April: Week Four

 Happy end of April everyone! This week we close out level three of the Crucible of Oxyus. The final exploration of this strange prison level is filled with rooms of danger and intrigue. Read on to discover new botanical baddies, rare magical treasures, and heretofore unseen fantastical phenomena. At the end of the dungeon description there will also be this month's encounter table and the full map for level three!

Week Four:

4/24: The Spiders

This room is a 30’ by 35’ rectangle of dressed stone with 30’ high ceilings. A darkened, fist-sized, amber-colored gem has been faceted into the ceiling of this room like in many of the others. The blue double doors in the northwestern corner of the chamber open onto a landing raised about 20 feet above the floor.  A lever to open a portcullis that separates the landing from a steep ramp down into the enclosure is found just past the double doors. The portcullis is lowered. Across from the portcullis and ramp is a raised platform approximately 20’ high with metal railings around it. Behind the platform is an iron-banded wooden door. Thick cobwebs hang from the ceiling and the sides of the raised platforms obscuring the floor of the chamber and the southern wall.

• East: A heavy set of blue-painted metal double doors with small, grated windows in them separates this chamber from the ring corridor to the west. The doors are unlocked. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)
• West: Atop the freestanding platform is a heavy wooden door that’s been barred shut on the other side.
• The Amber Gem: When the double doors are locked, an amber-colored light emanates from the fist-sized gem faceted into the ceiling. The magical light radically slows time for those who bathe in its emanations. For those trapped inside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those outside will seem to accelerate so fast that they appear to become invisible. For those outside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those inside will appear to stand perfectly still as though time for them has completely stopped. If this gem is shattered, the magical time effect will immediately cease. The properly colored keys (the handle that matches the door’s color) are enchanted to turn such lights off and on again when locking or unlocking the door.
• The Spiders: Hiding in the upper reaches of the web are four Giant Black Widow Spiders. These spiders have been locked in here with little to eat and are ravenous. They will wait until PCs enter the room and start to explore, then attack.
• Among the Web: If the web is thoroughly searched, characters will find a pouch with 2d10 gold coins in it, a black-handled key and a silvered short sword along with the bones of a humanoid.

4/25: A Green and Verdant Chamber

This dressed sandstone room is 40’ long by 25’ wide with 30’ tall ceilings. There are two blood-red gems the size of fists faceted to the ceiling. They glow an intense red color and bathe the room in its eerie glow. The entire northern half of the room is raised about 20’ off of the ground and has metal railings protecting the edge. The southern end of the room is completely covered in trees and vines of all kinds. Vines cover the tropical trees and snake their way onto the railing. The smell of fresh earth and plant life is heavy on the air.

• West: In the northeast corner of the room atop the observation platform is a small hallway that allows access to both this room and room 4/26. Between both rooms is a vine-choked metal door that leads north. This door has become stuck by all the plant material clogging the corridor.
• The Blood-Red Gem: The magical glow from this blood-red crystal allows plants to flourish under its light in the absence of sunlight.
• Among The Vines: Those from jungle climates or knowledgeable about plants and animals will recognize these species. They originate many thousands of kilometers to the south, across a great and deep ocean. If characters stop to gather botanicals, they will discover 2d4 rations worth of fresh fruits and vegetables alongside 1d4 portions of Docem Lily, which can be made into a poultice that heals 1d4 hp per use when applied to a wound. Characters will also discover the bodies of two adventurers. They appear to be a fighter and a mage by the manner of their dress, and they haven’t been dead for more than a day. If their corpses are searched characters will find 200 gold coins, two golden bracelets with moonstone pendants (250 gp each), a jeweled scabbard for a short sword made of silver, gold, and bronze pieces hammered with repeating spirals and geometric motifs (700 gp), a scroll of Lightning Bolt, and a red-handled key.

4/26: The Chameleon Vine

This dressed sandstone room is nearly identical to room 4/25. There are two blood-red gems the size of fists faceted to the ceiling. They glow an intense and eerie red color. The entire northern half of the room is raised about 20 feet off of the ground and has metal railings protecting the edge with entrances on the eastern and western ends of the room. This chamber is choked with all sorts of tropical plants, including the very dangerous Chameleon Vine which feeds on not only the body of a creature, but its mind as well. This allows the vine to grow into a shape vaguely resembling the last thing it killed and devoured. This vine simulacrum can remember pieces of its victims’ lives and memories. Even the very learned would struggle to identify the plant, as it can change its leaf shape and color to mimic surrounding plant life. (There is a 1-in-6 chance that a character with the necessary background could identify the vine from its surrounding foliage.)

