Help on fleshing out wizard laboratory

[Sammael99]

Hello all !

In the course of my campaign Les Terres Anciennes, I will soon have to design my first genuine dungeon. Since I've never been at ease with the concept, I wanted to throw a few ideas around and use suggestions to make it a better experience for the players.

MY PLAYERS ARE ASKED TO BUG OFF PLEASE !

Any readers of the Story Hour who do not wish to have the Story spoiled for them are advised to not read this thread !

So here's the deal. The players are level 8 on average we have :

A Barbarian 7 / Monk 1 (don't ask, it makes sense in the context of the Story )
A Fighter 5 / Wizard 2 / Arcane Archer 1
A Fighter 5 / Eldritch Warrior 3
A Wizard 9

In the very first adventure of the campaign, they explored the lost and ancient tomb of Varnôn, one of the realm's founders. In the deepest vault in the tomb, they found an odd piece of floor that seemed translucent. They investigated and could see writhing faces on the other side. Since they couldn't make any sense of it all, they dropped the matter.

Later on, they found out that the translucent floor was most likely a Permanent Wall of Force cast by the mage who was a right side hand man to Varnon. They learned that during the excavation the floor collapsed and horrid creatures emerged. In order to counter the threat and move on with the works the mage sealed the area.

Later in life, said mage started wondering about what might be under the tomb. He investigated and realised that it must be the tomb of an ancient, quasi mystical wizard rumoured to have reached godhood called Evancthe.

Unfortunately, before he could mount an expedition, he died of a mysterious planar disease. That was The PCs have picked up on the clue and intend to go there now.

So roughly, here's what I got. There are two sections to the laboratory itself (ignoring the tomb) :

The primitive caves : Evancthe did not build the laboratory just anywhere. He chose a place of power where ancient tribes used to worshop Dragons in ancient times. So the whole "upper level" is a series of caves with pictograms and carvings on the walls. I don't have much of an idea what interesting and sensible stuff to put there.

Below that is the laboratory proper. Basically the whole complex is infested with ghouls. They are piddly small opponents considering the level of the party, but they are so numerous (in fact, infinitely so, see below) that they should wear them down a bit. Plus paralysis is always a possibility.

Interesting stuff :

- A room with a ritual invocation circle. There's an angel trapped in there sleeping. Disturbing the circle will free him. Interesting discussion ensues.

- A magical machine that "generates" ghouls from any material. Some automata continually dig the ground for earth and/or pick up any dead ghouls and feed them back into the machine.

- A flesh golem roams the grounds.

- An ancient library. All the books are dust now (the wizard should cry upon seeing this). There is only one surviving book under a (magical) glass case. It's a very renowned treaty on planar magic that the party has already heard about. It is rumoured that no copy have survived.

- An annex to the library. There, on a stone pedestal lies a stone tablet, chained to the pedestal. If the wizard reads it his mind will be inhabited by a soul spell a la BoEM II (or, for those who have read pratchett, a la eight spells)

Finally, there's a corridor leading to a huge cave where Evancthe's Dragon mount used to live. I won't tell you what's there as it would really spoil the fun for the SH readers.

So basically, what I'm looking for is ideas to flech out the upper levels without necessarily adding any combats, but a few interesting things.

Then I'm looking for ideas to flesh out the laboratory itself beyond what i've described above. Not looking for more combat, rather ideas that make sense in the context. Keep in mind the laboratory is several millenia old...

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Salutations,

You may want to try the Plots and Places forum in the future.

You could have carvings along the hallways that would tell of Evancthe's mortal life and may even hint at some traps in the dungeon (of course, it would all be lies). It could even show how one could become a god- which would involve insane acts.

If the players have found this out, then perhaps others have as well. For example: The mage who died of the disease- he had an apprentice who is not an accomplished wizard in his own right. He created a guild which sole (and secret) purpose is to understand divine magic- and master it. They are scrying/scouting the tombs to find any knowledge they can.

