TEXT: Dragon Warriors © Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson.  The Best Laid Plans © Dave Morris (shared with permission). 
  Artwork in this document has not been used with the artists’ permission. 
  The Best 
  Laid Plans 
   
  A Scenario by  
  Dave Morris 
  Converted to Dragon Warriors by Lee Barklam 
   
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 2 of 10 
  Setting Up 
  This adventure is really intended to give players a crash course in how to deal with 
  Dragon Warriors demons.  It should be light-hearted, but that doesn’t mean that 
  survival chances are high – players are recommended to create special 
  characters for this adventure only, unless they particularly want to use suitable 
  regular characters. 
  Characters generated for this adventure will need to be heavily armed and likely 
  at least 8th rank to survive the arena.  The GM should have a copy of the rules for 
  demonologists (either from In From The Cold or the Dragon Warriors Players’ 
  Guide). 
  The scenario involves X characters (maximum eight) in a fight with X+2 demons.  If 
  there are fewer than four players in the group, each should take two characters.  If 
  there is a surplus of players, get some of them to help run the demons. 
  Players’ Introduction 
  This whole section may be read to the players verbatim, as an introduction to this 
  short scenario. 
  You are seasoned adventurers who have come from all over the known world (i.e., 
  the mapped territories of Krarth) to the Tower Built of Night, having heard that the 
  great demonologist Master Hajpool the Supreme is hiring men at very good rates 
  of pay. You stand in one of the chambers of the Tower and listen to Master Hajpool 
  explain the deal: 
  “Attend, and I will simplify matters for your meagre intellects to comprehend!  
  Tonight, I summon the Lord Kastyrion, overseer of Gambits, Demon of Risk.  Not in 
  five centuries has terrible Kastyrion been evoked, for he is mightily feared, having 
  extra-ordinary power and a predisposition to summarily slay any summoner who 
  does not please him greatly.  But I have determined that since Kastyrion above all 
  things values a gamble, by the very act of summoning him I take considerable risk 
  and thus ensure his goodwill towards me.  So the ‘gamble’ is really a dead 
  certainty.” 
  Hajpool titters slightly – a curious sound from one so powerful.  He continues, 
  “When he appears, he will doubtless expect some sort of competition with me.  I 
  intend to suggest pitting you against some enchanted beasts of Kastyrlon’s and 
  then the demon-lord and I can bet on the outcome.  You needn’t worry too much 
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 3 of 10 
  about the danger though, because the battle will have to be evenly matched or 
  even slightly in your favour to gratify Kastyrion’s desire to gamble.  Payment will be 
  100 crowns each, plus a potion of healing for any… I mean everyone who survives.  
  All of you who are interested, come to the topmost chamber before midnight 
  tonight.” 
  So it is that you find yourself standing armed and armoured in a chamber at the 
  top of the Tower Built of Night, shivering against the wind howling through the 
  open windows and watching Master Hajpool as he waits for the light of the full 
  moon to throw the proper patterns on the stone floor.  Alarming that you should be 
  outside the pentacle he’s drawn for himself, but perhaps that’s the proper 
  summoning etiquette… 
  Hajpool begins his gestures and intonations as the moment arrives.  Much of the 
  ritual seems dubious or even totally comical, and as the minutes drag on you find it 
  more and more difficult to accept that anything is going to happen.  Then, quite 
  suddenly, Hajpool claps his hands together and stands perfectly still. The lines of 
  the pentacle brighten with a reddish glow.  The wind drops momentarily and then 
  starts to build up, rapidly becoming an icy gale that screeches through the 
  chamber like a thing alive.  Hajpool starts to smile, then throws open two chests 
  beside him.  One full of blood and the other full of gold dust!  The contents of each 
  chest seem to stir and then rise up, mingling to form a single scarlet-and-gold 
  stream, a flux that passes out through the window and up towards the stars. 
  Hajpool watches the offerings from the chests flow to the demon-lord’s realms for 
  a few moments.  Something seems to distract him, because he swallows hard a 
  couple of times, then cranes his back and gingerly fingers his throat.  A moment 
  later, his head explodes, scattering unmentionable gore over the ceiling of the 
  chamber. 
  There follows a moment of preternatural calm – hands seem to reach almost lazily 
  for sword hilts as each of you watches the demonologist’s headless form crumple 
  within the pentacle.  Then, with a noise like a dozen thunderclaps, the topmost 
  chamber of the impregnable Tower Built of Night bursts apart. 
  A moment of complete disorientation – you feel the rushing wind and realise you 
  are falling.  Not far off, the thread of blood and gold flows into the crystal night.  
  Then you see the lights of Deliverance far below and the moonlight shimmering on 
  the Issaries river, and with sudden panic you realise that you are now thousands of 
  feet above the ground, plummeting to your doom. 
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 4 of 10 
  Each of you hears a voice in his mind – a voice like the rustling of leaves in the 
  breeze: “Unlucky Hajpool.  I despise someone who tries to fix the odds.  Now, 
  through your greed, you miserable creatures have come into my clutches and it 
  seems I must get my entertainment from you.” 
  You fall, it seems, into a light cloud, and for a moment the ground rushing up to 
  meet you is obscured.  As the veil of cloud parts, you are aware that you are 
  falling much slower now – and you land with a jarring thud on a floor of polished 
  black marble.  You are in a large, vaulted chamber.  It seems to be about 30m 
  across, and each of you is lying in one of the alcoves around the wall. 
  Kastyrion’s challenge echoes around the room: “Welcome to my combat arena.  
  Thirty of your seconds from now I shall introduce you to my gladiators, who will seek 
  to slay you.  If any of you are still alive after one hour, I will return you to your own 
  plane.  Remuneration is also offered, for the survivors to divide amongst 
  themselves: a magical crystal for each of my gladiators slain.” 
  As you step from your alcoves, a reddish glow appears within each.  “These 
  alcoves are havens from the battle come.  You will find that they protect you from 
  my gladiators if you need to retire for healing purposes.  Be warned that the 
  protective energies are of strictly limited duration.” 
   
