Time for post #3 for
the Tower of Visions! Here are post #2 and post #1 if you’re curious (they are not in order, I'll try that after finishing the dungeon).
Unlike the previous posts this one can be played as a straight combat encounter
(or not). Actually, I’m think that this can be the first encounter of the
entire thing.
The Tigers of Doors
The party enters a
big hall of unworked stone, 30 ft. wide, 12 ft. tall and roughly 100 ft. long.
There are corpses of previous raiders to the Tower lying in the ground. At the
end of the hall it is possible to see gigantic doors (from the floor to the
ceiling) made of grey crystal. Guarding the doors are two big statues of tiger
that seem to be made of multifaceted mirrors. Each statue is an otherworldly
work of art and the characters can see themselves reflected in the various
mirrors that made up each tiger.
The Gate Is Shut: If someone in the party gets close
enough to the doors there is a chance they noticed something is wrong: besides
the fact that the doors are really big and look more like a castle’s gate than
a door there is no handle to pull them open. Close inspection (or the right
questions) will reveal to the party that they are not doors, just a big crystal
wall carved with the shape of doors (the Judge call allow Dwarven characters to
notice that automatically if they reach the gate).
The Corpses: The corpses don’t rot and are in the
position as of their demise. Investigating the bodies reveal razor sharps cuts
that got through flesh, leather and metal.
The Judge can leave
anything to be looted but when in doubt roll a few coins, 1d6 normal weapons
(and ammunition) and maybe a shield or helm laying. Material components for
arcane spells are also in order and if you’re feeling nice they can grant 1d6
“Spellburn points” to any spell (but if you roll a ‘6’ the caster suffers Minor
Corruption). Oh, if you play 5E or other d20 game maybe the special components
can give double damage or duration for the next spell (but there is a 25% of
suffering Exhaustion or a wild mage surge). In fact, merciful Judges can leave
one or two healing potions here or a few scrolls of lore collected about the
Tower of Visions (these scrolls grant 1d2 “answers” to questions made by the
party, after translation or any check required by the Judge).
The Tigers of Doors: When the party gets at 30 ft of the
Tigers their reflections in the statues start chanting “Oh bloody ones!
Offer honor and sacrifice to the Tigers of Doors, the Keeper of Impossible
Paths, Masters of Mirror Worlds!”.
Not surprisingly (or
so I believe) they Tigers start moving at that points and, after 1 round
staring at the party, will jump to attack (preferably at the closest or
unluckiest character).
Start with normal
tiger stats of your choice (like the ones on page 174 of the DCC RPG Annual
Vol. 1) but give them higher Initiative (+8 is nice) and AC (around 16-18).
Piercing weapons deal minimum damage, slashing weapons deal half damage. They
are immune to poison and effects that target living creatures, but suffer
double damage from sonic attacks. They are immune to any ray attack (and there
is a 25% that it is reflected back).
The biggest danger of
the Tigers are their claws and bite. After rolling damage for a claw or bite
attack, tell the hit character that she has a choice: either suffer bleeding
damage equal to half the damage suffered at the start of each round; or lose 1
point of AC (that includes having a shield destroyed). The Tigers’ attacks are
almost vorpal-sharp. Bleeding damage keeps going until healed (and is not
cumulative, use the higher amount).
A way out: The way to leave this room is either
to destroy the Tigers of Doors in combat or to notice that each Tiger is
actually a magic door:
- Destroying a Tiger
will open for 1d3 rounds a magic door to the next part of the dungeon. After
that the Tiger will become a shard of living mirrors (use the same stats, with
half hit point and attack as swarm against everything in 10 ft.) for 1d3
rounds. During the “swarm phase” the magic door is still open, but anyone
jumping through will suffer a free attack. Oh, and read later about the Curse.
- Anyone fighting a
Tiger in melee range can glimpse in one of their multifaceted surfaces a
shining door. Touching the right spot (this is a melee attack with Advantage)
takes the character way to the next part of the Tower of Visions. Evil Judges
can declare that such a “touching attack” grants the Tiger a free attack.
- Anyone “offering
honor and sacrifice” to a Tiger of Doors can be transported away instantly.
This can be either a religion check (DC 15?) or a cool roleplay, preferably
followed by some concrete offer (blood and 1 point of damage is the standard
ticket, but the Judge is free to accept anything of value).
- The “sacrifice” bit
can actually mean that a character lowers her guard to the Tiger and offers
herself for 1 free attack. After the attack (dead or bleeding) the character is
transported away. Maybe each “free attack” against one character can transporte
another member of the party.
The Curse!
The Tigers of Doors required a sacrifice! These dudes are quasi-deities (weak
ones). Killing their material forms won’t stop them for long but will deeply
offend them. The character that did the killing strike should lose 1 Luck right
away (to know that something is wrong). Congratulations, the character is
cursed!
This is how the curse
works: ask for a Luck check, rolling equal or less than the stat. Start with a
d30. Once per game session or adventure ask for a Luck check. Each time the
character fails, before crossing any door of the Judge’s choice, the character will
see a Tiger of Doors briefly crossing it on the other side. After stepping
through THAT door, it doesn’t matter what steps the character takes, they will
suffer one successful bite attack (don’t forget the bleeding damage and maybe
roll a d20 just to see if it is a critical hit). Each time that the character
is damaged, decrease the curse die by one step (it stops at d10 but don’t
forget that rolling a d10 is always a failure). If your d20 game doesn’t use
Luck as a stat (heretics!) use Charisma.
How to remove the
curse? I don’t know… sell your soul to a patron, do a quest for a god, build a
shrine to the Tigers of Doors (which will grow to become a new Tower of
Visions?) etc. This is the fun part and I will leave it to the Judge.
What if...
...some try to attack the Tigers of Doors from a distance before they animate (c’mon,
it is obvious they will animate)? Remember, the trigger is 30 ft. Well, if
that happens the Judge can just allow it and give the party 1 round of free
shots. Evil Judges (you know, the best ones) will probably remove the message
part of the encounter and just leave the party to figure it out the hard way.
 |
| Imagine something awesome like this... but it is a tiger! By Kardie Art. |
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