Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 5 Flying Dampyr Head and zombie body.
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Srehn – Lvl 5 Barbarian
Henching
Greed – Lvl 6 Homanculus
Tysis – Lvl 5 Fighter
Monsters Mashed:
2 Wyverns: Magic missiled and punched out of the air.
2280 exp/5 players = 456 Exp apiece
Experts consulted:
Directed players to a plateau in the Kragnarian Alps north of town, where there was a well where they could obtain Protean Clay, which when used to cover a petrified body and baked to hardness, could cure Greed, Ritzy, and Tysis’ state of stonedness.
The party found the well, fell down the shaft, got led into an explosive trap by will-o-the-wisps, destroying Tysis’ borrowed cthonian beast body and putting most everyone else in a bad way. Tarvinir trolled out and nearly beat the rest of the party to a pulp, but was subdued.
Commentary:
With their pugilistic pals petrified, the party perambulated over to Strangeldorf to consult with an expert from that brain trust of the bizarre, the Occluded College. After getting their marching orders, they trudged into the mountains, fought some wyverns on the way, and then got neck deep in trouble down in the fabled Well of the Protean Clay.
Stay tuned for next week when they overcome the setbacks described above and break out of their sticky, stony situation.
For this dungeon, I used Dyson Logos' map titled The Sunken Maw, mostly due to its sunken, maw like qualities. The cave entry is (1), the shaft is (2), and (3) is the pocket cave reachable if you dive under the water at the bottom of the shaft. From there, the numbers go from (4) to (8) left to right, with (7) being the larger room connecting (6) and (8). Then the next row of rooms down is L to R (9) to (11), then the bottom row of rooms L to R from (12) to (17), with (14) being the larger room that overlaps (10) and (15) and (16) being the two rooms to the S. I wish I didn't have to do this wacky descriptive thing, but once again I don't feel right putting the esteemed Mr. Logos' maps up on my site. Go to his site. Buy some books. Patronize his Patreon. He's one of the best gaming resources out there, IMHO.
1: There’s a 10‘ wide ledge leading down to a small cave with a dark hole to the S over a 60’ drop into water. If you fall, take 4d6 subdual damage from hitting the murky watter below. The ledge is made of crumbly clay, and there's a 1 on d6 chance, +1 per person walking along, that it will crumble and cast them into the pit. The cave is 20‘X30’ and has a primitive carving of a grimacing face in the N end, with a steady stream of water flowing over its tongue and down the E side of the shaft.
2: The walls of this 80’ shaft are slick with wet clay, with a stream of water running down the E wall from 1. Roll a Dex check every 10’, with a cumulative +1 penalty every 20‘, to make the climb up or down.
3: A pool of watery clay lies at the bottom of the shaft. If players fall in, they will be magically replaced by a simulacra of animate clay that is indistinguishable from the original. (Note: gargoyles are immune.) Their real bodies are pulled to the hidden cave at the other end of the subterranean tunnel where the Protean Clay is. There are skeletons with rotted clothes and rusted weapons in here. If a clay simulacra comes here their mind will return to the original body. The Protean Clay you seek is here, and will glow brightly under Detect Magic. Clay simulacra will do the same.
The clay bodies: Same as original, but will lose 1 point from stats per day as they dry out. If a stat goes to 0 the simulacra crumbles to dust. Cannot be healed by magic. The body will start to starve after 1d4 days, make a con check each day after the 4th, or lose 1d4 hp.
If a simulacra is killed, the character's mind will return to their original body. Hand them this text on a slip of paper:
You wake up in a clammy, dark chamber half flooded with water. The walls sparkle faintly with a dim, cool light that’s just bright enough to see once your eyes adjust. There are some skeletons scattered around the edge of the pool. Some wear archaic armor or carry bronze swords. Everything on them is rusted away or rotted. You have all your equipment with you.
4: A winding 20’ path heading E is dimly visible behind the curtain of the waterfall from 1. You can see faintly glowing lights moving about in the depths. These lights are Will O The Wisps, that will try to lead you into the fire trap in 5 or the collapsing ceiling in 6. At the end of the tunnel there is a set of huge stone doors with a grinning figure with a pot in its hands from which stylized flames are issuing. The doors require a Str check to pull open using two corroded bronze rings set in the surface (Roll a 1 on a d6.)
