Deadly Dungeons

By Nick LS Whelan

Cover Art by Ian Hagan

Interior Art by Roni Whelan

Cartography by Nick LS Whelan

Layout by Moreven B
Introduction
The ancient texts which established the foundation
of our noble hobby elucidate six broad categories
into which all dungeon rooms can be sorted: Empty,
Monster, Treasure, Trick, Trap, and Special. Monster
Manuals and Treasure Tables are numerous enough
that no one can claim to lack for good examples. Ex-
haustive theoretical work has been written exploring
the nature of the other sorts of rooms, but there is a
dearth of collected examples outside of blog posts and
adventure modules.
I endeavor here to remedy that shortfall. The hope is
that you’ll place one or two of these rooms in your
own dungeons to spice them up. Perhaps the exis-
tence of the room you choose will imply other rooms
to you, and you can build out your dungeon from
there as a starting point. On the other hand, you
might use the room in isolation to fill a bit of space
while you devote your own creative energies to more
important problems.
It might be said that these rooms could be put to
better use by publishing them as part of a dungeon.
However, these are a sort of room best used sparingly.
Only about 10% of the rooms in a well rounded dun-
geon should be Tricks, Traps, or Specials. By instead
placing them all together one after the other the read-
er may notice patterns to their construction which
might not be clear otherwise, and could aid them in
constructing their own rooms later.
Personal Note
Writing should not be self indulgent. The words on
the page ought to serve some purpose beyond sat-
isfying the writer’s ego. I’m sorry to say I haven’t yet
internalized that lesson, but I’ll keep it short:
Deadly Dungeons was a series of posts that ran on
my blog throughout 2013. There are a few before then
which don’t fit the style I later established, and a few
after which hearken back to the glory days, but for the
most part it was a 2013 thing. Back then the blog was
the only writing I took seriously. I wrote as if my life
were on the line because the constant flow of turning
new ideas into structured words gave me a sense of
direction. (This is still basically true.)
This particular set of posts is notable as it was the
first time I felt like I had figured out how to write
something people would enjoy. I’d already had a few
breakout posts here and there, but why they worked
and others didn’t was a mystery to me. Yet with Dead-
ly Dungeons I almost always got positive feedback.
Making the maps ate up a lot of time, but there was so
much validation in hearing someone ask me “How do
you keep coming up with these,” as if I were perform-
ing some kind of magic.
The end of 2013 marked a lot of changes for me. Up
to that point I’d been publishing voluminously, but
most of what I put out was desperate filler. I dropped
off the face of the Internet for awhile. When I started
blogging again I was a much improved writer, but
whatever bug in my brain had motivated me to create
Deadly Dungeons was gone.
This book is meant to be the first in what will hope-
fully becomes a series of books that collect, refine,
and elaborate on ideas first tacked on Papers & Pen-
cils. No particular effort has been made to preserve
anything about the original posts, since they’re still
available and free to view. Rather, I tried here to take
what I find most interesting about each room, and
make it shine.
1
T h e Tr e a s u r e C h e s t C a r d
There are two identical empty rooms with a 3 foot
thick wall in common. The only entrance to either
room is opposite this common wall, and ideally, there
should be no obvious path to get from one room to
the other. Splitting the party can help to solve this
puzzle, and if the players go that route, it should be
a dangerous choice. If one of the groups gets into
trouble, the other will be too far away to quickly come
to their aide.
The common wall between the two rooms has a slit
in it. It’s narrow, only just large enough for a twig,
or possibly an arrow, to fit inside. An arm or a spear
would be too large.
If someone looks through the slit, there appears to be
a chest sitting in the center of the other room. But if
the players reach that room, it will be just as empty as
the first. If they look back through the slit, they’ll see
that the chest now appears to be in the room they just
left—except it’s not there either.
planations for discrepancies. A person will go mad
before they believe the proof of the card might be
wrong. Furthermore, anyone they show the card to
will similarly agree that the proof is undeniable.
As an example, if the king points to his adviser and
says “I want you to bring me my adviser’s head on
a plate,” and the players instead hand the king this
card, the king will say “Excellent! My adviser’s head
on a plate! Exactly what I wanted. Here’s the reward
I promised you.” All the while, the adviser will still
be standing where he was a moment ago, probably
shaking in fear. If this is pointed out to the king, he
will assume he’s seeing his adviser’s twin brother, or
perhaps his adviser’s ghost. If the king shows the ad-
viser the card, then the adviser will think “Wow, that’s
clearly my head on a plate. I guess I must be a ghost
or something.”

Spells such as True Seeing or Detect Magic will reveal

nothing, because there’s absolutely nothing magical
about any of this. The chest is a sophisticated, but
completely mundane, optical illusion. In the center
of the slit between the two rooms is a bit of paper
with a chest painted on both sides of it. The identical
empty rooms, and the fixed viewing distance of the
slit, allow this fakery to look completely convincing.
Though, if the field of view is disrupted (for example,
by another character standing in the opposite room,
with the chest appearing on top of them), the illusion
will become obvious.

Fishing the paper out can be a little tricky, but if the

players manage to get it, they will discover that the
“lid” of the chest folds open, like an envelope.Within
is an itty bitty white card, with bold black text printed
on one side: “Proof.”
When this card is given to someone, they will believe
they are seeing incontrovertible proof of some claim
the players are making. No amount of logic will ever
overcome the player’s evidence, and their brain will
fold over on itself to find ever more ridiculous ex-
Once used, the card will forever be perceived as
whatever evidence it originally stood in for. So if the
players somehow endeavor to steal it back, then give
it to a farmer who needed someone to rescue his lost
child from orcs, it won’t work. The farmer will just be
horrified that the party is apparently carrying around
the head of the royal adviser on a plate.

2
Dungeon Mist
It might be found in any dungeon: a thick white mist, Periodically, a massive wave of mist will rise to tear
tinged with blue, and cold. So very cold. It covers the unchecked through the dungeon. This is best repre-
floor of every room and corridor like water–rising sented by adding “mist wave” to the encounter table.
into little tidal riots anytime a door swings open. The When encountered, the party should be given per-
changing level of the floor causes its depth to vary be- haps a single round of movement to attempt to find
tween an adult human’s knee height, and chest height. safety, or just be asked to make a save versus Breath to
For anyone short enough to breathe the stuff, it acts secure themselves against the wave. Otherwise, they’ll
as a mild hallucinogen. They’ll see colorful specters be picked up and sent tumbling through the dungeon,
of the dead around them, watching with silent, stoic until they are cast off in some completely different
hatred. At least they tell themselves the ghosts are area. The new location should be determined by
hallucinations. They aren’t, though. Not really. whatever the referee finds most amusing. The mist is
under no obligation to
In some dungeons, release all the characters
things move beneath the in the same place.
mist. Creatures like Gob- Being carried by the mist
lins, Kobolds, Halflings, will also affect a char-
Gremlins, and other acter’s mind for a short
diminutive subspecies. while, causing them to
The haunting spectres suffer a brief madness if
they must endure are a they fail a saving throw
small price to pay for versus Magic. Roll on the
this perfect advantage table below:
against the hated tallfolk.
It grants both conceal-
ment, and surprise
during combat.

There is a current to
the mist, with a strong
undertow. If a person
isn’t careful, they’ll never
notice they’re being
moved around by the
flow beneath their feet. It
won’t affect them much
when they’re actively
paying attention to their environment. But, if they get
caught up in conversation or combat, then once they
look up and take note of their environment again,
they’ll discover they’ve been moved. The referee
should move the party about 10’ per combat round,
or per back-and-forth exchange in a conversation.
The current is a clever thing. Clever enough to avoid
closed doors, and to slip its victims through small or
visually distinct areas with great subtlety.

3
 Dungeon Mist (1D6)
1 When you close your eyes, instead of blackness, you see another world. You’re standing over the rotting
corpse of a murdered child. The body is in a little hut on the edge of a forest village, lit only by candle-
light. If you keep your eyes closed you can look around this world, and if you move you will see yourself
moving through this world. (Though, your body is still in the real world, so you’ll likely bump into a wall,
which will be very disorienting for you).
2 You have been clapped in irons. None of your companions can see your restraints, and they might insist
that you’re imagining it, but your companions are wrong. If your restraints were fake, you would be able
to move your hands more then a foot apart from each other. You’d be able to take strides that covered
more than a few inches at a time. Clearly your companions are just trying to make you feel crazy, or are
perhaps crazy themselves.
3 Your ears are assaulted by the wails of dozen babies. They drown out any other sound you might want to
hear. (As well as sounds you don’t want to hear, as the case may be).
4 4. Suddenly everything becomes clear. Fragments of conversation connected to brief moments of wake-
fulness half-remembered after you laid down to sleep last night. Your companions stayed up late to meet
in secret. Specifically intending to exclude you—and only you—while they shared a delicious cake. It was
your favorite kind of cake! They laughed about it too. About what a fool you were, and how happy they
were that you would not have any of the cake. Well…you’ll show them! YOU’LL SHOW THEM!
5 You are a cat. You have cat concerns, and cat thoughts, and will pursue cat pursuits. (You are not actually
a cat).
6 Apparently while y’all were trapped in that stupid mist, all of your friends decided to put on scary masks.
You do not like them. They are scary. You should tell your friends to take them off. If they refuse, you
should just pull the damn things off.

4
T h e We a t h e r e d D o o r
A pair of heavy wooden doors, weathered by count-
less years of wind and sand. Their stripped surface
splinters easily, but the damage is only cosmetic. The
doors are still quite sturdy, and would be difficult to
break open.
If the handles are rotated vertically (to match the two
discolored strips), none of this will be a problem Slats
within the panels will extend into the doors, locking
the panels closed, and allowing the handles to be used
to pull the doors open safely.

Each door has an iron handle, horizontal to the

ground. Above the handles are a pair of vertical
strips, clearly discolored compared to the rest of the
door’s surface. It’s obvious that something was once
there, but isn’t any longer.

A cursory examination of the handles will reveal the

remnants of blue paint on the back side, where the
wind erosion is not as harsh. A close look at the two
discolored strips will reveal the faintest remnants of a
similar blue paint there.

If the handles are pulled while horizontal, they will

not open the doors. They are not even connected
to the doors in this state. The handles are actual-
ly mounted on panels, whose edges are hidden by
the grain of the wood. Pulling on them will reveal a
cavity, from which a fizzy white mist will spray out.
Anyone standing within 5’ of the door must make a
saving throw versus Poison. Fortunately, this device
is extremely old, and the poison should have been
replaced long ago. If the save is failed, roll 1d6 to
determine the effect. If the character has any partial
face covering, they may add +1 to this roll.

We a t h e r e d D o o r ( 1 D 6 )
1 Death
2 A random ability score is reduced by 1d6
3 A random ability score is reduced by 1.
4 The victim becomes violently ill. They are inca-
pacitated for 2 weeks while they recover.
5 The victim spends 10 minutes being violently
ill. The noise, and the smell, attract some nearby
monster.
6 For some reason, the victim’s body actually
reacts well to the aged poison. They heal 1d6
points of damage.

5
The Ladder Conundrum
Near the wall of a high ceilinged room is a crank, of
the sort commonly used to hoist drawbridges. A thick
rope coils around the spool a few times, before dis-
appearing into a hole in the floor. Nearby, even closer
to the wall, is a trap door. It’s long, but too narrow for
even a child or a Halfling to fit through it. It also lacks
any handle, or other obvious means by which it could
be opened. (Though, with a bit of prying, there’s no
reason the players shouldn’t be able to get it open).

If the crank is turned, it will pull more rope up out of

the ground. After a few rotations, the trap door will
swing open, and a wooden ladder will begin to rise
out from below. As long as the crank is turned, the
ladder will continue to rise, until it reaches a height
of 200’. This is just high enough for the top rung to be
level with an alcove set high in the wall, hidden from
the floor below by darkness.

Unfortunately, while this alcove is normally open,

turning the crank also causes a heavy steel door to
descend from the ceiling, blocking it. The door has no
handholds, and is flush with the walls around it. Play-
ers on the top rung of the ladder will find nowhere
to tie a rope, nor any purchase for a grappling hook.
And lifting a 300lb door while standing on the top
rung of a 200’ tall ladder would be a feat of exception-
al difficulty.

The door and the ladder move relative to one another.

The door is not completely open until the ladder is
all the way down; nor is it completely closed until the
ladder is fully extended. However, since the door is
only 6’ tall, and the ladder is 200’, it takes a significant
movement of the ladder to create a small movement
in the door. So when the ladder is at half-height
(100’), the door will only be open 3’; and when the
ladder is at ¾ of its height, (150’), the door will only
be open 1.5’, etc.

Note that if the players raise the ladder, cut it off at

its base, then turn the crank back the other way, they
will find the crank much more difficult to turn. The
ladder provided a counter balance to the weight of
the door, which is now missing.

