Mann's Encounters

Crossing the Cursed Jungle

Traveling through the Curselands is perilous. Not only are there demons and magically altered creatures, but the jungle has reclaimed the roads, leading to many natural hazards.

Assume the following terrain rules unless otherwise specified:

Dense Canopy: If the party doesn't carry a light source with them, treat lighting as one step worse for the time of day (with Dim lighting at noon, Dark at twilight, and Pitch Darkness at night).

Abundant Wilderness: Game is plentiful. Heroes get a +2 to Survival checks to obtain food and water.

Dense Undergrowth: The terrain is unforgiving and filled with overgrown foliage. Heroes can only travel 12 miles in an 8-hour day on foot.

Jungle Encounters

For every six miles the players travel, draw one card from the action deck. If they draw Clubs, look at the following chart. If it is one of the other three suits, nothing happens. If the Joker is drawn, draw twice. If both of those cards are clubs, then combine the two encounters in a way that makes sense and is appropriately dramatic (thornwolves attacking when the players need to escape a rushing river, ghul thieves fighting a green cat over who will take the players, etc.)

A: Drule
K: Green Cat
Q: Thorn Wolves
J: Skeleton Knights
10: Creeping Vines
9: Stampede!
8: Lureflies
7: Rushing Rapids
6: Ghul Thieves
5: Zombies
4: Spider Monkeys
3: Hillside Thicket
2: Lost!

Drule (WC)

The Drule is a strange draconic creature. It walks awkwardly on two legs, with its forelegs folded awkwardly in front of it. Its mishapen, snaggle-toothed mouth and off-set eyes bely a dangeorus cunning. Ravenous, these creatures will often attempt to convince travelers that it means no harm, before launching into a vicious assault with its teeth, claws, and poisonous breath weapon.

Start the encounter with the Drule trying to flatter whoever in the party seems strongest, complaining that it is frightened and poor and hungry. Whether the players are fooled or not, it attacks the next round with a gout of flame. It doesn't have the patience or the brains for more complicated strategy.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d10, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Stealth d8, Survival d6
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 11 (2)
Special Abilities
Armor +2: Scaly hide
Claws/Bite: Str+d6
Fire Breath: Drules breathe fire using the Cone Template. Every target within this cone may make an agility roll to avoid the attack. Those who fail suffer 2d6 damage and must check to see if they catch fire. A drule may not attack with its claws or bite in the round it breathes fire.
Low Light Vision: The Drule ignores penalties for Dim and Dark Illumination.
Poison Bite: The Drule must forgo its normal bite damage when using this attack. It only does Str damage, but the bite has a chance to deliver paralyzing poison (see SWADE pg 129).
Smoke and Poison and Death: The Drule's fire breath leaves smoke within the cone template until the Drule's next turn. Those within the smoke template, or those who enter it, must make vigor checks to avoid a level of fatigue and blindness. Blinded targets can make a vigor save each round once they exit the smoke to regain their sight. The fatigue goes away after an hour's rest.
Size 3: Drules are very large creatures, standing up to sixteen feet tall and weighing 1,500 lbs.

Green Cat (WC)

Green Cats were once leopards before being twisted by the Curse. Like many of the animals in the jungle, its body was melded with the vegetation. It now is covered in moss and vines, giving it unrivaled camouflage in its environment.

Start the encounter with the heroes five spaces away, and let them make notice rolls against the Green Cat's Stealth, counting any penalties from Lighting or the beast's natural camouflage. If they fail, it waits until the last hero passes it to pounce.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d10, Strength d12, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d8, Notice d8, Stealth d10
Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9
Edges: Frenzy (Imp)
Special Abilities:
Bite/Claws: Str+d6.
Greenborn Hide: Green Cats have hides that blend into the forest around them. If a green cat doesn't move, it gets a +4 to stealth checks, and enemies take a -2 to actions against it that rely on sight.
Low Light Vision: Green Cats ignore penalties for Dim and Dark Illumination.
Pounce: Green Cats pounce on their prey to best bring their mass and claws to bear. If a green cat can leap at least a few feet (1″ on the tabletop) and makes a Wild Attack, it adds +4 to its damage instead of +2.
Size 2: Green Cats are about 600 pounds.

