Adventure#1:Night of the Buffalo man

Adventure #1: Night of the Buffalo man

A generic D20 super hero adventure. Dedicated to Josh ...Meldacar... Maxman. For many nights of Cow related humor over the years.

Flavor: B-grade environmental monster/horror film

Dramatis Persona (NPCs)

1: The Buffalo Man #1

Real Name: Height: 73. Weight: 863 lbs. Appearance: A vaguely humanoid upright American buffalo. Sort of an ugly Minatour. The Mutant lives in the wilds

Roll: Rampaging Monster

Powers: Classic beast brick. Super Strong and tough

Stat Block.

The Buffalo man. Male Minatour Monstrous Humanoid6/Bbn2; Large monstrous Humanoid;HD6d8+42(monstrous humanoid),2d12+14(barbarian); hp 114; Init +2; Spd 40; AC 16; Atk +22 base melee,+9 ranged; +17/+23(1d8+7 Gore, 1d4+15 Unarmed); SA Charge(ex); SQ: Natural cunning(ex), Scent(ex), Rage 1/tpd; AL CN; SV Fort +12, REF+7, Will+5; STR 41, DEX 15, CON 25, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 20.

Skills:

Handle Animal +7, Intimidate +16, Intuit Direction +4, Jump +16, Knowledge(nature)+1.5, Listen +8, Search+8, Spot+8, Wilderness Lore +5.5. Swim +3.

Feats:

Power Attack. Weapon Finesse: Unarmed, Weapon Focus: unarmed.

Super Powers:
Enhanced Strength (Can lift/press 1 ton). Natural Armor/Toughness (DR: 15/+2). Barbarian Rage 1/tpd. Enhanced Senses (Never gets lost, immune to powers that effect sense of direction/equilibrium) Regenration 3.

2: The Buffalo man #2

Real name: Chuck Borden (yes I went there). Height: 511. Weight: 188 lbs. Appearance. A 66 year old man in faded denim jeans and jacket. Has a buffalo tattoo on his back and wears a silver amulet in the shape of a buffalo head. Lives in a cave on the outskirts of town.

Roll: Crazy old guy with cryptic information...

Powers: None, though he does have the annoying habit of vanishing when you are not paying attention to him. His silver amulet is in fact magic.

Stat Block:

Chuck Borden. The Buffalo man. Male Human. Expert 5t level. Medium Humanoid. HD 5d6(expert). HP 24. Int +0; Spd 30; AC 12; Atk +2 base melee +3 base ranged; +2(1d6-1 walking stick); +2(1d4-1 Knife); AL CG; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +8; STR 8, DEX 10, CON 10, INT 18, WIS 18, CHA 10.

Possessions:

Weapons: knife, Walking stick

Armor: denim jacket (treat as leather)

Magic: Wondrous: Amulet of proff against detection and location

Skills:

Concentration +1, Craft(weaving)+5, Escape Artist +4.5, Gather information +6, Hide +4, Knowledge(History)+8, Knowledge(nature)+8, Listen +6, Move Silently +4, Perform +4, Profession(cook)+5, Profession(herbalist)+5, Profession(Leatherworker)+5, Profession(painter) +5, Profession(Scribe) +5, Profession(Weaver)+5, Spot +6, Wilderness Lore +5.5. Perform (Storytelling) +6

Feats:
Alertness. Toughness. Skill Focus: Gather information

3: Kid Buffalo

Real name: Jason Angus (Did it again). Height: 5. Weight: 100 lbs. Appearance: a 12 year old adolescent male just hitting puberty. As Jason he can be found in normal clothing, as Kid Buffalo he wears jeans, a long sleeve white t-shirt with a stylized buffalo head emblem on the chest and a blue Luchador style full face mask. He lives at home with his parents

Roll: Sidekick.

Powers: Low power brick. Slightly stronger then normal, tough,

Stat Block:

Jason Angus. Kid Buffalo: Male Human Hero2;Medium Humanoid; HD 2d10+8; hp 23; Init +8; SPD 40; AC 14; Atk +6 base melee, +6 base ranged; +7(1d3+4, unarmed); AL CG; SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will+0; STR 19, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 11, WIS 11, CHA 14.

Possessions:

Weapons: knife

Goods: Utility belt (50 ft Silk Rope, Grappling Hook, Flash Light, Roll of Duct tape)

Skills:

Balance+5, Climb+5, Gather information +3, Intimidate+3, Jump+5, Knowledge(local)+1, Knowledge(Streetwise)+1, Knowledge(Pro wrestling)+1, Tumble+4.5, Wilderness Lore +1

Feats:

Ambidexterity, Improved Initiative, Two weapon fighting, Weapon focus: Unarmed. Run

Super powers.

Enhanced strength (At age 12 he can lift/press about 150 pounds). Natural armor/Toughness (DR 6/+1).Enhanced Speed (Gains the run feat for free and can move at 40). All his powers will increase with age.

** All characters generated using e-tools. **

The plot: We got trouble, right hear in river city.

