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INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
1
INTO CASTLE
DUCKENSTEIN
CONTENT WARNING
This adventure is filled with body horror that
includes dismemberment, the removal of limbs,
and swapping of body parts.
CREDITS AND DISCLAIMERS
Writing, Design, Cartography:
BJ Keeton (BJK Games)
Art: grandfailure, Jeshields, Tara Quinn
This game is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by Fria Ligan AB. This Supplement was
created under Fria Ligan AB’s Dragonbane Third Party Supplement License.
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
2
INTO CASTLE ◆
1. THE APPROACH
Castle Duckenstein sits alone on its island
DUCKENSTEIN in the middle of the marsh. Small bits of
dry land dot a sort of path across a deep,
Deep in the eastern marshes, on a rare murky pond. The castle’s spires rise above
parcel of dry land surrounded by the dying trees, obscured by wispy clouds,
brackish water, sits Castle Duckenstein. illuminated by the red Quackoween moon.
Doctor Beaktor Duckenstein, the castle's
eponymous owner, is known to be ✦ Danger in the Depths: Getting to the
somewhat of a quack, a mad scientist, castle's front gates is treacherous, with
and a dangerous one at that. unknown threats lurking below the
opaque water.
The village of Quackstead is regrettably
close to the castle. The residents of Whenever a player character touches
Quackstead do their best not to attract the water, a naiad is drawn to their
the doctor's attention, for they know location. Loyal to Duckenstein, the
from unfortunate experience that only naiads attempt to keep unwanted
brings tragedy and grief. They are all guests from crossing the bog.
too familiar with the doctor’s so-called
These naiads are covered in stitches
“research” and horrific “experiments.”
with mismatched body parts. They are
Unfortunately for them, Duckenstein undead and do not have the Beautiful
has once again set his sights on the trait as listed on page 34 of the Bestiary.
town, as he seeks to expand his family of ✦ Monster at the Gates: When the
mismatched miscreants. player characters make it across the
Planning to take advantage of water, their progress is once again
Quackoween, a night when dark magic halted by a deformed monstrosity
is magnified, the mad medical mallard standing in front of two thick oak doors,
sent his monstrous minions to abduct locked shut with a heavy wooden beam.
new subjects to mutilate. Two dozen The stitched abomination is an
townsfolk were taken, and six others amalgamation of parts from various kin
were killed in defending their home. and monsters stitched together.
Now, it's Quackoween night, and the It has very strict orders to prevent
distraught people of Quackstead have anyone from entering the castle.
only one hope to get their family and Because of that directive, the monster
friends back: for the player characters to can make a well-prepared ambush (page
storm Castle Duckenstein and bring 43 in the Rulebook) against the party.
them back before it's too late.
If it isn’t already.
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
1
✦ Biological Weapons: The good doctor
2. ENTRYWAY has managed to distill whatever it is
A large hall that is well-lit by torches that reanimates the living dead into a
hanging in fixtures, with staircases in the potion. If any player character comes
far corners. A large oak door is directly into contact with it, it behaves in the
opposite the entrance, and two wooden same manner as the Undead Disease
hatches sit on either side of the room. The trait on page 110 of the Bestiary.
atmosphere feels electric but with a sense ✦ Secret Door: Four grates are
of terror and malevolent tinge. embedded in the floor to catch blood,
chemicals, or other run-off and deposit
✦ Random Event: When a character it into the pond outside.
enters this area for the first time, and
then for each full stretch the player A player character can roll SPOT
characters spend here, roll a D6 on the HIDDEN to see that one of them hides a
random events table (page 9) spiral staircase that leads down to a
hidden laboratory/ritual chamber (#7).
3. RESEARCH LAB ✦ Resupply: The doctor's attache Eye
Gore escorts a villager into the lab every
Shelves stocked with bottles of colorful other stretch. Roll D4 on entering the
concoctions line the walls. Flasks and chamber to see if it is currently inside.
beakers bubble with unknown liquids. Wet On a 1, the creature has just brought a
blood drips out of body parts hung on new victim to be disassembled.
wires that go from wall to wall.
Note
✦ Disassembly Line: 4 living dead are Eye Gore has the stats of a wight
working diligently to dismember a (page 118 of the Bestiary).
corpse and get it prepared for...whatever
Duckenstein is up to.
As the player characters enter the room,
they can see that each one removes a
body part and tries to hang it on the
wires above. They are not good at it, nor
efficient.
Another 2 living dead are working on
pouring a vile potion from a larger
container into many small ones.
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
3
No one has made another attempt to
4. VILLAGER escape their cell.
An AWARENESS roll highlights the
DUNGEON villager's body parts have been tossed
Half the room is a holding cell, and the into the pile of equipment and tools.
other half is filled with piles of used ✦ Call for Backup: If combat breaks
equipment and filthy tools. Light from out, at the start of the second round, the
torches flickers across the abducted abomination calls for backup. Eye Gore
villagers cowering in the cage. Their faces will descends the stairs and join the
oscillate between abject fear and fight at the start of the third round.
unrelenting despair.