Thornwolves

Whether they were wolves or wild dogs is unknown. With their thornwood hides and the exposed vine-like sinew of their muscles, it's impossible to say. What is known is that the earth around them responds to their presence, with briars springing from the ground around them, following in their wake.

Use one thornwolf, plus one for each hero. They prioritize staying adjacent to take advantage of gang-up bonuses, but are too maddened by the curse to necesarily focus on a single hero.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d10, Stealth d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4
Edges: Alertness
Special Abilities:
Bite: Str+d4. With a raise on the Fighting roll, the thornwolf can make a Push attempt as a free action to knock the target prone.
Briarpatch: Thorny vines grow from the ground near a Thornwolf. Treat every square within 2" of a Thornwolf as difficult terrain. Any creature that falls in that space aside from a Thornwolf takes 2d4 damage from the thorns.
Low Light Vision: Thornwolves ignore penalties for Dim and Dark Illumination.
Size −1: Thornwolves are no bigger than large dogs.
Speed: d10 running die.

Skeleton Knights

These skeletons were once proud warriors of the empire. Now their soulless husks have been animated by the Curse of the dark god, allowing them no rest.

Use one skeleton armed with a shortsword for each hero. When they're incapacitated, they're reanimated after two rounds. When this happens, all skeletons still up glow briefly with necrotic energy. A successful Occult roll reveals that the curse is using the skeletons to sustain each other. If all of the skeletons are destroyed before any others rise, they will be permanently destroyed. Otherwise, the players can attempt to escape with a foot Chase.

Creeping Vines

The heroes find a bright, sunny clearing that takes them between long patches of dense briars. While there's a moderate amount of undergrowth, it's much easier terrain than most of the jungle.

However, the clearing is not without its dangers. Six Vine Creeps are strewn between them and the exit. These carnivorous, animate plants use their long vine-like tentacles to pull prey into the pitcher-flower stomachs hiding on their main body. The plants are slow, but their long reach makes them dangerous predators.

When a hero gets within 5" of a vine creep, it will start to move towards then. It will immediately attempt to grapple them if it gets in range. Once a creature is Bound, the vine creep will try to place them in its pitcher. If all prey moves more than 5" away, it stops following and stays in place.

Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d12, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d6, Notice d10, Stealth d8
Pace: 1; Parry: 5; Toughness: 10
Special Abilities:
Creeping: Vine Creeps have a pace of 1" and cannot run.
Pitcher: Any creatures of size +1 or smaller can be placed at least partly in the vine creep's pitcher. This deals 2d10 damage each round as the acids inside begin to digest them.
Rootsight: Vine Creeps can detect any creature moving on the ground around them. Treat them as having no vision penalties based on lighting within 5" of themselves. They are completely blind beyond that range.
Size +3: Vine Creeps are large, tangled masses of vegetation four-to-five feet across and just as tall.
Vines: Vine creeps cannot make Fighting attacks with their vines, but can use them to grapple. They have a reach of 3"

Stampede!

Something has spooked the animals of the jungle! The heroes can hear a rumbling in the distance before animals begin running through their formation. The players must complete a Dramatic Task to keep their group together.

This will take five rounds and require five successes per hero. In the first round, the heroes hear the rumbling in the distance. In the second round, the first animals start tearing through (deer, monkeys, snakes). In the third and fourth round, the main body of beasts tears through (wildebeests, forest elephants, leopards). On the fifth round, the animals are clearing out, but the heroes must deal with the damaged terrain as the last of the trees fall and muddy hillsides collapse. Suggested skills include Survival, Notice, and Fighting. On a failure, their hirelings and pack animals have been scattered. Have the players make a Survival check for each missing animal or person. If the animal or person is missing, so is any gear they were carrying. Players can try again, but it will cost another half day of travel, and require another encounter card.

Lureflies

Lureflies are a species of botfly that have an unusual lifecycle. They lay their eggs in animals like deer or humans, but their larva can only complete their metamorphosis in the bellies of large predators. They create a mix of pheromones that attract predators. Even the cursed undead have learned to follow this signal.

