Liquid Loot

Just another trap in the 4th level.  It's an example of my favorite style, the kind the players willingly set off.

8. Liquid Loot
Floating in the center of this room are three rings of blue superconducting metal.  They are nested within each other, and rotate slowly in three dimensions around a 1’ wide sphere of gold. Anyone approaching will feel the heat coming off the rings and the sphere – and in fact the sphere is molten, although that will not be obvious.

Jamming a sword, 10’ pole, or other object into the rings will merely cause them to stop spinning – they will resume once the obstruction is removed. Note that they are powerful magnets, and a successful “force doors” check is required to remove any metal stuck to them.  Further, the heat from the rings will soften most metal and burn wood – each round an item is jammed into the rings, there is a 40% chance it will be ruined.

Approaching the rings with a magnet will cause them to fly apart, doing 1d6 damage to everyone in the room as they ricochet about.

In either case, once the rings stop rotating, the molten gold within will fall to the floor, splashing all within a 10’ radius for 4d6 points of damage (save vs. paralyzation for half damage).

Once outside the rings, the gold will solidify in 1 round, and be cool enough to handle in 2 turns. It will take an additional 2 turns to pry the gold from the floor, if it has splashed all over the room. The total value of the gold present is 6,000 gp.

When nested together, the rings will resist being moved, and will heat any metal in the center to 2000° F.  Apart, they are simply strong magnets. The rings are worth 10 gp apiece if sold separately, and 100 gp if sold together.

Evolving Paradigm

Another "special" room. Gill-men have been discussed previously - but let me introduce their evolutionary opposites, the Hyper-men.  Alone, they are weak and pitiful, but in a group they can lay down some serious damage.

38. Evolving Paradigm
In the center of this room is a protonium-metal pedestal, on top of which is attached an uncomfortable-looking stainless steel chair. The arms of the chair are covered with black plastic beads.

An aged plastic console with two knife switches protrudes from the pedestal. One is labeled “Devolve,” and the other “Evolve.”

If a switch is pulled while a creature sits in the chair, they will either evolve or devolve, visibly transforming to their new state. Pulling both switches simultaneously will cause the poor creature to oscillate back and forth between evolutionary states. While either (or both) of the switches are pulled, an impenetrable, glowing field of rainbow hues dances around the chair, and the chair’s occupant will be held immobile.

Evolution
Devolved characters may go through the “evolve” process to return to normal, and evolved may devolve. If quoted text is present, a mechanical voice recites that text and no transformation occurs.
Species	Devolve	Evolve
Human	Gill-man	Hyper-man
Elf, Dwarf, Halfling	Goblin	“Hybridization prevents further analysis”
Goblin	“Further regession impossible”	Hive Mind (unless a devolved elf / dwarf / halfling, in which case the subject will return to his normal state)
Gill-man	“Further regression impossible”	Human
Hyper-Man	Human	“Maximum evolution achieved”
Moktar	Housecat	“Maximum evolution achieved”
Insect-Man	“Insufficient mammalian DNA”	“Insufficient mammalian DNA”

The options listed above are not comprehensive, and it is left to the referee’s discretion on how to deal with other species and states of evolution.

Monsters transformed into higher or lower states will not experience a change in personality, and will likely be quite upset about their transformation.

Hyper-Men
No. Enc: 1d4 (5d4)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 0’
  Fly: 30’ (10’)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: Weapon, or mental blast
Damage: By weapon, or 1d4
Save: F3
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: XVI
XP: 95

Hyper-men represent the evolutionary endpoint of mankind: narrow frowning faces, oversized foreheads and skulls to accommodate their advanced brains, and tiny infant-like bodies dangling below their bald heads.

Hyper-men would be physically helpless if not for their incredible mental prowess. They use their psychic abilities to float in mid-air, and are able to slowly move about in any direction. They do not speak with their mouths – rather, they broadcast their thoughts directly into the minds of anyone standing within 30’. They are unable to read thoughts, however – only broadcast them.

Hyper-men only have 1 hp, but they maintain a constant field of mental energy to deflect blows and reduce damage. It is this field that is represented by the bulk of their hit points and their armor class. The field regenerates at a rate of 1 hp per round when damaged.

In combat, hyper-men may use their minds to manipulate weapons as if they had hands – these weapons must be kept within 3’ of their bodies to be used effectively however. They may also choose to use a mental blast, causing 1d4 points of damage to all non-hyper-men within a 10’ radius if the victims fail a save vs. magic.

Lying Wires

It will be interesting to see how this trap plays out.  If some poor chump (probably a henchman, knowing my players) gets caught in the wires, the rest of the party are likely to get the victim killed while they run off on some fool's errand.
 
90. Lying Wires
Dangling from the ceiling between the two doors on the eastern wall is a thick cluster of wires, 2’ in diameter.  The wires hang to within a few inches of the surface of the water in this room.

If the doors are approached, the wires will stab into the nearest character unless a save vs. magic is made, causing 1d4 points of damage and taking control of the character’s body.  The victim’s body will stand rigidly straight as it intones in a hollow voice, “If you attempt to remove the wires, this fleshy creature will perish.  Perform a task for me, and I shall release the organism.”

