The Vermillion Throne

A Dungeon Adventure for Mörk Borg

Chris Bissette

Purchase the print edition here!

Credits

The Vermilion Throne is an independent production by Chris Bissette and Loot The Room and is not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell. It is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License.

Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell.

The Blood Cloud monster first appeared in Reivdene-Upon-The-Moss by Chris Bissette.

Writing, design, cartography, and layout by Chris Bissette.

Introduction

In the depths of Sarkash lies a broken crown and the still-beating heart of the True King Törn, usurped by the Shadow King and buried in pieces across the ever-shifting world. The Cult of the Accession have collected the other remnants of his body, but without the heart they are useless. Return it - discreetly - and you will be honoured above all others when the True King takes his rightful place on the throne.

d8 things the Cultists have read

  1. The heart knows it needs a body, so it has begun to grow a new one. (somewhat true)
  2. The chambers of the vault where the heart is kept shift and change. Their geography can’t be trusted. (false)
  3. Veins in the walls run thick with the blood of the True King. (true)
  4. A monk’s head sits in a lonely alcove, predicting unholy truths.
  5. Eating the fruit that grows outside the dungeon entrance will cure your diseases. (false)
  6. The only way to remove the heart from the vault without killing it is to place it inside a human body. (true)
  7. The heart will defend itself against intruders it believes mean it harm. (true)
  8. Those who dwell in the vaults have developed a taste for blood. (true)

Random Encounters

Only roll in 3, 4, 10, and 14. Choose which table to roll on but table B should only be used once.

Table A

  1. D3 Blood Clouds.
    They coagulate in the air, thirsty and mindless.

HP 13 Morale - No armour.
Touch d2 + special
Special Their touch drains Strength and Toughness by 1 permanently. Test Toughness DR14 to resist. On success, only drain Strength or Toughness (player’s choice).

  1. D2 Lost Hunters
    They seek the True King’s heart.

HP 6 Morale 9 Light armour -D2
Dagger D4+1

  1. D4 Thirsty Thralls
    Emaciated and weak. Parched lips.

HP 7 Morale 6 No armour
Shortsword D4
Bite D4: Infection if Toughness DR12 is failed.

  1. Slow Clot
    Hound-sized blood clot that crawls like a snail.

HP 12 Morale -
Scar tissue -D2
Pseudomouth D4: Test Presence DR12 or it swallows all your Powers for the day.

  1. D3 Needle-Nosed Lurkers
    Slurping mosquito-men.
    HP 5 Morale 7 No armour
    Probiscus: D4 and they heal themselves the same amount.

Table B

Only once during the scenario.

  1. An ornate mirror is mounted on the wall. When viewed with no light it reflects a different room, a ruined library half-flooded with murky water. Breaking it opens a portal to a ruined chapel below Galgenbeck.

  2. One of the True King’s veins in the wall bursts, flooding the chamber with hot stinking blood. A clotter arrives to fix it in D4 turns.

Clotter

Slow-rolling mass of flesh and scar tissue.

HP 8 Morale 9 No armour
Blood Siphon D4+1: Test Toughness DR12 or your blood beings to clot and stiffen, causing death in D6 hours.

  1. Wandering Wickhead (Mörk Borg 70)

Brought here by other heart hunters then trapped when the entrance sealed. Can tell the PCs about the blood cube.

  1. A black throne holding a petrified heart in the middle of the room. If anyone sits on it their skin begins to fuse to the metal. Test Toughness DR 12 or be petrified in D6 rounds. Once fusing has begun, test Strength DR 14 to tear yourself loose for D4 damage.

Dungeon Map

Dungeon map

1 Entrance: Exterior

Gloomy sunlight. Smell of coming rain.

NORTH: Wound in the rock to inside.

BREAK THE SCAB: A sigh of hot air, a held breath exhaled. A new wound in the rock. The scab regrows after D8 hours. In D8 days it falls off, leaving smooth stone behind and sealing the dungeon forever.

EAT THE FRUIT: It’s sour and pulpy. Spend the next D4 hour vomiting if Toughness DR12 is failed.

2 Entrance: Interior

Hot. Copper smell. Distant beating.

NORTH: Two black irons doors ajar, left to the organ room and right to the candle room. Faint beating like distant drums can be heard from behind both.
SOUTH: Wound in the rock to outside.

DRINK THE BLOOD: No obvious effect. The blood cube will let those who drink it pass unharmed.

3 Candle Room

Warm and bright. Smell like an open wound. Distant beating.

NORTH: Locked iron door to the ruined gallery.
EAST: Rusted iron door to the organ room. Test Strength DR14 to open it, but it’s loud.
SOUTH: Iron door to the entrance.

EXTINGUISH THE FLAMES: The man starts screaming and becomes violent.

THE MAN: Keftar, a knight on a quest for the True King. He’s praying for the strength to remove his heart and replace it with Törn’s. Initially friendly unless you threaten his mission.

