Sending my party on a quest in a land of always winter, and wanted to do a "ice" themed dungeon. I found this map online, and I really like it.
But what will they find inside? Fill this dungeon!
The Big Bad Guy (girl) will be a priestess of winter (Auril), she will be in room 22. But all the rest is open for ideas! Monsters, traps, riddles, whatever you can think of that has a winter/ice/cold theme will do!
Come one come all, fill this dungeon with your nastiest ideas! You must start from room 1, and you cannot post ideas for two consecutive room. Room 2 cannot be filled if room 1 is still empty, and so on.
Who's up for it?
PS: my party is level 12, but you don't need to stick to "appropriate" challenge levels... just let your imagination roam!
Rooms
6. Gallery of the Ice Sculptor
HERE is a Word file with all the rooms.
Delazar78 wrote:
edwin_su wrote:
My first instinct is to dig up my old Planescape stuff and 1st ed Manual of the Planes for the paraelemental plane of Ice Monsters and environmental effects... Regarding your big bad don't forget some spells summon monsters, create effects that act like traps, etc. Sprinkle these spell effects throughout the dungeon to reflect the influence of the villain's spellcasting prowess.
1)
Going up the icy stairs you come up to a plateau with doors leading down into the mountainside both left and right. Up ahead the path goes on to a walkway lined with few large statues leading to a big hall arising from the snow. The sky is still overcast with shadows, and the snow and icy winds persists. You discern a runic circle in the centre of the plateau. Disturbed, the runes start to glow blue, and the outline of a male figure dressed in furs appears at the centre of the circle. In a low imposing voice it adresses you: "None but the chosen ones may enter beyond this point. Leave your tribute for Auril at my feet, and return home with her blessing".
The projection remains, and the players can leave items at it's feet, which will be met with a "be blessed by Auril" from the projection. These will be gathered by Auril's clergy at a later time. The projection can't be interacted with. Objects pass right through it and it doesn't respond to anything the players say to it. The projection can be dispelled as if it was a level 4 spell, in which case it vanishes and won't be able to issue out any warming. The same effect can be reached by damaging the runic circle.
If the players try to open any of the doors, or pass onto the walkway, the figure repeats his warming that only the chosen are allowed beyond this point. If ignored, the projection starts to make a sound of a large drum, alerting those in areas 4, 9 and 3.
Area 6. Gallery of the Ice Sculptor
This area was probably once a place of worship, but has since been repurposed by the villain to serve as a workshop for one of her allies, a marid sculptor named Jamad. Marids are masters of water, but years of work on his art has also made Jamad a master of ice. (Rework his stat block and spell options to reflect this including giving him animate objects so he can bring some of the ice sculptures to life.) Jamad holds the key to Area 3, which is otherwise inaccessible except through the use of powerful magic to bypass the seals on the doors or the like. He wears garish, ill-fitting spectacles at all times, constantly fidgeting with them as he talks about his art.
His workshop is filled with ice sculptures of amazing variety and detail, but his favorite creations are likenesses of powerful humanoids. Jamad takes a shine to one of the PCs and is willing to trade the key to Area 3 if said PC would submit to staying (alone, for Jamad's art cannot suffer distractions!) for a day and a night so that the marid can create a sculpture of him or her. Of course, Jamad just plans on turning the character into solid ice to be added to his gallery, but he tries not to let on that this is his plan. His art is more important than his loyalty to the villain, so getting a powerful adventurer in his collection is more valuable to him than the key to Area 3.
If there's no deal to be made, combat may ensue. If that's the case, Jamad is equal to the task. His workshop's walls and ceiling are bristling with sharp shards of ice, perfect for impaling adventurers through the use of his water jet. Behind the great tapestries on the north and south walls lurk four ice basilisks that may attack with surprise. (These are like normal basilisks except they're immune to cold and they turn creatures to ice, not stone.) Jamad's spectacles protect him from their gaze and his elemental presence imparts disadvantage on saving throws against the basilisk's gaze while the marid is above 50% of his hit points. As mentioned previously, Jamad may also animate some of his sculptures to attack the PCs as well.
Among the sculptures may be important people from the past or NPCs with valuable information to share if they are reverted from their icy forms. The altar in this chamber is currently being used as a table for Jamad's many ice-sculpting tools, but if it is reconsecrated via divine magic and a suitable offering is made to whatever deity it was once dedicated, a boon in the form of greater restoration or the like may be forthcoming.
I would also suggest having a secret tunnel that connects Area 8 to Area 16 (or something like that), otherwise you end up forcing the players to go through Area 3. I suggest making it secret so that it's a bonus for engaging with the exploration pillar.
Good luck and have fun!
Edit: Bah, didn't remember your rules for posting. My bad. If you get to 5 in this thread, I'll delete and repost after that.
