The Radya's Hollow Monkey-Trap Dungeon


Ironfang Invasion


Hi! I'm prepping Assault on Longshadow, and I'm confused about a sidebar concerning Radya's Hollow.

Spoiler:

On p.34, "The Monkey-Trap Dungeon" sidebar explains that PCs should have no trouble getting into the mine, to rescue the NPCs and recover treasure, but getting back out will be difficult because the quarrygeists have reset the traps.

This makes sense on its own. But on p.13, the I2: Assembly Area description states "the tunnel leading east to I7 leaves only enough room for a Small creature to squeeze through" and would take "at least an hour" to enlarge for Medium creatures.

This doesn't pose much of an obstacle for 8th level creatures, so I'm wondering why the trap re-set described in the sidebar matters at all when there is such a simple shortcut to the heart of the dungeon? What have I missed?

Thanks!


This section is a tad confusing. The PCs should pretty much be able to stroll right in, but once inside they find NPCs that are limited in movement and then there is a cave-in and then all of the traps reset and monsters appear. I posted several observations from my run through in the GM thread for Assault on Longshadow. You might be able to get some pointers by taking a look at it.


Brother Fen wrote:
This section is a tad confusing. The PCs should pretty much be able to stroll right in, but once inside they find NPCs that are limited in movement and then there is a cave-in and then all of the traps reset and monsters appear. I posted several observations from my run through in the GM thread for Assault on Longshadow. You might be able to get some pointers by taking a look at it.

Thanks for your reply. I did read your accounts, but it didn't help clear things up. In your game, the druid used wild shape to investigate I7. But she could just as easily have cast _stone shape_ or a similar spell to create a passage large enough for the entire party. Or they could just spend an hour excavating. These options would provide both ingress and egress.

Is there supposed to be a second cave-in? Maybe I missed that bit.


I had to look at the adventure again to get specifics. In the description to area I2, it states that once the PCs pass through, be it up to the open tunnel of I3 or following the tapping through the small tunnel to I7, the quarrygeists reanimate and reset the Falling Rocks Trap in tunnel I3 and the collapse the small tunnel to I7.

The small tunnel is collapsed early, but the PCs have to trigger the trap in area I3 (on their way out).


Okay, I see it now. Sorry I missed that.

It still seems ridiculously easy to get back out the way you came, but I can at least see what the writers intended to do.

Thanks!


There's certainly nothing to stop the PCs from coming up with clever ways of bypassing the rest of the mine. Let's say a druid or cleric has stoneshape prepped, it will most likely only be one casting which gives them 18-19 feet of stone they can manipulate.

With the cave-in to area I7, one could easily say there is close to 30 to 50 feet of stone trapping the players inside. Unless they actually had multiple castings of stoneshape prepared or are using mythic wild arcana, they won't be able to bypass the cave-in.

It's a fun little dungeon side trek, so my advice would be to find a way to make them go through it. It won't ruin the game if they don't go through it. My players pretty much bypassed the entire Warbeast Camp by sneaking in and out. Of course, I'm going to add those resources to the assault on Longshadow, so it all evens out.


I kinda rewrote this. Prisoners were in the last chamber and that poisonous gas which was mentioned in the description of the mine became a trap that started to spread from the back of the mine towards the entrance every round. Getting the slaves to safety while fighting and avoiding the gas made for a fun session with the desired effect.

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