Last call at the
In a damned kingdom of technology, a virtual reality programmer and a fighter seek fame.
Out of the Frying Pan
Welcome to a series of oneshots designed to operate using Dwarven Forge terrain. This adventure utilises parts from the Zaltar's Gameroom and Arcane Alcove adventure sets. The rooms are designed to be made quickly on the fly, rather than the entire dungeon being laid out in its entirety.
Introduction
This is a mini adventure designed for a group of level 1 characters. As it is my first attempt with a one shot of this nature I've tried to blend a little of everything, NPC interaction, combat, traps and loot. I hope this is of enjoyment and let me know if there are any other ideas you'd like to see immortalised in awesome Dwarvenite!
Overview
Local villages have been facing increasingly bold raids by bandits based in nearby mountains. These bandits do not just steal valuables and livestock but have also started abducting people for unknown purposes. The adventurers represent the last group of abductees who have had this adventure forced upon them as they awake in a locked room in an ancient stronghold.
The bandits have stumbled across a long abandoned Dwarven Outpost and taken up residence. Unfortunately for them, the echoes of occupation have been heard by a territorial band of kobolds who come up from the depths and being clearing house. Our adventurers have to escape the prison cell, navigate the fighting between kobold and bandit and escape with their lives!
The Dwarven Stronghold
1. The Prison
Groaning you cradle your head as your vision slowly clears. You have little memory of what brought you here, bandits in the night, an attack on your village, a cudgel and then blackness.
The room you have awakened in is dark, with the only light coming from a guttering wall sconce outside a barred exit. Mercifully the room is dry, with just the slightest odur of wheat and harvests from long ago. In the recess of the room is a slight, wizened man is manacled to the wall, his eyes closed. A loud snore pulls your eyes back to the bars of the cell, it appears the guard is sleeping just outside.
The heroes have awakened in a small jail cell. The barred entryway has no noticable key, and is controlled in the room adjacent. The manacled man, Sylvar is a human commoner who was captured in an earlier raid and is currently on one hp, he has been vocal against his capture and as a result was beaten and chained by the bandit commander. He has seen the guard change and is aware of the mechanism to open the bars on the wall in the adjacent room.
Roleplaying Sylvar
Despite being his best chance of escape, Sylvar is ornery at the best of times and requires persuasion (forceful or otherwise) to help the heroes. If they manage to get him onside, he can explain the operation of the gate, the noise it makes, and any other helpful nuggets of information that the heroes might need to escape captivity. When the heroes do open the exit and defeat the guard, assuming he is freed from his manacles he makes his way immediately to the exit. Whether he escapes in the ensuing battle between bandit and kobold is up to you!
There are a number of exits possible from the room, reward creativity. They may trick the guard into entering the cell and overpower him, mage hand the mechanism to open the door, force the portcullis with a successful DC20 strength check, or small characters could squeeze through the bars on a DC15 dexterity check. Opening the grate does make sufficient noise to cause the guard to wake unless the characters have devised away to quieten the mechanism on the stone.
2. The Jailer's Post
Upon exiting the barred room the heroes have to defeat the jailer. The bandit fights with his shortsword, and will not retreat as repurcussions for the escape would mean his death anyway. On his corpse they find a set of leather armor, a short sword, light crossbow with 10 bolts and 5 sp. Otherwise the room is bare.
If the heroes listen at the door before progressing read the following:
Cupping your ear to the door, initially you hear nothing. As you pull away you catch a quiet yipping noise in the far distance.
3. The Messhall
This room was the dwarves guard post against the Underdark, but unfortunately for the bandits they chose to set it up as an impromptu messhall. The runed door which kept out the monsters from below has burst inwards and it is from here the kobolds staged their attack.
Three impassable walls of force fence the door in, the last desperate spell of the bandits wizard, Anduriel (see statblock).
The aroma of the room hits you as the doors open, roasted meat, jugs of ale, and an overwhelming stentch of blood. The room appears to have been used by the bandits as their messhall, but something has invaded and caught many of them unawares. Four bodies lay on the ground, near the tables of food and beer. In the far corner a heavily runed door lies open behind 3 shimmering walls of force. Shadows move beyond its threshold. Your attention is drawn to the hacking cough of a robed man propped up near the walls of force. His clothes are spotted with blood but he fiercly concentrates on the barrier between him and the unknown shadows beyond.
