TEXT: &
  Beasts 
  Barbarians
  Beasts 
  Barbarians
  A Sword and Sorcery Savage Worlds setting
  By Umberto Pignatelli
  
  Credits
  Author: Umberto Pignatelli
  Editing: Andy Slack, Piotr Koryś
  Cover: Tomek Tworek
  Interior Art: Anthony Cournoyer, William McAusland - used with permission, 
  Dave Peterson - copyright Erisian Entertainment, used with permission.”
  Layout: Michał Smaga
  Playtesters: Daniele Bonetto, Luca Coero Borga,
  Maner Samuel, Paolo Boiero, Pierpaolo Ferrari
  Special Thanks to: Marta Castellano (my wife) queen of all the Amazons, 
  Massimo Campolucci (my uncle), for being the first, real Dhaar, Simone Ronco 
  and Polliotti Yoshi (my friends) for fighting alone against the Valk demons
  &
  Beasts 
  Barbarians
  Beasts 
  Barbarians
  A Sword and Sorcery Savage Worlds setting
  By Umberto Pignatelli
  This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.
  peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment 
  Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or 
  suitability for purpose of this product.
  ©2013 Gramel Justyna Koryś, Beasts and Barbarians, Dread Star Dominions and all related marks and logos are 
  trademarks of Gramel Justyna Koryś. All Rights Reserved.
  Produced under license by Studio 2 Publishing, Inc. The Studio 2 logo is a trademark of Studio 2 Publishing, Inc. 
  All rights reserved.
  Printed in USA
  
  3
  What Happened 
  Before
  These are dire times in Jalizar. The few 
  grain fields surrounding the city, due to 
  an exceptionally rainy summer, produced 
  no harvest. The same rains manifested on 
  the Drowned King Sea as terrible storms, 
  sinking the grain ships coming from Sy-
  ranthia and Tricarnia, causing a new im-
  pending famine in the City of Thieves. As 
  always happens in times like these, the 
  population laments, and a scapegoat must 
  be found: in this case the blame is being 
  laid on House Talum, the merchant house 
  owning the greater part of the grain fields 
  of the city. Lord Talum, to divert public 
  rage, has blamed his personal agronomist 
  and Master of the Fields, the old Mas-
  ter Ocrolas, a very poor way to repay a 
  life of faithful service. Publically accused 
  of being not able to save the harvest, the 
  old, faithful sage was stripped of his rank 
  and thrown out of the city, under a hail 
  of stones and mud from the enraged (and 
  hungry) population. 
  A wretched man, he took the path to the 
  Bogs, only hoping to find a spot where he 
  could die alone.
  But instead of death, in the Bogs Ocro-
  las found something worse: a solitary, 
  hooded boatman, who seemed to know 
  very well the injustice suffered by the old 
  man and the rage in his heart. He offered 
  the agronomist a way to take revenge on 
  Lord Talum, and on the whole of Jalizar, 
  if he wanted. In exchange he asked a small 
  thing: Ocrolas’ soul.
  Old Ocrolas, having nothing more to lose, 
  accepted the pact, and the boatman gave 
  him a curious object: a bone wand, with 
  the top sculpted to resemble a rat’s head. 
  Grains of Death
   
   
  A Sword and Sorcery Savage Worlds Heroic Tale for Beasts & Barbarians, 
  set in Jalizar, City of Thieves. For a party of 2-6 Seasoned heroes. 
  Famine is spreading in the City of Thieves and grain is worth its weight in gold. 
  Even adventurers like you must take whatever work they can find to full the belly.
  “I’ll be back tomorrow morning, and I want to find every single grain of wheat at 
  its place!” said Merchant Valso, before leaving you in charge of the warehouse for the 
  night watch.
  “Don’t worry, sir,” you answered. “Nobody will touch your grain.”
  It’s going to be a long night.
  
   
  4
  The owner of this wand, the boatman 
  said, can control rats and rodents of any 
  sort at his will. Surely Ocrolas could put it 
  to good use, the boatman laughed with a 
  sound of banging metal.
  Returning the smile, Ocrolas grabbed the 
  wand and returned to Jalizar. The morn-
  ing after, disguised as a beggar, he entered 
  the City of Thieves again, and found an 
  entrance to the Sewer, ready to enact his 
  vengeance on Lord Talum and all the oth-
  er Jalizarans…
  A Task of 
  Responsibility
  With the current famine hovering on 
  Jalizar, every ounce of grain has become a 
  commodity to be heavily guarded, because 
  the price of food has skyrocketed in recent 
  weeks.
  One of the few men still owning some 
  grain sacks is the independent merchant 
  Valso Grat. The merchant bought a cargo 
  of cereals a couple of weeks before the 
  famine started, and now he is keeping it 
  in a warehouse in the New Docks quarter, 
  waiting for prices to reach their maximum 
  before selling it for an outrageous sum. 
  This is detestable behavior, but there is a 
  reason people call him Valso Stoneheart. 
  The merchant put guards in the ware-
  house to watch over the grain, but in re-
  cent days a few sacks have disappeared. 
  He suspected that the guards themselves 
  stole the grain to sell it, so he got rid of 
  them, denouncing the theft to the Copper 
  Helms. The guards were arrested, despite 
  claiming their innocence, and now Valso 
  needs new guardians. He had heard well 
  of the heroes, so he hired them with a 
  generous wage (100 Moons per hero). The 
  party must guard the warehouse night and 
  day for at least a week, and prevent any 
  theft.
  It is an easy, if boring job: the first day 
  the heroes only have to shoo away some 
  beggars asking for a scrap of food, and to 
  watch over Valso while he does his busi-
  ness. Then, at night, the fat merchant goes 
  home.
  “I am leaving you in charge of the ware-
  house.” Vargo grunts. “Don’t fall asleep 
  and watch well over my possessions, in 
  particular the grain. The sacks, the ten re-
  maining ones, are piled in the back room. 
  I don’t trust you, as I don’t trust anyone 
  apart from myself, so I’ve locked it. There 
  is a grate in the back room’s door, so you 
  can watch over it without any tempta-
  tion. I’ll be back tomorrow morning, and 
  I want to find every single grain of wheat 
  in its place!” He ends the phrase waving 
  a menacing finger under your nose before 
  going away.
  The warehouse is a two stores building, 
  24” by 24” on the battlefield, mainly made 
  of wood. It has a front gate (4” wide, to 
  let a cart pass), which can be barred from 
  inside. Both floors are open spaces, filled 
  with goods of various types (mainly pot-
  tery). On the ground floor there are two 
  small rooms; one, near the front gate, is 
  Valso’s room, where he runs his business, 
  while the other is the back room where he 
  keeps the most precious wares (at this mo-
  ment, the grain). Both rooms are locked. 
  If need arises, the door can be bashed 
  (Toughness 8) or pried open with a Lock-
  picking roll.
  The upper floor is crammed with less valu-
  able, more burdensome goods. Consider 
  
