Dungeon Vignette - The Cathedral of Knives

Dungeon Vignette articles will describe a room or small area within a dungeon that can be easily dropped into another dungeon or used to spark adventure ideas.

The Cathedral of Knives is the nickname for a moderately wide cavernous passage with jutting spines of very sharp stone. Movement through the passage is treated as difficult terrain with the added problem of taking damage each round from the numerous unavoidable cuts and scrapes.

The passage is 40' across at its widest point and 90' long from entrance to exit. The ceiling is 30' high at the central peak. There is a cleared section through the center of the passage that is 15' wide by 30' long, but this is also quite dangerous because some Ropers have laid eggs on the ceiling. 

The Roper eggs have hatched into Piercers that wait for slow moving targets to enter this section where they will drop on their intended prey. Then the Piercers will climb back up safely via a large stalagmite column to await the next meal.

Damage amounts should be adjusted for the level of your party. 

Mitigation efforts should be welcomed, such as Flight, Dimension Door, Teleport, and other transport methods that can get them above the man high level of the cutting surfaces.

Abilities that allow movement free of difficult terrain are also helpful for reducing the time spent exposed to the harsh environment.

Creative approaches can have drawbacks. Parties attempting to place boards, tables or doors across the tips of the stone will be disappointed when the weight snaps the tips causing a collapse into the jagged cutting edges. Taking the hours, perhaps days required to smash away the worst of it so that a trick like the boards can work should be allowed, and even preparing the surface to make use of Wall of Stone.

This particular vignette should not be the only way to an objective, but should be used as a short-cut while the other, easier path is a long way to get to the objective.

Depending on how much you want to challenge the party, consider having one of the Roper parents be encountered a few rooms later. "My offspring left some food for me! Yum."

Dungeon Vignette - Deep Purple

Dungeon Vignette articles will describe a room or small area within a dungeon that can be easily dropped into another adventure or be used to spark ideas.

Deep Purple

The characters will find their way down into the caverns and discover a small underground lake. The entire cavern is obscured, not by fog, but by smoke above the water's surface. The water is dark and very still. It is silent in the area and any noises echo.

It is not obvious where the smoke originates. There are actually two sources. Close to the lake center is a tiny island on which rests an open chest. Within the chest is an Eversmoking Bottle with the top off. That accounts for the heavily obscured 120' radius. The second source originates further back in the cavern on the far side of the lake.

The 120' radius area around the bottle is heavily obscured causing the blindness condition. The DM is encouraged to randomly determine whether each 10' area beyond the bottle's 120' radius is lightly or heavily obscured.

A fumarole has opened in the cavern wall, spewing toxic smoke into the area of the lake. The fumes require a DC15 Constitution saving throw every 10 minutes. Failure results in those affected accruing a level of exhaustion. Cumulative exhaustion may lead to character death.

There are two small rowboats tied to rocks along the lake shore. player characters can use these to paddle out into the lake. 

The smoke makes it possible for the boats to get separated. The DM is encouraged to roll randomly for course changes (left 45 degrees, right 45 degrees, or directly ahead) when a boat is in a heavily obscured area. (perhaps use a d8 with 1-2 left, 3-6 ahead, 7-8 right) Lightly obscured areas allow for course correction.

There should also be an encounter once the characters reach the island. Some denizen of the lake with blindsight, aim for a medium challenging encounter, takes umbrage at trespassing. The encounter is made more difficult because of the obscuring smoke, the risk of possibly fighting in the water, and any levels of accumulated exhaustion.

Whatever McGuffin the party is seeking should also be on the island. Locate Object seems like a great spell to prepare for this situation. Make the trip worth the trouble.

Campaign Diary - The Moon Cave

Location - The Moon Cave, 10 miles northeast of the town. Little Plains, a town halfway between Ptolus, Slune, and almost equidistant from Dorhinthas in the south of the empire.

Party in Play

Rae - Elf. Fighter 1/ Wizard 4.  One of the original members of the party that originated in the town of Little Plains. She is somewhat of a strategist and creative tactician always looking for an edge when the situation gets dicey.

Wulfe - Elf. Fighter 1/ Wizard 4. Originally from a small town north of Ptolus near the Moonsilver Forest, he wandered westward to satisfy his curiosity about the frontier areas of the empire. Joining the group early in their adventuring career he has been a steadfast companion and effective in any dangerous situation. He wields Cheval, a Faery forged longsword known for occasional bursts of radiant energy.

Korved - Human. Cleric 4. An itinerant priest, he arrived in Little Plains hoping to come to grips with his recent experiences. He had joined the Gaen faith at a young age and over time found his thinking more in line with her masculine aspect Hannan. The non-violent and amicable split in the church was his signal to explore the world.

