Mission in Mash Mashel

Mission in Mash Mashel(Swedish: Uppdrag i Mos Mosel) was the first adventure released to the first version of Mutant. Questioning its importance is not allowed. Let us start, shall we?

You have all seen a poster saying that you should contact Nicholas fon Rinj for a dangerous but well-paid mission. You all meet at his palace in the trade district. It is a magnificent building made out of white stone and with black pillars around it. Inside, you get greeted by a servant of his. The servant leads you to him.

"Godday!

My name is Nicholas fon Rinj and I am one of the wealthiest traders in Ireland. One of my suppliers is named Varg and lives in Mash Mashel, a small village in the northern Cyllmauntens. The deliveries stopped two weeks ago and I haven't heard from him since. I sent Inspektaré Jerry Kokky but I haven't heard anything from him either. Your mission, if you accept it, will be to find the hindrance and... remove, shall we say? Remove it from the trading. And find also out what happened to Kokky! You get 100 Iron for it. After it is finished. Well, do you accept?"

Fon Rijn's uneasiness is justified. Varg is dead. The whole village is paralyzed in fear after the horrible events that has happened that last months. Villagers have disappeared for about a week and then suddenly come back. But they have changed - cold and emotionless copies of their former selves. A Slaughter Tree has secretly been eating and copying the villagers. The people who disappear get captured by the lils at night and fed to the tree. The tree is rooted in Biobunker VII. Varg suspected that the answer could be found in the mayor's safe, but got detected and shot at while trying to investigate it. However, the lil didn't manage to capture Varg, who is severely wounded. There is nobody in Varg's house. The two bodyguards got killed in an ambush the same night and their corpses lay in the basement. The police, who are lils, have sealed off the house to prevent anybody to get in there. The police also caught Kokky, who is starving in a prison cell. If the players tell their true intentions, the lils will closely observe. They are just waiting for a good time to ambush them.

The PCs get to the village with a ferry. Nothing dangerously important happens during the trip.

Mash Mashel

The Mayor's Residence

"A broad bridge made out of stone leads to a house that seems to be of a higher standard than the other ones. Before the double front door stands two guards with guns and hardened leather. They look sharply at you and fixes the guns they carry. There is a sign above the door that says 'Mayor'"

Everybody in the house is a lil. The group needs a good reason to speak with the mayor. One of the guards escorts them to the office. The mayor and his wife sits in the office. There is a large desk and some chairs. Beside the rooms only window stands a safe. The mayor is named Gottfried and his wife's name is Mariana. They are in their sixties. If the player tell about their mission the mayor will nod and say that he suspects a person, but he has to check one thing first. Gottfried will then ask them to come back the following day so he can tell them more. He will set a trap if the PCs are dumb enough to come at the appointed time. They will get invited to the library which lacks windows and get shot down by the lils.

If the players pay attention they will notice that the mayor is acting a certain way; cold, stiff and emotionless. To give the players a chance all the lils has to be played the same way! The mayor got a map on himself with biobunker VII marked. A player who strip-searches the mayor will easily find it. Both Mariana and Gottfried have a pistol in a shoulder holster. If they try to break in at night they will have to get a successful stealth roll. Otherwise they will bump into the two guards doing the night round. By the window the Gm rolls Observation to see if the group spots a tin cooper thread that goes above the window. If it fails the thread will break when the window is opened or smashed an sound an alarm. In that case 1d8 lils will come in rushing in in 1d4 minutes to investigate. The two guards will come automatically in 1d8 rounds. However, if the PCs succeed at the roll they will notice the trap and can easily disarm it and then open the window. Knowing Traps is not needed, unless the GM wants it to be. The players can then try to open the safe. If the players have Fripps code breaker there is 90% chance it will open. The safe keeps a map over the village with all the houses inhabited by lils marked with a red cross. A map which shows an arrow from the forbidden zone to Mash Mashel and then to Isle of Kharl, a plast tree and a can with plant nutrients. There is also a bunch of worthless papers with an considerable pile of dust on it.

