docks. The submarine emerges, but it’s far from being safe…

 

Men against fish!

Our dear antagonists, the Deep Ones

The machine emerges surrounded by vicious Deep Ones trying to pierce the hull with metal-sharp coral weapons! Our Ladies and Gentlemen swiftly descend the rope ladder with lieutenant Griffin and are almost pulled into the tower of the submarine by one of the crew. There is no time for introductions, first and foremost the expedition has to escape the Deep Ones!

These creatures are too numerous to be defeated – especially that the submarine, while fast and well-armoured, isn’t heavily armed. Escaping is the only option, but escaping in a submarine from a horde of Deep Ones is very, very different from a typical chase.

First and foremost, the players can choose their role in this vehicle:

The pilot: the person who sails the submarine. He is the only one who can attack using drive. He gains the gadget traits of the submarine: endurance in chases +4, drive +3, with a raise: it takes an extra challenge marker in a chase. However, when the pilot is finished the entire confrontation is lost. If none of the PCs wants to be the pilot the submarine has 3 challenge markers and endurance 16 but it doesn’t get an initiative card.

A gunner: a person operating one of light guns mounted in the submarine. The gun adds +3 to firearms and allows to shoot during chases with no penalties.

Outside help: somebody who fights the Deep Ones from outside the submarine. As long as the vehicle isn’t submerged he can simply stand on the hull but once it goes underwater he has to wear a special mask that supplies him with oxygen from the submarine. A successful aimed attack at this mask causes daze and can be an undeclared finisher.

Inside help: somebody who maintains the engines, coordinates the crew, sets the course etc. such Ladies and Gentlemen count as backup [Wolsung, p. 135].

The adversaries also don’t work as usual. The Deep Ones can either be chasing or sabotaging the submarine. At the beginning of the conflict four Deep Ones are chasing and one is sabotaging (add an additional saboteur if the halflings got changed into Deep Ones during the last session).

When they chase the submarine they count as extras (each of them rolls 1d10 and one attack is enough to finish them) and they can’t take any challenge markers from the submarine. They can be attacked only by the pilot, gunners and, if the submarine isn’t underwater, the outside help using firearms. However when a Deep One hits the submarine with an attack it approaches it and begins the sabotage. When they sabotage the submarine they have their full dice pool and three challenge markers. They make attacks against submarine’s (or pilot’s) endurance with their 9/8+ chase skill or against the outside help with their 6/9+ combat skills. They can be attacked by the outside help at close range and by the gunners.

As long as there are any Deep Ones two new ones appear every round, chasing the submarine.

To add a little fun to this conflict you may ask at the most dramatic moment: “so, after all, how will you christen this submarine” and if any of the players comes up with a cool name reward him with a token.

Miss Stanuton is already preparing for a little sabotage in the finale of this arc.

If Our Ladies and Gentlemen win, the submarine swiftly overtakes the Deep Ones and leaves Lyonesse safely. If they lost, the submarine is severely damaged – it loses all its gadget traits, the guns don’t work anymore and a lot of oxygen is lost, so everybody has to pass a TN 20 athletics test or lose a point of Constitution. However, they still are at the open sea.

 

Twenty Thousand Problems Under The Sea

As soon as the chase ends Our Ladies and Gentlemen finally can become acquainted with their crew. It consists mostly of trolls and ogres, looking strong and steady. Players won’t learn this now, but three quarters of the crew are foreign agents – one third for Slavia and Hrimthorst as well as one extremely dangerous spy from Jotunheim. Those from Jotun and Hrimthorst are agents of their governments while the Slavians are members of Sons of Piastun, an underground organisation believing that killing another dragon may lift the curse bestowed on Slawia by dying Cinder.

The captain of this submarine is sir John Dimster, an ogre. His real name is Jorgen Dahl and he is the leader of Hrimthorst group. His second-in-command is Peter Cor, in fact Piotr Koryski, a Son of Piastun. He pilots the submarine unless one of Our Ladies and Gentlemen choose to replace him. The submarine’s chief engineer is miss Staunton (in fact Skovgaard), the lone agent of Jotunheim.

How did these traitors get there? Well, they really are the best people their counties could have sent and the expedition was organised in such hurry that it wasn’t difficult to infiltrate it.

