THE MANY PATTERNED HALLS

 The wizards of Kizaad, obsessed with the secrets of the universe, found a secret place beyond the borders of our world, which seemed at once ancient and ageless, and divined that at its center outpoured a power greater than any source in our world. Hoping to bring their academies renown, they established a school within the halls of this place, but were quickly devoured by the shifting walls, and became ageless ghosts, trapped in time, unable to escape the boundaries of their strange new plane. 

In more recent times, the mad wizard ILLITH VARN divined its proximity, entered, and with his great power penetrated into its innermost sanctum, where he worked a spell to turn the plane into his own phylactery, so that upon his death, his soul and his most treasured possession, the SKOROS ORB, would return to this sanctum instead of departing to the afterlife. There he rests now, waiting for the time when he can return to his body, and bring about a new reign of terror.

I present to you...

THE MANY PATTERNED HALLS

This is a medium-sized dungeon written for high level adventurers used to dungeon crawling. It is meant to confound many of standard dungeon crawling tricks, particularly the reliability of "clearing" a dungeon. Completing the dungeon requires the players to solve a simple puzzle, made more challenging by the dungeon's central gimmick. At its center is a classic video game style multi-phase boss fight, meant to be attempted several times if the challenge is too difficult when encountered.

WHAT IS THIS PLACE?

This is within the ASTRAL PLANE, a place between places, a realm that connects all realms, thought of as a higher reality, largely desolate, some small outposts and strongholds are secreted here, but there is little to rule over. A lightning struck island, a floating canister, an atom bomb going off forever. Two civilizations once fought a war here, the gith and the githyanki, but they destroyed each other, and what they didn’t destroy the astral sea has taken. It is lonely, psycheledic, and strange. Those who find their way here have trouble finding their way out. Time passes strangely on the astral plane, and the beings that dwell here are not right.

The exact nature of the Many Patterned Halls is unclear. It is a dwelling place for spirits. It looks built, but its true nature is something else. It has been found many times over the eons and added onto, and each time the Halls have folded these additions and denizens into its nature. 

THE CENTRAL GIMMICK

Each time the players overcome the challenges of a room and pass through it, its contents will change. The exact timeframe of this change should be up to the DM: somewhere between 2 to 10 minutes. This is meant to feel at once arbitrary and hostile. The players should get the sense of a slowly escalating danger, and of a space that is itself somehow alive in an unfamiliar way, and wants them dead, or taken.

As a result, each room has three to four keyed contents. Cycle through them one after the other, or use them at will. They are meant to be variations on a theme. If the players exhaust the results, write more on the same theme, or simply randomize them. The halls aren't meant to be infinite really, just much larger than at first glance.

Secondly, interdimensional and planar transportation within the halls should be impossible. The shifting nature of the halls makes teleporting impossible. If anything attempts to teleport within the dungeon in a way that they would pass through a wall, the spell fails. The teleporter appears in a random room, having aged d100 days, sets their hitpoints at 10d10 below their maximum, and receives d10x100 XP. The bonus XP only happens once. If the players try to exploit this, roll a d6. On a 2-5, the result is threatening, and on a 6, actively hostile in an unexpected way.

If the players attempt to use magic or items to pass the planar boundary, through a Plane Shift spell or some kind of communication, the spell fails. 

If the players try to knock down a wall, or knock a hole in a wall, a shifting, shining void can be found beyond. Entering the light which the void produces causes 4d10 damage.

Thirdly, Regardless of how long they spend in there, when they leave, one hour and one minute has passed. 

GETTING INTO THE MANY PATTERNED HALLS

I made the entrance a collection of golden coffins, located in the Tomb of Illith Varn. You crawl inside and pull the cover over you and it magically whisks you to room 1, where you appear in a pile of dilapidated wooden coffins. If you leave the room and come back, the coffins are simply gone, thereby trapping you in the halls. 

If you want to go a little easier on your players, just have the coffins stick around, or make a more stable type of entrance. A door or a portal or something.

GETTING OUT OF THE MANY PATTERNED HALLS

If the players are stranded, as I ran it, there are two options: take the exit in room 15, or solve the brazier puzzle, thereby unlocking planar travel. I wrote these ideas with the understanding that my players know Plane Shift and Teleport -- if they're able to get back to reality, they'll be able to Teleport back home. If your players don't know these spells, maybe give them another option for escape. Have a portal or door open when they solve the brazier puzzle.

RANDOM USELESS JUNK

When the players come to a dead-end, there should be an object or small puzzle of no consequence. This should seem like an offering to the players, or maybe an attempt to communicate. Usually I make everything in a dungeon matter, be interesting, or be useful. This is meant to be disturbing in its uselessness. Go through them in order, or roll randomly, it doesn't really make a difference.

A. A narrow, dark closet full of overcoats. In one’s pocket is a locket. The face in the locket is corroded. The silver is worth 200gp.

B. A plague doctor mask. 

C. A notebook of medical supplies.

D. shoes with wooden heels

E. 13 copper pieces. One is attached to a string that leads into the wall. If you pull the string it unzips a door. Inside the door is a closet full of boxes and clothes.

F. a white glove. In the index finger is a rock.

G. A bowl of room temperature chili

H. A book of entertaining children’s stories, which quickly grow boring

I. A live cricket, which if followed, can find a crack in the walls of the nearest room which extradimensionally connects to another room in the Halls. These rooms are now functionally adjacent if the players can find a way to break down the wall.

J. d3+1 crimson worms

K. rock candy

L. a stack of dinner glasses in a pyramid

M. a partially dissolved corpse hanging in the air, eyes open, if it sees you, it screams

N. a parasol, does not protect from the radiation

O. a broken teacup

P. an embroidered pillow with a pastoral scene

Q. a broken hand-mirror

R. A wedding ring worth 50 gp

If you need more, keep going along these lines. 

THE ROOMS

1. ENTRANCE.

The bottom floor of a fine old house. A pile of coffins. A piano. Peeling wallpaper, mold. The sound of windchimes.

You emerge from a pile of old wooden coffins. Dusty. The pile is unstable, lopsided. 

An old green brass brazier on a stand in the middle of the room. The black fire from room 10 can light it.

A note nailed to the floor, written by an old explorer to orient himself. “This is the northwestern room of the halls. The upper landing is southwards facing. That way has been corrupted. The safest way to the school is the left path then, but the parlors there have become confused. Better to lay down in the graves.”

SECOND TIME

The bottom floor of a fine old house. 

The coffins are gone, meaning there is no way out.

The note says is the same.

THIRD TIME

The building has rotted completely, the walls are covered in mold in long lines and spatters. Water damage. 

The piano has fallen apart.

Where the coffins were, piles of rotting wood. 

2. LAMP.

A fine, wall-papered parlor. Filled wall to wall with empty glass cupboards. On a small table in the middle of the room is an oil lamp. It emits hissing static. It seems to be hissing in a pre-determined pattern. Careful study determines that this is a language. If the language is understood or studied, the lamp is saying, “A wave of death / will sweep across you / beware its impact / the land is buckling under it / kingdoms have fallen into the pit / many will die”

East and south doors are through glass cupboards, they must be found through careful checking.

SECOND TIME

The lamp is unlit now and quiet. If lit, a young man appears sitting in a chair. He has a few books in front of him, he is reading a book and making notes in a journal. The books and the man are are no-clip, you can pass through them like ghosts and he can't perceive or communicate with you. 

His journal writes, “The black fire that burns at the four corners of the house seems to be blocking something. Verelok says he has perceived the presence of other rooms in this house, but out of sight, or maybe behind the walls, and that the fire is keeping them locked. He has proposed an experiment to extinguish them and allow us to roam this house’s halls fully. A dangerous proposition. Will we accept?”

THIRD TIME

The lamp is fountaining silent fire. It deals 2d10 psychic damage per round to all within 20’ as you’re overwhelmed with the sense impressions of the lamp-being—DANGER! A WAVE OF DEATH WILL SWEEP ACROSS YOU! etc.. The fire can be extinguished by normal means.

3. TAR TILE.

Wooden parquet tiling. White walls have pencil markings on them. Height markings, where someone grew. The moment weight is set on the parquet tiling they buckle and sink, thick black tar comes bubbling up, it emits a terrible smell. Make a Dex save DC 18 or be restrained by the tar, and a Con save DC 18 or be incapacitated by the terrible smell, which fills 50’ radius. At the end of every round restrained, sink 1d4 feet. After submerged, begin to suffocate.

SECOND TIME

A bog of black tar. A tar covered skeleton floats in the tar. 

THIRD TIME

Tar is now leaking under the door. Listening makes the room beyond sound solid. If the door is opened, hot black tar comes pour out. Dex DC 18 or be restrained and take 5d6 damage per round until free.

4. BASILISK CAT.

 Broken marble statues. Some on plinths. Tall, gnawed barricades of twisted statues.