• North: The northern wall of the raised platform has a series of torch loops on it. A close inspection of these will reveal that the second loop closest to the western wall is loose. If pulled, a secret door will slide to the right and reveal a hidden staircase that allows travel to the levels above and below this one.
• East: Atop the observation platform to the east is a small hallway that allows access to both this room and room 4/25. Between both rooms is a vine-choked metal door that leads north. The door is stuck.
• West: On the western end of the platform a short hallway leads to a locked, iron-banded, green-painted wooden door with a small, grated window. (This door can be unlocked by any green-handled skeleton key.)
• The Blood-Red Gem: The magical glow from this blood-red crystal allows plants to flourish under its light in the absence of sunlight.
• The Chameleon Vine: The Vines in this room are dormant, but if characters attempt to cut or pick plants in this room it will awaken their wrath. The Vines are currently in two forms, that of a great cat and that of a humanoid. There are two Chameleon Vine Panthers and three Chameleon Vine-Men. Their stat blocks are below:
• Chameleon Vine Panther:
• AC 4 [15], HD 4* (18hp), Att 2 x claw (1d4), 1 x bite (1d8) or 1 x squeeze (2d8)
• THAC0 16 [+3], MV 210’ (70’),
• SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4),
• ML 10, AL Neutral, XP 125, TT U
• Squeeze: If the Vine Panther has successfully made an attack against an opponent on the previous round and their opponent hasn’t moved out of melee, they can automatically grapple their opponent with their vines during their nest round. The victim’s movement is reduced to 0 and they take 2d8 damage. They will continue to take damage every round until they are freed (It takes a successful Open Doors check to free a grappled character, though this does take an entire round.)
• Chameleon Vine-Men:
• AC 3 [16], HD 4+1* (20 hp), Att 1 x claw (1d8) or 1 x squeeze (2d8)
• THAC0 15 [+4], MV 120’ (40’),
• SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4),
• ML 10, AL Neutral, XP 200, TT U
• Squeeze: If the Vine-Man has successfully made an attack against an opponent on the previous round and their opponent hasn’t moved out of melee, they can automatically grapple their opponent with their vines during their next round. The victim’s movement is reduced to 0 and they take 2d8 damage. They will continue to take damage every round until they are freed. (It takes a successful Open Doors check to free a grappled character, though this does take an entire round.)

4/27: The Cube

This 35’ by 35’ square chamber of dressed sandstone has 35’ tall ceilings. There is no gem in this room and the interior is unlit. The main entrance is a set of blue double doors on the south wall which open onto a landing separated from the rest of the chamber by a portcullis. The lever for the portcullis is just inside the landing. There is a steep ramp that travels 20 feet down to the chamber floor from there. A 15’ wide platform is attached to the western wall with a sturdy metal door to allow access from the corridor to the west of this room. The landing and its portcullis appear obscured to anyone peeking through the small windows in the double doors.

• South: A heavy set of blue-painted metal double doors with small, grated windows in them separates this chamber from the ring corridor to the south. The doors are locked. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)
• West: The metal door atop the platform has been barred shut from the other side. There is sand and dirt all over the floor of the platform and some of the flagstones are loose.
• The Gelatinous Cube: Waiting just inside the landing between the double doors and the portcullis is the room’s sole inhabitant, a Gelatinous Cube. At some point the cube must have pushed its way through the metal bars of the portcullis and has been waiting for the door to open since. If characters fail to see the creature it will surprise them with an attack as soon as the doors are opened. The ring corridor is just wide enough to allow the Cube to pursue fleeing characters, but as soon as the Cube loses sight of them it will cease to chase and begin moving its normal exploration speed in the opposite direction around the ring corridor.
• A Loose Flagstone: There are some loose flagstones on top of the platform on the western side of the room. If characters search under them they will find someone’s abandoned loot, including 200 platinum coins stamped with the face of an unknown elf queen, two intact amber gems (worth 650 go each), three gold rings with small cameos made of carved gemstones (each worth 200 gp), and a platinum circlet made to look like grape leaves wrapped in a wreath (1,000 gp).

4/28: A Grizzly Scene

This dressed sandstone room is 20’ by 30’ with a ceiling 30’ high. There is a ramp from the entrance that leads 20’ down to the floor of the chamber. Across from the main entrance is a 20’ high platform with a metal railing. A metal door on the northern wall allows access to the platform. There is a water bucket in one corner of the chamber and a large mass of straw that was probably used for bedding. The straw pile and the walls here are covered in dried blood. The metallic smell of it is pungent. Human body parts in advanced stages of decay litter the chamber.

• North: Behind the platform is a sturdy metal door that has been barred from the other side.
• South: An unlocked, iron-banded, blue-painted wooden door with a small, grated window allows entrance into this room from the ring corridor. (This door can be unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)

4/29: A Gruesome Error

This is a simple dressed sandstone cell, 20’ by 20’ square with 10’ tall ceilings. The chamber’s only piece of furniture, a bed, has been pushed into the middle of the room. This room has a faceted crystal in the ceiling like the others, but something seems to have gone wrong with this one. Atop the bed a female humanoid in tattered clothes stands, a large chunk of flagstone in her hand. She is frozen in the motion of smashing the amber crystal with it. Something must have gone wrong though, as she has been transformed into crystal during her attempted act of destruction. Her whole body is now a giant amber crystal.

• East: A locked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small, grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.)
• The Body: If the room is properly unlocked, the crystalized humanoid will immediately shatter into a thousand pieces. The pieces are in total worth 1,000 gp in total.

4/30: The Quiet Way Out

This is a small, dressed sandstone cell, just 15’ by 20’ with 10’ tall ceilings. The amber gem that was faceted into the ceiling has been smashed to bits. There is a cot against the back wall. Atop the cot lies the desiccated corpse of a dwarf.

• East: A locked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small, grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.)
• The Body: The dwarf appears to have died a long time ago, as the body is very old and brittle. Even still, it is clear that this fellow died from starvation. His only possession is a small wooden amulet of Agen Ataar, the dwarf’s chief god and protector.

Encounter Table:

1. 1d2 Chameleon Vine Panthers looking to expand their range.
2. 2d6 Orcs from the level above, searching for treasure.
3. The sound of footsteps quickly receding into the distance.
4. 1d4 Chameleon Vine-Men imitating a party of adventurers setting up camp.
5. 1d4 Wererats and 2 groups of 2d4 rats from the level above, hunting for food.
6. The Rhagodessa, hunting through the corridors for prey.
7. The half-chewed head of mustachioed human.
8. 1d6 Dwarves from the level below, looking for food.
9. 2d6 Zombies dressed in the tattered robes of Oxyus’s guardsmen, bumbling around trying to unlock doors without any keys.
10. A distant and savage roar.