Sparky - Human. Fighter 4. She's a force to be reckoned with in a toe to toe fight. Recent life as a sword for hire had led to some less than respectable jobs and little in the way of pay. Joining an adventuring group seemed a wise choice.

Celestia - Elf. Fighter 1/ Wizard 2. A bold and confident adventurer, she puts forward an unfearful countenance. A recent addition to the group Celestia is making herself at home as if she were there all along despite lacking the experience of the other members.

Jill - Human. Fighter 3. A sell sword by trade, she has recently been down on her luck and in need of work. Hired to deliver a bag of coins to this group she ended up joining as a means of escaping from the butt end of the empire. Capable with sword and bow Jill is a good fit for the team.

Jackalope - Human. Fighter 3. A stranger in Little Plains that arrived about the time the wolf attacks began. Staying at the Brown Dog, Jackalope approached the party after overhearing their intent to go north. Volunteering additional information about the wolf problem, the party agreed that an extra sword arm might be in order.

Having had the curse of lycanthropy lifted from both Elena and her son Deek, the party began discussing what to do about Klayn the werewolf and his remaining pack of wolves. The party considered splitting up with some going northeast and some remaining behind to stand guard, but that was quickly ruled out. The decision was made to go in force and to take Deek and Widow Penik along.

Two notes were left behind so that anyone coming out to check on them would know of their plans and to come rescue them should something go wrong.

The first note read "Headed NE to Moon Cave to eliminate the rest of the wolf pack. If we do not return by Earthday please take this envelope to Tabish at the Temple of Aldinach. Deek is with us."

Within the envelope was a bracelet worth 150 gold pieces and this additional note "Our party of 9 headed NE to the Moon Cave. If you are reading this, we may need your help. Please instruct the Silver Blades to 'capture, not kill'. Enclosed is a payment for your help."

Everything settled, they set out with their small army of skeletons in tow. Their five hour journey was calm and uninterrupted. 

Finding themselves outside the Moon Cave, by a fast flowing stream they made their way carefully along the bank and over a large fallen log across the water. It was now that they could see through the trees and vegetation the grand elven ruins and a tall glowing crystal monolith. The elves in the party realized they were entering a scared site.

Crashing to the ground, no longer animate, nine of the undead ceased to be anything other than disconnected bone fragments. Wulfe quickly returned across the log bridge and ordered the remainder to back away from the glade and await orders. He then cast Levitation on one and waded through the stream pulling it with him like a child might do with a balloon. It wouldn't be long before he re-entered the protected area and the tenth skeleton crashed to the ground.

Making their way through dense foliage and fallen columns, the party edged nearer the cave mouth from which the stream flowed. Korved took up a position that allowed him to see a short distance into the cave thanks to light emanating from a source within. 

Korved spoke up. "Klayn! We know you're in there. We've come to talk."

At first some growling of the wolves within the cave could be heard, and eventually Klayn himself replied. "Well, what are you here to talk about?"

"We can remove your curse", Korved explained, "We can give you your old life back."

Klayn paused. "What if I don't want my old life back? What then?"

The party were taking up vantage points closer to the entrance as the exchange continued.

"Come out and we'll talk about it peacefully."

"I'm not coming out there. You put your weapons down and come in here. Then we can talk peacefully."

"We're not putting down our weapons."

"Fine, then you put down that damned sword of yours."

Korved realized that not having spoken to Klayn the previous night it was not his voice that got him recognized as bearing the magic sword, so the werewolf must have line of sight to him. Korved changed the subject. "Alena Penik and her son Deek are here."

"Where's the rest of her family that we came for?"

This confused and worried Korved who had no knowledge of Widow Penik's other children. He wondered if there might be more werewolves to worry about. Turning to Alana, "Other family? Are they werewolves?"

Aggravated by what she saw as a stupid conclusion, Alena snapped at the cleric, "My daughters, Sroka and Clelia, and no, numbnuts."

While discussion continued Celestia grew bored with the inaction of her companions. Putting down her weapons she waded into the rushing water and entered the Moon Cave. "I'm coming in, unarmed." Secreted behind her back was a silver tipped arrow, and she was confident that she could use her magic to defend herself if confronted.

Flabbergasted, the group hesitated, fearing for their obviously deranged young elf friend. She continued inward, allowing herself to become aware of her surroundings. Two wolves were not far away, one behind the other tall crystal monolith inside, and another about 40 feet to her right.

"Who are you?" Klayn asked.