Right now they faithfully obey Our Ladies and Gentlemen’s commands. Their treachery will be the climax of this arc. Right now the expedition has other troubles…

 

The madness of Iron Maiden

Torburg, the capital of the Monastic Order.

After a few hours of sailing the navigator notices another, smaller submarine, only partially submerged. It sends signals ordering our expedition to go back at once in the name of the Monastic Order of Knights of Our Lady of Iron. When Our Ladies and Gentlemen refuse to carry this order out, they are asked to resurface and listen to the Monastic Knights for they have a warning so important that it can’t be delivered through a crystalograph.

The sea surface is stormy and very dangerous so the conversation has to be very brief. Our Ladies and Gentlemen are greeted by Master Sigmar Eisensturm, the leader of Order’s expedition. He is formal but not hostile and becomes nearly friendly if the PCs explain that they want to stop the disaster at the North Pole. He then thinks for a moment, declares that “the strategy of cooperation is calculated to be more beneficial” and reveals the purpose of his expedition: the submarine is a part of Fleet of Time, sent here to reverse the catastrophe when it threatens entire Urda. How? Well, it’s the most brilliant idea given by the Iron Maiden to her faithful servants: the Fleet can record a moment in time over a huge territory – like the Arctic – and then reverse this territory to the recorded moment. Sounds crazy? Even Sigmar Eisensturm has to admit that “imperfect mortal technology” of his order is not enough to conduct such an endeavour safely and that the time continuity of Urda will probably be damaged in unpredictable ways. However, he considers this risk to be “rationally justified” for the good of the entire world and, in particular, the Monastic Order.

Sigmar was preparing to use the Fleet of Time in few hours but our expedition gave him hope (“a new promising variable”) that such a dangerous manipulation might not be necessary. He offers to give Our Ladies and Gentlemen time and launch his device after two days. The PCs might not like the very idea, but they don’t have a choice because it isn’t the only ship – if they sabotage it, they won’t stop the entire operation, only make it even more unstable and catastrophic.

What’s the point behind this scene? Well, I want to be sure that Our Ladies and Gentlemen’s actions affect the future of Urda. If they lose at the North Pole, they’ll die and the whole world will be doomed – doesn’t sound like a good point to start a new campaign unless you like Victorian post-apocalypse. However, if after PCs’ defeat the Order will use their Fleet of Time, Urda will be even more playable then ever – saved from being flooded, but corrupted in more subtle ways. Villains may become heroes and vice versa and the facts from the core rulebook may no longer be facts at all.

Of course this isn’t the end of the expedition. On Thursday I’ll post here the last episodes from the submarine while the final showdown on the North Pole will be ready before this week is out. Beware!

 

 

The Day Urda Sank: The doom that came to Lyonesse

Welcome, dear Guest!

The day Urda Sank is a three-arc pulp horror scenario in which Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen counter the vile plot of Deep Ones and their alien deities wishing to submerge the world under a catastrophic flood. Each arc of this adventure should take one gaming session, but if you have a spare day (or, even better, a night) you can invite your friends for a gaming marathon and complete the entire story during one long play. What I have for you today is the first part – The doom that came to Lyonesse, an urban adventure about krakens, vile bargains and families with unspeakable secrets. Have a good read!

 

The Day Urda Sank – part one: the doom that came to Lyonesse

It’s quite possible tha Our Ladies and Gentlemen are already preparing a polar expedition…

This story begins when Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen are walking down a street in Uldport – an old and respectable  district of Lyonesse. The newspapers are full of sensational news about storms raging around the North Pole and wildest speculations on what is happening. Your players are probably eager to investigate this matter but before they manage to plan an arctic expedition a radio message captivates their attention:

Warning! Warning! The sea level is dangerously rising! Newport docks could be flooded at any moment! Every person capable of physical work is asked to help in the construction of the dike! Every Lady or Gentleman is asked to help in overseeing the construction! Once again: Newport will soon be flooded!

 

Between the hammer and the anvil

After getting to Newport the PCs see simple men and women of all races carrying bags of sand and putting them on the dike. Humans are working alongside orcs and halfings looking like gangsters, everybody is united to save their city. Of course the members of the upper class don’t work themselves, but they coordinate others’ efforts.