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 5 of 10 
  Referee’s Notes 
  1. Each hex equals 1m.  Ordinarily, a human character would move 2.5m 
  before acting in a combat round.  However, for the purposes of this battle, a 
  human character may move up to 3 hexes in a straight line or only 2 hexes if 
  turning or changing facing as part of their move. 
  2. In a tactical battle like this, it is important that the referee strictly adheres to 
  the appropriate order for the declaration of actions and the execution of 
  actions.  Actions should be declared at the beginning of the round in 
  reverse order of Reflexes and then executed in order of Reflexes.  A list of all 
  participants’ relative Reflexes scores will therefore be a useful reference. 
  3. Each alcove contains a red glow – a forcefield that activates when a 
  character enters it.  The forcefield is subject to a Spell Expiry Roll.  If the 
  character leaves the alcove before the SER indicates it would fail, the 
  forcefield will reactivate the next time any character enters the alcove.  
  However, if the SER indicates the forcefield fails whilst a character is within it, 
  it will not reactivate again.  Demons cannot enter alcoves, nor may missiles 
  or indirect attack spells be fired through it.  Direct attack spell, though, can 
  pass through the forcefield unimpeded. 
  4. The lighting in the room is equivalent to half-light.  There are three large iron 
  braziers in the room.  Once ignited (they are unlit at the start) these will burn 
  for the duration of the scenario.  To the left of each alcove, there is a lit torch 
  in a bracket.  The braziers are immovable but the torches can be taken 
  down and carried. 
  5. The pool in the centre of the room is one metre deep.  The water detects as 
  strongly magical.  A character standing in the pool will be at a height 
  disadvantage if meleed by someone standing at the pool’s edge, so his 
  attacks will be at -2 and attacks made on him will be at +2.  However, the 
  pool’s magic protects him for as long as he stands in it – he gets +1 Armour 
  Factor, +1 Magical Defence, and is not subject to critical hits.  Demons can 
  enter the pool if they wish and they are aware of its properties. 
  6. A group of X characters will be pitted against X demons, plus the two 
  gremlins.  The demons involved are chosen by the Referee.  Lord Kastyrion 
  stops the combat after 60 minutes (300 combat rounds).  Any character 
  alive at that time will be returned to Krarth, materialising on the lawn beside 
  Hajpool’s tower, just as the sun rises.  The promised crystals lie on an ebony 
  table beside them. 
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 6 of 10 
  The Arena 
   
