I managed to get another Conan adventure away in February using Barbarians of Hyboria, my version of Barbarians of Lemuria. I like BoL for its streamlined systems and the fact that you can get through a decent adventure in around three hours. The combat system in particular does not bog down like some other games, which otherwise consumes much of the available playing time.
For this game I tried out a new mapping system using index cards of different colours which actually worked very well. I wanted to give the impression the party was moving through a large mansion riddled with traps, but did not want to slow things down as they investigated what was in broom cupboard #5, which can happen with RPGs and especially dungeon bashes if you are not careful.
So, for example, I had one index card to represent the servants' quarters, one for the entrance hall, and another for the basement level, which was composed of multiple rooms. It was important in this scenario that players knew where their characters were in relation to everyone else, especially as there were traps which effectively separated the group.
We had a bigger party of adventurers this time, including:
- Conan: Barbarian, thief, brawny trouble maker
- Molina Goth: Michievous Turanian pirate on the run
- Argol Arran: Mysterious alchemist and thief
- Subotai: Hyrkanian nobleman and escaped gladiator
- Valeria: Failed at wizard school, trying assassin
As with the original Robert E. Howard tale, the adventurers began the scenario in prison in Akbitana, the capital of Corinthia, having been involved in a tavern brawl in which a city guardsman was killed. They were under a death sentence, but were approached by a masked nobleman who offered them their freedom - and gold - if they would murder Nabonidus, the Red Priest, who was exercising tyrannical influence over the city's nobles (in retrospect I've just realised Nabonidus was inspired by Cardinal Richelieu).
Scouting out the mansion, the adventurers decided to access it by going over the back wall into the servants' vegetable garden. Here they encountered a guard dog, which gave its presence away and was duly slain by Conan in an easy contest for the barbarian. They then investigated the two doors to the rear of the house. Argol picked the lock on the back door and they entered the kitchen area, where they found signs of a struggle and the body of the cook hanging from a meat hook. Argol had to stand on a chair to get the body down.
Whimpering was heard from the pantry and here they found a serving girl called Vara who told the intruders she hid among the supplies when sounds of a struggle broke out in the kitchen. She was too afraid when it ended to venture out to explore further. Vara was never admitted to the main house, so could not tell the players the lay-out there. They told her to return to her home in the city and not come back to the mansion.
The group moved into a large atrium area with a surrounding gallery, paved with beautiful tiles and with a fountain playing in a small pool that acted as the centrepiece. The blissful scene was lit by oil lamps and open to the night sky, but somewhat marred by the body of a large, bald man floating face down in the pond. Molina waded in to inspect the body and found his neck had been broken. The man had no possessions but Molina found a bunch of keys lying in the pool under the body (canny spend of a Hero Point by Molina's player). There was speculation that this was Nabonidus' butler/bodyguard, Joka (who Vara had told them about in the pantry).
The party moved on to explore a sumptuous lounge area off the side of the atrium. As they were exploring this room Valeria fell through a trap door hidden under a Turanian rug and plunged into the cellar level. The doors closed over her. Conan had moved up to the gallery level 'for a poke around' and managed to trigger a poison dart trap, which he evaded with his usual cat-like grace born of the misty mountains and rugged cliffs of Cimmeria as he was. He ran back down to the ground floor and was for bashing through the floor to rescure Valeria but his comrades wisely pointed out this would make noise - a lot of it. Stealth was still the key to the mission. The adventurers hurried out and explored the ground level further.
Valeria began exploring the pitch dark cellar level on her own but luckily found an oil lamp in a niche (Hero Point spend). She also discovered a wine cellar and eventually a well-dressed, shaven-headed many lying unconscious in a corridor. She also came upon a mirror which showed her a room where a hulking shape in a red robe and hood was sitting in front of a gallery of more mirrors and levers.
Meanwhile, the other adventurers heard a dog barking at the front of the house. They advanced into the entry hall where Conan unluckily triggered another pit trap which pitched him into the cellar. Dusting himself off he proceeded to explore further, looking for Valeria. With Conan gone, Argol Arran triggered a trap which dropped a glass cylinder on top of him, trapping him and filling with clouds of yellow lotus powder. He held his breath (two Strength saves) while Subotai and Molina tried to break the glass - luckily for him they succeeded.
The trio retreated into the atrium, because they could hear shouts and curses now at the front of the house. They explored a dining room and detected another cylinder trap in the cieling here. Going upstairs they started to explore the guest wing and found the man who had originally approached them (Argol recognising his voice). He was hiding in one of the bedrooms. He said his name was Murilo, an aristocrat and patriot who had been threatened by Nabonidus. He had come to the mansion to kill Nabonidus himself because he feared the plot had been betrayed. He seemed terrified of Nabonidus however.
Down in the cellar Valeria searched the unconscious man as he was coming round and found a vial of powder (more yellow lotus dust although Valeria has yet to test this herself) and a dagger. He claimed he was a merchant who had come to visit Nabonidus for dinner and had been struck from behind not long after he entered the mansion. He could say no more than that. Not long after that Conan found them. Valeria showed the merchant the mirror and the figure in it. The 'merchant' seemed very surprised, shocked even. They also discovered a flight of stairs leading up to a locked door.
Valeria had of course found Nabonidus. I was pretty sure that had she guessed his true identity, she would have murdered him on the spot. With Conan also in the vicinity I doubted he stood much of a chance. Nabonidus decided to blag it and pretend he was just a luckless guest caught up in the night's mystery. As it turned out, the players bought it.
Back upstairs, the rest of the party sneaked out onto the gallery again and saw four men enter the atrium armed with short swords. Murilo said he recognised one of them as Petreus, an enemy of Nabonidus. Subtai let Murilo hail the young man, who said he and his friends had come to the house to assassinate Nabonidus.
In the cellar, Conan managed to batter down the door at the top of the steps and the trio entered a room in which sat the red-cloaked figure. In the bank of mirrors in front of it they could see other rooms in the house they recognised, including the atrium and the gallery, and their friends. The figure rose and turned to face them, and they realised it was no man, but a huge ape creature, seven feet high. The monster rushed Conan who charged it, wielding his Akbitanan blade.
Valeria turned to see that the 'merchant' was in the process of opening a secret door from the room - there were no obvious exits here but he seemed to have foud one. She decided he must indeed be Nabonidus himself, and shot him in the back of the head with her bow (a double 6 on her roll, raised to a Legendary success with a Hero Point). The arrowed impaled Nabonidus' skull and went through it into the door. Thus died the Red Priest of Corinthia.
The sounds of the battle now came to the other adventurers who charged downstairs into the dining room, where they saw the secret door half open and Nabonidus' body hanging from it. Conan was winnng the fight with the ape man (the GM was rolling appallingly badly despite Thak the ape man having three attacks). Molina was able to get into the room and hamstring the creature with her tulwar allowing Conan to deliver the death blow.
All that remained was for the adventurers to quickly loot the house and escape into the night, although they did not tarry too long, as they were afraid of undiscovered traps which might still lie in wait for them.
In the original tale Nabonidus tells Murilo and Conan how he found and trained Thak. In the game, had he admitted his identity when he was discovered by Valeria, I'm pretty certain she would have killed him on the spot. I could have included something on the background to the Nabonidus-Thak relationship in Nabonidus' papers in the study, which the PCs would have found when they looted the house. Something to consider if I ever run this again.
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