HP 13 Morale 9 Plate armour -D4
Flaming Longsword D6+Special
Special: 1-in-6 chance struck enemies ignite, dealing D2 damage every round until extinguished. Scrolls, clothes, and other flammable items are consumed in the conflagration.

4 Organ Room

Hot and humid.

ROLL FOR RANDOM ENCOUNTERS IN THIS ROOM

EAST: Rusted iron door the the organ room. Test Strength DR14 to open it, but it’s loud.
SOUTH: Iron door to the entrance.

HARVEST THE ORGANS: The heart sends D4 clotters to retrieve them from you. They arrive in D6+1 rounds.

5 Ruined Gallery

Warm breeze flowing to the south. BEating like a rumble in the floor. Crying from the west.

ROLL FOR RANDOM ENCOUNTERS IN THIS ROOM

NORTH: Stairs descend to an iron door to the desecration chamber.
SOUTH: Locked iron door to candle room.
WEST: Rusted portcullis to the vault entrance. Strength DR14 to raise. It falls loudly if not wedged open.

OPEN THE CHEST: Poison dart trap. Test Agility DR12 to disarm. If triggered, D2 damage and infection if Toughness DR14 is failed. Inside are relics of the True King:
* The Sceptre. Black and cold and tipped with bronze. D6 damage and you start the day with 2 additional Powers. * Thick purple robes. As light armour but they draw attention. All enemies focus on you. * A crystal vial filled with dried blood. If rehydrated and imbibed, the blood clot will let you pass unhindered.

6 Desecration Chamber

Humid. Wet. Slithering noises.

NORTH: Rusted iron door to the right atrium. Strength DR14 to force it open but it’s loud.
EAST: Iron door to the True King’s Court.
WEST: Iron door to stairs and the ruined gallery.

IN A CRACK IN THE ALTAR: A long, thin knife, silver and etched with runes. Can be used to remove the heart from a person without immediately killing them. Press the flat of the blade to a wound and test Presence DR14 to knit the flesh shut.

BLOOD CLOUDS
They’re hungry.
HP 13 Morale - No armour.
Touch d2 + special
Special Their touch drains Strength and Toughness by 1 permanently. Test Toughness DR14 to resist. On success, only drain Strength or Toughness (player’s choice).

7 True King’s Court

Stench of death and gore. Viscera on every surface.

WEST: Iron doors to the desecration chamber and right atrium.

SCREAMING FACES: The remnants of those who have tried to destroy the heart of the True King, assimilated into the flesh of his prison. They beg for death but try to bit and chew on anyone who gets close. Can’t be harmed. Test Toughness DR12 or suffer D4 when they bite. If they can be calmed, can tell PCs that the King only trusts those whose blood flows with the remnants of his line.

8 Right Atrium

Hot. Smell of raw meat. Air thick with moisture.

NORTH: Blood soaked passage. Fleshy valve halfway up opens into clotter birthing. Passage ends in a fleshy valve to pump room.
EAST: Iron door to [the True King’s Court.
SOUTH: Rusted iron door to the desecration chamber. Strength DR14 to force it open but it’s loud.
WEST: Blood pool leads to flooded passage to left atrium.

2-in-6 chance every round that blood rushes down the corridor to the pump room and floods this chamber. Test Agility DR14 or lose your footing and fall beneath the blood. Become infected if Toughness DR10 is failed after falling.

Needle-Nosed Lurkers

Shambling men with mosquito heads. Eternally hungry and patient, they serve and protect the True King in exchange for his blood.

HP 5 Morale 7 No armour
Probiscus: D4 and they heal themselves the same amount.

9 Vault Entrance

Air crackles with energy. Sharp smell of ozone.

NORTH: Massive circular door to the vault.
EAST: Rusted portcullis to the ruined gallery. Strength DR14 to raise. It falls loudly if not wedged open.

THE DOOR: Requires a specific incantation to open safely, the nature of which has been lost. PCs can wield a Power to attempt to force it open. Spend a Power and Test Presence DR16. If it doesn’t work it’s as though you failed to use a Power normally, plus an arc of energy from the door burns out your eyes and blinds you. Touching the door deals D2 damage.

THE MAN: Arms covered in scars and scabs, some still oozing blood. Tried to open the door and failed. He’s blind now. Can’t remember who he is or how long he’s been here but the clotters keep fixing him up every time he tries to die. He knows not to touch the vault door, and that the dungeon entrance seals itself.

10 Vault

Very cold. Frost on the walls. Slight breeze flowing north.

ROLL FOR RANDOM ENCOUNTERS IN THIS ROOM

NORTH: Cramped tunnel behind a pile of coins, only just wide enough to crawl through. Leads to left atrium.
SOUTH: Circular door high up in the wall. Can’t be opened from this side.

COINS: Can be thawed but it’s very slow. Takes an hour to recover d10x100s.