After so long stuck down there- and the ghouls feeding off of each other, they have begun to have some complex intelligence. Their current leader is slowly teaching itself to be a wizard. It knows enough to be capable of using the magic items/traps in the dungeon.

Ancient alarms- the dungeon was once a church. Before it was abandoned/defeated. The clerics put a special alarm spell that would bring notice to any draconic creatures within a hundred miles that there are intruders within... perhaps some new dragon is in the area and suddenly hears this unusual call for help.

Lab: Have most of the furniture made from dragon bones. It would make sense in explaining how they are still around.

Also- a lot of magic traps have mutated over time. Alarm spells now do sonic damage. Magic mouths can bite. etc etc.

Good luck
SD

 

[Sagan Darkside]

- A flesh golem roams the grounds.

I was trying to think of a reason this could be, and what I thought of was perhaps this was the assistant to Evancthe before he ascended. Since he wanted to have this place upkept- he turn his trusting assistant into this creature.

Now he is incapable of casting spells (low int), but spends of life of misery being tormented by the ghouls - and under a magical compulsion to keep the lab in good order.

What is Evancthe the god of?

The ghoul generator is still a bit of a loss for me- unless it was part of his trials in reaching godhood.

SD

 

[Sammael99]

Thanks for the contributions Sagan.

Let me give you a bit more context.

Evancthe is a very powerful wizard who, or so the legend says, was the right hand man of Ehrûn, God of Justice and Balance. When the Gods left the Earth, Evancthe was entrusted with the Fortress of Argûnn, the abode of Ehrûn.

Little by little, Evancthe shifted his priorities. His magics allowed him to prolong his life, but he knew that would not be eternal. He devised a ritual to become a Lich, and then slowly built a cult of followers to finally ascend to (minor) godhood. The how isn't detailed exactly and I don't wish to do so at this point.

Evacthe is now the god of undeath. The laboratory is a place near the Fortress of Argûnn but not actually in it since Evancthe didn't want to study undeath in a place where he thought his old master could know everything. The laboratory is very heavily warded and that's why it has never been found by magical means.

There's a little stretch of believability here, but I'm willing to let it go and I don't think the players will begrudge me for it.

So now the ghoul generator makes more sense and the golem also. There could be dissection labs in the place now that I think about it...

About your suggestions :

You could have carvings along the hallways that would tell of Evancthe's mortal life and may even hint at some traps in the dungeon (of course, it would all be lies). It could even show how one could become a god- which would involve insane acts.

There will be one major clue to the follow up of the campaign depicted on the wall of a central room, but in my mind, the laboratory was designed by Evacthe without outside human help, so he probably wouldn't have bothered with much "decoration". In my mind, his ascencion to godhood comes later, and the laboratory was probably not used anymore by then.

After so long stuck down there- and the ghouls feeding off of each other, they have begun to have some complex intelligence. Their current leader is slowly teaching itself to be a wizard. It knows enough to be capable of using the magic items/traps in the dungeon.

That's pretty cool...

I was trying to think of a reason this could be, and what I thought of was perhaps this was the assistant to Evancthe before he ascended. Since he wanted to have this place upkept- he turn his trusting assistant into this creature.

Now he is incapable of casting spells (low int), but spends of life of misery being tormented by the ghouls - and under a magical compulsion to keep the lab in good order.

Although I wouldn't do both. I think I'll keep the golem "mindless" but go with your suggestion of semi-sentient ghouls. It's nice to imagine them blasting their way through the place using wands and other magical stuff...

Keep it coming, people !

 

[Gez]

The first D&D dungeon I made, briefly sumed-up for you to dig ideas, was also the abode of a necromancer. Not a very powerful this one, but that's not important, as he found the forsaken planar lab of a previous wizard.

There was 5 layers, with gates linking all. The first was empty, except for traps. Someone with fly orlevitation, and knowing the place, could avoid all traps and reach the next layer safely.

The second layer was home to research on fungi. Think Zuggtmoy. Aberrant fungi everywhere, plus some oozes.