Roll on the table below for the task to be performed. The tasks are pointless busy-work, and the entity communicating through the wires will not release the body under any circumstances.  It will instead demand that yet another task be completed.

The wires may be pulled from a victim without causing any harm. The true danger is in leaving a victim behind – wandering monsters and/or dehydration will likely kill the character, as the wires will not defend a controlled body in any way, or otherwise try to keep it healthy.

Pointless Tasks
Roll 1d8 to determine the pointless task the wire-controlled body demands.
1.    Fetch me the mind of a hinge-headed. They shall know me, and I shall know them!
2.    Eliminate the goblins who infest this level. They have annoyed me for the last time!
3.    Retrieve one ounce of unprocessed nuclear fuel. You know this as “sick rock.”
4.    Return with an artifact from the Gray Void. I must know the nature of this dimension.
5.    Deliver this message to Trimexis of the Deep Tower: “Eight times eight is the number you shall aspire to.”
6.    Carve my likeness in the Hall of the Underlords. All who gaze upon me shall know despair!
7.    Fashion a suit of armor from the scales of the water serpent, and present it to me here.
8.    The gill-men have offended me one time too many.  Bring me a dozen of their heads, and your companion shall be returned unto you.

Proximity-Sensing Taunt Recorder

What's up with ASE2-3?  Well, I write at the pace my players explore, because I'm incredibly lazy, and they are firmly focused on the 2nd level right now.  So it's still a work in progress.  I expect them to go deeper any session now, so I'm ramping up efforts on level 3 - plus I need to get a draft to Brian so he can finish up the art.  If I actually focus on writing, there's not too much work left to be done, but you know, lazy.  So very lazy.

I've also joined Trey's online Weird Adventures game.  Google+ is very buggy, but it was a good time anyways - Trey is a good DM.  My guy is Creskin the turban-wearing wizard.  Instead of being sensible and loading up on adventuring gear, I got a tuxedo with his starting money.  Gotta have priorities!

Anyhow here's room #1 from level 3.  This was inspired by the magic mouth illustration in the Player's Handbook.

1. Automated Taunting Machine
Mounted to the southwest wall of this room is a proximity-sensing taunt recorder. If the party has not yet had run-ins with competing adventuring parties, the recording will be of a hinge-headed, reciting “I claim this worthless stretch of dungeon in the name of Lord Pimifus and the Basalt Ziggurat!”

On the other hand, if rival parties of NPC’s have made an appearance, the message will consist of taunts, boasts, and displays of valuable loot the NPC’s have recovered (preferably referencing areas the party has previously passed up or puzzles they were unable to solve).

Proximity-Sensing Taunt Recorder
These devices have a superficial resemblance to God’s Eyes.  They are triangular black plastic screens, 4’ across, with stainless-steel frames.  Protruding from the frame under the screen is a single red button.

Anyone coming within 15’ of a recorder will trigger its pre-recorded video message. These usually involve taunts of some kind or, more rarely, loud noises to alert nearby guards.

Pressing the red button will cause the screen to go black, with the word “RECORDING” displayed in red in the middle of the screen.  While the button is depressed, it will record video and audio, for up to five minutes. This new recording will completely erase the previous message.

These machines are firmly attached to dungeon walls with strong adhesives, and prying them off will almost always damage them. Their power is supplied through bundles of low-voltage wiring, that will be torn out with the recorder should it be removed.

Golden Pendulum

Another trap of the "you're going to trigger this purposely to get the loot" variety.  Treasure-hungry adventurers should figure out a way to get this down.  It's not very dangerous, unless the players do something insane - and they usually do. As I've mentioned in other posts, I like this style of trap - make it obvious, but make the bait compelling.

114. Golden Pendulum
In the center of this room is a 3’ square wooden platform, six inches high, supported by a series of dowels. The wood is incredibly old and fragile, and it will break easily if disturbed. Carved into the top of the platform are the words “Warning: Pressure plate beneath. Do not disturb.”

There is indeed a pressure plate beneath the platform, easily spotted now that players know to look for it. Moving the platform will cause it to start snapping – players will need to take care to prevent it from triggering the trap.

Any pressure on the plate will cause a blade at the end of a long bronze chain to swing down from the ceiling, causing 3d6 points of damage (save vs. petrification for half damage) to anyone standing in its path (running from southeast to northwest through the center of the room). The blade has a second chain connected to it, running from the southeast end of the slot, that will immediately start pulling the chain and blade back into the slot after the trap has swung once.

The blade is cast from solid gold, and is worth 400 gp. Close inspection will reveal the blade’s edge is a thin length of razor-sharp carbide steel embedded into the gold body.

The slot that the chain and pendulum rest in (and just a tiny glint of gold) can be seen should players think to examine the ceiling, 10’ above.

Fat Grundle

81. Fat Grundle
The iron-bound oak door to this room has three rotten heads attached to it, each spiked through the mouth:  a troglodyte, a painted man, and a necromantic midget (which, in its state of decay, is easy to mistake for a child’s head).  The thick door is barred from the inside, and will take two turns to chop through.