  A Task of Responsibility
  5
  all the ground Difficult, apart from a series 
  of passages 1” wide and a couple of clear-
  ings 4” by 4”. The piles of goods are usually 
  three yards tall (so they can be climbed).
  A Nightly Visit. All is calm and boring. 
  The heroes can check the floor, eat some-
  thing, gamble and similar activities. If the 
  Game Master wants to keep them alert, 
  he can devise a couple of false alarms or 
  a minor distraction of some type (such as 
  finding a bottle of good wine among the 
  goods). Then, during the Thieves’ Hour, 
  the darkest moment of the night, some-
  thing happens. Let the heroes make a No-
  tice roll. With a success, they hear some 
  noise on the upper floor. There is a band 
  of thieves, members of the Guild, which 
  have come to steal the grain. Since the 
  warehouse has no windows, they arrived 
  on the roof, and are removing the 
  tiles to sneak inside. If the heroes 
  are quick to react, they arrive on 
  the upper floor when only half of 
  the thieves are inside (the oth-
  ers will enter in the second 
  round), if they are cau-
  tious, all the thieves are 
  already inside, and try to 
  hide themselves among 
  the goods and to am-
  bush the party. 
  If 
  everyone 
  fails 
  the Notice roll, the 
  thieves 
  stealthily 
  reach the ground floor 
  and attack the party by 
  surprise.  
  The thieves are no heroes 
  and try to escape after 
  half of them fall in com-
  bat. If the characters 
  question a prisoner, he 
  reveals himself to be a 
  member of the Thieves Guild (and tries to 
  bully the heroes into freeing him to avoid 
  the vengeance of the Guild). He also says 
  this is the first attempt to rob the ware-
  house, and the band has no responsibility 
  for the thefts of the past nights. 
  (M) Grain Robbers (1 per hero + 1)
  Pesky Little Thieves!
  After dispatching the robbers, the heroes 
  may think their job has ended, and relax 
  a bit. Nothing could be further from the 
  truth. Whenever one of them looks at the 
  sacks of grain again, he has a very bad sur-
  prise. The sacks lie empty on the floor of 
  the back room! The door is locked from 
  the outside as Valso left it. The mysteri-
  ous theft happened when the party was 
  busy fighting the Grain Robbers. If 
  the heroes want to learn more, they 
  have no choice but to force the door 
  open (see above) and examining the 
  crime scene.
  Once inside, they 
  discover that the 
  sacks were broken 
  by 
  some 
  creature 
  with tiny sharp teeth, 
  and the precious con-
  tents are entirely missing. 
  A Tracking (+2) roll identi-
  fies the droppings and small 
  tracks around the sacks as 
  made by rats. This isn’t nor-
  mal: no rodent would be 
  able to eat such a quantity 
  of grain in so little time, and 
  leaving so few remnants. The 
  creatures came from under-
  ground: the wooden planks 
  composing the flooring 
  are rotten, and if the 
  
