104. - Nothing but a wooden stool carved in the shape of a cobra.
105. A single ARISEN PRIEST sits, dejected, on a wooden stool carved in the shape of a cobra. The ARISEN PRIEST has lost his faith in the serpent cult and is quite depressed; if the player-characters find some way to fill the emptiness in his soul, he will reward them with his jewelled necklace, worth 800sp. The stool is heavier than it should be and has a hidden compartment containing 500sp; the ARISEN PRIEST has no idea it is there.
106. This appears to have been some sort of library, but all the shelves are empty.
108. A pair of HOLY SERPENT WARRIORS sit, meditating. These are not as chatty as the one in 113 and attack interlopers on sight.
109. An UNDYING HOLY PYTHON lounges -- if a giant snake can do such a thing -- on a vast pile of fancy cushions.
UNDYING HOLY PYTHON, grumpy and hungry: Armour 12, Move 90', 5 Hit Dice, 18hp, bite 1d4 + constriction, Morale 8.
If the bite hits, the slithering saint wraps around the target and squeezes for 2d4 automatic damage that Round and every Round thereafter.
110. The doors are reinforced and locked, and each has a little mechanical keypad -- advanced serpent-person engineering! -- instead of a traditional lock. The keypad has 12 buttons, each a character from the script of the ancient serpent-person empire, and while something like Comprehend Languages will make the characters legible, the code remains obscure. The correct sequence is 11, 2, 9, 9, 3; all of the HOLY SERPENT WARRIORS know the code, as does the HUGE UNDYING HOLY PYTHON in room 130.
Inside is the treasure of the serpents™, 11 elaborate carved chests. Ten contain 1000sp each, while the last contains four gems worth 10sp each, three worth 50sp each, two worth 100sp each, and four worth 500sp each. All of the treasure chests are trapped to spray cobra venom when opened; save versus Poison or die in 1d6 Rounds. The HOLY SERPENT WARRIORS are immune, of course.
111. An empty but tidy room. A faint moaning can be heard from the top-right door.
112. A pair of ARISEN TEMPLE GUARDIANS -- 8 in total -- flank each exit from this room, waiting in silence. They attack anyone that steps off the stairs into the chamber, returning to their positions as soon as intruders are defeated or otherwise leave the room.
113. A single HOLY SERPENT WARRIOR sits, cross-legged, meditating, in the centre of the room. It will engage intruders in conversation, asking where the explorers have come from, what their plans are, and so on. If the player-characters say anything along the lines of looting the complex, the HOLY SERPENT WARRIOR will attack at the close of the conversation; otherwise it will attack on a 1d6 roll of 4+.
114. A mural on the wall shows a world map that is somewhat similar to the campaign world, although some of the features are "new", different, or missing. In the location of this very dungeon there is a hidden button that opens the secret door.
115. A single HOLY SERPENT WARRIOR lurks here.
116. A fist-sized amethyst worth 410sp is set in the floor. Any attempt to remove it triggers the ceiling to drop, causing 2d6 damage to anyone in the room that fails a save versus Paralysation. The ceiling then takes 30 seconds to retract and reset, during which time it may be possible to prise the gem from its socket. Maybe.
117. Another pair of belligerent HOLY SERPENT WARRIORS contemplate the mysteries of the cosmos/attack [delete as appropriate].
118. Yet another pair of HOLY SERPENT WARRIORS wait for enlightenment or murder, whichever comes first.
119. Ancient serpent-person graffiti says "Hiss woz 'ere".
120. Four statues, recognisable from 02 and 71, except these are much more snake than human, and only C, E, T, and X are present. The statues are also enchanted and spring to attack any non-serpent that enters the room, just like GARGOYLES would. C carries a halberd and E wields a spear. T is carrying a +1 khopesh, while X carries a bow and 10 +1 arrows. Player characters using the arrows or the sword must save versus Magical Device before they can attack any reptilian creature.
121. This stained glass window shows a city of towers, each topped with a serpent head, under a red sky.
122. A creature like an enormous python but with arms like those of a human woman is suspended, unconscious, in a shaft of pale green light. The light is solid and keeps the snake-woman in stasis until the Stars Are Right or something like that. The HOLY SERPENT WARRIORS on this level will be quite vigorous in their resistance to any attempts to dispel or otherwise interfere with the shaft or the snake-woman inside.
123. An UNDYING HOLY PYTHON nests here. It has gone a bit senile and can't tell the difference between serpent-people and ape-people.
124. A decorative pool about 5' deep and filled, not with water, but a writhing mass of snakes (11 PIT VIPERS, plus a tangle of harmless wiggly fellows). Once every two Turns, roll 1d6; on a 1, an ARISEN PRIEST enters to bless the pool or, once per day, with a copper bucket from which chunks of meat are tossed into the pit. The floor of the pit is laid with gold leaf, which is worth 370sp if recovered.
125. 9 ARISEN TEMPLE GUARDIANS kneel in this room, with a single ARISEN PRIEST standing before them in silent contemplation. It takes the GUARDIANS one Round to stand -- they have ancient, creaky knees -- and prepare themselves for battle.
126. The corpse of a DIMENSIONAL FISHER pokes through the ceiling here. DIMENSIONAL FISHERS are so still when alive that it's difficult to tell that this one is dead.
127. A glowing blue circle is a two-way teleport to a secret room in the cellar of a waterfront tavern -- the Dog and Bastard -- in a human settlement somewhere in the campaign world. This is where the ARISEN PRIEST in 124 gets the meat to feed the snakes.
128. This stained glass window shows a HOLY SERPENT WARRIOR standing atop a pile of dead ape-like humanoids.
129. An exact copy of the chapel at location 6, except in much better repair, with intact pews and a complete mosaic, this one worth 1000sp if removed. The carving on the south wall is almost identical too, except the figure's head and arms are snakes. The secret door operates in the same way, except that it sprays everyone within 5' with snake venom as it turns; save versus Breath Weapon to avoid the spray, and save versus Poison if splashed. A failed Poison save results in a horrible death in 1d6 Turns as the body is paralysed bit by bit, ending with the heart.
130. Murals depict a forest with snakes of many colours and sizes entwined in the tree branches. The pillars are carved and decorated to look like tree trunks. Curled around the pillars in the centre of the room is an EVEN MORE HUGE UNDYING HOLY PYTHON; it is hundreds of years old and never stopped growing. A gem sparkles in its forehead.
EVEN MORE HUGE UNDYING HOLY PYTHON, grumpy and hungry: Armour 16, Move 180', 8 Hit Dice, 56hp, bite 1d4 + constriction, Morale 8.
If the bite hits, the slithering saint wraps around the target and squeezes for 2d4 automatic damage that Round and every Round thereafter. The EMHUHP casts spells as a 5th level cleric. Zap!
The gem is a huge fire opal, worth 2902sp.
131. Each of the doorways is a large carved serpent head. There is a faint hissing in the room, but no source can be found.
132. Stained glass windows -- similar in design to the one in 128 -- let in natural daylight, which is a bit odd as we are deep underground at this point. The windows are enchanted and are teleporting actual light from the surface; each is worth 800sp, is an Oversized item, and is difficult to remove intact, requiring a successful Tinkering roll. On a failure, the window breaks, everyone in the room is blasted with direct sunlight -- save versus Breath Weapon or be blinded for a Turn -- and the character closest to the window is teleported to a random, sunlit, location in the game world, also taking 1d6 damage from broken glass.
133. On an altar is a 2' statue of a coiled serpent, worth 80sp, but priceless to the worshippers of the serpent cult. It counts as a holy symbol.
134. The mechanism from 43 passes through here on the way to XX. This seems to be some sort of maintenance room for the gubbins. A small box contains tools and vials of oil, all dusty with age and disuse.
Question: As a DM, how do you decide how much detail to provide when the party enters a room for the first time? Do you vary it depending on the players, so that a group that seems inclined to investigate everything doesn't need much description, but other groups get more.
ReplyDeleteLike, in room 105, would you just say there's an Arisen Priest sitting on a stool, or would you describe his posture and general attitude?
Yeah, you would probably go into that sort of detail at the table. The descriptions here are more basic, just because of the amount of data; you want the GM to be able to grasp the content without overwhelming them with details they probably won't remember when it gets to game day.
DeleteThe idea is to give the GM prompts to improvise further detail, but that does put pressure on the GM. It's a tricky balance.
I would change the snake statue in room 107 to end in a single foot - great confusion for everyone!
ReplyDeleteHa! That *is* the sort of thing I would do.
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