Monday, December 11, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 11

 Past the tomb is a long hall leading deeper into the complex.  This hallway is filled with traps.

Room 11

The hallway is 120' long, and there is a trap trigger every 5'.  Each trap, once triggered fires 1d4+2 darts.  They attack as a 5-HD monster. There are 24 total traps.  

Each dart has a paralytic poison. Save vs. Paralysis or fall into a paralyzed stupor. One round later the victim must save vs. Death or die.  If the first save is successful then the second save is not needed. 

A thief can find the traps easy enough. Each one they discover increases the chance of discovering the next one by 1% for the first 5 and then 5% per addition for each one after. 

The traps are not a serious threat once they are figured out. It is harder to deal with if the mummies from Room 10 are chasing the PCs.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 10

 This first tomb features the sarcophagi of eight of the Vampire Queen's lesser servants. 

Room 10

Each of these sarcophagi contains the mummies of her dwarven servants. These were dwarves who betrayed their kinsmen to aid the Vampire Queen. She repaid their loyalty by sacrificing them and intering them here.

These mummies will attack any who enter, such is their anger even after death.




Saturday, December 9, 2023

#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.

Room 9

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). 

Friday, December 8, 2023

Kickstart Your Weekend: Gary Gygax's The Hermit

 Quick one today.

Gary Gygax's The Hermit

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.

Room 8

This large cavern has been carved into a building façade.  

This appears to be the entrance to the tomb proper. 

Thursday, December 7, 2023

#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.

Room 7

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.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Person of the Year, 1492 DR

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

Shadowheart

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