   
  6
  heroes remove them, they discover an old 
  Sewer manhole. The grate protecting it 
  is too small to let a man pass, but there 
  is no doubt that the grain thieves passed 
  through it.
  Removing the grate is simple, and reveals 
  a sort of well going down, into the smelly 
  darkness.
  If the heroes want to discover what really 
  happened they must go inside.
  In the Dark
  The well leads directly into a network of 
  tunnels, part of the Sewers of Jalizar. The 
  place is in a Pitch Black lighting condi-
  tion, but the heroes can find lanterns in 
  the warehouse. The mysterious thieves left 
  a track: some fallen grains of wheat, which 
  the party can follow quite easily. 
  The Metal Grate and the Lurker. The 
  track of grain goes down a large tunnel, 
  with a river of black water running in the 
  middle. Luckily, there is a raised walkway 
  along the side of the tunnel that the party 
  can use to avoid getting wet.
  After ten minutes of walking, the tunnel 
  is blocked by a big metal grate. The water 
  continues to flow through it, and the pas-
  sageway continues on the other side. 
  You see a very peculiar scene on the other 
  side of the tunnel. A long line of rats, in 
  perfect order like an army of little sol-
  diers, are walking in the tunnel. Some 
  of them walk on four, others on two legs, 
  and all of them carry tiny sacks, full of 
  grain. You have found your thieves! The 
  strange beasts hastily disappear into the 
  dark passage in front of you.
  If the party wants to follow the rats, they 
  have two choices: they can try to break 
  the metal grate, or can take a side passage 
  nearby, hoping that this allows them to 
  bypass the grate.
  Breaking the Grate. This can be done with 
  a Strength (-4) roll, which can be coop-
  erative. Having an appropriate tool, like a 
  crowbar, grants a +2 bonus to the Strength 
  roll. Heroes can try multiple times, but 
  any hero rolling 1 or less on the Strength 
  roll, suffers a level of Fatigue (which wears 
  off at the beginning of the scene An Evil 
  Plan).
  The Lurker in the Side Passage. The side 
  passage is narrow and smelly, and seems 
  unused. Large webs hang from the ceiling. 
  The reason is simple: it leads to the nest of 
  a dangerous creature, a Sewer spider and 
  its hungry children. 
  The passage ends in a room, littered with 
  bones. In a corner lies a human body, half 
  eaten and blackened from death, and the 
  shells of several large eggs. An opening, 
  on the other side of the room, provides an 
  exit from this place.
  When the heroes enter the room, the 
  Lurker and its family attack. The beasts 
  are hanging on the ceiling and drop di-
  rectly on the heroes. Unless the players 
  explicitly say their heroes look toward the 
  ceiling, they are surprised, and the crea-
  tures get the Drop on them. The room is 
  8” by 8”, with two 1” wide openings on op-
  posite sides. 
  If the heroes slay the monsters, they can 
  examine the human body. He was an un-
  fortunate Sewer Cleaner of Cairnlander 
  origin. He still has a rope 20 feet long, a 
  bronze dagger and an Ancestor amulet 
  on his neck (a finger bone with a rune 
  
  In the Dark
  7
  carved). Identifying the clan (the Dead 
  Horses) from the rune and returning the 
  amulet to his family can lead to an inter-
  esting adventure.
  The opening leads the heroes into the 
  main tunnel again, bypassing the grate.
  (M) The Lurker (1). Use the Sewer Spider 
  stats. It is a Henchman.
  (M) Lurker Offspring (1 per 2 heroes). 
  Use the Sewer Spider stats, reducing Size 
  to +0 and dropping Fighting to d6.
  A Peculiar Rat and the Corridor of 
  Traps. The tracks of grain continue for 
  a while in the Sewers’ tunnel, then they 
  turn right, leading into a corridor, with an 
  opening on the other side. The corridor is 
  empty, apart from a single rat, laying in the 
  middle of it. When the heroes are on the 
  doorstep, the rat stands up on its forelegs, 
  showing a bald patch on its back, and talks 
  them with a human voice.
  “Ah! My dear friends, it is a real pleasure 
  meeting you! Pardon me if I don’t come to 
  greet you in the proper way, but I have a 
  little problem.” Then the rat turns with 
  an almost human gesture, showing that 
  its tail is imprisoned in a mousetrap. 
  The Impudent Rat. This creature is one of 
  the legendary beings of Jalizar, the King of 
  Rats, a Beast King (see Beasts & Barbar-
  ians Golden Edition, page 164 and sidebar 
  in the current adventure). He rules over all 
  the rats of Jalizar, and since he felt that 
  someone is messing with his subjects, he 
  came to investigate. But Ocrolas, as he has 
  fought rats all his life, knows of his exis-
  tence, and prepared a trap for the King. It 
  is a simple mouse trap, but it is made with 
  the fang of a feline, which makes impos-
  sible for the King to free himself. Charac-
  
   
  8
  ters can know of the existence of the King 
  of Rats with a Knowledge (Arcana) (-4) 
  roll, a Knowledge (Legends and Lore) 
  (-2) roll or a simple Common Knowledge 
  roll if they are Jalizaran.
  The King asks the heroes to be freed from 
  the mousetrap: humans can touch feline 
  bones without any harm. He is ready to 
  bargain for this little task. In particular 
  he has two pieces of information he can 
  trade: first, that someone is messing with 
  his subjects, and he is looking for him (not 
  very important info), second, and more 
  important, that the current room is full of 
  traps, and that he knows where they are 
  and how disable them.
  The Corridor of Traps. This place was part of 
  the defense system of the den of an ancient 
  master thief of Jalizar, Tippick Three-Fin-
  gers (the King knew him and has a couple 
  of salacious anecdotes to share), and is lit-
  tered with traps, vicious blades concealed 
  in the ground which can stick a man dead. 
  The corridor is 15” long; each round a hero 
  is moving in it, he must draw a card from 
  the action deck, and check the table below.
  Note the color of the card too: if it is red, 
  the trap can be spotted and avoided with 
  The King of Rats
  The King of Rats is a powerful being, fully 
  described in Jalizar, City of Thieves. In this 
  adventure he needs no stats, because the 
  presence of the bone wand in the city has 
  temporarily deprived him of the greater part 
  of his powers (and this is the real reason why 
  he is investigating).
  Blood Curse. If the heroes swear on their 
  blood to free the King of Rats, and don’t 
  respect the pact, they call down a curse upon 
  themselves. Each character must make a Spirit 
  (-4) roll. In case of failure they immediately 
  lose a Bennie, if they have any. Then, at the 
  end of the adventure they have a strange fever, 
  gaining the Anemic Hindrance. This malady 
  can only be healed by the King of Rats, after 
  proper deeds of atonement. 
  The Rat on the Shoulder. A character with 
  the King of Rats on his shoulder gains an 
  extra Bennie, called the Rat Bennie, which 
  he can share with his companions as per 
  the Common Bond Edge. Use a different 
  gaming stone to represent it, because, apart 
  from the normal uses of a Bennie, it grants 
  +2 to the roll if used for a Soak roll or to reroll 
  an Agility-based Trait roll. In addition the 
  King of Rats has the Helper Edge, which 
  he can use with Notice d10. The Rat on the 
  Shoulder can be hit only with a Called Shot 
  (-4, Toughness: 3). If killed, the King of Rats 
  reincarnates in a new body.
  Corridor of Traps Table
  Card 
  Value
  Fighting Dice
  Damage
  Note
  2
  d10 + Wild Dice
  2d8
  3-5
  d8
  2d8
  6-8
  d6
  3d4
  9-10
  d8
  2d6
  J-Q
  d6
  2d6
  Triple blade, three attacks.
  K-A
  d8
  2d10
  Scythe from the ceiling, attacks 
  with the Drop.
  Joker
  No trap!
  
