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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quasqueton" data-source="post: 3525448" data-attributes="member: 3854">This is the original text from The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, an adventure for character levels 6-10, by Gary Gygax:Boxed text:Each of these bas-relief carvings has an animated mouth with a permanent magic mouth spell cast upon it. When any party member comes within three feet of one of these faces, the mouth will move and it will say with a bass, mournfully dire tone: "TURN BACK ... THIS IS NOT THE WAY!" This will be repeated endlessly each time the same or another individual comes within three feet. If any member watches the stone mouth, he or she will note that it has something glittering within it. Each mouth has a gem in it. The colors are, from left to right, amber, purple (amethyst), pale blue (aquamarine), deep red (garnet), olive green (peridot), and dark pink (tourmaline). Regardless of which is taken first, the first gem is worth 1,000 gp. The others, although just as large, are flawed and worth but 100 gp each. The stone of these faces is very hard and nearly impossible to break. Each mouth will bite for 1d10+2 points of damage if anyone attempts to take the gem within. A command spell or a demand for the gem will not avail. However, if any character simply asks the face to stick out its tongue, or any similar request, the face will obey. The mouth will open, the sound "AAAHHH" will be heard, and the gem will be on the tongue. If characters attempt to speak with a visage, it will only repeat its deep-voiced warning. However, if the word "truth" is used in any question or demand, then each face will lie and state majestically: "MY WAY IS THE RIGHT WAY." Only the visage in the far southeast, beside the 2' wide passageway south, will say anything different. That mouth will speak as follows: "I WATCH THE ONLY WAY!" *****I've considered putting this room in a homebrew dungeon, but I wasn't sure how it would turn out in play. The Players in my game seem to always taken an inordinate amount of time with such "trick" situations. Or they completely ignore them and just move on.And then there are a couple things that just confuse me about this dungeon creation style:The first gem taken, regardless of which one it is, is worth 1,000 gp. One, I dislike this kind of gimmick -- like, "the second coffin the PCs open will have a wight" and such. Two, how would the PCs know what any of the gems were worth (no Appraisal skill in AD&D1)?Getting the gem and/or the information from the faces requires the Players play guessing games without ever knowing whether playing the guessing game will actually do them any good. They have to say just the right word or phrase to the faces. And for one of the guessing games, they then have to play another guessing game to figure out the real answer.I've come to dislike scenarios where the Players can waste an hour or more of game time just "screwing around" with essentially useless stuff. Getting 1,500 gp worth of gems and a hint as to the direction of the rest of the dungeon complex just isn't worth the effort, I think.So I'm hesitant to use this scene in my game.Quasqueton</blockquote>

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