Use the Swarm (SWADE, 189) with a medium blast template size and the following ability:
Infection: Anyone damaged by the swarm's stings is at risk of becoming an incubator for its eggs. Make a Vigor check at -2 or be infested by Lurefly eggs. A character with this infection increases the odds of being attacked by dangerous creatures. When the party draws encounter cards, check Diamond cards against the encounter table. If it would result in an attack by a creature (thornwolves, zombies, or even more lureflies), then use the encounter. if it would be an environmental hazard, then ignore the card. This infection can be treated with a Heal check at -2. Failure results in 2d4 damage to the patient.

Rushing Rapids

As the heroes cross a gentle river, they hear a thundering, rushing sound from upstream. This is a multi-person Dramatic Task. They have three turns to reach the other side. They need three successes for every member of the party. Success brings them to high ground safely. Failure causes a level of fatigue to each hero, hireling, and pack animal, and the loss of half the party's rations. Recommended skills for this challenge are Athletics, Notice, and Survival. However, encourage players go come up with creative solutions, like using Academics to realize quirks of geography that affect the flow of the river, or Intimidation to get packbeasts and hirelings out of the way faster.

Ghul Thieves

These demonic creatures were servants of the dark god. They've become a common threat in the Curse Lands, and at the border of the Empire, it has become customary for people to remove their shoes before entering another's home to show that they are truly mortal.

In their natural shape, these creatures resemble humans, but with massive hyena-like teeth that stretch out their jaws, mottled pale skin, and the hooves of an ass. They are usually seen changed into the form of the human whose corpse they last devoured.

These ghuls were not expecting to encounter anyone on the road, however, and are in their natural form. Use one ghul per player. They will begin by using Taunt Tests, and then moving in to attack. They will continue switching between pure attacks and Taunt as the battle continues.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d8, Stealth d6, Taunt d10
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 8 (2)
Edges:
Gear: Boiled Leather Jacket (+2), Short Sword (Str+d6), 2 Throwing Knives (Str+d4)
Special Abilities:
Bite: Str+d6.
Opportunist: When the Ghul gets a raise on a Test, it can make an attack on that target as a free action. It can only do this once per turn.
Shapeshifter: Ghuls can take the form of any humanoid creature whose corpse they've eaten. No matter what shape they take, however, they always have the hooves of an ass for feet.

Zombies

The heroes cross into the remains of a village. The houses are moldering and collapsed. Vegetation has largely claimed the paths.

When the heroes are partway through the jungle, the earth is torn open by questing hands. Two zombies for each hero rise from the ground naerby ad begin to shuffle towards the party.

Spider Monkeys

These hybrid creatures are a horrible combination of simian and arachnid features. They stand on eight chitinous legs, with a simian torso rising form where the spider's head would be. Venomous fangs stick out of monkey faces, and their eyes are split into eight segments.

They attack from over head. Use two spider monkeys, plus one for each player. They will try to web them from branches overhead before descending down to attack stricken targets. If their initial web attack doesn't capture at least one victim, they will retreat into the trees.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d4-2, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4 (2)
Edges:
Special Abilities:
Bite: Str+d4.
Low Light Vision: Spider Monkeys ignore penalties for Dim and Dark Illumination.
Poison: Mild (See SWADE, pg 128).
Size -2: Spider Monkeys are housecat-sized.
Wall Walker: Spider Monkeys can move at their fullPace on walls and ceilings.
Web: Spider Monkeys can work together to throw webs at their enemies. Three Spider Monkeys working together can cast a web the size of a Small Blast Template. Six can make a web the size of a Medium Blast Template. Make one Group Shooting roll. A hit means the victim is Entangled, or Bound with a raise (see Bound & Entangled, SWADE pg 98).

Hillside Thicket

The heroes must pass over a particularly steep hillside covered in brambles. Make a Bumps & Bruises check for each of them (SWADE pg 125).

Lost!

The heroes have mislaid the local geography. Draw two more Encounter cards.


Run this encounter when the heroes are nearly to the temple.

Psycholash (WC)

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d8, Notice d6, Psionics d8
Pace: 5; Parry: 6; Toughness: 11 (2)
Edges:
Special Abilities:
Lash: Str+d4.
Low Light Vision: The Psycholash ignores penalties for Dim and Dark Illumination.
Psionics: 20 pp
Powers: Burst, Havoc, Puppet, Stun
Size +4: The psycholash is as large as a horse.

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