  An Evil Plan
  9
  a Notice roll, if it’s black, the roll suffers a 
  -2 penalty. This if the characters are moving 
  cautiously (half Pace). If they are moving at 
  full Pace they suffer an additional -2 to the 
  Notice roll, and no roll at all can be made if 
  they run. In this case draw two cards for the 
  character and apply both of them.  
  The King of Rats knows the position of 
  any trap, and can give +4 to the Notice 
  roll. He also knows how to disable all the 
  traps, but reveals it only if the party swears 
  on their own blood (a sacred oath, see 
  sidebar) to free him. In this case he points 
  out a slightly different stone on the other 
  side of the corridor. Pressing it disarms all 
  the traps. The stone can be pressed with 
  a Power like legerdemain or shot with a 
  projectile. It is 15” away and quite small 
  (Called Shot -4). A damage roll of 6 or 
  more is enough to press it.
  If the heroes free the King of Rats, after 
  thanking them with a bow, he disappears 
  in darkness (but will appear later in the 
  adventure). If he is left to his own devic-
  es, he simply stares at the heroes. If the 
  party swore to free him, and then leaves 
  him trapped, they suffer the effects of the 
  Blood Curse (see sidebar). 
  Whenever the group manages to pass the 
  corridor of traps, they can go on with the 
  next scene.
  An Evil Plan
  After leaving the Corridor of Traps, the he-
  roes are near to their objective. They hear 
  a voice coming from a nearby tunnel, and 
  then a faint light guides their steps to an 
  underground room. Spying from the en-
  trance arch, they see the following scene.
  In a large hall, under the smoke of the 
  torches, you see a large pile of cereals, 
  each grain shimmering like gold. A man, 
  dressed in rich garments, even if now they 
  are tattered and dirty, is busy mixing up 
  a cauldron full of some liquid nearby. The 
  room is full of mice and rats of every sort 
  and size, watching the scene intently. 
  Some of them even ride on the shoulders 
  of the man, who pats them with affection.
  “Good job, my little friends, good job,” 
  he says. “I passed all my life fighting you, 
  and I never imagined how useful you can 
  be. And now, a bath for everyone, quick!”
  The old man picks a strange wand from 
  one sleeve and points it toward the beasts. 
  You note that its tip is shaped to resemble 
  a rat’s head. As if enchanted by the strange 
  artifact, one after the other the creatures 
  dive in the cauldron and come out drip-
  ping, then they roll over the grain pile, 
  tainting it.
  “Come on, you must smear every single 
  grain with poison!” The man says.
  At this point a little mouse jumps onto his 
  shoulder and whispers something in his ear.
   “So, what do we have here? Guests?” the 
  old man asks. “Come on, come on, don’t 
  be shy.”
   The little rat has seen the heroes, and is re-
  porting to his master. The heroes have no 
  choice other than entering, but a sneaky 
  character (no more than one in the party) 
  can try to stay back in the shadows, with a 
  Stealth (-4) roll. If they try to attack im-
  mediately, when they move over the trap 
  (see below) he immediately opens it. 
  When the heroes step in the light, they 
  can see better the strange man. Any char-
  