6
Unde ad Disp os a l C hamb er
A large room of smooth stone, mostly bare, with a
column of green gelatin at its center. The column is
20’ in diameter, and 40’ tall. Numerous dead bod-
ies can be seen within it, slowly being broken down
by the goo. It gives off an acrid scent, like burning
plastic, which can be smelled through the whole
dungeon.

Anchored around the pillar are four animated lassos.

They are attracted to movement, and will pounce
liked coiled snakes upon anything which enters the
room. Each target must make a saving throw ver-
sus Paralyzation, or be entangled by a lasso, which
will draw them 10’ closer to the pillar each round.
The ropes have 15 hit points, and are both magically
hardened, and self repairing. They can only be dam-
aged by cutting weapons, ignore 1 point of damage
from every attack, and heal 1d3hp each round—even
if they are completely severed. Also, though it may be
unlikely to come up, it must be noted that the ropes The floor within this side chamber is sensitive to pres-
have been enchanted to function against incorporeal sure. If it detects any weight, the iron door will swing
creatures. closed and the alcove holding the ruby skull will spin
around, revealing a bit of sacred amber which radi-
This is a trap, constructed by an order of paladins, ates an anti-magic field up to 30’. When this happens,
with the express purpose of destroying the undead. the far wall of the chamber will also begin to move
Even those undead which can normally escape mun- inwards, pressing anyone within towards the ramp.
dane destruction cannot avoid the doom of the pillar. Once they are on the ramp, they will be within range
If a Lich were pulled into the gelatin, then its phylac- of the lassos, and moments away from doom.
tery would burst into flames, wherever it might be in
the cosmos. Given all the ways in which this room tries to force
people into the column of gelatin, players will likely
A ramp on one wall descends into a side chamber, deduce that it will do bad things to them. It is, after
where a heavy iron door stands open, leading out into all, full of dead bodies. However, the gelatin actually
a series of caves. These go on for miles, some eventu- produces mostly positive effects in living creatures.
ally opening out onto the surface, while others delve Though, the results are somewhat unpredictable. Roll
deep into the underdark. Embedded opposite this 2d6:
open door is a massive ruby which has been carved to
look like a skull, and has a strange black liquid flow-
ing over its surface in defiance of gravity. Any living
creature which stands in the presence of this object
immediately becomes ill, and must make a saving
throw versus poison or vomit. To the undead, howev-
er, its existence is a sweet siren’s song. It calls to them,
and even the strongest and most clever of the abomi-
nations finds it difficult to stay away.

7
 Un d e a d D i s p o s a l C h a m b e r ( 2 D 6 )
2 The next time this character would die, they are instead returned to full health, with all of their ailments
removed.
3 The character gains a permanent +1 to a random saving throw.
4 The next time this character would be level drained by an undead creature, they instead gain one level.
5 The character gains a gaze attack which they may use as a free action. It functions as “Turn Undead,” cast
by a level 1 cleric.
6 The character’s maximum hit points are permanently increased by 10.
7 Any undead which comes in contact with the character’s flesh takes 1d8 damage. This occurs regardless
of which party initiated the touch.
8 The character becomes entirely immune to disease.
9 8 hours of sleep will always be enough for this character to completely restore their hit points. It does not
heal any other ailments.
10 The character gains a +4 to any saving throw made against the special powers of an undead creature.
11 The character spontaneously gains a single 1st level cleric spell slot, which they may use as if they were a
1st level cleric.
12 Undead creatures which touch the character must saving throw versus Magic or be destroyed. Note that
this effect only works if the undead creature initiates the contact.

Any gelatin removed from the column immediately

becomes inert. It has no power of its own, it merely
serves as a conduit for the powerful sanctities that the
paladins enacted upon this site.

One unfortunate side effect of the gelatin is that it

produces cancerous tumors in living subjects. These
tumors grow very slowly, and will take about 100
years to kill a person. However, each subsequent con-
tact with the gelatin accelerates the tumor’s growth
by a factor of 4. So if the gelatin is used twice, the
character will have only 25 years to live. If it’s used
3 times, they’ll only have 6.25 years left, and if it’s
used four times, that number is reduced to a mere 1.5
years.

To maintain agency, it is essential that the referee

give some hint as to the cancer’s existence. “You feel a
slight pressure in your belly, and can feel a hard lump
there.” for the first use. “The lump in your belly sud-
denly grew a lot larger,” for the second use, etc.

8
Bugaboos
A circular room, unusually tall, with a beam of light
shining down from a hole in the ceiling. The only
occupants are a swarm of plum-sized bugs, filling the
room with a cacophonous buzzing. It’s loud enough
that characters may have difficulty hearing one an-
other talk. Aside from that annoyance, however, the
swarm doesn’t really do anything. Even if a character
were to leap into the center of the swarm, waving
their arms all around, they would emerge without a
single bite or sting.
The bugs are colored blue, yellow, green, red, violet,
orange, teal, and lime. These colors have no meaning.
They are an obfuscation. Also, your dungeon could
use a little more color, so you’re welcome.
Further examination of the bugs will allow characters
to notice that many of them have aberrant features.
The majority are just plump little orbs with eyes,
mouths, and wings. However, a few have large fangs,
massive eyes, furry tails, or curved stingers. This last
one may seem particularly strange to players who
have discovered that the creatures will not harm
them.
The creatures are have an effective armor rating of 24,
which makes striking them with any conventional
weapon a nearly impossible task. Catching them with
your hand is actually much easier, granting a +4 to
the attack roll. If either of these attempts misses by
5 or less, it is a simple miss. If they fail by more than
that, then the character has hit/caught a different but
than the one they intended. Roll on the table below to
determine which.
If characters use a jar, backpack, or other smallish
container to capture the bugs, they will catch 1d4 – 1
of them without the need for any attack roll, but the
ones they catch will be random. Similarly, if they use
a blanket, or a proper net, they’ll capture 3d4 of the
creatures, but again, the catch will be random.
The instant any of the bugs are damaged or captured,
they will pop into a cloud of dust. That dust will then
reform itself into something else. What each bug re-
forms into is determined by its aberrant features.
If the referee is so inclined, more than one of these
rooms could be included in a dungeon, with later ex-
amples having a greater variety of bugs. Perhaps there
could be a drooling bug which produces magical
fountains, a bug with bird wings that toggles gravity
off and on, a bug with bat wings that causes an adven-
turer’s gear to animate and attack them, or a bug with
legs which puts blessings on the characters. As with
everything in the game, the possibilities are endless,
and assuming players had a positive experience with
the first room, they’ll be curious to see what these
new varieties can do.
9
 Bugaboos (1D20)
1-8 Normal Bug: Something entirely mundane. A pebble, a wooden spoon, a handkerchief, etc.
9-10 Bulging Eyes: Reforms into a door on the wall of the room. If there is nowhere for it to go, the referee
may choose one of two options, whichever fucks up their map the least. Either a corridor is created,
leading to another part of the dungeon. Or, alternatively, the door becomes a permanent, two-way
portal to another dungeon location. In this later case, there is a 50/50 chance it leads to a location the
party has already explored, or a new one they have not visited yet.
11-13 Large Teeth: The remains transform into one of the monsters from this area’s random encounter table.
14-19 Curved Stinger: The dust reforms into a trap, which is immediately sprung on the one who grabbed
it. There are no limits to what forms this trap might take: it could be a pit beneath the character’s feet,
darts shooting out of the walls, a collapsing ceiling, or whatever else the referee fancies.
20 Furry Tail: Becomes a chest, filled with treasure!

10
Mind and Body Passage
A medium to large sized room with a flagstone floor,
and a high ceiling. This trick works best if there’s
something in the room to catch the player’s attention.
Any set dressing appropriate to the dungeon will
work. The goal is to entice the players to walk around
in here long enough for them to stumble onto the
“trap.”
Two random flagstones in this room are pressure
plates. Each time a person casually walks through the
room, they have a 1-in-12 chance of activating a plate.
For each turn spent in the room (performing some
task, or perhaps waiting for someone else to perform
a task), characters have a 1-in-6 chance to activate
one of the pressure plates.
When a pressure plate is activated, a secret door, at
least 10’ away, slides open. (The referee should deter-
mine whether it is the Mind room, or the Body room,
though this is not immediately relevant). Behind the
secret door is a monster. Probably a construct or an
undead, since it has apparently been stuck in a tiny
locked room without food or water. Fortunately, as
soon as the activating character steps off the flagstone,
the door will slide closed again—probably before the
monster is even able to get out of the room.
Unfortunately, a new monster appears in the room
each time the flagstone is depressed. So if the players
prepare themselves for battle, then open the door
again, they will be surprised to see not one, but two
monsters in the room. Note that during combat, ei-
ther the players or the monsters may accidentally step
on the other pressure plate, introducing more confu-
sion to the situation.
If the players wish to hold a door open, the pressure
plate can be kept down by any object that weighs
at lest 50lb, and which is small enough to rest that
weight on a single flagstone. A wedge, such as an iron
spike, would also suffice.
Each of the two secret rooms is 10’x10’, and aside
from the monsters, each only has a single distinguish-
ing feature. On a shelf in one room, there is a ceramic
human brain, painted a healthy pink and gray. In the
other is a ceramic man, with an open cavity in the
back of his head. (As mentioned above, which room
is found first should be randomly determined). If the
players place the brain inside of the cavity, the man
will suddenly spring to life. From seemingly nowhere,
he will draw a grappling hook, and throw it up to-
wards the ceiling. As it turns out, part of the ceiling is
an illusion! The grappling hook will pass through it,
and the ceramic man will swiftly climb up, and out of
sight, leaving the rope behind him. The party will be
left alone with the dangling rope, now able to inves-
tigate a part of the dungeon they didn’t even realize
existed until a moment ago.
Optionally, the ceramic man may steal something
of value before fleeing into the ceiling, giving the par-
ty a reason to pursue him.
11
Po ols of Dimensiona l ly Attuning Paint
The PCs are falling. Perhaps they spun the stone disk
in The Flippy Turny Fally Room. (Page 13) Maybe
they just forgot their 10’ pole, and became the victims
of an ordinary trap door. It’s a pretty standard expe-
rience for dungeon delving, but falling damage and
poison spikes can only be interesting so many times.
It’s time the players faced a fresh challenge.
Wherever the fall begins, it leads to the characters
sliding out of control down a twisting, greased chute.
Suddenly, the chute branches paths, and the party be-
comes separated. Have each player roll 1d6 for their
characters. They should also roll separately for their
hirelings, and any animal companions they have. The
results determine which of the three branching paths
they careen into, and consequently, which pool of
colored paint they will land in a moment from now.
Po o l s o f At t u n i n g P a i n t ( 1 D 6 )
1-2 Yellow
3-4 Pink
5-6 Blue
The paint is thick and goopy. It’s difficult to get off,
but otherwise the players will be unharmed. As they
regroup to examine their surroundings, they will
find only a single exit: a “brightly colored door.” This
phrasing is important, because in point of fact, each
character is seeing a door that matches the color of
the paint they fell into. If the players are clever, they
will ask specifically what color the door is, and the
referee should reveal the trickery. If they do not, then
they are poised to fall into the real trap.
The door opens normally,
and regardless of which
color each character is
covered in, the room
beyond the door looks
the same to all of them.
It is empty, and non-
threatening, with a single
exit. However, once any
characters walk through
the door, they are sorted
into one of three parallel
pocket dimensions; one
for each color of paint. Each of the three dimensions
consists of only a few rooms, perhaps 3-5. A Wall
of Force prevents anyone who walked through the
brightly colored door from walking back into the
paint pool room.
The party has been forced to split. Whatever three
groups were formed by chance are now stuck togeth-
er, and must face the next few challenges alone. The
referee should take particular care to note any hire-
lings or animal companions which have been separat-
ed from their PC companion. The wizard’s apprentice
may obey her teacher, but will she follow the lead of a
mere fighter, just because they’re a player character?
If the players discover the trick before passing
through the brightly colored door, they will likely try
to keep the party together. Simply having everyone
take a dip into the same color pool will be sufficient,
there is no need to wash off old colors first. If players
do manage to clean themselves before moving for-
ward (which should be a challenge), then the door
will appear to be beige. When opened, there is just a
wall with a plaque on it. The plaque reads: “You’re not
fun.”
In order to progress any further, the players will have
to get some paint back on them.
12
T h e F l i p p y Tu r n y F a l l y R o o m
A circular room, with a ceiling slightly higher than
the room’s radius. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all
flagstone.

In the center of the room is a chest-high obelisk, per-

haps 8” on each side. Atop the obelisk is a Y shaped
brass bar. An axle between the prongs of the Y sup-
ports a rotating stone disk. When the players enter
the room, the flat sides of the disk are parallel to the
floor.

