🎭 Prelude One Shot — The Black Memory
✅ Saturday DM Cheat Sheet (MQ Run Sheet)
🎲 General Running Notes
Keep pace fast in Braukstahl, slow + creepy at the train scene, then tight in Molnikov → Reliquary.
This one-shot is designed to end in a wipe. Don’t hide it—make it feel earned.
✅ MQ1 — Dr. Lanoir Welcome / Release
What to say (key lines):
“Welcome. You’re not prisoners. You’re assets.”
“Retrieve the Black Memory Crystal before the elves do.”
“Fail, and your hearts will stop on schedule.”
Rolls to call:
Insight (DC 12–15): Dr is calm because he’s already won.
Medicine/Arcana (DC 13): the rune-bomb is real + lethal.
Perception (DC 12): lab smells like sterilization + burnt metal.
Outcome: Drop them. No fighting here.
✅ MQ2 — Wilderness Drop (near Braukstahl)
What to say:
“Wind like knives. Trees like broken ribs.”
“Far away: cranes… smoke… orange lights.”
Rolls:
Survival (DC 12): pick safe route, avoid swamp/ice.
Con save (DC 10): cold fatigue (only 1 check, don’t drag it).
Perception (DC 13): distant foghorn + faint gunfire.
Gremlin add-on: A dead patrol site with elf arrows.
✅ MQ3 — Braukstahl Arrival (market + port)
What to say:
“Everything is moving: cargo, people, rumors.”
“Nobody asks your name. They ask what you’re worth.”
Rolls:
Investigation (DC 12): find where info is traded (market hub).
Persuasion/Intimidation (DC 13): get people to talk.
Streetwise variant: let any creative approach work.
Outcome: Point them to the scammer.
✅ MQ4 — Scammer Encounter (fight / chase)
What to say:
“Ohhh you want the Black Crystal? You’re lucky—I just happen to know—”
Rolls:
Insight (DC 11): he’s lying fast.
If combat: quick brawl, 2–3 rounds max.
If chase: Athletics/Acrobatics (DC 12).
Result: No real clue from him, but he drops one line:
“People who chase that thing… they sleep wrong.”
✅ MQ5 — Train Yard Crowd
What to say:
“A crowd packed tight like a riot waiting to happen.”
“Everybody’s angry. Everybody’s scared.”
Rolls:
Perception (DC 12): overhear key phrases: “Molnikov… bunker… sleepers.”
Insight (DC 12): this isn’t normal “late train” chaos—this is panic.
✅ MQ6 — “You sleep, you die” Survivor arrives
What to say:
“He steps off like a ghost that forgot to die.”
“He’s shaking. Eyes wrecked. Voice stuck on one sentence.”
Rolls:
Medicine (DC 12): exhaustion + sleep deprivation, 4+ days awake.
Arcana/Religion (DC 13): neck marking is sigil-like, not natural.
Persuasion (DC 12): get him to say more.
Key info (broken):
elves arrived → battle → bunker → something woke → it hunts sleepers.
✅ MQ7 — NPC Death (the horror proof)
What to say:
“He blinks. His body goes still—like a switch turned off.”
“Then it happens wrong.”
Rolls:
Perception (DC 10): see it clearly (don’t hide the moment).
Wis save (DC 12): hold composure / avoid fear spike.
Clue: marking briefly glows / spreads / twitches right before death.
✅ MQ8 — Travel Choice
Let them choose:
Train (2 days) faster
Ship (3 days) moodier
Rolls (light):
Con save (DC 10): fatigue management (1 check total).
If they sleep: nightmare flavor (no mechanics unless you want).
✅ MQ9 — Molnikov Core Investigation
What to say:
“The city is a furnace pretending to be civilization.”
“Warmth is controlled. Information is weaponized.”
Rolls:
Investigation (DC 12): find black market / Frostguard rumors.
Persuasion (DC 13): convince someone to talk.
Intimidation (DC 13): works too, but earns attention.
Outcome: points them to Solace Reliquary.
✅ MQ10 — Solace Reliquary Approach
What to say:
“A door meant to survive the end of the world… and it did.”
“The air inside is too still. Too clean. Too wrong.”
Rolls:
Perception (DC 13): signs of battle, dragged corpses, broken defense lines.
Arcana (DC 12): residue = psionic echo contamination.
✅ MQ11 — Boss: Mad Max (TPK)
Boss tone: relentless, machine logic, adapts fast.
Rolls:
Keep it simple: big hits, brutal pressure.
“It doesn’t roar. It executes.”
Outcome: wipe.
✅ MQ12 — DOT Epilogue (the emotional knife)
What to say:
“Something small moves… not to kill you.”
“To help.”
“Too late.”
DOT tries to save 1 PC, dies with them.
🎭 NPC Pack (2–3 Characters)
1) Rikk “Brine-Smile” Voss (Braukstahl Scammer)
Personality: greasy charm, fast talk, coward with a sharp tongue
Quirk: calls everyone “boss” and never uses real names
Line: “Trust me… I’m a professional liar.”
2) Havel Rudenko (Train Survivor)
Personality: shattered, twitchy, broken lucid moments
Quirk: repeats phrases like a curse
Line: “You sleep… you die…”
3) Frostguard Warden Saria Volk (Molnikov Contact)
Personality: cold, efficient, not cruel—just done caring
Quirk: speaks in short commands
Line: “Don’t bring that nightmare back here.”
🧭 3 Non-Railroad Clues that Point to Molnikov
Use any combo so players feel smart:
The Neck Marking
Looks like a clinic stamp/sigil used in Molnikov quarantines.
Train Manifest Scrap
A torn cargo/passenger slip says:
“MOLNIKOV CORE — RELIQUARY ROUTE MARKER 7”
Rumor Network
Everyone in Braukstahl agrees on one thing:
“If it’s sickness, sleep-curse, or bunker horror… Molnikov has seen it first.”