   
  10
  acter which was in the City of Thieves in 
  the last two weeks must be told the fol-
  lowing information.
  “You recognize this man! He is Ocrolas, 
  the Agronomist of Lord Talum, the mer-
  chant house owning the grain fields of 
  Jalizar. The lord used him as a scapegoat 
  for the famine, saying that it was his 
  fault that the fields gave no harvest this 
  year. He was thrown out of the city two 
  weeks ago, stoned and covered in filth!”
  Ocrolas understands if the heroes have 
  recognized him, and continues with a 
  wicked smile.
  “Yes, I am Ocrolas the agronomist. I have 
  come back for vengeance. Merchant Valso, 
  your patron, isn’t the only one hiding grain 
  during the famine. Lord Talum, my for-
  mer master, after giving me to the crowd, 
  did the same. He has an underground gra-
  nary, under his mansion, full of cereals. He 
  is waiting for prices to skyrocket before put-
  ting it on the market. But I’ll play a little 
  joke on him: I poisoned Valso’s grain with 
  a deadly mixture, I know some of them 
  from my agronomist days, and now I and 
  my little friends will sneak into Talum’s 
  granary and mix it with the lords’ cere-
  als. What do you think will happen when 
  people will eat it? They’ll die, everyone will 
  die! Jalizar will remember me forever!”
  He ends with hideous laughter. 
  This should be the moment for the heroes 
  to act, but before they can do anything, the 
  madman continues.
  “You think you can stop me? You are 
  wrong!”
  With a quick movement the man pushes 
  a lever, concealed under the cauldron, 
  and the floor opens under your feet!
  The last words you hear are 
  “Goodbye, my friends!”
  In the Pit
  The heroes, apart from any character 
  who stayed hidden in the darkness, falls 
  down in a well. The well is 20 feet deep, but 
  the bottom luckily is half submerged in wa-
  ter and full of filth and garbage, thus giving 
  them a handy cushion. The heroes 
  are allowed an Agility roll to 
  avoid any damage, if they fail 
  they suffer 2d6 damage.
  
  An Evil Plan
  11
  The pit closes automatically over their 
  heads. Now, how they can leave this place? 
  This isn’t their most urgent problem. The 
  real problem is that they aren’t alone. 
  You hear deep grunts and hisses coming 
  from a pile of garbage, and something 
  emerges from it. It is one of the most 
  monstrous creatures you have ever seen 
  in you adventures: a giant rat, big as a 
  horse, with two heads, which stares at 
  you with terrible hunger. You can only 
  imagine what weird mutation caused a 
  being like this to be born!
  The pit the heroes are in is round, 6” in 
  diameter. It’s partly full of water, and is 
  considered Difficult Ground. Place up to 
  three small garbage piles (SMT) around 
  the room, which are quite solid, and count 
  as normal ground. See Jalizar, City of 
  Thieves for other uses of garbage piles.
  The monster starts the combat on one of 
  the garbage piles.
  (WC) Two-Headed Rat (1) 
  In the MeantIMe, 
  OutsIde the PIt…
  If a hero stayed outside, he witnesses the 
  following scene. The rats, under the orders 
  of Ocrolas, pick up their small sacks again, 
  and fill them with poisoned grain. Then, 
  in an orderly line, they follow their master 
  through a dark passage, towards to the un-
  derground granary of House Talum.
  The character can attack the rat master, if 
  he wants, but being alone against all the 
  opponents (see Grains of Death scene), he 
  would be easy prey for them. At GM’s dis-
  cretion, if the character attacks now, Ocro-
  las can use his powers and the help of the 
  rats to throw the pesky character in the pit 
  with his friends. The best thing he can do 
  is wait for Ocrolas to go away and then 
  free his comrades from the pit (see below).
  Escaping
  Once they have killed the monster, the 
  heroes must escape the pit: there are basi-
  cally three ways to do this.
  First, if they helped the King of Rats 
  before, the creature arrives and uses his 
  weight to push the lever, opening the trap-
  door. At this point the heroes can get out 
  with a Climbing roll.
  Second, if a character manages to es-
  cape the pit he can open the pit himself 
  (Climbing roll required as above). Note 
  that if the heroes helped the King of Rats, 
  he shows up in the scene as above.
  Third, if they don’t have a friend outside 
  and cannot count on the help of the King, 
  they must climb the sheer surface of the 
  well (-4 to the Climbing roll), and then 
  they must bash the trapdoor (Toughness: 
  10, if they roll 1 on the Fighting die, re-
  gardless of the Wild Die, they fall down 
  due to the awkward position).
  Once free, if the King of Rats helped 
  them, he boldly jumps onto the shoul-
  der of one hero (choose the one with the 
  highest Charisma) and says:
  “I heard the madman speaking. We must 
  stop him, or he’ll bring destruction to your 
  people and mine. Come on, my stalwarts, 
  we have a mission to accomplish!” he 
  adds, waving his paw like a miniature 
  condottiere.
  The King of Rats stays on the shoulder of 
  the hero till the end of the adventure. See 
  sidebar on page 8 for the effects bestowed.
  