Players who take the time to look around may no-

tice scratches on the walls, near where they meet the
floor. At the North and South sides of the room, the
scratches are faint, and vertical. As the players move
around the room, they will notice the scratches be-
coming more pronounced, and more curved. At the
extreme Eastern and Western sides of the room, the
scratches form a full 180° arc, from one point on the
floor to another. This, of course, is where the axle is
mounted.

If the disk atop the obelisk is rotated until it is ver-

tical, it will emit a loud clicking sound. A moment
later, the entire room will flip over, revealing an
identical floor and an identical obelisk on the other
side of it. Any occupants of the room will, of course,
be dropped into a pit.

There is no visible gap between the wall and floor. At

least, none which is any more pronounced between
the gaps of any old, cracked, and worn flagstones.
However, water could be used to discover that the
small space between the wall and floor doesn’t “fill
up” as it ought to.

The Flippy Turny Fally Room could be used to drop

players into a deadly pit, but I recommend against it.
Rather, the fall should drop players into a new sec-
tion of the dungeon. With their known escape route
forever lost to them, exploring the dungeon will take
on a new sense of urgency. How long will their food
rations last? Did they even bring food rations? Can
they find a safe enough place to rest at night? Will
they ever see the sun again?

13
The Slide Room
The room itself, shown in red on the map, is small,
and square. From within, it appears blandly ordi-
nary, without any ornamentation or clutter. The only
features of any note are the doors, which are on two
opposite walls.
This small room is actually mounted on a set of rails,
and housed within a much larger room. These mar-
velous mechanisms allow the room to slide back and
forth through the dungeon, without any unpleasant
rumbling that might spill people’s drinks, or tip off
adventurers to the presence of a moving room. Even
those inside the room will be unable to tell that it is
moving, though, they may be given a chance if they
re dwarfs, or others who have some particular affinity
for such things.
Each of the corridors leading to the room is strewn
with dozens of pressure plates. When these plates
are activated, they call the sliding room to move into
place. By the time whomever approaches gets with-
in line of sight, the room will already be waiting for
them. If the pressure plates are detected, and pur-
posefully avoided, then there is a 4-in-6 chance that
the room will not be in the correct position when
the players arrive. Instead, they will be able to look
out into the long, featureless room which houses
the smaller one. If the players enter this room, roll
a check every few turns to determine if the sliding
room moves to crush them.
If anyone enters the sliding room, they will be detect-
ed by the room’s highly sophisticated weight sensors.
So long as there is weight, the room will shift position
every 3 rounds that all the room’s doors are closed.
There is no pattern to the room’s movement. If it can
only move in one direction, it will of course move
that way; otherwise, the direction it moves should be
randomly determined.
For example, if the red room is in the position shown
on the map, and the players approach from the curv-
ing corridor to the south, they will activate some of
the many pressure plates in that corridor. This will
cause the red room to slide one position south, and
be ready to meet them when they arrive. If the play-
ers then enter the room, and close the door behind
them, the room will slide up back into the position
displayed on the map. If the party then leaves the
room, and returns to it later, the referee should flip
a coin to determine whether the room moves north
or south. Of course, if the party leaves someone, or
some equipment in the room, then that weight will
cause the room to slide around, and the trick may be
revealed.
The obvious problem with this room is that players
are rarely courteous enough to close doors. This is
easily resolved by giving the players some reason
to close doors. Perhaps they are being followed, or
perhaps some terrifying monster has already scolded
them once for “letting in a draft.” Alternatively, this
room could just be placed in a dungeon where all the
doors are weighted to automatically close. That way,
when the players reach this room, they will not be
alarmed when the doors close behind them.
14
Firebelly Statue
A large iron statue, built against the wall of some
room with a reasonably high ceiling. The represen-
tation is odd. It begins just above the subject’s waist
line, with a large pot belly resting on the floor. At
the ceiling, it terminates just above the eyes, with-
out enough room to fit the full head. The hands grip
tightly at the stone floor, and the stones have been
shaped to look like they’re being gripped, twisting
between the statue’s iron fingers.
Though the mouth of the statue does not appear
unusual upon viewing, there is a discreet hinge on
the jaw. The iron has settled after being left closed for
centuries, but with a crowbar or some other lever, the
mouth can be pried open. Within is a silver tongue
the size of a grown man’s torso. It’s not particularly
impressive as a piece of art, but the sheer value in
silver is astronomical.

A fireplace is built into the statue’s belly, which may

or may not be obvious depending on whether or not
it is in use. If the room is in use, there may already
be a fire blazing. If not, it may appear to simply be
a large opening into a hollow statue, perhaps with a
layer of soot to hint at its original purpose.

A line of engravings runs along the lower edge of

the statue, near the floor. It is apparently an epitaph
for whomever the statue depicts. The details can be
changed so as to better match your campaign world.

Fighting men and women must never forget the

name of Elric Warmaker: a knight more com-
fortable on the front lines of battle than he was
on the cushioned chairs of a banquet hall. He
had a fire in his belly that would not allow him
to accept defeat, or to allow those who fought
beside him to falter in their duty.

When he spoke, people listened. Not because he

was a great man, but because he understood the
struggles and fears of those he spoke to. Under-
stood those struggles, but also called upon us to
rise above them, and perform the great deeds
which were worthy of us.

The important bits are the overt reference to having

a “fire in [his/her] belly,” and the indirect reference to
being a skilled public speaker. A.k.a., having a silver
tongue. Actually saying the words “silver tongue” may
work if your group is not particularly observant, but
for seasoned dungeon crawlers, the less direct hint is
recommended.

15
Dancing Skeleton Room
There is nothing tricky about the dancing skeleton
room. Nor is there anything deadly, or even dan-
gerous at all. It’s a simple subversion of the player’s
expectations, which will probably just lead to them
making themselves feel sad. A nice splash of water
in their faces to wake them up, and get them paying
attention.
The room itself should be a largish size, with as many
or as few doors as is convenient. It has no necessary
features in order for it to function properly; but a
wooden dance floor would be a nice touch. The walls
could also be lined with mirrors to give it a “dance
studio” feel, and make it appear as though there are
an infinity of dancers gesticulating in perfect unison.
The room is full of dancing skeletons. I’ve used
50-100, but larger or smaller groups should work.
They are graceful, energetic, and wild. Many of their
maneuvers could never be performed by a body
restrained by muscles and ligaments. One moment
every skeleton is engaged in some singular perfor-
mance, the next, their movements have become syn-
chronized. One style of dance is constantly flowing
into another, and no dance ever repeats.
The dancers will ignore the players, unless the players
interact with them.
• If the players begin to dance themselves, the skel-
etons will gather around them and emulate the
player’s movements.
• If the players sing, the skeletons will try to sing
backup. Though, unfortunately, their voices are
a high pitched screeching which can’t properly
enunciate words at all. Still, they’re trying their
best.
• If the players propose a dancing competition, the
skeletons will gleefully participate, but only for
the sake of more dancing. Once the winner has
run out of interesting ways to dance with whatev-
er prize they were given, they will grow bored and
discard it.
• If forced to move under threat of weapons, the
skeletons will dance while they move.
• If tied up, the skeletons will rhythmically wiggle
in their bonds.
• If the players deal damage to any one of the skele-
tons, it will be destroyed, and all the dancing will
stop. The remaining skeletons will flee from the
players, wailing and crying in their high-pitched
keen. They will cower in whatever corner of the
room is furthest from the attackers, and will not
dance again. If the players return to this room
after some time has passed, they will find the
skeletons standing nearly motionless, shifting
sadly from one foot to the other. They will ignore
the players entirely, even if attacked again. The
dance has lost its luster, and they’ve lost their will
to un-live.
The skeletons provide no experience points.
16
Bladesea Sailing Ship
A massive chamber with a wooden sailing ship
resting on a divot in the floor. The walls and ceiling
of the room are made of heavy glass, allowing any
occupants to look out into an aquarium filled with all
manner of sea life; from the green and leafy kind, to
the toothy and bitey kind. The only obvious entrance
to the room is a 10’x10’ passage through the aquari-
um, which comes in at the level of the ship’s deck—a
good 20’ above the floor.
There is a wooden bridge long enough to cross the 25’
gap between the entrance and the ship’s deck. Unfor-
tunately, it’s suspended from the ceiling by a winch,
and is currently raised 15’ above the entrance. The
mechanism to lower the bridge is on the poop deck of
the ship, next to the steering wheel.
The floor of the room has been painted blue, and is
covered with dozens upon dozens of slits, which run
parallel to the ship. From these, massive 7’ diameter
saw blades (also painted blue) rise and fall in a roll-
ing pattern. Each blade begins to rise from its slit
only after the one before has reached its apex and
begun to recede. This creates the image of rolling sea
of blades on which the ship is sailing. By spending a
turn studying their pattern, a player could easily run
across the floor. However, at best, they’d only have
one chance to climb up the sheer side of the wooden
boat. If they fell, they’d instantly be reduced to bloody
chunks by the sea of steel.
The glass walls are a feat of structural engineering,
rather than a magical contrivance. It’s entirely pos-
sible that they might be shattered by some mundane
means. A few good blows with a sledgehammer, or a
careless area of effect spell would do it. Which isn’t to
say the glass is brittle. It’s not going to break because
someone missed with an arrow and struck the wall
instead, but the breakability of the glass is something
for the referee to keep in mind none the less. And if
the glass does break, note that the aquarium is con-
nected to the sea via multiple passages. So if the glass
breaks, it will flood not only this room, but likely the
whole dungeon as well.
The ship itself is not unusual in any way, save for
being located in a dungeon. There is a wheel for
steering, a two below decks, masts, sails, etc. I have
refrained from populating the ship, as there are sim-
ply too many interesting possibilities. It could be full
of treasure, or inhabited by ghostly sailors, or goblins
who are playing a pirate game as if they were chil-
dren. I personally like the idea that someone wealthy
and powerful within the dungeon uses the ship like
an office or dining hall, with kitchen and stores be-
neath decks. Given its inaccessibility, it could also be
an excellent place to lock up prisoners.
One thing I will note is that while the entrance noted
above is the only horizontal way in or out of this
room, there are two vertical exits. One is a trapdoor
on the ceiling just above the main mast. It can be seen
easily by anyone who looks up, as it stands in contrast
to the aquarium. The other trapdoor is in the bow-
els of the ship, hidden beneath barrels full of grog.
Where either of these trap doors lead (beyond “up”
and “down,”) is up to you.
17
The Steel Beast Throne Room
A decrepit throne room with weeds growing through
cracks in the stonework, and large enough that every
sound echoes. To the west of the room is a massive,
ornately carved archway. To the east is a large bronze
half-globe of the world, with a throne atop it. In the
center of the room is a pool of fetid water, and at each
corner of the pool is a life-sized bronze animal: a
bear, a bull, an ape, and a lion.
There is nothing of note about the pool. It was appar-
ently once a very fine water feature, but now the water
if dark and fetid. The stench of it fills the room, and
nothing beneath the surface is visible. It’s only about 1
foot deep.
The archway to the West depicts a spiritual battlefield.
From one side, an army of angels charges upwards,
and from the other, an army of demons. At the peak
of the arch, the two armies meet, and the gory result
is depicted in explicit detail. Above the battle there
is a scroll carved from stone, which reads: “Atop the
world I rule, beneath the world I will lie. Home will
always find me.”
At the very bottom of the angel side of the arch,
there is a single demon dying of an open wound. The
wound is actually a slit in the wall, just about the right
size for a dagger to fit inside of it. If the players do so,
a secret door will open in the wall, leading to another
room.
The half-globe rising out of the ground to the East
is embossed with similarly masterful skill. Not only
are continents and ocean depicted, but rivers, forests,
roadways, and cities. It’s large enough to be difficult
to climb, with its apex nearly 5’ off the ground. And
there, atop the globe, is a throne. If anyone sits in the
throne, the four metal animals at the corners of the
pool will come to life. The one sitting in the throne
must attempt a saving throw versus Magic. If success-
ful, the animals will remain under their control for as
long as they remain sitting in the throne. If they fail
their save, or get up from the throne without com-
manding the animals to return to sleep, the animals
will turn on them and attack any living creature in the
room.
Elsewhere in the dungeon, or perhaps in the world,
the players may be able to learn of the ancient king,
Barj Volik, who built this place. Among many inter-
esting tidbits of information will be the fact that the
king was originally born in a far away land called
Stonespear Island. If the players locate Stonespear is-
land on the bronze globe, they can press it like a but-
ton. When this is done, seams will appear in several
of the world’s largest rivers, and a bronze panel will
slide away behind the throne, revealing a staircase
down into the tomb of Barj Volik.
18
Battlefield Execution
A small room with a broad curved wall opposite its
only entrance. A mural is painted on the curved wall,
and a damaged statue kneels a few feet away from the
mural, facing anyone who enters the room.
The mural depicts an army of hardened warriors,
stretching halfway to the horizon. Their shadows are
long, indicating that the scene is either early morn-
ing, or late evening. The army is bloody and beaten,
with eyes downcast. The few standards still being
held aloft show a black cloven hoof, wrapped in green
thorns, on a red field. Illusory magics cause a subtle
wind to blow across the field, shifting the grass and
fluttering the flags, to create a truly enrapturing piece
of artwork. The mural is clearly old, and the paint has
started to become chipped and faded, but the image is
still clearly visible.
The kneeling statue is dressed similarly to the war-
riors in the painting behind him. Like his brethren,
the statue’s eyes are downcast, and he appears defeat-
ed. Both of his hands grip the blade of a sword—a
real one, of fine quality—which is held out hilt-first.
A gesture of surrender.
The statue has been painted to match the mural, and
like the mural, the paint has become chipped and
faded with time. Gouges in the stone mar the statue’s
appearance. It seems as though someone brutally at-
tacked the stone man with a sword or an axe. Howev-
er, closer inspection will reveal that there is red paint,
“blood,” in the gouges. What first looks to be damage,
is actually part of the statue’s intended shape.
The sword will not budge from the statue’s hands.
If the players attempt to retrieve it by smashing the
statue, they will discover that it has been magically
warded, and is impervious to all harm. (Another hint
that the gouges are intentional).
The key to this puzzle is knowledge of a battle which
occurred some hundreds of years ago. Any charac-
ters with a basic education, will recognize enough
about the mural to know it depicts an historical event.
The players could be relied upon to research the
battle themselves, but I would recommend making
the information available in some other part of the
dungeon. Perhaps a library with history books in it, a
sage who knows of the battle, or even the mummified
remains of Fulnaf Thornfoot himself.
It was called the Battle of Braeon Ridge, and it
marked the final defeat of Fulnaf Thornfoot’s unstop-
pable armies. Thousands died, Thornfoot himself
notoriously among them, struck down even as he
surrendered. He had come forward to offer the enemy
commander his sword, when the victor plunged a
dagger into the back of the defeated man’s neck. It
was a mark of deep shame, which none the less did
not stop Thornfoot’s foe from rising to a position of
prestige in the war’s aftermath.
If the players examine the statue, they will indeed find
a gouge in the back of the neck. This one, however,
is illusory. The illusion covers a slot, into which any
sword or dagger blade can be inserted. Four inches
into the slot is a toggle, which will loosen the statue’s
grasp, and allow the sword to slide easily free.
The nature of the sword is up to the referee. The
puzzle’s difficulty warrants a magical artifact of some
power. But, if that is not to your taste, it may simply
be a work of great artistic and historical value. Re-
gardless of the sword’s exact nature, it is a marvelous-
ly tantalizing treasure to behold. The blade is unblem-
ished mithril. The cross guard is styled to resemble a
lion, and the hilt is carved with depictions of 6 spear-
men thrusting their weapons up into the lion’s belly.
These carvings are heavily stylized, and beautiful in
their simplicity.
19
Gold Egg Lure
A natural cave, containing several wide shallow pits The nooks, of course, contain the creatures which laid
filled with sludge and golden eggs. The edges of the the golden eggs. They hibernate during their off-
cave are thick with stalagmites, and there are a num- spring’s gestation, but will awaken to any loud noises
ber of nooks in the wall, about 7-10’ off the ground. or strong smells. Like most creatures, they do not take
kindly to seeing their eggs molested.
The eggs are amazing works of art. They’re more
than just gold: geometric patterns are sketched across
the surface, with gemstones and pearls embedded
throughout. Each egg is unique, but on the whole
they resemble the work of an artist who is a minor
celebrity in a nearby city. He produces a few eggs
very much like this every year, and sells them to the
aristocracy.

