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kingdoms-of-fate · 7 years

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The Lair of Living Stone

This dungeon is by request. I hope you like it.

What you need to know:

A wraith with a flesh to stone gaze attack has turned a tribe of giants to stone. With the wraith's cohort of undead, they are using the giants as building blocks for their lair. The wraith, believing itself a God, wants to trap all life within stone, forever trapping the souls.

How it begins:

The locals in a region refer to an area of dense forest as the forgotten pines, the reason being all those who enter never return and are best forgotten. Legends and stories tell of a clan of giants who disappeared many years ago leaving no trace of their existence except for their village which still stands.

The locals claim anyone who enters the village or takes any of the belongings will become cursed and doomed to the same fate as the giants. Some claim black spirits inhabit the woods and upon the winds through the old pines one can hear the pleas of the dead, the forgotten giants crying out forever tormented in limbo. Note 1: This is part one to get your players interested, not the hook. Note 2: No one knows the wraith or undead exist and even what truly happened, so instead they have spun tales adding made-up details as the years have gone by.

The Hook

Until recently the locals have learned to live near the woods and not enter, but now travelers and inhabitants living at the edge of the forest have gone missing. They fear it will only get worse, and will pay to have anyone willing investigate the woods and discover the origins of what the villagers can only assume is a curse. Note: The rewards should be something players have sought after or need, enticing them to investigate.

You can also have an NPC the player know or need to speak to become missing after entering the woods.

If the players agree to enter, they can do some investigation, but discover little other then what has already been said. The woods themselves are thick with vegetation and ancient with moss covered trees and huge pines.

If the players enter, they will discover little at first until they reach the giant's village. Keep the fear light and avoid being to spooky, but build the mood: a storm rolls in, ravens hover overhead, many of the trees are barren and twisted, etc.

--THE GIANTS’ VILLAGE--

Eventfully the players will come across a small clearing with the wooden frames of old giant huts and some strewn and broken pottery. Note: The place, mostly overgrown and decayed from time, has already been picked through and there is little to find, however on a proper search roll they can find mundane items such as sacks, rope, torches, etc. If you choose, there can also be pots stuffed with coins and jewelry belonging to the giants hidden underground under the hut frames.

After a little awhile, a dense fog will roll into the village and in the far distance, deep within the woods, moaning can be heard. Note: The wraith has become aware of the players' presence and has begun casting walls of fog and instructed its undead cohort to moan, hoping to lure the players towards its lair. If the players choose to investigate, bring them to part 1.

--ONE--

After a few minutes to a half hour of pushing through old pines, tripping over a forest floor of roots, the players begin to smell rot. After another minute of travel, the players will then see a statue of a giant half-buried in the dirt of the forest floor. Its head is covered with lit candles and its face is twisted as if in torment. Blood flows from its mouth and it is crawling with flies and maggots.

-A- Upon searching the mouth cavity, the players will discover the statue is hallow and is filled with the rotting remains of dead animals. Note: The giant was once alive but has now been turned to stone.

If the players continue further towards the moaning, they will reach part 2.

--TWO--

As the players go deeper in the woods, the forest becomes so incredibly dense, their movement is reduced to 1.

-A- The wraith at this point will start to stalk its prey, scaring the party for fun.

Using illusion spells. it will create the sounds of breaking branches as if something is following the party and create a whispering in the fog. The wraith will also conjure an illusion of 9-12 foot tall black spirits hovering over the tree line that disappear into the fog once players get close. Note: This is meant to build tension and spook the players; have fun with descriptions and messing with their heads.

If the players continue further towards the moaning, they will reach the lair.

--THE LAIR--

The players come through the woods to the mouth of a cave which deep within continues the sounds of moaning. Two statues of giants are holding up the ceiling of the cave, their stomachs have been gutted and placed within the cavities are the remains of rotting dead animals. Note: Both giants were once alive before being turned to stone.

If the players enter the cave, this leads to part 3.

--THREE--

The cave walls are made of cut stone blocks and statues of giants are embedded into the walls. Candles dot their heads. At the end of the corridor is an iron door.

-A- As the players enter the corridor, illusionary sounds of scratching and whispers of “help me” come form the walls.

Blood then begins to drip from the ceiling, forming the words “help me”, “the pain”, “suffering”, etc.

Any player who witnesses these effects must roll a save or suffer the rules per insanity as the spell. Note: If the players pass, the effects will remain but they will not suffer the insanity.

-B- Any player who digs through the walls will find more statues mortared to the stone from the other side. Note 1: Each statue will be mortared to several blocks of stone and every stone will have one part of a statue as the giants will be shoulder to shoulder the length of the wall. Therefore, even removing one block will break a statue - this is meant to screw with the players later on. Note 2: This was done intentional as the wraith wanted the perverse pleasure of watching people unknowingly maim a living being.

-C- To ensure the players will break the statues, within the dirt on the other side of the wall out of arm's reach are sealed wax pots containing coins and jewelry, forcing the players to break more stones. Note: These are the belongings of the giants sealed within the walls by the undead cohort as an offering to the wraith.

