A Hol Lot Of Trouble:

Part 5: Dungeon

by Serge Stelmack
Artwork by Brad McDevitt


Part Five: The PCs Go on a Dungeon Crawl.

Heading down the cold, stone steps to Kuthoolu's tomb, the PCs reach a vast maze of corridors that they must traverse. Naturally all the halls are 10' x 10' and carved from solid stone so that they can be neatly mapped out on the pad of graph paper one of the PCs happens to have on him.

Exactly how big this maze is is up to the HM, primarily because I'm too lazy to actually draw it out. Personally I suggest you just make everything up as you go along and let the players worry about whether or not it makes any sense on paper. After all, how do they know the maze doesn't "magically change" as they wander around in it?

While they screw around in the labyrinth, throw a few "random encounters" at them so they don't get bored. Roll 2d6 and refer to the table below if you don't have a copy of the Luncheons and Wagons Mobster Manual lying around.

KUTHOOLU'S TOMB ENCOUNTER TABLE
RollEncounter
2Something Nice
3-4Something Not Nice
5-9Something Bad
10-11Something Very Bad
12Uncle Mickey

Something Nice - This includes things like a pile of gold teeth, a valuable weapon, a map of the maze the PCs are in, or a set of coupons redeemable at the local Church & Munch (located about ten thousand miles away), etc. You can either make something up or roll a d6 and use the table below.

SOMETHING NICE TABLE
RollEncounter
1Get out of death free card.* Hand it to the Grim Reaper when you see him
2-3Dead Wastit
4A book entitled 101 Ways to Escape Hol
5-6 Money (chits, grobules, electrum pieces - whatever)
Whether this card is a mystical passport to resurrection or merely some Wastit's idea of a joke is completely up to the Holmeister.

Something Not Nice - This type of encounter covers things that, while unpleasant, are not going to turn the PCs into bloody confetti. Examples include the shattered corpses of past explorers, the remains of Wastits obviously snacked on by something much larger and dangerous than themselves, or a scavenger robot that starts following the PCs around expectantly. I could have made up a "Something Not Nice" table but I figured that you could do that for me.

Something Bad - AKA. something that could turn the PCs into candidates for the Mutilated Corpse of the Year award. Since you were all upset about me not putting in a chart for the last sub-section I'll stick one in here.

SOMETHING BAD TABLE
Roll Encounter
1-4 Wastit
5Septic Sea Monster*
6 Giant Slug**
* Hey, they have to live someplace, right?
** Not a Jumpslug, just a common old giant slug (though it takes the skill "Jumpslug Handling" to discern this fact). Has the same stats and feeding habits of its invaluable cousin, but none of the commercial value.
Something Very Bad - Something that will turn the PCs into candidates for the Mutilated Corpse of the Year award. Roll a d6 and refer to the table below

SOMETHING VERY BAD TABLE
RollEncounter
1Deathbot
2 Necrodoodle
3-6Spawn of Kuthoolu*
*These 10' tall lumbering avatars of death roam their daddy's labyrinth at random, playing with the Wastits and torturing intruders to death (using corkscrews and cod liver oil). If the PCs can disguise themselves convincingly as Wastits then the spawn won't hurt them, but then, what are the chances of the characters having Wastit costumes on them?

Spawn of Kuthoolu Stats
Greymatta -- 1
Attack Value -- 10
Mouth -2
Total Armor -- 14
Meat -- 8
Anguish/Damage -- 12/2
Feets -- 2
Nuts -- 8

Uncle Mickey - Just what it says. You see, Great Kuthoolu and Uncle Mickey are real good friends, and every couple of months Mickey comes down to R'ylee so that the two of them can play cards, shoot the breeze, and make plans for brutally murdering everybody on Hol.

HM Tip If the PCs whine about Uncle Mickey, tell them that they should have taken a clue from all the Wastits wandering around. Berate them for their lack of observation and tell them to wise up or die off. That ought to show 'em who's boss.

Hol Lot of Trouble


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