Skip to main content

Halcyon Gander Encounter




The Red Pear Tree.


The encounter below is written as the seventh floor of a dungeon within a towering, direfly infested tree bearing vile, red fruit the size of boulders. This is written as a Waning Princes scenario. This is written as a hard to dangerous encounter for level 10-11 player characters.


 Encounter


A thick layer of dust covers the contents of this room. Just a few feet from a wooden staircase leading down lays a pristine corpse of an Animus Artisan. The dead fey is missing its iron arm and weapons. A mummified hand grips the artisan’s throat and wears a golden ring etched with eight skulls. From the coloration of the fey’s face and its bulging eyes, it’s clear the mummified hand strangled the artisan. Six massive, mechanical ganders crafted from brass and bronze sit equidistant from one another along the wall. Underneath each goose is a ruddy-stained basket. Likewise, there are old patches of crusty red goo here and there across the floor. The breast of one of the automatons is open, the plate laying off to the side and complex flywheels, gears and pistons exposed. A bag of tinkerer tools sits nearby.


In the center of the room is an ornate, metal spiral staircase leading to the level above that does have footprints in the dust that lead back to staircase going down.



Halcyon Gander Device.


Each halcyon gander has a chance to process 100 gallons of raw blood honey into a golden egg worth 100 gold. However, when not properly run or if there is a glitch it will produce a Honeycombed Horror instead and damage the machine. Assessing the function of a halcyon gander requires a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, if a character’s check is 20 or higher they also realize a monster is spat out when the machine doesn’t run properly. Once a halcyon gander is filled it can be run with a DC 20 Intelligence (tinker tool) check. On success a 100-gold piece egg is produced after 24 hours. However, on failure a honeycomb horror is immediately produced in the basket and is hostile to all other creatures.


Finishing the repairs on the damaged Halcyon Gander requires a DC 20 Intelligence (tinker tool) check.


Trap:


Force-Ring Hand.


Removing the hand activates a necromantic trap on it. The hand will float in the same square as the character that removed it who is now cursed. Whenever the cursed creature attacks another creature the hand lashes out at the end of the cursed character's turns. The hand attacks a random creature within 30ft with the Eldritch Blast spell. The hand has a +6 to hit with this spell attack and inflicts damage as if it was same character level as the cursed character it is attached to. Once activated the hand can only be destroyed by casting remove curse on the cursed character it is attached to.


Treasure:


Potentially the party has access to geese who lay golden eggs. Likewise, they may be able to sell each halcyon gander to a collector or even its parts by a good chunk of coin. Of course, if the party peddles monster making machines it will likely come back to haunt them.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Netting Mimic

This particular mimic species has a rather unique origin. As polyps the first batch was caught in a giant spider's web soon after being spawned. Rather than being devoured by the arachnid, they turned into sticky strands amid the webwork. Not long after that, a group of adventurers slew said spider and moved on. The mimics had something to subsist on and kept their disguise to keep more bugs. When the spider's eggs hatched, instead of eating the young, the mimics were amused by the creatures and they protected them until they were large enough until to ride off to better climes. Eventually, these mimics took the shape of netting of all sorts: ship rigging, cargo nets, and so on as they were less conspicuous than spider webs. They still remain friends with things eight-legged. Netting Mimic Medium Monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral Armor Class 13 (natural armor) 52 (8d8 + 16) Speed 15 ft Climb ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gears

Gears can't remember if he was a dwarven hero or a condemned criminal. Either way, he is more cogwork than flesh now and driven to mete out justice with his metal fists. He was first deployed during an intense goblin invasion of a dwarven stronghold. Initially he served as something between a shocktroop and a living weapon, but this cigar chopping 'cyborg' inspired the dwarven defenders fighting along side of him to the point that he became a mascot, then a leader. More times than one could count, he should have gone down under a barrage of attacks only to plow forward losing more flesh and blood later replaced with mithril and steel. Eventually, Gears lost every last dwarf he fought along side and just kept killing goblins whenever he could until the fortress housed him alone. Now he wanders the world, making things right the best he can one punch at a time. Gears Medium construct (dwarf), chaotic good Armor Class 12 (natural armor) ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Piecemeal

Eveyrone should be free to live as they want and die as terribly as they can. This is the creed that the strange collection of bodyparts known as Piecemeal holds. Originally, it was a trio of kobolds who attempted a 'ritual' of their own design meant to grant immortality. Instead, it tore the three creatures into pieces that forgot how to die. The mass went quite mad and seeks to free other body parts from the 'bondage' of well, being part of a body. Travelling as three kobolds in a trenchcoat, Piecemeal wages a brutal war against 'slave owners' (IE anything with a body) and adds new parts to its collectiona as needed to keep the revolution going. Over time little of the kobolds remain, but it still rambles about in a trenchcoat spouting its made philosophy. Piecemeal Medium swarm of tiny undead creatures, chaotic neutral Armor Class 11 136 (16d8 + 64) Speed 30 ft Climb 20 ft ...
Post a Comment
Read more