Five Minute Fortunes 4 - Black Death

The petals of the Black Lotus are worth a fortune, but within this beautiful flower lurks instant death...

This is the fourth in the series of Five Minute Fortunes, and it is set within a cavern, which is home to the deadly Black Lotus flower. The scenario can be placed anywhere; into an existing wilderness campaign, within a dungeon environment or cavern system, deep in the heart of a large forest or jungle environment, etc. It can be easily adapted by the GM to fit anywhere, or can be used alone. It is a highly deadly little scenario, which has the potential to quietly and easily wipe out the entire party, so utmost caution is required! The GM can obviously tame this scenario down to make it a little less deadly if he so desires, but hey, why not make it deadly? It's a risky business!

GM Introduction

Wherever the GM decides to place the scenario, he should begin with a simple introduction to lead the player characters towards the cavern. A short example introduction follows. Alter it to fit into your game as appropriate, or ignore it completely:

"As you progress, the temperature rises rapidly, and you all begin to feel uncomfortable in your armour. Underfoot, the ground has become spongy, and vivid green moss appears in large patches across the soft earth. Here and there, small flowers appear from the myriad ferns and mosses, which cover the ground. The flowers are unusual and none of you have ever seen them before. (GM - if you use Lore skills in your games, this may be a time to call for a roll to successfully realise that these flowers are only ever seen in areas where the infamous Black Lotus flower grows. If you don't use skills, you could call for an IQ throw at your discretion, maximum level three)

As you progress, a cave entrance can be seen through the trees. The opening is almost completely hidden by vine growth, and yet more of the unusual but stunningly beautiful flowers can be seen. Approaching the cave mouth, you are horrified to see a body, again almost completely covered by vines and moss. Surely, adventure lurks not too far away..."

The Cave Mouth

The body lying dead just in front of the cave mouth is of any kindred the GM wishes. Let's assume for this narration that the corpse is that of a hobbit. The hobbit is clearly dead, and lying face down. He is fully clothed and his pack is still strapped tightly to his back. If the party roll him over, they see a face of horror. It is contorted as if in great pain, and the lips are black. The hobbit's eyes are wide open, the pupils large and dilated. Searching the hobbit reveals a pair of Bich'wa throwing knives (2+3), a Light Bow (3 dice) and 15 arrows. A common spear lies near to the body (3+1). The hobbit's pack contains rotting rations, some miscellaneous bits and pieces (flint & steel, oil, hemp sleeping

mat etc.), a pair of very delicate silk gloves, some tweezers and a small knife and 12 small glass bottles, all empty and sealed with corks. The hobbit wears leather armour, which is intact. The body shows no signs of damage or combat, and the hobbit's shield (buckler) lies nearby, undamaged. The hobbit lies with his arms outstretched in front of him, and an empty water bottle lies just out of reach. If any of the delvers are deemed qualified by the GM to make a roll after examining the body, either using skills or IQ, they may discover that the hobbit was poisoned. They may simple guess anyway. If they've no idea, keep 'em guessing, there are enough clues as to the cause of the victim's death and what he may have been doing.

The cave mouth is somewhat overgrown but is free to enter. The GM may decide to add more items, possibly slightly magical ones, to the hobbit's possessions if appropriate. For example, the shield could be enchanted to take 9 hits instead of 3, one of the daggers could be enchanted to do extra damage, etc.

What Happened?

The Hobbit was on an expedition to recover Black Lotus from the cave, but in his efforts to do so became victim to the deadly poison of the plant, and died before he could try to fill his glass jars with the flowers, which he planned to return to the nearest city where he would sell the flowers in their entirety to a poisons expert, for a high price. Unfortunately for the hobbit, the price he paid was the ultimate. As the hobbit entered the Lotus' cave, he was poisoned instantly, and ran for the cave opening in mad panic. The poison took hold quickly and he fell dead at the entrance, desperately trying to gulp down the contents of the water bottle in a vain attempt to save his life. It fell from his hands as he fell to the ground, dead. He never even got around to using his kit (gloves, tweezers, knife and bottles) to retrieve the Black Lotus flowers and pollen.

Into the Cave

There is no map for this short adventure. The cave system consists of an entrance tunnel about 40' long which slopes gently down. It is warm and humid within, getting more so as it descends. A 'T' junction leads left and right. To the left, a tunnel wiggles along for about 35' then opens-up into a small cave. From here there are entrances into 3 more small caves, which contain the Black Lotus. Each cave has the same features and rules and a description is featured below. To the right of the 'T' junction, the tunnel leads down and more branches shoot off here and there. All lead to dead-ends or small empty caves, so have the party investigate for as long as they want, making the map up as you go, until they get fed-up (or lost!) and return to the junction. If you wish to expand this adventure, this turning is the ideal place to do so.

