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My players have run afoul of Devargo over the course of Edge of Anarchy, and I think I've finally settled on the idea of luring them into an overly complicated death trap as his revenge. I'm toying with the idea of throwing them into a guantlet and this is the result of my brainstorming. I welcome any suggestions balance it (the group will be about 4th level) or make the puzzles a little more intuitive (or a thumbs-up if you think they're just right).
Devargo's Nest
The Nest is a series of traps originally built by House Viamio during the Cousin's War. Located in the city's catacombs and sewers, it was a quiet and entertaining ways to dispose of family enemies. After the war, it was largely abandoned until Devargo's father stumbled across it two decades ago. Both father and son tinkered with it over the years, and now Devargo occassionally uses it to dispose of those who've annoyed him or test theives who would work for him.
The structure winds about, being built mostly from pre-existing tunnels, but is fairly linear, one encounter leading directly to the next. Every room contains several concealed viewports made of glasteel so the host can watch a victim's stumbling or entertain guests. The entrance is easy enough to stumble into from the sewers under Old Korvosa (or would be, if Devargo didn't keep it locked and camoflagued). Every chamber contains a unique trap or encounter that can be uncovered through skill use, raw strength, or by overcoming a puzzle within the chamber.
Unless otherwise listed, the chambers are made of hewn stone, with well-worn tile floors and 10-foot ceilings. The doors are reinforced, but hardly unbreakable, and built with complicated locks.
Hewn Stone Walls - Break DC 50, Hardness 8, 540 HP
Interior Stone Doors - Break DC 28, Hardness 8, 60 HP, Disable Device DC 30
Metal Entrance Door - Break DC 28, Hardness 10, 60 HP, no interior lock or latch
Chamber 1 - The Stinging Swarm
The Stinging Swarm is a 15-foot by 20-foot chamber featuring mosaics of laughing imps on the walls. The entrance door is solid iron and bares no handles or hinges, and the only other door is solid stone and bares a lock, latch, and relief carving. Three rounds after entering the room, grinding machinery can be heard behind the opposing 15-foot walls, and they begin to slide together at a rate of one foot every round. After one additional round, 6-inch metal spikes extend from the wall, corresponding with the mosaic imps' tails. After ten rounds, the walls will meet, and whoever is trapped inside will be perforated.
Characters can attempt to slow or halt the walls with brute force by using a full-round action to brace aginst them. A DC 15 Strength check made against a wall slows it by half, moving only six inches that round. A DC 20 Strength Check prevents the wall from moving at all that round. A DC 30 Strength check damages the mechanisms behind the wall, and stops it from moving until repaired. Each wall must be affected seperately. Additional characters bracing the same wall make Aid Another checks.
The exit door can be picked or smashed open, or will open automatically if the trapped soul figures out the riddle in the relief.
Put an X through the circle for each round the wall moves unhindered, or a / through any box when the wall only moves half speed
Right Wall
OOOOO OOOOO
Left Wall
OOOOO OOOOO
The Door Relief: The relief carving on the door features a scene of imps running rampant, chasing several creatures around a burning city, including a man, a goblin, a bear, a ghoul, a chimera, and an angel. A Perception check (DC 15) on the door reveals that each of the non-Imp creatures are actually pressable buttons. Pressing the correct button will halt the walls' advance and open the doorway to the next challenge, while pressing any of the four incorrect buttons will slide each wall an additional 1 foot closer that round (modified by possible strength checks). A DC 20 Knowledge (Arcana or Dungeoneering) reveals that the puzzle probably relates to the Imp's stingers, as those are the threats the wall is presenting. The solution is to press the ghoul, the one creature who has nothing to fear from the imps' poisoned tails.
Chamber 2 - The Spider's Web
The first chamber empties directly into a massive 55'x55' room. In the center was formerly a statue of a grinning imp, but Cevargo has since replaced it with with an elaborate two-foot spider idol. Extending out from the statue and covering most of the room is a web of fine filaments, covering everything but a 10'x10' area next to each door.
Disturbing any of the spider's filaments will trigger one of a dozen poison dart launchers concealed in the walls (see page 310). Moving from one side of the room to the other requires moving cautiously across the open floor. A successful Dex check must be made upon entering a square to avoid disturbing a filament; the DC varies based on the character's how fast the character moves. Small creatures gain a +1 bonus to these checks.
Double Move - 30
Single Move - 25
Single Move at Half Speed - 20
5-foot Step - 15
Full-round action to move 5 feet - 10
If a character approaches one of the three poison dart launchers on each wall, they can attempt to disable it. Thereafter, any time a character fails a Dex check, there is a 1-in-12 chance that nothing happens. This chance rises appropriately with each additional launcher disabled.
The ceiling once housed four concealed oil canisters, to add to the fun, but Devargo has coverted these into nests for six tiny Monstrous Spiders, who are released once at least half the prisoners are well into the floor. The Tiny spiders can move freely along the filaments without triggering the dart launchers. Fighting within the network of filaments also requires a Dex check, based on the type of weapon used.