The third layer was the undeath lab. Huge pool of a sickly glowing green liquid were hollowed in several little locked rooms. The "water" was strongly imbued with negative energy: someone taking a dive would lose 5d8 hp per round, and once dead become a wight in two rounds. Undead, even destroyed one, falling in would become reconstructed. Some pools were empty, but the room with the biggest pool was swarming with a nightmarish crew of them.

Some pools were interconnected with tunnels, giving a chance for creature emerging at any time.

One room contained old musty texts explaining how to create the negative fluid. Definitely something Vile. That liquid may be a component for creating the endless cauldron of zombies from the BoVD. On the table, scattered among the loose-leaf parchments, some ghastly dissected remains, and a nigh-empty wand of disrupt undead (activation word being "crève !" ) used by the necro to "work quietly".

Among the creatures used; wights, zombies and skeletons were omnipresent. Most of the mindless ones were of animal origin (snakes, bear, horse, wolf primarily) but a wide range of the humanoid races was covered, orcs, humans, dwarves, halflings; primarily children of these species, easier to catch.

A new monster created for the place was a sort of medusa-dog. A wolf zombie, with several venimous serpent zombies grafted on its head and neck, their poison gland filled with the vile fluid. The serpent heads had a chance to go bogus and attack themselves or the dog part (accidentaly healing it with the 1d8 negative energy dose).

The fourth layer was a fiery forge, full of toxic metal fumes, lava flows, ore storage yards, and dantesque constructions (like a lavamill, functionning like a watermill, but using a lava fall rather than a water fall). Denizens of this layer were mephits, magmins and some metallic constructs (animated armors).

The fifth layer was the house/library, with the failed lich and several beholderkin (of a new type, no antimagic cone, no eyerays, small, with two tentaclesque arms like a choker's, and an ability to spit magic missiles like the cacodemons from doom spat fiery balls -- and as they get healed by force effects, a group of them was virtually invincible). The "recipe" for the construction of these spotter could be found in this level.

The last two layers were a bit tricky to navigate, as they did not have real layout: they were rooms with a number of door, each door opened to a corridor of random length, leading to another random door. The destination of a door was reassigned each time it was re-opened. The only constant was a door was always between a room and a corridor. There was a cantrip that allowed to choose destination and length of corridor upon opening a door, for 1H per level, but that cantrip wasn't, of course, in the player's hand. Extradimensional planes are fun this way.

 

[Gez]

n

So, coming from my little experience, things you could add:

• Other fields of interests: The "zuggtmoy" and forge layers were example of that.
• Abandonned experimentations: the medusa-dogs were an example of that.
• Mixed rewards, like finding the recipe to create a spotter beholderkin (patrouilleur). That's all fine and dandy, but totally useless ("A beholder egg ? Where am I going to find a beholder egg ? And a choker corpse in good state?").
• Extraplanar trip. Even if most of the lab is on the material plane, some part may be in demi-planes, accessible from portals that may be obviously portals, or may be councealed as totally mundane. Hidden teleport rings could be used to a similar effect.

Other things that may be found:

• Underdark monster having found the place, and feeding on the endless ghouls (necrophagic aboleth, for example). Derro clerics praying on ghouls to have a steady source of workslave could be another possibility (and with derros, necrophagy and even necrophily could be there in the background). Necromantic orcs (I'm eager to inflict this on my party, although they would follow Orcus &| Yurtrus rather than Chern) are another alternative (and could shock Sküm). This depends on how much you want to develop the underdark in the world.
• Ghosts of some sort. Maybe a poltergeist. They could be there having been studied by Evancthe at some point, or their presence could be a side effect of the ghoul-generator.
• Undead-interested outsiders could have found this place. The Zhovvut from the MM2 and the Demonic Knight from the ToH are examples.
• Mutated ghouls. Some may not look human at all (like a shark ghoul lurking in a little lake). Some may have, over the centuries, evolved into something different; maybe awakened some real sentience back, and may even be interested in a bit of chat with intruders (before attacking and eating them, of course). Take a ghoul, advance its HD, boost Int and Wis, slap an undead rebuking/bolstering/etc. ability as a cleric of same level as its HD, and you have a ghoul lord.