The slurry packed around the eggs is red, meaty,

and foul smelling. Maggots crawl in it, and flies buzz
above it. The eggs are spaced apart from one another,
such that each egg has a full foot of sludge on every
side. Anyone with basic knowledge of nature will
easily be able to deduce that this was probably done
to insulate the eggs before they hatch, and provide
food for the newborns when they emerge. The meat
itself has been deboned, and shredded to the point of
being unrecognizable. However, players may spot the
occasional nose or eye from wolves, mountain lions,
or humans.
If players examine the stalagmites, they will notice
that one has been intentionally sharpened. The top
half is polished smooth, and rises to an impressive
point. What’s more, around the base of the sharpened
stalagmite are the rotting remains of fetuses. The
creature is unfamiliar, but it’s colored a sickly yellow,
and has too many legs.
If the eggs are warmed up (perhaps by body heat) or
jostled too much (perhaps from being left in some-
one’s bag and carried around), they will hatch. The
creatures that emerge may be infants, but the first
thing they’ll be looking for is the nearest meat they
can dig their teeth into. Hatching will also destroy
their shell, which will still be valuable for its materi-
als, but much less so than it would have been as an art
piece.
Fortunately, the egg can be well preserved, and the
creature inside taken care of, by puncturing the bot-
tom of each egg, and allowing the fluids and fetuses
inside to drain out.

20
T h e F u n n y Te a R o o m
A humid room with at least one door aside from the
entrance. Most of the space is dominated by a swirl-
ing pool of boiling water. There is no reason for the
pool to be boiling or swirling, it simply does those
things because it is magical. Mounted on the wall
is a pegboard where teacups in dozens of different
styles hang from their handles. Some are broken, but
there are plenty that aren’t. At the edge of the pool is
a heavy chain on a winch. The extra door leads to a
storage room filled with barrels.
Each of the barrels contains dried leaves, and is
labeled with a single word burned into its side. The
various words are “Smell,” “Color,” “Taste,” “Sound,”
“Shape,” “Size,” “Visage,” and “Aspect.” The leaves
within the respective barrels have various shapes and
colors, respective to the label of the barrel they are in.
Turning the winch will raise the chain out of the wa-
ter. On the end of the chain are a pair of large spheres
made from a fine wire mesh. Each of the spheres has
a hinge & latch along its equator, allowing them to
be opened and for objects to be placed inside. Cur-
rently, one of the spheres contains a brown mash that
may once have been leaves, while the other contains
a bleached skull. Incidentally, if anyone drinks the
water, their whole body will turn a stark, bleached
white color.
Drinking the tea is always transformative in some
way. The leaves in the storage room determine the
manner of transformation. If “Smell” leaves are used,
then the tea will alter the way the imbiber smells. If
“Visage” leaves are used, the tea will change the way
the imbiber looks. To be used properly, the tea must
also be brewed with a second object. This can be lit-
erally anything, and determines the precise form the
transformation takes. If the second object is an apple,
then combining it with “Smell” leaves will cause an
imbiber to smell like apples, while combining it with
“Taste” leaves would cause the imbiber to taste like
apples. And so on, and so forth.
Obviously, there are many combinations which don’t
make much sense. What happens if the players drink
a concoction made from “Shape” and a chair? What
could the result of “Visage” and a banana possibly
look like? Why would anyone ever want to taste like
anything other than what they are? All of these are
legitimate questions, and I’m certain you’ll have a lot
of fun solving them as they come up. It doesn’t always
have to make sense.
If players combine two different kinds of leaves, they
both work. So if you put “Smell” in one side, and
“Color” in the other, then an imbiber will smell like
the “Color” leaves, and their skin will match the color
of the “Smell” leaves. Similarly, if players put both
“Color” and “Smell” leaves in one side, and a goblin
in the other side, then drinking the tea will cause an
imbiber to take on both the smell and color of the
goblin. Also, the goblin will drown.
“Aspect” is an intentionally vague term. Referees may
adjudicate its use in whatever way is most appealing
to them.
When a character is transformed, then the next time
they would need to consume a ration, they instead
need to pee. When they pee, the tea’s magic leaves
their bodies, and the transformation ends. Referees
are encouraged to come up with complicated rules
for “holding it” in the event the player isn’t ready to
revert back.
21
The Cracked Room
Once upon a time, the floor was probably a single,
smooth piece of concrete. Age has created a lattice-
work of spiderwebbing cracks across its surface. If
the players examine the cracks, they might notice
that they really do look sorta like a spiderweb. Only
a small area in the center of the room is undamaged.
An unassuming statue of a woman stands there.
If the players look at the statue’s face, each will rec-
ognize it as their own mother. If any of them never
knew their own mother, then they see the statue as it
really is: a statue of a woman, with smooth flat stone
where her face should be.
The cracks on the floor are easy to avoid stepping on
if a person specifically tries to do so. The only penalty
is that their movement speed is reduced by half. How-
ever, if anyone attempts to move through the room
without specifying that they would like to avoid the
cracks, the referee should roll a d6. On a result of 1-4,
the character has stepped on a crack, and becomes
stuck. They will feel something pressing in all around
their foot, and they cannot pull away, or even remove
their shoe.
At the same time, the statue of the trapped character’s
mother will appear to break in half at the waist. This
is an illusion that is only seen by the trapped charac-
ter. However, others will see a duplicate of the statue’s
upper body—wearing the face of the trapped charac-
ter’s mother—separate itself from the statue, and fall
to the ground.
As if all that weren’t enough, thousands of tiny green
bugs will erupt from the cracks all around the room.
They’ll descend upon the trapped character, wrapping
their victim’s body in strands of greenish goo, which
will form into a cocoon within 10 minutes. The bugs
are too numerous to be stopped by any mundane
attack—brushing them aside or stomping on them
won’t work. More dramatic forms of destruction, such
as a magical gust of wind, or a fireball, will have some
effect, but there will always be more spiders ready to
crawl out of the cracks.
Anyone who can see through Invisibility will be able
to see that the cracks are filled with a bright green
sludge. It writhes of its own accord, clearly alive, and
is currently oozing up around the feet of its prey.
Once this is visible, it becomes obvious that the green
insects are just tiny parts of this living ooze, which
separate themselves off, then return to the whole once
their task is complete. When a victim is completely
cocooned, the ooze will pull itself up out of the cracks
to envelope its meal. It takes about 30 minutes for the
trapped character to die.
The ooze is impervious to most forms of attack, but
is vulnerable to fire, cold, or salt. Any of these in a
large quantity will kill the creature. Smaller amounts,
such as the fire from a torch, will usually be sufficient
to cause it to recoil, which should be enough to free
someone who has been trapped.
22
T w i s t y Tu r n y H e a d
A circular room, with a stone floor, and walls of
bronze which gently curve inward at the ceiling, as
if the party were standing inside of a giant bell. The
walls may be engraved or otherwise decorated, but
the room itself is empty. The only obvious exit is the
one the players came through.
also cutting off any quick escape back the way they
came. If a monster leaps out at them from some new
opening they reveal, then they must either kill it, or
flee back through the opening the monster came out
of, plunging themselves into the unknown.

If the players tap on the walls, they’ll find them to

be mostly solid. However, there are definite hollows
behind the wall, which echo when tapped. Examina-
tion of the floor will reveal that the wall is resting in
a groove, which goes all the way around the room.
Even across the entryway.

In fact, the bronze bell has a series of ball bearings

mounted on its bottom edge. These allow it to be
turned in the groove, pointing its single opening in
different directions. The bell is heavy and cumber-
some to move, but with concerted effort it can be
done. Not without making a lot of noise, though.

This can be doubly dangerous, because not only is

the party drawing attention to themselves, but they’re

23
The Hanging Crown Dining Hall
A dining hall, with a high table on a raised platform,
and two perpendicular tables below on each side.
Everything in the room is refined: the furniture has
all been made from rich dark woods; tapestries and
murals adorn the walls; and the table surfaces are
covered in carvings of a sumptuous feast. From the
ceiling hang three large chandeliers, one over each
table. Beneath the chandelier at the high table is a
marble throne, where a statue of a king sits. Behind
the king, is a table with five crowns.

Each of the chandeliers is made up of golden rings.

The largest, with diameters of nearly 8’, are on the
bottom. Each higher ring becomes smaller and small-
er, until the topmost ring, which looks to be less than
1’ in diameter. Around the edge of the rings are little
lanterns. These are not lit, but do still have some lamp
oil inside. When they are lit, the chandeliers appear
like cones of light pointing up towards the ceiling.
If the players somehow climb up to the chande-
lier above the statue, they might discover that the
It should be noted that the rings are not solid gold,
smallest of that chandelier’s rings looks unusual. It
but gold plated iron. They are very heavy, and only
is, in fact, a solid gold circlet, simple in design, with
somewhat valuable.
tiny crenelations around its edge. This is the statue’s
crown. If placed upon its head, it will rest perfectly
If the statue of the king is inspected, players will
on the indentation. Once it has been placed, the five
notice that the head is carved with an odd groove
crowns from the table (any which still remain) can be
around the upper edge, as though something is meant
removed from this room, and will no longer turn to
to be mounted there. In the king’s stone hand is a
ash.
stone scroll, which is unfurled across his lap. There is
writing engraved on it:
If anyone attempts to remove statue’s crown from the
room, they must make a saving throw versus Magic,
In my time there were five pretenders to my or be turned instantly to stone. If they succeed on
crown. Each was punished with a long life in a their save, then the crown they hold is turned to stone
dark cell. To each of them, I gifted a crown of instead.
gold and gems, to wear in their solitude. Now
that they and I both have passed on, I will grant
these fools’ crowns to whomever can lower my
own to rest upon my head.