-D- The door is locked and needs to be picked or broken down to get through to part 4.

--FOUR--

Opening the door, the players come across a section of halls. The corridors are foggy and overgrown with roots. Within each halls is a stone statue of a giant with a different set of burning candles on its head embedded into the wall. Note: the candles are to be clues for the puzzle.

-A- When the players enter any hall of the cross section, they are thrust unknowingly into a maze spell.

To get out, the players must progress in the right order to escape – right, left, down for example. Note 1: This puzzle is similar to the forest maze in the original Zelda if further ideas or explanation is needed. Note 2: Although the halls repeat, players will never see copies of themselves adding to the illusion the cross sections are infinite in size. Note 3: Any player who detects magic will see the entire maze as magic.

-B- While the players are trapped within in the maze, every time they turn a corner, they hear voices from within the fog. “Help me”, “Over here”, “I see you”, etc. There can also be figments of black spirits stirring within the fog and even pools of blood and bleeding walls.

With every turn of a corner, the players must all roll a save or suffer the effects of insanity as the halls continues to warp more and more. The giants faces will contort and moan, crying for help. The halls themselves will begin to twist and defy gravity and eventually even the players worst nightmares will appear. Note 1: Any player under the effects of insanity who flees, disappears once they are out of sight of the other players only reappearing once the maze is completed. Note 2: If all the players go insane, they can roll saves to get out of the maze but suffer X damage for each round they were insane and all there hair goes white from the traumatic experience.

-C- Once the maze is solved, the players will arrive at an iron door.

The door is locked and needs to be picked or bashed down to get through into part 5.

--FIVE--

The players enter into a stone tunnel. The floor is thick with fog going up the players' knees. There is a stone door at the end of the hall.

-A- Any player who walks through the corridor must roll a save or fall through several pit traps hidden in the fog along the ground.

It drops X meters and players suffer X D6 damage upon landing.

-B- At the bottom of the pit trap is a zombie with its skin stretched over the floor with its head at the center and intestines spiked with bone writhe over the entire surface.

Any player within the pit must roll a save every round or suffer X damage for every point they failed their save by as they are lashed with spiky intestines. Note: the zombies can be automatically hit, have no attack other than the intestinal lashing, but should have a high number of hit points to make up for it.

-C- The door is locked and needs to be picked or bashed down to get through into part 6.

--SIX--

The door opens to a circular chamber of stone. Throughout the room humanoid statues, their limbs broken, heads removed, litter the ground. This includes the NPC the player were seeking, which can be still intact should you choose. At the center of the chamber, there is a statue of a giant's head and within its mouth a black mist. Around the room within alcoves are zombies with writhing intestines spiked with bone protruding from their guts, and sealed clay pots.

-A- The mist within the giant's head is the wraith.

-B- Once the players enter the chamber, the wraith and undead cohort will attack.

-C- The clay pots will contain the treasure of the recently abducted which the players can choose to keep or return.

-D- The undead cohort can have the stats of zombies, but be re-skinned into something much stronger.

Besides the stats the undead cohort normally would have for the creature they represent, they get a free lash attack against every player in hand to hand.

Lash attack: The players in hand to hand must roll a save every round and suffer X damage per point they fail.

-E- The wraith has the normal stats of a wraith plus a flesh to stone gaze attack every three rounds and unlimited illusion spells up to X level, insanity and maze.

The common tactic the wraith will use will be to hide behind its cohort and create the illusion of more creatures, maze the warriors, use insanity on spell caster and its gaze attack every third round.

Killing the wraiths releases its hold on the souls of the imprisoned, turning all the stone back to flesh.

The statues in the main chamber are now human, their bodies twisted and mutilated with limbs torn apart. They beg for death as they writhe in agony, bleeding profusely from wounds and many will die quickly from their injuries. The players must choose who to save with their healing as surely there will be more dying than heals to cure them.

The giants in the tunnels trapped within the walls cry out in pain as their bodies have melded with the walls. The only way to remove the giants is to cut them out of the walls, removing their limbs. This will of course render the giants helpless and in need of care for the rest of their lives. Will the players help?

The players have to pass the giants they mutilated earlier, getting to their treasure.

The giants at the mouth of the cave will die of their wounds before the players can reach them, causing the cave entrance to cave in, forcing the player to dig their way out. This ensures the players cannot run for help and instead be around for hours listening to the wailing and screaming of the tortured individuals they couldn't heal nor had the heart to kill. Note: This is a good chance to mess with the players head, forcing them to decide who they can save who they mercy kill, and who they leave behind.

End:

The players have dealt with the woods although the outcome was less them harmonious, but is it over?

Maybe the wraith was summoned or created by an evil church of torment or suffering that the players must now deal with. Maybe the wraith was a minor God and killing it only brought the attention of something more powerful. Maybe there are more wraiths with different abilities such as poly-morphing into human form or summon great and ancient creatures or having the ability to charm entire towns and now have banded together to hunt the players down.

Either way have fun and hope to see you again.

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