Help prep the evil level 9 wizard's tower

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, in an epilogue to the current campaign, before we switch systems and start the sequel, the player characters are raiding the tower of the apparently fled evil wizard who sided with the kobold army they just defeated.

He's gone, but I don't want the visit to his tower to just be a simple series of them looting each room.

Khenemet-Apep is a sleazy bastard, based on Gargamel (yes, Gargamel), down to him having a transmutation spell that turns fey into gold (although it often goes wrong and turns them into chocolate instead.

He's a level 9 neutral evil transmuter. What sort of unpleasant things might the group stumble over in his tower? Remember, it's his actual living quarters, so it can't just be a funhouse dungeon full of traps.

Nasty and unpleasant ideas eagerly wanted.

 

[dd.stevenson]

How much do they already know about this guy?

(IOW, what expectations do they have that can be used against them?)

Also, what system is this?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's in 3E, but anything is adaptable.

He's a classically trained wizard from a prestigious school, has a cat familiar (of course), and is basically an unpleasant jackass who curries favor with the more powerful, including the player characters' patron.

Basically, assemble every trait that might make players want to punch an NPC in the mouth, and you've got Khenemet-Apep. He is ruthlessly unpleasant.

 

[Dandu]

There is a room with a lever in the middle and an iron door. There is nothing else in the room. Neither the lever or the door is magical. The lever, in fact, is not connected to anything.

See how much time the party wastes in the room.

 

[Herobizkit]

The tower should be loaded with things made out of different kinds of stuff.

a Fleshy staircase that can't hold a character's weight (a slight cheat - maybe he's got an item)
a well placed Rock to Mud that funnels into the centre of ther tower and straight down...
Shrink the whole party. That happens at least once in every 80's cartoon.
A smoky room that conceals some Gaseous Form'd Giant Animals. Combine with the above.

In fact.

The whole adventure should be done with the PC's as Small or Smaller characters. He would be high enough level to have Reduce Person and Permanency, possibly set as a trap of some kind.

Or just make them three apples tall.

Just do that. ^_^

 

[MarkB]

In fact.

The whole adventure should be done with the PC's as Small or Smaller characters. He would be high enough level to have Reduce Person and Permanency, possibly set as a trap of some kind.

Or just make them three apples tall.

Just do that. ^_^

I like the concept.

I'd let them get right to the top room of the tower at normal size, facing things like pit traps and sliding stairs and such that they can overcome easily enough - and then shrink them down to Diminuitive, and have them face the same obstacles on the way back out, but those obstacles are now an entirely different and tougher challenge at their current size.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I like both the transmutation-themed traps and the three-apples-tall twist at the end. Good stuff!

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Technoorganic stuff. Yeah, I need to explain this.

The transmuter could have turned his doors and their locks into organic variants. They can still be picked, but without a special tool (like the organic key built into his fingertip, or maybe into parts of his servants) there's a penalty to skill checks. Of course, for him, it's no problem and doesn't interfere with his movements, leisure, etc.

The potted plant sitting just outside his door could act as a guard dog (perhaps a permanent Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound effect)... and looks like an ordinary plant. Of course, it recognizes him, and won't get bored, bark, or otherwise have the downsides of an ordinary dog. (It requires fertilizer and more water, though.) Or maybe he just did something to the dog, to make it far more powerful, but it doesn't look more combat-capable than a regular dog. Of course, it must have creepy tentacles, even if they're not used for combat.

I stole this idea from a Dark Sun adventure, modded slightly. A passageway (or even his bedroom) could have a tiled section, probably right behind the door, with tiles of different colors. One color activates the variant Slow spell beams, which in addition to slowing the single target on the tile, also gives them a penalty to Transmutation spell effects. The other tiles fire a Baleful Polymorph-like beam (but weaker; it has a duration short of permanent and doesn't mindwipe the victim, and maybe even gives the victim a save per round). Of course, anyone who is hit by both effects is probably screwed.

Needless to say, his servants respect his privacy, and said trap is only in his room. Nobody gets turned into goldfish in the kitchen. Well, probably not.

Worst of all, if you aren't invited, you could end up taking penalties to the save DCs of most spells dished out by said transmuter, if you for instance catch him asleep in his bed. Said transmuter would be at a disadvantage (no defensive spells that aren't the 1 hour/level type, and maybe not even those) but at least he can turn someone into a toad right off the bat with a greater chance of success.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Not really by the rules, but fun I think:
Have the characters shrunk, and then attacked by the now gargantuan rats with appropriate relative hp. Maybe they have to ally with the cat in question?

Btw, some realism to the traps are in order I think. Don't add deadly traps that the wizard could blunder into if he had to take a leak in the middle of the night.

 

[Quickleaf]

Everything [MENTION=36150]Herobizkit[/MENTION] said! Transmutation in the source of all the best old school traps (e.g. Shrink and drop into a tight funnel before returning to normal size for crushing damage, or reverse gravity spiked pit trap).

Also, who or what are his servants? Augmented human? Or what if he had some alchemically-altered kobolds hopped up on potions who survived the recent conflict with your PCs?

Also, I'd have one room - a false treasury maybe - that plays up to the party's expectations about easy loot. Put a modest easily detectable trap at the entrance to avoid suspicion, then have the entire room be a mimic! The transmuter used it as a thief deterrent and maybe a place to toss the bodies.

Khenemet-Apep sounds like a pseudo Egyptian name. Is that the vibe your going for? If so, I would include some kind of alchemy lab / potion puzzle which the PCs can use to temporarily transmute their bodies to bypass certain death traps. For example, a hall filled with yellow acid haze countered by brewing a potion of acid resistance. Or transforming into a ka-bird (a small harpy like creature) to fly-squeeze thru a tight passage in the ceiling.

A room of elves turned to gold...with a living statue (made of gold) hidden among them. Its mission is to kill intruders, but its true wish is to break the curse confining it within the fortress' wall and see the world beyond.

Finally, I'd have a private study which provides insight into why he choose to study transmutation. Make it something that borders on obsession...a deformity of his own that he's been trying to correct, evidenced by jars of sample deformities he has cut away from others who shared his same deformity. Or maybe a disease crippled his brothers and he has been looking for a cure, abducting others crippled by the disease to experiment on them. Personally I'd go with the former since its more self-centered and a better fit for your unsympathetic bastard wizard.