The room is in ruins and the bandits here were in clothes, not armour. Searching the bodies turns up a set of gambling dice and a measly 18 cp, one of the bodies is cradling a lute which is in pretty good condition. The wizard is in a bad way (1 hp) but is currently using his last remaining energy to block further hordes from entering the dungeon. If the heroes kill him then the walls dissipate and they are attacked by three kobolds and a one winged kobold who come from the cavern complex behind the rune door.
If the wizard is healed then he can ally with the party in helping them clear out the infestation. After being returned to health he maniuplates the energy of the forcefields into the runedoor resealing it from intruders. He is grateful for the assitance and apologises for the actions of his kin. If looted his body contains 1 gp, 20 sp and his spellbook, see his statblock for the spells prepared plus arcane lock which was the spell he spent to try and shut the rune door that burst open.
Roleplaying Anduriel
Anduriel is genuinely grateful for the assistance of the heroes and will strive to make himself useful for the team. He knows the full layout of the dungeon but is unaware about the movements of the kobolds since their recent invasion. He has no qualms about taking the heroes to the barracks and recommending they gear up in anticipation for a final fight in the main hall. However, he will hold his second level spell slot in reserve and use invisibility to flee if he feels the battle is turning against him>
Anduriel
Medium human, chaotic evil
- Armor Class 11 (13 with mage armor)
- Hit Points 16 (4d8)
- Speed 30ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 8 (-1) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 10 (+0)
- Skills Arcana +4 History +4
- Senses passive Perception 10
- Languages Common
- Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)
Spellcasting Anduriel is a 3rd-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). After his earlier battle he only has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, mending, message
1st level (3 slots): burning hands, shield, mage armor, magic missile
2nd level (1 slot): invsibility
Actions
Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, reach 5ft. or range 20/60ft., one target. Hit 1
(1d4 - 1) piercing dmg.
4. The Barracks
The entrance to this room has been
quickly trapped by the Kobolds after they
finished their raid here. The fact the door is
slightly ajar, and a small shadow is cast on
the floor requires a DC 15 Wisdom
(Perception) check to detect. If the characters fail to notice the trap the first hero to walk through the door is hit by a falling pot filled with noxious contents (best not to ask!) They will take 1d4 bludgeoning damage and will need to pass a DC 10 Constitution check or take 1d4 poision damage and be poisoned for the next hour.
The room before you lies in chaos. It appears that the bandits here have been killed getting out of their beds. The first two footlockers have been smashed open by the attackers and their contents are strewn over the floor. Further into the room there seems to have been less pillaging, with two lockers still closed and racks of weapons at the rear of the room largely undisturbed.
As the heroes progress into the room they will be attacked by two bandits who have hidden under the far beds. Given the awkwardness of their hiding spaces the heroes get a surprise round before rolling initative. If killed the bandits have a total of 3 gp between them.
At the back of the room the racks contain the bandit's accrued weaponry and armor. The players can use this to replenish their equipment (as they've had all their items removed from them when in jail). The racks contain two short swords, two long swords, four daggers, four javelins and enough leather armor and chain shirts for the party at hand.
5. The Guardpost
On the approach the room a DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check shows a system of ropes running along the roof of the cave, as the party approaches the door it is clear the ropes have been cut and hang down about one foot from the ceiling. This is represents a crude alarm system the bandits had setup but was neutralised by the kobolds as they attacked from within.
The door opens to what is obviously a guardpost. A small campfire flickers in the centre of the room casting shadows on the stone walls. A small rope pulley contraption has been hammered into the stone beside the door with metal pins. The three stools positioned around the fire are in disarray, and the familiar sight of bandit corpses greets you. The kobolds turn to the door as one, the light of the fire glinting in their eyes.
