Skyfell Campaign: Session 10

Skyfell Introduction

I started a once-per-month Dungeons and Dragons game in my Skyfell campaign setting. I wanted to provide my players with a log of their adventures and then realized that such a log might make for fun blog posts. See the Session Index for a complete listing.

The cast is:

Rodney - Tauffae Twofeather Topshelf - male orc, Fighter (Champion)

Pat - Frit Nimbly - female goblin, Monk (Way of Shadow)

Dan - Drekzhar - male minotaur, Bard/Rogue (College of Swords, no specialty)

Laura - Meribore Softwalker - female fitbolg, Druid (Circle of the Moon)

Michelle - Bronte Whitewinter - male firbolg, Cleric (Tempest Domain)

Jeff - Omagoshno - male rock gnome, Artificer (Artillerist)

Session 10: Stranger Things, Part 2

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

This is the adventure that comes with the Dungeons and Dragon Stranger Things box set. Because this is a log of our campaign, I will be disclosing details of that published module. I will, of course, be altering some of those details to fit the campaign, but the overall adventure along with its puzzles and solutions will likely appear in the coming posts. If you don’t want to know these things...

...STOP READING!

You’ve been warned.

Preparation

After the events of Session 9, I felt a little like I had dropped the ball with the yellow musk creeper and I didn't want that to happen again. If I was going to kill a party member, I at least wanted it to be part of a larger story line and not just a random creature feature gone sideways. This simply meant being more aware the monsters I'm fielding and not getting caught up in the moment as much as I usually do.

Along those lines, I needed to flesh out the encounters in the next part of the Stranger Things adventure. There was one main element that I just didn’t like so I needed to rework the general flow of the adventure. Part of that included working out a more detailed method for the Cursed Labyrinth. As written, it’s a simple “random encounters" table with a very limited set of possibilities. I could see how it could very easily become boring. I decided instead for a more “theater of the mind" approach. I even worked out a few ideas for “quick combat” should it come to that. A major part of this was expanding the encounters themselves. Luckily, I’d already created a ridiculous number of random encounters for my Hooked on Gnomes posts (see the Supplemental Materials section below for the laundry list of links). I simply adapted a subset of those for the Cursed Labyrinth. I also redid how I (or more precisely, the players) were going to roll to determine the random encounters. I wanted a minimum number of miscellaneous things to happen before the chances of discovering the Lost Knight were 100%. Ultimately, I knew that I could force a conclusion to the labyrinth if things got too boring. Anyway, I’ve included the revised encounter rules in the Supplemental Materials section.

I also needed to be sure I understood what information the Lost Knight was going to provide. I wrote up a bunch of dialog for answers to questions I figured the party would ask. Moreover, I knew I was going to substitute the Lost Knight as written for my own NPC, with a dad-joke style play on words that I couldn't resist. I like what I came up with and I'm looking forward to using the NPC more in the future. You’ll see what I mean as you read more. 

The Lost Knight as He Appears in Stranger Things
Source: Dungeons and Dragons Stranger Things box set

Pat was finally able to attend this session, so I also had to get with him to establish what Frit had gotten up to while the others had been adventuring without her. I felt taking advantage of the general weirdness of the Cursed Labyrinth was not just the easiest thing to do but also the best way to go. In doing so, I opened up the nature of the Cursed Labyrinth to such a degree that it is now going to be a critical part of the campaign setting. I had committed to this when I first decided to run Stranger Things, but this session really solidified that idea and its direction.

There was also a lot of discussion on Discord between Dan and I regarding some of Drekzhar’s long-term goals. One of these turned out that he wanted the group to acquire an airship and perhaps have the game take on a Firefly or Star Trek sort of feel; i.e., flying around and doing things in exotic locales. It was a shiny idea and the players agreed. Skyfell is an in-progress setting after all. Having the characters explore areas that I haven’t even thought about yet was an airship's load of potential fun that I couldn't pass up. To that end, I started thinking in more detail about the ship the party might obtain. Dan expressed a desire for a corvette class ship (small, fast-moving vessel). I did a few sketches of what one might look like Skyfell. This is what I came up with, minus the "wings" and "tail" (its sails). I was only concentrating on the hull. I also started thinking about how to build a scale model of this thing for in-game play.