✦ Culling the Herd: Every other
stretch, Eye Gore will descend into the
✦ Guard Duty: 10 of the abducted
dungeon and take another villager away.
townsfolk are being watched over by a
He escorts them to the laboratory (#3),
stitched abomination. It does not seem
where they will be dismembered to be
the smartest corpse in the graveyard,
used for parts.
but the whole is worth more than the
sum of its parts. In this case, literally.
This abomination does an additional 5. “EMPTY” DUNGEON
+D6 bonus damage when using monster A room without torches. It is identical to
attacks and has a total of 6 armor. the dungeon filled with captive villagers.
✦ Missing Keys: No one is going to Stark and empty, except for the massive
trust the abomination with the keys to amount of cobwebs. This chamber is
the doctor's prisoners. They're nowhere obviously a spare cell that the mad doctor
to be found on the monstrosity or in any keeps just in case he ever needs it.
of the items in the room.
✦ Spider Surprise: This room gets very
A character may be able to PERSUADE a little use, as the doctor rarely waits to
prisoner to tell them about how a make use of his captives. Because of
horrible creature covered in eyes, (Eye that, a giant spider has dug into the
Gore) comes regularly to the dungeon, chamber and made itself at home.
unlocked the cage to take a single
villager, and then locks the door again. It waits in ambush for anyone to
Its visits have begun to happen more descend the ladder into its lair.
quickly as of late.
✦ Random Event: For each full stretch
They can also tell the players about a the player characters spend here, roll a
villager named Piz who tried to make a D6 on the random events table.
run for it during one of these visits, and
the guard tore his arms and legs off.
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
4
When both the tank and pump are
6. REANIMATION destroyed, the liquid in that tower
ceases to disappear. This must happen
ENGINES in both towers in order to stop
Duckenstein's experiment (#7).
Twin spires rise high above the castle,
narrow staircases leading upward to ✦ Random Event: For each full stretch
round, open rooms at the top of each the player characters spend here, roll a
tower. Inside, magical machinery seems to D6 on the random events table.
push a putrid potion from a large tank into
a series of sigils carved into the floor.
7. DUCKENSTEIN’S
✦ Guard Duty: 2 stitched
abominations meander around each
room, attacking anyone who comes in.
REANIMATION
✦ Containment Units: The tanks are CHAMBER
filled with the same potion the mad Three bloody abattoirs have been etched
mallard concocted to mimic the living into the floor. Around each one, corpses are
dead's Undead Disease trait (#3) placed deliberately, their heads and bodies
touching a roiling liquid pulsing through
Successful AWARENESS can help a the small trenches. Dark magic thickens
character notice when the potion travels the air, making it hard to breathe.
to the end of the pattern, it vanishes.
✦ Missing Villagers: The bodies of 9 of
Successful MYTHS & LEGENDS can the abducted townsfolk are arranged
help a character see that the potion is around and among bloody ritual circles
not disappearing, but being carved into the stone ground.
translocated to a connected circle (#7).
A successful AWARENESS roll shows a
✦ Destroying the Tanks: The only way player character that at least one limb
to stop the flow of the fluid is to destroy or appendage has been removed from
the machines pumping it. There are 2 in each corpse and then replaced with
each tower, a tank (HP: 42 Durability: 8) another. The stitching is crude and
and a pump (HP: 24, Durability: 4). barely hanging together.
Breaking either of them will cause the ✦ Family Planning: Doctor
undead disease potion to flood the room Duckenstein considers his creations to
and cover the floor completely, and in be his children, and the power of
each round, the player characters must Quackoween gives him the means to
succeed at a roll against its virulence 12 expand his family greatly.
to avoid contracting the disease.
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
5
As the players enter the chamber, they
see Doctor Duckenstein move from one
ritual circle to the next, kneel, and pour
◆
8. THE END
The rescued villagers are escorted home to
something into the liquid that fills the a bittersweet welcome. The townsfolk are
carved-out designs. As he does so, the beyond relieved at the return of their
townsfolk's bodies reawaken and begin friends and families, but grief-stricken
to shamble around. about those who were lost and used in
The quack doctor's 9 newly formed such a horrific manner. The adventurers
monstrosities are still weak, using the are thanked and given the meager rewards
stats of typical living dead. If the that the village can afford.
reanimation engines (#6) are still ✦ Returns and Rewards: Any villagers
operating, they instead have have 22 that remain in the dungeon (#4) are
HP, 2 Armor, and +D4 bonus damage. unharmed and able to return home to
The mad mallard cackles as they rise, their families and friends.
and he notices the party. He says For each villager rescued, the party will
something about how the player be rewarded with 10 gold coins.
