#elemental knights

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Main Elemental Knights board for @karmabound

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[unreluctantone]

The Tomb of the Bull-King (Week 4, 22/01/2023) 

Week 4 has been a little... delayed. Sigh, such is life and attempts to do a thing regularly. Here we are, the last wing of the first level, a tomb dedicated to an ancient warlord. Rich in future plot hooks as leading deeper into the complex.

22. Priests’ Vestibule

This chamber is bare aside from stone hooks along the east and west walls, and a series of carefully concealed holes in the east wall (DC 15/Medium to spot). Anyone who stands in front of the stone door in the north wall triggers a magically maintained dart trap. The trap will fire four darts from the holes in the east wall, each dart targeting a random creature in the room (+8 to hit, 2 (1d4) piercing damage and an additional 11 (2d10) poison damage in a failed DC 15/Medium Constitution save). The trap rearms and reactivates every round, but can be disabled with a DC 15/Medium check or by pressing a holy symbol of Elemental Water against the northern door.

23. Mummy Preparation Chamber 

Shelves line the west wall, stripped bare of the various embalming tools that would once have been stored here, and likewise the two tables are both bare, although the north one is covered in dark stains. The opposite east wall is covered in an expansive bas relief that depicts the mummification process, with the priests depicted as bird-headed humans. 

A close examination of this room notes the priests engaging in a cleansing ritual centred around an altar, similar to the one in the Temple of Cleansing (Room 25) after working with the mummies, and has a chance (DC 20/Hard) to notice a secret door in the middle of the east wall, opened by pulling a lever built in the shelves in the west wall. A strong acrid smell greets anyone who opens it.

24. Secret Storeroom 

Four horned mummies (use zombie statistics) guard three heavy wooden chests in this secret chamber. They will attack anyone entering the chamber who does not present a holy symbol of Elemental Water. The same strong acrid smell released when the door was opened fills the room. 

The smell comes from the north chest, which contains various spoiled alchemical reagents and unguents for the mummification process. The south chest contains 200 gp in antique coins, each stamped with a bull’s head.

The middle chest is obviously locked (DC 15/Medium) and trapped (DC 15/Medium to spot); any attempt to pick the lock rather than unlocking with the correct key triggers a poison needle that does 1 point of piercing damage automatically to the lock-picker, who must then succeed on a DC 15/Medium Constitution saving throw of suffer 11 (2d10) poison damage, and be Poisoned until they rest for the day. This chest contains a religious text written in Infernal titled Psalm Of The Burning Bull, which espouses a philosophy of martial domination as a means of achieving a divinely sanctioned order. It is magically preserved, has a red enamelled cover depicting a bull held aloft by wings of fire, and is worth 300gp if sold to a suitable collector. It can also be substituted for the material competent in any spell to summon fiendish spirits; it is never consumed when used in this way.

25. Temple of Cleansing 

The east wall is covered in bas reliefs of horned humans engaging in various activities at sea: fishing, sailing, swimming, and the like. The altar against the east wall has a silver bowl embedded in it, which fills with 3 pints of holy water at moonrise everyday. If someone washes their hands in the bowl, there is a blaze of brilliant blue light and they are targeted by a lesser restoration spell.

26. The Bull-King’s Throne

There is a massive stone throne in the centre of this room, decorated with brass bull’s heads on the arm rests. Investigating it (DC 10/Easy) finds an long-looted secret compartment underneath the throne.

27. Hall of the Honour Guard

This long, wide corridor echoes silently. Four large, shattered sarcophagi stand in alcoves along the west wall. If any one approaches the centre of the corridor, where there is a set of stairs leading down to a pair of brass doors, four skeletons rise up from the sarcophagi and attack, seemingly forming of the dust and loose rubble. No one has yet identified the magic that animates these skeletons.

28. The Tomb of the Bull-King 

This chamber has been converted into a makeshift campsite by the current inhabitant, an antisocial minotaur named Pyronica. She is swift to attack any intruders, but if reduced to 19 hit points or less she will retreat and can bargain with or be intimidated into surrender. She knows very little about the rest of the complex, having not ventured far, although she can explain the hazards of the Hall of the Honour Guard (room 27), the Priests’ Vestibule (room 22), and the Grand Staircase (room 29). 

She is convinced that this is the tomb of her ancestor and has been engaged in repairing it, as evidenced by shoddy repaints to the faded and cracked frescos that cover the east and west walls, and the painting and mason’s tools scattered haphazardly around the room.  Pyronica’s other personal effects, which included a stash of 3 eye agates worth 10 gp each and 7 days of iron rations (mainly dried deer jerky), occupies the south-west corner of the room. 