Two-Handed Slashing or Bludgeoning - 20
Two-Handed Piercing - 17
One-Handed Slashing or Bludgeoning - 15
One-Handed Piercing - 12
Light Slashing or Bludgeoning - 10
Light Piercing - 7
Ranged Weapon (any) - 12
The exit door in the opposite corner features a relief of eight staring eyes. It can be opened with a Disable Device check, or by turning the spider idol in the center of the room to face it. Turning the spider idol also disables the dat launchers.
Chamber 3 - False Hopes
The Spider's Web chamber exits into a long hallway with another stone door at the end. Unlike the previous doorways, this one bears no reliefs. Every ten feet, the hallway is adorned with statues of giggling imps mounted near the ceiling, though several have been smashed over the years.
Halfway down the hallway is a concealed pit trap, dropping victims 30 feet into cold, black water.
The far door is the real trap. It actually doesn't open at all, despite having a lock and latch like all the previous doors. A small airspace located behind it even makes wrapping on it sound normal. The deception can be discovered by examining the door and making a DC 20 Knowledge (Dungeoneering) or Craft (Stonework) check, revealing that the "door" is actually a cleverly-disguised wall. The real exit is the pit trap: The cold, dark water is 20 feet deep, and then leads off down a side passage for 100 feet before arriving at a real boor with another relief carving.
This underwater door can be smashed or picked just like the others, though non-aquatic creatures will suffer a -2 penalty to either. It also bears a dial, with numbers ranging from zero to nine. The door's releif is actually a clever visualization for an old Korvosan children's song about the Jeggare River.that can be recognized with a DC 15 Linguistics or Knowledge (Local) check:
Four young boys went down to swim,
And took their bloody time.
Three Reef Claws watched their splashing games,
And now they number nine.
Entering the combination 4-3-9 on the dial opens the door.
Chamber 4 - The End
Beyond the door is a shaft rising 20 feet into the center of the final chamber. A column slowly rises from the base of this shaft, forcing anyone inside upwards (and permanently trapping any dawdlers), until the prisoners are left standing in a knee-deep pool in the center of a 40'x50' room. The chamber is strewn with the remains of at least a dozen bodies, some obviously very old and others fairly recent. The walls are covered with mosaics of imps taking flight.
The ceiling, supported by four stone columns, rises 30 feet above the floor, and directly over the pool is a final door. The columns are elaborately carved, providing numerous footholds, and can be climbed with a DC 10 check.
After 30 seconds, a heavy, green gas begins to seep up from the floor. Though heavier than air, the supply is steady, and the level rises by one foot every round.
The ceiling door features only a skull and crossbones. There is no special trick to opening this door. It must be picked, smashed, or opened with a key. A DC 30 Perception check to search the room will uncover a key inside one of the skulls (attatched to a skeleton with a broken leg), but even reaching the door is tricky. Flight is the easiest way, as are spells like Spider Climb, but if they are unavailable the victims must be creative. The ceiling is carved to look like clouds and cityskyline, providing enough handholds to be navigated with a DC 30 Climb check. Another option is climbing the columns, then stringing a tightrope across the gap, providing a shakey base of operations. The exit is limited by creativity and time contraints.
You could just yoink the death trap from the second Freeport module. That one was good.
Chamber one: Basically, this is going to play out with one person at the door while everyone else buys time with the walls. Be careful about the strength checks: ability score checks are the hardest in the game to make.
In addition, you need to decide what using a spike (or several spikes) would do, as well as what improvised wall-stops would do (daggers, spears, almost anything that does piercing damage). If the party puts all their daggers on the walls, does the party get a +2 circumstance bonus per spike? +1?
What effect would web have?
Could they shatter a safe zone or do the walls meet together?
Also, you need to scale the penalties for wrong choices. Currently, the players can randomly punch buttons and it will only cost them 6 feet at the very worst. You need to make the second bad choice lead to 1.5 feet, the third 2 feet, etc. You might even make it +1 feet per bad choice.
They'll push the angel first: opposite of the imps and it has damage resistance, which would make it immune to the spikes on the walls.
Chamber 3: I don't get why they now number nine...
Also, you need to look up the rules for aquatic combat: bludgeoning and slashing weapons are nigh-impossible to use underwater, which makes smashing the door impossible. If your rogue bites it before this point, there's a TPK.
Last chamber: look up rules for whatever balance is now: that's going to be an absurdly difficult check in prior editions.
Also, picking a lock take 10 rounds. Make sure that there's actually enough time to climb up, string ropes across and pick the lock.
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Contributor
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Thanks everyone for taking a look over what I've got up here. This was basically my rough draft, just whatever dribbled out of my brain while I was writing. I've rolled in several of your suggestions and refined a few other ideas, and if they stumble into this (they have the option of just playing ball with Devargo and replacing his Dream Spiders), they'll end up doing it tonight.
I'll post the updates and changes I've made. And now that Ive finally picked up a copy and taken a look at the Vivified Labyrinth, I worry that my players may get a little sick of noble houses' subterranean death chambers :)