Concept Sketch for a Corvette Class Airship

Michelle opened some discussions with me about Bronte. She wasn’t quite connecting with the big guy and needed to rethink his direction, goals, and so forth. We discussed some changes that we both felt would help nurture the kind of connection she wanted. I think we came up with some interesting ideas but I stressed that there are always options. Dungeons and Dragons is a game of imagination and I feel no need to constrain the story to a particular concept or rule. Consistency, fairness, creativity, and fun are far more important.

Finally, I realized that since the coins in Bronte's possession were going to play an important role in the coming session (and in the campaign in general), I should probably at least sketch one. Here's what I came up with.

The Coin with Inscription:
"To traverse that which has been sundered"

Pre-Game

I sent the players a written description of the hallway and doors they found at the end of the previous session a few days before we met. The in-game description below opens with that text.

The morning of the game I built the two maps that I knew I would need. They came out pretty well. I set them aside on boards so that I could bring them out at the right time. You'll see pictures of them during the in-game account.

Right before the game started, Rodney proposed an explanation for Frit's disappearance and subsequent reappearance. It was much more interesting, and entertaining, than what Pat and I had worked out. Pat was game. So we went with Rodney's idea instead. (My players really are pretty darn awesome.) The in-game description below also includes a version of that description.

In-Game

The passage before the party was 10-feet wide with an arching ceiling. The remnants of a narrow, horizontal line of decorative white tile buffered by thin, stone trim bisected the walls about a third of the way up from the floor. The stone was  engraved with ornate, organic knots below this line. Above, vertical grooves created a sense of continuous movement toward a pair of heavy doors 50 feet away. The stone work was weathered, beaten, and confessing an ancient origin. The stone was cracked and stained by centuries of water patiently working its way through the rock. Here and there, over-eager roots had intruded through those cracks. The debris of delicate, black and white marble tiles had collected in the joint between the walls and the floor. The floor was bare stone spotted with a dwindling minority of tiles that had managed to remain in place. These suggested a simple, organic pattern that would have complimented the one on the walls. 

The stout doors were as stalwart as any protecting a castle entrance. Each was rectangular and decorated in a similar way to the walls. While they too showed great age, they were obviously of a far more recent make than the passage they blocked. Their raised surfaces were pock marked with fresh splintering and deep gouges. Their handles were of a bulky cast iron that were set into strikers suggesting the same shape as the coins in Bronte’s possession. It was completely dark here and the party needed to supply their own light via cantrips and torches otherwise those without darkvision would risk walking straight into a wall.

As the party approached the doors, Tauffae fluffed the feathers in his hat because they were feeling a bit flat. Frit tumbled out along with a few lizard tails and a pictorial scroll of questionable merit! She was blue in the face and choking on something. Tauffae slapped the goblin on the back until she coughed up a cloud of feathers. Once Frit recovered, she explained that she had been caught attempting to put lizard tails into a vegetarian stew back at The Groggy Hive. As punishment, she had been temporarily transformed into a showy hatpin that had conveniently found its way into Tauffae's ensemble.

Stranger things have happened in other D&D campaigns the world over. Let's just move on.

On the other side of the doors, the hallway split into three passages, one where the decorative tile was purple, one with green decorative tile, and one with orange decorative tile. Each of these was also 10-feet wide. The purple hall showed clear signs of a huge beast having crawled through. Claw marks both old and freshly made were easily spotted. After some tentative exploration and discussion of the options before them (and Tauffae contending with a particularly aggressive fly), the party decided to go down the purple hall. (To be fair, Frit mostly marched her way down that hall with Tauffae and one of the guards from Fort Delakor alongside. The others hastily went after her.)