Give Our Ladies and Gentlemen a moment to help the workers. If they work physically, the morale of ordinary people will be boosted (giving each player a token) but handwork is a minor scandal for Ladies and Gentlemen. They can also meet the leader of the whole operation – lieutenant Henry Griffin, an aging human. He explains that the rising tide was observed in Everness in Caledonia about three hours ago and now it reaches Lyonesse.

Then, suddenly, a giant tentacle pierces through the dike and tries to snatch one of the PCs! A Kraken!, shouts one of the halfings, and most of the workers flee – leaving the dike unfinished. What’s worse, some halfings draw their luparas and begin to shoot – not at the Kraken, at the PCs!

Time for a combat! The PCs’ enemies are three halfing gangsters (treat them as bruisers with firearms 9/9+) and the Kraken (see Giant Squid in the rulebook). The stake is the dike – if the PCs win, it survives, if not, it doesn’t and Newport is flooded. Players may suggest some additional stake – for example, capturing and interrogating the halfings against losing a gadget. Remember that Kraken is in the water so the PCs can attack him at close range only if they enter the water too (-3 to all tests without swimming equipment) or if they delay an action to attack his tentacles when he attacks them (he can’t be finished this way).

If PCs lose, they should help with Newport’s evacuation – it takes an athletics TN 15  test to offer a significant help and regain a token or Reputation point. Failure costs a point of Constitution.

 

Treacherous little pasta-eaters!

No matter what the result of the combat was Lieutentant Griffin is still here, impressed by Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen’ bravery. He asks them if they would like to help the government in investigating the mysterious incidents around the North Pole that surely are connected to the unnatural flood. If they agree – and who would say no? – he leaves in a great hurry to discuss this with his superiors.

He doesn’t want them to accompany him because the situation is still dangerous there’s something important that they must do: the betrayal of the halfings and the very appearance of the Kraken suggests that halfing families also have something to do with the flood. He asks the PCs to investigate for the glory of Alfheim. I hope they’ll agree – if they won’t you could remind them that halfings allied with a Kraken to kill them.

Below are the most probable trails that Our Ladies and Gentlemen can follow. Although I don’t repeat information written before most of them can be pursued independently.

 

That’s how most people imagine Profondia family. And they are right.

The traitors: if they caught the halfings, they can interrogate them. If they didn’t, they may look for them now – it takes a TN 15 notice or streetwise test to find them and an opposite test of any well-explained skill to catch them. They are genuinely sorry about what happened but they simply had to betray Lyonesse: their godmother Electra Vendetta (a TN 15 streetwise roll reveals that until recently the godmother was Bianca, Electra’s mother) explained them that if they won’t do this the city will be destroyed anyway while allying with the invaders will allow her to safe their family. They don’t know much more but they have heard that Bianca Vendetta has recently met with infamous Nunzia Profondia, godmother of the most brutal and dreaded scylla in Lyonesse.

 

Contacts and knowledge: a PC trained in streetwise can make a TN 15 roll to remember that he heard about a recent unrest among halfings. A raise allows him to recall that the Profondia family was very active lately and that they arranged meetings with godmothers of most other families. This family doesn’t live in Quirnale (“Little Scylla”), but in the suburban fishing village of Old Ipswich. With two raises he knows that Nunzia Profondia never shows in public and is said to be stuck with a rare and deforming disease. Almost every member of her family is slightly deformed, but she is the most monstrous. A halfing can make this test using common knowledge.

 

Home of the halfings: Quirnale is a district openly called “Little Scylla” and (less openly) ruled by three powerful scyllas: Vendetta, Chiaramonte and Fumadore. Right now it’s the most dangerous part of Lyonesse (save for Newport if PCs failed). People have heard about halfings’ treachery at the dike and a mob of angry men is assaulting the rich villa of Vendetta family – the only one to keep its base of operations public. The PCs can help in the assault (firearms, brawl or expression TN 15 to succeed) or sneak into the villa (stealth or streetwise TN 15) but they won’t find anyone important inside – only low-level criminals. One of halfing gangsters, seeming genuinely sorry about what is happening will explain to them that Electra Vendetta, the daughter of Bianca, has taken control of the scylla and imprisoned her mother in Frutti di Miramare, family’s restaurant.

