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A 5th edition D&D mini-adventure for three to six 1st level adventurers featuring a train heist, a mysterious uncle, and a runaway train filled with carnies-turnedrebels.
Written, Designed, and Edited by: Alex Welk with special thanks to Sarah Welk Art by Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art, Rick Hershey/Fat Goblin Games/Empty Room Studios Visit anarchydice.com for free game resources. Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. ©2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK.
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Line of Fire ..................................................................4 Engine Car ..............................................................4 Dining Car ...............................................................5 Sitting Car ...............................................................5 Sleeper Car .............................................................5 Cargo Car ................................................................6 Luxury Car..............................................................6 The Lampshade Theatre ..................................6 Troupe Members .................................................7 Kicking off the Fun .............................................7 Going Too Fast......................................................8 Aftermath ...............................................................8 Treasure ..................................................................9 Train Map ................................................................. 10
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One of your players has gotten a mysterious and vague letter from an eccentric Uncle Marv who has finally cracked some sort of treasure map. Marv intends to meet them on a train heading towards the city nearest the clue, but the fireelemental-pulled train is going to have a few “performance” issues. Treat this as a quick hook to tie into a treasure hunt, a launching point for a campaign, or a train attack to spice up a long train journey. To increase or decrease the number of players, increase the number of thugs on each car proportionally, increase the value of the loot proportionally, change the number of nobles to match (and use the correct hidden message below), and modify the strength of the named enemies. For higher level characters, make enemies stronger, the train more difficult to stop, and the treasures more valuable.
Engine Car This 20-foot by 15-foot room is made of solid cast iron riveted together with a treated wood floor. The door to the car is solid steel with a strong lock. At the front are three separate control panels tied to controlling the huge fire elemental that can be seen through an iron grate. These controls, dials, gauges, and levers set the containment fields on the elemental to control the speed of the train without giving the elemental enough slack to break free or harm the train. A small wooden step stool sits in front of each and a bigger, moveable wooden platform sits in the middle of the room, with built in steps that give it a height of about four feet. Engineer: Etrikus Maulpho is the Halfling engineer driving the train. If the Lampshade Theatre group members get access to the engine car, they quickly incapacitate the engineer and stop the train. AC 11, 5 HP.
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Controls: The Theatre group will turn off the elemental containment once they have killed the four nobles or passengers start fighting back. The elemental will rage against its imprisonment, heating up the engine car and tracks to dangerous levels and accelerating the train 3 mph each round. Any character can attempt a difficult intelligence check as an action to figure out the controls and three successes will retake control of the elemental, allowing the user to stop, speed up, or slow down the train as an action. Normal acceleration for the elemental train is around 1 mph each round. Each mph is around 9 feet/round of movement speed. If the train should reach 66 mph, the elemental becomes hot enough to melt the tracks. This destroys all cars it is pulling, dealing massive damage to anyone still inside, as it makes the trip all the way to the end of the line where it will crash in a huge explosion, destroying the train station. Elemental: This huge fire elemental is kept blinkered and tightly leashed by magical bonds. When partially freed, it exudes an aura of heat that requires a moderate constitution save each round by those in the engine car, near the open door, or touching the closed door. Failure means the creature takes minor fire damage. AC 18, 67 HP. Heat Aura: Once released, creatures within 30 ft. must make a moderate constitution save each round or be knocked prone and suffer a level of exhaustion. The Door: This heavy metal door is locked and the conductor had the key until it is stolen by the Lampshade troupe when they defeat the conductor. Once the troupe releases the elemental, they snap the key off in the lock. To unlock, the key needs to be mended or a difficult lock picking check needs to be made which will take a minute to be completed.
Applying water from the bar, ice spells, or other methods to cool the door stop the need for checks each round from touching the hot door. Coupling: Each car of the train is connected by two couplings that are accessible when standing between cars. The first connection needs an easy strength or dexterity check to release and the second a moderate check of the same type, each attempt requiring an action. Cars not connected to the engine car halve their speed each round until they come to a stop.
