RPG Stuff

Tag: Adventure

  • Mage Tower

    Mage Tower

    Currently the abode of a wizard trying to make her constructs by using magic items as a power source.

    This tower is built on a lone rocky knoll rising from the boggy marsh.

    A one-shot adventure for 4 level 3 characters.

    small underground guard post © 2023 by Lucien Stals is licensed under CC BY 4.0 

    Level 1

    (Top right on the map below)

    Room 1

    Room 1 is a large room about 25ft. by 45ft. Stairs lead up to the far end of the room. There’s a closed door in the wall to the left, and the right-hand side of the room is made up of eight jail cells, each 5 feet square.

    The jail cells contain…

    • Cell “H”, 1 Gnoll
    • Cell “G”, 2 Kobolds
    • Cell “F”, empty
    • Cell “E”, 2 Kobolds
    • Cell “D”, empty
    • Cell “C”, 1 Skeleton (Crumpled in the corner but will stand and fight if its cell is opened)
    • Cell “B”, 1 Skeleton (Crumpled in the corner but will stand and fight if its cell is opened)
    • Cell “A”, 1 Orc

    An Imp is busily unlocking cells and calling “Fight! Fight for your lives!”.

    If the party can approach the tower stealthily, the imp will use its first round to fly to cell “H” and open it. If the imp had any kind of warning (remembering the imp is the mage’s familiar, so it’s in communication with her), then the imp will already have open cell “H” and will be moving to cell “G”.

    Each round, the imp will move to the next cell and release the occupants, skipping the empty cells of course. The imp will open as many cells as possible, but if it’s attacked it will fly up the stairs to escape.

    Room 2

    Store Room.

    General supplies are in here. Extra empty bottles, spare clothes, bedding etc. Some weapons taken from prisoners are kept in here as well.

    • 2 battle axes
    • 2 daggers
    • 1 Longsword
    • 1 set chain mail armour
    • 1 set of leather armour

    Room 3

    Store Room.

    Food and wine are stored here.

    • 5 dozen bottles of average-quality wine. (1gp per bottle, 1lb each)
    • 2 dozen bottles of above-average quality wine (3gp per bottle)
    • 1 dozen bottles of some very nice wine (7gp per bottle)
    • 1 dozen portions of perishable rations (last about 1 week).
    • 1 dozen portions of dry rations. (6gp)
    • An assortment of dried mushrooms (2gp, 1lb)

    2 hams hanging from the ceiling:

    • 1 cured ham, quite nice, worth 10gp.
    • 1 dry-cured ham, rare, worth 30gp.

    A small chest has been placed underneath a barrel filled with rocks that weigh 600 lbs. This will require a combined STR of 20 to lift.

    As soon as the barrel is lifted off the small chest, the chest sprouts a dozen small legs with webbed duck feet. The little feet pitter-patter as the chest scurries away to hide behind one of the crates in the room where it peeks out shyly.

    The chest is a Faithful Chest and will be grateful for being released. If treated nicely by a member of the party, and perhaps fed, it will likely bond with the character and follow them, letting them store treasure in it.

    Level 2

    Living Quarters.

    Room 4

    Hallway

    There’s not much to say about this one. It’s a hallway. 1 door and 2 stairs, one going up, one going down.

    Room 5

    Study

    At the end of the room is a desk. Stacks of paper and some quill pens lie about and 2 bottles of ink (8gp each). The notes, written in the mage’s own script, outline experiments to use magical items to power constructs.

    Room 6

    Closet

    Spare wizard robes and casual clothes. Each outfit is worth about 5sp. There are 10 identical wizard robes, slightly worn, and several other casual outfits can be found in this closet. Some hats and shoes are tossed carelessly in here.

    Room 7

    Bedroom.

    A reasonably sparse bedroom (the wizard doesn’t spend much time in here when not sleeping). The bed is large and soft.

    There is a large desk against one wall with a small chest on it. The chest has Arcane Lock cast on it (DC 25 to open). The chest contains:

    • 37cp
    • 13sp
    • 37gp
    • 3pp
    • 4 gems worth 40gp, 35gp, 30gp, and 25gp.

    Room 8

    Closet.

    7 identical sets of “wizard” robes in good condition, worth 1gp each. Some nice casual outfits are here as well.

    2 robes appear to be more formal wizards wear and made from silk and worth 10gp each.

    Level 3

    Room 9

    The whole 3rd floor is taken up by the wizards’ lab. This is where she will be found. Three large work tables contain various magical and alchemical apparatus. There is a ladder that leads up to a trapdoor in the ceiling. A magic circle is engraved on the floor near the middle of the room. A medium humanoid thing that appears to be made of mud, sticks, and moss, stands in the magic circle.

    The mage will attempt to engage the party in conversation and even offer them employment to fetch some magic items for her. If negotiations go badly, she will instruct the Bog Golem to attack. She’ll backup the golem, and probably have her familiar attack as well, but if the fight isn’t going well, she’ll use a scroll of dimension door to exit the scene, taking her spell book with her. The imp will either follow through the dimension door or exit via the window.

    On the tables around the room are diagrams and plans for various animata and golems. There is also a map of the local area.

    Level 4

    Room 10

    The roof is accessible via a trap door in the roof. It opens into a covered section of the roof. There is a plush velvet chair up here where you can sit and relax while taking in the view. A small three-legged drinks table stands next to the chair with a bottle of port and glass next to it. The chair has been enchanted to stay in nice shape despite the weather and has an aura of transmutation magic if detected. The table is a magical construct that will run away from anyone who comes near it, while not dropping the bottle or glass.

  • Cult of the Evil Snake Dudes

    Cult of the Evil Snake Dudes

    In a mosquito infested swamp where the Cotton Mouths slither, there lies an abandoned temple. Nobody knows what happened to the Snake Cult that lived here and there is little left to mark their passage.

    A one-shot adventure for 4 level 2 characters.

    In addition to the main temple building, there was once a dorm building where the acolytes lived together and four smaller dwellings where the priests each had their own space.

    As the swamp waters rose, the dorm and the individual dwellings became partially submerged in the waters. The doors are swollen shut but are rotted to the point that it wouldn’t take much effort to break them down. Anything inside these buildings of any interest rotted away many years ago.

    The main temple had been built well up from the ground and is still above the water level and is currently home to 5 Giant Poisonous Snakes that are concealed in the leaves and debris that litter the floor, and they are very territorial.

    At the back of the main temple, behind the altar, are some stairs leading down to the underground level. The stairs exit into area 4 in the below ground map.

    The floor in this area is flooded with murky water about 1 foot deep. The water is deepest in the “tail” end of the map (near room 1). The floor level raises a bit towards the “head” end of the map (room 13) where it is only a few inches deep.

    Since this dungeon has been long abandoned, the only inhabitants of this place are the undead and some snakes.

    Room 2 is a library but all the books are rotted away. There is a secret door (DC 10 to spot) to room 1. The door triggers a poison arrow trap (the cultists were fond of their poison) that fires when the secret door is opened (DC 15 to find the trap. Dex save DC 12 to dodge. If hit, DC 12 Con save. On a failed save, applies Poisoned status for 1 hour. Successful save means no poison). There are more library books in room 1 as this was where the priests kept their more valuable books. Again, most of them are rotted away, but there might be a few salvageable books or scrolls here suitable for the characters level.

    There is a pit trap at location 3. Keep in mind that nearly 1 foot of murky water covers the trap, so is very difficult to spot (DC 16). Fortunately, being underwater means that the pit is full of water and you only have to swim to the other side. Just watch out for the 4 Poisonous Snakes that come out to say “hi”.

    Area 4 is the staircase to the temple above. There is 1 foot of murky water at the bottom of the stairs.

    Rooms 5, 6, and 7 are old studies and bedrooms for the highest-level priests. This would make great spots for some skeleton priests.

    (I honestly forget what I had planned for the trap at location 8. Another pit trap would be boring, so maybe a Gelatinous Cube living here instead of a trap.)

    The trap at location 10 (DC 14 to spot) is a combination alarm and Net trap. The net falls from the ceiling covering the 5ft by 10ft area indicated on the map. The net restrains anybody under it when it falls, while the alarm bell alerts some skeletal warriors in room 11 who come out to attack while the party is distracted by the net. If the players enter room 11, more skeleton warriors emerge from rooms 9 and 12, attempting to surprise the party (DC 12 stealth).

    Room 13 is where the treasure is, on the raised platform in the centre of the room. The water is only an inch deep here and the platform is raised above the water level and is dry.

    The trap in room 13 is another water-filled pit trap, but since the water is much shallower here, it’s easy to spot (DC 11). Spotting the trap might help because it is where a Giant Zombie Constrictor Snake lives. The snake is not a pretty sight, with layers of skin peeling off and snake rib bones poking out.

    Map of the above ground temple. Note the insert in the top right of the map also shows the location of the dorms.

    Underground map

    Underground Snake Cult Lair