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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tallfellow" data-source="post: 1557285" data-attributes="member: 19683">ROOM 14: The Gnoll Tunnel DisasterI'd like to take room 14, if I may.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />ROOM 14: The Gnoll Tunnel Disaster (Lance Hewett, 'Tallfellow')Features: As the party approaches the door to room 12, they notice a smooth, ancient tunnel branching off to the right. An observant character (Spot DC 15) may notice that the floor is lightly speckled with blood. The bloody footprint of a gnoll is also visible. Proceeding along the corridor a few paces, the signs of a battle become apparent. Torchlight will reveal a body crumpled on the floor at the point where the corridor turns to the left. Behind and above the body, on the wall, a relief carving of a distinguished-looking knight glares down the corridor at the approaching adventurers. Though worn with the passage of many years, his stern gaze is arresting, and he seems to be indicating with an out-thrust hand that none should pass, or that this is the wrong way. An investigation of the body will reveal it to be that of a Gnoll Shaman, clad in hide armor and clutching a long staff of smooth, dark wood. (A character may recognize that this staff seems out of place: a successful Knowledge Nature DC 15 or Knowledge Arcana DC 15 check will identify the staff as being made from Darkwood.) His pouches contain herbs useful for healing (+2 to Heal Check, 8 uses) and two large glyph-covered leaves (Druid Scroll of Calm Animal CL3 x 2.) The Gnoll Shaman seems to have been dragged along the ground from the west, as the stone is dark with his dried blood in that direction. His legs are noticeably missing -- they seem to have been chewed off.As the characters move further down the passage to the west, they will notice the mangled and torn bodies of 3 other gnoll fighters. They appear to have been armed with clubs and bone-toothed whips. There are also several lengths of blood-smeared broken chain scattered amongst the bodies. A search of the grisly remains reveals only 6cp. At the end of the corridor (No. 14 on the map) a broken pit-trap yawns open in the floor, and the smashed remnants of a shoddy wooden bridge cling to the sides. From here, the ancient stone walls end, and freshly-carved rough tunnels branch off in two directions. They are about 6 feet wide and almost 9 high. A character familiar with stonecutting or dungeoncraft (DC5) could see that these were made by some burrowing creature, not by tools, and within the last 24 hours. Deep claw marks are obvious on the floor and walls. If the characters approach the pit-trap hole, they will be attacked by the dire badger lurking 10 ft along the northern branch tunnel.Encounter: (EL3) Advanced Dire Badger (+2HD) Large Animal Hit Dice: 5d8+28 (50 hp) Initiative: +2 Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), burrow 10 ft. Armor Class: 16 (+2 Dex, +5 natural, -1 Size), touch 11, flat-footed 14 Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+9 Attack: Claw +9 melee (1d6+6) Full Attack: 2 claws +9 melee (1d6+6) and bite +4 melee (1d8+3) Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. Special Attacks: Rage Special Qualities: Low-light vision, Scent Saves: Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +5 Abilities: Str 22, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10 Skills: Listen +7, Spot +7 Feats: Alertness, Toughness, Track Environment: Temperate forests Organization: Solitary or cete (2–5) Challenge Rating: 3 Treasure: None Alignment: Always neutral Advancement: 4–9 HD (Large) Level Adjustment: --Rage (Ex): A dire badger that takes damage in combat flies into a berserk rage on its next turn, clawing and biting madly until either it or its opponent is dead. It gains +4 Strength, +4 Constitution, and –2 AC. The creature cannot end its rage voluntarily.Notes: The creature is slightly wounded, angry and afraid. It will attack without provocation, but a druid or ranger may be able to calm it. It has a thick iron chain wound around its neck, and broken chains trailing from this, smeared with gnoll blood. In the tunnels, the creature is squeezing, and takes a -4 to both attack and AC and can only move at half speed. Note that the badger will try to exploit its 10ft reach to attack characters over the pit trap.A search of the pit trap (Climb DC 15 to get down, otherwise 1d6 falling +1d4 spikes) will find a gnoll rogue impaled on spikes at the bottom. He has 3gp, a set of standard lockpicks, and a small ceramic vial full of dust (Dust Of Tracelessness, magical)</blockquote>

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