Inside lives Fat Grundle (AC 6, HD 5, hp 18, #AT 1, D 1d10 (or 1d8 fire), MV (30’), Save F5, ML 8), a grotesquely oversized painted man, 9’ tall and weighing five hundred pounds.  His teeth rotted away long ago, and he has been fitted with steel replacements by Dr. Giggles.

Fat Grundle eschews clothes, preferring to fight naked – his ghost-white skin is as hard as boiled leather, and he sees no need for armor.  He wears a pit viper (AC 6, HD 2, hp 5, #AT 1, D 1d4 + poison, MV (30’), Save F1, ML 7) around his neck, and will toss it at opponents before wading into battle, swinging his great iron jug like a club (for 1d10 points of damage).

The rot-gut in Fat Grundle’s jug is highly flammable, and he may (25% chance per round) decide to take a swig and spew out flaming liquid at a single opponent (on a successful hit, the victim will 1d8 points of damage the first round and 1d8 more the second round).  He lights the booze by gnashing his metal teeth and creating sparks.

Fat Grundle is a mercenary, working for whoever will pay his price (100 gp per combat, or a barrel of booze).  He has nailed heads representing the three factions of the level to his door as a gruesome display of his neutrality.

The gigantic clown spends much of his time drunk or hung-over.  Consult the following table to determine Fat Grundle’s disposition.

Fat Grundle’s Sobriety
Roll 1d8 on the table below to determine Fat Grundle’s state of mind.
1.	Passed out.  No amount of noise will wake Fat Grundle for another 1d4 hours.
2-5.	Drunk off his gourd.  Fat Grundle is at -2 to attacks, but players receive a -1 bonus to reaction rolls.
6-7.	Hungover.  Players receive +1 penalty to reaction rolls.
8.	Inexplicably sober.

Should players approach with offers of booze, they will gain a -1 bonus to reaction rolls, in addition to any other modifiers listed above.

Fat Grundle keeps few belongings other than his snake and jug.  There is a wooden tub filled with fermenting molds, stinking of unwashed feet – hidden under the thick layer of scum in the tub are his collected savings, 652 gp.

Lightning in a Bottle

As I've written before, I like my traps to be dead obvious, and completely irresistible.  It's there, it's in your face, it's going to kill you - and you can't help but monkey around with it.

96. Lightning in a Bottle
In the center of this room is a lattice frame constructed of thin silver rods, running from floor to ceiling, and supporting a glass jar in the middle.  Five of the silver rods terminate inside the bottle itself, while others wind around it.

The bottle holds an electrical charge, and will shock anyone touching the frame for 3d6 points of damage.  Small amounts of insulation (such as touching with leather gloves, or a leather-wrapped metal pole) will reduce this to 1d6 points of damage.  Thicker insulation (more than a half inch thick) will allow the rods and jar to be safely handled.

As long as the bottle remains intact, it will continue to shock those who touch it or any metal that contacts it.  Breaking the bottle will fully discharge it, causing 6d6 points of electrical damage to everyone within 30’ feet.  If properly insulated, the jar could be removed and used as a weapon this way.

The silver rods are worth 500 gp if recovered and sold.

Hall of the Underlords

Here's another "special".  This one gives a little history - most of it is meaningless flavor, but Uligob the Hive-Mind still lives down in the levels below.  I left the first bas relief blank to encourage ambitious players who felt like establishing an underworld dominion.  Ha, good luck with that if they try!

97. Hall of the Underlords
This hall stands 40’ tall, with a byzantine vaulted ceiling, carved into abstract spirals and triangles.  The walls are decorated with bas reliefs, depicting ambitious underlords of the Anomalous Subsurface Environment who sought to rule the subterranean realm.

Each bas relief occupies a 20’ by 20’ area on the walls, and is bordered by raised black stone, carved in a spiral and veined with a translucent blue mineral.

a. This section of the wall bears the same border the other bas reliefs do, but is empty, except for these words carved at the bottom:  “The Last Underlord, Whose Rule Is Yet To Come.”

b. This bas relief depicts a goblin in armor, attended by robed, man-sized goblinoids with swollen heads.  These words are carved beneath:  “Uligub, Lord of the Labyrinth. His mind lives still.”

c. The mural here shows three robed bearded men of advanced age.  The first man holds a loaf of bread, the second has a belt around his waist from which dangle severed hands, and the third is cutting through his robe and abdomen to reveal his bowels.  The image is titled:  “The November Gentlemen.  Living or dead, all kneeled before them. Devoured by darkness, they shall not return.”

d. Carved onto this section of the wall is a spider in a vast webbed hall.  It is titled:  “Morguilos, Spinner of Lies. Fire burned lie and spider alike.”

e. The section of the southern wall pointing inwards is carved with skulls.  Below the skulls are carved the words “The Treasures of the Underlords.”

f. This bas relief shows a man-shaped figure made of spikes and blades, surrounded by corpses.  The words carved below it read:  “The Blade of Kharg.  He slew all who fought with sword, but was laid low by the song of Lem.”

