use these “heroes” to her advantage, and trick them into killing the
heroic Fire Fly, and eliminate her rival once and for all.
Lady Cleo has only recently learned of where Fire Fly was
hiding with the children, and hopes the arrival of the heroes
spells his doom. When Fire Fly is dead and the heroes go on their
way, Cleo plans to call in her mercenary force to help her subdue
the town and force them to mine the silver. The children and
people who refuse to cooperate will be sold to nearby Splugorth
Slavers. Naturally, before all the mercs could get in place to ex-
ecute this plan, the player characters arrived! Note: Only Lady
Cleo, and two of the children who showed her the silver ore they
found, know about the existence of the silver vein. She’ll clue the
mercs in later.
That’s the situation. With a little diplomacy, communication
and luck, the heroes will figure this all out and fight the real villain
in this story. If nothing else, talking to Fire Fly and the children
should reveal that he is a good, kind dragon and the friend and
protector of the children. But in the course of befriending and talk-
ing to the kids, the mention of the glittering stone and how Lady
Cleo told them not to tell anyone about it, not even their Mommy
or Daddy, should come out in good role-playing.
As for Fire Fly, he has been doing his best to pester her and
disrupt Lady Cleo’s plans, whatever they are, but his first con-
cern is for the children who he sees as his friends and playmates.
After all, Fire Fly is very much a child himself. As he rescued
and gathered more and more children, he needed to get them
food, warm blankets, tents and other supplies, which is why he
has been stealing such supplies from the town, neighboring com-
munities and adventurers. The two dozen or so children he has
rescued are safe and sound, and enjoy the large, fiery dragon who
they consider to be their best friend and protector. Just like a kid,
Fire Fly plays with them, takes them for rides, tells them stories
and lets them play all over him. He has promised to return the
children who have parents to their homes, but not until he can
figure out how to get rid of “the Bad Lady” – Lady Cleo. The
children know she is bad, and stay willingly with Fire Fly, be-
cause they are afraid if they go home and accuse her of wrongdo-
ing, she will hurt their parents and siblings. Neither Fire Fly nor
the children know that Lady Cleo is a dragon herself, but they do
know she is not what she seems, that she is the wicked one, and
that she is more powerful than she seems.
Fire Fly still acts and thinks like a young child himself. He has
not yet developed the sense to simply ask for help, himself. He
thinks it is up to him to save everyone, and if that means kidnap-
ping the kids and bringing them back to a safe place, then that’s
what he will do. In the meantime, Lady Cleo is going to use his
actions to her advantage to keep the townspeople scared and under
her control until she can hire more mercs, enslave the people, take
over the town and hold control over the secret silver mine.
What happens next depends on the player characters. Once
Fire Fly learns that the characters are noble adventurers, he will tell
them everything that he knows. He feels responsible for the chil-
dren, and will only bring them back to town once Lady Cleo leaves
and her mercs are sent packing. He will stay and watch the children
if the characters will agree to help. All the characters need to do
is convince Lady Cleo and her cohorts to leave. The heroes have
the upper hand and could return to town and openly confront Lady
Cleo, launch a surprise attack, or sneak in and try to kidnap her
and deal with her away from town! Or they could be even sneakier.
There are all kinds of tricks and traps they could lay for Lady Cleo,
and they have Fire Fly (and the kids) as an ally.
Returning to Town
If the group is careful and sneaky, they may get the jump on
Lady Cleo. Even then, she is a cunning and wicked dragon, and she
will not go down without a fight.
If the heroes are careless, and Lady Cleo learns the group has
joined up with Fire Fly and they are coming for her, she and her
mercenaries will be waiting for them, armed and ready for a fight.
In this scenario, getting back to town is easy and should be
without incident. Just outside of town, the player characters no-
tice several columns of dense black smoke. These signs suggest
someone is in trouble. Sure enough, the player group finds several
buildings on fire. Old Man Cooper and some of his workers are
trying to put out the blaze in his Operator’s shop and garage on the
outskirts of town. The buildings were set ablaze by some merce-
naries he caught trying to steal supplies. Cooper is hurt and barely
able to stay on his feet. There are several things that can be done
here using skills that the characters possess.
First Aid or Paramedic Skills: Use of these skills can help re-
vive Old Man Cooper. He is suffering from laser burns and smoke
inhalation. Simply by pulling him out of the building and getting
him fresh air will help him start to recover. If the player characters
fail in their medical rolls, magic can be used to heal him. Failing
that, Old Man Cooper has an IRMSS (Internal Robot Medical Sur-
geon System), which when applied (no roll needed), can restore
2D6 Hit Points and help him breathe better.
His concern is saving his home, garage and business. The fire in
these building can be brought under control quickly with the help
of the player group.
Firefighting: Any characters with this skill can use it to put out
the fires. This will take a little while – at least an hour – but our
heroes arrive in time to quell the flames before they get too out of
hand. Also, it reveals some additional equipment that the charac-
ters can use against the bad guys.
After the fire is put out, Old Man Cooper tells the player char-
acters about “the bandits,” but he insists Lady Cleo was there too,
and that she transformed into a large, cat-like dragon! She did this.
She set the fire as soon as the bandits rolled off with the supplies
they came for. Then, something hit him on the head (like the rifle
butt from a merc he did not see), and he was left for dead. His
workers arrived in time to pull him to safety and begin fighting
the fire. Now that the fire is out and the workers have a moment to
think, they report having heard some shouting and gunfire in town
before the player group arrived. They fear the mercenaries may
have moved on to raid the town. The workers know nothing about
a cat-like dragon or Lady Cleo being responsible for the fire. Old
Man Cooper would like to think he is mistaken, but he is sure Lady
Cleo is involved in all of this.
Additional Equipment for the Battle
Through the course of helping Old Man Cooper or put out the
fire, the characters come across a large barn behind the Opera-
tor’s repair shop. Inside he has a few vehicles and some equipment
that the heros may use with his permission against the mercs and
Lady Cleo. Old Man Cooper encourages the characters to borrow
whatever they need so long as they can help the townspeople. He
initially considers the equipment on loan, but if the player charac-
ters rescue the town, he may consider it a reward for their efforts in
saving the town and its residents.
! 1 Mountaineer ATV.
! 1 Big Boss ATV.