   
  12
  Grains of Death
  Following the tracks of the horde of rats 
  and their strange master isn’t difficult. The 
  creatures leave a large trail, and the King, 
  if present, can track them by smell.
  At last, the heroes arrive at the base of 
  a flight of stairs going up. If the King of 
  Rats is with them, he whispers:
  “This is the secret entrance to the granary 
  of House Talum, we must be cautious.”
  The granary is a very large and shady hall. 
  It is composed of several pools, 2” deep and 
  4” by 8”, mostly empty, surrounding a cen-
  tral one 8” by 8”, where the cereals are stored 
  in a tall mound. Each pool is divided from 
  the other by a passage 2” wide, and there are 
  some wooden planks (1” wide, 3” long) to 
  walk over the smaller pools. Some large col-
  umns (1” by 1”) hold up the ceiling. The area 
  is in a Dark lighting condition, and scuttling 
  sounds of small things are heard all around. 
  The heroes enter in the granary through a 
  concealed door in the southwestern wall, 
  while the main entrance, leading to the 
  upper floors of House Talum, is placed in 
  the middle of the northern wall.
  There is no sign of the agronomist; the mad-
  man, with his army of rats, is going directly 
  to the central pool, moving in the shadows. 
  He hopes to stealthily poison it, go away and 
  wait for his hideous plan to work.
  The granary, given the current value of the 
  cereals, is heavily guarded by soldiers, the fa-
  mous Talum Falcons. Three pairs of guards, 
  with lanterns, patrol the granary. Each round 
  the heroes spend in the granary, draw a card 
  from the Action Deck. If it is a Club, it means 
  that a couple of guards appear within 6”+1d6” 
  from the characters. Use the standard stealth 
  rules to check if the characters are discovered 
  or not.  They are Inactive sentinels.
  If they are spotted, the guards first order 
  them to halt, then raise the alarm, and 
  only after that do they engage the intrud-
  ers. After the alarm is given, 2d4 addition-
  al guards run into the granary in the next 
  2d4 rounds.
  The heroes can try to speak to the guards. 
  Convincing them that they are actually 
  there to save the grain, not to steal it, can 
  be done with a Persuasion (-2) roll or good 
  role-play. With a success the guards are 
  willing to hear the heroes out and lower 
  their weapons, while with a raise they are 
  convinced and run directly to the central 
  grain pool. Only with a failure do they im-
  mediately attack the party.
  After the heroes have been in the gra-
  nary for six rounds, whether or not they 
  have managed to persuade the guards or 
  to avoid them, the agronomist reaches the 
  central pool, and is discovered by a couple 
  of guards, who shout aloud, attracting 
  everyone’s attention. At this point, every-
  body runs to the central pool.
  The Showdown
  The agronomist, a hideous figure in his 
  tattered garments, surrounded by an 
  army of rats, raises a fist, in a show of 
  rage. “You’ve found me! No matter. I’ll 
  have my vengeance just the same!” Then 
  he points the bone wand toward the rats. 
  Half of them jump into the pool of grain 
  and start unloading the poisoned grain 
  over the good, while the others snarl and 
  hiss, ready to defend their master.
  You must stop him, if you want to save 
  the grain!
  
  The End
  13
  This is the final battle of the scenario. The 
  heroes must stop the agronomist, and his 
  rats, before the biggest grain supply of Jali-
  zar is irredeemably compromised. Ocrola’s 
  creatures start within 6” of the central pool 
  of grain, which is surrounded by his crea-
  tures. His tactic is simple: he must engage 
  the party and the guards to allow the rats 
  to poison it (see below). During the fight 
  House Talum’s guards are allies of the he-
  roes, and are under the players’ control. 
  Poisoning the Grain. Each round a swarm 
  of rats stays on the central mound of 
  grain (Difficult Ground), they can make 
  a Smarts roll. For each success and raise, 
  assign a Poison Token to the grain. When 
  there are five or more Poison Tokens on 
  the cereals, it means that the supply is 
  totally ruined, and must be destroyed. In 
  this case at least part of the agronomist’s 
  plan worked. When the battle starts, if the 
  heroes took longer than six rounds to get 
  into the granary, the grain mound starts 
  with a Poison Token, because the agrono-
  mist has already started his foul work. 
  (WC) Ocrolas the Agronomist (1)
  (M) Swarms of Rats (1 per 2 heroes, plus 
  1 per 3 guards)
  (M) House Talum Guards (6)
  Terrains and props
  • Cart:  A cart (2” by 2”) lies nearby. It is 
  small but with big, sturdy wheels, the ideal 
  thing to smash a rat swarm! Moving the 
  cart requires a Strength (-2) roll, which 
  can be cooperative. Each success and raise 
  allows the user to move the cart 2” in a 
  direction of his choice. If it passes over 
  a swarm of rats, it reduces it to a bloody 
  pulp, causing 2d8 damage to it.
  • Wooden Planks:  Weapons aren’t effec-
  tive against swarms, but one of the planks 
  used as catwalks can be used to smash 
  them. They are considered Improvised 
  Weapons, but deal Str+d6 damage and re-
  quire two hands to use.
  • Oil Vases:  Apart from grains, other 
  valuable things are stored in the granary. 
  Among them are several big earthenware 
  vases, full of precious oil, imported from 
  the southern lands. Oil can be poured on 
  the ground by smashing the vase (Tough-
  ness 5) or simply rolling it over. This cre-
  ates a Large Burst Template of Difficult 
  ground. If set afire with a torch, it deals 
  1d0 damage, and the victim is considered 
  very flammable. There are at least three 
  vases of oil on the battlefield.
  The End
  The following text supposes the King of 
  Rats is with the party when Ocrolas is fi-
  nally defeated.
  The mad agronomist falls down, and his 
  mysterious wand rolls over the ground. 
  Before you can do anything, the King of 
  Rats jumps down from your shoulder and 
  seizes it in his jaws, crushing it. You hear 
  a distant, angry shout, while the horde 
  of rats, now without anyone command-
  ing them, escapes. The last one escaping is 
  the King himself. You are not sure, but it 
  seems he winks at you before disappear-
  ing in the darkness. 
  Then you hear enraged voices and clan-
  gors of weapons as a whole company of 
  Talum soldiers storms in.
  Your night is definitely not over yet.
  