On the level of the architecture, you could have

• Other force walls. They are virtually unbreakable, but are transparent. Useful for making cells for dangerous experimental creatures.
• Cold, alien rooms. Clean, smooth, unmarked walls, floors and ceilings in a quasi-metallic substance. The substance may also be slightly glowing. This is the semi-sci-fi option.
• Gigerian rooms, like in the computer games Doom or Shadowman. Rusted metal and rotten flesh meld themselves in gruesome architecture and hellish devices.
• Lovecraftian rooms: on crudely hewn walls, blasphemous engraving depict mind-boggling scene involving perverse creatures and a madness from the times before humanity (somehow, I'd like to know what this looks like).

On the subject of engraving and depictions, whatever their nature, they could represent:

• Necromantic recipes and ritual;
• Plain decoration;
• Twisted prophecies (may be useful for driving plot);
• Self-gratifying allegories Evancthe's magnificent glory (you know, the big handsome figure, surroundered by humble yet powerful slaves of all stripes, from vampire to mortals, from demons -- including the obligatory buxom succubus -- to golems);
• Plain old map;
• Spells -- who need to flip pages in a spellbook when you can just look at the wall ? Plus, it's more robust than paper, and harder to stole.

 

[Gez]

This thread is full of possibly useful suggestions.

 

[Clay_More]

Darn it Gez, now I couldn't help it, had to come here

The two times my players were down in large necromancer laboraties, I really used a good deal of time to come up with some interesting concepts.
In one laboratory, the necromancer was readying an army. An item, which I will post on the other thread later as a matter of fact, allowed him to move undead minions into a dark gate. On the other side of the gate was a pocket-dimension in which he stored the army. When he were to open the gate again, the army would be ready (something he intended to do within the Elven Capitol).
Anyways, since he obviously had to produce large numbers of undead, he had created a system of winches, transporters and machines to aid him. He had captured Gnome workers, which he had forced to build the machines. He had used the Orb of Everpounding (noted in above-mentioned thread) to create undead workers to aid the gnomes. Different kinds of creatures were captured and herded into large storage areas, where they would await their execution and animation.
Along the wall, to create his elite guard of zombies, were Frost Chambers. Sixty zombies were placed within these. The entire complex had an appearance of a mix between necromancy and twisted technology. Zombies that had gnomish-bore machines instead of arms.. etc. There were even zombies that moved on four wheels, since their lower abdomen & legs had been removed, having to use their arms for locomotion.
The Necromancer, Ukast, had used an already existing elven tomb to create his lab in. The decayed bodies of the elven princes that resided there had been used to create the honor-guard. The haunting ghosts of the enraged elves were too much of a challenge, even of Ukast, so he had sealed of parts of the complex that he didn't control. Here, the ancient magic of the elves helped to keep the ghosts in place. Unfortunately, the guardians placed the by the old elves (which had been evil elves) had made several Vampire Golems (a mix between golem and vampire. They had the could to absorb skills and abilities from whomever they fought with).
Most of the items from above were actually made as some of Ukasts inventions (others, amongst them the Throne of Skulls, was created by the elves).

 

[demiurge1138]

It's always fun to turn little details into larger encounters. For example...
Of course, in any good wizard's lab, there has to be a stuffed crocodile with a continual light spell cast on its belly hanging from a ceiling. It could, however, serve a number of purposes other than just set-dressing.
a) The wizard could keep an arcane eye in the crocodile.
b) The wizard's familiar could live inside the crocodile and spy on the party.
c) The crocodile could be undead.
d) The crocodile could be a polymorphed fiend, and he wants to escape.
These all work best if the crocodile room is the safest, cleanest, least trap-filled and monster laden room in the lab, so the players keep coming back.

Demiurge out.

 

[Aloïsius]

Of course, in any good wizard's lab, there has to be a stuffed crocodile with a continual light spell cast on its belly hanging from a ceiling.

Love that !