The following is a dramatization of my current Maure Castle campaign. It involves real, experienced, players facing one of the most deadly dungeons in the history of DnD. If you have never played Maure Castle from Dungeon 112 or Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure from 1st edition, this story contains some spoilers, but I am attempting to keep this spoiler light. Those who have played, DMed or read the adventure will probably get the most out of this series.
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Maure Money: Episode One
Smoking Hemp
Prologue:
Hired by the Archmage Manzorian, our heroes have successfully opened the... er... Unopenable Doors with (of all things) a key and penetrated the uppermost level of Not-Maure Castle. After a short bout of exploration, the party composed of Celene (W5/F1/EK7), Marcus (C13), Bobnobble (Gnome W13) and Eldarion (Elf R/13) has managed to find a glowing green chalice atop a strange amber fountain...
GLOWING CHALICE turns orange/amber at the party's approach.
MARCUS: HOLD UP! I don't like the look of that... if it turns red, run for your life.
After a breathless minute, the GLOWING CHALLICE turns cobalt blue.
BOBNOBBLE: Phew, that was close.
ELDARION: Could be worth something... -looks in the pool but can't see the bottom- Hey, Celene, hold the end of this rope, would you? I'm going to see how deep this thing is.
CELENE: I could just cast fly and grab it.
ELDARION: No need to waste the spell just yet...
GLOWING CHALLICE turns sparkling gold.
MARCUS: Guys, it's getting warmer again...
BOBNOBBLE: I could grab it with Mage Hand if it's non-magical.
MARCUS: Bob... it's glowing... I think it's magic.
BOBNOBBLE: You could be right.
ELDARION: -wraps one end of his silk rope around his waist and starts feeding it into the pool... one foot... two feet...-
GLOWING CHALLICE turns silver.
BOBNOBBLE: What's that mean?
MARCUS: I think we're confusing it.
BOBNOBBLE: Heck, we're even confusing me...
ELDARION: -ten feet...- Ok, that's waaaaaay too deep for comfort. Time for a new plan, guys... -pulls rope out of the water, after one inch it ends in a burning hot cinder- Oh, fnark.
MARCUS: That rope's coming out of your party treasure.
GLOWING CHALLICE turns yellow.
CELENE: Uh... guys...
ELDARION: What do you mean, coming out of MY treasure?!? That could have been my leg!
MARCUS: I can regenerate your leg, I can't make a rope out of nothing.
ELDARION: So, you're saying I can amputate my leg any time I like, but I can't destroy my equipment?
MARCUS: Well, I'd keep it down to one leg, I've only got one Regen scroll. But yes.
GLOWING CHALLICE turns amber.
CELENE: Really guys... I think it's getting angry...
ELDARION (yelling): ARE YOU CRAZY?!?
MARCUS: Not at all. If you'd taken a hemp rope, we could at least have smoked it. Silk's expensive.
BOBNOBBLE: Aside from it being the wrong type of hemp, Marcus, I'd like to point out that your Regen Scroll's more expensive than the Silk Rope. Eldarion actually saved us money by not using his leg.
GLOWING CHALLICE turns sparking gold.
CELENE: -starts backing away- we REALLY need to be going now...
MARCUS: -torn between admitting he's wrong and being tight-fisted- Well... you know what's going to happen now, right? One day soon, probably in this dungeon, he's going to fall into a pit. The next thing we'll hear is someone shouting out saying: 'Guys? The good news is I'm still alive. The bad news is, this pit's 50 foot deep...'
ELDARION: Oh, come on, one of you guys has to have a spare rope, right?
Both Bob and Marcus shake their heads.
ELDARION: Oh, sh-
GLOWING CHALICE turns red!
ALL: AAAAARGH! RUN FOR IT!!!
The whole party scarpers for the nearest corner and dives around it. After a few moments of nothing happening, Eldarion peeks around the corner.
ELDARION: *phew* green again. Guess we just dodged that one, eh mates?
