A Grey Matter

Prism Sage's Crypt • Night Haven • The Twilight Meridian
░ Drab
◈ Puzzle
✝ Bleak Crypt

Adventure Description

When a blanket of grey draining all color it touches begins leaking from an ancient Calian crypt, a nearby Night Haven village sends desperate cries for help to the party.

Starting the Adventure

"Traveling to an artificial island made entirely of rusted Shade Iron and crawling red roses, you hardly expected the 'expanding Grey' the village-folk described to be all that dreary in comparison. Your expectations are shattered, however, as you cross into its threshold and everything becomes gray-scale and drab, including you. You were told that the likely source of this phenomenon is the old crypt of a Calian Sage uncovered before you, cracked stairs leading into the earth. Rumor has it that one of Night Haven's immortal nobles took up residence here for reasons unknown, so not even the bravest villagers dared check inside. This is where you come in."

This scenario is a puzzle-driven Adventure Site where the party must return color to the crypt by opening the three Color Caskets, stopping the expanding Grey. Only gray-tones exist within due to the Dusty Miller's actions - anything brought in loses its color too. Lanterns are the only source of color.

Most entities here have their own goals and can be dealt with via Negotiation rather than Combat. There are great potential interactions between the crypt's denizens (e.g., Minotaurs x the Dark-Webber, Mirrorfolk x The Dusty Miller, etc.), so encourage them if possible! Follow BREAK!!'s Exploration rules (Source, pg. 230) for navigation and Random Events.

Colorful Item Descriptions

Lantern: Beams a specific color in all four orthogonal directions.
Rubite: A metal that magically disappears when it's exposed to pure Red light. It reappears when exposed to Blue light.
Grey Coin: Heavy and Bulky to carry, taking up a full Slot per 100 Coins. Regains its worth when it's exposed to Red and Green (= yellow) light.
Casket: Rat-sized. Traps light of a specific color. When opened, everyone within an Area must make a Grit Check or have their skin turn that color. The light will then return. When closed, it erases that color of light from your current location.
Dusty Miller Plant
The (real) Dusty Miller plant. Picture by: Fabulous Florals
The Dusty Miller
The Dusty Miller inspiration. Art by: Isaac Jadraque

Secrets & Clues

  1. The crypt was the hidden site of a Calian Sage dedicated to combining the art of Fleshwarping with color stimuli.
  2. The Mirrorfolk were the first successful experiment of the Sage, who was quite egotistical and wanted a wave of compliments every morning.
  3. The Lalka were a more serious experiment - lifeforms capable of warping their bodies based on light. The Sage often preferred their Green variant, for reasons they didn't even understand.
  4. Having the unfortunate life of being born on Night Haven where the color Red permeates the entire island, these Minotaurs have found a safe haven in this grey crypt. The Alpha Minotaur has taken on the noble cause of hiding the Red Lantern from the others.
  5. The Dark-Webber has grand ambitions to uncover the crypt's secrets and leverage the Prism's power for herself - but never quite gets around to acting on them.
  6. The Dusty Miller is a disgraced noble of Night Haven whose power is to drain color from his environment. This, alongside his drab fashion sense, led the other more colorful nobles (i.e., the Duke of Red Roses, the Lady of Lavender, etc.) to excommunicate him. Despite this, he's actually quite docile - he just wants to be left alone.
  7. During exile, the Miller uncovered this crypt, and seeing its experiments with color, snapped. He trapped each base light color in Caskets imbued with his draining ability. To his frustration, the Lanterns keep shining - and unknown to him, his ongoing attempts are causing the Grey to leak.

The Crypt [Adventure Map]

Map of the Crypt
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Rubite Bridge
Map of the Crypt. Art by 1pagedungeons. (Right-click + Open in new tab for full size)

Crypt Locations (1-5)

1 Entrance Lantern

Smells lovely. Grey clovers cover the ground. A Green Lantern beams light in the corner, turning lit clovers green. The Lantern is immovable.

2 Mirrorfolk Quarters Puzzle Key

A group of Mirrorfolk chatter and laugh, playing games. They've built a simple habitat for themselves, which is kept very spic and span.