The restaurant is closed and guarded by well-trained ogres and halfings disguised as cooks (use bruiser stats [p. 506] with the competent ability, and, in case of halfings, firearms 9/10+). Getting there requires a good diversion or at least an opposite roll of some combat- or stealth-related skill.

The main hall of the restaurant looks repulsive (Fear TN 15) – a young halfing woman (Electra) is preparing some kind of unholy rite, pouring blood from small vials onto the walls and inscribing strange symbols into it. Another, much older witch is floating in a huge aquarium in the center of the room, seeming asleep but alive.

Electra is not a heartless villain, but a likeable rogue desperately wanting to save her family. When Our Ladies and Gentlemen arrive, she asks them to leave Lyonesse and start a new life somewhere far from the sea. She won’t explain why, but a players can start a discussion to change her attitude. They can, for example, persuade her that together they have a chance to save the city or convince that honourable death is still better than allying with krakens against humanity.

If they win, she’ll tell them that Nunzia Profondia, that terribly deformed godmother became possessed by some alien entity calling itself “The Messenger” who knew about the coming flood and promised to save other scyllas if they help to destroy Lyonesse. A striking feeling of superiority and power surrounds the possessed godmother and none of the other halfing witches even considered saying “no”, save for Bianca Vendetta who had to be silenced by her own daughter before “The Messenger” does the same in much more brutal way. Electra says that the blood she poured in this room is taken from the members of her family and that she needed this blood to connect them with a ritual that Nunzia is going to perform on the top of Tall Tom, the clock tower of Alfish parliament. A ritual that was to change the bodies of the halfings so that they could survive when the world changes… the world? Yes, says Electra. This flood is meant to overrun most of Urda’s lands with water.

There is no time to lose! Let’s head to the clock tower!

 

A rotten village: alternatively Our Ladies and Gentlemen can investigate Old Ipswich instead of Quirnalle. This old, fishing village on the suburbs of Lyonesse smells of rotten wood and the sea, but there’s something wrong in it. Our Ladies and Gentlemen are watched distrustfully by murky-eyed, sickly people who show no respect to visitors of noble standing and don’t want to talk with them. Asking about Nunzia Profondia makes them openly hostile (but not aggressive) and a TN 20 test of a social skill is needed to make them reveal the location of Profundia house – an inconspicuous building standing by the sea.

There is no one in there, but when the PCs are near to this house they can make a TN 15 spot test to notice that they are being watched from the shadows by two halfings and an ogre. When they notice that they are discovered, they begin to run! What’s more, the Mist begins to flow through the streets of Old Ipswich. It’s denser than usual and terrible things can be seen out of the corner of one’s eye.

It’s a chase against the three gangsters. The mist causes difficult conditions for Our Ladies and Gentlemen, but not for the shady members of Profondia family. Additionally any PC with clubs (§) as his initiative card notices something scary in the fog – a silhouette of an alien being, a hazy non-Euclidean landscape and so on – and that forces him to make a TN 15 Fear check.

The gangsters are no match for Our Ladies and Gentlemen, co they are caught no matter who wins the conflict. However, if PCs lose one of the haflings gets away and warns Nunzia. Anyway at least two of them are captured. They are a very unsettling sight – with murky eyes, peeling skin, strangely sharp teeth and slurred they seem very piscine. Luckily they are also very stupid and while they don’t want to cooperate it won’t be difficult to trick them into revealing where Nunzia is: in Tall Tom! If Our Ladies and Gentlemen won’t trick them into revealing that you can simply decide that after some time the ogre says that because he believes that it’s already too late to do anything.

 

Finale: The Ogress!

No one can enter Tall Tom today – it’s an order of Ronald Rowen, the curator of this historical monument. There is a very faithful guard at the door and sneaking past him or convincing him to let anyone enter requires a TN 20 test of an appropriate skill. If the test won’t be successful the PCs can, of course, break into Tall Tom but this will warn Nunzia.