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The events of these episodes are true, with only slight embelishment to enhance the humor of the situations depicted. All stories are depicted from the character's point of view to protect the guilty.
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Maure Money: Episode One
Smoking Hemp
Prologue:
Hired by the Archmage Manzorian, our heroes have successfully opened the... er... Unopenable Doors with (of all things) a key and penetrated the uppermost level of Not-Maure Castle. After a short bout of exploration, the party composed of Celene (W5/F1/EK7), Marcus (C13), Bobnobble (Gnome W13) and Eldarion (Elf R/13) has managed to find a glowing green chalice atop a strange amber fountain...
GLOWING CHALICE turns orange/amber at the party's approach.
MARCUS: HOLD UP! I don't like the look of that... if it turns red, run for your life.
After a breathless minute, the GLOWING CHALLICE turns cobalt blue.
BOBNOBBLE: Phew, that was close.
ELDARION: Could be worth something... -looks in the pool but can't see the bottom- Hey, Celene, hold the end of this rope, would you? I'm going to see how deep this thing is.
CELENE: I could just cast fly and grab it.
ELDARION: No need to waste the spell just yet...
GLOWING CHALLICE turns sparkling gold.
MARCUS: Guys, it's getting warmer again...
BOBNOBBLE: I could grab it with Mage Hand if it's non-magical.
MARCUS: Bob... it's glowing... I think it's magic.
BOBNOBBLE: You could be right.
ELDARION: -wraps one end of his silk rope around his waist and starts feeding it into the pool... one foot... two feet...-
GLOWING CHALLICE turns silver.
BOBNOBBLE: What's that mean?
MARCUS: I think we're confusing it.
BOBNOBBLE: Heck, we're even confusing me...
ELDARION: -ten feet...- Ok, that's waaaaaay too deep for comfort. Time for a new plan, guys... -pulls rope out of the water, after one inch it ends in a burning hot cinder- Oh, fnark.
MARCUS: That rope's coming out of your party treasure.
GLOWING CHALLICE turns yellow.
CELENE: Uh... guys...
ELDARION: What do you mean, coming out of MY treasure?!? That could have been my leg!
MARCUS: I can regenerate your leg, I can't make a rope out of nothing.
ELDARION: So, you're saying I can amputate my leg any time I like, but I can't destroy my equipment?
MARCUS: Well, I'd keep it down to one leg, I've only got one Regen scroll. But yes.
GLOWING CHALLICE turns amber.
CELENE: Really guys... I think it's getting angry...
ELDARION (yelling): ARE YOU CRAZY?!?
MARCUS: Not at all. If you'd taken a hemp rope, we could at least have smoked it. Silk's expensive.
BOBNOBBLE: Aside from it being the wrong type of hemp, Marcus, I'd like to point out that your Regen Scroll's more expensive than the Silk Rope. Eldarion actually saved us money by not using his leg.
GLOWING CHALLICE turns sparking gold.
CELENE: -starts backing away- we REALLY need to be going now...
MARCUS: -torn between admitting he's wrong and being tight-fisted- Well... you know what's going to happen now, right? One day soon, probably in this dungeon, he's going to fall into a pit. The next thing we'll hear is someone shouting out saying: 'Guys? The good news is I'm still alive. The bad news is, this pit's 50 foot deep...'
ELDARION: Oh, come on, one of you guys has to have a spare rope, right?
Both Bob and Marcus shake their heads.
ELDARION: Oh, sh-
GLOWING CHALICE turns red!
ALL: AAAAARGH! RUN FOR IT!!!
The whole party scarpers for the nearest corner and dives around it. After a few moments of nothing happening, Eldarion peeks around the corner.
ELDARION: *phew* green again. Guess we just dodged that one, eh mates?
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The events of these episodes are true, with only slight embelishment to enhance the humor of the situations depicted. All stories are depicted from the character's point of view to protect the guilty.