CREW QUARTERS CAR The crew quarters car is set up much like the first class although not nearly as nice. Exploration of the Crew Car: Each cabin is the home for two train crewmen and there are a few personal things hanging on the walls and each room will have its own personal feel. Elements of Horror: 1) Those few crew members that were unfortunate enough to be staying here are now all dead. The party will find a total of three dead bodies in different cabins of this car. Since Mr. Tode is in Essence a Vampire these bodies will rise from the dead in a few days unless Mr. Tode is killed or unless the party cuts the heads off the dead bodies. 2) There is a ladder leading to the top of the train between the crews cabin and the engine. The ladder is covered with a green ectoplasmic slime. THE ENGINE The party will have to climb over to the engine from the crew car. (A scary proposition in itself with the ground speeding by underneath.) The Engine of the train is basically just that a huge locomotive engine with a small cabin up front where the driver and an assistant watch the train's speed, and the track ahead for any obstacles. Exploring The Engine: Much to the parties' chagrin Mr. Tode was not lying. The engineer is laying dead on the floor face down. There is a small metal plate sticking out of the back of his head. [If the party checks this out they will find that it is actually a thin metal playing card. (7 of spades) A clue as to what the party may face in the future.] The assistant, thank goodness is not dead but he is unconscious. The train seems to be chugging through the mountains at a normal speed. Elements of Horror: 1) As the party starts to revive the assistant, he will mumble something about a ravine and a left turn. Party members looking out the front of the engine will notice that you are about to crest a hill and start down into the mountains again. As the train starts down the mountain, the assistant will wake up and slowly realize what is happening. (The train is picking up speed.) He will panic and try to get at the controls. He will scream something about the crazy-magician changing the tracks and needing to get back on the right one. It may be an old movie cliché' but the only solution to the problem is using a gun or projectile weapon of some sort to hit the track switch up ahead and put the train back on the right course. If not the train will continue on its current course and the track will run out and the train and it's passengers will plummet to their deaths. The track switch should not be too hard to hit but the situation should be suspenseful. GM HINT: The Game Master at this point in the game can start raising the panic level among characters by making them make decisions right away. Mixing in the ramblings of the assistant who can't get the train to stop and the screams of the passengers as it picks up speed. The party may avert the disaster this time but Mr. Tode is still on the train. Getting to the back of the train the party can either move through the cars towards the back of the train or follow the slime up onto the top of the train and follow it back to the Caboose. THE LUGGAGE CAR The luggage car is a little smaller than the other cars on the train. It is here that the belongings of the passengers as well as freight items are stored for the trains journey. Exploration of the Baggage Car The goods in the baggage car are stacked neatly on shelves and the floor space of the cabin, leaving a walking area to get back to the caboose. There are locked cabinets for the first class passengers, belongings. If the party explores the items in the car they will find a few large boxes in the corner painted on the outside of the crates in bold colons is, MURLO THE MAGNIFICENT. One box stands almost 7 feet tall and it is locked. The other box is a chest. Elements of Horror: 1) The tall box when opened, will appear empty. It is Mr. Tode's disappearing box there is a secret compartment behind the main panel and hidden within this panel is the body of the Nippon Tech agent. 2) The chest contains Mr. Tode's personal belongings as well as 10 very poisonous spiders and a very poisonous cobra snake. The spiders are very small and they have strewn webs all over the contents of the inside of the box. Anyone not taking precaution has a good chance of being bit. The chest contains the following: two black capes, a top hat (no rabbit this time), a few wands, a flute, some silver Victorian coins, two decks of cards, a fish bowl, a flower wand (flowers pop out but they are dead). A couple of glasses and a small wicker basket. The wicker basket contains a live and very unhappy cobra. 3) If the party explores this cabin before the caboose, Mr. Tode will try to lure the party into the caboose by using his hypnosis power and causing someone in the caboose to start a ruckus so that they have to check it out. If the party finds the Nippon Tech agent's body Mr. Tode will show himself and the final battle will take place. See the final battle. THE CABOOSE The caboose on the Cairo Express is actually a small luxury cabin and Sir Reginald Martinique and his wife have rented it out for the trip. Exploration of the Caboose There is a small bar and a nice bed as well as its own personal water closet. Sir Reginald and his wife are on their second honeymoon. Elements of Horror: 1) MT. Tode, after his little show in the first class cabin, changed form and slimed over to the caboose where he took a few minutes and had some fun scaring the Martiniques. He then used his hypnosis power to put them under his control. If the party explores the baggage car first he will have Mr. Martinique attack his wife in the caboose, causing the characters to come running to her rescue. Once the party is in the caboose, Mr. Tode will no longer care about the Martiniques. He wants to get rid of the party now that he has had his fun with them. As the train starts to chug down another hill he will release the caboose from the rest of the train. The separation will begin immediately, but since the train is going down hill, the separation will be a slow one. The party will see Mr. Tode disconnect the train, then head back into the luggage car. The party will have to find a way to move from the caboose to the luggage car or lose their quarry, and if Mr. and Mrs. Martinique are still alive, they will also have to worry about them. 2) While crossing over you could have one of the characters or the Martinique's slip as they are crossing and the train makes a sudden lurch. The caboose can pick up speed and possibly crash back into the train crushing the unfortunate victim. (Then the process starts all over again.) The FINAL BATTLE The final battle with Mr. Tode will be a classic train battle. After the party discovers the Nippon Tech agent's body, Mr. Tode will show himself, attack the party with his metal playing cards, then run up the ladder onto the roof of the train. The party can chase him up onto the top of the train where he will be waiting for them. Elements of Horror and Suspense: As the fight begins the train will start over a huge tressel bridge with a fall to the rocks off the train many hundreds of feet below. During the fight, Mr. Tode will use all the powers at his command, including his playing cards, flash bombs and the paralyzation wand, as well as his personal attacks. The fight should be suspenseful with party members either falling off into the ravine or sliding off the edge hanging on for dear life. In the end, the party will probably triumph by knocking Mr. Tode off the train and he will fall to his "death" on the rocks below. Yeah, the world is saved and the agent's information is recovered etc. ENDING THE ADVENTURE Unless the party chopped Mr. Tode's head off, he is still alive. Want to really scare your party? As you are concluding the adventure and starting to pick up your gaming materials, you can tell them how they pull into the train station the authorities want to question the passengers and the party is asked to remain in their cabin until the investigation is finished. All of a sudden, out of nowhere Mr. Tode, battered and beaten in all his glory, appears in the cabin and again starts attacking the characters. Players who have already put their sheets away will have to scramble to get them, for Mr. Tode will have the advantage of surprise and fear. You can also have Mr. Tode show up a few game sessions later, bent on revenge with a whole new bag of tricks. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!! Introduction The Dining Car, The Sleeping Cars Second Class, The Sleeping Cars First Class The Horror: Mr. Tode Back to Table of Contents -- SHADIS Issue No. 9 Back to SHADIS List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Alderac Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com