After reading an article in Dragon Magazine about upgrading the Sea Wyvern, I decided to turn this into a side quest for the group. Basically they will find clues that a wizard years ago has been experimenting with magic items especially for ships (e.g. the dragon figurehead from Stormwrack and several items from Arms & Equipment guide), which are hidden somewhere in a hoard. This hoard is located in the Lost Citadel on the Isle of Dread. The PCs can find a key to the location in the wizard's tomb. With the key they can either enter the location or activate it (I was thinking of having it lie partly on another plane or trapped in another timeline.)
I use "deadly treasure" (from Dungeon 41) as the basis for this tomb, but I am thoroughly rewriting this adventure. Basically I want less combat and more puzzles. So far I have the following (some from the original module, others improvised):
- An ambush outside the tomb (some old enemies of the PCs); since this will already be a difficult fight, for which the PCs will not be prepared, as they will not expect it at all, this is the reason I want less combat inside the tomb.
- A trap where they have to navigate through a room full of water
- A room with no visibility at all, which they have to navigate while being attacked by an incorporeal monster
- A labyrinth with invisible stalkers
- A bag of holding trap (the corridor ends in a bag of holding and they have to crawl through it in the dark)
- A double teleport trap (with 2 locations which look identical)
- A trap with a force cage and lightning (ideally shot through the bars from the outside while the group are within)
- A logic puzzle where the group has to reason out the order of activating several handles on the basis of just enough clues
I can use some other puzzles, and perhaps riddles, but only very original ones (I have a player who instantly knows the answer to every riddle I throw at him). If an idea involves combat, it should not be just monsters attacking, but tricky tactical situations. I am also looking for a trick or trap involving the other planes.
As the wizard was not evil (he was actually good and was protecting his tomb because he was worried these powerful items would fall into the wrong hands), I have avoided undead and evil outsiders. So far, with all the changes I made, the dungeon has turned out elemental-themed.
Also, there is a silver dragon guarding the tomb. Ideally they should not fight the dragon, but it should have some kind of test or riddle for the PCs. Perhaps this should be linked to the dragon figurehead in some way (which is not in the tomb, but in the citadel).
Any ideas are very welcome. They can be Olman themed (the wizard was not an Olman, but was an Olman expert). Or something with time (time paradoxes, time standing still, etc.)
You cannot use teleport or passwall or dimension door inside the tomb. However, you can use plane shift, shadow walk and etherealness. This is not generally known. They will have to find out by experimenting with those spells.
They will be level 13 when they enter the tomb.
Of course, good idea. And I seem to remember that there was a 3rd edition rewrite!
I used the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb for the lower levels of the Lost Citadel, when the PCs wanted to find the Pools of Truth and Beauty. (I allowed two PCs who had fallen victim to a draw of the Void card from the Deck of Many Things to be restored in the pool.)
And super coolness, Mike Shel, the author of the Tomb, actually asked for my game logs.
If they investigate the rest of the Lost Citadel...Maure Castle.
Cool! But also very large. Will they not be too high level for the rest of the campaign?
I've always planned to take my PCs to a higher level in the campaign than the game expects, so that's not an issue at all for me. You can probably either tone down or remove some of the encounters in the Tomb if it is a concern though. (or give them a chance to 'sacrifice' their XP in the tomb for a kickass artifact or something of that sort at the end)