Help with White Wyrm's Lair

[Chibbell]

I'm looking for a bit of help writing up the lair for the White Wyrm, Frestkuul Icetongue (CR 21ish). Alas I have yet to write this up and am in desperate need of help from my fellow DMs. I really want to make this lair and encounter interesting, so any suggestions would be most helpful.

I am thinking three or four large chambers built into a iceberg floating offshore in an arctic area, connected by large tunnels, much like that in the Draconomicon. There will be several frost giants guarding the place, but not so many to completely weaken them before facing Frestkuul at the end.

I am looking for interesting things to place into the large chambers. I am also looking for various cold-friendly critters to populate the place. Frost Giants guard the entrance but rarely venture further in.

Any help detailing the various rooms and the sorts of things the creatures that live here might have or utilize, or things the dragon would do, showing off his vanity and conquests.

Room 1 - Entrance area...what might the frost giants have here?

Room 2 - Some sort of frozen trophy room? Any help with details?

Room 3 - No idea

Room 4 - Horde in a frozen chamber...any ideas on details beyond a big room with treasure everywhere?

Room 5 - Underwater entrance


Some background if it helps:

He is as noted above, a White Wyrm, who has collected quite a mass of Dwarven treasure and is currently leading a barbarian horde in an attempt to gain a highly sought artifact.

The heroes are attempting to sneak into the lair while Frestkuul is away to war and his lair is lightly guarded. They are hoping to free a friend and recover an item to resurrect another. He will of course be confronting them after they find his hoard, after being alerted to the parties intended direction by flying scouts.

The party has the aid of a golden dragon that will be taken out by an avalanche of ice during the fight. This is my control mechanism in case the party can't handle the encounter.

 

[demiurge1138]

Frost worms are always cool. Maybe one of the frost giants rides an advanced frost worm on his patrols? As a "random" encounter before they reach the lair proper.

Demiurge out.

 

[Chibbell]

Indeed they are quite interesting. I fear my party may just fly over them. Perhaps some frost worms live in the iceberg?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

When running intelligent monsters, I don't play fair- I run them up to their intelligence level (or try to, at least).

Have puddles of cold but not frozen water for the party to wade through...and get trapped in if they stand in them when the breath weapon hits them. Perhaps it has even dammed up water in areas of its lair to use to flood certain chambers and pathways.

Have it use tail slaps to fling treasure at the party, like a street fighter would throw sand in someone's face.

If the encounter is subterranean, have it use the tail (or other methods) to sweep stalagtites from the cave ceiling to hurt the PCs.

If the encounter is subglacial, have its lair be riddled with tunnels, so it can maneuver and attack in 3 dimensions.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

Hmm, at CR 21 i guess your party has no problems with the environmental hazards like extreme cold or the slippery ice surface. I guess all have a some items or spell that allows them to fly.
Here are some ideas:
The Dragons lair can only be reached through an underwater tunnel. This tunnel can be guarded by some white sharks or orcas or still better: half dragon sharks...
An underwater encounter in an ice tunnel is something different from the usual encounters I bet.
Make the tunnel end in a really big chamber where the dragon can fly and use his mobility. His true lair with the hoard is a small chamber, connected to the big chamber through a hole in the ceiling. If things turn ugly for the dragon, he can flee there an make his last stand.
I ran a similiar encounter on a much smaller scale (young adult dragon), without the underwater tunnel but with some hald dragon Innuit as guardians for the entrance.
It was a memorable encounter.

For the dragons´Spells: mybe he has the Spell Ice to Water (Rock to Mud variant) and can use his breath as the corresponding Water to Ice "Spell". He could swamp the PCs in water or make the ceiling come down on the Pcs as water one round and then freeze them to the ground next round (if the PCs fumble the initial Reflex Save vs. Breath let them make another one, if they also fumble, they are frozen to the ground, handle it like a stronger Web Spell with maybe a Str. Check DC 25 to break free).

 

[Chibbell]

Dannyalcatraz - I completely agree with you about making creatures use their intelligence. I love the idea of using freezing water to its advantage. I also love the idea of using his tail to tear into the ceiling, bring ice down on their heads. I imagine this is how I will trap the Gold Dragon that is helping them. As a player I know that its always incredibly more interesting when the environment is used.

Tharen the Damned - Absolutely awesome idea with the ice to water then water to ice trick. Really liking this idea. I also dig the idea of using an underwater tunnel. I can have the main area up top for the players to contend with and eventually they may figure out the underwater nature of entering the treasure room.

Any ideas on good clues to help the party understand that the entrance may be underwater? I think the gold dragon they are with will be able to tell them that the treasure horde is near and inside the glacier, since he can smell it.

Also really dig the idea of draconic sharks and the like. Make them really prehistoric. I don't think my party is ready for underwater battles so it should prove challenging.