After a little over a half hour of following the creature's trail, ignoring numerous doors and branching passages, the party found themselves staring at a coffer on the floor. Inside was a collection of maps documenting what they assumed to be the dungeon they were now exploring. Each map had hand-written annotations and other notes in various languages describing landmarks, fabulous treasures, and dangerous creatures. Some of the notes were calm commentary. Others were frantic, agitated, or desperate scribbles cursing the maze-like passages and longing to find a way out. Several included the cryptic command to, "Just keep moving." Frit collected the maps but left the coffer behind.

The Coffer Filled with Maps
Source: Pixabay, with additional modifications by me

While the party was focused on the coffer, Meribore noticed that the decorative tile was no longer purple but rather orange. She doubled back the way they had come hoping to identify when the color had changed. She found instead a completely different hallway than the one the had come through. She immediately returned to the party to report her findings. During the discussion that followed the fly returned to harass Tauffae. Ultimately, they decided to heed the warning on the note and just keep moving.

And they did just keep moving for another half hour before they found an empty room with a single half-circle table tucked into an alcove. Upon the table was a small, wicker cage of the sort one might keep a pet in for a long journey. Inside was a lump of rounded quartz. A note, written in Sylvan, was tacked to the top of the cage and read, “Love it, and be rewarded. Hate it, and be punished. Leave it, and always regret it.” Omagoshno very quickly decided that he needed a new pet and claimed both the rock and the cage. He tried speaking sweet kindnesses to rock but couldn't tell whether it actually responded or if his active gnomish fancy was getting the better of him. Tauffae was once again distracted by a fly that was showing entirely too much interest in him.

Cage with Quartz in It
Source: Original image from https://pixabay.com

A little after they departed the room, Meribore noticed that the decorative tile was now green. As before, when she doubled back to check the way they had come, the passages were different. When the others heard this, they were filled with a bit of dread. They became concerned that they too might get lost in this place. They decided, though, to heed the warning to just keep moving.

Nearly an hour passed before the party found a large chamber with an abandoned campsite inside. Several tents lined one of the walls. A fire pit, constructed from loose stones harvested from a weakened portion of wall, was at its center. The ash inside the ring was cold. There was also a thin layer of dust on everything. Clearly, it had been a while since anyone had been in this room. A quick search not only turned up a journal but also a small hoard of coins and gems that the missing campers had clearly gathered on their travels. The journal spoke of being lost in "this Cursed Labyrinth" and included missives to a loved one in the hopes that someone "might find this journal should the worst happen." The last entries talked about being stalked by some beast that finally caught up with the group when they set camp.

The Journal

Once again, a fly buzzed about Tauffae's head before shooting down one of the hallways. The orc had grown quite bored with all the talking and journaling and decided to follow the fly instead. The others quickly hurried after him. Soon, they noticed the decorative tile was once again purple and there were numerous signs of a large creature having passed through. Feeling they were once again on the right path, they followed the trail. Another half hour or so passed when they caught the smell of something cooking. There was also firelight up ahead. A soft humming only reinforced the notion that someone was up to something somewhere ahead. They approached cautiously, with Tauffae and Frit in the lead.

The Party Enters Another Chamber

The party entered a well-lit room. While the rest of the dungeon had shown signs of age throughout, this room was in perfect repair and perfectly clean. At its center was a woman stirring a large cauldron, the source of the smell. The woman quickly beckoned them to come and have some of her Sweet Dreams stew.

A Woman Cooks a Stew

Tauffae and Frit ventured forth, getting a better look at the woman and the rest of the room. The woman was quite old, with blotched, purple skin as thin as paper pulled across a bony frame. She wore clothes that reminded Frit of a school-teacher's outfit, though the fabric was quite old and worn. A pair of small horns curled back through a head of long, full, black hair that shimmered in the light. The room was well stocked with supplies. A bed, desk, and stone pedestal were clear indications that the woman was permanently settled here. 