If the bas relief of the November Gentlemen is inspected carefully, the players will find that the carved bowels of the third gentleman may be depressed.  Doing so will cause the eye sockets of the skulls carved into the southern wall to open.  If the skulls in the Disco Vault (room 27) are still within, alternating green and blue lights will shine from the sockets, resulting in bright circles of color on the northern wall.  Players may peer through the sockets to see within room 27.  The sockets will remain open for as long as the bowel-carving is depressed.

Temple of Sorrow

121.b.  Temple of Sorrow

Covered with crawling blue fungus-vines is an ancient marble temple.  The windowless building has a single entrance on the southern wall.  Within, the roof is supported by two rows of Doric columns.  This is the Temple of Sorrow, and is the home of an Eater of Woe.

Those who enter and are suitably sorrowful (a companion PC or henchman has died in the last 3 days) will see an apparition of the deceased.  This apparition is a product of the Eater of Woe’s feeding upon their sorrow.  Their hearts will lighten as their grief is digested, granting a +1 on all “to hit” rolls and saving throws for the next 24 hours.  Those affected will definitely note that their joy is unnatural in origin.  After a few minutes, the apparition will begin to decay and crumble in upon itself.  The agony upon the apparition’s face as it corrodes does nothing to reduce the supernatural joy of its former friends and colleagues.

If no one in the party is sorrowful, the Eater of Woe will manifest itself as a telepathic command to “GO FORTH AND BRING ME YOUR SORROW!”  The famished Eater’s urgent order causes nose bleeds, quivering, and 1 hp of damage per round to those within the Temple, until either they depart or someone dies, causing a fresh source of sorrow.  Such a victim must, of course, be actually missed by the survivors.

Murder your darlings

The last room I jammed into On Account of the Flies made no sense.  It was 1 am, I was tired, and I rolled on a table to see what was there.  It was a cabinet, and it changed genders.  Pretty much a stock dungeon trap, same thing (with a misty door instead of cabinet, as I recall) was in Tomb of Horrors.  It didn't fit the tone of things at all, so it got excised yesterday.  But, really, I never murder my darlings, I just put them into a deep well and pull them out again once they develop severe abandonment issues.  So I'll plop it in the megadungeon somewhere.

This gender-changing trap is mildly different, in that attempts to "fix" the problem by going back in just make things so much worse.  There's no in-game penalties here, this is just a chance to give an adventuresome player some grief, or get some cheap laughs when the players inevitably force a henchman to give the cabinet a whirl.  There's a place for juvenile behavior like this at my game table.  A lot of places, really, we don't have much shame.

I do have a mild suspicion that the neutering trick may be something I read somewhere and forgot.  If anybody knows of some other adventure that made use of this, please let me know.

Without further ado, here's the original room 28:

---

The southern wall of this room has shackles hanging from chains on the wall, and a rusting iron maiden (with door open) stands next to it.

Along the northern wall is a rotted sofa, coffee table, and a large cabinet with peeling green paint.  Stenciled on the doors of the cabinet are the words “Enter For New Pleasures”.  The cabinet stands seven feet tall, and is big enough to hold a man.  Should someone step inside and close the doors, they will find their gender switched.  Stepping inside a second time to try to undo the effect will result in the subject being entirely unsexed.  Subsequent visits to the cabinet by an unsexed individual will result in no change to their condition.

Dicing Contest Room

Work is proceeding on the "setting" portion of the first level book for my megadungeon.  That part will probably be done in the next week or two, and then I'll be sending the level off to my volunteer editor for review.  I've also got to do some mapping of the City Underfoot for the Wednesday night session, in case the players decide to go after Thor's silver hammer, and I want to flesh out the Stinkborough adventure hook that the players have studiously been ignoring.  Even when ignored, those chickens (or flies, in this case) do come home to roost.

In the meantime, I've got to start thinking about keying the second level.  This "special" encounter will be down there somewhere, but I'm not sure which room yet.  It could be a game in one of the carnie tents outside the big top, but I'm thinking a player-vs-player contest like this is best stuck somewhere else.  The carnie games will all be rigged and gruesome, and this game doesn't have that flavor.

Dicing Contest
In the center of this room is a round stone table atop a pedestal, with a nearly-transparent yellow dome covering the tabletop.  The pedestal is ornately carved, with pairs of smiling and frowning figures engaged in contests of strength.  On top of the table, under the dome, is a pair of twelve-sided dice, one black, and one white.

A person can put one hand through the dome without resistance, and pick up a single die.  The dome will be impassable for a second hand from the same person.  A second person can also put a single hand in, but any additional people will be blocked by the dome.  Neither can the dice cannot pass through the surface of the dome – the dome acts a solid surface with respect to the dice.

Objects other than a character’s hands (and forearms, of course) cannot penetrate the dome.  Should characters experiment with holding objects in clenched fists, and dropping them on the table, or wearing gloves, they will find that they can leave objects under the dome this way, and remove them later – only the dice may never be removed.

The table is a game of chance.  If two individuals roll the dice simultaneously, the person who rolls highest will gain a point to a randomly selected attribute, and the loser will lose a point from a randomly selected attribute.  On a tie, each player both loses a point and gains a point.  Note that the attributed for each gain and loss is determined separately – player “A” could gain a point of Charisma, while player “B” could lose a point of Strength.  They do not have to be the same.  This rule applies to ties as well – player “A” could gain a point in Strength, and lose a point in Intelligence, where player “B” could gain a point in Dexterity, and lose a point in Dexterity, and thus have no change at all.