COLD ROOM: Every hour in the room test Toughness or suffer D3 damage from the cold. Test Dr starts at 12 and increases by 2 every time you take damage from it.

DRIFTING LIGHTS: Wisps, the vault’s final defence mechanism. The second you touch coins they attack.

Wisps

Tiny elementals.

HP 6 Morale - Tiny -D2
Electric arc D4+paralyzed for 1 minute if DR 12 Presence failed.

11 Left Atrium

Air thick with rot. Sound of tortured moans.

NORTH: Blood soaked passage. Fleshy valve halfway up opens into the clot. Passage ends in a fleshy valve to pump room.
EAST: Blood pool leads to flooded passage to right atrium. SOUTH: Small hole in base of wall to the vault.

2-in-6 chance every round that blood rushes down the corridor to the pump room and floods this chamber. Test Agility DR14 or lose your footing and fall beneath the blood. Become infected if Toughness DR10 is failed after falling.

BLOOD SOAKED SCUM
Deliriously devoted to the king.
HP 8 Morale 7 No armour
Femur D4

BOTTLE CONTENTS (D4)
1-2. Liquid plague. Toughness DR16 or become infected.
3. Potion of waterbreathing. 2 doses, lasts D6 rounds. 4. Alkaline solution. D2 damage.

12 Clotter Birthing Room

Smell of a festering wound.

EAST: Fleshy valve to blood soaked passage that leads south to right atrium and north to the pump room.
NORTH WEST: Fleshy valve to the throne room.

Every round in this room roll 1d6:
1-3. The valve to the throne room opens, filling the room with blood that exits through the valve in the east wall. Test Strength DR12 to avoid being swept back to the right atrium.
4-5. One of the masses of white tissues separates itself from the wall, birthed as a new clotter.
6. Nothing happens.

Clotter

HP 8 Morale 9 No armour
Blood Siphon D4+1: Test Toughness DR12 or your blood beings to clot and stiffen, causing death in D6 hours.

13 The Clot

Hot. Rancid smell of decay.

ROLL FOR RANDOM ENCOUNTERS IN THIS ROOM

NORTH EAST: Partially open valve to the throne room.
WEST: Fleshy valve to blood soaked passage that leads south to left atrium and north to the pump room.

INSPECT THE BODY: A scroll stuffed in its pocket. (D6, scrolls Mörk Borg pp35)
1-2. Palms Open The Southern Gate
3-4. Daemon of Capillaries
5-6. Foul Psychopomp

DISTURB THE CLOT: It reached out to assimilate you into it. Test Strength DR14 or be overwhelmed. D4 damage each turn until you’re freed.

The blood cube hears any noise in this room and presses a pseudopod through the valve to investigate.

Pseudopod

HP 4 Morale - Gelatinous -D4
Slap: D2+Special
Special: Test Strength Dr14 or be grabbed. On the pseudopod’s next turn it drags you back to the blood cube and engulfs you.

14 Pump Room

The thundering sound of rushing blood.

SOUTH EAST: Blood soaked passage. Fleshy valve halfway up opens into clotter birthing. Passage ends in a fleshy valve to right atrium.
SOUTH: Fleshy valve to throne room. SOUTH WEST: Blood soaked passage. Fleshy valve halfway up opens into the clot. Passage ends in a fleshy valve to left atrium.

Every round in this room roll 1d6:
1-3. Walls squeeze together. If room is filled with blood, valves to the right and left atria open and the corridors are flooded. Test Agility DR14 to avoid being swept away. If room is already drained, test Toughness DR12 or take D4 damage as the walls crush you.
4. Nothing happens.
5-6. Blood pumps through the valve to the throne room and floods the chamber. It’s impossible to breathe here while it’s full of blood.

15 Throne Room

Incessant whispering fills the air. Loud, slow beating from the centre of the room.

Something happens every round:

  1. The cube begins to swell with fresh blood.
  2. A fine mist of blood sprays out of the cube. Test Agility Dr12 or D2 damage as the blood burns you.
  3. The cube visibly contracts.
  4. A torrent of blood pumps out of the cube and through the valves in the walls. Test Strength Dr14 to keep your feet. If you fail you’re swept out of the room.

Blood Cube

Coagulated ooze.

HP 15 Morale - Gelatinous -D4
Pseudopod D4 + anaesthesia
Anaesthesia: Test Toughness DR12 or paralyzed for D4 rounds.
Engulf: Paralyzed enemies are pulled into the cube. D3 damage/round and can’t breathe.

PCs who bear the blood of t he True King find that the cube parts itself, allowing them to approach the throne.

THE HEART OF THE TRUE KING: Those of his blood who graps the still-beating heart know that the only way it can leave the vault is in the chest of one who would give up their body to the King. If the heart is removed without being transplanted into a living vessel, it will die. The King knows this and summons D16 clotters to prevent its demise.