  The Demons 
  The demons will co-operate with one another as much as possible, but since they 
  do not speak each other’s languages, there will not be much in the way of a 
  coherent battle plan.  
  The other point to remember is that the demons are unlikely to settle for a 
  convenient one-on-one melee.  A character fighting the srain could find in the 
  next instant that he’s been hit by a lightning bolt from the storm demon meleeing 
  someone else and that the rult is teleporting beside him to deliver a claw attack.  
  Except for the gremlins, there will only be at least one of each other type of 
  demon, although the exact mix is left for the Referee to decide. 
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 7 of 10 
  Amorph 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 8th 
  Attack 
  19 
  An Amorph is an oozing blob of grey-mauve protoplasm, full of eyes and 
  chattering mouths.  It will occasionally extrude temporary appendages. 
  Amorphs take an additional 50% damage from fire and 2d6 HP damage if 
  they cross a line of eucalyptus oil. 
  The Amorph will stay towards the middle of the room, if possible, to take on 
  anyone who tries to make use of the pool. 
  Defence 
  13 
  Magical Defence 
  12 
  Evasion 
  2 
  Stealth 
  17 
  Perception 
  16 (panoptical) 
  Movement 
  5m 
  Reflexes 
  11 
  Weapon 
  Appendage (2d6, 8) 
  Armour 
  Hide, AF 3 
  Health Points 
  2d6+30 
   
  B’krath 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 8th 
  Attack 
  23 
  B’krath are slender, prowling killers—roughly humanoid in appearance but 
  with musculature and stance reminiscent of a jaguar.  The jet-black fur of a 
  B’krath makes it particularly adept at stalking in shadows (its defence and 
  stealth abilities are halved in bright light, such as within 2 hexes of a lit 
  brazier).   
  B’krath fight with their long powerful talons and needle-sharp teeth. 
  Defence 
  12 
  Magical Defence 
  11 
  Evasion 
  9 
  Stealth 
  23 
  Perception 
  14 (darksight) 
  Movement 
  15m (30m) 
  Reflexes 
  16 
  Weapon 
  Claws (d10, 6) 
  Armour 
  Hide, AF 4 
  Health Points 
  2d6+20 
   
  Gremlins (2) 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 2nd 
  Attack 
  14 
  Gremlins are small (2’6”), thin humanoids with elongated toes and fingers 
  like a lizard’s, and a globular head perched on a narrow neck.  They have 
  pale green skin and their large, saucer-shaped eyes give them a rather 
  comical look. 
  Any rolls made by a character or demon within 8m of a gremlin are 
  adjusted by 2 to be less favourable to him.  This adjustment also applies to 
  rolls made to target an affected character.  As this applies to the demons 
  as well, the gremlins will attempt to manoeuvre to bring bad luck only the 
  player characters and will target non-engaged spellcasters or missile-users 
  first. 
  Gremlins will initially be deployed to the arena by the Referee out of sight of 
  the players and only need to check their Stealth if the gremlins move. 
  The gremlins’ bad-luck powers are not cumulative, and gremlins are 
  immune to other gremlins’ bad luck. 
  Defence 
  9 
  Magical Defence 
  6 
  Evasion 
  7 
  Stealth 
  25 
  Perception 
  14 (darksight) 
  Movement 
  12m (25m) 
  Reflexes 
  11 
  Weapon 
  Claw (d6, 4) 
  Armour 
  Hide, AF 2 
  Health Points 
  1d6+6 
   
