Module Hack: The Keep At The End Of Your Life

This is an adventure I wrote to use on G+ for FLAILSNAIL games. Unfortunately I had to abandon the project after two games due to my work schedule. Anyway, this module is really groggy and clunky and pretentious, and probably really stupid.

The Keep At The End Of Your Life

A survival-horror module hack for Dungeon Module B2: The Keep On The Borderlands

This hack requires the use of module B2. It is designed as a short campaign for characters level 1-3, although expect a high mortality rate. It was originally designed for FLAILSNAIL play, which is to say, the characters leave the world of the Keep after each session, while time stops during the intervening periods. It also allows them a way to abandon the module when they decide it is too dangerous. Dropping this into a regular campaign setting may require a slight reworking, as the only possible conclusion of this module hack is the total and complete end of life as we know it.

GMs will need to do a great deal more bookkeeping in this adventure than typical.

THE PREMISE
The Keep On The Borderlands has been run more times than any other module in history. It has been reprinted twice, gotten a sequel, a novelization, and homages in other game lines. Every gold piece has been looted, and every monster killed, hundreds upon hundreds of times. The world of the Keep is worn down, thin, like a piece of worn leather. Time has no meaning, because it is rewound to the beginning after each adventuring group, and death is no better off, as the same goblinoids are killed and reanimated and killed again.

Perhaps the universe has its own antibodies, or perhaps all the death has settled in the Caves like a necrotic cenote. For whatever reason, the world of the Keep is broken and unfixable. Each night the world rewinds, and the villagers of the Keep go about their daily lives again and again and again without meaning or knowledge of their condition. The humanoid tribes of the Caves engage in petty feuds again and again, having  little skirmishes and bellowed threats, only to wake up again the next day and do it all again.
But something new has arrived. An adventuring party from far off lands, in search of gold and glory. They do not know what they have stumbled into, but by some queer twist of fate, they are not effected by the time dilation of this world. Instead, they will plunge into the Caves in search of adventure, the very final group to ever do so, and their actions will finally break the fragile reality of the Keep, and unmake the fabric of the universe.

CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL MODULE BEFORE PLAY BEGINS

• Triple all treasure in the Caves of Chaos. Triple coinage, triple the value of gemstones and precious items, and roll up a list of random magical items and add them to rooms whenever the players search.
• It take 4 hours of walking, or 3 hours if mounted, to reach the Caves.

THE TIMELINE
The timeline of the last day on earth is important. While the players are immune to the Groundhog's Day like effects, the rest of the world refreshes each morning, return to the world as described in B1. This does not happen exactly at 12:01AM, but rather as soon as the adventuring party stops to rest and at least one person sleeps. As soon as one of the adventurers is sleeping, the rest will fall limply to the ground, asleep themselves, until the next morning. They awake where they camped, having recovered HP and spells as normal. Theoretically the use of amphetamines or other drastic measures could extend the adventuring day of the party, but should have little impact on the events of this module, except to actually make things more dangerous for the players.

I personally used 6:00AM as the set point for awakening, but 4:00AM+d4 hours would be suitable as well if you're feeling verisimilitudinous.

As the game unfolds, it is important to keep a record of the chronology of deaths in the world. Since each turn in AD&D is 10 minutes, use 10 minute increments for your chronology, and record which monsters, NPCs and player characters die at which points. It is not necessary to record where, or the manner of their death. More information on how to use this record is found in the section on Nobodies and Anomalies.

I know that tracking time is frustrating for many GMs, so don't worry about figuring out how much time each little tasks take. You can round travel time up to the nearest hour, and do the same for encounters in the Keep. I used 1 turn as a good measure for how long it would take an adventuring party to complete each room. Barring unusual circumstances, the players will spend 1 full turn in each room while moving through the complex.

REWOUND EACH MORNING
Each time the players wake up, the following things return to normal

• All previously slain humanoid monsters and NPCs return to life and their designated positions as per B2. Should the players, thinking themselves clever, decide to take some monster parts with them, they will be missing the next morning as though never there, leaving previously grisly and bloodstained trophy cases clean and empty.
• The memories of all monsters and NPCs rewind to the previously morning. They have no knowledge of the events that took place the previous day, including knowledge of the players arrival and identities.

There is one very important thing which does NOT rewind in time, and that is the location of physical objects. Any treasure looted from the Caves does not return, nor do items purchased or stolen from town. Property damage will remain, including damage to plantlife. NPCs will act as though the damage has always been that way, becoming frustrated with characters who continue to make false claims.

NOBODIES
When a humanoid dies it becomes a Nobody. Each day, at the time of its death the previous day, will undergo a drastic change in personality and temperament  Nobodies look much as they did in life, but sickly and drawn, drained of color. Their eyes are wild and they are completely unconcerned with their appearance, meaning Nobodies active for any length of time are likely covered in blood and filth, with untended open wounds on their body from battle. The same stat block is used, although Nobodies will no longer use ranged weapons except for throwing weapons on the first round of combat before rushing to engage. They never fail morale checks, and become immune to mind-influencing spells and illusions of all types. They cannot sleep, and never grow tired or fatigued. They act like the "fast zombies" from recent horror movies like 28 Days Later crossed with Arkham Asylum inmates (Useful dialogue table here). Nobodies always attack, shout for reinforcements from other rooms, refuse to engage in meaningful dialogue, always pursue, and always fight to the death. The are willing to expend enormous amounts of resources to kill their prey, happily sacrificing a dozen Nobodies for the life of a single adventurer. Nobodies do not radiate magic, their alignment is inscrutable, and their minds cannot be read. No spell can see their future because they have no future; they are the future.

Humanoids killed again before the time they would have risen as Nobodies does prevent them from the change that day. Record their new time of death; they will continue to become a Nobody, but at this earlier time.

Nobodies are not passive encounters waiting for adventurers to open the door and find them. Instead, they will happily attack other rooms in the keep and kill the humanoid tribes to allow more Nobodies to rise the next day. Use the following methods to track the spread of the Nobodies.

1. During the 10-minute period that a Nobody wakes up in a room, all other creatures are killed. Non-humanoids are permanently killed, while any humanoids become Nobodies.
2. At the bottom of every hour, the Nobodies may move to an adjacent room containing uninfected humanoids if a d6 roll comes up on a 1. The uninfected humanoids are killed, so record this time. They will become Nobodies at this time each day from this point on, and this room will begin infecting adjacent rooms as well.

THE HERMIT
The Hermit knows what is happening and has gone mad because of it. He attempts to gain entrance to the Keep each morning but is turned away. No one will believe him, nor will anyone believe the players. He speaks in gibberish and half-animal shrieks and is of no use to anyone.

Only first hand experience by one of the Castellan's most trusted men, or an outbreak of Nobodies in the Keep itself would convince the Keep to take action. Even if such a thing happens, they will are unlikely to accomplish much in one day, and will forget everything by the next morning.

THE CAVE OF MYSTERY
Is a dark hole in the ground ringed by heavy foliage and a large number of small purple flowers. 40' down slick, vertical walls is a deep underground well. If there is anything of value at the bottom is left up to the GM.

THE KEEP AT THE END OF YOUR LIFE
On the morning of the first day in which all humanoids in the Caves Of Chaos have become Nobodies, the sun will not rise. All stars will fade from the sky, one by one, and by noon, under a black sky, the Nobodies will pour out of the Caves and burn the Keep to the ground. If the sun rises again tomorrow, there will be nobody left to see it.