Sample Adventure: The Beloved Company, Part 1

Man, didn't those old D&D modules have great covers? Image from Wikipedia

Will you brave the dangers to explore the Beloved Company, rumored to hold technological treasures? The Beloved Company building is located above a nest of Yoga Zombies, so looters stay away from it, but perhaps it contains dangers more diabolical within its wall. This adventure is intended for 3-5 player characters.

Introduction

The Player Characters are summoned to the Great Library for a mission. Some may be interested in finding lost technology for its own sake. Others may simply want to protect the others in the expedition. Yet others have been offered rewards of supplies and weapons in exchange for their aid.

A Researcher tells them that she has heard from some Brofessors about a building that looked like it had once contained a technology-based company of some sort. The Brofessors had been hoping to find some bicycles in a nearby abandoned bike store. The Brofessors did not get close to either the bicycle store or the technology building because the area was crawling with Yoga Zombies.

The Researcher allows the PCs to supply themselves from the Library's stores, within reason, and then gives them a Brofessor-drawn map (on the back of a beer mat) to the building.

First Encounter: The Bike Store

The PCs follow the map they received to the bike store. They come across some wandering Yoga Zombies, but they can either sneak past them or fight them.

The Bike Store looks abandoned from the outside. It is dark, and crammed with broken bikes, all rusted beyond any use as parts. There are no intact bicycles in sight, but the PCs may search inside to see if they can find some in the store's labyrinthine depths.

If they enter, they find that the shop is actually inhabited by a gremlin-like mutant who scampers among and over the bicycles with ape-like agility. It hurls insults and wrenches at the players, while dodging behind the stacks of broken bicycles to avoid their counterattacks.

When the players defeat the creature, they find its nest in the back of the shop. The nest is made of shredded inner tubes and contains tools, a pamphlet on bicycle maintenance (which the PCs can later exchange to either the Brofessors or the Librarians), and a scrap of paper with a word written on it. (The GM is encouraged to bring a real-life scrap of paper to the game and hand it to the players so that they can read the word for themselves.)

A further search of the shop reveals several bikes in fairly good condition. One can be ridden as-is, and the others can either be kept to be repaired or taken back to Downtown Berk to be exchanged as loot.

Second Encounter: Entering the Beloved Company

When the PCs emerge from the bike store, or if the PCs decided to bypass the bike store, they notice that the street in front of the technology company building is choked with Yoga Zombies. If the PCs found the scrap of paper in the bicycle shop, they can say the word to the Yoga Zombies and the Yoga Zombies will let them walk by, unharmed. Otherwise, the PCs have to come up with another way to distract the Yoga Zombies and allow them access to the building.


If the players explore the area first, they find that there is a driveway leading behind both the technology building and the Yoga Zombie nest, but it is blocked by a rusted gate. If the players find a way to open the gate or get over it, they can enter the Beloved Company from the back way.

If the PCs enter from the front, go on to Encounter Three, A Warm Reception.
If the PCs enter from the back, skip to Encounter Four, Dealing with Dev.