   
  14
  Unless the players declare immediately 
  they’re trying to escape, the heroes are 
  quickly surrounded by House Talum 
  guards. Fighting, in this case, is not an 
  option. After few minutes Lord Perikles 
  himself, ruler of the House, comes down 
  to see what has happened in the granary. 
  Then the heroes have their chance to talk 
  and to justify their break-in.
  If their explanations succeed, Lord Talum 
  agrees to let them go, and he graciously 
  gives them enough sacks of grain to re-
  place the ones stolen from Master Valso. 
  If the heroes are bold enough to ask for 
  a reward, he is amused, and gives them a 
  thousand Moons. In truth, the money is 
  more to pay for their silence: nobody must 
  know of the hidden grain before House 
  Talum decides to sell it, otherwise there 
  could be food riot. In this case Lord Ta-
  lum could even look for them in future, for 
  delicate missions.
  If the party accepts the money and then 
  lets slip the information instead they gain 
  a powerful enemy: Lord Perikles has a 
  very long reach.
  If Ocrolas managed to ruin the grain (five 
  or more Poison Tokens on the mound) 
  Lord Talum isn’t in his best mood: any 
  Persuasion roll toward him suffers -2 and 
  no reward is offered. The heroes will be 
  lucky if they are thrown out of the palace 
  without a hard beating. In this case they 
  also have the problem of explaining the 
  missing sacks to Valso the merchant.
  Good heroes could also try to blackmail 
  Lord Talum: if he agrees to donate part 
  of the grain to the poor, they will keep 
  quiet about the detestable behavior of the 
  Merchant House, which hoarded grain in 
  a time of famine. This is a very dangerous 
  game; Lord Perikles can be convinced to 
  act in this way, but he gives the heroes no 
  reward, even if he is secretly amused by 
  their boldness. The player who first pro-
  poses this idea should be rewarded with 
  an extra Bennie at the beginning of the 
  next adventure.
  Creatures and 
  NPCs
  Grain Robber
  A low-ranking thief of Jalizar, little more 
  than a thug. He hopes to fill his purse with 
  the grain of Master Valso.
  Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit 
  d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
  Skills: Climbing d6, Fighting d6, Intimi-
  dation d4, Notice d4, Lockpicking d4, 
  Stealth d6, Streetwise d6, Throwing d6.
  Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6 (1)
  Gear: Bronze short sword (Str+d6) or 
  bronze crowbar (Str+d6, AP1, +2 damage 
  to break doors), bronze dagger (Str+d4, 
  range: 3/6/12), light leather jerkin (+1), 
  patched short cape; one of them carries a 
  Thieves’ Lantern with enough oil for the 
  whole adventure (see sidebar on the next 
  page).
  House Talum Soldier
  A skilled mercenary, at the orders of 
  House Talum. Noble House soldiers usu-
  ally wear a tabard and a mantle with the 
  colors of their House, so as to be eas-
  ily distinguishable during the not-so-rare 
  fights erupting in the streets of the City 
  of Thieves. House Talum’s colors are blue 
  and gray, and usually guards have a falcon 
  emblazoned on the coat.
  
  Creatures and NPCs
  15
  Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit 
  d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
  Skills: Fighting d8, Intimidation d4, No-
  tice d4, Riding d4, Shooting d6, Throwing 
  d6.
  Charisma: +1; Pace: 6; Parry: 6/7; To-
  ughness: 7(2)
  Edges: Combat Reflexes.
  Hindrances: Loyal (Noble House).
  Gear: Iron long sword (Str+d8), dagger 
  (Str+d4, Range: 3/6/12), medium bronze 
  armor (+2), small shield (+1 Parry), tabard 
  with House emblem, cloak with House 
  colors.
  Special Abilities
  • House Talum Generosity: This House 
  is famous for its political skills and its 
  wealth. Guards of House Talum are al-
  ways properly dressed and have no prob-
  lem with paying generous tips, which 
  opens many doors to them. They receive 
  +1 Charisma.
   Ocrolas 
  the Agronomist
  This mild tempered man came north from 
  Syranthia more than thirty years ago, and 
  served three generations of Talum Lords 
  loyally as their agronomist. He always 
  managed to keep the grain fields of the 
  merchant family safe and productive, but 
  against the flooding rains, he can do noth-
  ing. Lord Perikles Talum blamed him for 
  the famine in front of the Jalizarans, and 
  had him banished from the city. Ocrolas is 
  now only an empty shell animated by hate 
  and anger against the Talum family and all 
  Jalizar. The gift of the boatman, the bone 
  wand, only magnified these feelings.
  Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit 
  d8, Strength d8, Vigor d8
  Skills: Fighting d8, Knowledge (agricul-
  ture) d8, Notice d8, Stealth d8, Taunt d8.
  Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
  Edges: Combat Reflexes, Level Headed, 
  Poisoner (only vermin killing concoctions 
  – 6 Power Points).
  Hindrances: Bloodthirsty.
  Gear: Bone wand (Str+d4, see notes), 
  dirty garments, tattered black cloak. 
  Special Abilities
  • Bone Wand: This strange artifact is made 
  from a single piece of bone from some for-
  gotten creature. It has a rat-shaped head, 
  with a sort of light shimmering in the 
  eyes. The wielder can use the beast friend 
  Power at will, limited to rats, with a range 
  including all the City of Thieves. He can 
  control a number of Swarms of Rats up to 
  half his Spirit die. In addition, the wand 
  grants 20 Power Points and the following 
  Powers: barrier (rats create a wall of flesh), 
  bolt (rabid rat jumps on the victim, biting 
  him savagely), smite (greenish aura around 
  the wand or swarm of rats in a fighting 
  frenzy). The Powers are cast using the 
  wielder’s Smarts.
  New Item: 
  Thieves’ Lantern
  A lantern with up to four slits, which 
  can be closed to project light in particular 
  directions. Imported from Lhoban, these 
  decorated lanterns were originally used in 
  rituals where creating complex shadows 
  was important. The thieves of Jalizar 
  quickly found a new use for them, because 
  they can focus light on a very smalle area, 
  such as the lock on which a burglar is 
  working, without revealing his position. 
  In game terms, a thieves’ lantern can 
  create an area of light as big as a Medium 
  Burst Template, a single large light beam 
  (use the Cone Template) or a small dot 
  of light. Any attempt to spot a thieves’ 
  lantern in the darkness suffers -2 to Notice 
  rolls. It is a Rare Item, costing 100 Moons.
  