“I am the Lost Night," the woman announced when they asked who she was, "the Bitch of Dark Thoughts, the Primogenitor of Nightmares, and the Keeper of the Third Promise of the Sisterhood Concord. But you can call me Auntie. Yes. A pleasant affinity, don’t you think? We are kith of sorts, are we not. Kith and kin. And if one cannot rely on kinship, what can one rely on? Hmm? Now, have some of this wonderful stew that poor Auntie has been working so hard to make for her guests. It fortifies the soul."

Auntie
Source: Monster Manual, 5e

Auntie turned to a mechanical being who had been quietly standing in the opposite corner of the room. "Click-clack, come serve our guests," she said.

A Mechanical Being Named Click-clack
Source: Monster Manual, 5e

Click-clack stiffened to attention, bowed, and then retrieved an armful of bowls and spoons from a chest. It approached with an air of dignity to distribute one bowl and one spoon to Tauffae and Frit each in an incredibly precise and clockwork manner.

While this was happening, the rest of the party slowly filed into the room. All at once, they started asking Auntie questions about where they were, how they should get out, and whether she could help them find the thessalhydra. Throughout this deluge, both Tauffae and Frit sampled Auntie's stew. Tauffae very much liked it and had seconds, and thirds, and fourths. When he spilled a little on his armor, Click-clack quietly sprayed a pine-scented mist from a strange looking device onto the leather and then wiped away the mess with a preternaturally white towel.

“You’re in an in-between place," Auntie said in reply to questions about the dungeon. "It’s a kind of wall that keeps the planes separated from each other.” She sniffed Meribore, “Like your Upside Down.” She waited for a reaction from the firbolg. “I smell no recognition in your dreams. Then, perhaps, The Frostnight? No? The Blight Wild? The Shadowfell? Yes. There it is. The word looms darkly in your dreams. It's always there now, yes?"

Auntie regarded Meribore for a moment. Then, "Where was I? Oh. Walls. Walls. As with any wall, there are doorways. Some doorways are permanent. I’ll wager my left tit that you came through one of those, yes? It’s the only way you would have landed in the Cursed Labyrinth. Other doorways are only temporary. They appear random or with the seasons. And then there are the unnatural doors, the ones that the curious, the arrogant, the greedy, the malevolent tear into reality to sate their own petty needs. Yes? Your foolish gnome of the islands was testicles deep in such nonsense, you see? But somehow you managed to put an end to his shenanigans. Yes, a very final end from what Auntie smells in your dreams. And for that, Auntie is grateful. Very grateful. Yes."

It occurred to Drekzhar that this woman was the same woman who had come to his dreams back in the gnome burrow (see session 7) and had warned him not to open any doors.

Auntie continued, "And now you hunt the thessalhydra. That too I smell in all your dreams. A great, hulking beast it is. The size of a barn. Bred for nothing but killing. That thing has been running amok in my labyrinth for too long now. To long, yes? Why, just a short while ago it came trampling through here full of piss and vinegar. It busted through to the Shadowfell just over there." She gestured to the wall at the far end of the chamber.

The Thessalhydra, Full of Piss and Vinegar
Source: Monster Manual II

When the party indicated they saw no door, Auntie splashed a ladle of stew against the wall. A large set of doors appeared there that were the twins of those at the entrance. She warned them, though, that they would need keys to pass through the doors. She knew Bronte had a few in his possession (the coins from the witch under the tree back in Session 4). She had seen them in his dreams. They would need more though. One for everyone or else there would be punishments to be had all around. Fortunately, since the party was doing her a solid by hunting the thessalhydra, she was more than happy to supply them all with the coins.

More conversation with Auntie also revealed that the Cursed Labyrinth was created when The Cataclysm sundered Skyfell and Shadowfell. She had been a denizen here, along with her twelve sisters, ever since.

