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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dougmander" data-source="post: 2580746" data-attributes="member: 14375">Thanks! I'm home this week recovering from <a href="http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4683" target="_blank">pericarditis</a> and my baby girl was throwing up all night (now sleeping comfortably). This thread has been a real tonic for me; I've been laughing (painfully) all afternoon. And now, back to the task at hand:Encounter 21Enter the DragonCharacters with an INT score of 16 or higher will notice an iron collar around the neck of the dragon from Encounter 20. Pendant from the collar is a small container, shaped roughly like a loaf of bread, but nothing like bread in taste, texture, Mohs scale, or carb points. A small red metal flag is attached to the side of this metal container; the flag can be placed in a vertical or horizontal position. Currently it is set to the vertical position. The DM should ask all players if their PCs speak Gnomish; those who can will be able to read the handpainted letters on the side of the container. If no PCs can read Gnomish, tell them you were just curious, pretend to write down each person's answer, then say, "Who's up for pizza?" (See Appendix G).The letters on the container seem to spell out a gnomish name: S. E. Timbers. Inside the container, accessed by a gate at one of the flat ends of the container, are one or more pieces of correspondance. Roll 1d6, 1d3 times.1 = Complimentary cure light wounds scroll from Church of Pelor2 = Hant's secret plans for world domination, which he mailed to himself for copyright reasons but have been misdelivered3 = "You have won second prize in a beauty contest. Collect 100 gp"4 = Junk mail (equivalent to –1 chainmail)5 = Issue of Size S: the Magazine for Small Humanoids6 = note from dragon addressed to "Super",  concerning "blocked sinus"In case the same result is obtained twice, reveal nothing. This is essential for maintaining the level of verisimilitude crucial to a successful adventure.Characters who roll a 1-2 on a d6 will smell pipe smoke emanating from the dragon's nostrils. Looking closer, they will see a tiny porch rocker in the right nostril, still swinging as if it had been recently vacated!. Characters of Small size may choose to explore either nostril. It is highly recommended that players keep a map from this point on.Each nostril leads independently along a parallel course to the anterior sinus of the dragon's skull. An exit at the back of the sinus is blocked by an invasive species of ochre jelly. A rapidly closing outline of a small figure in a peaked cap is visible in the jelly. PCs can either plunge through the ochre jelly, receiving 1d8 damage, or fight the jelly fair and square.OCHRE JELLY 6 HD, 28 hp, AC 9, 1-6 damageBeyond the jelly is the posterior sinus. Read the following description to the players: "You enter a comfortably appointed body cavity, with a handwoven rug upon the floor, a hookah, an ottoman, a divan, a samovar, a portmanteau, a bidet, and a papasan. Perched upon one of these items (roll randomly) is a pale gnome with a proud white beard. 'I am Smirk E. Timbers,' he intones. "And I'm dying... ...to tell you anything you'd like to know about this area.'"If questioned, Smirk (gnome cleric lvl 7) will inform the party that he has been in the dragon's employ for many years as a custodian, battling various parasites and generally keeping the great beast in working condition. He knows the dragon literally inside and out; but he won't tell the party that the major arteries of the dragon have been infested with kuo-toa, and have stolen most of the treasure items that the dragon had given Smirk in payment over the years.PCs will notice a trap door in the floor of the sinus that, if opened, leads directly into the dragon's arterial system. See Encounter 22 for more details.</blockquote>

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