And a Dozen Eggs - Dungeon Magazine 30

The more of these Dungeon Magazine adventures I read, the more I realize that unregulated wizards are a public menace. It's no wonder the trope for them is the lone wizard tower out in the wilderness. It makes sense when you consider some of the problems caused by their experimentation. This scenario is no exception.

Originally written for Waterdeep, it works just as well in Ptolus.

A wizard hired some adventurers to acquire some dinosaur (or other monster) eggs to be used for alchemical experimentation. Things went awry and they hatched while unattended, escaping into the sewers of course.

This would really be best suited to happen on Dweomer Street since it is known in the Ptolus setting that lots of magical and alchemical run-off ends up in the sewers there. Of course that would account for how unnaturally fast these critters grow in the course of the adventure.

The wizard whose problem this is offers rewards for recovery (more if they're alive).

It is important to keep track of time passing while these critters are running about causing problems in the sewer system. Aside from the other things already down there these would be considered invasive predators, and the bigger they get the more problems they cause.

At some point in the adventure the dinosaurs attack some workers, killing and injuring a number of them. That's when the System Monitors (the Ptolus group that clears clogs and repairs damage to the sewers) tack on an additional reward for their removal dead or alive.

A party pursuing the rewards may consider trying to get copies of the sewer layout, but these are not available to anyone that isn't involved with city management or a System Monitor. It might be possible to buy a suspect copy from someone, but it is almost a given that it is completely inaccurate.

The System Monitors will offer to provide a guide for the party for a price per day, a share of treasure, and the reward offered by the guild will not be available since a Monitor was present. Guides will stay in the largest passages and if abandoned by the party the guide will exit the sewer immediately and no further guides will be made available.

While there are 12 critters to start with, over time that number will be reduced by encounters with other sewer inhabitants, other bounty hunters catching or killing some of them, and System Monitors also downing one.

Some set-piece encounters are included in the module to help break up the monotony of hunting the same looking sewer section over and over, in addition to random encounters. 

One in particular set-piece stood out to me, it involves saving the lives of some amateur delvers that found a dinosaur and now regret it. The role-playing potential here makes things interesting.

Another event involves being approached by a man claiming to know where one of the beasts is located right then. Turns out he's a wererat looking to lure the PCs into a trap so he and his ratling associates can have some fresh meat for dinner.

The action in this module can be split up to run concurrent with other activities in the campaign.

Dungeon Vignette - The Dancing Tide

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 Dancing Tide

This is a 30 x 30 room with a single standard wooden door. 

Along one side is a sluice for what was once a natural spring to flow through, providing clean drinking water for inhabitants. Due to a breach from the city sewers, the sluice now carries muck and filth. When it rains, this sluice overflows covering the rest of the room with an inch or two of murky water and depositing smelly sediment across various patches of the floor. 

In the center of the room, covering a 10' area, is inscribed a mystical circle. When clean and not submerged it enables the imbued magic to function.

Those entering the circle experience a compulsion to perform a specific dance. The saving throw is a DC17 Charisma roll. Subjects willing to perform the dance do not need to save against the compulsion. Failure of the roll or acceptance of the urging, causes the affected creature to dance around in the circle for up to one minute making additional saves each turn to break free of the dance.

While one or more subjects are dancing within the circle a secret door opens in the far left corner of the room, across from the entry door. Anyone not compelled to dance may proceed through the opening into the next room. The secret door cannot be opened by any means short of destruction or submitting to the dance.

Once there is no dancer performing in the circle the secret door begins to close, taking a full round to do so. 

For the return trip back through the door there is a musical piece written on a wall of the next room. The piece contains lyrics in a language of the DMs choice, that characters must perform to open the secret door. The door remains open for 1 minute after the tune is completed and taking a single round to close

.A clue about how all of this works should be either given to the party by someone, or discovered by them prior to encountering this room.

Solving this problem should require some thought.

There's the matter of how to stop the flow, and how to get the existing water out. As long as it keeps raining the sluice will overflow enough to keep the room under one to two inches of water and muck. 

A Wall of Stone spell would be overkill for blocking the flow in a small room. Hauling in a bunch of sandbags might be a good option if a bit labor intensive.

For clearing the water you have options like Control Water or Create/Destroy Water spells, or mops and buckets.

For clearing the muck there's always a good old shovel and the Prestidigitation cantrip. It's not deep and you really only need to clean the 10' magic circle.

The Bones plastic version of this Reaper Mini is available on their website. SKU 77668.  I did not paint this. You can tell because it looks great.