Skyfell Cultural Note

The Cataclysm is an ancient event that occurred many thousands of years ago. It is said to have been the result of a deadly war between the people of Skyfell and the people of another plane of existence. It was only through Bahamut's divine power that Skyfell survived the conflict. It is said that the Piruna Fields was once a continent as large and as grand as Akima Prime but it was ripped apart during this war. While most people speak of The Cataclysm with distant reverence, there are a number of scholars at Kalraka who have devoted their lives to studying it. This makes a kind of sense since parts of the school itself are believed to have originated during The Cataclysm and, as everyone knows, the school has its own memories that spill out of its haunted halls. 

With Auntie's permission, the party settled in for a long rest before continuing their hunt for the thessalhydra. During this time, Tauffae and Auntie took turns doing each others' hair and talking about clothing. She let him a bolt of fine silk from one of her chests. The party also found a few drake hides that Omagoshno needed for Bronte's arm (see Session 6 for the components list). Auntie allowed them to take what they needed.

When he was sure everyone was asleep, Bronte used the opportunity to fashion a doll from grasses he had collected after Meribore's return from the dead. He muttered a prayer to Hiatea, regarded Meribore, and then tossed the grass doll onto one of the fires that lit Auntie's chamber. Immediately, it burst into flames. The sudden flare up was a comfort of sorts to the firbolg who was feeling that he had somehow lost his way.

The Grass Doll that Bronte Fashion
Created by Michelle for Her Character
Have I mentioned how much I love my players?

Upon concluding their long rest, the party thanked Auntie and continued on their hunt. They passed through the doors with no trouble. (Even Omagoshno's pet rock was okay.) They followed a passage for a short way before emerging into a strange place where the sky was dark as pitch and littered with millions of candles. It was cold. A giant silver disc hovered high overhead. Ravens crisscrossed the sky. The surrounding forests looked almost dead. Off in the distance, they could see the lights of a town that looked a lot like Delakor. In fact, on a nearby hill there was a fort that might be the twin of the one at Delakor, though there was something not quite right about it.

An Alien Landscape
Source: Original images from Pixabay, additional work by me

This was all somewhat familiar to Meribore. It was the same kind of landscape she had seen when meeting the Raven Queen's messenger. Thanks to Auntie, she knew now that the disc was called Moon and that much ink and many words had been spent in prayer to it.

But there was something more here that had not been present during her meeting with that strange man with pointed ears. There was a weight that pulled at everyone's thoughts and everyone's emotions. Tauffae nearly succumbed to this drag, diving into a profound sense of worthlessness long nurtured since his childhood. A warmth filled him before he could get completely lost in that abyss. As his sense of worth returned, he was certain that he could smell the wonderful Sweet Dreams stew Auntie had fed him. A healthy burp certainly recalled its flavor.

The party redoubled their focus on their task. As on Doraku, the thessalhydra had not been subtle in its movements through these woods. Its trail was beyond obvious. As with the jungle on Doraku, this forest buzzed with sounds despite its deathly appearance. There were clicks that seemed to come from everywhere. There were strange keenings that echoed through the chilled air. There was also a thumping sound, like massive footfalls, coming from somewhere nearby. Just then, a gigantic creature of shadow and smoke crossed their path. Whether it was oblivious to their presence or couldn't care less, the thing made its way through the forest without stopping to bother them.

A Giant Aberration Stalks the Darkness
Source: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, 5e

The party continued once they were certain the enormous aberration was gone. As they followed the trail, it became clear that the clicks they had heard before were closer and occurring more frequently. Tauffae began scouting the terrain for a defensible position and settled on an area that offered something of a kill box as a trap. The party quickly took up positions and waited.

Preparing for a Fight

As the clicking closed in, a four-legged, hooved monster with slender, branching horns and short hair all over its body bounded out of the darkness and rushed Drekzhar, Bronte, and Tauffae . At the last moment, it veered away from them to dash through the trees. Fortunately, two of the guards from Fort Delakor were nearby and they quickly dispatched the monster before it could do anyone harm.