Intact marble statues among the rubble:

A beheaded man in fine robes (The King)

A boy with one leg on crutches, holding a ball (The Son)

A court jester balancing on his hands (The Fool)

A moon (The moon)

A huge white cat lives here. Its paws don’t touch the floor. When it senses enemy, it opens its mouth way too big, there is a dripping skull inside, brilliant light beams shoot out, petrifying everything they touch.

CR 16

AC 22 HP 260

Immune to poison

2 Bites (range 10) +15 4d8+8 plus 4d8 poison damage plus Con DC 17 or poisoned, and grabbed

Stone gaze: If a creature starts its turn within 60’ of the basilisk, and they can see each other, make a Con DC 17 or do the basilisk turn to stone thing. They can avert their eyes at the start of their turn instead.

SECOND TIME

Bathed in moonlight from an unknown source. Safe to pass.

THIRD TIME

The marble is ground to dust by the passage of time.

5. STATUE GALLERY.

 A long, long, black and white chamber, with statues on plinths.

No matter which way you enter, there appear to be no exits, and the room seems very very long. This is because it is actually very long and ill-lit, but it is true to dimensions.

There are also four missing marble plinths. They are labelled. Each one that is placed causes a door to appear. The doors can also be opened from the other side.

“The King”

“The Son”

“The Fool”

“The Moon”

SECOND TIME

Statues in the center are now:

A. A man with a massive third leg growing out of his groin.

“The Mutant”

B. A man with a spiral hole in his stomach.

“The Spiral”

C. A pregnant woman.

“The Mother”

D. A sad woman.

“The Widow”

E. A man injecting himself with a needle.

“The Doctor”

6. VOID.

 The ceiling is shattered. The sky is a pulsing, radiant void. Clouds of purple, blue, and crimson stream past, way too fast. A screaming wind is blowing, it’s hard to hear.

A green brass brazier on a stand takes the black fire from room 11.

If you climb up and look out the hole in the ceiling, you’re looking into a void, you can see no buildings or ground.

On entry and at start of each round the radiation damage from the sky deals 4d10 radiation damage.

The flashing lights throw the shadows of floating men along the floor. 

10 CR2 shadow-men. They are blind but not deaf.

HP 75 AC 13

Invisible. Blind. Perceive anyone within 15’ at DC 18. Flight 40. Silent.

Slashing claws and human-shaped bites

1 attack +13 1d8+4 (magical)

SECOND TIME

A dead black void outside. No light. 

THIRD TIME

A smoldering, unnatural rock has fallen from the sky. It bleeds psychedelic colors, its edges form into curlicues. It deals d20 poison damage every round to everything within 30’. The colors leach into you, you now deal d20 damage every round to everything within 30’. The sky is a calm dark void, filled with streaks of chill nebulas. 

7. MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.

 Old patterned wallpaper, peeling. Mold on the floorboards. 

A room of medical equipment. Tables. Scalpels. In a glass jar filled with sanitizing alcohol is a rough gem worth 2,500 gp. If you’re loud, the worms from 8 come investigate.

SECOND TIME

An old stone hallway. Arched windows look outside. If you look outside, you’re looking down the side of a vast stone castle, a dark and lightless void. You can see a landing 100’ below with another doorway. This will lead into a random room. This doorway will be stable until the room shifts again.

THIRD TIME

Same as the first time. A badly wounded man is unconscious on a table. Blood has soaked through his bandages, he will die in an hour. He has bad bite marks on his side, he is covered in animal wounds.

If saved, his name is Cruel Mote, a doctor of Kizaad. He can give a coherent account of what happened here.

“I’ve become separated from my compatriots. I was savaged by invisible spirits, and they said they would return with supplies. I’m sure they left me here to die. I should return to Kizaad. There is an exit hatch through the lyceum, if you escort me, I can offer you a reward from my house.”

He studies medical biology, the humors, the eighteen ghosts that inhabit a man’s body, anatomy, and fortune telling. He will be confused by the layout.

“Yes, we found a way to ascend to the astral plane, and study the teachings of the higher spirits that dwell here. When these halls were discovered, we established our lyceum and staked out a safe boundary. But then our communications with the lyceum began to fail. I entered with my compatriots, and found it destroyed, and after a brief exploration, we became lost, and set upon by spirits.”

8. CRIMSON WORMS.

More old medical equipment. Broken glass. The wallpaper has peeled away in long folds, revealing more wallpaper underneath. 

Squirming crimson worms. They have long, toothed proboscises that can attack suddenly from 20’ away. These things are native to the astral plane, they drop from the crimson planet that comes near every once in a while. Due to the time compression in the Many Patterned Halls, they respawn constantly.

3 CR 5 crimson worms

Blindsight 60’

HP 120 AC 15

Bite +8 (Range 20) 3d10+8 and DC 16 Strength save as they start to swallow you, bite damage is automatic as long as you’re grabbed, escape is a DC 16 Strength check as an action

or SPRAY ACIDIC WEBBING (5/6) in 30’ cone, DC 19 Dex save or 3d10 acid damage and restrained. The acid damage recurs at the end of each round you’re restrained. Takes a DC 19 Strength check to break free.

SECOND TIME

Bright crimson light shining through the floorboards. For ten minutes, the Many Patterned Halls is affected by low gravity, jump distance is tripled. 3 CR 5 crimson worms again, except they are flying. From now on, any crimson worms encountered have a fly speed of 40.

THIRD TIME

Dark, messy. Medical equipment. A doctor with a ravaged and scarred face is crouched on the floor rummaging in the chest cavity of a cadaver. The cadaver is one of the players!! He can’t talk through his disgusting scarred mouth, he can only grunt.

9. BLOOD.

 A long marble gallery streaked with blood, leading to 17.

SECOND TIME

A shining, pristine marble gallery. A man in a white robe stands, surveying the room. If approached or spoken too, he blows away, as if in a wind.

THIRD TIME

Same as the first time, but no blood.

10. CAT BED.

 Velvet wallpaper and carpeting. An old bar. Jars of old liquor are still good. The cat’s bed is filled with old blankets. An old coin purse filled with astral gold, a shining silvery metal, worth 10x the normal amount of gold. 375 pieces. Pressed with a strange human-like face, the face of a gith.

SECOND TIME

Bathed in moonlight from an unknown source.

THIRD TIME

A stone room of an old castle. Windows look out onto a starry sky. The stars are below as well. There is no facade of a building outside the windows, just a window in air. 

11. BRAZIER ROOM.

 Big stone doors leading north into the Many Patterned Halls’ interior sanctum. If the four braziers at the four corners of the dungeon aren't simultaneously lit by the black fire that burns in the fireplace in this room, the door will not open, and lead no where.

The doors have this carved on them

This room is stable.

Four green braziers arrayed in front of the doors, two to each side. When their corresponding braziers at the four corners of the halls are lit with the black fire from the fireplace, the door becomes unlocked. When the doors are opened, the Many Patterned Halls stabilizes into its current form, all becomes quiet, as if the place is listening.

A fireplace on the south wall has black fire. It makes a crackling and unnatural sound. This is the source of the Many Patterned Halls’ power, it has the ability to stabilize the structure and open the way to the center. However, it has two main rules: as soon as the fire is taken from the fireplace, it will begin to burn lower, and it will burn out in exactly ten minutes, even if brought to a brazier. If all four braziers are lit within ten minutes, they stabilize. Second, it cannot tolerate teleportation. As soon as it is teleported, the teleporter gets shuffled according to teleportation rules and the fire goes out.

12. CORPSE.

 A dead adventurer on old carpet. He has 50’ of rope, a potion of healing (2d8+6), a hooded lantern, and a shortsword.

SECOND TIME

He’s alive! His name is Vagrasi. He wandered in here from a dungeon in the Swamp of Monsters. He’s separated from his friends. He’s a little panicked, but confident he can find his way out of here. He’s friendly, and a third level thief.

THIRD TIME

An alligator.

13. ZEREGON THE THIEF.

He looks like this

Zeregon the Thief is a spirit from deeper in the astral plane, foolishly summoned by the wizards in 14 to assist with their domination of this place. Its whole thing is simply to steal souls and eat them. It once belonged to a great civilization, but was lost to them long ago. It speaks the Astral Language, but is overcome by ravenous anger. 

It has a number of little glass lamps. Inside each one is a flame, and dangling over the flame is a teeny tiny person. Each one is a soul it has procured.

CR 19 Demon: Zeregon the Thief (huge)

HP 350 AC 19 

Demon resistances: Immune to fire and poison; resistant to cold and lightning, and nonmagic weapons

Magic resistance: Advantage on saves against spells and magic effects

Truesight 120’

Str 8 (14) Dex 2 Con 6 (12) Int 5 Wis 3 (9) Cha 6 (12)

2 Snakebites Range 15 +14 3d8+8 plus 3d8 poison damage

AND

Lower torso gaze USED (5/6): Cone 60’ DC 18 Con save or paralyzed (save end of each round to recover)

Upper torso gaze USED (5/6): Cone 60’ DC 19 Con save or combust, take 8d8 fire damage (save end of each round to recover)

AND

Demonic powers: Anyone touched by demon causes all missiles within 100’ to seek them until demon is slain

OR

Can target a 0hp person within 30’, sacrifice attacks to steal their soul, causing one of the lamps on the wall to light up and their little image to appear in it.