Roll a d6 on the following table to determine which attribute gets modified for any gain and/or loss:

1. Strength
2. Intelligence
3. Wisdom
4. Dexterity
5. Constitution
6. Charisma

No attribute can be raised above 18 via this game.  Re-roll to select a different attribute if an attribute is to be increased, and is already at 18 or higher.  If a character has all stats at 18 or higher, it is impossible for him to receive any benefits from playing this game.  Correspondingly, no attribute can be reduced below 3 – re-roll to determine a different attribute to reduce if it is already at 3 or less.  If a character has all stats at 3 or less, he cannot be further harmed by playing this game.

The dice, when released simultaneously, will wildly bounce off the table and inside surface of the dome, sparking madly at each impact, confounding efforts to cheat by trying to control the landing of the dice.

If the dice are rolled by the same person, or not rolled simultaneously, there is no effect.

Funhouse-style room

I'm not entirely sure I like the symbols in the Dungeon Designer 2 catalog.  They don't seem old-school enough.  I'm probably going to create new symbols - but this will of course slow my dungeon mapping down.  I'll give them a try on the gatehouse level and post the results, maybe they'll grow on me.

Below is a funhouse-style room (well, not an actual funhouse, that will be on Level 2).  You should be able to tell why I say my dungeon keys are much much much longer than most megadungeon examples.  I've still got that last room to detail, which is driving me nuts.  It's room 160 on the map.  I decided to put a bunch of tattered banners in room 159, which leads into 160 (if you don't take the side doors), but I can't figure out what kind of trap to actually put in room 160.  The most coherent thoughts I've had so far is "trap with monster."

Enough complaining, here's one of my "specials":

150. Misty Arches
The walls of this room are lined with archways, leading into small 10’ by 10’ rooms.  Each archway is filled with a thick mist of a different color (red, orange, yellow, white, black, green, blue, and purple), blocking vision into the room beyond.  In the center of the room is a stone pedestal, with a bronze jug standing upon it.  The jug has the image of a monkey-headed winged serpent carved into it.  The jug is full of fresh water.

Characters attempting to walk through the mists will find that only one player can be present in the room beyond at a time; other characters will be stopped as if the mist was made of solid stone.  Should two characters attempt to enter simultaneously, roll randomly to see which character makes it through the mist.

Each room has a painted scene on the walls, floor, and ceiling, and large stone basin sticking out of the far wall, with a drain hole in the bottom.  Whatever plumbing connects to the drain hole, it must be running through the wall, as the drain hole does not exit on the underside of the basin.  Should a character pour water from the bronze jug into the basin, a magical effect will be triggered.  The mist colors, painted scenes, and magical effects are detailed below.

Once an effect has occurred, it will not be available for another year’s time.  Pouring anything less than a full jug of water will have no effect, nor will pouring water from a container other than the jug.

a. Red Mist: the mural here is of flames and burning coals.  Pouring the water down the basin will cause a small glowing ball of red-yellow firelight to fall onto the floor, next to the character.  If thrown, this ball will act as the fireball spell, doing 3d6 points of damage (and consuming itself in the process).  If not used within 24 hours, it will turn to a small ball of cold charcoal.

b. Orange Mist: the mural here is of a field of orange poppy flowers.  Pouring the water down the basin will cause the character to become intoxicated, and will have a -2 on all to hit rolls for the next 24 hours.

c. Yellow Mist: a scene depicting a costume ball, with the guests recoiling in horror from a figure dressed in rags, wearing a tattered white mask.  Pouring the water down the basin will cause the scene to animate, and the character will see a horrible crowned figure in yellow robes enter the room, before the walls fade entirely to whitewashed plaster.  Having seen the King in Yellow, the character permanently loses 1d3 points of wisdom.

d. White Mist: the room beyond is painted sky-blue, with fluffy clouds.  Pouring the water down the basin will cause the character to be able to fly, as per the magic-user spell, for the next 24 hours.

e. Black Mist: the walls, floor, and ceiling are painted black.  Pouring the water down the basin will cause the player’s pupils to expand, until they occupy the entire visible portion of the eyeball.  The character will now have wide-spectrum vision, such as dwarves and elves possess, for the next 24 hours.  If the character already has wide-spectrum vision, they are able to briefly see between space and time, and must save vs. magic or become comatose for the next 1d6 turns, as their mind cannot handle the sights revealed.

f. Green Mist: this room is painted in a jungle scene, with thick vegetation, and lianas and other vines painted on the ceiling overhead.  Pouring the water down the basin in this room will cause a monkey to leap out of the image overhead, and land on the character’s back.  The monkey has 4 hp, is AC 9, and will not let go of the character.  Any hits to it will split the damage between the character and the monkey.  It has no attacks.  The monkey will hoot and holler for the next 24 hours, making surprise impossible, and increasing the chance of wandering monster by 1.  After the 24 hour period expires, the monkey will fall to the floor, dead.

g. Blue Mist: the room is painted in an undersea scene, with fishes, octopuses, and coral reefs painted on the walls and ceiling.  Pouring the water down the basin in this room will cause the character to be able to breathe water for the next 24 hours.

h. Purple Mist: the room is painted with veins of purplish color, ranging from near-black to lavender.  Pouring the water down the basin will cause the veins to being to shift and move around the floor, walls, and ceiling of this room.  The tendrils will then reach up from the floor, and wrap themselves around the character.  The writhing bands of color will twist around him for the next 24 hours, giving him +2 to his armor class for the duration.

