"Prison Break" is a scenario written for the KULT role-playing game and was used for the official tournament at the GATEWAY 15 game convention. It is intended for eight players on a four-hour time limit with scores based on the party's achievement of certain goals, survival being the primary objective. All the characters are relatively normal -- no heros, no commando teams, no terminators squads. In fact, Gamemasters should remind players that they are all slightly neurotic prison guards, not a crack SWAT team. If new characters are generated, each should have at least two disadvantages and not more than one advantage. Mental balances should be between 20 to -30, with most characters around zero.

This adventure is a gauntlet! The team is likely to loose at least one member in each stage. Really sharp groups can survive with only one or two casualties but these are the exception. But don't let the players of those dead characters run off to watch television. In KULT, "death is only the beginning."

If you are not running this scenario with a time limit, take the opportunity to torment the dead player characters. The newly dead will become the thralls of one of the most powerful Angels of Death in Inferno. You might come up with interesting and provocative ways to describe where they go and what happens to them. The imaginative possibilities are endless when you consider how Chagidiel could entertain his newly-arrived guests.

The stages in this scenario exist in various parts of the Realm of Madness, Metropolis, and Inferno. Normal logic and the rules of sense reality do not apply! The sizes of the rooms and other areas will stretch and warp endlessly to contain the characters until the applicable obstacle is overcome. Those who try to turn back will find that the doors are missing because the wall has moved out of reach. Even in the Stage 1, once the first attack begins, the way home will lengthen to infinity. There is no way back to the prison. Chagidiel will collect those who stray from the group and lose their way.

Radio communication is also difficult. Walkie-talkies and other radios will only transmit up to one stage away. When the guards exit Stage 1, they will lose radio contact with the prison. If the party splits up, they will only be able to communicate if the two groups remain in adjacent stages.

If you wish to run this game as a tournament, use the characters provided at the end of this adventure. And remember-keep a close watch on the time. If only 15 minutes of the four-hour period remain, the next door the guards open should lead to Stage 6.

The Truth

Joseph McBane is one of the most notorious serial killers of all time. His specialty is preying on children, preteens or younger, and his offenses run the gamut of torture, rape, mutilation, and murder. All this was paraded before the public during his highly-publicized trial. What the public does not know is that McBane is also a powerful magician in the Lore of Madness, and that he is a personal servant of Chagidiel, the Bloody Patriarch, Death Angel and patron of child abuse and incest (see Legions of Darkness).

McBane has sacrificed dozens of children in extremely sadistic ways in order to gain more power from this Angel of Death, but now that he has been incarcerated, he is frightened. The sacrifices have stopped and he knows that Chagidiel will come for him. Joseph McBane now awaits execution on death row at San Guerrera Federal Penitentiary in San Guerrera, Texas.

San Guerrera prison has always housed the most notorious, criminally insane felons in the U.S. It is for this reason, that the walls to Reality are very thin here. The incidence of mental breakdowns among the prison guards is high, and most wardens don't last more than five years before retiring. Inmate suicide, or apparent suicide, is also above normal, but as these criminals are the scourge of society, few outsiders have ever missed them or complained.

About 30 years ago, San Guerrera was the sight of another bizarre, supernatural occurrence. Luke Stiles, an infamous mass murderer, was to be executed in the prison's new electric chair. A new execution chamber had been built and the governor himself came to christen it. However, as the switch was thrown to terminate Luke's life and he sat popping and sizzling in his seat, the back wall of the chamber tore open like cloth, and a long scale-covered arm tore Luke from his chair, snapping the straps and buckles, and dragging the condemned man back through the hole.

A team of guards sent in pursuit were slaughtered by whatever had grabbed Luke. Of the two that returned, one of them was incurably insane. The governor slammed a lid on all information about the incident and had the room locked and boarded up. When the warden was released from the mental institution where he was being treated, he retired, but passed on the story and a secret file to the new warden after demanding numerous oaths. Since then, each warden has passed the information onto the next, although the current warden, Samuel Wilkins, doesn't believe one word of it. In an attempt to impress the current governor, he has reopened and refurbished the old execution chamber, and had hoped to use it soon.

What he didn't count on was Joseph McBane. Due to McBane's negative mental balance and his abilities as a Madness conjurer, he sensed the extremely thin walls of the Illusion surrounding the execution chamber. He realized that it would not take much blood to reopen that hole and escape through the Madness to Metropolis.

And so, during the middle of the night, he over-powered one of the guards, dragged him into the execution chamber, strapped him into the chair, and turned on the power. As McBane expected, the wall shattered, leaving a hole in the Illusion, and with the murder of the guard, he began an impromptu Madness Walk to make his escape from both the authorities and Chagidiel.

Briefing

Warden Wilkins will assemble the team in his office to brief them. While he is normally a rock-solid authoritarian, Wilkins is obviously shaken, and is extremely concerned over what he is going to tell the governor and the media if McBane isn't found. He will pass on what he knows, (based on The Story above), and empty the contents of a cardboard box onto his desk. Inside, are the remains of some sort of clockwork device made of stainless steel and shaped like a large egg. Various springs, gears, and blades hang out of it, and it is obvious that the device is severely damaged. Wilkins will explain that the guards who returned from the manhunt for Luke Stiles came back with this device, saying that several of them had been launched at the guards.

No one has ever figured out how they work, but they are considered dangerous when operational. Wilkins will also tell the team that when this incident occurred 30 years ago, the opening in the wall lasted about four hours before it shrank to nothing and vanished. It has now been almost half an hour, so the team has only three and a half hours to return with McBane or else locate an exit at the other end, if such an exit exists.

Wilkins will give the team a chance to make any requests, extra weapons, equipment, or supplies that they feel they might need. Remember that this is a maximum security prison, not a military base. Limit equipment to what might reasonably be found in a prison that is equipped to handle very dangerous prisoners in case of a general breakout or riot. Discourage additional firearms ("can't you people kill one man with what you've got?"), special ammunition, grenades other than tear gas, bazookas, mortars, explosives, food (other than pocket-sized snacks), narcotics or stimulants. Acceptable items would include knives, rope, three extra clips each (maximum), one nightscope (for the sniper rifle only), walkie-talkies, and flashlights.

Animals will not approach the execution chamber. They will attack their handlers before they will allow themselves to be dragged through the opening to madness.

When the briefing is finished, Wilkins will wish them luck and send them on their way. Any additionally-requested equipment will be waiting for them in the execution chamber.

The italicized sections of this scenario may be read directly to the players.

Prison Break

Stage 1: Steel Corridor
Stage 2: Abattoir
Stage 3: Above the City
Stage 4: The Slum
Stage 5: Skid Row
Stage 6: Darkness to Light
Ready Made Characters

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