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 8 of 10 
  Melech 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 6th 
  Attack 
  19 
  Melechs are tall, muscular, bronze-skinned humanoids, with malevolent but 
  not unhandsome features and dancing flames for hair. 
  If the melech is not engaged in melee, he will breathe fire at a target up to 
  10m away at speed 13, causing 2d8 damage on a successful hit, reduced 
  by 2 if the target is wearing armour. 
  The melech is also able to case illusion and phantasm spells at will with no 
  MP cost.  Their magical nature also makes them immune to any spell cast 
  with 2 or fewer MP. 
  Defence 
  10 
  Magical Attack 
  18 
  Magical Defence 
  11 
  Evasion 
  5 
  Stealth 
  18 
  Perception 
  9 (darksight) 
  Movement 
  10m (20m) 
  Reflexes 
  15 
  Weapon 
  Flaming 2H sword 
  (d10+1, 6) 
  Armour 
  Hide, AF 3 
  Health Points 
  2d6+12 
   
  Porphyr 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 5th 
  Attack 
  22 
  Vampiric blue-skinned demons, porphyrs are very tall and gaunt and have 
  all the normal powers of a Dragon Warriors vampire.  They have bald, 
  veined heads, eyes of limpid yellow, and long seemingly delicate nails.  
  Over its robes, a Porphyr will wear a silver cuirass with intricate designs 
  worked upon it. 
  Porphyrs have all the vulnerabilities of a vampire but are particularly 
  vulnerable to fresh garlic flowers, causing a -2 penalty to its attack for 2d6 
  rounds against any character so protected. 
  Additionally, if a burning torch is used as a club against the porphyr, its 
  robes might ignite (test Reflexes to avoid this).  If the porphyr’s robes ignite, 
  the porphyr takes 2 HP damage per round until the fire is out.  To extinguish 
  the fire, the porphyr must disengage from combat and successfully test 
  Reflexes as a full round action. 
  Defence 
  14 
  Magical Defence 
  9 
  Evasion 
  8 
  Stealth 
  18 
  Perception 
  9 (darksight) 
  Movement 
  10m (20m) 
  Reflexes 
  18 
  Weapon 
  Claws, (d4+2, 5) 
  Armour 
  Robes, AF 1 
  Health Points 
  4d4+18 
   
  Rult 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 5th* 
  Attack 
  18 
  Rult have large, hunched bodies with dry, shredding flesh, a large head like 
  that of a fly, and skeletal wings draped with a torn web of skin. 
  The rult has two special abilities – the first is that the rult may teleport next to 
  any character they have previously engaged in combat as part of their 
  movement each round (and do not need to disengage from their current 
  opponent to do this) and, secondly, the rult exudes a poisonous vapour 
  affecting everyone within 2m as a weak poison.  Damage from this poison 
  may not be healed with magic. 
  Defence 
  12 
  Magical Defence 
  9 
  Evasion 
  6 
  Stealth 
  12 
  Perception 
  8 (darksight) 
  Movement 
  15m (30m) 
  Reflexes 
  11 
  Weapon 
  Claws (1d6, 5) 
  Armour 
  Hide, AF 4 
  Health Points 
  2d4+13 
  * If poisons are deadly, as per canon Dragon Warriors rules, rank equivalence is still only 5th. 
   
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 9 of 10 
  Sraim 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 7th* 
  Attack 
  20 
  Sraim have a giant maggot’s body on four long spidery legs, with a face 
  which is lumpish and misshapen as though made of putty. 
  In addition to biting in combat, the sraim can also spit acidic venom 
  (equivalent to a normal strength poison) up to 10m at speed 14.   Note that 
  a successful bite attack automatically subjects the character to the poison 
  effect, no Evasion check may be made against this. 
  Defence 
  14 
  Magical Defence 
  11 
  Evasion 
  6 
  Stealth 
  18 
  Perception 
  9 (darksight) 
  Movement 
  12m (25m) 
  Reflexes 
  15 
  Weapon 
  Bite (2d4+1, 7), plus 
  poison 
  Armour 
  Hide, AF 4 
  Health Points 
  2d6+12 
  * If poisons are deadly, as per canon Dragon Warriors rules, rank equivalence increases to 8th. 
   