Shining Trapezohedron

As I mentioned earlier, a lot of the "special" rooms on the upper level will be dedicated to hints about what's deeper in the dungeon.  Here's a little bit of information about the Shining Trapezohedron.

164. Chief Research Assistant’s Office
This room still contains ancient steel furniture, quite rusty by now.  There is a desk, chair with tattered cushions, and a short cabinet.  On the stone wall next to the desk is a large white square (6’ wide by 4’ high), with several ancient inkless pens on a small shelf below it.

The desk and cabinet are empty.  However, the top cabinet draw has a false back, which will be found by anybody performing a careful search.  Behind the false back is a bundle of papers titled “Spectrum and Wavelength Analysis of Trapezohedron.”  The papers are in an unknown scientific jargon, and the party is unlikely to make heads or tails of it.

If a player is able to read and write, and rolls a 6 on a d6 (add the number of languages the player can speak as a bonus), then he understands that the paper discusses a shining black jewel the size of a man’s fist, somewhat in the shape of a trapezohedron.  The paper mentions that the angles of the jewel’s facets change depending on its orientation to the viewer, and that light reflecting from the jewel follows a discrete square wave rather than a continuous waveform.

The cult of Science in Denethix has the ability to decipher the papers if the players cannot, and would purchase them for 25 gp.

The Church of Starry Wisdom would also be greatly interested in these papers, as they refer to the Shining Trapezohedron, a jewel that can be used to communicate with their god.  If they find that the party has the papers, they would do anything, up to and including murder, to retrieve the papers and determine where they came from.

Another Pit Trap

As I create monsters and encounters, I have to watch myself, because I unconsciously latch onto certain ideas and reuse them.  You've seen that in previous posts, with the similarities between the giant earwigs and the polychaete worms, between the greater automaton abomination and gorillapede (both splitting into multiple creatures), and now with pit traps that drop players into cages.  By the time they get here, it will have been quite a long time since the last one, so I'm not worrying too much about it.  Plus, I like this refined version much better, as the pit closes itself shut, trapping whoever fell in.  Then wandering monsters get to come by and get fresh adventurer meat from the vending machine above.

191. Pit Trap, with Viewing and Taunting
The two corridors here do NOT intersect.  The north-south corridor runs underneath the east-west corridor.  At this point, in the east-west corridor, there is a pit trap.  This trap is triggered when a character places their weight in the center of the trap.  Then, the trap will drop them into a 10’ deep pit, with an iron grate for a floor, and they will take 1d6 points of damage from the fall.  After the characters fall in, the pit’s lid will swing shut again.

The iron grate is pressure-sensitive, and while there is weight on it, the trap door to the pit, above, will no longer open.

The iron grate that is the floor of the pit, is also the ceiling of the north-south corridor.  There is a lever in western wall of the corridor beneath the pit, in the “up” position, that can be pushed down to cause the grate to open and spill its contents onto the corridor floor (causing another 1d6 points of damage unless the characters somehow prevent themselves from falling).

The commotion of falling into the pit has a 50% chance of attracting 1d6 tunnel caterpillars from room 199, who will squirm about on the floor beneath the pit trap, hoping for a meal should the characters successfully open the grate.

Robotic Bigfoot Attacks!

As I finish off these last couple of rooms, I find myself less and less able to resist going full gonzo...

180. Bigfoot on Display
Standing on a pedestal at the southern end of this room is a circular black pedestal, upon which stands a sasquatron.  A cylinder of bluish light rises up from the pedestal base to the ceiling.  Anyone touching the bluish light will be burned for 1d4 points of damage.

On the rear of the pedestal (facing the southern wall), is a small white switch.  Flipping the switch will cause the field of bluish light to disappear, and the sasquatron (AC 7, HD 4, hp 18, #AT 1, D 1-8, MV (30’), Save F4, ML 9) will be released from stasis and attack.  The sasquatron’s head-sphere contains 15 zircon gemstones, worth 25 gp each.

The pedestal generates a stasis field.  The creature to be held in stasis must be standing entirely on the pedestal, or else it will take 1d4 points of burning damage as it is forced off by the bluish field.

Attempts to remove the pedestal, which is firmly affixed to the floor, will destroy it.

Sasquatron
No. Enc: 1d4
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d8
Save: F4
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: See below
XP: 190

The sasquatron is a gigantic, hairy humanoid that has undergone terrible modifications.  The monster stands 8’ tall, and has thick brown pelt.  Its head is a cylinder of black metal, studded with glowing, blinking gems, and encased in a clear polycarbonate sphere, and its right arm has been replaced by the claw of a giant crab.  The sasquatron stands upright, and makes agonized roars when agitated, which is almost always (+4 to reaction rolls).  Where the roars come from is unclear, as this monstrosity has no visible mouth.  It attacks with its massive claw, while beating its chest with its “normal” hand.