Mirrorfolk [Crystalline Dreg]
Happy. Flailing Limbs. Very Reflective.
  • Breaking one gives the culprit bad luck (= Snag) for a Day.
  • Each desire a different present before helping anyone.
  • Roll a D20 twice to determine what they want:
Roll
1-5A Poem About:Rain
6-10The Sound of:Thunder
11-15To Reflect:Death
16-20Be Touched By:A Good-Luck Lalka
3 Webbed Intersection Guardian

A completely webbed intersection. The Dark-Webber guards it, plotting and chewing on food. Moving through without her permission requires a Deftness Check or the traveler becomes Restrained.

Dark Webber [Dizzy Slither]
Soft-spoken. Shadowy. Weaving her plots.
  • Spins webs that absorb all color.
  • Desires the light from someone's eyes, which would make them see in grayscale.
4 Ashy Room Lantern

A Blue Lantern colors the room. 6 Downer Lalkas sit moping and half-heartedly try to escape. Rubite portcullises block both doorways out.

Downer Lalka [Delinquent Goon]
Mopey. Passive-Aggressive. Vulgar. Ticked-Off.
  • Wear a blue, drooping clover on their hats.
  • Transform into a Good-Luck Lalka when exposed to Green Light.
Good-Luck Lalka [Delinquent Goon]
Friendly. Dancing. High-pitched Voices.
  • Transform into a Downer Lalka when not in Green Light.
  • Bestows a Blessing that gives an Edge on one's next Check.
  • Know how to create the Rainbow Bridge at the Prism Hall.
5 Prism Hall Puzzle Key

Main grand hall with an immovable Prism. Shining Red, Green, and Blue light on it creates a Rainbow bridge across the chasm. The Dusty Miller flies around nearby, taunting anyone he meets.

The Dusty Miller [Count Algebra]
Flying. Vain. Acts like he doesn't care.
  • Carries the Red Casket with him.
  • Can only be destroyed if hit by a combination of Red, Green and Blue (= white) light. If defeated in Combat, he'll disappear into the grey before reappearing after 3 Location Actions.

The Crypt [Locations 6-8]

Map of the Crypt
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Rubite Bridge
Map of the Crypt. Art by 1pagedungeons. (Right-click + Open in new tab for full size)

Crypt Locations (6-8)

6 Burial Crypt Loot

Burial site of the long-past Sage whose home this was. Cold and dusty now. 200 Grey Coins and a small Green Casket are here.

7 Minotaur Den Lantern Guardian

Dirty; hay everywhere causing the Area to be Precarious.

A balcony surveys the den.

A single Alpha Minotaur [Werebear] keeps his Red Lantern close, concealing its light to prevent hostilities. Change the Were-Bear's Bear-Zerker ability to activate on seeing Red instead.

Minotaurs [Yeeti]
Powerful. Emotional and anxious. Breathing heavily.
  • Hostile to anything colored Red.
8 Treasure Rooms Loot

Each hold 50 Grey Coins. The third one holds Dusty Miller's Rapier.

Dusty Miller's Rapier
An exquisitely crafted sword, forged of Shade Iron and designed to match the sensibilities befitting a noble such as himself.
A Combination Master/Quick Weapon made from Shade Iron.
  • The blade has no magical abilities, but if a Forger Imbues it with anything darkness-themed (Dark Damage, causing Blindness, etc), the Forger gains an Edge on their Crafting Check due to the Dark mana it has absorbed in his possession. The GM is the final arbiter of what counts as darkness-themed.
2 Slots · 400 Coins · Made by KeJoRo

Random Encounters [D20]

1-8: 1d4 Minotaurs, chained together, demand everyone empty their pockets and give anything Red.
9-10: The Miller coughs, opening his Casket for an instant, returning Red to the dungeon for a second.
11-12: 1d6 Downer Lalka try to open a Blue Casket (Deftness Check of 4), locked by The Miller.
13-20: The Miller messes with the party directing the Lanterns.
Rank 5-6 Adventure
Decrease: Consider swapping the Alpha Minotaur for another Yeeti and dropping the Miller's stats.
Increase: Consider swapping the Alpha Minotaur for a Giga-Gruun and buffing the Miller's stats.
Starting Coin: 600

Sources & Adversaries

This is an adaptation of the lovely one-page dungeon Blue Leprechauns by 1PageDungeons, licensed under CC-by-SA.

Yan Kodiac (Homebrew)
Dizzy Slither · Werebear · Delinquent Goon
ichiCharmed (Homebrew) - Crystalline Dregs
The Lonely Sand Person (Homebrew) - Yeeti
KeJoRo (Homebrew) - Count Algebra