Dining Car A small dining car, 40 feet long by 15 feet wide and ten feet tall, holds a pair of round tables with four stools each and an L shaped bar at the back. Wood flooring is swept clean, wood paneling goes halfway up the wall, and green wallpaper covers the remainder along with the ceiling while a few gas lamps dot the walls. The double doors into the car slide into the walls to allow passengers entry to the train while sliding wooden doors on the front right and back right of the car open to the engine car and sitting car, respectively. The mustachioed bartender offers ale for 4 copper a mug, 10 copper a pitcher, and freshly drawn spring water. He can cook a few basic dishes to order on the small furnace behind him. Eight stools sit alongside the bar. There are a few windows on either side of the car. Two well-dressed young people sit and chat idly at the front most table, a few passengers sip ale at the bar, and a gruff dwarf marches up to the players to check their tickets. Noble: Guadal Il-Allen is the heir to the Il-Allen fortune. AC 10, 4 HP. Noble: Desire Aligor, the eldest daughter of the Aligor noble family. Taking the train to meet her spouse to marry and solidify a noble alliance. AC 11, 3 HP. Conductor: Bartholemew Egredt is a burly dwarf in scale mail and shield emblazoned with a silhouette of two lines sandwiching a ball of flame. With a grunt, he berates passengers for their tickets. He keeps a key to the engine car under his beard in violation of train regulations. When the Lampshade Theatre group makes it move, he is the target of their first strike, and is defeated by being slammed into the floor by Wits hard enough to be heard throughout the train. AC 15, 8 HP. Bar: In one of the cabinets, there is a spare, Halfling-sized engineer outfit that provides advantage on saves against heat.
Larger creatures trying to wear it move at half speed. This requires an easy investigation check of the bar to find without spending three actions searching the whole bar. Passengers and bartender: These are random bystanders all of which will cower at the first sign of trouble. AC 11, 4 HP. Some may have helpful skills, see the random passenger table if players seek aid successfully with an easy intimidation, persuasion, or deception check.
Passengers Carl the Doctor: Healing, wisdom checks, or forensics. Jones Shmagon, Carpenter: Buildings, constitution checks, or demolition. Ylda Iormas the Wise, Mapper: Distance estimation, intelligence checks, or geography scouting. Burk Proil, Bodyguard: Guard prisoners or strength checks. Lilliana of Trel, Pickpocket: Dexterity checks or acrobatics. Persiua Coolscar, Entertainer: Charisma checks, social insight, or calming passengers.
Sitting Car Row after row of thinly padded wooden benches are about half filled by passengers. One of those passengers is a welldressed young woman. Wooden sliding doors sit at the front and back of the car on the right side, connecting the car to the dining car and sleeper car. Numerous windows line both sides of the car. Noble: Faderica Alucia is the first legitimate child of the duke of Alucia, traveling to pick a history and mathematics tutor. AC 12, 6 HP. Passengers: See the Dining Car.
Sleeper Car A thin hallway with a few windows connects the front sliding door to the back door on the right side of this car while numerous smaller doors lead to small, private sitting rooms. Each of these rooms has a padded bench on the front and back wall that can be pulled out into a bed. These rooms each have a window and overhead luggage rack as well. All but the first two rooms are currently occupied by between one and four passengers each.
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Uncle Marv. AC 14, 13 HP. MOV 30’. ATK +3 Dagger, DAM (1d4+2 Piercing) Passengers: See the Dining Car passenger entry. Extra nobles if more than four players. Darius Protelius III or Jennifera Elicia Kresht. AC 12, 4 HP.
Cargo Car The sliding wood door opens up to an open car with a reinforced wooden floor, no windows, and a massive set of double sliding doors on the right wall of the car. A second wooden sliding door leads to the luxury car and a stout ladder leads to a roof hatch. A number of boxes crowd the front of the space while a large net at the back end of the room secures smaller luggage and items to secure rods. Passenger Luggage: These items are marked and will be reported as stolen if taken. Bag of workman's clothes (5 gp). Artisan woodworking tools (30 gp). A wrapped child’s toy (5 gp). A healer’s kit. Crate of wooden handles (35 gp). An empty leather suitcase (15 gp). Other similar traveling items of little worth.
Luxury Car A finely engraved sliding door moves without a sound to reveal a wood paneled, carpeted room complete with bedroom set, dresser with a mirror, two sitting chairs, and a windowed door to a small landing and stairway off the back of the train. The older man in black tends to a small barware set while a younger, well-dressed man sits at the back, reading from a covered book. Windows are evenly spaced around the room and are adorned with curtains. The back steps end only a couple feet from the ground. Noble: Marian Nostra is the young son of the powerful Nostra family. His hobby is elemental trains
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and he secretly hopes to one day be a train engineer but he lacks confidence. He has a book detailing how to become more confident and face your fears along with an impressive train control diagram he has drawn. With his nose in the book, he will offer his services as a train expert once the train starts to accelerate out of control. Listing various procedures off the top of his head as if reading it from the text, he is gathering up his courage to face almost certain death running into the engine car unprotected and alone to shut down the elemental. Having another in the control room with him, wearing the Halflings spare overalls, or protection from the heat will help him survive the ordeal. AC 11, 5 HP. Butler: Arvus Blathers is an elderly butler highly critical of Marian’s cowardly nature and bookwormishness, but he masks it behind a passive-aggressive and servile demeanor. He stays behind in the luxury car. AC 9, 2 HP.