characters look like excellent specimens,
and he orders his new children to attack Also, the family of each person rescued
and bring them to him in pieces so he gives the party a carved gourd filled
can make them even more brothers and with D4 hand-made Quackoween
sisters. Sweets. They lack nutrients, so they
can’t be used as rations, but they are
Another 2 living dead are working on unbelievably delicious.
pouring a vile potion from a larger
container into many small ones. Whenever a character eats one, their
next skill roll is made as though their
✦ Reanimation: If the tanks and skill is +3 higher than it is (max 18).
engines (#6) have not been destroyed
and the magic still flows into the ritual If more than 3 are consumed in a
circles, any living dead reduced to 0 HP stretch, the character becomes
will reanimate with D6 HP at the Exhausted after making the roll. If more
beginning of each round. than 5 are consumed in a shift, the
character gets an upset stomach and
✦ Duckenstein’s Tactics: The doctor becomes Sickly and can eat no more
does want to engage the characters up until they complete a Shift rest.
close. He keeps himself out of danger, at
range, using his children to protect him.
He will know if the players have disabled
the engines in the towers (#6) and fight
accordingly (such as choosing to use a
monster attack that heals his creations
over damaging the player characters).
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
6
DOCTOR BEAKTOR D6 MONSTER ATTACK
It’s Alive! (Now Stay That Way!)
DUCKENSTEIN The quack doctor pulls a potion
bottle from his pocket and
throws it at one his creations
Ferocity: 2 1-2
within 20 meters. All undead
Size: Normal Movement: 12
within 2 meters of the target
Armor: 2 HP: 64
recover D6 HP, and everyone is
exposed to Undead Disease.
Yes, Master
As a devoted master to his undead Do As I Say! The mad mallard
family, whenever Duckenstein is calls out with a raspy voice to
within 4 meters of a stitched an undead creature within 10
3
abomination or living dead, they gain meters . It must make a
+D6 bonus damage and recover D4 HP monster attack against the
on each of their turns. nearest player character to it.
I’ll Do It Myself! Duckenstein’s
Kinda Sorta Undead augmentations let him mimic
He may be a quack doctor, but he the power of his creations and
knows his stuff when it comes to repeat the last monster attack
corpses. Over the years, Duckenstein 4
that he could see performed (not
has augmented his own body with the by him). If he could see no
absolute best pieces of others that he’s monster attacks other than his
been able to harvest, enhancing his own, reroll.
strength and endurance significantly.
That comes at the cost of being Here, Take This! Duckenstein
susceptible to anything that snatches a spare hunk of flesh
specifically targets the undead, though. from a nearby pile of body parts
5
and moves to a damaged undead.
He uses it to reinforce the
creature, healing 2D6 damage.
I’ll Take That! Duckenstein
moves to an undead creature and
tears a body part from it,
6
inflicting 2D6 damage to it. He
quickly attaches it to himself,
recovering that much HP.
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
7
STITCHED D6 MONSTER ATTACK
Big Smash! The abomination
ABOMINATION rushes toward an enemy and
1-2 smashes it with mismatched
Ferocity: half party size fists. It inflicts 2D8 bludgeoning
Size: Large Movement: 8 damage and knocks them down.
Armor: 4 HP: 32 Trapped Gasses! The gasses
from the abomination’s
Best Body Parts Possible decomposing parts erupt in a 4
Whatever this thing is made out of, it’s meter radius around it. All
sturdy. The mad mallard Duckenstein 3 creatures within the gas cloud
has pieced together this grotesque become Sickly and Dazed. If
caricature of life with the they already have one or both of
highest-quality body parts he could those conditions, they lose D4
find, making the abomination WP for each one.
resistant to non-magical damage.
Head Butt! The doctor’s
creations are not always the
smartest, but they know how to
use their heads. The stitched
4
abomination grapples a target
and slams its forehead into
theirs, inflicting 2D6
bludgeoning damage.
Throw You! The abomination
picks up a target with both hands
5 and throws them 2D6 meters,
inflicting an equal amount of
damage. They are knocked down.
Mine Now! The abomination
admires a body part on a target
that it can see. And attempts to
take it for itself. The target must
6 succeed at an opposed STR roll.If
the abomination wins, it inflicts
3D10 bludgeoning damage. If it
wins with a dragon, the body
part is torn off.
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
8
D6 RANDOM EVENTS
1-2 Nothing happens.
D3 giant spiders crawl from
3 the cobwebs in the ceiling and
surround the party.
A stitched abomination breaks
into the room, sending rubble
4
flying, and attacks a random
character.
An abducted villager is bound to
a chair on the far side of the
5 room, their blood being drained
into a series of vials and flasks on
a table beside them.
A body is on the ground, and 2
living dead are kneeling over it,
tearing it apart with their
mouths. If the player characters
6
approach, each zombie rips a
limb and throws it at the players.
(ranged attack 14, damage: D6
bludgeoning).
INTO CASTLE DUCKENSTEIN
9
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