   
  16
  • Low Light Vision: One of the gifts of 
  the bone wand and the time passed in the 
  Sewers, Ocrolas ignores Dim and Dark 
  lighting conditions.
  • Protection of the Hooded Boatman: 
  This evil power lingering outside the City 
  of Thieves granted his protection to the 
  Agronomist, giving him an almost super-
  natural ability to avoid blows. He has the 
  benefits of the Loincloth Hero Edge.
  • Weakess (Bone Wand): The bone wand 
  can be hit with a Called Shot (-4), and 
  has Toughness 6. If it is destroyed the user 
  immediately loses all his powers and the 
  Protection of the Hooded Boatman Spe-
  cial Ability.
  Sewer Spider
  Sewer Spiders live in the darkest tun-
  nels of the City of Thieves, and are vi-
  cious hunters. Brown and furry, they lack 
  the webbing capabilities of their surface 
  brothers, but they compensate with razor 
  sharp claws and a tremendous bite. 
  Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d4 (A), 
  Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
  Skills: Climbing d12+2, Fighting d8, No-
  tice d8, Stealth d10.
  Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 7
  Special Abilities
  • Bite: Str+d8.
  • Claws: Str+d4.
  • Dweller in the Darkness: Sewer Spiders 
  see perfectly in Dim, Dark or Pitch Dark-
  ness conditions.
  • Eight-legged Monstrosity: Sewer Spi-
  ders have eight legs as all arachnids, but 
  luckily they use only the two front ones in 
  combat. They make two Fighting attacks 
  with claws per round without any penalty. 
  In case both attacks hit the same target in 
  the same round, the victim receives a free 
  third bite attack, made with -2.
  • Size +2: Sewer Spiders are bigger than 
  men. 
  • Wall Walker: It can walk on vertical sur-
  faces at Pace 8.
  Swarm of Rats
  Swarms are treated just like a creature. 
  Swarms cover an area equal to a Large 
  Burst Template and attack everyone 
  within it every round. When a swarm is 
  wounded, its size decreases to a Medium 
  Burst Template (see the Split Special 
  Ability for smaller size swarms). Another 
  hit reduces it to a Small Burst Template 
  and a third one disperses it.
  Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d8 (A), 
  Spirit d12, Strength d8, Vigor d8
  Skills: Notice d6.
  Pace: 8; Parry: 4; Toughness: 6
  Special Abilities
  • Bites: A Swarm of Rats inflicts hundreds 
  of tiny scratches every round to their vic-
  tims, hitting automatically and causing 
  2d4 damage to everyone in the template. 
  Damage is applied to the least armored lo-
  cation (victims in completely sealed suits 
  are immune).
  • Split: This swarm is clever enough to 
  split into two smaller parts (Small Burst 
  Templates) should their foes split up. The 
  About the 
  Bone Wand
  This evil artifact is too powerful and 
  dangerous to be left in the hands of the player 
  characters. If the King of Rats didn’t manage 
  to destroy it, there are various ways for the 
  GM to get rid of a potential game-breaker: 
  the easiest way is to say that after a couple of 
  days the wand crumbles to dust, while an-
  other consists of the hooded boatman sending 
  someone to retrieve it, potentially leading to 
  another adventure.
  
  Creatures and NPCs
  17
  Toughness of these smaller swarms is low-
  ered by -2 (to 4 each) and their Agility is 
  lowered by a dice step. 
  • Swarm: Parry +2; because the swarm is 
  composed of dozens of creatures, cutting 
  and piercing weapons do only half dam-
  age. Area-effect weapons work normally. 
  Two-Headed Rat 
  This hideous creature is surely the result of 
  some weird mutation, caused by the dark 
  powers lurking in the Sewers of the City 
  of Thieves. 
  Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6 (A), 
  Spirit d6, Strength d12+1, Vigor d6
  Skills: Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, No-
  tice d6.
  Pace: 7; Parry: 6; Toughness: 8
  Special Abilities
  • Bite: Str+d4.
  • Fear: Any character seeing the Two-
  Headed Rat for the first time must make 
  a Fear check.
  • Size +3: The Two Headed rat is as big 
  as a horse. 
  • Tail Slap: The creature has a long, rope-
  like tail, which it can use to slap down op-
  ponents around it. It counts as an Agility 
  Trick, affecting all characters in a Medium 
  Burst Template centered on the monster.
  • Two-Headed: This monster has two, 
  independent heads, so he can make any 
  combination of two bites or Tail slaps 
  without any multi-action penalty.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Savage Worlds System (SWADE) [multi]/Beasts & Barbarians/Savage Worlds - Beasts & Barbarians - Grains of Death.pdf