Spine Shattering Caverns -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- By: Dean Tersigni A Dungeons and Dragons(tm) module for players whose levels total near seven. Notes to the DM: Where is the Spine Shattering Dungeon? It can be wherever you want. Just put it in your world in any secluded area. Have the players hear about from an innkeeper, or a drunken adventurer. Once they hear about it, let them learn how to find it. Once they know how to get to it, make a small journey there and have them begin outside. Before they Enter: Make sure you inform the players that they will need to bring many torches, assorted magic scrolls for light, healing, etc. and long wooden poles for prodding. A good party would include one player from each major class group, (Warrior, Rouge, Wizard, Priest). If your player's levels total above seven, try to increase the amount and strength of the wandering monsters. When a player searches for traps or secret buttons etc. Roll the dice even if there is nothing to find. If there is something there, then if the player is a dwarf or elf, then add 1 to the roll. If the roll succeeds, they find whatever's there. A player may search as many times as they like in a certain area. Every five rooms the players go through roll for a wandering monster on the table below. This monster will show up in the distance, and attack the party. If the players are very weak, then just skip the encounter. Also, if the player's levels total below seven, then try and decrease the monster's power. Roll Monsters 1 2d4 Giant Bats 2 1d6 Giant Spiders 3 1d6 Giant Rats 4 1d3 Goblins 5 2d10 Rats 6 1d2 Orcs Bat, Giant> HP: 3 AC: 8 THAC0: 19 XP: 10 Dmg: 1 Goblin> HP: 6 AC: 7 THAC0: 20 XP: 15 Dmg: 1d6 Items: 5sp, 8cp, 1 club. Orc> HP: 10 AC: 6 THAC0: 18 XP: 30 Dmg: 2d4 Items: 1gp, 5sp, 1short sword, leather armor. Rat> HP: 1 AC: 10, THACO: 20 XP: 5 Dmg: 1 Rat, Giant> HP: 4 AC: 10 THAC0: 19 XP: 8 Dmg: 1d2 Spider, Giant> HP: 6 AC: 9 THAC0: 18 XP: 50 Dmg: 1d6 +poison. Poison: 1 damage every 5 minutes. Removed by any poison cure. Pit Traps: There are many pit traps in these caverns and each is the same. All of them will make you fall down 10 feet to the 3 spikes at the bottom. If the player who falls in, can roll a successful dexterity check they'll miss one of the spikes. This roll can be made for all three spikes. It will take a full turn for a player who falls into the pit to get out. And if they are not over 65 inches tall they'll need help from other people. For those smart players who'll try and use a staff to spring the trap there will be a 2 in 3 chance (3-6 on a 1d6) of springing the trap. Those who hit the spikes will take 1d6 damage for each spike they hit. Room Descriptions: For each room below, read out-loud the highlighted text to the players. Outside The Dungeon On the side of a small hill, you see what appears to be a large oaken door. It has obviously been here for several years for the wood has rotted away and the hinges are quite rusted. The door is locked and there is no key for it. The players can use any means of opening the door such as picking the lock, breaking the door down, taking off the hinges, using a knock scroll, etc. Because this door is so rotten, bashing it down will not ruin the weapon used. 1.) Entrance Way Past the outer door, is a ten-foot hallway sloping down deeper into the ground. At the other end of the hallway is another door. This one appears to be in better condition then the first one, and has been banded with brass. The hallway itself has a horrible rotting stench in the air. Who knows what it could be? There is nothing special about the next door except, like the outer door it is locked and there is no key for it. Chopping it to pieces will work. If the door is chopped up the weapon used will be damaged. The weapon will now be a -3 damage reduction; a blacksmith must then repair the weapon before it will do its normal damage. All other means of opening it will also work. 2.) Glyph Room In this room the walls and floor are painted and covered with glyphs with no meaning. There is another locked door to the north, which is also locked, and without a key, it too must be opened by force, magic, or lock picking. If the players look at the ceiling it will be covered in thick dust, and nothing can be seen. If the dust is removed, the room will fill with dust and everyone must leave for 1d6 hours for the dust to settle to the floor. On the ceiling in common language are a few sentences. It states: You have entered spine-shattering caverns! If you do not leave now your soul will be forever lost. But if you want to stay and die remember this... Beware of the two columns. Do not forget that three is a charm. Statues may be more than meets the eye. And never ever hurt the blind! 1.) Corner If this corner is searched carefully there is a 1 in 6 chance (6 or higher on a 1d6, remember to add 1 for dwarves and elves.) of finding a loose brick in the wall. If the brick is removed a dart will spring forth and do 1d3 damage to the remover. Behind the brick is a small leather sack. The sack contains 30 gold coins, and a dagger +1. 2.) Blind Man On the wall is a painted blind man with the most stupid expression on his face. He looks very ugly and annoying. This is just made as a target to the players. If the players ask if hitting the wall will damage their weapon always tell them 'No'. If any player doesn't heed the warning on the ceiling and attacks the man they will be cursed. The curse is that the player who is cursed will attract a random giant each day. (Check your Monster Manual). A remove curse spell or a wish spell can remove the curse. The only reason I included this was to give those "kill everything" type players a chance to cool down. C.) Entrance Room Four large limestone columns support this large room. The walls and ceiling are plain granite. The floor is covered with thick dust though. The columns radiate faint magic if detected for. If a column is touched, or the room is walked through without being careful not to touch the columns, the players will accidentally brush against one. If that happens they will be transported to room H. (The hopeless prison.) There are three keys hidden amongst the dust on the ground. Key one is made of gold, key two of silver, and key three is copper. All are just copper with plating. Each is worth about 1d4 cp. 1.) Oak Door This door is made of oak, and is unlocked. A bright light is shot through the keyhole and unto the floor. If a player goes to open the door and doesn't try to avoid the light they will stop the light from reaching the floor