OR

Teleport 120’

ALSO

He can adjust his size at will to any size.

HIS SOULS:

If the lamps are simply broken, the souls will be freed, they are dimly material, they flicker in a breeze, a strong wind will kill them. If exposed to the astral sky, they’ll be instantly whisked away. They need a living body, if invited in they will struggle to control it.

LADY YEREGETH, from Solemn Cry, an older noblewoman obsessed with astral projection

BAD ACTOR, an assassin from the Temple of Elemental Evil

FRIGOLACH, an opposing professor of Magnodius, who hates him, and helped penetrate into the astral plane from Kizaad

A DOG NAMED BLACKIE

CAMBERLINE, a beautiful young woman, a duke’s daughter from hundreds of years ago

This room is stable! His mighty will has forced the Many Patterned Halls to his will.  

14. MOTH ANGEL.

 A room filled with desks, all knocked over and fucked up.

A piece of paper face up on the ground. It says:

“Imagine an apple passing through a sheet of paper. First the stem, then the body of the apple, then the core and seeds, then the base. I believe this place is as an apple, and the reality we reside on is the sheet of paper. If the apple is positioned so that only the stem is passing through, we will be only to see a fraction of its true shape. The room at the center of the halls is not only at the center of the square, but also within the core of the apple. Entering it means the apple must pause its passage. To do this, I propose —“ the paper is torn beneath this point.

A chalkboard behind the moth spirit, containing the equation which has trapped the moth angel. If the equation is erased, the moth spirit can be freed. It will simply disappear.

A green big brazier, for room 11. It is of Kizaad make.

A spirit of the astral plane, like a moth angel, surveying the school. Drawn to this place, a curious traveler, caught in a protective circle left over at the school. She cannot communicate with the living without causing harm, every word she speaks cuts like a sword.

MOTH SPIRIT CR 17

HP 315 AC 19

Saves Con 12, Wis 11, Cha 12

Move 120 but trapped

Resistant to magic

Resistant to radiant and nonmagic weapons

Immune to charm, exhaustion, fright

The moth spirit cannot be lied to

Truesight 120’, passive perception 21

It sends its tendrils as whips. It has range 20’

3 attacks +10 8d8 and: Str DC 19 or knock back 1d4x10’ or grab

If it speaks, all within 60’ take 1d8 damage no save, if it’s a full sentence (as an action) it’s 12d8 damage in range 120. If you can’t hear the words, you’re immune.

SECOND TIME

Immaterial, glowing green ghosts examine the moth spirit. It’s struggling and screaming (dealing full damage every round), they are applying a tool to it, they are immune to its screams. The ghosts will attack you if they see you.

7 CR 3 Ghosts

Resistant to all damage

Immune to radiant, poison

Immune to charm, exhaustion, grapple, paralyze, petrify, poison, prone, restrain

Can move through walls and objects as if it were difficult terrain

+8 2d8+3 electric damage

The ghost with the tool you have to make a DC 18 Con save or be paralyzed

THIRD TIME

Plants have overgrown this room. The moth angel, exhausted and ancient, is still here. It can barely speak.

If the moth spirit is freed in all three iterations, it is truly free! And it will help you in gratitude.

15. EXIT.

 A locked port-hole that produces a planeshift when opened. It’s a big metal port-hole with a circle handle that can be opened, above it says EXIT.

It takes at least two people to open, and sucks everyone within the room back into reality, it dumps them into DOOMED KIZAAD, an ancient, overgrown city, filled with fog and mist, when the mist parts, sun comes piercing down. A great calamity has occurred here, there is a palace visible in the distance split in two. You appear before a ruined school. There’s skeletons everywhere.

16. CLAY GUYS.

Knocked over bookshelves. The books are partly melted into the floor, like the floor has grown over them.

These guys are kind of melded into the wall. The wallpaper around them is filled with a sort of many-colored bloom, but they looked bleached. They’re happily moaning. If they see you (Perception 18) they’ll peel off and try to grab you, they’re going to happily force themselves into your body. 

BLEACH MEN — CR 6

HP 190 AC 16 — floppy and defenseless, but the clay-like flesh that forms their body is disgusting and resilient

2 attacks +8 5d10 damage and grabbed, it’s a tough grab: their grapple is +20

First they just grab you and they’re really way too tight, then they’re forcing themselves into your mouth and eyes (this they have to do with a successful grapple), on a success they’re able to deal automatic damage and the opponent is restrained, if they reduce an opponent to 0 they enter the target body and steal your color

SECOND TIME

The books are all intact. They are treatises on alien biology. On a shelf in a jar is a tiny many-colored mushroom. If the mushroom escapes, it’ll spread and overtake the world at an exponential rate, becoming a new crisis.

THIRD TIME

The room is blocked off by multicolored, bizarre fungus.

17. CANNIBAL WIZARDS.

Chairs with straps, a saw.

 3 previous inhabitants of lecture hall, eating an explorer. Guys with the tops of their heads chopped off, and there’s fire burning there. Former lecture masters. Their burning, cannibal eyes. They eat brains to get knowledge.

Surrounded by bloody skeletons. Add cannibal wizards to random encounter table.

They have spells.

CR 6 Cannibal Wizards

HP 155 AC 14

DC 16 Spells (At will)

Psychic Fireball, Slow, Evard’s Black Tentacles

Or one attack +10 FLAME BITE 1d4+8d6 fire damage

SECOND TIME

A bottomless pit splits the room.

THIRD TIME

The remaining cannibal wizard’s burning head has turned into a black hole. 

CR 14 Cannibal Wizard

HP 155 AC 14

Immune to ranged attacks, because they just get sucked into his head.

DC 18 Spells (at will)

Psychic Fireball, Slow, Evard’s Black Tentacles

Everything gets pulled towards the black hole at speed 30 each round, and also must Con save DC 18 or take 5d8 force damage. If you touch his head, you’re restrained as you start getting sucked in, and take double damage each round. On 0, you’re sucked inside.

18. RUST MONSTER.

 This room is filled with glowing blue slime. An astral rust monster is slurping it up. It has a glowing tail. If it sees you, it flashes its tail, blinding you.

Astral Rust Monster CR 13

HP 270 AC 16

TAIL FLASH (5/6) Bonus action: all in 60’ must Con DC 18 or be blinded (save to end)

Two bites +8 6d8+16

or CORRODE METAL (2 attacks): Dex DC 18 or a piece of metal is corroded into glowing blue slime. This even affects magic weapons. They take a cumulative -1 to attack or AC.

Weapons that damage the rust monster also take this damage.

SECOND TIME

A big metal statue of Moloch, transported from Kizaad. It’s filled with Kizaad gold that's spilling out its mouth, 2500 gp worth.

THIRD TIME

The slime is falling from the sky like a glitchy computer program, a rust monster is stuck clipped into the ceiling, another identical rust monster is floating and trying to drink the slime.

19. TREE OF MEN.

 Tree filled with men. The tree branches are undulating slowly, the men watch you.

If encountered, they will ask a single question in a cacophony of indecipherable voices. If you try to pass without answering the question, they’ll issue a horrible command.

THE QUESTION

1. “WHAT IS THE NATURE OF MAN’S SOUL?”

2. “WHAT DOES A DEAD MAN FEAR?”

3. “CAN A MAN EVER BE TRULY SELFLESS?”

4. “WHAT IS THE WAY TO VIRTUE?”

5. “CAN ONE EVER KNOW ONES SELF?”

6. “HOW DOES POWER TRANSMIT?”

THE COMMAND (Wisdom DC 18 to resist)

1. “EAT YOUR OWN HAND”

2. “CLIMB INTO THE SKY”

3. “CHOP OFF YOUR FEET”

4. “THROW YOUR BELONGINGS INTO THE VOID”

5. “JOIN US”

6. “LEAVE YOUR FRIENDS”

After encountering this room, the tree of men enters the random encounter table. If encountered, the tree will appear in an adjacent room, growing from the floor as if it has always been there.

SECOND TIME

An empty tree.

20. SKULL NEBULA.

 Another outside area, the ceiling falling in. The skull nebula visible overhead, shining hideous radiation into the room. 

Walking into the radiation deals 4d10 damage per round.

SECOND TIME

The skull nebula is closer. Increase damage to 10d10 per round.

THIRD TIME

Skull nebula is right there! Its gravity sucks stuff up through the sky now. If you get sucked up, you’re able to see the rip in space where the Many Patterned halls lives.

