Collaborative Cave!

[der_kluge]

Ok, the dragon's lair is area 8.

I'll do area 8.

Room 9 can be a treasure vault - where the dragon's keep all the junk they don't want to sleep on.

Area 10 can be a nursery for some dragon eggs - treasure in and of themselves!

 

[Elephant]

A CR 11 is "young adult" which is just size category Large.

Another option would be a CR 8 and a CR 5 pair of dragons (juvenile and young). I don't have any idea how old a dragon has to be before it mates, but a "young" dragon can still be up to 25 years old. That seems old enough to me to have found a mate. Besides, nothing would terrorize a party more than fighting TWO dragons at the same time. I know it would scare my group to death. It changes the breath attack to a 6d6 AND an 8d6 breath attack, versus just one 10d6 attack.

A mated pair could have a nesting area for eggs - which could reside in the chamber at area 10.

Yep, large - not Huge

Juvenile and Young age categories seem ... young to be in a mated pair, IMO. Comparing to human lifespans, wyrmling would = infant, very young = toddler, young = child, juvenile = pre-teen, and young adult would = human ages 14 to 18, maybe 20.

Plus, Young Adult is where the dragon first gets its Frightful Presence, SR, and DR 5/magic.

While I LIKE your idea of a pair of dragons as a nasty surprise to the party, it doesn't really work for this encounter level range.

Unless...there are two SIBLINGS here, and Mom forced them to get along and keep a low profile (adventurers in this region are powerful enough to be a threat to the kids for another 50 years or so)...but she went on a journey recently. Now they're getting bored and restless, leading to their discovery by the adventurers (one possible intro hook).

What do you think?

Edit: Also, for my ambush to work, I need the entrance to Room 7 to be narrower - three 5' squares in width will allow my nasty little surprise for the PCs to take full effect!

 

[Shieldhaven]

I have an idea for Area 10, though I'll explain where I'm going with it before I lay further claim to the area.

The depiction of the waterways connection 10 to 6 and 8 suggests to me that the passages are entirely submerged, and thus more difficult to find. The dragons, of course, can get there easily, though they have to realize that sooner or later they won't be able to squeeze through anymore. I've come to feel that all of the best dungeons/cave complexes/whatever have a sense of history, and the current inhabitants are never the original inhabitants. In a sense this means that the place is telling more than one story at a time.

So the dragons have seen this island and what the cave's previous inhabitants placed there. They decided not to meddle with what they didn't understand. Greens do have a noted curiosity, however, and so they have not completely ignored the place. I haven't completely come up with what's back there, but it will probably be some kind of tablet or obelisk.

Is this interesting, or should I take it back to the drawing board?

Haven

 

[der_kluge]

Just going through the SRD for ideas:

• A Kapoacinth (aquatic gargoyle - or even a regular gargoyle) (CR 4)
• A Green Hag (perhaps she is tolerated by the dragons because she gives them information) (CR 5)
• Water Naga (CR 7)
• Monstrous Spiders (Large CR 2; Huge CR 5)
• Spider Eater (probably limited to area 2) (CR 5)
• Bat Swarm (CR 2)
• Centipede Swarm (CR 4)
• Ochre Jelly (CR 5)
• Another possibility for area 9 is something like a clay golem (CR 10) guarding something. The dragons might know it's there, but aren't really strong enough to kill it. As long as they keep the door shut, it quietly guards whatever it was tasked with. The golem never leaves the area 9). The golem, without any way to heal, might have been damaged from the dragon's initial encounter somewhat, which could reduce its CR slightly. But with its DR, the dragons would have given up trying to kill it a long time ago.
• Ettercap (CR 3)

 

[der_kluge]

I have an idea for Area 10, though I'll explain where I'm going with it before I lay further claim to the area.

The depiction of the waterways connection 10 to 6 and 8 suggests to me that the passages are entirely submerged, and thus more difficult to find. The dragons, of course, can get there easily, though they have to realize that sooner or later they won't be able to squeeze through anymore. I've come to feel that all of the best dungeons/cave complexes/whatever have a sense of history, and the current inhabitants are never the original inhabitants. In a sense this means that the place is telling more than one story at a time.

So the dragons have seen this island and what the cave's previous inhabitants placed there. They decided not to meddle with what they didn't understand. Greens do have a noted curiosity, however, and so they have not completely ignored the place. I haven't completely come up with what's back there, but it will probably be some kind of tablet or obelisk.

Is this interesting, or should I take it back to the drawing board?

Haven

I love it. It also sort of ties in with my idea of maybe putting something off-the-wall like a clay golem in room 9.

I agree with Elephant that having such a young mated pair would be a bit of a stretch, so I won't go that route.

Shieldhaven, if you want room 10, go for it.

 

[Shieldhaven]

Gotcha. Do I post my "finished" version here (once I write it, I mean), or do I email it to someone?

Haven

 

[Aeolius]

A Green Hag (perhaps she is tolerated by the dragons because she gives them information) (CR 5)

bah! Methinks it'd be the hag that would tolerate the dragons...but I admit to a personal bias.

If you subscribe to the notion that an annis is the daughter of a greenhag and ogre/giant (greenhags being the daughters of night hags and humans. "Ecology of the Greenhag" DRAGON #125). Then perhaps the offspring of a greenhag and green dragon would be a half-dragon annis.

 

[Piratecat]

Can I have room 10, please?

That's the room that the halfling is in. You know, the halfling that came in here with his adventuring group a year and a half ago, before the rest of them got eaten by the dragon. The halfling escaped to room 10 by swimming down in an act of desperation. . . but now he's trapped in room 10.

The dragon knows he's there, too. It whispers to him through the thin opening in its lair (room 8). Sometimes the halfling imagines that the dragon is whispering to him even when it's just the rush of water. He's taken to carving on the walls with his blunt pocket knife, and making fantastic art out of fish skeletons and odure. Everything would be okay if the dragon would just stop whispering.

The halfling knows that its just a matter of time. He's lost his armor and weapons, and he spends his time on the tiny little rock. He's managed to live on raw fish, and there's certainly no end of fresh water. But even if there wasn't any dragon, the opening into room 8 is too small for him to squeeze through, and he's not strong enough to swim up-current back into room 6.

 

[der_kluge]

Gotcha. Do I post my "finished" version here (once I write it, I mean), or do I email it to someone?

Haven

No, post it here. I'll assign it to you.

 

[der_kluge]

Can I have room 10, please?

I just assigned it to Shieldhaven. You'll have to barter with him for it.