The crowns on the table behind the king are each

unique, and each an example superb craftsmanship.
None of these will fit snugly onto the statue’s head.
All are either too large, or too small. If any of the five
here are taken beyond the room’s entry arch, they will
crumble into ash.

24
The Midas Chest
The walls are brightly painted: sky blue, with a single
stripe of lime green around the room, at about chest
height. On one wall is a steel door with a mural paint-
ed on it. In the center of the room, perpendicular to
the door, is a freestanding stone archway.

The door is massive: 10’ by 10’, and recessed into the

wall, so that no seams or hinges are accessible. It is
warded against any spell use, such as Knock, or Dis-
pel Magic. Forcing the door open would be a work of
herculean effort. There isn’t even a handle, or keyhole.

The only hint as to how the door functions is a mural

painted on it, depicting a knight and a dragon en-
gaged in combat, where the knight very obviously
has the upper hand. A bit of scroll work beneath the
mural reads “Always press the advantage.”

The archway is nondescript. It’s just stones stacked

into an arch, about as wide as a typical doorway, and
maybe a little taller. If anyone steps through the arch,
it will initially appear as if nothing has changed at all.
In point of fact, however, they have been transported
to an alternate version of this room. It is, in almost
every way, exactly the same. However, the mural on
the steel door is slightly different. In this version, it is
the dragon who has the upper hand.
This is not the work of some master craftsperson with
If a players press upon the knight of the first mural, a passion for produce. These vegetables were once
and the dragon of the second mural, the door in both real. The two chests are magically linked together,
versions of the room will slide open, receding down so that if anything is placed in the second chest, and
into the floor, and revealing a small chamber beyond. then both chests are closed, the object will immedi-
ately be transformed, and shift to the first chest. Roll
Within both versions of the chamber is a stone chest, a d12 on the table below to find out how the contents
built into the ground, with a hinged lid. If the players of the chest are changed. If the players use the chest
open the chest in the second version of the room, more than 5 times in a given day, its powers weaken,
they will find nothing. If they open it in the first and they should switch to rolling a d6. Note that the
version of the room, they will find a pile of vegetables transformation only works one way, so if some foolish
made of gold. There is lettuce, potatoes, carrots, and player turns themselves to gold, they are dead.
rutabagas, all of which are rendered with an almost
eerie perfection.

25
 The Midas Chest (1D12 or 1D6)
1 Becomes a deadly poison gas, released when the chest is opened.
2 Crumbles into dust.
3 Is given horrifying, unholy life. Potatoes will be little screaming balls of flesh. Swords become starving
things, wailing for food. A living creature would suffer some dreadful transformation, such as gaining a
second head that is not alive, or losing all of their bones.
4 Becomes a lovely perfume, released when the chest is opened.
5 Transformed into a basic piece of armament. It has no special properties, but will be thematically linked
to whatever it originally was. A copper coin might become a copper shield. A spear of asparagus might
become a literal asparagus spear.
6 Shrinks to 25% of its original size, and turns to silver. The transformation is crude, though, so no one will
be impressed with the craftsmanship of the little silver statue.
7 Turns into a nice painting of whatever it was, set among appropriate surroundings. (A pitchfork would
be depicted leaning against a barn, or held angrily in the hands of a mob.) Could likely be sold for a rea-
sonable amount.
8 Becomes a quiver of 1d6 magic arrows. If these arrows strike a creature, that creature must make a saving
throw versus Magic. If they fail, they will transform into a pile of whatever the object was. So if a spider
is placed into the chest, and a dragon fails their save, the dragon will turn into a thousand-thousand
spiders, which will all scurry away as spiders are wont to do. (If players send a gold coin through, and get
this option, then hunting giants could be VERY profitable).
9 Whatever was placed in the chest becomes a creature of roughly dog-size, with a dog’s intelligence, and a
dog’s loyalty for whomever owned the original object. For most objects, this will require that they grow
arms, legs, eyes, and a mouth, but they will otherwise retain their original shape.
10 The items double in number. If the second chest was filled more than halfway, then when the first chest
is opened, the contents will burst outward with force. None will be damaged from being trapped in a
compressed space, however.
11 The only thing that appears in the first chest is a small circular medallion with a perfectly realistic paint-
ing of the original object on it. Whenever the medallion is held firmly in hand, the wielder will be able to
detect the presence and direction of any similar items within 100’. So if a book is used, then the wielder
gets a medallion of Detect Books.
12 The object is turned to gold. It retains its shape perfectly, and is quite valuable both for its metal, and for
the apparent skill with which it was created.

26
The Fleeing Golem
There is an archway. Beyond it is a long passage, of the illusion is an invisible portal, which subtly
with many doors on either side. The passage extends returns anything that passes through it back to the
beyond the furthest edges of the player’s light source, other end of the hall, just past the archway. If players
no matter now far that light extends. 60’ beyond the look backwards, they will notice that while they can
arch is a strange statue, carved in the rough shape of move away from the arch, they never really get that
a human torso and legs, with no arms or head. It’s a far away, and it occasionally “pops up” just behind
bulky thing, with flat surfaces and sharp corners. The them. They can easily leave at any time.
body is facing away from the arch, but it has a face
carved into it’s back. The eyes of the face are deep It should be noted that the Golem is only capable of
black cavities. The mouth is large and open, with a moving relative to other people’s movement, and that
marvelous treasure resting on its tongue. A valuable it can only see movement within the field of view
gem is easiest, but a key or a magic item would proba- of the eyes carved into its back. So if a single player
bly be more fun. chases the golem, while the others remain still, the
golem will eventually run through the portal, and can
If anyone passes be caught by the waiting players. Once caught, the
beneath the arch, golem has no means either to defend itself, or attack
the statue will its captors. It cannot even use Dimension Door unless
spring to life. The it sees other magics being cast with its eyes.
face and expres-
sion will remain Once the treasure is removed from the golem’s
still as stone, mouth, a Dispel Magic effect will erupt outwards,
but the legs will causing the golem to return to simple stone, and
begin to move destroying both the illusion, and the portal at the end
away, matching of the hallway.
the intruders
step for step. No
matter how fast it
is chased, it will
keep itself about
60’ ahead, even
if that means
moving at seem-
ingly impossible
speeds, and all the
while the hallway
extends on and on. This strange golem is also able to
cast the spell Dimension Door, which it will use to
escape anyone who attempts some form of instanta-
neous magical travel.

Truthfully, the hallway is not very long at all. A few

feet before the hallway ends, there is a powerful illu-
sion which makes it appear to extend off into the dis-
tance. The illusion is nearly perfect, but is completely
insubstantial, and if it could be reached, it could be
walked through easily. However, a few inches in front

27
Staircas e of Hunger
A tall, cylindrical room, 40’ in diameter, and at least and can be retrieved easily. The rest remain inside the
100’ tall. A staircase, 5’ wide, gently winds its way hollow bird, and must be fished out somehow.
around the edge of the room. The steps are broad, and
the slope is so gentle that using the stairs forces a per- Unfortunately, it’s not easy getting a coin into the
son into an awkward gait. There isn’t any railing, and statue’s mouth. The whole center of the room, starting
anyone who approaches the edge will begin to feel just near the edge of the stairway, is affected by grav-
very heavy, and dizzy. Not so much that they might ity at ten times the normal rate. Any item tossed over
fall unintentionally, but enough that they’ll quickly the edge of the stairs will suddenly become ten times
stumble back to safety, away from the edge. heavier, and arc downward much more quickly than
would be expected. Likewise, any character who falls
In the center of the from the stairs will suffer damage as though they had
room is a column fallen ten times further than they had.
which rises about
half as high as the The bottom 10’ of the chamber are not affected by this
staircase does. Atop enchantment, so that players who reach the bottom of
the column is a stat- the stairs are free to walk around normally.
ue of a man, twice
life sized. He is
emaciated, starving,
and in great pain.
His arms are spread
wide, as if beseech-
ing the gods to end
his suffering. His
head is tilted back
in a silent, eternal
moan. At the man’s
feet is a feast: roast
bird, a cask of wine,
plates of fruit and
fish. It all looks so
appetizing that you might be tempted to take a bite,
despite the dull gray stone it is carved from.

If the players position themselves so they can look

into the statue’s mouth, they will see a glint of gold.
Closer inspection reveals that the statue has a gold
tongue inside its mouth.

If any amount of gold is dropped into the mouth, it

will melt, and fuse with the golden tongue. When
this happens, a loud clicking sound will echo through
the cylindrical room: one of the roast bird’s legs has
twisted up like a lever. If pulled, the leg will come off,
revealing twenty brilliant green emeralds, worth 50
gp each. 1D20 of these will fall out to the floor below

28
Shockfloor Crypt
From each entrance, a set of stairs lead down into this
room. It must be lower than other rooms on the same
level, because the floor is beneath 4’ of water. The
water is cool and clear, enough that the floor is clearly
visible. There are no deadly creatures lurking in the
water, and it appears to be nominally safe.
The room
contains four
sarcophagi.
The lids of each
are exactly
level with the
water, such
that if they are
removed, the
water will not
flow into the
coffins, but any
movement may
cause little waves to splash the bodies within. Built
into the top of each lid is a marble statue. There’s an
open book, a sword, a large rat, and a feast.
Players entering the room will also notice a set of
three rods embedded in the center of the ceiling.
They are 3’ long, and arranged like the points of a
triangle. One of the rods is gold, one is silver, and one
is copper.
If any of the sarcophagi are opened, the copper rod
will send a bolt of lightning down into the water.
Anyone standing in the water, or who is touching the
rods, will be struck by lighting. This deals 6d6 dam-
age. Players may make a saving throw versus Breath
for half damage.
If anyone manages to get up to the rods, they can be
removed easily enough. However, if they are not re-
moved in the proper order, the lightning will activate.
The only way to avoid this is to remove the silver rod
first, the copper rod second, and the gold rod third.
Once removed from the ceiling, the lightning will no
longer activate under any circumstances. The rods
themselves have no magical properties, but are highly
valuable. The copper rod is worth 50gp, the silver rod
is worth 200gp, and the gold rod is worth 800 gp.
Book: If the players examine the stone book, they
will find the pages have a strange sort of writing on
them. A magic user will recognize it as random script.
If they study it for 10 minutes, they will discover that
it is a scroll of Knock. Once deciphered, the book
can be used to cast the spell an unlimited number
of times. If any attempt is made to remove the book
from the top of the sarcophagus, the it will crack, and
become unusable.
Within the sarcophagus is the desiccated body of a
woman. On the underside of the lid is a metal dial
which, when turned, causes the pages of the stone
book to flip. On the new page revealed by the dial are
the words: “Silver is first, followed by copper. Gold is
last.”
Rat: The rat appears feral and mangy. This does
not depict a friendly pet, but a creature of the sewers.
If opened, a blue-gray smoke flows out of the cof-
fin. Anyone within 5 feet must make a saving throw
versus Poison. Failure causes the victim’s muscles to
become limp and unresponsive for 10 minutes. If no
one is around to pull them to safety, they will drown
in the water. Within the coffin is the desiccated corpse
of a man.
Sword: Deeper than the other coffins, this one
is packed tightly with bones. They’ve been neatly
stacked according to type: femurs with femurs, ribs
with ribs, skulls with skulls. It would be difficult to tell
at a glance, but there are exactly enough bones here
for 8 humans. If the copper rod in the ceiling emits
a lightning bolt when this sarcophagus is already
open, the bolt avoids the water, and instead strikes the
bones. This causes the bones to fly out, and arrange
themselves into 8 animated skeletons. These skele-
tons have two more hit dice than normal, and deal an
extra die of electricity damage when they attack.
Feast: Contains the desiccated remains of a wom-
an. Beneath her corpse is a lever which, if pulled,
reveals a secret trap door at the bottom of the sar-
cophagus, which opens onto a stairway leading down
to the next level of the dungeon.
29
Skeletal Assembly Room
There is a secret door in the middle of a corridor
wall, without any environmental clues that it exists.
The players will probably never find it unless they
happen to encounter one of its many skeletal workers
out and about. The skeletons wander the dungeon,
collecting bits of metal: lengths of chain, doorknobs,
coat hangers, etc. When encountered, they will show
no interest in the party. Their only concern is to get
their armload of metal back through the secret door
as quick as they can. If the players choose to follow
long enough to see the skeleton duck through the
secret door, it will be simple for them to get it open
themselves.
Within is a soundproof room, cacophonous with
roaring flames, clanging hammers, and rattling bones.
There are dozens of skeletons within, working in an
assembly line with rote efficiency. None of them will
pay any attention to intruders.
Immediately within the room is a pile of metal refuse:
dead adventurer armor, belt buckles goblin spears,
and so on. Skeletons swarm over the pile, disassem-
bling each piece, discarding bits that aren’t useful,
and sorting whatever is left. Some of it is tossed into
wheelbarrows, which are
carried by other skeletons
out of other secret doors,
and sped off to other
rooms similar to this one
hidden elsewhere in the
dungeon.
The steel that remains is systematically melted down,
poured into molds, shaped into the component parts
of swords, hammered into shape, cooled in water,
tempered, and tossed onto a conveyor belt, where
other skeletons will assemble the various parts into
completed weapons. The leather for wrapping the
handles is carried in periodically by a blood covered
skeleton from another room. It appears to me made
from the skin of various dungeon denizens. Once the
whole process is complete, the swords are dropped
into a mysterious chute, and can be heard sliding
against stone for a long while, descending into some
unknown depths for an unknown purpose. The only
clue is a maker’s mark, carved into each blade just
before they’re sent below.
The worker skeletons will ignore the players indef-
initely. They are completely focused on their work,
so that even if they are attacked, they will continue
trying to do their jobs with whatever faculty is left to
them. That being said, the skeletal assembly line is
reliably flawless. So the moment production falters
even slightly, it will be noticed.
30
Fallback Corridor
On either side of a hallway is a row of bronze stat- If everything goes to plan, the Halflings should be
ues, depicting peasant workers. The statues are about able to kill the intruders quickly, loot their bodies,
twice life sized, and all are standing in the same pose, and rest the trap for whatever comes through next.
holding ropes as though they were working togeth-
er to hoist some heavy object. They’re holding real
ropes, which trail up to the ceiling where they sup-
port chandeliers.