21. PROFESSOR MAGDOCIUS.

 Filled with ancient Gith statues. A green brazier.

Also here is a single survivor of the school, Professor Magdocius, who has degenerated into a crouched filthy man, who speaks English.

(About the statues) “These are the ancients who warred across the astral sea! They slew each other.”

“We followed the signs of the wizards of Kizaad! Yes, we ventured even into doomed Kizaad, and there found the signs that led us here! At the center, a nexus of great power, a sanctum of power even! Hidden by the black flame. I cannot light it.”

Magdocius knows some defensive spells (at will, but cant cast the same one twice in a row)

POWER WORD PAIN (Affects target 100 hp or less)

MAJOR IMAGE

HARM

A few collapsed shells of hollow people. East door is barricaded.

SECOND TIME:

Magdocius is not there. Just the silent visage of the great titan statues.

THIRD TIME:

Magdocius has declared himself king of the Many Patterned Halls. He recognizes the players, from years ago. He is greatly angered by their long absence, and greets them as traitors.

22. FLIES.

A horrible buzzing fly coming out of what appears to be a person but is in fact just its shell. The room is covered in clinging cannibal flies.

 16 FLIES CR 1 HP 65 AC 16 Attack +10 2d8+6

SECOND TIME: 

The 16 people are back alive, they are desperately hungry, they’ve been wandering the halls for ages. They are refugees of the Gith--they jumped overboard one of their ships, and landed in the Many Patterned Halls. But the Gith are long dead....? They do not know.

THIRD TIME:

A single fly monster.

23 SAFE.

Counterweight trap from Last of Us 1. Trip wire is laid across the door, walking across it traps your leg and rips you into the air and rings a bunch of bells, counterweight in the middle of the room is a safe. A simple perception check AFTER opening the door can easily find this.

The safe cannot be opened. 

SECOND TIME

The safe is upside on the ceiling, held with no restraints. It cannot be opened.

THIRD TIME

The safe is on the floor. When you enter, the dial begins to spin, clicking through the combination lock. In two rounds, it opens, and a blowing wind begins to suck you in. Make a DC 18 Strength save or be knocked prone pulled 2d6x10 feet toward the safe. If you’re pulled into it, you fall into a random room and take 2d6 falling damage. There’s now a pile of skeletons in the room, as well as 100pp.

24 HOSTILE FURNITURE.

A room filled with dark wood antiques. The floor is a simple illusion, there is actually a 200’ pit filled with piles of old antiques, but the antiques that "float" atop are safe to jump on. Save to recover if you just step on the floor without thinking is DC 19 Dex, otherwise you fall 200' into pitch darkness onto a pile of furniture..

SECOND TIME:

The ground is gone. The antiques are now spinning in place really really fast, like a horrible hostile Mario level. If you try to fly through, they’ll animate and fly at you, each one attacking at +12 for 2d10 damage, for a total of 20d10 damage.

THIRD TIME: 

It looks like the first time, except the ground is real. If you walk through, halfway through the ceiling falls on you like a smothering, muscular blanket and tries to suffocate you. Run it as a cloaker.

25. GENTLEMAN.

 A strange gentleman, barely holding himself together, he's melting kind of, he stands in a room filled with junk and antiques. He can talk, but nothing he says makes any sense. He’s sort of falling apart. 

SECOND TIME

This same gentleman, but much more put together, except his eyes have fallen out of his sockets, which are all droppy and shriveled. “Wouldn’t you know it, I’ve misplaced my glasses! Do you think I’ve left them around here? Gosh darn it! Well, it wouldn’t do to crawl around on my hands and knees, would it?”

His name? “Why but that’s just not important right now! Where on earth are my glasses?”

If you get down on your hands and knees, suddenly everything gets really really big and dizzying. You’re shrunk to the size of a mouse, basically. The man goes, “Oh! I think I hear them!” and starts groping for you, at a +10 (at disadvantage). If he hits you, he does 18d10 crushing damage.

THIRD TIME

The man sleeps in a chair, all put together now. If you wake him, he will say, “The red moon has come tonight! Best hide from its bloody presence” and disappear.

From now on, the skies outside are crimson red, and a bright planet can be seen. In ten days it is big enough for its contours to be seen. Crawling worms slide over its surface. It will drop new crimson worms into the halls.

26. ILLITH VARN.

 The core of the Many Patterned Halls. It has been hollowed out, the energy is depleted. But Illith Varn sent his soul and the Astral Soul of the Skoros Orb to this place, and for the long and infinite eternity that he has been trapped here, his spirit has been entwined into greater and greater depredations. He attempted to manufacture himself a body, but has been unable.

When the door is opened, first there is a swirling blue fog. It fills the perimeter of the room. It takes two rounds of travel to enter the interior of the room. If you try to leave, it takes two rounds of travel to exit. Illith Varn will not follow you out of the room, in fact, he is unable to leave, as he is dead.

A grand old ballroom, dilapidated. Chairs and rubble strewn across the floor. Illith Varn crouches off-center, gazing into the Skoros Orb. It is an orb made of blue crystal the size of a watermelon, blue light shines from within it like light reflecting off water.

The illusion Illith Varn has crafted to comfort himself

In appearance, a handsome middle-aged man

If Truesight is used, the illusion is pierced, it can be seen that you are walking on corpses, and instead of a ceiling, there is a broken, darkened sky, and in the distance, are the shattered remnants of a fortress.

Illith Varn wants to return to reality, but does not know he cannot. If he enters reality he will be immediately brought to the afterlife. But if he can salvage the other two pieces of the Skoros Orb, he may be able to use them. He wields the Skoros Orb.

“Kaviel, oh Kaviel . . . finally, you have returned . . . I cannot find the way back . . . “

“Tell me of Orostranthy . . . I cannot see its dappled towers . . . the sun striking Solemn Cry . . . or was that but a dream I had?”

“Father, I have died . . .”

He is too insane to converse with. 

When he is engaged, regardless of initiative, the Skoros Orb sinks into the floor, it can be seen glowing blue beneath, a dim outline that shines like a strange sun whenever he taps its power.

Everything he does is casting a spell. It can all be counterspelled.

Total HP 468 AC 19

Attack +14 DPR 150 DC 20

Immune: Charm, Fright, Exhaustion, Poison, Prone, Grapple, Petrify, Restrain — he’s a ghost! 

Resistant to non-magic weapons

Legendary saves x3 (If he fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead)

Special: Illith Varn can concentrate on two spells at once

Saves

Str +5 Dex +7 Con +6 (+13) Int +10 (+17) Wis +8 (+15) Cha +8 (+15)

PHASE ONE: 180 HP AC 19

Speed 40 (Fly)

Immune: Charm, Fright, Exhaustion, Poison, Prone, Grapple, Petrify, Restrain

Resistant to non-magic weapons

On engage: Cast Globe of Invulnerability and Mirror Image

Reactions (1/turn): Counterspell, Absorb Elements, Shield

At 90hp, a contingency triggers, casting Invulnerability on him, as written.

MULTI-CAST:

Cast attack spell:

Ice-block (A 30’ cube of ice deals 8d8 cold damage inside it, acts as an ice wall, but deals no damage when walked through)

Hex (berserk brand, no save, when affected by Illith Varn’s spells, take an extra 6d12 necrotic damage, aim to target this target at least twice a round while affected)

Spray lasers (10 attacks +14, d10+2 radiant damage each)

Horrid wilting (8d8 necrotic damage in 30’ cube, Con save DC 20)

Firestorm (as written)

and cast status effect spell:

1. Stop (Recharge 4/5/6) (DC 20 Wisdom save, Fail means paralyzed until end of next turn, on success slowed instead)

2. Azakabar’s (Recharge 5/6) -- See below

3. Any other non-damaging wizard spell of 8th level or lower (Each separate spell has a recharge of 6) (Globe of Invulnerability, Dispel Magic, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Walls, Disintegrate not targeting a creature, Dimension Door, Teleport, Antimagic Shield, etc)

Bonus Actions (Recharge 5/6): Misty Step

Legendary Actions (3/turn, at the end of a player's turn):

1. Prismatic Ray (once per turn): 300 range, +14 4d10 damage (1. fire 2. acid 3. lightning 4. poison 5. cold 6. force, target makes DC 16 Con save, on failure, petrified until start of next turn 7. radiant, target make DC 16 con save, on failure, blinded until start of next turn 8. roll twice)

2. Magic Missile (three targets) 3d4+1 damage 

3. Chain Spark (once per turn) — one target, DC 20 Dexterity save or 3d8 damage, then chain to another target in 30’, save, and continue indefinitely (cannot target same target twice)

4. Teleport 40’, all within 20’ must Wis DC 16 or be slowed until end of next turn

Reaction (1/round, three times total): Counterspell

When he dies, his soul falls into the floor, and the illusion is broken. At the start of his next round, the corpse mass surges up, his unfinished incubated body emerges. He animates 4 corpses to start.