Catodon wrote:
Razintarr wrote:
2) Absolute Zero
As you enter the hallway you notice tapestries along the wall depicting scenes of brutal winter. The right side depicts a pack of what look to be Blink Dogs huddling around each other for warmth in a forest. Nestled in the folds of the huddled pack are various sprites and pixies who all look as if they are about to freeze solid were it not for the body temperature of the fey beasts around them, in the distance of the woods dark red eyes look on at the pack. The left side depicts a ramshack harbor town frozen into their ports. In the window of a house where the roof seems to be caved in by snow and ice is the figure of a woman who looks to be crying as she's eating some kind of meat while she huddles around a dying fire. At the end of the hallway is a door with a black crystal carved into the polished metal.
The Tapestries cover up the four pillars located in this room. Any interaction with the tapestries causes them to fall to the ground and reveals the four hidden pillars and alcoves behind the fabric. There is a hidden pressure plate in the center of the room that can be spotted with a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. A Character studying the area can deterime the pressure plate is marked with Auril's symbol in the four corners of the tile. Any weight greater than 20 pounds placed on the center triggers the Tapestries to fall as well.
When the Tapestries fall, the trap triggers
As the works of art hit the ground, four gleeming metal columns are revealed in four alcoves that were hidden by the fabric. The Walls surronding the alcoves are made of the same polished material. A loud "CTHUNK" is heard on either side of the from the doors on either side of the room. Suddenly, you realize you can start seeing your breath.
A "Detect Magic" spell reveals that the metal pillars (AC 13, 78 hit points) are radiating Transmutation Magic. A "Dispel Magic" spell cast with a 4th Level Spell slot deactivates an individual pillar. If cast with a 7th level spell slot the entire trap deactivates. Currently these objects are acting as heat sinks, and are absorbing the abmient temperature of the room and body temperature of the players. The metal door between area 2 and 3 (AC 19, 33 hit points) are locked but can be opened with a DC 17 Dexterity (Slieght of Hand) check.
The Trap acts first on Inititve. Every three turns, the tempurature decreases colder and colder and the players must make a DC 15 CON Saving Throw. If they fail they gain a level of Exhaustion, as their body heat is sapped from them by the transmutation magic. Any free water turns to ice as soon as the trap is triggered. Destroying all the Pillars will deactivate the trap.
If any player touches a pillar or any metal object other than armor with bare skin, they become "Restrained" as their warm flesh sticks to the freezing metal. Metal armor cannot be removed from their bodies as it sticks to their hot bodies. A DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check will free them but it rips their skin from their bodies causing 1d4 damage. Destroying the Pillars will also release the players.
Treasure: The Tapestries themselves are very high quality works of art, crafted by the finest weavers of Auril's clergy decades ago. Each tapestry if undamaged is worth 75 Gold Pieces.
good good!
room 3 looks like a big one, certainly something terribly wrong is going on there... but what?
iserith wrote:
3) The Sleighing Room
The room before is a cavernous 6 pillared Hall with a dense ground crawl of fog. Several stuffed animals line the walls along with several book shelves, a number end table and chairs. The centerpiece of the room is a large statue of a fur-cover creature atop what appears to be a sleigh drawn by two undersized Mammoth.
FEATURES
Stuff animals. There is a pair of sabertooth tiger, a Wendigo, and a mural featuring two large ice wolves and their den of cubs.
Pillars. The Pillars are made of solid ice that has been cut into bricks to craft the columns.
Furniture. The table and chairs are excellently crafted out of dry ice to give them the appearance of grained white wood. The furniture is safe to sit on as long as there it doesn't come in contact with exposed skin and is easily noticeable to a trained eye and DC10 otherwise. Exposure deals 1d8 cold damage. Save for half. Destroying a piece of furniture causes it to explode hitting any creatures within 10' of the destroyed furniture and deals 1d8 damage plus cold damage. In addition, everything within 10' has Total concealment until the start of the destroying creatures next turn.
Fog. Provides concealment to prone creatures or creatures that are small or smaller that hide in it.
CREATURES
1 Abominable Yeti. additional skill Drive(Sleigh)
2 Mammoths.
When the players enter the room the Yeti springs to life and will speak to whoever seems to most interesting (prioritizing people with musical instruments.) It is slightly smarter than typical and speak common fairly well. He should be guarding the area however, he will indicate that he is willing to make an exception for a good song or three. If he at any point he feels that he was not entertained he will state, "I am not entertained," and immediately attack, prioritizing the source of his disappointment.
Great job; but i recommend adding a secret door in Area 16 leading to area 23. Otherwise the PCs have no way to get there.
I think the idea is that there is a tunnel in the rock between area 23 and are 16 on the far north side.
Congrats though filling this up =) I really like all the rooms in this and hope to see more threads like this on other sites in the future
Glad I could help, hope the players enjoy it and do not curse our names too much
Ah, I had wondered about how to get to area 23 in general. Tunnel makes sense upon closer inspection of the map; however, I'd probably go for secret door(s) from 16 or elsewhere. How does the dragon get in though? Hehe.
marius4 wrote:
marius4 wrote:
Delazar78 wrote: