Wednesday 8 February 2012

Dungeon of the Month February 2012

The Giant Caves of the Twisted Hills
A short adventure using B/X D&D or Labyrinth Lord rules for characters of levels 6-9
These caves are in the Twisted Hills, in the stretch of hills between the coast of the Walrus Channel and the Grulven Mountains. The six giant-sized chambers (rounded walls, wide passages) all have ceilings about 20-25' from the floor, while the human-sized areas (square and rectangular rooms, 10' wide passages) have 10' high ceilings. 
The caves have become the lair of a clan of hill giants who have allowed smaller creatures to live in the areas that the giants find too cramped to be comfortable. Note that if they have a mind to, the hill giants can stoop down and fit into the 10' high x10' wide corridors  but they suffer a -2 to hit and a +1 penalty to AC as it is similar to a 6' tall human fighting in a 5' tall passageway. The other creatures in the human-sized rooms give the giants a wide berth - they know the giants are the rulers of this dungeon.


The Giant-Sized Caves - all the areas 1-6 have high ceilings
1) 2 hill giants (hp 24, 29, stats as per rulebook) + 2 cave bears (hp 32, 20, stats as per rulebook). In the middle of the room there is a pile of 5 boulders (range 20'/40'/80' dam 2d6)  which the giants will pick up and throw one each on the first round if they have the opportunity. The giants and bears are on sentry duty and watching for trouble.
2) 4 hill giants (hp 38, 22, 30, 27, stats as per rulebook) + 2 hill giant young (hp 15, 24, stats as per ogres in rulebook). To one side of the room there is a pile of 7 boulders (range 20'/40'/80' dam 2d6)  which the adult  giants will pick up and throw one each on the first round if they have the opportunity.
3) 3 hill giants (hp 39, 44, 26) + 1 hill giant young (hp 10, 15, stats as per ogre in rulebook). At the south-east side is a pile of 5 boulders (range 20'/40'/80' dam 2d6)  which the giants will pick up and throw one each on the first round if they have the opportunity.
4) 1 hill giant Chief (AC 4, Move 120' HD 10, hp 55, THAC0 11, Att 1 mace for 4d6 dam, Save as F10, Ml 11, Align Chaotic, XP 1000) + 2 hill giants (hp 48, 47, stats as per rulebook).
The hill giant chief has a large chest (5'x5'x5') that contains a massive weight of treasure: 120,000sp, 21,000gp, 1,200pp, a finely wrought golden sceptre worth 3,200gp, a silver and iron helm with fine enamelling worth 1,800gp and a set of 6 matching emeralds worth 1000gp each  (50,000gp total)
5) 1 hill giant (hp 34, stats as per rulebook)  +3 cave bears (hp 27, 22, 35, stats as per rulebook)
6) 3 hill giants (hp 40, 40, 35) + 1 hill giant young (hp 18, stats as per ogre in rulebook). On one side of the room there is a pile of 5 boulders (range 20'/40'/80' dam 2d6)  which the giants will pick up and throw one each on the first round if they have the opportunity before closing for combat.


The Forgotten Rooms
7) Empty
8) A patch of Green slime (hp 11, stats as per rulebook) is dripping off the ceiling and will try to drop onto anyone who simply enters the room without checking. If someone announces they are checking for traps or other suspicious things before entering, they will detect the slime and can avoid it.


The Thoul Lair (if you're playing with LL rules, use Thoghrins, which are thouls with different names)
9) Empty
10) 8 thouls (hp 19, 10, 15, 16, 13, 12, 17, 14, stats as in rulebook) are making a terrible noise as they are ripping apart a deer carcass.
11) 5 Thouls (hp 15, 12, 16, 24, 20, stats as in rulebook), plus a troll (hp 35, stats as in rulebook) as their leader. There is a sack hanging from a hook on the wall, and this sack contains 1220gp, 560pp, a jewelled platinum dagger and scabard worth 1100gp, a silver and tourmaline necklace worth 680gp and 3 small topazes worth 200gp each (6500gp total)
12) Empty apart from a crossbow trap. Anyone opening the door triggers several crossbows set to the side of the door (3 crossbow bolts, THAC0 10, dam 2d4 each). The thouls know about this trap and can reset it or disable it to get into the room. Any thief trying to find or disable traps has normal chance of doing so.


The Abandoned Hideout - the giants know that there are scavengers in these rooms, and will often throw waste and leftovers into these rooms to be devoured.
13) 5 carrion crawlers (a.k.a. carcass scavengers in LL, hp 20, 17, 12, 19, 11, stats as in rulebooks). Among the decaying bones in this room is a single sapphire worth 2000gp
14) Empty
15) Empty apart from in the middle of the room are two metal plates, 5'x5', one on the floor, one on the ceiling directly above the first. Anyone stepping in between these plates gets 3d8 damage of electricity shooting through him. If they are wearing metal armour they suffer an extra 1d8 damage.


The Minotaur Den - After the previous minotaur boss was killed in a battle with the hill giants the minotaurs here have had to tread very carefully around the giants and pay them a large sum of loot. Also because of the threat of the hill giants, the minotaurs have banded together in an unusually large group of ten. They have recently attacked and looted a trade caravan.
16) Empty
17) 4 minotaurs (hp 22, 32, 24, 28, stats as in rulebook)
18) 5 minotaurs (hp 30, 30, 22, 10, 17, stats as in rulebook) plus three terrified humans who have seen their colleagues killed and eaten. The humans are:
    Obremm, human male F2, hp 5 (normally 10), align Neutral, merchant-trader
    Murdork, human male F2, hp 4 (normally 8), align Lawful, caravan guard
    Merria, human female, NM, hp 2 (normally 4), align Neutral, mule-handler
19) 1 minotaur boss (hp 57, stats as in my previous post on minotaurs) with a pile of treasure in one corner  15 rolls of silk worth 200gp each, 40 jars of rare spices (each weighing 1lb and worth 20gp), 10 ingots of dwarven mithril worth 300gp each,  a leather sack with 1300pp and a chest of 2700gp (16000gp total)
20) Empty


The Haunted Rooms - These rooms were abandoned by living things a while ago
21) 1 Spectre (hp 19, stats as in rulebook)
22) Empty
23) 1 Invisible Stalker (hp 44, stats as in rulebook) stands over the decayed body of a wizard who was killed by the spectre emerging from room 21. The invisible stalker is still following the instructions to "watch my back" - nothing about protecting his summoner from attacks by undead. The wizard's body still has a ring of protection +3, a wand of illusion and 2 potions of extra-healing.
Of course, when the PCs enter the room, all they will see is the wizard's body unless they are currently detecting invisible creatures.
24) 6 shadows (hp 13, 12, 14, 17, 12, 9, stats as in rulebook)
25) Empty
26) Secret Room


The Nagpas's Haunt - These creatures have reached an understanding with the giants and will advise them on matters of intellect and knowledge. In return, the giants let the nagpas study here without too much disturbance. 
27) Empty
28) 1 Nagpa (hp 48, memorised spells: Detect Magic, Invisibility, Dispel Magic, Confusion and Feeblemind, stats as in my previous post on nagpas). The nagpa has a locked chest with the key around his scrawny neck. Inside the chest is the nagpa's collected treasure - 20,000sp, 4,800gp, a pouch of 12 gems worth 100gp each (3 amethyst, 3 jade, 3 amber and 3 and 3 chrysoberyls) and 6 silver-wrought 12" high statuettes of heroes and deities worth 500gp each  (total = 11,000gp)
The nagpa also has his personal spellbook with his known spells in it - this can include whatever spells the DM thinks are appropriate but should include the spells the nagpa currently has memorised and Explosive Rune. The DM may introduce new spells to magic user PCs via this book. 
29) Empty apart from a book on a table. This book was a spellbook now ruined, and is trapped with an Explosive Rune spell on the inside first page - anyone opening the book to look inside unleashes the explosion that causes 6d4+6 damage to all within a 10' radius. Anyone in the radius except the reader gets a saving throw vs spells to take only half damage, the reader gets no save. 
30) 1 lesser nagpa (hp 36, memorised spells: charm person, phantasmal force, hold person, stats as in my previous post on nagpas) and two displacer beasts (known in LL as phase tigers, hp 24, 20) as guards
31) 2 lesser nagpas (hp 30, 26, #1 memorised spells: detect magic, web, dispel magic, #2 memorised spells magic missile (3 missiles per spell), Mirror Image, Protection from Normal Missiles, stats as in my previous post on nagpas)
32) Empty apart from desks, chairs and bookshelves. The books on the shelves belong to the nagpas and they are very old, on arcane and magical topics. There are 68 books, each worth 2d6x10gp and weighing 1d6 lb. The entire collection is worth 4700gp and weighs 238lb. There is also one other book, hidden among these less valuable books, which is the lesser nagpas' shared spellbook, which they use to refresh their memorised spells. The exact contents are:
1st level: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Sleep, Ventriloquism
2nd level: Locate Object, Mirror Image, Phantasmal Force, Web
3rd level: Dispel Magic, Fly, Hold Person, Protection from Normal Missiles, 


Monster XP summaries (Hill giants xp 560 cave bear 440 young hill giant 140)
#1 560+560+440+440 = 2000xp
#2 560 x4 + 140 x2 = 2520xp
#3 560 x3 + 140 = 1820xp
#4 1000 + 560 x2 = 2260xp
#5 560 + 440 x3 = 1880xp
#6 560 x3 +140 = 1820xp
#8 38 xp
#10 80 x8 = 640xp
#11 80 x5 + 680= 1080xp
#13 135 x5 = 675xp
#17 320 x4 = 1280xp
#18 320 x5 = 1600xp
#19 1000xp
#21 820xp
#23 1060xp
#24 59 x6 = 354xp
#28 1700xp
#30 570 +570 x2 = 1710xp
#31 570 x2 = 1040xp

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