Will O The Wisp: HD: 9, HP:52, 51, 50, AC: -8, Atk: 2d8 Electric Shock, Mv: 180(60), Sv: F9, Ml: 7, Immune to all spells except magic missile, maze, protection from evil, Become invisible for 2d4 rounds.
5: The walls and ceiling just beyond the doors are blackened with ash. In alcoves to the N and S of the corridor beyond you see two primitive sculptures depicting figures with wide open mouths holding their big round bellies. There‘s a faintly chemical scent in the air. If the party crosses the threshold the will o wisps will spark and set off the flammable gas, doing 5d6 dmg to everything in a 20’ radius. There‘s an archway to the S 20’ past the alcoves leading to 9, and a heavy stone door leading to 11 (1 on d6 to open) and then a pair of doors like in 4 leading to 6. The walls past the first S hall are lined with shelves, which hold clay pots and urns of all shapes and sizes. They all contain a flaked residue of long evaporated wine at the bottom.
6: The doors lead to a 20‘X20’ space with bas relief carvings of primitive figures harvesting grapes in a vineyard. If you look up, you see a mosaic with clay oozing between the tiles. There is a wide set of steps leading 10‘ down to the high ceilinged room in 7. The ceiling of this area is prone to collapse, and each time someone crosses thru they must roll a Save vs. Petrify or suffer 2d6. After 3 such collapses this room is blocked off.
7: This large, high ceilinged chamber shows signs of having been a bath or pool of some sort. There are a few half crumbled clay figures lying about on the stepped area in the mosaic decorated floor. There is a large cone of clay in the NW corner, which is in fact a Roper, that will attack characters who enter this area. (Surprise on a 1-4 on d6). On a small shelf spanning the NE corner sits a leather satchel. If emptied, it will be revealed to be holding 10 lbs of powdered clay, and 5 small idols made of platinum worth 10 gp apiece) There is a stone door with no handles save for a bronze knocker in the shape of a grinning face with a ring in its teeth. leading into 8. 1 on a d8 to open by force.
Roper: HD: 11, HP: 48, AC: 0, Atk: 6 tentacles, 50’ drag victims 10‘ increments per round, bite in maw 5d4 Mv: 30(10), Sv: F11, Ml: 8 1 on d6 to escape tentacle, 1/2 dmg from cold, immune to electricity, -4 save vs fire
8: If the knocker in 7 is used, the door will open and the clay golem inside will step out and patiently await orders. If the door is forced it will rise from the stone seat at the S end of the room and attack. There is a small alcove in the base of the golem’s seat with 2 clay tablets set into the stone which can be pried out (Roll a Dex check or they will crumble to worthlessness) one contains 2 spells (Shield & Polymorprh others, One contains a treasure map indicating that it leads to a cache of 3000 gp. Use one of Dyson's maps and key up an adventure!)
Clay Golem: HD: 11, HP: 50, AC: 7, Atk Fist 3d10, Mv: 60(20), Sv: F11, Ml: 12 Sharp weapons do no dmg, blunt magical weapons only dmg clay golem. If obedient, it will follow the players, but each exposure to sunlight will cause it to dry and crumble, losing 1d10 hp a day.
9: This large, vaulted room is 40X40X50, with a large set of stairs dominating the W side and leading to the archway into 13. On the E wall between two archways is a towering bas relief of an earth goddess with large green gemstones for eyes (100 gp apiece) set 50’ up the wall in her smiling face. The archway in the NE corner leads 10’ to a stone door with a 1’ hole about waist level and no other handles. The SE one is a 10’ alcove with a crown shaped coffer atop the head of a sculpture of a grinning, kneeling dwarf. It contains 1000 silver nuggets
10: This chamber is 20X40. Across from the door is another door with the same hole in the middle, but with a corroded buckle that looked like it had a leather strap in it. There is a 10’ deep pit trap between the doors, hidden by tiles. (1d6 dmg from falling) that will catch anyone who crosses the space. In the S end of the chamber are a collection of broken clay statues in various stages of completion.