The sasquatron is immune to sleep, charm, and other mind-affecting spells.  If subjected to an electrical attack, roll d6 to determine the effect:

1-2. Stunned for 1d3 rounds
3-4. Healed for 1d6 points of damage
5-6. No effect

Should the polycarbonate sphere be unscrewed (or pried off via an Open Doors roll), 5d6 small colorful gems worth 25 gp each can be recovered.

Getting a little goofy

I'm tired and getting a little goofy trying to finish off this map key.

174. Undead Meditation
Two robed and hooded figures sit on the floor, with a golden hookah between them.  If anyone enters the room, they will rise, pulling their hoods back, revealing that they are two blade zombies (AC 7, HD 2, hp 9 each, #AT 2 (hand blade, head butt at -4), D 1d8/1d4, MV (40’), Save F2, ML 12).  The zombies have been made from troglodyte corpses, and are in an advanced state of decomposition.

The hookah is worth 500 gp.

Blade Zombie
No. Enc: 2d4
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 2 (hand blade, head butt at -4)
Damage: 1d8 / 1d4
Save: F2
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: None
XP: 38

The blade zombie is much like a normal zombie, but blades have been plunged through the back of its head so that they emerge from the eye sockets.  Blades are likewise embedded in its wrists, extending out through the palm and past the fingers.

The blade zombie attacks by slashing with a hand blade, and head-butting.  The head-butt attack has a penalty of -4 to hit.

Like normal zombies, blade zombies are immune to charm and sleep, and must attack last each round.

Treasure Mollusk

Right now, I'm just finishing up some loose ends for the first level of the Anomalous Subsurface Environment.  Mostly, that's refining some traps, and finishing off the last of the new monsters.  After 30 years of playing D&D, I'm a little tired of the typical monsters, and almost everything I put in is something new - either a re-skinned existing monster, or something entirely novel.  It keeps the players on their toes, and it keeps my eyes from glazing over.  I don't think I ever want to write up another kobold lair again in this lifetime.

For one of the last rooms in the dungeon key, I had written "some kind of construct made of treasure."  I think the gatehouse has been filled with enough constructs, though, and I was in a mimic/trapper/lurker above/piercer kind of mood.  Those are all higher hit dice than I should reasonably be using on the first level, so here's something custom, that keeps my original monster-made-of-treasure idea.  My players make a comment about mimics every time they see a chest, so they have this coming.

After finishing up these loose ends in the first level, I'll be preparing lists of henchmen and wizard encounters, and posting them over the next week.  Then, it's time to install my old copy of Dungeon Designer 2 and see if I can come up with some reasonable electronic copies of the map.  I'll need decent electronic copies to put together a PDF of the first level of the megadungeon for people to take a look at.

Anyhow, here's my contribution to the timeless D&D tradition of "ha ha! gotcha!" monsters.

Treasure Mollusk
No. Enc: 1d6
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 60' (20')
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 2, or see below
Damage: 1d6 each, or see below
Save: F3
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: XXI
XP: 95

These mollusks, in their natural form, are 4’ wide grotesque lumps of muscle and organs, with several slimy tentacle-like appendages.  They are ringed with jewel-like eyes on short stalks, and their bodies excrete an incredibly sticky slime.

The mollusk uses this adhesive slime to attach treasure (primarily coins) to itself, and weapons to the end of its two primary pseudopods.  It will then settle into a pile on a dungeon floor, with only its jewel-like eyes visible through the layer of treasure, and wait for prey, surprising on 1-4 on a d6.

On each successful hit, the victim must save vs. paralyzation or be stuck to the treasure mollusck’s pseudopod.  While a pseudopod is stuck to a character, it is no longer used as a weapon, and the character will only have to contend against one pseudopod, albeit at a +1 penalty to AC.

Once stuck to both primary pseudopods, the character will be drawn towards the mollusk’s mouthparts on the next round, which will attempt to bite for 1d8 points of damage.  A character stuck to both pseudopods suffers a +4 penalty to AC.

A character may spend a round attempting to break free from a pseudopod, by making an Open Doors check.  If successful, he has broken free of one pseudopod.  Other party members may also attempt to pull the character free, by making Open Doors checks.

Should a mollusk fail a morale check while stuck to a character, it will drag its victim along behind it, until that character successfully breaks free from both pseudopods.

Unguarded Treasure

I'm scrambling to finish keying Level 1 before tomorrow night's session.  So this post will be brief.  Here's one of the big payoff rooms in the first level, if the players can find it.  And if they can figure out that this stuff is worth carting out.  And if they can hire the moving company it will take to get it all back to town.  They've walked by a lot of treasure so far without finding it or realizing it was worth anything.