The small rule town of river city USA has sceen its fair share of strangeness in its 150 years of life, but nothing can compare to the recent series of violent attacks the area has been victim of. In the last few months several ranches have been vandalized, whole packs of coyotes and mountain lions have been found slaughtered, vehicles have been devastated and most recently two hikers were mauled to death by some one or something. The local authorities are at their wits end as to how to deal with whatever this is. There are few clues and no witnesses. To make matters worse the town now has its first resident Metahuman. A young boy calling himself Kid Buffalo has already attempted to stop one robbery and has been sceen On patrol throughout river city.

No one in River city knows what to make of this, though if you ask crazy old Chuck Borden he will tell you what it is. The crazy old man has been sceen in the area almost every week since the attacks started saying that he knows who is responsible for the attacks.

The hook: Getting the Players to River City

1: The players are members of an established super teem in a near by big city and have been asked by the authorities of River city to investigate the attacks. The authorities may have no idea whats going on but by the amount of carnage they have sceen they can guess a super human is involved somehow. They are way out of their league and help from a super hero teem would be appreciated.

2: As above but the team have come to River city to investigate Kid Buffalo, perhaps to help train him with his powers.

3: The characters are fledging super heroes from a near by city or perhaps are even From River city and have only just begun to develop their powers. They may want to seek out Kid Buffalo and teem up with him. They may want to prove themselves by helping out in investigating the attacks or they may just be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Buffalo man attacks.

However the characters become involved with the situation in River City, they will get as much help as they can from the authorities and the locals. No one wants to see any one else hurt and while the average person may not trust a masked Meta human. They do know that the Super Guys are much better able to deal with whatever this is then they are.

The action begins during the River city arts and Music festival over the weekend.

Give the characters time to get the lay of the land in the town and then start the ball rolling

The Line: Setting up the action.

*** Designers note. River city is loosely based on Ojai California.**

River city is your typical small town in the middle of the valley. It is four blocks long. Two blocks going east/west and the other two going north/south. In the center of town is River City Park. A large park with grass, trees, a playground, a bandstand , a fountain and an ice cream vendor.

On the day/night in question the River city arts festival is being held. This is a combination farmers market/our door fair. Ther is food, drink, music, carnival rides and games. Local farmers have their produce for sail and all the local artists have set up booths and displays. Most of the population of River city has turned out for the fair.

Including Chuck Borden, the crazy old man who will tell anyone who is willing to listen to him that he knows why the attacks have been happening and what is causing them
Its the great buffalo spirit of old. Come for revenge!

Also Kid Buffalo is on patrol at the fair, he is in his civilian identity but should trouble break out. He is ready.

The local authorities are at the fair in force, hopping they will be enough should the.whatever it is.show up tonight

Which of course it will.

Give the PCs enough play time to get a feel for the town and the citizens. Let them enjoy the fair, maybe do some shopping, play some carnival games, eat some good food and just get in some quality role playing time before you have the creature show up and ruin things.

The Sinker: Let the action begin.

About an hour after Sunset the creature will arrive. It has snuck in to town using the sewers and will burst out of a manhole right in the center of the park, right in the center of the food court, right in the center of about 15 teenagers playing Frisbee.

Nothing like starting things off with a few innocents in danger.!

The Buffalo man is all violence, reasoning with him is out of the question. He will start the action by attacking the nearest moving person and keep going until stopped.

Combat: the Creature will just lash out at anything that attacks it. Using its great strength, paws and gore attack on most opponents. Given enough space to set up a charge, it will Bull Rush if it gets a chance. Should the creature drop to below 20 hit points it will go in to RAGE and then attempt to escape back in to the sewers.

The creature must be killed or subdued, it cant be stopped any other way

Combat: Chuck Borden. The crazy old man will keep trying to get in the characters way as they attack the creature. He will do everything in his power to defend it. All the while yelling that attacking the creature will do them no good and that they must put the buffalo spirit to rest the proper way. Even if the creature attacks him he will not defend himself against the attack, but rather continue to annoy the heroes and try to stop them from harming the creature.

Combat: Kid Buffalo. The Kid will sue the first round of combat to change into his costume, then he will leap in to the sceen and hit the creature over the head with a folding metal chair. This will get him slammed to the ground with an AUTO HIT.

The Kid will do his best to help the heroes, and may even be able to.

But remember he is a Sidekick so at some point during him combat he will end up in a situation where his life will be in danger and the heroes will have to break off from combat to rescue him.

The combat should be very quick and violent, with a lot of property damage and innocents getting harmed. It shouldnt take long (we hope) for the characters to realize they have to chase the creature away from the park or even more innocents will be killed.

They can chase him back in to the sewers, or just chase him down the streets of River City (Causing even more damage) and into the countryside.

If the Buffalo Creature is allowed to enter either the sewers or the countryside he will automatically escape and the play will continue to the next act.

Should the characters be able to defeat the buffalo creature at the fair by either quickly killing or subduing him. His body will be carted off by the corners office and impounded for investigation at a near by animal sanctuary.