Tariff Bridge

"There is a tree shed beside the stone bridge. At the left side of the bridge is a sign with the text 'Tariff - 1 Ir for everyone that passes.' Two men with guns stand outside the shed. They wear hardened leather with scrap strengthening."

The tariff guards are lils as well. They demand one Ir of the players for every person each time they want to go over the bridge. If the PCs ask the guards if anything strange is happening in the village they will answer that they have not noticed anything unusual.

Valdmar's Inn

"The road end in front of a large stable. There is a small building to the left which seems barred. beyond it is a big house with a wooden veranda in front of it. There is a sign above the broad front doors telling you are at "Valdermar's Inn". The doors are wide open an you can hear the sound of glass against glass. You ken the pleasant scent of freshly-made food.

It does not cost anything to leave a in the stables. Fodder for one day costs about 1 Ir. The hostler is long and thin and seems to be in the forties. The name is Willy. The barred house is Valdemar's safe-deposit. It has 130(!) Ir in a safe with a combination lock. Only Valdemar knows the combination.

The entire ground floor is a bar and kitchen. Valdemar and his barmaid Berta are serving the guests. Valdemar is small and round with black hair and a beard. He is 41 years old. If the players ask if he knows what has happened to Varg or if anything strange has happened in the village, he will only reply that people go missing every now and then. Sometimes they come back, sometimes not. Varg did not come back. "But", he says, "Go to Fripp's house. They usually know what is going on." Then he hurries away. The barmaid will serve them if they order something. If she gets asked she will tell that a lot of people have gone missing during the last couple of months. But most of them have come back about a week later. Berta knows that the villagers in the buildings nr 5 and 11 have been missing and returned. The inn has three guests. Two of them, Terkel and Manfried, are normal peasants. The third, Inga, is a lil. Terkel and Manfried do not know about the trouble in Mos Mosel, but if the PCs ask Inga she will say that she thinks something strange is happening at the graveyard. Then she will warn the mayor. She has lived at the inn about 2 months.

Farm

"The farm looks declining and unkempt. A man and a woman in their thirties hustle four children into the hous when they see you come. The door gets shut and latched."

The peasants are Mr. and Mrs. Crytch. They refuse to speak with strangers. They will call for help if the players are insistent.

Forge

"It is obviously a forge you have in front of you. Two burly men are forging a plow outside of the house. They have not yet seen you."

The smiths are lils. Their names are Bard and Charlie. They will say that they have not noticed anything unusual if the players ask. They also say that they were at a business trip to Paravel at the time Berta(Building 3) mentioned. They will not answer any more questions, and ask the players to leave.

Carpenter

"Two men meet you when you get to the house. There is a half-done shed to the left. The men call themselves Reinhold and Wolve. They ask you to come in for a glass of brannie."

Reinhold and Wolve are deadly afraid of the smiths. They noticed they went missing and were changed when they came back. emotionless and inhuman in some way. This was about one month ago.

Farm

"You see a small farm with a smaller stable. A burly man in his forties is cutting wood. Four children are playing outside the stable. When the man sees you he starts walking towards you and asks what you want."

The peasant's name is Sune. His wife's name is Sophie. They can tell the players that strange things are happening at the graveyard. If the players ask about the disappearances they will tell that the three polices in building 11 got lost about three months ago and came back after a week. The polices don't greet them any longer.

Varg's House

”Already at a distance you can see that this house is firmly barred. Doors and windows are nailed-up with sturdy planks. There is a sign by the road with the text “Enclosed area. The police” . The house seems to have been abandoned weeks ago. There is a heliograph station at the house’s roof.”