A Monster Rushes Our Heroes
Source: Pixabay with some digital changes

At the same time, Tauffae thought he spotted something else moving through the trees toward the soldiers but it was too dark to be sure. He shouted a warning as he hurried toward them. By the time he arrived at their side, a lithe, vaguely humanoid, thing that stank of rotting meat was upon them. Its entire head opened like a flower to reveal row upon row of serrated teeth. Its gangling arms ended in long, clawed fingers.

And Then the Real Monster Shows Up
Source: Stranger Things

This new monstrosity immediately lashed out at the nearest guard in a flurry of claws and teeth. Somehow, the guard fended off the assault entirely. He hooted with panicked glee as his companion launched a spear (his only weapon) in support. The missile missed its target. Realizing he was now weaponless, the guard dove into the woods in a desperate search to retrieve his only means of defense. Tauffae and Drekzhar engaged the monster now too. Face to face so that he could feel its slimy breath filling his own nostrils, Tauffae screamed at the thing, taunting it and demanding that it take on an opponent its own size. It regarded him, let out s sinister hiss, and focused its fury on the orc. Tauffae did not fare as well as the guard.

A New Monster Attacks the Party

As this chaos erupted, on the other side of the kill box, Frit noticed another of the monsters creeping up behind Meribore and the third guard. She leaped in between it and her companions to hack and slash at this second threat.

Why Settle for One When I Can Have Two?

The others, suddenly aware of the commotion immediately behind them, turned to confront their attacker. Omagoshno threw rays of frost at it as he made his way across the kill box to help. In the process, he accidentally shot himself. Bronte used his Wand of Webs to immobilize the thing before it could get any closer. The others then closed in on it to kill it. Bronte eventually delivered the killing blow with blast of guiding bolt.

Hearing the angry, wounded shouts from Tauffae and feeling that the situation in front of her was under control, Meribore hurried across the kill box to her other friends. She found everyone in a pitched battle against a creature that was backed up against a tree. Assessing this situation, she realized Tauffae was in dire need of some healing if he was going to survive the encounter.

Meribore Heals Tauffae

The creature clearly did some assessing of its own and realized that it was outnumbered and dangerously close to death. (Tauffae had delivered some vicious blows.) It quickly disengaged itself and leaped into the tree behind it. Omagoshno, who was also now joining the battle, saw the creature in the tree. He launched a firebolt. The tree branches quickly caught fire. The creature leaped to another tree to avoid the flames. Bronte hit it with a guiding bolt. The creature slipped from its precarious perch. It tumbled twenty feet onto a cluster of rocks. There was a sickly crunching noise as its back broke from the impact. It let out a final, guttural moan and then died.

The party regrouped to assess everyone's condition and take a short rest. As they settled in, a humanoid approached. This new arrival stopped just inside the firelight, revealing herself to be a slender, pale figure, with long white hair and pointed ears. She wore an intricate set of leather armor that Meribore recognized as being similar to what the Raven Queen's messenger had worn. She held up her hand in greeting and said in Common, "Hail. May I approach?"

A Stranger Comes for a Visit
Source: Heroforge

An unkindness of ravens settled in the trees around the party.

End session 10.

Experience earned:

Bronte - 1159 (5898 total)

Drekzhar - 1017 (6449 total)

Frit -  1049 (4735 total)

Meribore - 1094 (6713 total)

Omagoshno - 1094 (6553 total)

Tauffae -  1082 (6586 total)

Supplemental Materials

Session Notes

Though I had built out the map for the encounter with the demogorgans ahead of time, I gave Rodney and the other players a chance to rearrange it a bit to their own advantage. I did this because in the story Tauffae searched about for an ideal location to set up his ambush. For me, this translated into letting the players reset the terrain in a way that they saw fit. I think this worked out well and it will be a tactic I will use again when appropriate.

I finally got around to retaking the group shot of the characters. For the record, I painted the Omagoshno, Frit, and dinosaur miniatures. Rodney painted the Bronte, Drekzhar, and Tauffae miniatures. Laura painted her Meribore miniature. They are a good looking group of adventurers for sure.