and the door will fall from its hinges and onto the person who was trying to open it, doing 2d4 damage. If the door does fall see section D. 2.) Iron Door This door is locked and made of solid iron. If key 3 is placed in the keyhole it will inflict 1d4 damage. However if key 2 is put into it and turned left, the door will open. 3.) Brass Door This door is solid brass. It can be unlocked with key 1. Other than that there aren't any other ways to open it. D.) Chamber of Light After the door falls, a beacon lantern will shine into room C. All players in room C must make a saving throw versus paralysis or be blind for 1d20 hours. If the door is safely opened then everyone may add 4 to their saving throw rolls. The lens of the lantern is made of quartz, and has a value of 25 gold pieces. E.) Dead End Players who follow this passage will come upon a simple dead end. There is 20 GP on the floor, but other than that, nothing. If the area is searched well, a 1 in 3 chance. (5-6 on a 1d6) They will find a small button on the ceiling. If the button is pressed the ceiling will collapse on anyone in the 10-foot square. Doing 2d4 damage to everyone in the area, his or her price for being greedy. F.) Cross Way There's a small button on the ground here that opens up the door in area O any amount of searching in the hallway will find it. G.) Black Door Way When entering this room the first things that are noticed are the two columns in the center of the room. Heavy magic and evil can be detected from the two columns. Any player who walks in between the two columns will be thrown into a solid black vortex. For every ten seconds in the vortex the players will lose 1 hit point. The only way out of the vortex is by walking back out of the doorway. Everything inside the vortex is pitch black. Even torches and light spells don't give off light. There is nothing what so ever inside the vortex. This is just made as a throw off. The northern door to this room is locked, and can be unlocked with key 3. H.) Hopeless Prison There is nothing worth getting inside this room. Skeletons and destroyed armour and weapons are all that's left. The door to the south has many scratches and it looks as though people tried to pry the door open. The door cannot be opened from this side. The only way out is by having someone open the door from the other side. The room is sound proof and knocking or screaming cannot be heard from the other side. I.) Gnoll Chamber When someone walks into this room 3 gnolls will surprise them and attack. The gnolls get +3 to their surprise roll. One gnoll is a leader; the other two are just normal gnolls. Their statistics are Leader> HP: 16, AC: 5, THAC0: 19, XP: 120, Attack: 2d4 + 3, Items: 5gp, 8sp, studded leather armor, two-handed bastard sword. Gnoll> HP: 12, AC: 7, THAC0: 19, XP: 35, Attack: 1d8 + 1, Items: 2gp, 1sp, 15cp, leather armor, mace. J.) Stairway Down Any player who walks down these stairs without being careful will slip on green ooze and fall down the stairs and take 1d6 damage. K.) Long Room The ceiling inside this room is about 30 feet up. In between each limestone column there is a trap on the ground, the trap takes everything in a 6-foot square and shoots it towards the ceiling, this does 2d12 damage to everyone who gets trapped in it. If a player can successfully roll a dexterity check twice, they will roll out of the way just in time. If they do get crushed though, all their armour must make a saving throw versus a crushing blow or be destroyed and do an extra 1d2 damage per piece lost. Once the ground shoots up the players can squeeze through the space between the pillars and the trap. If the players choose to jump over the traps then roll a 1d6. If the player is over 50 inches tall then add one to this roll. If they're over 60 then add another point. If they have dexterity of 15 or over then add another point. If the modified roll is over 3 then the player will make it. If not, then they spring the trap. L.) Special Trap By the time the players reach this trap they'll usually expect it, and disregard it. After all, the trap is the same as the first two. But if the players remember the writing on the ceiling then they will examine the trap. But an easy search (2-6 on a 1d6) will find a button. When this button is pressed all the treasure chests in room N will be full. M.) Spear Trap When someone walks into this cross way, a spear will be shot from the wall to the person and do 1d6 damage. If anyone searches for traps though they will notice the hole in the wall. After the spear hits it will be transported back the hole in the wall and be ready to be shot again. If the players craw through the area the spear will miss them. N.) Chest Room Unless the button at section L has been pressed all the chests will be empty. If the button has been pressed then the players will find the following in all the chests. 1: 10 Copper 2: 10 Silver 3: 10 Electrum 4: 10 Gold 5: 10 Platinum 6: 10 gems worth 2d4gp each 7: Explodes doing 2d8 damage to all the players in the room and hallway. O.) Secret Door When the players enter this room seems to be just a dead end. But if the button from section F was pressed the door to the north will open. P.) Entrance Room The walls in this room are made plain granite. There is only one door to the west. There are three keyholes on the door. If all three keys are put into the door, in the order of copper, silver, gold the door will open, if they are put in the order of gold, silver, copper then acid will flood into the room and stay there for 1d4 days. The acid does 1d4 damage for every round in it. Q.) Crypt On a marble bed lies a gold statue of a skeleton. The skeleton has a deformed and broken spine. The room is painted and decorated with glyphs. Other than the statue there is nothing of value. If the players try to pick up the skeleton they won't be able to budge it. The marble bed weighs about 10 tons so there's no way to move it. Players can chip off small pieces of the bed, at about 1d4gp value each. 1.) Button to Doom Any amount of searching will find a button on the wall. If the button is pressed the skeleton will rise up and attack. The skeletons statistics are> HP: 30, AC: 9, THAC0: 13, Attacks: 2, Damage: 1d4 + 2 / 1d6 + 2, XP: 350, NOTE: All slashing weapons only do half of their damage rounded up. Only blunt weapons like staves and clubs do their full damage, but don't tell your players that! When and if the skeleton is killed all the players are teleported to the entrance with an extra 50gp each. After the battle the golden skeleton's remains return to their normal bone state.