The Lampshade Theatre This group is a former performance theater from the large city that the players boarded the train at. Separatist rebels have radicalized the group’s leader, Jem, and through her most of the rest of the troupe. Jem received a coded message with a mission, that Wits decoded. Their purpose is to destroy an economic lifeline, kill heirs to powerful noble families, and prove themselves to the larger organization. The Lampshade Theatre group is trying to get passage on the train, disperse throughout the cars, and take hostages to convince engineer to open the engine car. Once they have control of the train, stop it away from any cities, kill four nobles, and destabilize the fire elemental with banishment charges. After the train becomes uncontrollable, escape with engineer and conductor so it cannot be stopped before melting the tracks and destroying the train station. Lucky breaks: Conductor has a key to the engine car, so they don’t need to wait for hostages. Two nobles are in the dining car and one is in sitting car, so those three die quickly. The elemental is easily antagonized and doesn’t need the banishment charges from the cargo hold.
Unfortunate coincidences: Heroes are on board. One noble back in the luxury car is well versed in elemental trains. Undisciplined theater carnies don’t stick to the plan; they try to rob people first. Back-up plans: Destroy the fire elemental with the remaining banishment charges to at least block the train line, kill four nobles, and escape to the countryside. In the worst case, kill the elemental, lock the engine car door, and escape killing whatever nobles they can on their way out.
Troupe Members Juggler: Yellow, purple, green, and other random brightly colored cotton clings closely to the lean performer. They wield a large wooden pin as a club. AC 13, 5 HP. MOV 30’, ATK +2 club, DAM (1d6+1 bludgeoning) Lifter: Darker, muted colors adorn these muscular performers and stage-hands. Lifting straps of leather studded with metal rivets are wrapped tightly around their fists. AC 12, 7hp. MOV 30’, ATK +3 knuckles, DAM (1d6+2 bludgeoning) Fire Breather: Garish reds and whites of this individual’s cloak are stained with soot and their face is painted up like a red, cartoonish devil. They attack with lit torches and can spray forth a gout of oil held in a bladder in their stomach to spew flames. AC 13, 5 HP. MOV 30’, ATK +2 torch, DAM (1d4 bludgeoning +1 fire), 1/day: Flame breath: 5’ cone of fire for 1d4 fire damage. Dexterity save, DC 11, to reduce damage by half. Wits: Absolutely massive, seven-foot-tall, threefoot-wide man wearing only a leather kilt. Right hand has “W I T S” tattooed on four of his knuckles and “W A G E R S” tattooed on the knuckles and thumb of his left hand that has six fingers. Despite his appearance and brute strength, he is an avid reader and chess player. Often used as a hustle to let smart opponents choose the competition and then rout them in games of intellect. AC 15, 34 HP, MOV 30’, ATK +4 fist, DAM (1d8+3 bludgeoning). Improvised Shield: Can wield doors, tables, or other objects of a similar size as if they were a tower shield. Can charge in a 30’ line dealing 2d6 damage to those in his path unless they make a moderate dexterity saving throw to move out of the way. Thin Woman: Rail thin woman only covered in long knives strapped to her body with black leather. Bends and contorts at disgustingly garish angles around Wits shoulders. Deadly with a thrown knife. Her skeletal, waifish form is slowly revealed as she lets loose her knives. AC 16, 19 HP, MOV 35’, ATK 2 x +4 knife (60’ range), DAM (1d6+2). Contortionist: She can squeeze through any gap smaller than a cantaloupe with no penalty.
Jem: A woman clad entirely in various shades of bright greens and blues, Jem has pointy ears and bright green hair. Her long blade has an intricate geometric pattern of angled and sweeping metal wires. AC 14, 21 HP, MOV 35’, ATK +4 Longsword, DAM (1d8+3), Spells (3/day): Wall of Lines, Isometric Escape, and Acute Barrage. Wall of Lines: Creates a shimmering barrier of mixed, brightly colored, translucent shapes that occupies a single plane of up to 50 square feet of surface area. This can support up to 100 pounds and collapses after taking 25 damage. Isometric Escape: Two purple triangles appear underneath the feet of the caster, allowing them to glide six inches above a solid surface as if skating on ice. This triples their movement speed if they move in a straight line, but costs 5 feet of movement speed to change direction. Acute Barrage: Triangles of translucent force shoot out from the hand of the caster, dealing 1d4+1 psychic and 1d4+1 slashing damage to creatures in a 15 ft. cone. A DC 13 dexterity save reduces the damage by half.