If the players try to break in openly, the police will notice and arrest them. In that case the PCs will get disarmed and locked up in a cell in building 11. If the players get in without being noticed, they will see that the house is abandoned. In a scrub in the basement lies two corpses(Varg’s guards). The ground floor has two rooms and one kitchen. There are three bedrooms and one workroom upstairs. There is a register of the trade with fon Rijn in the desk in the workroom. In a corner there is a ladder to the roof, where a rusting heliograph is.

Farm

“This farm is composed by a dwelling house, a stable and a toolshed. The door is open and there is not a living soul.”

The house is completely empty. There are signs of a short fight upstairs.

Wine Merchant

"You feel a scent of wino coming towards you when you stand outside the house. A graceful sign with the text “Berra’s Wino” hangs above the door."

Berra is pale and with a curly hairdo. A bell tinkles when the players enter. Berra will not answer any questions about the disappearances and ask of them to leave if they do not buy anything. Berra got a flintlock rifle under the desk and a knife in the pocket.

Police Station

"These two buildings seem to be very well built. They are unusually burly and strong. There is a sign above the larger house with the text 'Police Station' and by the smaller one hangs a sign with the text 'Penitentiary'. There is a heliograf at the police stations roof."

There are three constables in the police station. Fred, Ejke and Mikal. They are all lils. The polices treat the PCs with suspicion and hostility. If the players ask if something strange is happening in the village they will reply that they have not noticed anything. They are all carrying revolvers. They are wearing some kind of uniforms in red and yellow. Kokky is sitting in the penitentiary half starved to death.

Farm

"The moment you walk through the wicket a man's voice will yell at you to leave. A large muzzle is pointing at you through an open window."

The man's name is Gudmund. He and his wife Ingburj is in a feud with Lars and Maggie Weidling who are behind everything bad that has happened in Mash Mashel. Gudmund has two muskets. He has a 65% of hitting. Ingburj reloads while he shoots. If the players continue to walk in he will give off one warning shot. Then he will shoot to wound or kill.

Farm

"When you come to the farm, which has one dwelling house and one stable, you hear a sharp sound and a crossbow arrow hits the ground in front of you. You hear a man ordering you to immediately leave his belongings. You see two crossbows sticking out of a window."

The man is Lars Weidling and he is together with his wife Maggie. They are in a feud with Gudmund and Ingburj in building 12 and hates Gudmund above everything else. They will not answer any questions. They will only curse Gudmund.

Maggie and Lars are armed with one crossbow each with a 75% to hit. Lars will warn once before he shoots.

Tailor

"The houses seems to be abandoned. There is a dwelling house and a stable. Everything is decaying and destroyed. No one has been living here for a long time."

Everything is empty. The tailor moved away years ago. He was the village's only mutant and lived as a loner. At last he left because of the harassment from the humans, but those problems do not have anything to do with this mystery.

Farm

"You see a very large farm with a stable almost as large as a dwelling house. A fat man in his forties and with red hair smiles at you awry and comes towards you with outstretched arms."

The man, Bob, lives together with his wife and two grown-up sons. Their names are Linda, Vabb and Visek. Bob is a lil. And so is the rest of them.

Bob will invite the players for some food or sherry depending on the time of the day. The family acts nice, but they act very bad. Lils are without feeling and it shows.

Bob will gladly talk about Mash Mashel's problems. According to him Varg is behind it all. He thinks that because Varg is so often in the forbidden zone he has had the time to contact the monsters that live there.

Fishmonger

"The house you stand in front of has a long veranda. An old couple sits there in rocking chairs. They wave at you and ask you to come in to the shadows and take a glass of ealmust with them. You see a barrel with must between them."

The fishmongers Fripp and Elenora är very nice. The ealmust is dark, cold and strong.

While the players drink they will notice that the couple seems to be nervous about something. If the PCs ask for the reason they will reply that "It has happened so many things that are above our understanding here lately." If they get asked what they mean they will tell that Varg came crawling some nights ago, mortally wounded by both shots and chops. The only thing he did before dying was to leave a box. At the same time he moaned his last words "Give it to those who resume my work. They will understand. Fripp shows the apparatus and gives it to the players if they wish. The players realize this with a successful roll in Education or Technology.