The remains of the supposed ancestor are interred in a massive sarcophagus on a raised dais, which has been crudely repaired by Pyronica since being obviously smashed open. The cover is carved to depict a large male minotaur dressed in heavy plate and holding a greataxe, however the bare skeleton within is that of a human with curved bull horns growing from their skull, admittedly one that would have stood seven feet tall! Either a successful history check (DC 15/Medium) or questioning Pyronica will identify this as Ast-Nicron the Bull-King, a mighty war leader of the civilisation that built this complex the Riddle stands on top of. Pyronica can explain that his magical relics were stolen by intruders and have been taken deeper into the complex, returning either the armour or the axe will secure Pyronica as an ally for future delves.

At some point, something burrowed into the complex here, leaving behind a 300 foot long tunnel that emerges in the hills north of the Riddle. There is a one-in-six chance that anyone entering or leaving this way will encounter a bulette.

[famigeki]

Elemental Knights R

[0takemikazuki0-blog]

DON'T HESITATE TO SAY HI WHEN YOU SAW ME ON THESE GAMES

Toram Online : takei

Honkai Impact 3 : TakeiSan

SAO IF and Alchemia Story : Takeimika

[unreluctantone]

The Grand Staircase (Week 5, 29/01/2023)

Week 5, not catching up, but not falling further behind.

We're descending now, delving into the depths beneath the Riddle. A former guard post of the Dominion of Bel, secret paths, mysterious happenings, and *drumroll* a semi-original stat block! Woo!

29. The Grand Staircase

A grand staircase descends from the two double doors on the upper level of this large chamber. The ceiling is thirty feet above the tiled floor, and the north wall is carved with images of horned humans worshipping something in the centre of the wall. However, where the object of that worship should be depicted, there is now a scorched crater that has been somehow blasted out of the wall.

There are six statues of horned humans standing on high plinths on the lower floor; each is dressed in heavy plate, armed with swords and maces, and with draconic wings sprouting from their shoulders.

Four have (A, C, E, & F) have cloth bags pulled over their heads; if one of these is removed the trap on the statue is activated and magical bolts lash out from the eyes of the statue to strike at the nearest target (+8 to hit, 14 (4d6) fire damage, random target every round after the first). The bags block this and putting the bag will deactivate the trap temporarily.

The other two statues (B & C) will animate and attack (stats as gargoyles) if a bag is removed or if someone approaches the set of ironbound double doors in the west wall.

30. Stonemason’s Workshop

There is an incomplete statue standing here on a low plinth, with an identical empty platform standing next to it. The east wall is covered in graffiti from other adventuring parties. There is a one-in-six chance that one is camping here.

If the gargoyles in the Grand Staircase (room 29) are destroyed, they regrow here over the next week, seemingly being sculpted out of thin air.

31. Abandoned Guard Chamber

A small table sits against the west wall, flanked by two wooden chairs. A set of playing cards sit on the table, arrayed as if in the middle of a game. The whole scene reset at dawn, with any items that have been taken away teleporting back, unless the game is played to completion (DC 20/Hard check). If this is done, the deck becomes a deck of illusion.

The wooden door to the south has a dog’s head carved into it.

32. Kennel

The floor of this chamber is covered in ash and fragments of charred wood. There is a three-in-six chance that whenever someone enters this room that a hostile hell hound will appear; this can occur only once every ten minutes.

33. Ruined Barracks

This room is largely bare, except for a large pile of mouldy, broken wood in the south-east corner. Anyone searching the pile will find nothing but will disturb the mould, and will need to succeed on a DC 15/Medium Constitution save or be poisoned for the next hour.

34. Looted Armoury

The walls are lined with mould-covered wooden weapon racks, stripped bare over the years. There is a scattering of rusted daggers throughout the room, if any are picked up, they all rise into the air as a swarm of animated daggers (stat block follows!), fuelled by the restless souls of the former guards of this place.

There is a secret door concealed in the north wall, behind a particularly mouldy weapon rack. It is hard to detect (DC 20/Hard difficulty), a holy symbol of Elemental Water must be pressed into a concealed niche in order to unlock it, and if care is not taken

35. The Secret Stairwell

The walls of this chamber are covered in cracked and water-stained frescos that depict tin-scaled dragons soaring over oceans cliffs, while a marble statue of a robed woman holding in an ewer stands at the far end. Between the secret door and the statue stands a shield guardian, which will attack anyone approaching the statue.