It won’t be obvious from any

cursory inspection, but there’s
one fewer of the chandeliers
than there are statues hold-
ing ropes. That extra statue
is actually supporting a large
heavy tarp, with iron weights
around its edges. It’s darkly
colored enough to blend in
with the ceiling, such that
nobody would notice it unless
they were specifically looking.

If the players examine the

statues more closely, they
might notice a number of
oddities. Each statue’s hands cleverly disguise a pair
of mechanisms: a pulley in one, and a clamp in the
other. Each statue also has a few missing teeth, and is
hollow. However, nothing can be seen inside. (There
is a black cloth behind the teeth, but this is impossible
to see). Players who examine a little more closely may
also discover a circular hatch down between each
statue’s legs. The hatches are sealed from the inside,
and could only be opened with a great deal of effort
and damage to the statue.

If players fail to notice all of these suspicious details,

they may wander past the statues, under the heavy
weighted tarp. At the most opportune moment, the
clamp-hand holding the tarp aloft will release, and it
will drop down onto the unsuspecting players below.
A moment later, the hatches at the bottom of each
statue will slide open, and Halflings wielding long,
wicked daggers will emerge. Half of them will attack
anyone who wasn’t caught by the tarp, while the other
half sprint to the tarp, where they will stab any lumps
large enough to be people.

31
Sepulcher of the Order of the Gavel
A circular room, with a floor made of steep terraces,
descending towards the center, like an amphitheater.
There are no stairs, but each terrace is only about 4
feet lower than the one above it, so climbing up and
down is cumbersome, but not challenging.
Around each
terrace are sets
of gray ceramic
urns, about 2 feet
tall. Each one has
between 1 and
3 horizontal red
stripes painted
around its cir-
cumference, and
is marked by a
plaque. The plaques are written in Latin, and offer
brief epitaphs for whomever’s remains are in the urn.
Characters who don’t read Latin will still be able to
pick out the date of death listed on each plaque. The
higher tiers have urns as recent as about 120 years
ago, while the lowest tiers go back about 300.
This is the Sepulcher of the Order of the Gavel, a
group of paladins which no longer exist. For some
reason, the room has been undisturbed until now.
Perhaps it has a lingering sanctity that wards off mon-
sters, or perhaps it was just well hidden.
There is nothing here to indicate it, but referees
should know that urns with 3 stripes contain fallen
heroes of the order. Urns with 2 stripes contain the
mixed ashes of those who were not honored with a
3-strip urn of their own. Urns with a single stripe
contain the ashes of evil people and creatures which
the order put to rest. For each urn the players exam-
ine, roll a d4.
1-2 1 Stripe (evildoer)
3 2 Stripes (mixed paladins)
4 3 Stripes (great hero).
Players who open the urns looking for treasure will
find a lot of ash, and 6 silver pieces in each one.
Occasionally, they may find something more. Roll a
d20 for each urn opened:
1-12 Nothing
13-18 (3 Stripe) 1d6 * 10 gold coins. (2 Stripe)
1d6 * 100 silver coins (1 Stripe) Poison
gas.
19-20 (2 & 3 Stripe) A minor magic item with
limited charges. (1 Stripe) An angry spirit,
released unto the world. Will flee the tomb
and cause havoc out in the world.
The bottom level of the terrace has a steel trapdoor
with a heavy latch. An engraving on the door reads
“He Who Was First.” The latch is not locked, but it
takes a bit of effort to get it open. Within is a mum-
mified corpse standing upright. The wrappings are
still tight, and the body seems well preserved. It’s light
enough to easily lift out if the players want to do so.
If he is re-
moved, the
mummy will
be temporarily
reanimated by
positive energy. If anyone present can reasonably be
described as “evil,” the mummy will tear his wrap-
pings off, and attack with a sanctified long sword
that glows a brilliant yellow. If no evil characters are
present, the mummy will introduce himself as Hassid
Jafar, and question the party thoroughly about why
they’ve chosen to loot the sepulcher of his order. If
the players cite sufficient need, Hassid will explain
that they should open the urns with 2 and 3 stripes,
but avoid the ones with only a single stripe. He will
also tell the players about a false bottom to the tomb
they pulled him from. When opened, this reveals an
assortment of coins, gems, and probably some magic
items.
If the players cannot convince Hassid of the nobili-
ty of their looting, he will ask them to leave. If they
refuse, or if he catches them in a lie, he will attack as
vigorously as if they were evil.
32
T h e We t P a s s a g e
A hidden junction, where distant parts of the dun- Note that once the open fountain is determined, it
geon intersect. If the players discover this room, they will not change unless someone turns the bust de-
they can use it to pass quickly between locations scribed below.
which are otherwise many encounter checks apart
from one another. Depending on whether or not the Beyond the grate is an underwater tunnel carved
dungeon’s denizens are aware of it, the room can also from natural stone. It is possible to reach the other
serve as a safe haven where players can rest, enjoy end of the tunnel before drowning becomes an issue,
rations, and regain spells. but armored or otherwise overburdened characters
may be in danger if they attempt the swim without
Any room con- first unencumbering themselves. If the players did not
nected to this enter through the proper open fountain, and instead
junction will found some way to tear up the blocking stone, they
have a fountain will find another stone on the other end of the tunnel,
in it. Each of trapping them underwater unless they turn back the
these will be way they came.
functioning
properly, filled On the other side of the tunnel is a natural cave, filled
with clean, with water. In the center is an island, about 30’ in di-
flowing water. ameter. It’s muddy and wet, but there’s enough room
Aside from that, to stretch out for a rest. In the center of the island is
the individual a little column, with a bust of a stately old woman on
fountains may it. If lifted off the base, players will discover a star-
be very different from one another. They can be mid shaped protrusion on the top of the column, which
sized things up against the wall, or massive water fits neatly into a star shaped cavity in the base of the
features that dominate the room. statuette. If the bust is turned, whichever passage it
points to will open, and all the others will close.
When players
first examine one
of these foun-
tains, the referee
should roll a
die to random-
ly determine
which fountain
is currently the
open one. If it
ends up being
the one the players are examining, they will find a
hinged grate, large enough for a single adult human
to squeeze through. Otherwise they will simply notice
the conspicuous absence of any obvious drain. Fur-
ther exploration may reveal a square bit of stone,
offset just slightly, so that water can flow past it, and
through the grate beyond.

33
Blast Door Room
A circular room with wooden doors all around its
circumference, spaced evenly apart. The floor gently
slopes down towards an 18” hole at the center. The
walls of the room are mostly in good condition, save
for conspicuous bits of cracked, crumbling stone
between most of the doors.
The hole in the center of the floor leads down to a
smooth chute, which descends for about 3 feet, before
gently curving off into darkness.
strike the wall on the opposite side. Players standing
in the way are liable to be injured. Players who open
doors with too much caution (“I open the door a
crack and peek inside”) are liable to turn the wooden
doors into an expanding cloud of dangerous shrapnel.
Once the cannonballs have hit whatever they’re going
to hit, they’ll land on the ground, roll into the hole in
the center of the floor, and the cannon will be reload-
ed via a complex mechanism behind the walls.
If players open the door across from the undamaged
section of wall, the cannonball will blast through it,
rather than merely damaging it. The hole will reveal a
secret hallway, leading to other parts of the dungeon.
Depending on what sort of dungeon this is, there
may or may not be creatures who will fix up the room
when nobody is looking, replacing any busted doors,
and bricking the wall back up. Players may return to
find their way out blocked!

The cracked and crumbling sections of the wall don’t

appear to be from erosion, or other natural cause.
Rather, there are dents in the wall, and debris on the
ground. Each section of damage is also constrained to
a pretty small area of wall, roughly 2 feet in diameter.
It looks like impact damage, like what you might see
from a sledgehammer.

While it should not be revealed too easily, players

who ask the right questions may discover that each
section of wall damage is directly across from one of
the doors. Such clever players may also discover that
there is only one section of wall between two doors
that has no damage. Tapping on this wall will reveal
that it is not as thick as the rest of the room’s walls.

Behind each door is a cannon, rigged so it will fire a

moment after the door is opened, and will fire a 17”
cannonball straight through the center of the room to

34
The Realm of the Rot God
An open pit, intersecting with at least 4-6 vertical
levels of the dungeon. It swarms with cow-sized flies,
which live in fetid nests in the walls. These nests may
occasionally lead to other parts of the dungeon, but
getting to them is difficult for anyone who can’t fly.
Even the most experienced climber will have difficul-
ty reaching them while fending off probing attacks
from the flies. More often than not, there isn’t even
anything to find in these nests. Just oversize maggots
and rotting food.
mer on a golden chain. Long ago, a cleric performed
a ritual here, which bound the Rot God and all of its
minions to this pit. If this holy symbol is removed,
the binding ritual will be undone, and the Rot God
will be free to extend its feculence across the world.
Fortunately, the hammer is warded against anyone
who worships the Rot God. They cannot see it, move
within 1’ of it, touch it, or even communicate about
it to non-worshipers. They know it’s here somewhere,
but will never be able to find it.

Spanning the pit is a bridge, which is how the players
will probably encounter the room. The crossing is
sturdy, but narrow at only 6’ wide, and has no rail-
ings. The flies, for the most part, have better things
to do than attack passers by. Even if they do attack,
they never pursue anyone beyond this room. As such,
walking from one side to the other is simple, so long
as a person doesn’t dawdle.
Of course, so long as the players don’t devote them-
selves to the Rot God (simple offerings are not suf-
ficient), they will be able to find, touch, and remove
the hammer. If that happens, the Rot God will begin
to grow, spreading out into nearby areas unless some
new means of containing it is devised.

The Rot God lives at the bottom of the pit. It is a fec-

ulent stew, oozing from a heap of mushy sludge. Any
who touch the Rot God must make a saving throw
versus Poison, or immediately rot away to nothing.
The flies are servants of the Rot God, and are immune
to this danger.

Glinting among the filth are fabulous treasures of

gold, gems, and things even finer. The Rot God cares
nothing for these objects. They were thrown to him
by fools, hoping to win the god’s favor by assuming
it shared their pitiful human avarice. The only way to
gain the approval of the Rot God is to feed it: banana
peels, dead bodies, poop. If it can be composted, it
is a worthy gift for the Rot God, and favors will be
granted in return. For minor offerings, safe passage
through the room will be allowed. For particularly
impressive offerings, the Rot God may quietly en-
chant a person’s weapons. For 1d6 exploration turns,
anyone hit by the weapons will need to make a saving
throw versus Poison at a +6 bonus. On failure, they
will rot away to nothing, as if they had touched the
Rot God itself.

