#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 9

 The PCs enter the foyer of the grand tomb. This area is 10 feet wide and 60 feet long.  In front of the party at the end of the 60 feet is a large set of double doors. There is no lock and no mechanism for turning to open the doors.  As the party approaches the door a voice can be heard and even though it is not loud it echoes throughout the darkness.

"From where does the Vampire Queen gather her true power?"

There are four floor-to-ceiling portraits of the Vampire Queen at various stages in her life. In front of each is a small brass brazier with a small hole in the bottom.  Examination will show there are blood stains on and around all the bowls. There is no way to see if one is bloodier than the others.

The four paintings are: 

1. The Vampire Queen when she was young and alive. It shows her making her deal with Akelarre.

2. The Vampire Queen at a little older making her deal with Orcus.

3. A portrait of the Vampire Queen alone.

4. The Vampire Queen at the front of a large army of demons and undead, a Death Knight at her side.

The correct answer is #3. The Vampire Queen relies only on herself. A character must cut themselves and bleed into the brazier in front of Portrait #3.

Doing so to any of the others will result in the release of a Bronze Golem fashioned to look like her companion in the portrait (Akelarre, Orcus or the Death Knight). 

Kickstart Your Weekend: Gary Gygax's The Hermit

 Quick one today.

Gary Gygax's The Hermit

https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/search/label/kickstarter?ref=theotherside

What needs to be said here?

It is an adventure written by Gygax. Published by Troll Lords.

You have 12 hours left.

Go.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 8

 Going past the magical mirror, the party finds a huge pit in the ground.  This pit is 50' radius and descends into darkness.  There is no obvious way down.

The pit goes to a depth of 720' into a large cavern. That cave then opens up into an even larger cavern.

This large cavern has been carved into a building façade.  

This appears to be the entrance to the tomb proper. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 7

 Past the necrotic slime, the party comes to an opening leading to a single circular room some 50' in diameter.  The floor of the room is a reflective, mirror-like black stone. The far wall is dominated by a large blood-red mirror.

Once a character sees their own reflection in the mirror out comes a Fetch. 

A fetch is an undead reflection of the character. They have all the same abilities but appear as corpse versions of the characters. They fight as monsters with the same HD as the character's level, but only half their hit point total.

The mirrored floor has similar magic. When the fetch of the character is freed then a Shadow of the character also comes up from the floor. They are normal shadows, but neither they nor the fetches can be turned. 

Whatever weapons the characters have their Fetch and their Shadow will have similar ones. Both monsters use the opposite hand of the characters.  The Fetch appears as an undead version, the Shadow is a shadowed version.

Once both the Fetches and the Shadows are defeated they will crumble to nothing. No treasure. 

The mirror on the wall will likewise crumble and reveal a passageway beyond.

Person of the Year, 1492 DR

 Never let it be said I am not up with the times.

Goofing off instead of doing term-end work. No disrespect to Taylor Swift. Well deserved, really.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 6

 Once the doors to this tomb are open, the party will see a hallway with many alcoves. When the party enters the hall, green slime begins to pour in.

This slime looks like Green Slime and has many of the same properties, but this is Necrotic Slime. Instead of eating flesh, it eats "life."

Necrotic Slime

Armor Class: 10
Hit Dice: 12* (54 hp)
Attacks 1 × touch (consume life energy)
THAC0 8 [+11]
Movement 3’ (1’)
Saving Throws D6 W7 P8 B9 S10 (12)
Morale 12
Alignment Chaotic
XP 2,700
Number Appearing 1 (0)
Treasure Type None

The slimes can reach 5' with a pseudopod. If the Necrotic slime touches a character, it drains 1 level or 1 point of Con (GM's choice).  

They can be destroyed by fire and are immune to lightning attacks. 

There are four Necrotic Slimes here. 

Mail Call: Gary's Other Grandkids

 Maybe "stepchildren" might be a better moniker. We are coming up on the first anniversary of WotC's attempt to murder the OGL 1.0. This sent many publishers (myself included) on various paths of re-discovery on what to do about it. Some looked for new licenses. Others stuck with the OGL 1.0 to show it can't be removed.

Myself? Well, it knocked the wind out of my sails, to be honest, and I have spent the better part of 2023 figuring out where I want to go next. But while I am over here contemplating the various Gods, others have moved on.  So here are a couple of recent purchases that embrace the two paths of the OGL.

Pathfinder and OSRIC

Undoubtedly two of the biggest success stories of the OGL and 3e era has been Pathfinder and OSRIC. Both gambled on the OGL and spent a long time enjoying the fruits of that gamble.

OSRIC of course used it to go back to "1st Edition style" play and Pathfinder to extend and enhance their own flavor of "3rd Edition style" play.

The OSRIC Players Book covers everything the Player needs to know. It is a great resource and a good replacement for your Player's Handbooks and Unearthed Arcana books that might be showing their wear.

This one embraces the OGL 1.0 and keeps it alive.

Pathfinder has taken a different path (sorry) and taken their own 2nd Edition and revised it into two new books for Players and GMs.

This uses the new OGL-free version of Pathfinder. I have not spotted many differences yet, but I am still working through the game. The new books combine the older OGL Corebook and some of the Advanced Player's Guide.

These are supposed to be the same system, Pathfinder 2nd Ed, so there are far more similarities than differences.

I am looking forward to delving deeper into both games.