Hooked on Gnomes Links

As promised, the list of all ten Hooked on Gnomes posts in one convenient location. It's enough to bring a tear to any elder's eye. Just remember, with great story hooks comes great responsibility.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8
• Part 9
• Part 10

Revised Rules for the Cursed Labyrinth

Each player rolls 1d8. For each roll after the first, add 1 to result.

Roll 1d6 to determine whose roll to use. (There are six players.)

Roll 1d30+30 to determine the amount of minutes wandering before encounter is found.

1. Treasure (type D)
2. Encounter
3. Encounter
4. Encounter
5. Encounter
6. Encounter
7. Encounter
8. Treasure (type C)
9. Lost Night
10. Lost Night
11. Lost Night
12. Lost Night
13. Lost Night
14. Lost Night
15. Treasure (Type F)

When a treasure type is rolled, consult the treasure tables in the Rules Cyclopedia.

When "Encounter" is rolled on the above, roll 1d30 to determine which encounter it is. Each of these is designed for roleplaying, for easy avoidance, or as a trap. I included just enough information to kick off the encounter with the aim of improvising the rest. I was hoping to generate a feeling that the labyrinth was a large ecosystem all its own because I realized that by running the Strange Things module I was injecting its content as canon into my setting and that content might be revisited later.

1. Sniz-irk, a male goblin, is selling common magical goods from the back of a broken-down wagon.
2. A flumph, whose name would require a mind splitting psychic blast to say let alone understand, is hovering near a cluster of boulders that intrude up through the floor. For a price, it will ask the rocks a question about themselves or their surroundings on the party's behalf and relay the answer.
3. Thessalhydra evidence
4. A scaffold is erected over a pit that seems to have no bottom. A sulfurous miasma filled with dissonant whispers that chill the bones and taunt the mind drifts up from deep within the opening. Skeletons of various races lie about the area.
5. Dozens of statues of various races and adventuring backgrounds in mid motion are scattered around an expansive chamber. At the center of the chamber, a life-sized, stone cockerel with ruby eyes stands atop a two-story chicken coop made of green soapstone and obsidian.
6. Thessalhydra evidence
7. A blue (sapphire) gem stands on its edge atop a table-sized mushroom. The gem pulses with necromantic magical energy. There are numerous corpses in varying degrees of decay littering the floor.
8. A huge heap of scrap metals, discarded jars, shattered vials, empty barrels, used spell components, broken magic items, damaged weapons, and spare equipment fills the chamber. A group of kobolds (Kad, Ked, Kid, Kod, and Kud) in faded magician robes calls out from behind a counter that teeters on three wobbly legs. They explain that for "worthy payment," a member of the party can search the heap and take the first item they find. All sales are final. Upon paying, roll d100 to determine what is found:1-10: common non-magical item
   11-70: common magical item
   71-91: uncommon magical item
   92-99: rare magical item
   100: very rare magical item.
9. Thessalhydra evidence
10. A female kenku named Klack-bang wears a leather apron and full protective gear. She fiddles with the clockwork of a machine that has no readily discernible purpose. Without warning, a whistle screeches and a portal opens overhead. Debris and other loose materials near the portal are pulled toward it, including the kenku. A moment later, the clockwork begins to seize and the portal closes with a hiccup.
11. An elaborate door made of clockwork is fitted into a recessed area of this small chamber. "Temporarily out of order," is clumsily painted in Common on a wooden plank that dangles over a brass likeness of an ear. Carved into the door frame by a far more refined hand is the following riddle in Infernal:How can you make seven even?
    Answer: Remove the S. (from riddles.com)
12. Thessalhydra evidence
13. Dozens of cables, chains, and ropes dangle from a 30-foot high ceiling. The floor beneath is made of irregularly shaped flagstone. Some are splattered with blood. Others have scorch marks. Still other are chipped and scraped. The room buzzes with evocation magical energy.
14. The party finds the skeletal remains of an aarakocra. Next to it is a construct that appears to be shut down. Scratched into its metal body in Common is the following, "I've done bad things."