Stairs descend in a spiral around the statue.

[unreluctantone]

Dungeon 23, Week 1, 01 to 07/01/2023 - The Entrance Hall

Like many RPG creatives, I've been doing the Dungeon 23 challenge/exercise. It's been a bit of a learning curve, with the most notable lesson being to avoid putting detail along the crease of the booklet...

I've chosen to write up the Riddle of Riggby, a mega-dungeon in my Dreadful Mire setting that began as an adventure prompt from the awesome @dailyadventureprompts, Alkeron's Riddle. Now the former mage-tower of Roland Riggby (to use a slightly less IP-bound name), Court Wizard of the Sunken Kingdom of Calamaer, the Riddle sits atop a fortress-tomb of an ancient tiefling empire, the Dominion of Bel. A permanent storm rages over the tower, and rumours of magical treasure and valuable lore has driven many adventurers to risk the depths of the Riddle.

The High Doors

Stone stairs lead up to a carved landing in the side of the mountain. Set into the north wall is a pair of great iron doors, 15 feet wide, flanked by a bas-relief of horned warriors. 

Touching the doors causes four suits of armour composed of arcane force to manifest out of the bas-relief and attack, pursuing into the next room. Use the stats of animated armour.

The Entrance Hall

Rune-carved pillars rise to a high coffered ceiling. There is a 2-in-6 chance to encounter another adventuring party here. 

The doors to the north and south are identical: a pair of massive iron doors. The double doors to the west are stone and bear carvings of dancing bulls, close examination reveals the traces of gold plating that has been stripped away long ago.

The double doors to the east are made of lead, are bare of decoration, and are locked (DC 15/Medium difficulty). The lock magically relocks at twilight, and the mechanism reconfigures so that it can’t be unlocked the same way. 

The Shaft

The far wall of this room is composed of shimmering magical force (as per wall of force) and blocks access to a shaft that extends up and down. A stone plinth stands in the centre of the room with an articulated hand extending out of the top of it. The hand is composed of iron and animates to grasp any objects placed in it; the right object from deeper into the Riddle will dispel the force wall.

If the force wall is destroyed or bypassed, people can try and climb the smooth walls of the shaft. This is made harder by strange eddies of gravitational force that tug and pull at climbers (DC 25/Very Hard difficulty). 

There is a 4-in-6 chance that there is a masked ghoul here. She has 1d6 healing potions and 1d3-1 superior healing potions each day, which she trades for dead flesh (1 pound for a healing potion, 5 pounds for a superior). She will yell for assistance if attacked, attracting the attention of any adventuring parties in area 2, who rush to her aid, or the masked ghouls in area 4 if there is no adventuring party in area 2. She then defends herself, attacking with a stash of 1d3 flasks of alchemist’s fire. 

The secret door to area 4 can be detected is DC 15/Medium difficulty, and swings open when a secret button in the wall next to it is pushed. 

The Secret Stairwell

The spiral stairwell leads upwards and is guarded by 4 masked ghouls, one of which carries a bag that contains 5 bloodstones (each worth 50gp). The ghouls will move to assist the ghoul in area 3 if there are no nearby adventuring parties in area 2.

There is a lever in the south wall that closes and locks the doors between areas 2 & 3. 

The Vulture Shrine

A 12’ tall vulture-headed stone statue stands in an alcove in the east wall. It radiates intense but harmless magical cold. The stone doors to the north have runes carved into them (DC 10/Easy difficulty to recognize them as symbols of elemental water magic).

Unless a prayer to elemental water is said in front of the statue (DC 10/Easy difficulty), this room and the next quickly fill up with freezing cold fog when the north doors are opened. The fog obscures vision beyond five feet and lingers for an hour after the doors are closed. 

The Hall of Dancing Bulls

Bas-reliefs of bulls line the walls of this hall, depicting them dancing and being ridden by horned tieflings. The ceiling is coffered like the hall to the east. 

A bone naga lurks in this room (DC 10/Easy difficulty to spot hiding in the shadowed corners). Its head has been replaced with a bull’s skull (reflavour bite attack as a gore attack, replaced poison damage with necrotic, use Guardian naga spells) and it reforms here at twilight if destroyed.   

It doesn’t immediately attack, instead extorting intruders for an offering, a piece of golden jewellery or an art piece made of gold that must be worth at least 100gp. It has 1d4-1 such pieces at any one time. If no suitable offering is provided, it attacks to kill.