Her ritual takes place just behind the clock face, in an old and powerful nexus. Nunzia Profondia, with distant stars in her eyes, stands in the middle of a glyph composed of thin, intertwining curves that seemingly defy the laws of geometry. Four halfings bow before her, their hands inscribed with similarly enigmatic carvings. In the corner of the room stands “Ronald Rowen” – in fact a Deep One wearing Rowen’s skin thanks to his race’s alien technology.

But what was this ritual for? Well, it depends. If the PCs stopped the Kraken, Nunzia tried to elevate the level of Tetera river. If they failed and Lyonesse is sinking, the Ogress wants to fulfil her promise and change halfings into Deep Ones so that they can survive underwater.

When PCs reach the room, Nunzia greets them with a deep, echoing voice. Her eyes, black orbs looking like a starscape from the edge of the universe, chill Our Ladies and Gentlemen with cosmic void, but they are not the strangest thing about the godmother. First and foremost she’s an ogress. Yes! – a female ogre, probably the only one in the world for only the corruption as vile as this running in Profundia family’s veins could cause the birth of such a strange creature. Nunzia, or rather “The Messenger”, seems amused by PCs arrival and their astonishment. It congratulates them on getting so far and asks them to join its cause for they would make a perfect Deep Ones leaders.

This offer is absolutely unthinkable for any Lady or Gentlemen, but it doesn’t mean that they must refuse at once. This final conflict can be played both as a fierce combat against the powerful being or a discussion in which the PCs try to outsmart or simply distract the strange entity. If they attack, a Deep One tears through Rowan’s skin and helps The Messenger in combat.

The stakes for a combat are quite obvious: if the PCs win, the ritual is interrupted and The Messenger leaves Nunzia’s body, if they lose it pushes them out of the clock tower and finishes the unholy rite. In a discussion your players may be a bit more creative: maybe they want to bluff the creature into believing that they want to join in, take part in the ritual and then interrupt it? Or maybe they want the halfings to rebel against this alien demon? Or their plan is simply to talk so long that the ritual won’t be finished in time? Anyway if they lose a discussion The Messenger learns their True Names! Now it can do almost anything with them and it uses this power to make them run away from the tower. What’s more it will surely use these Names the next time it meets Our Ladies and Gentlemen.

 

Aftermath

It’s best to finish the first session just after the conflict with The Messenger. It will be more dramatic that way. What’s more, when you explain what happened next at the beginning of the next session you’ll make sure that your players remember and understand the whole plot. Because of this the aftermath of The doom that came to Lyonesse will be described at the beginning of On Alien Tides – the next arc of our adventure, taking place in the submarine that takes Our Ladies and Gentlemen to the North Pole. This arc will appear on Monday.

 

Stats of NPCs and monsters

Most enemies faced by Our Ladies and Gentlemen use stats from the core rulebook without major changes. Some, however, require more attention:

Electra Vendetta uses the stats of Ophelia Drakmoore (p. 496), but she hasn’t got the elven racial traits. Instead she uses spells: missle (with firearms 12/9+), suggestion and telekinesis. Additionally, as a halfing witch she gains a token every time somebody rolls a fumble during a conflict with her.

The members of Profondia family from Old Ipswich use much upgraded stats od slyboots (p. 507). Not only each of them is competent but each also has one challenge marker so that they can endure one attack before being finished. They still have a dice pool of 1d10 each but they don’t count as extras and thus the whole group can’t be finished in a single attack.

Nunzia Profondia (that is, “The Messanger” possessing her body) has the stats of a demon (p. 475). Its powers are smite, shield, illusion and temptation while its spells are boost power (smite, shield), dispel magic and reflect magic. It uses occultism 12/8+ to activate there powers. Smite and shield manifest as a swirling mass of faces that both protect The Messanger and bite those around it. Additionally this being has one powerful ability: when its opponent is using a card it may spend a token to make this card add a penalty to the test instead of a bonus (so, for example, an ace lowers the result by 5 instead of increasing it). Jokers are immune to the effects of this ability. The Messanger can do such incredible things because it is a being from a dimension so alien that its presence alone makes everything work wrong.

 

 

The Day Urda Sank: an introduction

Welcome, dear Guest!