"I'm Celestia, I came to talk. My friends are a bunch of chickens. They are outside armed for a fight. I want to settle things without violence." The elf moved sideways to her left along a shelf of rocks, keeping her back to the cave wall. 

"That's an elf name. I've never met a crazy elf. Until today." Klayn moved to where he had a good view of the intruder. Taking up a longbow, he knocked a magic arrow and took aim, muttering "Pincushion."

The remainder of the team waded into the cave mouth intent on protecting their companion and taking the fight to the werewolf and his pack. The pack began growling loudly.

Klayn smiled as he loosed the enspelled arrow. Shattering on the stone beside Celestia's head, the arrow delivered its spell cargo. Hundreds of dimly glowing red needles covered Celestia, head to toe.

Terrain is a combination of Dwarven Forge, Paizo Flipmats, and a water tile made by a source in France whose name I have forgotten. Oh, and a big rock provided by my niece,

On the Origin of the Gelatinous Cube

For this one I solicited feedback from some Grognards Who Play 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, on Facebook. Below is what it inspired.

The creature in D&D known as the Gelatinous Cube has been a fun toy for DMs to employ against their unsuspecting player characters since early in the game, but what in-game origin story can we attribute to its existence?

I have never seen the monster used in any wilderness settings, only in the confines of caverns or dungeons within adventure modules. Why might that be and what can we do to change that up a bit?

Jeff Kesselman believes that it may be official canon they were created by wizards to act as a kind of street sweeper for keeping dungeons clean. 

I recall something along those lines, but it seems like overkill and a dangerous thing to let loose in areas you yourself have to pass through. After-all, why would you make it transparent? That would raise the possibility that you may accidentally run into your own creation while trying to reach the bathroom. There's also the expense of installing all those metal doors to keep it from dissolving wooden ones and getting into sensitive areas.

"I think I'll grab some lunch. Dammit! The cube ate all my Ramen again!"

Anonymous suggested an article in Dragon Magazine #124 by Ed Greenwood. You can find it at this link. https://annarchive.com/files/Drmg124.pdf    <----- Link

Ed's article is a short, fun read like the other Ecology articles in Dragon, but it doesn't address the heart of the topic, the origins of the creature.

Cullen Blackthorne imagines a cube of enormous proportions due to all the organic material it could absorb in the event it escaped the dungeon.

An area of barren landscape would certainly be a sign of the presence of an escaped Gelatinous Cube. Per the Greenwood article it would be very likely to split into more hungry cubes often than to get too large, but then you have a problem akin to an out of control forest fire! Wow, heroes needed for sure!

Martin Nussbaum offered this link from Wikipedia about slime molds to aid in thinking about how Gelatinous Cubes might function. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mold  <----- LINK

Having read this information I can now see Cullen's previous point about enormous cubes. Imagine a renegade cube in an isolated mountain valley splitting into hundreds of cubes as they devour every bit of organic matter. Then they recombine and surge over the mountain peaks to bear down on a nearby city. No need for a tarrasque when you have a foe like that. Truly horrifying.

Charles Ciaffone posits that mages may have accidentally created Gelatinous Cubes when sealing off a stronghold and trying to protect it with a more potent version of the spell Guards and Wards, and something went slightly awry. It would certainly aid in protecting the location from intruders of the adventuring kind.

Accidental creation could certainly be the case when you think about transparency as discussed above, but what accounts for the untypical shape? If  intentional could the original creator have been attempting to build an ooze based golem and used a cubic mold? 

Bob Curtis pointed to their possible use deep below a toilet in order to create a stink and waste free disposal.

The drawback here is that Cubes can climb on walls and ceilings like a snail. They also aren't inclined to sit still for long instead wandering on the search for more food. The result could be one fatal bowel movement.

Brian Sailor says the age old answer is always "a mad wizard did it."

Much like the Owlbear is believed to have been created by a mad wizard, so too could the Gelatinous Cube be a product of madness, but here's the real question; was the wizard insane mad or angry mad? It's conceivable that a pissed off spellcaster might drop one of these off in the offender's lair as a nasty surprise.

"You've crossed me for the last time Bantragemus. Here's a gift you'll be dying to receive."

In the depths of a dungeon laboratory Velard Yellow-Wand prepared the Mithril vat. Velard wanted to craft something unexpected for unwanted guests to deal with. Something that could clean up after itself and not leave his abode cluttered with the corpses of interlopers and thieves. It had to be able to ambush prey so it needed to remain unseen until it was too late, but imbuing a creature with invisibility would be very difficult. What if it was simply transparent?  It also needed to prevent passage beyond it, to be like a moving wall. Looking down at his desk Velard noticed his pair of bone dice. "Aha! A cube! One born of an ooze!" 

