FOUR SUIT DUNGEON DELVE II - UNDER CASTLE REDTHORNE

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Four Suit Dungeon Delve II - Under Castle Redthorne expands on the original FSDD by introducing many new character types, a whole load of new gear, and two new character attributes – Skill and Hit Points.  Now, characters are defined not by strength and melee bonus alone but also by their skill and hit points.  Many characters have special abilities as well.  The gear list has been greatly expanded, and each piece of gear has a specific function, giving some advantage during play.  There are many new monsters for your party to meet as well.  For those who like to play with maps, rather than just imagine all the action, expanded rules have been added and numerous tables to draw from when not playing the main scenario.  The game is still played only with cards, pencils and paper, though a six-sided die might be handy for randomizing targets.  For those who think managing a party of six characters is too much work, rules are also included for playing parties of 3, 2 or a single lone delver.  

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE KING

King Reginald chose a day in early spring to have a festival for the People, with a feast and non-lethal grand melees, for a reason.  At the appointed time, the crowds gathered as the king prepared to speak.

The King addressed the crowd.  “My people, it is no accident that I chose this day for a festival, for there is news of grave importance concerning the future of Castle Redthorne, and our beloved land!  My loyal subjects, there is a Realm of Monsters beneath Castle Redthorne!  The monsters inhabit the caverns that extend for miles under the old catacombs.  We believe they will begin attacking the good people of the kingdom if something is not done to destroy them.

We are seeking knights, men-at-arms, enchanters, clergymen and anyone else to join our quest!  Even outlaws might earn their pardons should they help us defeat the monsters beneath the castle - the peoples’ castle!  Monsters that even now plot to destroy our fair realm!”

Fewer signed up than they had hoped after stories of the first expedition were heard.  When the true nature of the quest was related by the lone survivor of that ill-fated first expedition to the caverns; that the enemy they were facing was an undying lich that had once been a human sorcerer, and that the place was filled with horrible monsters, interest faltered.  The king then offered a rich reward to those willing to take up the quest.  Any member of a party that enters the caverns and destroys the lich will receive a purse of a thousand newly-minted Gold Dragons.

Now the town criers bring news to the countryside that King Reginald is in search of parties of heroes to undertake expeditions against the monsters, to find the exact location of the undead sorcerer and destroy him.  The party must find and defeat the lich to save Castle Redthorne and the Kingdom itself from destruction.

Your party was among the first 20 or so expeditions...

THE STORY

Half a century or so ago, during the time of the Great Monster Expansion, when monsters suddenly became more numerous in the land, their subterranean lairs began to be discovered with more frequency.  Such a lair was often referred to as a Realm of Monsters, or sometimes a dungeon, because they were often found beneath an inhabited or uninhabited castle’s dungeon.  These dungeons are often filled with strange creatures great and small, fiendish traps, treasure hordes – ancient coins and gems, deadly molds and oozes, artifacts, curses, cold stone tablets, venomous spiders and moldering books of intricate magic.  It’s passages and rooms are comprised of ancient tombs, ancient dwarfin realms, caverns, catacombs, lava tubes, sewers or anyplace below ground and usually unobserved.

There was soon discovered to be such a realm under Castle Redthorne when Jorj the Hunchback, who worked in the dungeon prison beneath the castle, was on his usual rounds – taunting the prisoners or beating them with his club.  After completing his rounds, Jorj heard a noise coming from behind the door that led to the catacombs.  He noticed the door was barred and chained as it usually was unless there was a funeral for a member of the Redthorne family or some other wealthy person.  Jorj crept closer and discerned the noise was a scratching sound.  Jorj scowled at the doorway for a few moments, and then heard a voice in his head, the voice of King Reginald’s High Sorcerer, Baskerville Oldface, reminding him that if anything unusual happened in the dungeon that he was to tell the sorcerer immediately.  That’s just what Jorj did.

King Reginald, his sorcerer Baskerville Oldface, and some castle guards went to the door that led to the crypt.  When the guards unchained and lifted the bars from the door, they were met with only darkness and the stone steps leading down.  They also noticed footprints on the dusty catacomb floor leading to and away from the door.  The king ordered the guards to investigate, and with torches in hand they descended the stairs.  Those who remained above: the king, his sorcerer, a few guards, the hunchback and the prisoners chained to the walls, heard the confused sounds of a battle followed by the screams of the King’s guards.  Soon, the sounds of battle ceased.  The king quickly ordered the door chained and barred again.

Soon afterward, as the group stood deciding what to do, they heard a loud knocking sound coming from the other side of the door.  After some hesitation, the king ordered the door opened, but his sorcerer advised the king against this and the king agreed.  After summoning many archers and many more guards, spears in hand, in two ranks before the door, the king ordered the door unbarred again.  They saw no one beyond the portal, but nailed to the door with an iron spike was a severed hand and a message attached to it.  Written in blood were the following words.  “Greetings from Lerdun, Lich Lord of Castle Redthorne.”

Baskerville Oldface, having tremendous knowledge of the history of the Redthorne family and the castle, reasoned out what he believed was happening.  Oldface, perhaps having a wizard’s insight, saw the truth or what he believed was the truth.  Lerdun, who is now a lich, was high sorcerer to King Reginald’s grandfather, King Gunther.  When he died, Lerdun the sorcerer was given a royal interment in the Catacombs.  However, unknown to all, the sorcerer must have made it only appear that he had died when in fact he had not.  It is unknown whether he was a lich at that point already or not.  In any event, over the years he must have very quietly worked to bring monsters to the caverns beneath the catacombs.  The wizard conjectured that now the lich dwells deep under Castle Redthorne in the catacombs or caverns with his monstrous minions.  The main question was, just how many monsters?  Everyone knew there were many other entrances to the caverns besides the catacombs.

The sorcerer advised King Reginald that he would try to make contact with the lich and the wizard retreated to his innermost sanctum.  There, in a mental-magical power struggle between Baskerville and Lerdun, the wizard managed to learn the approximate location of the lich.  Though unable to determine exactly where he was seeing, Baskerville related that he had glimpsed a vision of the lich standing in a dark cavern before a stone wall containing many small niches, and in each niche was a crystal orb, through which he could view his Realm beneath the King’s Castle.

Now, most prisoners in the King’s dungeon are formed into parties, given basic gear, and told to bring back proof of their deeds.  If they bring back treasure, they can earn their freedom.  If they bring back proof of the monsters they slay - ears, fingers or hands, they are allowed to keep some of the coins they found.

Your characters are not prisoners – perhaps they are a band of glory seekers drawn by the promise of gold or on a quest of knightly duty, or a bit of both.