Ideas for underground travel events

[Gilladian]

I'm going to try to send my PCs (I say try because they often avoid my plots and do their own thing) on a moderately long underground quest for a particular place (a long-lost gnomish laboratory). Before they get there, I want them to have a number of interesting encounters. I tend to think in the same paths over and over, so I'm hoping you can give me ideas that will make this trip stand out in their minds.

For those who care, the campaign is Ptolus. They'll first travel through some of Ghul's labyrinth and then through a series of natural caves, ending on the edge of an underground lake.

I would LOVE some suggestions for encounters they could have while on this journey (which will take at least a full day to complete, and could cover as little as a few miles to as much as 20 miles and satisfy me).

This is a 3.5e campaign, and the PCs will be around 5th level. There are 5 pcs and 1 npc; halfling rogue, lion-man barbarian and urban ranger, dwarf techno delver, half-elf sorcerer, and human cleric. They tend to be tough in combat and weak in negotiation skills. I'd really like to challenge them to be innovative in meeting the challenges of the environment.

 

[fba827]

burrowing creatures -- no longer do they just come from under your feet, they can come out of the walls and cieling too! so ankhegs and bulletes! (though i don't recall off the top of my head what level range they are in 3.5) but if you don't want to get that extravagent then something like giant ants might work too (though swarms of ants coming out of the wall is less impressive than an ankheg or bullete, in my opinion).

a cave-in style trap.? (though this is an iffy one) (or the -fear- of a cave-in even if not actually be one).. you know, after each combat, "you see trickles of sand falling from the ceiling."

a cave troll that chases them the whole way...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There's all kinds of living critters found in cavern settings as well- most arthropods (insects, spiders, scorpions, etc.) have burrowing or subterranean forms, and you can even find certain rodents and reptiles quite a ways underground...and that's before we add in the fantasy element!

With that addition, you get giant, phasing, multiheaded, fire-breathing and all kinds of variations on Nature's theme.

Undead can be found anywhere, as can automatons/constructs.

There are numerous sentient races- dwarves, drow, duregar, svirfneblin, grimlocks, desmodu, illithids, grell, etc. that live underground.

 

[le grand fromage]

A large expanse of flowstone, very slippery, potential for characters to slide off into a pit, chute or side tunnel....

Acidic pool, or water dripping from cieling, corrodes armour.....

Pocket of poisonous or explosive gas....

CaveQuake....

 

[Gilladian]

Hmmm.... I like the swarms of giant ants idea. That could be really scary if foreshadowed by chittering sounds, maybe a wave of small fleeing insects, a few skeletal remains, maybe a waystation that is barricaded but still has been wiped out.

I also like the cave troll. That could be almost slapstick.

Flowstone and other natural cave dangers are high on my list.

But what are some actual "scenarios" that have stood out in your mind?

I'm thinking maybe they come to a bridge controlled by some underground race and have to negotiate a way across... or things like that.

 

[le grand fromage]

A hungry Xorn might demand a toll of metal or precious gems (perhaps a specific type?) to allow passage of a cave or stone bridge?

Likewise Myconids? might demand large amounts of organic matter (perhaps bat guano?) as a toll?

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

A pale albino drow renegade with a penchant for purple velvet overcoats and jaundiced duergar slaves offers the use of his subterranean gondola.

And so begins that most horrific underground journey of all...

[sblock]Willy Wonka's Boat Ride!

[/sblock]

That said, an underground riverboat has some nice possibilities: the mysterious ferrymen; attacks by tentacled things/pirhana-like horrors-- from below or above; pelted by rocks/spears/poo from the shadowed bank; conflicts between the ferrymen faction and the toll bridge faction; etc.

 

[Gilladian]

@fromage: myconids are part of what/who they meet at the end of the mission, so they're out of play here, but I do like the Xorn on the bridge.

@orc_within: the boat ride idea made me LOL, but it does have possibilities. Hmm.... maybe the Xorn guards a bridge that leads to the island where the PCs can hire a boat to go down the river.

I see a steep, stair-step bridge leading down from a high cave in a cliff wall to a stony island thrusting out of a narrow river-chasm filled with rushing waters, and a small, fragile-seeming boat - which actually turns out to be some sort of "carriage" that is mounted to the back of a much larger river-going monster... maybe a giant turtle? And its guide could be some sort of very strange underground species. Any ideas?

 

[le grand fromage]

The Xorn would probably live in the bridge, if it was a natural stone bridge; thus any attempts at attacking it could destroy the bridge itself....

 

[Infiniti2000]

Do you have Races of Stone? You can probably get some good ideas in there. One I thought of is a small band of outcast dwarves that have (miraculously) found hitherto unknown deposit of mithral. They're very busy digging away as the party "stumbles" upon them. Of course, they probably hear the digging from a distance and the dwarves may or may not have watchers set up. But, it would certainly have a different roleplaying experience than the players are used to--and there's a potential for combat if you prefer that sort of thing. The really interesting part is your PC dwarf--his background is critical to this encounter.