15. Thessalhydra evidence
16. The party finds a collection of parts in a crate. On the side of the crate in elegant Gnomish is written "R-56A Sunshine Elaboration Device. Extreme danger! Have a blast." There are no instructions.
17. The party startles a female sprite (named Nyxis Tigerplumb) who is fussing with an object attached to a door. The sprite disappears in a pop of magic, leaving behind the object. Roll on the trinkets table to determine what it is.
18. Thessalhydra evidence
19. A badly wounded male orc warrior name Kurgrug (of the Throat Ripper clan) is lying on the floor. He has a necklace of three orc tusks. His armor and weaponry is battered and broken. The scrimshaw on one of his tusks is a pair of lines with spirals emerging from between the lines to form a triangle; this symbolizes the three brutal ways to rip out the throats of one’s enemies. Scrimshaw on the other tusk indicates he’s a low-ranking member of the clan’s leadership. "Deliver this to Relafreida," he says before dying. In his hand is a small clockwork toy frog that gently ribbits.
20. Seven sets of clothes are neatly laid out in a triangle on the ground. At the center of the formation is a set of seven dice with differing number of faces (d4, d6, d8, etc). The dice radiate conjuration magical energy.
21. Thessalhydra evidence
22. A frantic ghost of a dwarf named Armdul Breakstone warns the party that they will never find his rich vein of gemstones and threatens to destroy them all to keep his secret.
23. The party finds a large pile of gems of all varieties. Most contain the ghostly image of a humanoids in the act of pleading, searching, raging, or crying. A sign written in Common reads, "Do not touch unless you want a big surprise." Nearby is there’s a crack in the wall just a little too small for anyone to crawl through.
24. Thessalhydra evidence
25. The party finds a 20ft by 20ft shiny, black cube. A gold placard attached to one of the sides reads, "For my beloved children," written in abyssal. It crackles with abjuration magical energy.
26. A coffer sits at the entrance to this chamber. It's filled with a dozens maps. Each includes hand-written annotations and other notes scribbled in various languages describing landmarks, fabulous treasures, and dangerous creatures to be found if “You just keep moving.” Some of the notes appear to be of a frantic, agitated, or desperate tone cursing the passages of the maze.
27. Thessalhydra evidence
28. The chamber contains four decorative pools with fountains that emit liquids of various colors in an enticing and interesting pattern. The first pool has blue liquid. The first drink restores all hit points. The second pool has green liquid. The first drink removes all conditions. The third pool has red liquid. The first drink grants results of a short rest. The fourth pool is clear liquid. The first drink grants long rest results. Any subsequent drink from a pool engages, loads, activates, and releases a stone ball trap. Anyone in the chamber after the fourth drink must make a DC 15 Dex save, taking 4d8 bludgeoning damage on a failed save or half that on a successful save. The boulder will teleport back the the Engage step. The room resets at dawn each day.
29. On a table in this otherwise empty room is a small cage with a lump of rounded quartz. A note has been tacked to the top of the cage. Written in Sylvan is the following message: “Love it, and be rewarded. Hate it, and be punished. Leave it, and always regret it.”
30. Thessalhydra evidence

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Also, check out my DMsGuild offerings:

• Epic Gnomish Inventing
  Rules supplement for creating gadgets.
• Gnome Concept Packages 1
  Collection of gnome-related backgrounds, feats, magic items, and more.
• Great House Servants
  Collection of backgrounds centered on the servants of a great house.
• Mildew's Revenge
  A first-level adventure.
• Random Plot Generator
  A tool for creating adventure prompts for one-shots and story arcs.
• The WhatNot Shop’s Absurd Accoutrements
  A collection of unusual magical items.
• The WhatNot Shop's Bracing Beverages
  A collection of strange potions.
• The WhatNot Shop's Common Curiosities and Trivial Trinkets
  A collection of common magic items and trinkets.
• The WhatNot Shop's Dastardly Doodads and Orc Oddities
  A collection of orc-themed common magic items and trinkets.