PHASE TWO: 

HIS TRUE FORM

They’re standing on a pile of corpses which look like Illith Varn. I suppose there are other corpses underneath that aren’t Illith Varn. The other wizards and explorers which entered the sanctum. Illith Varn’s main clone is in a mass of corpses, which peel apart and reveal a giant-sized Illith Varn with fucked up melted facial features. When he casts a spell, it's the giant corpse that casts spells. When he attacks, the corpses and tendrils which comprise his shell attack. When the Skoros Orb casts a spell, you can see it glowing from deep within the corpse mound, and all the corpses cast the spell at the same time.

CR 19

MAIN BODY — 20’ tall

HP 288 AC 19

Move 40

Immune: Charm, Fright, Exhaustion, Poison, Prone, Petrify

(If the players happen to decide to try to fly around and do strafing attacks, I don't know. I'd say make him power up and do quadruple damage or something until they get back on the platform.)

ACTIONS:

Two attacks, 15’ range, +1 for each corpse that has died: +14 4d6+1 and Str DC 20 or: grab, push 1d4x10’, or knock prone

OR ranged attack, spray bloody body parts +14 8d6+2 plus 1 for each 2 corpses that have died

OR Conjure 1d4 Simulacra — the corpses which protrude from his corpse shell fall to the floor and can act independently

and cast spell:

DISASTER (one-time only) -- See below

OR AZAKABAR’S (5/6) -- See below

OR ALMAGEST (5/6) DC 20 Con save for half, Affects one half the room for 4d8+40 radiant/force damage

OR Any other non-damaging wizard spell of 8th level or lower (Each separate spell has a recharge of 6) (Globe of Invulnerability, Dispel Magic, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Walls, Disintegrate not targeting a creature, Dimension Door, Teleport, Antimagic Shield, etc)

LEGENDARY ACTIONS

1: One corpse casts a spell, or melee attacks for 4d6 damage (1 action) 14

1: Vomit poison (2 actions) 90’ cone, Dex DC 20 or 3d10 acid damage, and take damage again if you end turn in it

2: Move (2 actions): Move 40’ and all corpses move 20’

CORPSES

AC 19 HP 40 Move 30

Advantage on saving throws against magic

Each one can cast a single spell on its turn with range 60:

1. DC 20 Dex 4d6 force damage and all within 10’ Wis save or Speed reduced to 10 (14)

2. +14 attack 4d6 poison damage and all within 10’ Con save or Poison (14)

3. DC 20 Wis 4d6 psychic damage and all within 10’ Wis save or Charmed (14)

4. DC 20 Con 4d6 thunder damage and all within 10’ Wis save or Silence (14)

If a corpse is killed, it immediately deals 40 damage to the main body.

If Illith Varn is defeated, his body slumps to the ground. The Skoros Orb continues to glow from within the corpse pile. It has to be dug up.

When held, it grants the holder three powerful spells, which are always prepared, but must be cast using the holder's spell slots. It acts as a spell focus, and once per day without using a spell slot can cast a special version of Fog Cloud, which produces a deep blue colored fog with a radius of one mile.

NEW SPELLS:

DISASTER

9th-level transmutation

Range: 1000 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Instantaneous

Disaster produces an irrevocable disaster. The natural tendency of man-made objects to fall to ruin is tapped, annihilating everything the caster can see. Any number of non-magical objects within range, which the caster can see, are instantly destroyed. Weapons and armor are rendered unusable. Glass shatters. Metal fissures and collapses. Stonework crumbles into rubble, as if it had aged 500 years. 

Up to twenty medium-sized buildings within range of the caster’s choice are caused to instantly collapse. A creature within half the distance of a structure’s height must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 5d6 bludgeoning damage, is knocked prone, and is buried in the rubble, requiring a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check as an action to escape. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and doesn’t fall prone or become buried. 

A colossal building, along the lines of a multi-story castle, palace, or temple may be targeted, but instead of collapsing entirely it will be severely damaged in a way according to the DM’s discretion, along the lines of the table below. A building reinforced by magic will be unaffected by this spell.

If the caster is underground or inside, the disaster becomes dangerous to use. Disaster may be used to target walls and supporting stonework, causing an intentional collapse of any room within sight. If walls or supporting stonework are targeted in this way, a wider collapse has a 50% chance of occurring. If this occurs, all creatures within the spell’s area must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 5d6 bludgeoning damage and become buried in rubble, as above. For each room within the targeted area, roll on the following table:

1. One wall partially collapsed. This opens 1d4 openings into adjacent rooms and creates difficult terrain along either side of the wall for 1d4x5’ in each direction.

2. One wall completely collapsed. This opens a clear path into adjacent rooms and creates difficult terrain along the entire length of the wall for 1d4x5’ in each direction.

3. 1d4 walls partially collapsed, as above.

4. 1d4 walls completely collapsed, as above.

5. Room partially collapsed. Entire room is filled with rubble and becomes difficult terrain. 50% chance of clear opening to any rooms above.

6. Room entirely collapsed. The room is rendered impassable. 50% chance of clear opening to any room above.

7. Ceiling collapses in 20’ radius, creating difficult terrain in that radius. Clear opening to any room above. If no room above, then the collapse becomes an impassable pile of rubble.

8. Room is SAFE. 

AZAKABAR'S

6th-level Transmutation

Casting time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, M (Skoros Orb)

Duration: 1 minute, by Concentration

An area of effect spell with hideous side-effects, affecting all creatures in a 20’ radius area. They must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer from 2 to 5 effects, occurring simultaneously, but which must be dispelled or removed as separate spell effects.

Roll 1d4+1 times, rerolling any repeats:

1. Switch bodies: Everyone affected has their mind transferred to another random creature affected by the spell. They gain the physical statistics, hit points, armor class, and attacks of their new body, while maintaining their own mental statistics, proficiency bonuses, class abilities, and spells. If only one creature is affected by the spell, they are unaffected by this effect.

2. Shrink: As the reduce spell. Target decreases its size one category, has disadvantage on Strength checks and saving throws, and weapon attacks deal 1d4 less damage.

3. Sleep: As the spell. Each affected creature falls unconscious until the spell ends, the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake. Undead and creatures immune to being charmed aren’t affected.

4. Turn to abomination: Affected creature is transformed into a hideous abomination. The transformation lasts until the target drops to 0 hitpoints or dies. The abomination is a fleshy, weak, slow-moving creature resembling a fucked walrus. It has 70 hit points, AC 9, Movement 15, Str 8, Con 12, Dex 8, and the mental ability scores of the original creature. It cannot hold, grasp, or manipulate objects, except clumsily with its mouth. It may attack at +6 for 1d6+1 damage.

5. Blind: As the condition. Creature cannot see. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s attack rolls have disadvantage.

6. Necrosis: Any healing from a spell or magic effect instead causes equal damage to the creature.

7. Silenced: Affected creature produces no sound. It cannot speak. Casting a spell that includes a verbal component is impossible.

8. Stunned: Affected creature is stunned for one round.

SECRET

3rd-level divination

Casting time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: M (The Skoros Orb)

Duration: Instantaneous

Draws a secret from the place where it is cast. The secret takes the form of a bird of insect, which contains the secret written on its wings. Such a secret is something that is known by only one other person, or known by no one. If there is no secret in the immediate room, the secret will concern something closely nearby, at the DM's discretion.

If you're the DM and you're at a loss, roll a d6:

1. Something directly and immediately useful

2-5. Something a little obtuse, but applicable and useful

6. Something completely out of left field

Big Showdown In The Turned Castle

So the players made a jaunt into the Astral Plane, did battle with the spirit of the mad wizard Illith Varn who locked himself in a sanctum in the depths of an astral plane to protect his soul from the afterlife, and retrieved the Astral Soul of the Skoros Orb, which knowledge they've managed to keep from everyone except the psychic vampire Prince Abion Pelioth, who along with his mind-flayer vizier Rhan-Teggoth are trying to steal the Skoros Orb from the players and depose his mother, the Blood Queen Tetranoska Draculesti Pelioth. Now the reason the players went to the Astral Plane in the first place is because Prince Abion suspects the Blood Queen's closest bodyguard Kaviel the Strange, a former general of the vanquished Illith Varn, of pulling a long con, and plotting to steal the Skoros Orb from her. Prince Abion sent the players to visit the tomb of Illith Varn and speak with an old friend of Kaviel the Strange, Ser Senedar the White, also a former general of Illith Varn, who after his untimely death in the depths of the Shattered Labyrinths, has taken up a lonely vigil at his tomb, praying and trying to ignore the angry imprecations of Illith Varn's severed head, who demands Ser Senedar bring him the Skoros Orb from Queen Tetranoska. She has one aspect of the Skoros Orb too, though whether she knows it's only one part of three is up for grabs.