Concealed Lookout

Arrow slits along the south wall cover the main approach to the Riddle. A half-dozen barrels, empty and half-rotted, stand against the western wall; one is apparently still sealed and is secretly a mimic waiting to attack. 

[unreluctantone]

Encountober

As part of @catbatart’s Encountober, I present:

Mushroom Soup - (a Dungeons and Dragons Encounter for 4 characters of levels 4-5)

Helaine Hercaryn, a half-elven wererat tomb raider, in a mushroom carpeted catacomb.

The catacombs of the Lords of Amriel were once a complex of sanctified tombs and beautiful stonework, but they have been abandoned for decades as the ground water rose and ancient elemental wards eroded. They are now damp and unwholesome, haunted by rats and worse, and weird fungus sprouts from every ledge and wall. Infused with necrotic energies, these mushrooms represent an ever-present danger to the party as they explore the catacombs. But they are not the only danger down there...

Helaine Hercaryn is a clever and capable tomb raider, an expert in gleaning the secrets necessary to penetrate the defences of ancient burial sites. In order to reach the tomb of the First Lord of Amriel, she has disguised herself as an innocent with her hat of disguise, ransacked a church for a heirloom ring, and tricked a grief-maddened spirit into revealing the secrets of the family tomb to her. She is also a wererat and her shape-changing power has allowed her to slip past several direct dangers. Now she is nearly through to the innermost chamber and the rare magical relics within, which is when the party stumble across her.

Even if the party is not here to catch her, Helaine is not interested in splitting her take and responds to their presence by shooting at one of the peculiar blue-glowing mushroom scattered about this antechamber with her hand crossbow. These are deathshroud mushrooms, and aside from casting dim blue light out to ten feet around them, when damaged they release a burst of necrotically charged spores in a ten foot radius. Anyone caught in this spore cloud must succeed at a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or suffer 10 (3d6) points of necrotic damage and be poisoned for a minute. Even a successful save inflicts half damage.

She will then close to melee combat, first tripping a selected target with her rat's tail whip, using her Cunning Action to Disengage and close with the tripped target, following up by sneaking attacking with her rapier. She will also continue to burst more deathshroud mushrooms, relying on her own immunity to being poisoned to limit the ill-effects to herself. This immunity is an unusual gift of her wererat transformation, as if the disease inflicted by her bite. Helaine will not fight to the death and begins to retreat if she is reduced to 21 hit points or less.

She has identify a suitable passage through the catacombs for this previously, one studded with milky eye puffballs. These fungi resemble clusters of whitish eyeballs and explode in a thick cloud of white spores when disturbed. These spores float in the air in a ten foot radius from the disturbed fungal cluster, for a minute, and lightly obscure anything inside that radius. Helaine will trigger a cluster and then use her Cunning Action to Hide in the area. She will then either strike from concealment with her hand crossbow or shape-change into a rat to retreat safely, depending on the party's response.

If the party manages to capture her, considerable effort is required to make her cooperative (a Successful DC 17 Deception, Intimidate, or Persuasion check) and even then all she will do is explain what she has already done and why: To retrieve from the tomb of the First Lord of Amriel his famous weapon, a dragon slayer sword, for an interested and wealthy buyer in the coastal town of Harensport.

If it was a party member that she impersonated at Sodden Hope, she is explain that she was shown their image by a wandering hedge-mage, named Kovoun Blackgranite. She expects that they can find Blackgranite at the Dragon Turtle Tavern, an establishment rumoured to be tied to various dark dealings across the Dreadful Mire.

One thing that she won't do is help the party get any further into the tomb, if that's something they want. After all, the dragon slayer is her prize and she's not going to give it up if she can...

Rat's Tail Whip

Weapon (whip), rare (requires attunement)

This magic whip closely resemble the tail of some giant rat. In addition to striking as magical, it has the same functions as a rope of entanglement. As part of a successful attack with it, the wielder can command it to restrain the target of the attack. If the target fails the saving throw against the whip and is restrain, the wielder must release their hold on it.

If the whip is unattended, it will crawl back to its attuned bearer at a speed of 60 feet around. It can climb and swim at the same rate, but will not move closer if that would result in it taking damage.

Helaine Hercaryn, in the act of raiding an ancient tomb, her hat of disguise providing a little extra bling.

(Art source 1, RavenseyeTravisLacey on DeviantArt)

(Art source 2, tjota on DeviantArt)

[unreluctantone]

The Temple of Water (15/01/2023)

Week 3, still going, and learning from the process. No custom monsters stats for this one, although I have IDEAS.