The local authorities will thank the heroes for their timely aid and then ask them to stick around to help clean up and investigate the creatures origins.

Somehow Chuck Borden will survive the encounter and insist that the heroes listen to him about the true origins of the creature and the only way to stop him.

Ending #1: If the Creature escapes..

If the creature escapes the characters will be asked to stick around the fair and help with cleaning up and getting the injured to the hospital.

After that they will be allowed to follow his trail. Kid Buffalo will ask to tag along, if you say no. he will attempt to follow you anyway.

Search /Spot /Wilderness Lore checks at DC 20 to follow the trail. Modified if characters have TRACKING or similar feats/powers.

The trail once found will lead deep into the forests of the valley. It will be dark night (Ohh Blair witch) and of course there will be no moon.

Eventually after a few scares in the Forrest (The old owl jumping out of the tree trick) they will find the cave/lair of the Buffalo Creature (lets go in the monster house, kill it and take its stuff)

As they enter the lair. Crazy Old Chuck Borden will jump out of the trees waving a large stick at the characters and demanding that they listen to him. As before should the characters engage in combat with the Buffalo Creature in its lair, chuck will defend the creature and do everything he can to slow down/hamper the heroes.

If Kid Buffalo was successful in tracking the characters he will show up during the second round of combat and proceed to get him in trouble. If he failed to track the characters, then he gets lost in the forest and ends up returning to town dejected.

The Creature will have had enough time to regain 2d10 hit points since its escape. It will fight at +3 to hit/damage while in its lair and will also enter RAGE after the first round of combat.

If the characters are successful in killing/subduing the creature. Chuck will call them fools and tell them they are wrong, wrong, wrong and have accomplished nothing.

Unless the characters burn the body refer to ending 3

In the lair the heroes will find (EP and Stuff) the remains of a few victims, some assorted junk and stuff but nothing of any actual value.

Ending#2: If the creature is killed / captured.

The local animal control will take the body to a near by animal shelter where they will attempt to figure out what the creature is. A call will be made to the near by big city college science department to see if they can get a specialist out to help.

The dead/comatose creature will be placed in a large cage in the back of the Animal Shelter with one guard. It will of course (This is a horror film after all) revive around 4 hours latter to break out, kill the guards and begin to rampage across the countryside.

The second the alarm at the Animal Shelter goes off the authorities will rush over while attempting to contact the characters.

The creature is in RAGE but at only ½ hit points

It will do its best to escape into the hills and reach the lair.

As before Chuck Borden will somehow show up and attempt to defend the creature and stop the heroes . He again and again insists that they listen to him and do what he tells them otherwise their just wasting time.

The characters can attempt to subdued/kill the beast but unless they burn the body it will just keep coming back.

Ending #3: Should the characters listen to Chuck

Ok, crazy old Chuck insists that the Creature not be harmed. That it is an elemental spirit , an incarnation of the great buffalo spirit of old. The buffalo spirit has returned to exact revenge against the citizens of River city because their forefathers killed off the local buffalo population 105 years ago.

The only way to stop the attacks is to leave the spirit alone and instead perform a ritual to set things right.

Chuck insists that the characters join him at Mediation rock, where under the new moon, naked. They will perform the ritual to apse the buffalo spirit.

Kid Buffalo will ask to take part in the ritual.

The ritual involves dancing naked under the new moon while Chuck tosses assorted herbs and stuff in to a fire and chants. Then at midnight he will don a buffalo headdress and make a weird tee that he insists everyone drink (it tastes like crap). He will then bring a young calf to the fire, cut it. Drip its blood into the fire and then let it go.

With this act he says the spirit is appeased and the buffalo creature is laid to rest and all is well

Of course Chuck is 100% WRONG!

The Creature is a mutant created by toxic waste hidden in the valley that was dumped there a few years ago. The ritual solves nothing

The only way to stop the creature is to kill it and burn the body, other wise it just keeps coming.

But having the characters perform the ritual is worth a few laughs and they will all gain a Rank in Knowlidge - Ancient Lore as well as a bonus 500EXP each.

Final thoughts

The entire adventure should net the characters about 600 EXP each, plus the additional 500 if they do the ritual. As well any bonus EXP for role playing.

In addition that have made some positive contacts with the River city police and citizens and Chuck Borden (Which is at best a mixed blessing).

Kid Buffalo will realize he needs a lot more training before eh enters the hero gig and asks if the characters will train him. If they say yes, the Kid becomes a recurring SIDEKICK showing up from time to time to continue his training.

If they say no, he will continue his ways in River city but will join a local Dojo. The characters will get an e-mail from him every now and then to let them know his progress as a hero.

The body of the Creature (After finally being burnt) will be taken to the local big city college where the biology department will attempt to figure out what it is.

About a month latter the character will receive a report on their findings that it is a mutated buffalo and that they found very high levels of Toxic waste in its blood. They suggest that the characters might want to return to River city and locate the source of the mutation before there are more. They will also contact HAZMAT and the government

But thats a story for another time.

Mooooooooooo