147. Secret Conference Room
This room has a large, ornately carved mahogany table, worth 500 gp.  It is surrounded by 8 clawfoot mahogany chairs, with deteriorated leather padding, worth 50 gp each.  On top of the table is an empty crystal decanter, worth 100 gp, and four crystal ashtrays worth 50 gp each.

There is a cabinet along the northwest wall.  It contains 7 bottles of ancient wine, turned to worthless vinegar after so many passing millennia.  It also has an opaque black bottle labeled “Water from Fountain, Level 3, Preserved”, that will act as a potion of healing.  The cabinet is also made of ornately carved mahogany, and is worth 250 gp.

Along the southwest wall is a mahogany roll-top desk, worth 350 gp.  Within the desk is a scroll inscribed with the magic-user spell sleep, and a brilliantly reflective protonium-metal dagger (treat as dagger +1, and it will detect as magic).

The secret door to the east is not secret from this side, of course.  It may be opened using large stainless steel handles mounted into the stone door.

Baiting the Trap

In my last post, I complained a bit how the Tower of the Stargazer's traps punished inquisitiveness.  It stands to reason that I should present an alternative rather than just grumble bitterly and shake my fist.

For "normal" trapped areas, I like to leave clues that something out of the ordinary is going on, so players are on their guard.  Then, their inquisitiveness will lead to figuring out the trap, or triggering it in such a way that they think it was their fault, not mine, that the trap went off.  I showed one of these in this post:  First Trap of the First Level

My favorite trap, however, is when it is combined with a treasure.  When that happens, I almost invariably use the treasure as bait, or as an integral part of the trap.  I make it absolutely obvious that something is up - it's not a bunch of gold carefully hidden, and, haha! it's coated with poison!  Rather, it's right out in the open, exactly where it shouldn't be, daring the adventurers to figure out what the catch is.  Because there's always a catch.  And thus, I present...

126. Bejeweled Bung
In the center of this room is an elongated dome, 4’ high, resembling a beehive.  Plunged into the top of the dome is a golden spike, with a ruby attached.

The beehive is hollow, and filled with poison gas.  If the spike is removed, the gas will be released into the room.  The person who released the gas must save vs. poison or die.  Others in the room have 1 round to immediately leave, or they too must save vs. poison or die.  If someone successfully saves, but remains in the gas, they will have to make another save every round they remain in the poison.

If the door is not shut after the gas is released, it will spread into room 125 as well.  It will take 1d6 days for the gas to dissipate, due to the lack of ventilation.  Leaving both the door between 125 and 126, and the door between 125 and 130, open will cause the gas to dissipate much more rapidly, in only 2d6 turns.

The ruby may be safely pried off the spike without causing the gas to be released, should the players try that.

The golden spike is worth 200 gp, and the ruby an additional 400 gp.

Morlock Surprise

I am keying the dungeon in two passes.  First pass,  I go through the map and mark each room as X (trap), M (monster), T (treasure), S (special), or a combination of those.  As I do that for each room, I write a one-liner describing what should go there.  Most of the rooms are pretty easy to populate, but after a while my brain goes numb, and I just write "special here, figure out later".

During the second pass, I'm going through each room and expanding the description to more clearly state what I was thinking (it's very easy for me to forget details in the middle of a session), and to come up with ideas for those "figure out later" areas.

This particular pair of rooms was a "T" and an "M".  The "T" got this one-liner:  "Net trap, rings bells when triggered, morlocks in room 137 attack."  I thought it was pretty lame while I was writing it down, but after fleshing it out a bit, this could easily be a TPK (total party kill, for those not familiar with the acronym).  Players beware...

136. Present from the Morlocks
The floor of this room is covered with debris (stone, wood, and bits of dried fungus). The far southern wall is covered with some kind of fungus, running from floor to ceiling.

Suspended from the ceiling is a large net of leather, dyed gray like the stone ceiling above.  It has several bits of rusty metal tied to it.

There is a tripwire buried under carefully placed bits of loose debris in the center of the room.  It runs down to the southern wall and up, under the fungus, to the net.  If tripped by a player crossing the room, or poking around in the debris with a pole, the net will drop, trapping all players in the northern 30’ by 30’ section of the room.  A save vs. paralyzation will allow players who are near the exits or southern end of the room to escape the net.  Other players are automatically caught.

The metal tied to the nets will make quite a racket as it falls, alerting the morlocks in room 137, who will come to see if they have captured the delicious goblin-flesh they have been hunting for.  They aren’t averse to a bit of human, of course.  It will take one round for the morlocks to arrive.

It will take 8 points of damage from an edged weapon to cut a player free from the net (no roll to hit needed).  Each player caught will need to be freed individually.  A player caught in the net may try to cut himself free, but cannot effectively attack or defend against the morlocks (and will thus have no Dexterity bonus to AC while trapped).

If players explicitly look at the ceiling, they will see the net.  Otherwise, they have only a 1 in 6 chance (roll once for the entire party).  The tripwire running up the southern wall has been deliberately buried under fungus placed here by the morlocks, and is not normally detectable.

137. Morlock Hunting Party
6 morlocks (AC 8, HD 1, hp 5 each, #AT 1, D 1-6, MV (40’), Save F1, ML 9) are here, waiting for the trap in room 136 to be triggered.