After being ambushed by Rhan-Teggoth and his octopus-headed vampire guards and escaping from the Turned Castle, they once again made contact with the rival adventuring party The Deadboyz, a trio of dead-eyed sociopaths seeking to steal the Skoros Orb for themselves and sell it to some kingdom somewhere for a large sum of cash. The players have been feuding with the Deadboyz for two or three years now, and after a lengthy battle on their private demiplane cabin which is situated in a magic painting hidden inside a magic mirror and negotiating a hostage swap between the Deadboyz' rogue and the players' bard, they managed to hash out a shaky agreement to work together to steal the Skoros Orb from the Blood Queen, which agreement the Deadboyz decided to break from the very beginning.

Finally, the players managed to break back into the Turned Castle of the Blood Queen, which is sinking upside down into a pool of blood harvested from the queen's own subjects millennia ago before House Pelioth fled the surface world, slew the marilith Aeshma guarding the Blood Queen's tower, and summoned the Deadboyz to help them climb it. They spent a handful of sessions climbing a series of vertical shafts filled with anti-magic blood and vampire knights shooting four arrows a round each and dropping giant spike balls on them and floating paralyzing jellyfish and a giant eyeball with grasping tentacles.

At last everyone managed to make it up to the Blood Queen's throneroom, while a handful of vampire guards ineffectually try to climb the tower below them. There the players find, surprise surprise, Kaviel the Strange already battling with Queen Tetranoska to steal the Skoros Orb from her before the players and the Deadboyz make it to them. He's desperate, she's furious, and the Deadboyz casually launch their surprise attack. Blathous Horzen strides up to the player's wizard, Thee Honorable Jaime von Klaw, and deals 80 damage with two attacks.

'

Kaviel the Strange ("What is it that makes him strange?" "Why, he is a poet")

Queen Tetranoska Draculesti Pelioth (source)

So the players once again fight the Deadboyz in the throne-room while Queen Tetranoska and Kaviel the Strange launch blood magic and lightning storms in every direction. She can channel the Skoros Orb from a distance, she is shooting Absolute Rays and creating powerful illusions. The Skoros Orb is embedded inside a red crystal which is being held by a metal claw suspended from the ceiling over the queen's throne, which is made of frozen blood. Tetranoska is whittling down Kaviel's hit-points, Kaviel is trying to break the blood crystal so he can grab the orb and escape, and Jaime von Klaw gets KO'd by Kaviel's lightning storm. Luckily, Malachai the Dwarf is high enough level to muster six attacks a round if he needs to, and kicks the shit out of Blathous Horzen with his magic longbow. Blathous drops his magic greatsword in a pool of anti-magic blood and pulls out his mysterious hooded lantern, which shoots a laser of over-charged fire when the hood is opened. The Deadboyz' wizard, Blank, a strange fellow with a child tied to his waist, gets imprisoned in a force cage, breaks out, and gets mind-controlled by the queen, who makes him start to kill Kaviel.

For a moment everything is going okay. Dirtface the Barbarian shoots the Deadboyz' rogue, Axen Great, with a poisoned snail that benumbs his left arm, meaning he can't use his bow or his black blade, and though he tries, can't stop Malachai from finally murdering Blathous Horzen. "Fucking idiot," says Axen and hides in a side-chamber. Jaime von Klaw manages to get a few hit-points back and traps Axen in the side-chamber with a force wall. All he can do is stand behind it and glare, like Darth Maul.

But then Blank breaks free of his mind control and sees an opportunity. He conjures a Meteor Swarm. The meteors swarm from his hand and explode everything in the room, knocking out Jaime again, reducing Kaviel the Strange to 1 hitpoint, and demolishing the blood crystal containing the Skoros Orb, which I determined would roll in a random direction if the blood crystal happened to shatter. I roll a 6. Uh oh... The Skoros Orb, a dull red crystal orb the size of a watermelon, rolls directly at Blank. He picks it up. "I've got it!" He sprints away from the Queen.

Axen Great, no longer trapped behind his force wall which blinked out when Jaime fell unconscious, pulls out his single black Arrow of Death, which requires seven days of dedicated work to manufacture, takes aim at Dirtface the Barbarian, and uses his great luck to force a hit. Dirtface fails his saving throw and falls unconscious.

So at this point, two of the players are unconscious, Kaviel is at 1 hitpoint, Blank the Wizard has the Skoros Orb, and Malachai the Dwarf is once again nearly dead. By fifth edition rules, he is one saving throw away from death. The players manage to use their round to bring themselves back to life--Sad Ed the Bard uses Cure Wounds to bring back Jaime von Klaw, Jaime von Klaw uses Wish to Heal Dirtface, and Dirtface runs over to Malachai and feeds him an enchanted finger-bone.

Kaviel, blood running from the open wound on his neck, cries out: “Great Goddess Cairu, hear my wish! I still remember thee, from thy fountain where I met thee in thy glimmering halls! Finally I invoke thee! Take me from this dreadful place, to a place of safety! “

The Great Goddess manifests in a breath of fresh air. she is a beautiful woman surrounded by floating clothes, her skin is pale, glowing water rises around her, her hair is long and floats around her in zero gravity. She's also upside down, because everyone else is actually upside, considering they are in the Turned Castle.

“Kaviel! I do remember you well, and ever are you in my favor! I have heard your call, and I do not forget you! This is your wish then? Very well — I will remove you from this place of death! Come now, take my hand!”

He does, and they disappear, leaving a sweet scent in the air.

Tetranoska, screaming in rage, sprints after Blank. She deals him a few mighty blows. She grabs him. But on his turn he shouts, "Axen, I'm going!" and Teleports away. And Axen Great pulls out a strange tuning fork, hits it on the wall, and the tuning fork rings louder and louder and crescendos and shatters, and he disappears, leaving the players alone in the throne room with the Blood Queen. They cast Maze on her and she disappears, for a second at least.

Now I get to think about the Deadboyz' secret hideout. Very exciting.

BUSINESS OWNERSHIP RULES

 So my players in the Forest of Cats managed to gain ownership of tea-shop by extorting the tea owner with his old worker contract papers. Basically this was Kamaji and he was a ghost slave to Yubaba I mean Dwirba's bath-house, and he'd rather give up his business of a hundred years than live in slavery to a dead witch. So he put on his ten-sleeved coat and went into the night, leaving the players with a business with no finances or customer base, and me with the necessity to come up with some business ownership rules on the fly.

Here's what I've landed on, cribbed in part from Michael Raston's Ordure.

Each business and character has five business stats!

1. BEAUTY
2. CULINARY QUALITY
3. COZINESS
4. POPULARITY
5. FINANCES

They range from 1 to 6. A business starts with low and arbitrary stats -- I gave the tea-house a 2 in culinary quality, but everything else is a 1. It's a dead business in a nearly abandoned spirit town, out-competed by the neighborhood dessert bar, but the tea is pretty good. 

Each character chooses 2 stats to have as a 3 and a 2, and the rest are 1.

When a character wants to do something with their business acumen, they roll a d6. If it's equal to or less than their associated skill, they succeed. If they fail, they simply fail, or something bad might happen. 

When they level up, they can choose one stat to increase by 1.

If they want to raise one of their business' stats, they just need to do something that would plausibly work, and then succeed on a check.

I might make it so that raising a stat from above 2 is a little harder. Probably you'll need to provide one successful justification per stat point. So to raise culinary quality from 2 to 3, you'll need a new kind of tea AND ALSO better water. 

If you want to do something with the business, you make a similar d6 check. Equal to or less than, and it works. Not sure if you have the funds to throw a little party? Make a Finances check. Want to see if the king knows about you? Make a Popularity check. And so on.

Days in the Forest of Cats are short and, basically, I don't want to spend the entire game running a business game. I'm only doing this because my players are dead set on it. So they only have time each day to raise two stats. After that, the day is over, and they have to adventure. I should say can adventure. I'm not sure my players like adventuring very much. I think they just want to play D&D Animal Crossing. I bet I could make it so special things they need to make their businesses better are out in the world.

Like, the water in the spirit village is impure because the water dragon Haku I mean Valanir left. So they need to make a pilgrimage to speak with him to get the water back.

In terms of making money off a business, I imagine it would go something like this: every day that a business is staffed, have the business make a Popularity check. On a success, you make money based on the chart below. If you fail you don't lose any money, that's just mean.

Finances 1 d10

Finances 2 d100

Finances 3 d100x2

Finances 4 d100x3

Finances 5 d100x4

Finances 6  d100x5

Something like that.