I must confess that I’m very, very ashamed about how Steamagination stopped during the last two months. My exams were over, but first I got ill and then I moved to Warsaw so I had less time to write about Wolsung. Today I begin to redeem my indolence.

The first step to my redemption is giving you an epic scenario that could change the face of Urda. The day Urda sank is a three-arc adventure in which Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen will face the terrible threat of the Deep Ones trying to flood the civilized world using their vile magic, the power of their god-ruler Dagon and a captured dragon. Yes, a dragon – namely Migardorm, the long-lost wyrm of Jotun dynasty.

Additionally I’ve created Steamagination’s FB fanpage. Follow me there for small daily giveaways related to The day Urda sank – this week I’m posting various accessories for the PCs related to the Lovecraftian inspirations of this adventure. If you don’t use FB, don’t worry – I’ll regularly collect these giveaways in a single article and post them here.

What I have for you today is an overview of the entire adventure. Its first arc, taking place in Lyonesse and centering around a halfing scylla with a terrible aeons-old mystery, will appear here on Thursday. Beware!

 

The tentacled threat

A Dagon cultist from the rulebook. I didn’t inserted Cthulhu into Wolsung, it has always been there.

You may wonder, dear reader, what are you reading – is it an adventure for Wolsung or for Call of Cthulhu? Do not worry – The day Urda sank is as steampulp as an adventure can be. It uses the eldritch abominations invented by H. P. Lovecraft, but it gives your players much more strength to oppose their blasphemous schemes and prevail unscratched – on mind and body. As you’ll soon see, Wolsung is a perfect game for Lovecraft-inspired pulp horror.

 

The backstory

The Deep Ones have plotted for centuries to conquer Urda and slaughter the surface-dwelling races. They are numerous, powerful and armed with deadly weapons unknown to the Eight Races. Their only problem is that they are much weaker outside of water – in order to conquer Urda they have to sink it.

Long have they sought for an opportunity to do this and finally they found a solution – a dragon! Deep Ones’ scouts found Skellbriger, the Jotun dynasty’s sword of coronation that lied on the seafloor for centuries since the ship carrying it sank. The high priests of the Deep Ones used Skellbriger to summon Migardorm, the sea dragon that once served the Jotuns and ordered him to melt the icecap on the north pole, thus raising the sea level and sinking most of Urda’s cities!

A savage storm begins to rage over the arctic region and governments don’t know what to do – only Jotunheim and Hrimthorst know what is really happening but they don’t want to warn anybody fearing that “their” dragon could get killed. The Monastic Order also suspects something, so the Iron Maiden sends North a fleet of submarines with ultra-modern technology able to undo the damage that will soon be done to the world.

 

Plot overview

For our Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen this adventure begins in Lyonesse. The city slowly begins to sink, but the real problem are halfing gangsters who thwart every attempt to stop the flood or evacuate the civilians with the help of a kraken. It turns out that Nunzia Profonda, a powerful godmother has been an incarnation of an ancient entity who knows about Deep Ones’ plan and wants them to succeed. In the meantime the government offers the players a submarine with which they could reach the North Pole and investigate what’s happening there.

The setting for The Day Urda Sank – northern lands and seas of Vanadia

The northbound journey is very, very eventful. First and foremost the kraken still lurks in the sea, ready to crush the submarine. Then the expedition encounters agents of the Monastic Order who are preparing to use a bizarre technology related to time travel to reverse the coming doom. This is a mad, reckless plan it’s up to Our Ladies and Gentlemen if they allow the Monastic Knights to conduct such an experiment.

The final revelation comes just before landing at the North Pole: it turns out that the submarine is infiltrated by spies from Jotunheim, Hrimthorst and Slavia! Each of these countries have their own business and making them work for the PCs will take a lot of effort. On the upper side Our Ladies and Gentlemen will then learn about the theft of Skellbriger and thus could prepare for the dragon.

The passage through melting Arctic is extremely hard even though some locals are willing to help. Finally our expedition reaches the North Pole and has a chance of stopping the ritual. They have an entire army of Deep Ones, Father Dagon and Migardorn against them, but Extraordinary Ladies and Gentlemen might be able to gain upper hand even in such dire straits. If not, at least their sacrifice will slow the Deep Ones’ schemes.