  Stalker 
   
  Rank Equivalence: 9th 
  Attack 
  22 
  Stalkers appear to be vaguely humanoid, hunched inside their dusty robes, 
  but have withered brown skin like tree bark and a cowled vulture’s head. 
  The Stalker can make itself intangible to anything except metals and 
  magical materials, but it is unlikely to find this power very useful during this 
  combat because the arena walls and floor are definitely magical. 
  If the stalker wounds a character and makes a successful Magical Attack 
  against him, the character loses 2 points of Strength, which recover at 1 
  point per hour. 
  Every fifth round, the stalker can cast bolts of white light up to 10m with a 
  speed of 18, dealing 1d20 points of damage, against which armour offers 
  no protection. 
  Defence 
  13 
  Magical Attack 
  20 
  Magical Defence 
  12 
  Evasion 
  10 
  Stealth 
  23 
  Perception 
  14 (panoptical) 
  Movement 
  12m (25m) 
  Reflexes 
  17 
  Weapon 
  Claws (2d6, 6) 
  Armour 
  Robes, AF 5 
  Health Points 
  2d6+22 
   
  Storm Demon 
  Rank Equivalence: 7th 
  Attack 
  18 
  Storm demons are creatures of living lightning that appear as flickering, 
  electrical humanoid figures up to twice the size of a man. 
  Storm demons are immune to non-magical weapons and may hurl bolts of 
  energy up to 20m away at speed 16.  On impact, these bolts cause four 
  1d8 wounds, each of which may be reduced by 1 if the target is wearing 
  non-metal armour, but metal armour provides no protection. 
  Alternatively, in melee, the storm demon’s touch causes 7 HP damage 
  (again, reduced by 1 by non-metal armour only) and having a 20% chance 
  to set the victim’s hair and clothing alight, causing a further 1d6 HP 
  damage per round until the character spends a full round putting out the 
  flames. 
  Crossing the fence of copper rods will cause 3d6 HP damage to the storm 
  demon and any lightning bolts crossing it reduce their speed by 4. 
  Defence 
  10 
  Magical Defence 
  10 
  Evasion 
  5 
  Stealth 
  5 
  Perception 
  10 (panoptical) 
  Movement 
  10m (20m) 
  Reflexes 
  11 
  Weapon 
  Touch (N/A, 7) 
  Armour 
  Body, AF 6 
  Health Points 
  1d6+10 
   
  
  The Best Laid Plans, a Scenario by Dave Morris 
  Page 10 of 10 
  The Crystals 
  Each of the crystals stores a single sorcery spell that may be cast by anyone 
  holding it in their unadorned left hand.  To determine which spell each crystal 
  holds, roll 3d4-2 for the spell’s level and 1d6 for the specific spell.  If relevant to the 
  spell, the crystal has a Magical Attack score of 28, although a sorcerer may 
  choose to substitute their own Magical Attack score, if higher.  The crystal may be 
  used up to three times each day and replenishes its daily charges at midnight. 
  However, when picking up the crystal, the character will realise that the crystal 
  stores a human soul, which communicates its impotent pleas for freedom 
  telepathically with the possessor whenever it is in contact with their skin.  Each 
  activation of the crystal wracks the soul within with unimaginable torments, 
  flooding the mind of the caster with the anguished screams of the tortured soul. 
  It could be an adventure in itself to figure out how to release the soul, assuming 
  the character wants to, of course…  
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dragon Warriors/Dragon Warriors Revised/Dragon Warriors Revised Adventures/Dragon Warriors Best Laid Plans.pdf