On the underside of the bridge, at the very center, is

a small iron hook. Hanging from it is a golden ham-

35
The Impossible Room
There’s a trapdoor in the middle of a catwalk, held
shut with 3 heavy iron latches. The door is hinged so
that it opens inwards, which doesn’t really make sense
with the geometry of the room. The trapdoor isn’t
visible from the other side, and the catwalk isn’t deep
enough for the door to open into it.
If the latches are undone, the door will immediately
be pulled open. Beyond the door is a room which
must exist in extradimensional space. Before the door
was opened, the room was a vacuum. Now, as air
rushes in, anyone standing nearby must make a sav-
ing throw versus Paralyzation, or be sucked straight
down onto a bed of spikes 10’ below.
The room is oddly shaped, and the referee may want
to draw it for the players, rather than attempting to
describe it. It’s roughly trapezoidal in, with the nar-
row wall being curved inward. On the narrow curved
wall is a shelf. On the shelf, is a leather purse, con-
taining 41 pieces of silver. Aside from that, the only
thing in the room are the spikes. Most of these come
from the floor, although one is actually mounted near
the base of the wall, and rises at an angle to point
upwards with the rest.
If the players examine the wall spike, they will discov-
er that it’s slightly wobbly. If they pull on it, it will pop
out of its perch, and can be turned like a lever. When
it’s turned, the shelf and the floor spikes will all re-
tract. Then, the floor and narrow wall will rotate, and
anyone in the room will need to walk opposite the
floor’s rotation if they want to avoid being bumped
into the wall.
If the lever is pulled to the right, the room will turn
to reveal a shelf with a bible on it. If the lever is pulled
to the left, the room will turn to reveal some writing
on the floor. The room cannot be rotated any further
than one space to either side.
The writing reads: “Matthew [Slot] : [Slot] ‘What are
you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?’
And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.” The
slots are literal vertical slits in the floor’s surface, just
the right size to insert a coin. If players spend some
time studying the bible, they can easily discover that
this text matches the book of Matthew, Chapter 26,
verse 15.
If 26 silver coins are inserted into the first slot, and
15 silver coins are inserted into the second slot, the
floor will immediately begin to rotate again. This final
segment of the room reveals an iron trapdoor with a
barred window. Within is a devil, who will demand
to be let free. If demands don’t work, the devil will
try intimidation. If intimidation doesn’t work, it will
offer a bargain: a Wish to whomever frees it. (A single
Wish is the limit of its ability).
The lock is not particularly difficult to get open,
although it will need to be picked. There’s no key
around, and the door is magically warded against be-
ing opened by brute force. Once freed, the devil will
not harm anyone who does not attack it, and will deal
fairly with regards to the Wish. After completing that
obligation, it will leave, and the world will become
just a little worse for everyone else.
36
Harem of Zhirok the Cloistered
A sumptuous room filled with feather-stuffed couch-
es, scented baths, and burning incense. Within are 22
attractive men, lounging about, and making bored
chit-chat with one another. All of them are dressed
provocatively.
If any male characters enter the room, the consorts
will leap up to lavish the intruders with attention.
They are eager to serve, and will do anything it takes
to please a man. If any man shows them special at-
tention, they’ll begin to follow him around like a lost
puppy. If the consorts must acknowledge a woman,
they’ll do it rudely.
All of the consorts are undead. They are perfectly pre-
served to have the appearance of life, with no special
powers, hungers, or negative abilities. They are cold
to the touch, and have no pulse or breath, nor do they
really have any remnant of whatever their original
personalities were. They are, essentially, sexbots, pro-
grammed with enough intelligence to know how to
be pleasing, but are not really good at doing anything
that isn’t sensual.
Their master, Zhirok, has been dead for over a cen-
tury now. They miss having someone whose pleasure
they could take joy in. They are reluctant even to
allow the party to leave, assuming the party has men
in it. They may go so far as to obstruct their depar-
ture, but lack the skill or temperament to actually
force anyone to stay. Instead, they will beg to be taken
along by the party. They cannot leave this room on
their own, or they would immediately burn to ash
from the inside out, but if they are tending to a guest
(which the intruders kinda are) they are free to follow
them out of the room, though not beyond this floor
of the dungeon unless the guest has an official invita-
tion from Zhirok. (Such an invitation may be a useful
treasure to place elsewhere in the dungeon. The con-
sorts may even know where to find it).
Outside the room, the consorts will be faithful follow-
ers, happy to attempt any task regardless of how dan-
gerous or gross it may be. However, unless the task is
exceedingly simple, or sexual in nature, there’s a good
chance the consorts will not be able to perform it.
37
B e d c h a m b e r o f t h e Va m p i r e
A modest stone room thick with flies. The floor is
covered with dead bodies in various stages of de-
composition, strewn about into careless heaps, with
stumble-paths between points of interest. The whole
thing looks like the messy bedroom of a psychopathic
child. The paths lead from the door, to a desk, and
from there to an armoire, and from there to a coffin.
space. Up on the ceiling above them is a coffin-shaped
portal, through which they can see the inside of the
empty coffin. The only way out of this room is to get
back up out through that portal. (This, of course, is
simple for a vampire. They can fly, turn into bats,
or just walk on walls. For a human, getting out may
prove trickier).

There is nothing of particular note about the desk
or the armoire. They contain much what you might
expect: some letters, some candles, some clothes. The
coffin is on a plinth on the far side of the room, oppo-
site the door. All the furniture is of high quality, made
from a black lacquered wood with gold trim.
There is nothing of value among the corpses, save
perhaps the solutions to a number of missing persons
cases. Each has been exsanguinated, and is covered
in little pairs of puncture wounds If the players spend
any time examining the heaps, (or, if they linger by
the armoire for a bit), they’ll hear the rasping whisper
of a man who is just barely still living.
Around the bed is a small room, with only a few ame-
nities. There is a wash basin filled with blood, a circle
of sulfur for communicating with hell, and twelve
future meals struggling against the chains that hold
them to the wall. Eleven of these will be overjoyed at
the possibility of escape. One is secretly a golemic se-
curity system, placed here intentionally to betray any
attempted escapes. He’s very convincing as a human,
save for some awkwardly long pauses in his speech.

He’s too far gone to be saved. In fact, he only has just

enough time left to say a cumulative total of 8 words.
Depending on how the referee wants to play it, and
how the party reacts to him, those 8 words might
form a single sentence, or eight one-word statements.
He has accepted death, and the only thing he cares
about now is his older brother, who is still alive with-
in the coffin. He wants his brother to be saved.

If players examine the coffin, there is no one inside

of it. There is a false bottom which they may discover
if they go looking. Beneath is an emergency fund of
100 gold coins. Beneath that is a second false bottom,
which hides a revolver, 12 bullets, and a short sword.
Beneath that is even a third false bottom, which is
a trap. If opened, the third false bottom releases a
swarm of undead rats, all riddled with disease.

The only way to find the dying man’s brother is

actually to climb inside of the coffin, and close it.
As soon as the lid closes, the person within will feel
themselves drop a few feet, to land comfortably on a
sumptuous feather bed, hidden in extradimensional

38
T h e A l c h e m i s t ’s L a b o r a t o r y
A circular room, empty save for a laboratory of
alchemical equipment in the middle. The floor rises
slightly towards the center, so that the lab is a good 3
feet higher than the room’s entrance. The whole area
outside the lab is remarkably clean. There isn’t a stray
pebble, or even any dust on the floor. The ceiling is
covered in sharp metal stalactites, carrying between
2-4 feet long.
If players observe the room for any length of time,
they will notice little black forms which occasionally
pop out of cracks, search around, then retreat back
out of sight. If these insects discover any detritus,
they’ll pull it back into their nest with them. If an
item is too large to fit, a swarm will emerge and try to
break it down. If it’s inorganic, they won’t be able to,
and will eventually give up and just leave it where it
is.
Ceiling-watchers will also spot some skeletons amidst
the spikes. It’s difficult to tell how they stay up there,
but the spikes are densely packed enough that they
may just be wedged in place. If the players decide to
examine the skeletons more carefully, however, they
will realize that this is certainly not the case. There
are several bones which are clearly resting against the
ceiling, without anything holding them there.
Most of this room is under a permanent Reverse
Gravity effect. The only place where gravity functions
normally is at the alchemy lab in the center, and in
a 3’ ring around the outer edge of the room. Every-
where else, gravity will pull up instead of down, and
anyone caught in this gravity’s pull wall fall onto the
ceiling spikes. Once there, it won’t be long before the
little black insects smell blood, and emerge to break
down the impaled character, and drag little chunks of
meat back into their nests.
Note that nothing in the laboratory is fixed to the
ground, nor is any of it heavy enough to support a
grown person’s weight if they try to grapple to it.
The alchemical lab contains many treasures that will
be highly valuable, if they can be extracted safely
from the room. In addition to a full array of alchem-
ical equipment, there is a shelf of books, two chests,
and an ornate stone chair.
The books are a vast store of alchemical knowledge.
Among the books is the secret of creating a colony of
Tidy Homunculi, (the creatures who keep this room
so clean). Beyond that, there is enough material here
that players may freely ask the referee 12 questions
about alchemy, if they take the time to read it.
The first chest contains assorted bars of metal, for use
as alchemical materials. Most of these are not terribly
valuable: bars of lead, tin, and pyrite. But there is also
gold, silver, copper, and even a bar of platinum. The
second chest holds an array of potions with varied
and bizarre effects.
The stone chair is a “Thinking Throne,” which grants
a bonus to any intellectual pursuits attempted while
sitting in it.
39
We i r d Wa r p e d E x p l o s i o n R o o m
A large stone room, completely empty save for a few
square yards at the center, where there’s a chest, a
statue, and four freestanding walls. Around these, the
floor and ceiling are blackened with soot and scorch-
marks, reaching almost halfway to the outer walls.
The chest is large, and brown. Once, four statues
stood around it, one on each side. Now, only one
remains, and all that’s left of the other three are stone
feet broken off at the ankles. The four freestanding
walls are each positioned about 5’ behind the statues
(or, where the statues were). It’s important to note
that there is soot on the back side of these walls, as
well as on the sides facing the chest. There is also no
clean spot on the floor behind the walls. Whatever
conflagration blackened all the stone, the walls appar-
ently offered no protection from it.
The statue is another matter. It’s a construction of
white marble, and it’s completely pristine. There isn’t
even the faintest hint of soot or scorch on it, front or
back. The wall behind the statue also has a clean spot
on it, shaped like the statue’s outline. A sort of inverse
shadow. If the players check the decapitated stone
feet of the other four statues, they will find that those,
also, are clean and white, and that the walls behind
each of them similarly have an outline of clean, spot-
less space in the shape of a person.
Each of the statues, apparently, was originally in
some ridiculous pose. The one that is still standing
is simplest, with its legs apart and its hands planted
firmly on its hips. The shapes of the rest can only be
guessed at from the outlines they left on the walls, but
it appears that one had an arm curled up and another
curled down as if imitating a monkey. Another was
up on its tip toes, with arms splayed above its head, as
if diving into the sky. The last was standing on one leg
with its arms up, as if in preparation for a Crane kick.
40
We i r d Wa r p e d E x p l o s i o n R o o m
The chest is neither locked, nor even latched. Open-
ing it is as simple as pushing on the lid. Unsurpris-
ingly, a moment after the chest is opened, a massive
ball of fire expands outwards, burning everything
around it. Hiding behind the freestanding walls will
not protect you. The magic fire wraps around them,
searching for anyone foolish enough to hide there.
Only characters who stand behind the statues, in the
correct poses, will be safe. Even if those statues are no
longer present.
Once the flames subside, if anyone was burned by
them, the players can loot the brown chest. It is full of
coal. However, if no one was burned, then the players
will notice that the chest has changed color.
If the players managed to open the chest and take no
damage, without anyone hiding behind the statues
at all, then the chest is white. Within is a note which
expresses shock that anyone was able to do that, and
congratulations on being so clever. The note goes on
to explain exactly how the chests work, and is signed
“Hugo, The Trapetier” It is dated about three hun-
dred years ago. The white chest also contains Hugo’s
journals and schematics. Among scholars, he is well
known as a master engineer, and many of his accom-
plishments remain inscrutable, even 300 years after
his passing. The records in this chest are priceless.

If only one person was hiding behind a statue, the

chest is red. It’s full of silver coins, (or whatever your
standard currency is) which amounts to roughly
3,400sp.

If there were two people behind statues, the chest is

green. It’s packed with hay to keep the six alchemical
grenades inside safe. They’re clear glass spheres, with
a yellow liquid inside. When thrown, they produce an
instant fireball.