Implied Game Mechanics and Encounter Design

 I run my game with a few personal desires in mind. I like a game rooted in the physical environment, hand to hand tactical combat, weird fantasy, evocative people and places, and an encouragement of lateral thinking. I want the game to mostly revolve around exploration and interacting with a strange and evocative world, where the players are never entirely sure what to expect. Combat is tactical and dangerous, but is meant to be fun and accessible. There should be fights where the players can auto-pilot through it by clicking on the enemies, but there should also be dangerous and strange fights that punish players for failing to pay attention. Generally, encounters will be balanced through 5e numbers for the players' level and the number of players in the game that day, and I adjust challenge on the fly depending on everyone's mood. Boss fights should be dangerous stand alone encounters that can't be cheesed, though they might be able to be bypassed and avoided through careful thinking and negotiating. The physical environment should always be a hazard, from traps to damaging hazards to the walls itself. Any places or travel or dungeons should feel physically present, and anything that allows players to bypass physical obstacles are sparing and powerful. 

Generally, if a spell or power ends up interfering with this, I'll alter or disallow it. I ended up disallowing Etherealness, the fifth edition spell that allows free travel through physical obstacles, because it would make exploring and traversal of the physical environment too risk free for my taste. My players also have a couple custom items that they've figured out interesting ways to use, for instance, they have a magic ring that opens a door to a small demiplane. Originally it was too hot in there to feasibly use, but they fixed that, and now they've been using it to hide prisoners, carry each other, and spy on their enemies in complex ways. This is great, but I put a couple limits on it to prevent combat from getting too far out of the bounds of what I want, for instance, I could imagine them jumping in and out of their demiplane during every fight. This is neat but it's just not what I want from Dungeons and Dragons.

Okay, but WHAT IF, actually, I went all the way with this stuff? What would it look like?

For instance, Divinity 2: Original Sin's combat and gameplay is heavily based around teleportation. At first maybe one or two characters has the ability to teleport, but eventually it turns into a crux of the game. You can teleport enemies into lava, you can teleport lava onto enemies, and enemies can do that same to you, eventually you can swap terrain around, and combat can alter dizzyingly in an instant based on this single game mechanic. You have to use it offensively and intelligently or you'll be just smeared by the opposition, or unable to overcome certain challenging encounters. I wouldn't want my game to look like that, but, WHAT IF?

I'm going to take a few of the game mechanics from my game and extrapolate it out as far as I can go.

THE TELEPOTS:

These are two metal tea-pots. The top opening on each is about as big as an okay sign formed by a thumb and index finger, and they are connected at all times by a magic gate. Anything that passes through one comes out the other. 

HOW ITS BEEN USED:

Aiming spells and arrows from a distance. A beefy tank runs up and aims one telepot, while an archer or spell caster stands far back and casts or shoots through theirs. 

Escape and reinforcements. One telepot is left back at camp and manned by their henchmen. In case of emergency, the party can escape back to camp with a variety of close-range teleports. Alternatively, their reinforcements can cast spells, healing, or cure status effects through the teleport. They can also keep a close eye on their camp in case it's attacked.

Testing planar boundaries. Since planar boundaries can only be bypassed through magic more powerful than the telepots, they can quickly check if their telepots are working, and if they're not, they can figure they've wandered into another dimension (this happens more often than you'd think).

Bypassing difficult obstacles and traps. The person most suited to sneak past a horde or enemies or difficult trap can scout ahead, and when they're safely through, the rest of the party can use short-range teleports to come through. (The drawback is that the telepot is left behind, so they usually only use this in combination with the telepot left at camp)

BUT WHAT IF:

Enemies had telepots? Single or duo enemies routinely sneak up and aim their telepots, allowing the rest of them to safely unload ranged attacks and spells? Combat would require players to identify who has a telepot. Enemies would have to be careful not to let their telepot fall into the players' hands, to prevent them from gaining access to their reinforcements or camps. Enemies would try to break or steal player telepots, to gain entrance to camp and prevent stealth attacks.

Players without short-range teleports would be at a distinct disadvantage. Either classes would all need short-range teleports, or classes without them would be at a disadvantage, or they would need a big buff to make up for their lack of mobility. Preventing enemies from teleporting through small openings would end up being a big advantage: counterspells and teleport locks and the like. Enemies would do the same to players. They would use grapples, disarms, called shots, and telekinesis to seize any telepots they see.

I could imagine a chain of telepots!! One enemy has a telepot that leads back to a party of enemies, the party has another telepot that leads back to their base. I imagine the boss would be very wary of a telepot falling into enemy hands. They would probably have outer bases to scout from, and central HQ would probably have some kind of teleport seal on it to prevent enemies sneaking a telepot into the base (I've already done this with the TEMPLE OF AAMEUL, a cult well versed in the dangers and advantages of dimensional travel). Powerful enemies might secret their HQ on other planes, for the same reasons, and smart players would probably try to do the same.

If a telepot falls into enemy hands, the enemy would sabotage or destroy the connecting one, to prevent them from hopping through.

Area of effect spells could travel through telepots. Fireballs, gases, curses, emanations, and so on would be in danger of traveling through the opposing telepot. Anyone manning the telepot on the other side would want to stand at a safe distance or have protective magic. Conversely, a person or group could make themselves immune or resistant to a particular area of effect, advance with a telepot, and the wizard could cast the area of effect on their teleport, causing the person holding the other end to be surrounded in a damaging aura.

It would be plausible to imagine encounters unspooling out of no where and retreating, the entire game turning into a series of dimensional guerilla attacks, eventually aimed at finding a path into a secret dimensional fortress.

THE HOT CAR DIMENSION

This is a three-piece jewelry set of two strange metal necklaces and a ring with a keyhole in it. The strangely curved metal pieces on the necklaces fit together to form a key, which fits into the keyhole. A scalding hot metal doorknob appears hanging in the air, when turned, it opens a door into a small, scalding hot extradimensional metal room. You can't spend more than ten minutes in the room before suffering some kind of damage, asphyxiation or hit point damage or passing out or something. Once it's closed from the outside, the door is locked from the inside.

HOW IT'S BEEN USED

Recently, they found a delicate glass ornament that lowers the ambient temperature around it by about 50 degrees F. They put it in the hot car dimension to make it a more palatable 70 degrees or so, "The Balmy Car Dimension," etc etc. But before that it was a little more tricky.

Throw ice type enemies into it. They met frost demons only harmed by fire and heat, so they just grabbed the ice demons, threw them inside, and shut the door. Throw regenerating enemies into it: they found a group of enemies that resurrect from a spawning pit when they're killed, and figured out that the planar boundary would block their soul's travel, so they threw those enemies into the hot car dimension right before killing them.

Now that it's balmy, they do teleporting tricks. If they need to teleport a mid-range distance, say across the dungeon, two of them get in the hot car dimension and the wizard Dimension Doors with the jewelry. 

Storage for inconvenient hostages. In my game, vampires are paralyzed but not killed when staked, so they'll stake vampires and hide them in the hot car dimension. If they need to kill a vampire, they'll do it in the hot car dimension so as not to leave evidence in the dungeon. In a difficult fight with an enemy party, they petrified the thief, pushed him out a window into the hot car dimension, and closed the door, and used him as a powerful bargaining trick in later negotiations.

BUT WHAT IF?

In some ways, this might just look a lot like the telepot situations. Enemies would have an easy time teleporting reinforcements in. Single patrols of sneaky enemies could, again, quickly produce a squad of enemies. Players would probably end up paranoid of single enemies.

What if enemies kept hazards or dangerous monsters in their hot car dimensions? Maybe they fill it with poison gas or slime, and then open it as a kind of spell? What if enemies kidnapped players and put them in their own hot car dimensions? Players would have to have ready ways to get out of other dimensions, demiplane or plane shift spells.

Bedrooms and apartments in the hot car dimensions. They could go in there and read books. Enemies would have little apartments just for them, existing in the infinite null-space that extends in all secret directions.

See, my brain just doesn't work tactically this way, I can't care for long enough.

POTION OF IMMUNITY TO YELLOW

Does what it says on the tin. Here's a potion that confers full damage immunity to anything colored yellow, for 1-6 minutes. 

HOW IT'S BEEN USED

So far, my players have not drunk this potion. But they bought a can of yellow paint. It was an ordeal. They have to go to some fucked up slum filled with fly people to find an alchemist who also tried to sell them a flailceratops. They seriously considered it. But they only have one potion and one can of paint, so they haven't used it yet.

BUT WHAT IF?

Okay, so what if color immunity was more common? Low level spells grant resistance and immunity to certain colors. At that point players would certainly be trying to manipulate color. Paint, dyes, clothes, illusions, and so on. There would probably be spells to manipulate color. Turn an enemy this color, swap colors, and so on. Enemies would have color resistance and immunity. Enemies would area of effect color change spells, spells to swap color, abilities to change their own color. Chameleon type enemies would be more of a problem. Items and spells that clean you of dyes and paints would be crucial. Solvents and paint-thinners would become essential adventuring equipment. Outer coats of different colors based on enemy defenses would be necessary. If you get dyed a certain color, just put on your vantablack trench coat and swap out your sheathed sword.