11: This chamber is lined with marble slabs. There is a small platform in the rounded SE corner atop which stands a 7’ tall crystalline statue of a humanoid female. It is missing its head, and on closer examinaton you see that the neck is hollow and leads to a heart shaped space in the center of the torso. There are three alcoves in the wall behind it. Two contain heads that would fit on the statue, one contains a clay flask in the shape of a heart. There is a syrupy deep brownish purple liquid inside. (Philter of Love) If poured in the chamber and a head placed on the neck, the statue will animate. One of the heads has a snarling, angry expression. If this one is placed on the statue it will attack everyone except the one who placed the head. One of the heads is smiling. If it is placed the statue will grab the one who animated it in a crushing embrace that won’t release until the head is removed (Called shot).
Living Statue: HD: 3, HP: 20, AC: 4, Dmg Fists 1d6/1d6 or 1d6 per round crushing 1 on d6 to get free. Mv: 90(30), Sv: F3, Ml: 11
12: Down a short flight of stairs from 13 you find a 20’X30’ room with a small platform in the middle. There are scattered human bones on the floor around it, as well as stone debris and gravel. and about 1000 gold coins with an amphora stamped on one side and a dog on the other. On the platform sits a stone chest carved into the shape of two kneeling, crowned figures grasping hands. The lid of the chest is carved to resemble heaps of grapes and fruit. This elaborate carving is actually a Mimic in disguise, which will attack as soon as the chest is approached.
Mimic: HD: 10, HP: 40, AC: 7, Dmg: Bludgeoun 3d4 Glue (sticks until mimic is dead), Mv: 30(10), Sv: F10, Ml:8
13: This 30’X30’ chamber has two archways leading to stairs down, E & W. The walls are decorated with bas relief carvings of figures making pots, firing them, and using them in farming or commerce. The floor is made up of tiles with holes in the center. If examined, the holes reveal there’s a space under the floor. If the floor is walked across, the party will find that the floor is a pair of trap doors that will open, dropping them 10’ (1d6 dmg) and then closing above them. There is a 2’ walkway around the edge of the pit, and a hidden lever in the NE corner hidden in the hand of a potter figure that will cause the springs that hold the trap closed to release, creating ramps that can be climbed to safety.
14: The door on the N wall is one with a hole and a long rotted leather handle (1 on d8 to open) Inside you find the long neglected remains of a potter’s workshop, with several wheels and a long dried out stock of normal clay. Along the N wall there is a corroded bronze hatch that leads down a chute to 10. Along the E wall you find what looks like a large potter’s wheel attached by corroded chains to a smaller wheel. There is a shelf full of figures beside it, each made of a strange, glittering stone and about palm size. The figures are: A man, an ogre, a panther, a duck, a goat, a horse, an eagle, a wyvern, a scorpion, a snake, a fish, a dog, and a medusa like creature. If one of these figures is placed on the small wheel, and a person stands on the large wheel, the wheels will start spinning and the occupant will be transformed into whatever the statue depicts.
15: There’s a small alcove next to this door that contains a clay brazier and a corroded bronze pan full of crumbling, calcified beeswax. You see evidence that this was applied around the edge of the door. This room is 20X15, and contains several empty shelves and tables. Along the N wall by the door are three amphoras stoppered with a large lead plug with a handle. If the handle is removed, a billowing whitish gas will flow out and fill the room. Save vs. petrification. If failed, the body of the victim takes on a whitish, marble sheen, and they are slowed. 1/2 move, 1 atk or spell every other round. Party members swapped out by the protean clay pool will be petrified, and will awaken in the cave in their own bodies.
16: This room is empty, save for a large stone throne shaped like intertwining serpents against the S wall. The walls are decorated with bas reliefs of figures kneeling with eyes covered or recoiling in terror from tall female figures in flowing robes with snakes for hair. The throne contains an arrow trap, which will fire at those in the room if someone sits down on the throne. The arrows fire from the mouth of the uppermost snake. Atk as Ftr 3, 1d6 dmg, 1d8 shots per round.
17: The ceiling in this chamber is 15’ high, held up by 3 pillars that are each covered in 333 silver pieces. The room is covered in bas relief carvings of eyes with faded ochre red daubing each pupil. There is a single silver piece laying on the floor between the middle and S pillars. If it is picked up, the one who did will find it’s attached to a bronze chain, which will activate a 20’ pit trap. (2d6 damage)
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