The Lotus Caves

The caves in which the Black Lotus grows are hot and humid, and the heavy scent of the flowers fills the air, having an instant effect on anyone breathing it. Characters coming within 15' of these caves must instantly make a L2SR on CON. Failure means the PC has been intoxicated by the heavy scent, and will feel drunk and hallucinate (GM's whim!), and the amount the roll was missed by is deducted from IQ! This is a temporary effect lasting 1D6+1 full turns. During this time, the delver cannot take part in combat, and any saving rolls he or she must make are raised by one level, or even doubled at the GM's discretion! Delvers in a state of intoxication may perform ridiculous acts, like removing clothes, talking to inanimate objects, hearing or seeing phantoms etc. The GM is encouraged to have fun with delvers missing this saving roll!

Assuming the party, or at least some of them, are in a fit state to progress, they may enter the Lotus caves. The Black Lotus flower is actually a deep gray colour, with bright orange pollen ducts visible within the silky leaves. The plant from which it grows is unremarkable. The flowers are everywhere in these caves, and the caverns are illuminated by fire-bugs, which cast a gentle orange glow throughout, making the scene dream-like and hypnotic. Hanging down from the cavern roof are long, thin vines, also produced by the Black Lotus plant. These vines contain a deadly poison, which oozes slowly from the bud-like ends of the creepers. Delvers first entering the cave must make a L2SR on LK to spot these tendrils of death. Failure results in the delver brushing against one or more of these creepers. A further SR on LK is called for, also at level 2. Failure means the vine oozed some poison out onto the delver, and a further L2SR on LK is required. Failure of this roll means it somehow touched exposed flesh and the delver instantly begins to sweat profusely, throat burning like fire, limbs aching as if the delver had fallen a great distance. The victim hallucinates horribly and imagines he or she is being asphyxiated by black tentacles. The delver has a raging thirst and panics, probably running for fresh air. Death follows in 1 turn. This was the hobbit's fate. If any of the saving rolls are successful, the delver avoids poisoning and will notice the creepers and avoid them if he is wise. Anyone touching the vines will be poisoned as above if a L1SR on LK is missed. The roll must be made every time someone touches them. Protected hands will be safe from the deadly vine poison. If anyone manages to extract some of this poison into a glass jar (the hobbit's are free for the taking) the GM should rule on its capabilities. It is rumoured that the venom of the Black Lotus vine is used in the production of Bleeding Hearth poison, which causes instant death upon ingestion.

If the party, or some of them, have avoided the vines, they may investigate the cave. The Black Lotus flowers are everywhere, and great care must be taken to avoid touching or breathing the black pollen from the orange stamen in the centre of the flowers. Player characters poking around in the caves must make a L1SR on the average of LK & DEX upon their initial investigation of the flowers.

Failure brings about sweating, hallucinations and coma within 1 turn. This coma, during which the delver suffers bizarre dreams and loses 1 permanent IQ point per day whilst comatose, lasts for 1-3 days, after which the victim must make a L1SR on ST. Failure brings death. Success means the victim awakes with a CON of 3 and the IQ loss.

If the party try to bottle the pollen, or the full flower, they must protect their hands. Gauntlets will not do as they are too clumsy for a delicate operation and would crush the flowers, losing most of the precious and deadly pollen to the cave floor. The GM should judge. If the flowers are handled with bare hands, they will be poisoned as above, resulting in coma, with no initial LK SR. If the characters are stupid enough to handle the flowers with bare hands then they deserve to die.

Assuming the PC's have adequate protection, they must then make a L2 or L3 (GM's discretion) SR on DEX to snip the flower, complete with the stamen loaded with pollen, into the bottle. The SR should be made for every flower collected. They must be collected in sealed containers or they will lose their potency 1 hour after being removed from the mother plant.

Should the party escape the caves of death with sealed bottles of Black Lotus flowers, they can reap great reward assuming they find the correct place to sell them. The GM should handle any further adventure, which results from this scenario once the PCs leave the caves. If they manage to sell them, the GM should decide how much they are sold for, but they will fetch a very high price as they are so difficult to collect.

There you have it. If you as GM wish to add a monster or two to the caves, go ahead and do so, but I suggest keeping the caves empty. What sort of creature would want to live here anyway, and the caves provide enough danger without monsters roaming them. Good luck!