I might do more of these later. 

here’s how I do knowledge checks

Make a knowledge check DC 15. for every 5 points over 15, give them one extra piece of useful knowledge. if it is very obscure, make it dc 20 or higher. some things they will not be able to know, such as what a monster is and its powers, but if they are confronted with something opaque, the knowledge check is a good tool. i like this because it can give them a lot of helpful information at once if they roll well, gives me discretion to tell them what i think would be helpful and useful, keeps them from having to play guessing game, but still has room for flat failure.

Example: “what did I know about that magic barrier preventing us from leaving the astral plane.”

wizard rolls a 22. 

me: “what kind of thing do you want to know?”

wizard: “well, can i still make sub dimensional planes with magic?” this is something he could figure out through trial and error, so the knowledge check is a useful tool to bypass that. but he rolled a 22, so he gets two pieces.

“yes, sub-dimensional planes can still exist. it seems likely the barrier only traps this portion of the astral plane (meaning, the dungeon they’re in) so if you can get out, you can probably escape.”

i like to ask them what they want to know. helps guide the conversation. 

i like to keep the world theyre in mysterious. sometimes there is no way to simply know what is going on because they are experiencing something new or unknown. often, the bulk of the game is trial and error, or learning through failing. 

“whats this floating giant cat in the next room?”

“you have no idea”

cat opens mouth really wide, revealing skull, shoot shoots eye-beams, turns you to marble. see, a knowledge check would just ruin it.

also, sometimes i will give them a piece of knowledge even if they fail, if the knowledge clears something opaque up. maybe a note i wrote to myself explaining the situation, that actually has no intelligible way to communicate. they puzzled over a small floating moon for a while, a wolfman was worshipping it but it didnt seem to do anything, and eventually they resorted to a series of knowledge checks to see if that helped. 

failed at that too, so:

“well, it appears to be a spirit of some kind. but that’s all you know.”

them: “a spirit???”

not exactly helpful per se, but gives the world a little more depth than just, “dont know what that is and it doesnt matter, so lets move on”

i like knowledge checks. a useful roll.

The Last of Us (Part One and Two)

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

PART ONE

At first it feels like a knock-off Half Life, with button mashing quick time events and a clumsy stealth mechanic instead of shooting, but quickly demonstrates itself as superior in its care for demolished urban environments, shocking violence, and surprising beauty. The Last of Us supplies all three in spades, but then expands and expands, reeling out place after place and broadening its emotional scope slowly but deliberately. You start in ruined downtown Boston, then trek a short ways to a small Massachusetts town, then even further to Pittsburgh, and even further than that to Wyoming, Colorado, and finally Salt Lake City. Each traversal manages to feel like a surprise, and each environment gives the game developers a chance to showcase a new kind of ruined beauty and explore the stories of a new kind of people. It really is remarkable.

The moment to moment movement in the game somehow manages to feel important and fun, even though mostly what you're doing is poking around old houses and opening drawers. You know you aren't going to find enough supplies, and that whatever encounter comes next is going to be tough enough that if you don't give yourself an edge it's going to be annoying, so you're pressed to search. Luckily, the houses are detailed and beautiful, and the remains you find there tell deliberate stories of apocalypse, and the little notes and letters you might find left behind are well written and concise. Not to mention, the animations and movements you make when you grab the items are fluid and satisfying. It's a core movement to the game, and it feels good.

In fact, the movement over all feels fluid and intuitive. There's less of that feeling of "snapping" to cover that you get from other cover shooters. Jumping through windows and over counters is quick and quiet. When you get caught, the sprinting and dodging feels break-neck and frantic.

The drawings are realistic but never look real. Everything has a lush, animated quality to it, though the light plays realistically, it feels more like moving through a world inspired by our world, than an attempt to emulate it. It feels rich, and works with both the natural and urban environments, and sometimes is able to recall accurately moments from reality. There is a point mid-way through the game where you wash up on a river shore in Pittsburgh at night, and the night sky is so beautiful and quiet, it reminds me of the real night sky, in a way I have not encountered in a game.

The zombies are not the main event but they are creepy. The game has managed to do something new with zombies to demonstrate how horrible it could be. The fungal blooms that erupt from the zombie corpses are beautiful and alien. The idea of fungal spores permeating an apartment building and infecting the inhabitants hits close to home. The actual enemies feel like video game enemies, and there is not much to say about them, but I enjoyed the idea that, as the infection spreads, the zombies stop becoming killable the way people can be killed, because they are mostly fungus.

The stories of the few people you meet are concise and cruel, but never seem to overstep their bounds. At first they seem sort of stilted and histrionic -- early on, your smuggling partner is bitten by a zombie and sacrifices herself to save you. Ok, well, everyone saw that coming. But we keep meeting people, just a few of them, probably no more than six characters, and each one is drawn directly and quickly, their personality is clear and again if not real-seeming then at least realistic, and their ends are varied and often cruel in ways that are surprising, and just as importantly, affect the main characters, and their relationship to each other.

Joel and Ellie really are an excellent pair of characters. The play between them is obvious, one is a hardened and bitter smuggler and he misses his dead daughter, the other is a naive young girl, who has nevertheless seen her share of sorrow. But the writers really milk it. The whole game is filled with snatches of dialogue and banter between them as they remark on the world around them. Their different takes on what they see, what they care about, their slowness to care for each other, it is really affecting. When they are separated from each other, it is horrible. Joel's difficulty in showing his genuine care for her, and then the relief and feeling with which they embrace finally near the end of the game, is one of the few truly moving moments I've encountered in a game.

Much has been said about the end of the game, I'll say it again. Joel rescues Ellie from a hospital, where the doctors are going to kill her to extract a vaccine from her body. She does not know this is going to happen. To me, it feels natural at this point that Joel would do this, and I support him. He guns down the doctors and gets her out, but when she asks him later what happened, he gives a blatant lie to cover up his guilt and his fear that Ellie would leave him, which Ellie hesitantly and for the time being accepts with a simple "Okay." Again, this is a remarkable moment of story-telling which I have not seen in a game before, a fast ending that illustrates something new but true about both characters, and which ends the story that was being told. The dialogue has a deliberate, written quality that really works here. At the end, the inability of the characters to be really closely intimate, despite their longing for it, is simply illustrated, and then the story ends. It's very, very good.

PART TWO

Man this game is weird. I don't really know what they were going for.

The first thing I noticed is that the characterization is off. Joel no longer seems like Joel. There is a lack of specificity to his character. He doesn't seem like the fucked up, emotionally calloused murderer from the first game, he's more like a sweet and beloved war hero. He's quickly murdered by a character you play as in the tutorial, which is a strange choice but seemed deliberate, though it didn't quite work, as I couldn't tell what they were trying to accomplish. That feeling of not quite knowing what they were trying to accomplish sticks through the game. There's an inconsistency that never lets up.

At some point in the game, I noticed that the grabbing motion feels strange. Your character's gestures when they reach out feel sort of robotic or over-scripted, like over-fluid, maybe uncanny valley. This persists.

Throughout the game, the moment to moment writing is either a little bit off -- the letters and notes you find lack a feeling of directness and authenticity -- or just strange. There are strange sex scenes, strange murders, and a feeling of flatness. The game takes you in a direction for a while, and then stops, or suddenly changes direction.

There's an open world area at the beginning of the game. You're given a map and everything. I figured the rest of the game would have open world elements, but as the game continues, it never shows up again. The rest of the game is really linear, like the last one.

Your allies switch out so often, and there are so many of them, that the game starts to feel a little unmoored. At first your companion is your girlfriend, Dina, a shallow and annoying girl, whose appeal I don't see. Then there's Jesse, a grim and personality-less young man, who stirs some jealousy. About halfway through the game, perspective unexpectedly shifts to Joel's killer, and you play the rest of the game as her, and are accompanied by a number of companions, most of whom die. None of this stirs much feeling.

There is a hollow flatness to the game's events and violence. It is shockingly violent, the streams of blood that spurt from people's necks when you drive your knife into them is cunningly animated. The violence is joyless. There is a sense that the game is trying to demonstrate that violence is bad. Your enemies are given names, they call out to each other. At first this is intense and interesting, but as the game progresses and nothing is done with this information, it feels only manipulative, but to what end?

The game ends in a violent, boring brawl full of close-ups, seemingly meant to demonstrate the worthlessness of revenge. It sucks.

The most remarkable thing about this game is the strange juxtaposition between its realism and density, and the hollowness of the characters, the story, and its message. The visuals are astonishing and mesmerizing, though not exactly beautiful. It evokes a beautiful, ghost-like, foggy, wet place, a conjured Seattle I've never been to but now want to visit. The fog and the ferns and the rain feel magical and full, the dripping water, the rushing torrents of water, the rain, and the storm and lightning, the swelling waves, it's really great. But then the dialogue and people are so flat, and there's that sense of manipulation, that I'm being made to do something I don't want to in order to learn a lesson. That I'm being subjected to the unpleasant impression of violence, just to be taught that violence is unpleasant and bad.

Weird game.