Chris Kelly thinks that Gary Gygax may have smoked an enormous biffter, ate most of the Jello, then plunked the remaining cube down on the game table.

We may need to ask Luke Gygax if we want to learn the real life origin of the Gelatinous Cube, but for in-game origins it can be whatever you want as the answer to the mystery. Regardless of the answer, have a little fun with this beastie in your game.

Special thanks to everyone on Facebook that contributed information and ideas to help bring this post to life. Tomorrow's post will be a 5e update of a unique Gelatinous Cube that I created in the early days of the blog for a B/X style rule set.

Have fun and happy gaming!

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter 6: Caverns Deep - Afterthoughts

As mentioned in the previous post, lack of motivation sapped my interest in posting to the blog, even about things I would normally enjoy discussing. That includes this years DF Kickstarter which normally would have been the topic of several posts before and during the event. Here are some thoughts about how it went.

The project end with a total of over 3.3 million dollars and over 3,000 backers. Included in the themes for this year were caverns in standard color and Underdoom paint, crystal caverns, ice caverns, and the new outdoor terrain Dreadhollow Forest.

Variety seems to have been the objective this year, not only in themes, but in piece types. Multi use pieces called trifecta pieces are part of just about every encounter option in the project except for the forest. Diagonal walls and swell walls are also a major addition and enhance builds that can be created with the cavern pieces from the Kickstarter 2 Cavern sets allowing for more natural shapes to your layouts. The mix of shapes is impressive. Sadly getting enough of particular pieces is a costly endeavor.

Every year the designs get more detailed, and more complex which drives the prices higher. Increased inclusion of magnets, metal, and LED features (some that can change colors through use of a remote control) also factors into the price inflation. As a collector I love the bling, but as one of many with low or no budget, it seems that the idea of making Dwarven Forge terrain more affordable to a wider audience has been forgotten.

Too many themes being presented contributes to a paralysis when trying to decide on what to buy and what to skip, hoping to pick them up later through the web store. Trying to get some of everything leads to "feeling like butter spread over too much bread". I imagine people new to DF terrain get migraines trying to figure out how to maximize versatility while having variety.

Since I don't want to sound like a Negative Nelly, let me state that I love what I saw offered in this Kickstarter and if I had a budget this year as in previous years, well, my participation would have run pretty deep.

The new forest terrain is gorgeous. The modular trees and depth of detail left many wondering if the factory would be able to match what the very talented crew of artists have created. So far the painted prototypes coming back from the factory indicate that they indeed are up to the task. A full set of the Dreadhollow Forest (painted) runs about $900, and if you want greater table coverage the cost climbs from there, especially once you include the extra items that were added during the pledge manager phase. If you want incredible looking wilderness terrain you can't beat this set.

 The cavern pieces are also quite lovely. The attention to detail and to grand elevation pieces really defines these sets as among the best work Dwarven Forge has created. The artists involved deserve high praise.

My Model Railroad Level Dwarven Forge Obsession

I admit it, I am addicted to most things Dwarven Forge. I have been this way since first encountering it while working at a distributor of collectibles in the late nineties and early two-thousands. Back then, and for some time afterward, I could not afford more than an occasional purchase and often had to chip in with other buyers to get portions of sets. The recent three Kickstarter campaigns have not helped ease this affliction and affection for adventure terrain.

My collection is much smaller than most of the regulars on the Dwarven Forge forums, many of whom buy 3 or more sets of every resin offering released by Stefan and crew. It also lacks some of the resin sets, Woodland and Lava, come immediately to mind. Still, over time my collection has grown.

Even with a fairly large collection available for use, I still enjoy mixing mediums. I routinely employ a battle mat along with the DF pieces, and have used many other props and non-DF terrain in combination.

I am considering purchasing some city terrain from Fat Dragon Games to flesh out scenes, limiting the DF City Builder items to the foreground immediate use area, while the card stock terrain sets the background imagery. Just like model railroad layouts, the viewer can be convinced of the depth of setting with less expensive materials in the distance while their vision is focused on where the action is happening.

My reasons for thinking of not getting very deep into the Dwarven Forge City Builder sets includes space and cost, and my three existing resin sets of DF MBS accompanied by accessories. Here are a couple of photos taken by a friend, of a past setup of mine.

 You can see the rest of the adventure layout pictures at this link.

Meanwhile, I'll be watching the current Dwarven Forge Kickstarter with interest, and will definitely be thinking about drooling over the new DF sewers.

Is there a 12 step program for Dwarven Forge terrain addicts?