 About Roderick Cecil Murgatroyd, Esq.CE gargoyle unchained rogue 5
STR: 20, DEX: 22, CON: 16, INT: 8, WIS: 10, CHA: 6 COMBAT
BAB: +8
Saves: FOR: 5, REF: 13 (+1 vs. traps), WIL: 7 ABILITIES
FEATS
SKILLS
Acrobatics: 13 (5 + 5 + 3 + 0)
EQUIPMENT
BACKGROUND
But his real passion is the opera. Because of his perfectly reasonable choice to live his life closer to the humans of the city, he was better able to observe their customs, and he's come to appreciate the operatic tradition. Many a night would he perch outside the opera house, gazing in through a window or skylight, just soaking in the class. And then later soaking in the warm blood and entrails of any patrons foolish enough to wander away from the mass of meatlings by themselves. But such a life was not to last. Ostracized from the other gargoyles in the city who never understood his perfectly reasonable decision to avoid the rarefied atmosphere of higher altitudes, Roderick was left to his own devices when a veritable legion of culture-hating paladins drove him out of the city. He took refuge in an underground domicile that he came across not too far away, where he was able to find work running the daily operations of part of its infrastructure. The work is okay, you know? It's fine until something better comes along. Maybe something will open up back in the big city. Roderick's Dungeon Level:
This dungeon level is patterned after the nearby city that Roderick used to call home. The level was home to a clan of Svirfneblin, whom Roderick has subjugated using a combination of brutal terror and promises of taking over the city that drove out Roderick. These deep gnomes are Roderick's source of enchanters and craftsmen who maintain the dungeon and their traps. The door to exit this level requires a collection of "keys to the city," one of which can be found in each distinct area of this dungeon level (with the exception of the City Gates and the Noble District). The green lines on the map represent the different tunnels leading between districts. City Gates After arriving on this level of the dungeon, explorers are greeted by a set of massive double doors that resemble the distinctive city gates of the nearby city. After making a Strength check to open the doors, explorers enter a room with a sign post in the middle of the floor. On the post are various signs pointing to one of the two exits from this room, depending on which door will take them to the corresponding city district (or rather, the corresponding area that's themed after a particular city district). South Market Each square in this section represents a merchant's shop or stall. As explorers search the shops for this district's key to the city, they will uncover a handful of enchanted gold coins. Anyone who picks up a coin risks falling under its enchantment, whereby they covet the coin and more coins like it and they fear that their companions also covet the coins... and perhaps would even be willing to kill to collect all of them. Additionally, once collected, the enchanted coins are the possessed items needed for the nest of cold iron cobra constructs that the resident deep gnomes maintain. The cobras slither through the district, attacking anyone who possesses the coins. Usually, explorers either kill each other, are killed by the cold iron cobras, or discard the coins once they've figured out their curse, so there's not a frequent need to replace the coins. The Warrens Representing the city's slums, this maze has a number of invisible runes (represented by the blue lightning bolt symbols on the floor) that automatically teleport anyone who steps on them to a certain spot near the beginning of the maze (represented by the red star symbol). This spot is at the end of a hallway (highlighted in yellow) that has a number arrow slits in the ceiling where svirfneblin fire their crossbows, bows, and spells from. There are two ladders inside hidden columns that the deep gnomes can use to access the maze from their small-sized passageways above the maze. Once explorers have discovered where the invisible runes are, it is not difficult to edge around them. The Necropolis This giant cavern angles upward from the entrance, forcing explorers to move uphill to find a key to the city. It was designed to look like the walled-off graveyard of Roderick's home city that interns its citizens in everything from unmarked graves to elaborate mausoleums. After it was designed, Roderick would bring the remains of any explorers who met their demise on this level of the dungeon or any svirfneblin who have displeased him to this area and do terrible things to the remains, desecrating them enough to attract negative energy to the area, thus giving rise to zombies, ghosts, and other undead, with a surprising amount of success. Nowadays, the area is so cursed that merely dropping remains in the area is enough to raise new dead. Whenever a key to the city needs to be returned to The Necropolis, a terrified duo of deep gnomes work toward this end. One will open a secret door on the uphill side of the cavern just wide enough for the other to hurl the key into the cavern; they usually don't even see the key drop before the door is slammed shut and resealed. The Docks Roderick thinks he's so clever. When he happened upon this thriving community of lurking rays, he had a rickety facsimile of city docks built at the edge of their territory. Explorers will be so confused by the dry ocean they encounter, they won't even notice the executioner's hoods, the trappers, and the lurker aboves hanging in wait above them, ready to pounce. Prepping this room merely involves chucking a key to the city into the "ocean" from the dubious safety of the docks. Noble District This "district" sits on a mountain of rock about 50 feet tall. It is viewable from the path alongside the base of the mountain, but in actuality, the sight of the noble villas and manicured gardens are merely a massive illusion hiding a rocky wall of jagged rocks and stone spikes carved out of the wall. Roderick thinks he is being clever by having the Noble District sitting "above" the common folk, but his fear of heights keeps him from ever wanting to visit such a place. Any explorers that climb or fly up to the illusion risk impaling themselves on the spikes and possibly damage from the fall back down. The backstage area of this dungeon level is hidden inside this mountain, beneath the illusion. Oldtown Before he was driven out of the city, Roderick's favorite part of the city was the oldest part, dubbed Oldtown. It was the cultural center of the city, where Roderick developed his love for the various performing arts, especially the opera. The Oldtown area of this dungeon floor has large friezes all along the walls of Roderick's favorite locales: the opera house, the various stages where the local repertoire theatre companies perform, the museums, the statues, the fountains, and Hunchback Dan's Improv Comedy House and Discount Liquor Barn. The interior of this area, however, is filled with dozens of gargoyle statues randomly placed in various poses on the ground. Roderick loves the symbolism of the art installation because to him it represents a city where gargoyles do not have to hide amongst the ledges and architectural outcroppings of the city, but more importantly, they provide camouflage for when Roderick uses his freeze ability to resemble a statue in order to ambush any passers by. Roderick spends most of his time in Oldtown when he's not conversing with his fellow dungeon lords. The statues and friezes in Oldtown are maintained by Roderick's favorite Svirfneblin--a deep gnome with extraordinary stone-carving ability and outrageous artistic flair--named Tic Tac. Roderick sees himself as the eccentric artist's patron. Not only is Tic Tac the brilliance behind most of the design of the more artistic parts of the dungeon level, but because Roderick is constantly praising and supporting him, he works as an insider to keep the rest of the Svirfneblin clan in line. |