The worship of the Elemental Powers is standard throughout Nacavia, and the ancient empire that built the under-passages of the Riddle held Elemental Water in special regard.

15. Pit Room 

The east and west walls are covered in sculpted depictions of robed women holding out water jugs. There are three hidden pit traps in the room, each twenty feet deep (anyone falling in suffers 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage and must succeed at DC 15/Medium check to climb out) and all triggered by a hidden pressure plate directly in front of the south door. The pressure plate is easily detected (DC 10/Easy), unless the room has been filled with the magical mist from the Vulture Shrine (Room 5), in which case it is further magically obscured (DC 25/Very Hard). The pits close 1 hour after being triggered.

16. Ice Bridge 

A pair of large lead doors sit in the north wall, with a 10 feet deep pool of water directly in front, barring easy access. The doors are locked (DC 20/Hard). A stone plinth near the centre south end of the room with an articulated hand extending out of the top of it. The hand is composed of lead and animates to grasp any objects placed in it. 

If a vessel full of liquid, such as a goblet of water or mug of ale, is given to the hand, a bridge of ice will form out of the water of the pool and connect the south end to the lead doors. The door will unlock magically.

17. The Temple of Water 

This room is a temple dedicated to the Divine Power of Elemental Water. A large pool of water, 10 feet deep, takes up half the room floor, bridged by two stone spans that lead to stairs that rise up to a stone gallery five feet above the pool’s surface. 

Above this gallery, the northern wall is covered in a massive carving depicting swirling waves and massive icebergs, centred around the holy symbol of Elemental Water, which glows with an intense magical radiance. Before the holy symbol stands an altar of gleaming marble on a raised dais, on which sits a large bronze chalice studded with small sapphires (worth 200 gp, radiates holiness).

There are 1d4+1 cultists here, either engaged in dark rites or cleaning and polishing, being watched over by two ice mephits. There is a two-in-six chance that there is also a blonde haired cult fanatic armed with a +1 trident (+5 to hit, 7 (1d8+3) piercing damage), leading the cult in their duties. The cult fanatic has a lead holy symbol of Elemental Water and a heavy iron key that unlocks the doors in this chamber.

There are two sets of leaden double doors on the platform, leading east and west. The door east is locked (DC 20/Hard) with a heavy iron padlock. 

18. Priests Hall 

This large chamber has fresh whitewashed walls, the pots and brushes are stacks in the south-west corner. There is a marble statue in the centre of the room, this animates (use flesh golem stats; ignore the Aversion of Fire and Lightning Absorption traits) and attacks anyone approaching the doors in the south-west wall who isn’t carry a holy symbol of Elemental Water (the cult fanatic) or who hasn’t been anointed in a sacred rite of Elemental Water. The cultists found in the neighbouring areas have all been anointed.

There is a secret door in the north wall, which requires a DC15/Medium check to spot. The cult fanatic and cultists are unaware of its existence.

19. High Priest’s Chamber 

Well-appointed with new tapestries and a large oaken bed with a feather mattress (easily worth 500 gp if you can get it all out), this is where the cult fanatic sleeps and spends most of her time. If she is not in the Temple of Water (Room 17) then she is found here.

There is also a heavy oaken chest here, in which the cult fanatic keeps a courtier’s outfit made of fine silk, 10 +1 bolts in a decorated leather quiver, a crossbow, 1400 gp split between in four hempen sacks, and a copy of an occult tome entitled The Prince in Saffron Silks.

The Prince in Saffron Silks describes the history of a city known as Carcosa, which was part of the same empire as the Riddle's under-structure and a centre of fiendish worship, as well as the rites of Elemental Water. There are also handwritten notes by the cult fanatic, describing her search for a particular set of yellow robes that are supposed to be hidden in the Temple of Water.

20. Cult Barracks. 

This room is sparsely furnished, with three sets of bunk beds and a cook fire in one corner. There are 1d4+1 cultists here, resting and easily surprised. There is also enough food for a dozen days' rations. 

21. Forgotten Library 

The walls are lined with stone bookcases, now full of moulding books and scrolls, and there is an open trap door in the ceiling that leads up to the pit in The Ghast’s Laboratory (Room 14). A DC 15/Medium check uncovers a scroll of acid arrow. 

There is a two-in-six chance that there are 4 masked ghouls here, having recently descended from the trap door. 

Both of the secret doors attached to this area are obvious from this side.