Encounters in a cramped space


Advice

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Hi!

My level 4 or 5 PCs (human pistolero gunslinger, dwarf reach/nonreach inquisitor, half-orc grapple monk, and tiefling dual-wielding rogue) are going to go on a journey into the underdark. They are getting there by taking an elevator ride down in a Huge undead/quasi-construct spider's abdomen. It's going to be a 15 foot wide octagon (3 square by 3 square grid, with triangles in the corners, of course). The webbing is going to be the elevator cable, and the 8 legs will be safety anchors in case the web cord is cut.

Anyways, I plan on having some morlocks attack them by forcing themselves in and using their swarming ability to fill up empty squares, etc. (Morlocks can fit 2 of themselves in one 5 by 5 square.) I like to customize monsters, and am thinking of switching Lightning Reflexes for Combat Reflexes or something.

What other nasties can attack them on this trip? I figure they're going to travel 100 or 200 miles down, at about 5 or 10 mph, so for at least 20 or 40 hours.

I'm considering an incorporeal of some kind, but they're going to be encountering a ghost today, and I want to "re-enact" an encounter one of my PCs went through with a shadow in deep water.

I want to challenge them, but I don't want to kill them. They're kind of lacking in healing and AoE stuff.


A mosquito swarm should kill the entire party several times over, so you may want to skip that. Any tiny creatures can move into a player's square, which makes things complicated for the PCs trying to move out of the way and running into the other PCs.

You could also have something attack the spider directly and punch through the walls. You don't even have to name what it is, just that it is obviously something far larger than they can see and it is stabbing through the walls of the elevator with a large needle-like sucker (sort of like a gargantuan stirge. All the PCs see of it is the large proboscis and maybe its eye when it looks in.

The way the encounter runs is that the creature stabs in through a random wall to start, next turn it looks inside, then the following turn it stabs in to try and hit one of the PCs based on where the PC was the previous turn (forcing them to move around). Say the proboscis is 10 feet long, attacks in a straight line from the wall to the center, requires a reflex save (+4 if the target is using Full Defense) to avoid, and stops when it hits the first character. The PCs can try to guess which wall it is about to hit by making perception checks, or if it moves over a wall that's already been punctured.

They can attack it by readied actions or attacking through the holes in the elevator. They won't have to kill it, just do a thematically appropriate amount of damage (so if it is kicking the crap out of the PCs, this number can be much smaller than if the PCs are winning easily). If things are going too easily, toss in a few normal stirges into the fight for fun (crawling in through puncture holes).

Eventually it will leave or kill everyone. The PCs don't need to know that it won't actually send the elevator crashing to the ground. But if it does enough punctures (say, five) the spider will drop straight down at a much higher speed to try and lose it, which cuts some time off the trip but ends with a fair bit of sudden falling damage (5d6 or so). It may even require the PCs to repair the spider (using some limited supply item they got at the start), which can take time and failure to do so leaves openings for creatures to enter more easily.


Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

i +1 a journey into the abyss and a chance encounter with a leviathan.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

MurphysParadox: I might use this idea when they're in an airship or something with enough room for a scary big Colossal critter of unknown origins.

The spider-elevator is going down a shaft through mostly solid rock.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Bullette, using its burrow ability to burst out of the wall, pounce on a PC and then leap back into the wall. It'll only attack every other round, and it'll give them a valuable lesson in readying actions.

Alternatively you could use anything with Burrow such as a Xorn or Earth Elemental with Earthglide.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Forgot about bulette...


Huge undead/quasi-construct spider's abdomen?

Questions for both answering and provoking thought -
Who built it particularly if a "quasi-construct"? Why is it currently unguarded? Is it a 'commonly' used travel route by other denizens or has it fallen into disuse (and if so why?)? Who will be at the other end and who are the common intelligent foes at the bottom? Is a 'straight' drop or are there 'stops' along the way? Does the construct elevator sometimes move through horizontal space or across the ceiling (spiderlike) over "whatever" rather than a single long straight drop?

Phase Spiders
Bulette
Wraiths
Shadows
Earth Elementals
Mimic (portion of the elevator maybe)
Gelatinous Cube (blocking the descent or dropping on top of the elevator)
Oozes (much like the Cube dropping in for a snack)
A natural event

  • quake
  • rockslide
  • waterfall (that's highly acidic, very hot or very cold)
  • thermal vents

Maintenance Worker(s) whether constructs, undead (or even 'undead quasi-contructs') placed by the original builder.
Rust Monster (is any, most or all of the elevator metallic?)

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

It's a dwarven city on one of twelve flying islands. The underdark used to be part of the dwarven city, but now the dwarves live on or near the surface, and more evil and savage races dwell deeper. The underside of the flying island is the domain of aberrations and undead.

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