Jeweler

"This house also seems to be unusually well built. The fensters have iron bars and the door seems burglar-proof. A sign with the text "Roboute's fine jewel" is above the door."

Roboute is a lil. He says he does not know anything about the disappearances. He says there is a lot of wild stories in small villages. Family feuds are an usual reason behind it.

Roboute stores 70 Iron in a safe with a combination lock. There is also jewels worth about as much.

Farm

"The farm seems to be completely abandoned. The wind hits the open windows on the upper floor."

The farm is completely abandoned and nothing of interest is in the house.

Farm

"When you come to the farm you come to a halt out of surprise. On the grass outside the farms an exorbitant amount of children in varying ages are playing. There seems to be at least 12-13 children in the vicinity.

Two old humans sit on a sofa in the sun. When they see you they greet you and ask you to sit in the sofa in front of them. The whole scene almost seem unreal. In a pleasant way."

The old folks are in their sixties. They are named Larsen and Doris. They have 16(!) kids together. They are very pleasant, and have not noticed that something would be wrong. They have noticed that people go missing every once in a while, though they mostly stick to themselves.

Miller

"The building seems to be abandoned.Everything has collapsed and it seems to have been a fire at the house's western short end."

The miller died in a fire three years ago, and the village has been without a miller since.

Graveyard

"A trodden path leads through a thick and dark forest to the graveyard. The graveyard is surrounded by a low stone wall. A storage shed is located in the north and it is completely silent"

Nothing special happens if the player arrive during daytime. However, at night... In a series of paths and labyrinths there lives 1t6 chipmunks. They will flee if the PCs try to attack them but talk to them otherwise. The chipmunks know that something strange is happening down in Mash Mashel. The only specific thing they can mention ,however, is that they saw the Mayor and the police meet in secret in the forest around the graveyard. They did not even hear what they talked about.

About Mash Mashel

Mash Mashel is a village built by a river. Varg used it every once in a while to ship heavy finds. All houses in the village have two floors and are made of timber. The roads are covered with gravel and the bridges are made out of stone. The villager all have 35% in AGI-based skills and got 13 in all basic attributes.

All villagers who are not lils(except the couple in house 19) knows that something strange is happening. They know people disappear to return shortly thereafter. When asked they just answer that they would be away for a while. The people in the village still think that they seem strange and stiff after their return.

All villager except the chipmunks in the graveyard, who are not viewed as citizens, are Non-mutated humans.

Bunker cleaning

Biobunker VII is in the forbidden zone. It is two days walking to get to the zone and three days from there to get to the bunker.

If the Players have not found the Mayor's map the GM has to think up a way to help them to the Biobunker. An example could be that they follow a group of lils.

Road B leads to the Forbidden Zone. The travel to and from the zone will be completely uneventful until the PCs arrive at the zone. The GM should describe how the nature is slowly changing the closer they get to the zone. It is about 80 kilometers to the zone. It is about 120 kilometers from the edge of the zone to the biobunker. 200 kilometers in total.

"You see a long building of grey and smooth stone. There is a metal-gleaming oblong at ground level at the northern side. Two high poles of white metal stand in the west and east by the building. A funnel is on top of it. Four humans with guns and leather stand around the building. They seem very observant. You also see that all vegetation within 25 meters is removed."

The building is Biobunker VII. The metal poles are headlight tower lighting up the surroundings during night. The oblong is a door. To open it, you need an ID-card type II, which one of the lils guarding the bunker is carrying. A technology roll is required to understand how to open the door.

The room is a elevator. If the switch is brought to red, the platform will sink slowly, if noisily, to the bunker complex.

Generally about the bunker complex

All the doors are opened with the ID-card. The rooms and corridors are illuminated by light strips. The whole bunker got air conditioning.