The CR is up a bit given the Gold Dragon that will be with the party. They are currently 16-17th level (woot...all the way from level 5 over a year ago). He is also one of the major movers and shakers in the world. Can't make it too easy. The party has also proven more formidable than I expect at times.

Any other ideas for me to steal? I appreciate the help.

 

[Chibbell]

So many great ideas here. Thanks so much for the help folks.

So far here is what I am thinking.


Frestkuul's Lair
As you cross the frozen landscape, following the lead of your golden guide through the storm, you can barely make out the sounds of the ocean ahead of you. Occasionally you hear a loud crack and feel a trembling through the ice and snow.

Finally Glitzedelm stops you as the snow begins to abate. Blinking away your snowblindness you can make out a mountain of ice seemingly floating some distance from you across a bay of salty ocean water.

Standing in the dragons shadow, its easier to make out that there are several stone huts and trails of smoke rising up from the mountains shore. As you gaze across the bay some sort of animal breaches the surface of the water and lets loose a torrent of water into the air.

Glitz turns to you, "This is Frestkuul's lair. I am certain of it. I can smell the gold and diamonds from here." Its the first time you've seen Glitzedelm in this light. Despite being a force of good, he is still a dragon.

I'll describe the rest in breif.

Shore of the glacier - Their are thousands of penguins here making an enormous racket. They've taken over the area after the giants and the white wyrm scared most of the seals away.

Frost Giant Village - Guarding the entrance to Frestkuul's prison (note you can't reach his horde and lair from above ground) is a Frost Giant village. Its full of quite a few female and children giants as the majority of his forces have left to join Frestkuul's war. They remaining men guard the entrance to the prison/lair. They primarily live off of seal and whale and there will be plenty of carcasses around. They are fairly barbaric.

They have a simple relationship with Frestkuul. They worship him and act as a deterrant to whomever might find the giant iceberg. He doesn't eat them. The party will have already encountered their leader who is a half-whitedragon that had captured Glitz the Gold Dragon.

The party will face off against some easy frost giant opponents. This should make them feel powerful. I don't think all encounters should be scaled up just because the party is higher level.

Room 1 - Guardians
This is a simple guard room for frost giant guardians.

Room 2, The Frozen Menagerie
After following a long tunnel the party will come across an icy chamber where the ice has been smoothed to a bright polish. Light comes in through a large crack in the ceiling. The light bounces off hundreds of frozen figures, each in a icy moment of death. A great many seem to be dwarves, though the clothing and armor is of an old style. There is also an assortment of strange and wondrous creatures here. In one corner a great killer whale seems to be leaping from frozen water. Suspended by some sort of magic in the center is a large, bulbous creature with a great open maw for a body and a huge central eye. Several spindly tentacles extend in many directions, each with an eye at the end. Several are missing.

This is where the party will encounter an ice devil and a few bone devils. The dragon has dominated these creatures into his service and has recently sent them a telepathic message requesting that they delay the party as long as possible. They will use ice wall to great effect as the party gets cut off from one another, shattering statues as they try to maneuver for combat. The party will be stuck to half movement and a -2 penatly to attacks due to the statues on the ground. They will be at an additional -1 to skills and attacks due to the sometimes blinding reflections from the sun.

They have summoned a Remorhaz to contend with Glitz the gold dragon.

Room 3 - The Prison
This icy room has dozens of metal cages suspended from the ceiling over a large pit filled with water. Its a 50 ft. drop down to the water from the ledge and there seem to be no exits. This is where the wizard Lord Borrant, the parties friend, is imprisoned. There are a great number of skeletons in various sized cages, one with the gnarled remains of an ancient treant...where it came from is anyone's guess.

Here an advanced cryohydra protects Lord Borrant. This should prove a difficult fight, even with Glitz aiding them.

Room 4 - Lair and Horde
Here is Frestkuul's treasure horde. It is actually only accessible via an underwater entrance that is guarded by an assortment of huge fiendish dire sharks that live in the tunnel up to the horde.

Once through the tunnel the party will arrive in a huge chamber covered with vast amounts of gold. Most of the chamber is covered in a thick layer of ice. At one side, near the water, is a great blood stained area where Frestkuul does the majority of his feeding.

Here is where the party will find the body of their fallen comrade, Crum the Barbarian. Lord Borrant had hoped to bring him here with Glitz's aid, to defeat Frestkuul and use the White Wyrm's heart to resurrect his son, Crum (unknown to most of the party).

At the right moment, the voice of an ancient withered man will come from the direction of the pool. There stands Frestkuul in human form. His right arms and part of his face are disfigured from his last great fight with the dwarves of Margrok, when they managed to erupt the dead volcano they had lured him to. After a few clever lines he will transform into his full form and rake his tail across the ceiling, trapping Glitz in a hail of ice and debris.

I do not want to kill off the party just yet, so Glitz may make his way free to help the party when all seems lost.

What do you think?

Oh and I simply can't wait to drop this down on the table.