The guardpost has been successfully attacked by four kobolds which now turn to attack the party. All four have been wounded in their first assault meaning they are now on only 3 hitpoints each. The bodies of the guards contain 30, a length of rope and a flint and tinder. The kobolds carry nothing aside from their weapons.
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As the party approaches the exit they hear the return of a patrol sent out to explore the surrounding area. They are not quiet as they have no reason to believe they are in any danger. The patrol is made up of four bandits. If the party is underequipped at this point then this might be a good signal for them to return to potential rooms they skipped in order to gear up.
6. The Moot Hall
The battle still rages inside this room between the remains of the bandits and the ambushing kobolds. The fight is ongoing between four kobolds and one winged kobold lieutenant (feel free to upgrade to a Volo's guide improved kobold if you like!) against one bandit captain (reduced to 30 hitpoints), two bandits and one clay automaton (see stat block). The clay automaton is controlled by a special gem held by the bandit captain who as a bonus action can direct it's attack. If the heroes enter the fray, the fighting monsters will act in the heat of the battle, focusing on whomever attacked or hit them last. Looting the bandit captain discovers a potion of healing and the control gem for the automaton. If still alive, it will treat the bearer as its new owner, if destroyed then it is still a fine ruby worth 100gp. The other combatants give up 3d10 copper pieces but nothing else.
The sound of battle echoes down the hall as you approach the double doors to the chamber. Inside a vicious fight is playing out between the kobold invaders and the bandit leaders. As you watch a clay behemoth clubs one of the skittering kobolds into the ground reducing him to a red mist.
The room itself is large with an elevated section at the far end holding a stone statue of what appears to be one of the dwarven gods, a green gem is embedded in the base of the plinth. Twin pools of water run alongside the room and the flickering light from torches show a myriad of small objects glinting in the water below.
The room was once a shrine to the god Dumathoin the god of exploration and underground exploration. There is a secret door in the eastern wall of the room. It can be detected on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, but has no noticable opening mechanism. If someone presses the gem into the plinth of the statue then the door springs open. The bandits are aware of this mechanism and have used the room to store their most precious loot.
Whilst the room is long abandoned the god still watches over this holy room. Any dwarf fighting within is treated as being under the spell bless (+1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws). The bottom of the pools hold objects the dwarves have found in their exploration and given up as an offering to their god. A hero can loot these items (largely uncut gems, or rocks with precious strata of ore) and gain 5d6 gp of valuables. However doing this, or tampering with the control gem of the secret door (which is simply cut glass and worthless) angers the gods and results in the aforementioned players feeling the scrutiny of a higher power. These players fall under the spell of bane (-1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws) until they perform a charitable act, undoing this act of selfishness.
If they successfully press the gem without damaging it the secret door grinds open. Within is the loot of the bandit's assorted raids. The room contains 40gp, 200sp and 450cp, two onyx figurines worth 15gp each. Additionally there is a tome detailing the use of the control gem for the clay automaton.
Clay Automaton
Large construct, unaligned
- Armor Class 11
- Hit Points 18(3d10 + 3)
- Speed 20ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 13 (+2) 9 (-1) 12 (+1) 3 (-4) 8 (-1) 1 (+5)
- Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned
- Senses passive Perception 9
- Languages Understands the languages of the bearer of the control gem, but can't speak
- Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Singular mind After being given a command as a bonus action from the gem bearer it will pursue this task relentlessly.
Archaic construction Hitpoint damage taken by this monster can never be healed through any means. At zero hitpoints the construction falls apart and is no more.
Actions
Multiattack. The automaton makes two slam attacks
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 5 (1d6 + 2)
Time to short rest?
This encounter is designed to be run as the heroes fighting in the midst of an ongoing battle. If they take a short rest then this will likely mess up that flavour. You can either rule that the kobolds have overtaken the dungeon and simply replace the later encounters with blocks of kobolds (ideally including casters and the like, if you have Volo's guide to monsters). Alternatively you could have another patrol in the midst of retaking the guard room, and roll out the automaton and bandit captain fight at that point for a suitably epic encounter to round out the dungeon.
Appendix- Using Dwarven Forge Terrain
Room 1 & 2
Room 3
Room 4
Room 5
Room 6