If there were three people behind statues, the chest

is yellow. It’s half full with golden coins, (or what-
ever your better-than-standard currency is), which
amounts to roughly 1,700gp (85,000sp).

If all four statues had a person behind them, the

chest is black. Within is a set of magic tomes, useful
for research. On top of the books is a scroll, which
describes a spell called Warn the Past, that could be
learned by a magic user. When cast, the caster travels
1 hour back in time. Once there, they cannot move
from their location, and have only 60 seconds before
the spell automatically returns them to the present.
When the spell ends, the referee decides how their
actions changed the past hour of the game, if it was
changed at all.

41
Gold Entrance Pillar
A spiral staircase, which winds its way around a pillar
of soft, pliable gold. It’s a shocking amount of gold
to be left out in the open, enough to make a person
fabulously wealthy if it could be retrieved. The pillar
is too heavy to move, though, and firmly mounted
to the floor and ceiling at both ends of the staircase.
Even if it could be moved, it’s too big to fit through
any of the doorways. Retrieving it will either mean
chopping it into smaller pieces, or tearing the whole
dungeon down around it.
Covering the surface of the pillar are a series of little
gouges and scrapes. It looks like others who have
been here before have chipped off parts of the pillar
using knives or chisels.
If the players follow suit, chipping off their own bit of
gold, that gold will transform into a little baby snake,
and will bite whomever holds it. The player must
make a saving throw versus Poison, and if they fail,
any valuable metals they touch within the next week
will rot away to worthless slag.
Whether the save is successful or not, the snake will
immediately try to escape out into the dungeon, mov-
ing with spiderlike swiftness. 1d4 weeks from now,
the snake will grow to maturity, and will hunt down
the one who created it. With its metal bite, and aura
of avarice, it is a fearsome foe.
If the players take the time to leave a warning on
the pillar (perhaps carving it into the gold itself),
the negative consequences of taking a chunk will be
neutralized. The goldrot curse immediately ends for
any character who failed their saving throw, and the
vengeful snake will find other pursuits to pass the
time, forgetting all about attacking their creator.
Surprisingly, no one has yet thought to leave any
warning.
42
The Bronze Giant
A titanic chamber that contains a whole ecosystem
of surface life, like some kind of dungeon biodome.
There’s a boulder embedded in the ceiling that glows
with enough light and heat to emulate the sun. On
the ground below, there’s a field of grass, a copse of
trees, and even a river feeding into a pond. Among
the trees is a bronze statue, towering over the minia-
ture paradise like god in Eden. Off to the side are a
few buildings, arranged like a small town.
The natural features of the room work more or less
as you would expect them to. There are birds in the
trees, mice in the
grass, and fish in the
pond. The river is
fed by a little water-
fall, which comes
through an opening
in the wall, at the top
of a pile of rocks. It’s
actually an artificial
outflow of a natural
underground river.
The buildings are
well made, nicely
furnished, and com-
pletely empty. There
are a few homes, a
blacksmith, and a
church with a little
fenced yard.
The bronze statue depicts a naked man. One of his
hands holds an open book, while the other is raised
high above his head as if gesturing towards the
heavens. One of the trees in the forest has grown up
between his legs to conveniently cover his junk, but
he is anatomically correct. Players who are childishly
curious about this will be rewarded when they dis-
cover that not only does he have a dick, but that his
dick is quite obviously a lever.
If the lever is pulled, the statue’s upraised arm will
begin to extend as it turns at the shoulder, until
the open hand is resting near the ground. It’s large
enough to fit 2-3 people at a time. The thumb of the
hand is also an obvious lever, and if pulled, will raise
the hand (and anyone riding it) up to the surface of
the open book. The hand will then wait there, and if
the thumb lever is pushed back, the hand will lower
itself to the ground, wait 5 minutes, then return to its
original position above the statue’s head.
On the ‘pages’ of the book, not visible from the
ground, is a recess. It’s just large enough for a single
person to fit in, with a single seat in front of a set of
knobs and dials. There’s an array of switches grouped
into numbered sets, two dials (one blue, one yellow),
two levers one yellow and one gray, and a row of but-
tons colored blue, white, red, brown, and black.
• The switches control a set of magnetic locks
in buildings of the little village. Each numbered
group corresponds to a given structure, and each
switch controls the lock of one door or window.
• The blue dial is currently set at 25%. It con-
trols the flow of water from the waterfall.
• The yellow dial is also set at 25%. It controls
the intensity of the sun stone.
• The yellow lever determines whether the
sun stone has a day/night cycle, or if it simply re-
mains at whatever intensity the dial is set to. The
switch is currently in the “on” position.
• The gray lever opens a secret bay door in the
chamber below. Beyond is a small warehouse of
materials and tools that might be used to repair
any damage to this chamber.
• The blue button causes a torrential down-
pour of rain, that will last for 1d6 hours.
• The white button causes hurricane force
winds to blow through the chamber.
• The red button only works if one or more of
the buildings is completely locked down. A pipe
pops out of the ground behind any locked build-
ings, and a jet of flame sets the building on fire.
• The brown button causes an earthquake of
moderate intensity, which lasts for 1d6 minutes.
• The black button causes all the dead test
subjects buried in the churchyard to rise as
ghouls. There are 120 of them there.
43
The River Chest
A small room, with a large, unlocked chest against
the far wall. On the floor is a tile mosaic, depicting
fisherman on a boat. Some of the tiles, which depict-
ed a heap of caught fish, have been pulled up. Be-
neath them is a little hole, with a few dozen scattered
copper coins.
If the players pull up other tiles, they will reveal other
things. Beneath the tiles for the handheld net, is a
handheld net. Beneath the tiles depicting a small fish
on a hook, is a key. Beneath the tiles depicting the
four fishermen are four corpses. If any of these are
uncovered, it will animate, and move to free its three
companions. Once all four are on their feet, they will
attack with a horrible draining touch.
The chest is full of water, flowing quickly from one
side to the other. It’s as if the chest contains a segment
of a river, somehow cut and pasted out of reality, and
into a box. If the players attempt to fish in the water,
they will eventually catch a little bass with a keyhole
instead of a mouth.
If the players have it, the key beneath the tiles will
“open” the fish. If they don’t, the lockmouth can be
picked. However, a failed lockpicking attempt will
cause a sphere of water to appear around the lock-
picker’s head. The water cannot be moved away from
their head, and they will immediately start to drown
unless they can somehow get oxygen to their lungs.
After 10 minutes, the water will splash harmlessly to
the ground.
Once the fish is unlocked, it will transform into a
chest containing some good loot, including a pock-
et-sized rowboat, which grows to full size when wet,
and shrinks again once it is fully dry.
44
B o u d o i r o f t h e W i z a r d ’s L o v e r
A richly appointed, but none the less spartan cham-
ber. There’s a large bed, a small bar, and a fireplace
with a painting of a woman above it. Sitting across
from the fire is a mummified corpse in an armchair.
The mummy mumbles to itself, and is clearly animate.
However, it is also tired to the point of complete ex-
haustion. It won’t rise from the chair, even to defend
its own existence if attacked.
In life, the mummy was a kept man named Odar. This
place was created for him by Isabelle the Luminous,
a wizard of great renown. Here, she could visit him
whenever she was desirous of his company, and his
enchanted affections for were enough to content him
whenever she was away. When she grew tired of him,
it never occurred to her to set him free. She simply
stopped visiting, and so he waits here, anticipating
her next visit as if her last was only a few days ago,
rather than a few decades.
He will protest the player’s presence. This place is for
he and Isabelle alone, and intruders are not welcome.
However, long exposure to Isabelle’s enchantments
has left Odar easily confused and distractable. If the
players try to talk with him, and are persistent, they
can eventually get him to ramble on just about any
subject under the sun. If they start him talking about
Isabelle herself, he’ll happily go on for hours about
how wonderful she is. Eventually, if he’s allowed
to talk about her long enough, he will slip up, and
mutter “Never will there ever be, a woman as lovely as
Issy is to me.”
When this pass code is spoken, the woman in the
painting (a depiction of Isabelle), will smile, and bow
her head in gracious acceptance of the compliment.
The painting will then swing outwards on a hinge,
revealing a crank strapped to the back side of the
painting, and a hole in the wall just large enough to
fit it. If the crank is inserted and turned, the fireplace
will open up to reveal a much more ornately decorat-
ed room beyond. When this room is revealed Odar
will become frantic, and insist that the characters
leave immediately. If the characters pass through the
fireplace into the new room, Odar will continue to
shout at them until they leave. There’s no way to calm
him down so long as any intruders are in this secret
room.
45
B o u d o i r o f t h e W i z a r d ’s L o v e r
The walls of the hidden room are covered in runes
and mirrors, It contains a massive four-poster bed,
an armoire, another fireplace, and a life sized mar-
ble statue. Everything is of a very fine quality, and
adorned with erotic accents. There is nothing of
particular note about the mirrors or fireplace. The
armoire contains a wide variety of women’s clothing,
including some fairly intimate garments.
Within are hundreds of tiny blue gems. When
touched, each of these allows the holder to relive a
sexual encounter between Isabelle and Odar. Any
attempt to open this chest, or remove it from the
room is the only thing that can get the mummified
Odar to attack. He is surprisingly powerful for such
a lazy creature, and will fight to the death to protect
Isabelle’s dignity.

If anyone with knowledge of magic examines the
runes, they will recognize them as being powerful
wards against scrying. They represent an impressive
degree of skill, such that no one outside this room
will ever know what happened here, or even that this
room exists at all.
If they are successfully removed, the gems will fetch a
very high price. However, Isabelle will inevitably dis-
cover that her private moments have been distributed
to the populace, and will seek a terrible vengeance on
the ones responsible.

The statue is a masterwork. It depicts a man and a

woman, their heads together, tenderly touching one
another’s face. At the waist, the two figures literally
fuse together, and are supported by a single pair of
legs. In addition to being highly valuable as an art
piece, the statue has a strong magical aura. If any-
one in its presence harbors erotic feelings, these are
inflamed by the statue. It also imbues those present
with increased sexual stamina and skill for as long as
they’re here. It’s a highly valuable treasure, but will be
difficult to remove due to its great size and weight.

Beneath the bed are three small chests. The first

contains a stack of erotic novels and sex manuals. The
second contains a variety of sexual aids best left unde-
scribed here. The contents of both these chests are of
good quality, but are not extraordinary, and will fetch
a modest price if sold.

The third chest is marked “PRIVATE!” It is unlocked,

but is protected by a poison needle trap. Anyone who
opens the chest without some appropriate precaution
must make a saving throw versus Poison. On failure,
they die. On success, the poison functions as a truth
serum, and the character must respond in good faith
to any questions asked them for the next 24 hours.

46
The Ref lection Pool
A long room, with a reflection pool running down that touches it, and to burn a hole in any cloth or
the middle, and two narrow pathways on either side. leather bag it’s placed in.
Opposite the entrance, just beyond the edge of the
pool, is a set of heavy stage curtains, blocking any The heap of clay is a golem, curled up and sleeping. If
view of what lies beyond. 30’ up, poking out from be- the gem or eagle is disturbed, it will awaken, and de-
tween the curtains, is a statue of an eagle with a gem stroy the scaffolding, causing anyone standing on it to
held in its beak. plummet into a pile of wooden shrapnel below, where
the golem will attempt to disembowel them.
The gem will emit a deadly beam of force at anything
which moves in the room, so long as that movement
is reflected in the pool. As this is a beam of light
responding to reflected light, no attack roll is neces-
sary, and no saving throw is allowed. It slams into the
target like a sledgehammer, dealing 1d6 damage, and
sending them tumbling backwards until they bang
into the wall. The beam also has a rate of fire like
some kind of SciFi machine gun. It can attack up to
20 times per round, if 20 moving objects are reflected
in the pool.

Holding a shield up between yourself and the beam

will not protect you, any more than it would protect
you against an oncoming freight train. Mirrors will
deflect the beam, but only if they are large enough
that a person can reasonably hide most of their body
behind them. Disrupting the surface of the reflect-
ing pool, such as by throwing a stone into it, will not
stop the gem from firing its laser, but in order to hit it
must roll a successful attack (with a +2 bonus) against
the target’s armor rating, unmodified by armor.

If a character blocks their reflection, perhaps by

holding a tower shield between themselves and the
reflecting pool, the laser will attack the shield, instead
of the player. Of course, the laser still delivers a blow
of terrific force, and if the player wishes to hang on
to the shield, they must make a saving throw versus
Paralyzation.

Beyond the curtains is a heap of dried out looking

clay, and a shaky wooden scaffold. If the players
climb the scaffold, they will discover that the eagle is
mounted to the ceiling with a set of iron bands. It’s
possible to remove, but would require a crowbar, or
similar tool. The gem is easier to remove, but burns
with an unnatural heat. Enough to harm any hand

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