Kicking off the Fun Dining Car: Jem, Wits, Thin Woman, two fire breathers, four jugglers, three lifters, a few passengers, and Uncle Marv board on the dining car at a stop about one third of the way to the final destination of the train. Cargo Car: Two lifters and a juggler at the same stop bring on the troupe’s luggage including banishment charges onto the cargo car. Jem, Wits, a fire breather, a lifter, and the Thin Woman stay in the dining car while the others move to the sitting car. After boarding, Uncle Marv finds the players and invites them to join him in one of the two sleeper car rooms he has rented. Once in the front sleeper car room, keeping the second room empty to prevent eavesdropping, Marv begins to spell out his plan. He came across a scrap of map in an ancient language during his
previous career as an adventurer. Bored in his retirement, he has been working with scholars to decode the map and believes he has the key to the first stop on a long lost treasure map.
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Going Too Fast Just as he is ready to pull out the map to show the proof, there is a knock at the door. Marv shushes the group and goes to see who it is, but goes white. He has a knife held to his throat by a juggler while two lifters flank the doorway to usher the group to follow them to the cargo car. At the same time, a loud thump is heard from the front of the train as the conductor is crushed by Wits. The juggler will attack Marv if the players do not comply. Once they reach the cargo car, the three colorfully clothed carnies make the players sit before starting to search through passengers’ luggage, not paying much attention to their hostages. If the players do not take advantage of this lapse, they will gather up the banishment charges and two will leave for the engine car, leaving behind the juggler. Engine Car: Jem gets into the engine car right after Wits slams the conductor and they find the key. She turns on the brakes to stop the train. If she gets the signal that her troupe have killed all the nobles or things are going south, she will shut off the elemental containment, forcing the train to accelerate forward at a reckless speed. If the lifters with the banishment charges make it to the engine car but things are going south, she’ll set the explosives before closing the door. In any case, she will attempt to snap off the key in the door upon exiting, providing battle support, and then escaping with the Halfling engineer under an arm. Dining Car: Wits and Thin Woman sneak attack to kill the conductor and two nobles in the car. After that, they keep the passengers in this car under control until the sounds of combat are heard in the sitting car. If they hear combat, Wits will rip off a sliding door to use as a shield while Thin Woman throws he knives. Sitting Car: Two fire breathers, four jugglers, and three lifters are robbing the passengers in the sitting car. They are keeping the noble separate from the rest but will not attack until the banishment charges get brought to Jem. However, if Wits or the Thin Woman come into this room, they will attempt to kill the noble. Sleeper Car: The two lifters and a juggler from the cargo car intended to rob the passengers in the sleeper car but found the heroes in the first car and thought to bring them back to the cargo car before getting the banishment charges.
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When the train starts to pick up speed, things get unsafe. Roll a d% each round and add half the current speed in mph, rounded down: 1-80: Smooth running. 81-95: Bumpy tracks. Treat movement inside the train as difficult terrain. Those outside the train make moderate dexterity saves or are flung to the edge, hanging on for dear life. 96-100: Curves and bends. Creatures inside must make a moderate dexterity save or fall prone. Creatures outside must make a difficult dexterity save or be flung to the edge, hanging off the edge. 101+: Sharp turn. Creatures inside must make a difficult dexterity save or fall prone and take 1d6 damage. Creatures outside must make a difficult dexterity save or be flung off the train, taking 3d6 damage.
Aftermath For each noble saved, their families are very much in the debt of the adventurers. They won’t necessarily offer a monetary reward, but the players can count on a favorable opinion or luxurious accommodations at the families’ homes. There is no reward for any passengers saved, except for the goodwill of the common folk and renown. Any theatre troupe people captured will be happily taken away for questioning by the local authorities once the train pulls into the station. Clever questioning could produce hints as to the Lampshade Theatre’s motives, the secret message, or what the salt lake mussel clue means. Destruction of the tracks will ruin the long term mobility of the players and supplies to the destination city. Saving the train, engineer, or conductor will result in the train company rewarding the players with a lifetime access ticket to the train. Clever players could negotiate a further reward of access to the luxury car if unreserved. Wits and Jem have a copy of a coded message scroll on their persons. The cargo car holds the troupe’s luggage and supplies. Other passenger’s items are generally clothing or other personal effects that are of minor value, and will be counted as theft by the authorities if discovered.
THE LAMPSHADE HOP .yOUNG DANCErS ROTATE HALfWAY AROUND TURN OfF ThE BIG LIGHTS zAP rETURN ExPEnDED CROWN CANOPy gROWTHS yEARn fOR .fAR ExIT pROJECTED EXUBERAnCe gALLOPING yELLOW MArE z .eALOT hOP bREAKs LEFTy yARN vINE xANTHIC .rePEAT vELLUM sCROLL qUeUE REVERSE THE LInE boW AND OPEN YOUR EYES
YOUNG DANCERS/TURN OFF BIG LiGHTS No capitalized letters: .yrffhzrxnygynf .fxpnegyrz .ehbsyyvx .revsqenbo ROTATE HALFWAY AROUND Rotate letters by 13: lessumekaltlas .skcartlem .ruofllik .erifdraob REVERSE THE LINE Flip the whole thing: boardfire. killfour. melttracks. saltlakemussel.
of the escaped theatre group or direct law enforcement. The fact that the number of nobles match the number of players is meant to be either a red herring or foreshadowing. Experience: The adventure is set up so that the theatre group thugs make up 2-3 easy battles, Wits and the Thin Woman are a tough encounter, and Jem is an average encounter. Stopping the train will itself count as an average encounter. For 1st level characters, this works out to (3x15+1x60+2x30 = 165 XP)
Treasure
If playing with other than 4 players, replace the 6th line with the following. (3) Killthree = eerhtllik = rreug gALLOPING yELLOW MArE z .EALOTrY BreAK SuRgE LEFTy
(5) Killfive = evifllik = rivs gALLOPING yELLOW MArE z .EALOT DrivEs LEFTy
(6) Killsix = xisllik = kvf gALLOPING yELLOW MArE z .EALOT KICk LEAvES LEfTy
If the players are having lots of trouble, an easy investigation or wisdom check should give some out of game tips such as rumkin.com/tools/cipher/. A moderate check lets them know that this is some sort of encoded message, the encoder would leave instructions for the receiver, and the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th lines seem to be total gibberish. A difficult check or better should give them one of the steps to decode it, or solve it depending on if your players are stumped or bored, respectively. Failure on these checks do not close off the information permanently but will require one in game day to clear their mind and rethink things before attempting again. Salt lake mussel is the clue on where to go after the theatre group finishes the mission. It can be the Salt Lake tavern that sells rotten mussels as a dish, so buying a plate is the tip-off that you are in on the separatist movement. it could be a tavern in the town with the train stop that sells a lake mussel dish and ordering it with salt is the code phrase to tell the tavern keeper to sit you in the secret back room. This is an open end for the DM to tie the Lampshade Theatre to, whatever would have been their next steps, employer, or contact with a safe house. This is also the place to go to find any
In the cargo car: A moderate difficulty, locked war chest containing four Banishment Charges. These small, rune inscribed boxes have a short fuse leading inside to a collection of magical salts. Once lit, it will detonate in 1 round, dealing 1d3 psychic damage to all creatures within 30 ft. Extraplanar creatures and outsiders hit by the blast must make a DC 16 wisdom save or take 4d8 psychic damage. Critical failure on this save teleports a creature back to its home plane. Success reduces damage by half. Burlap sack containing a bedroll, half completed marble miniatures (28 gp), a lime green, dyed dagger (21 gp), artistically burned wood depicting a nature scene signed by Murz Durmik (11 gp), and a third of a pound of worked leather (30 gp). This bag is loosely tied, so if the train has hit any bumps, its contents are spilled across the floor. Burlap sack, neatly tied, filled with a set of carved, balanced juggling bricks (25 gp), a trophy case with 250 sp (3 gp + 25 gp), and 5 yards of sheepskin (25 gp). A tiny felt bag that holds a smaller bag of poppy seeds (33 gp), 305 sp (30.5 gp), and 75 cp (0.75 gp) An unmarked chest with no passenger tag is locked with a difficult lock. Inside, it has a small applewood idol to a minor god of the harvest (30 gp), a folding stool (10 gp), 17 iron ingots (34 gp), and a 20-pound bag of purple apples (20 gp). This belongs to someone on the train, but they would not be able to prove ownership if the players are unscrupulous and take it. However, they will harbor resentment and could show up in the future.
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