Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
At long last, the players in my Midwood campaign are about to scratch the surface of Green Mountain, once the home of the local dwarves, but for 500 years, the lair of Gax, the green dragon. Ten years ago, Gax vanished overnight, a mystery that will last until at least the next campaign.
In the meantime, the adventurers will enter her lair, looking for a green scale for a ritual to conjure up an aspect of Bahamut to counteract a local kobold tribe's ritual to conjure up an aspect of Tiamat. (If you think this sounds like the climax of a campaign, with Tiamat and Bahamut battling all over the barony, while kobold and human/dwarf/gnome armies clash, you're right.)
I want to conjure up a taste of menace. When they explore Green Mountain, they're only there for a brief visit (I'm using the 0one Blueprints' Dwarven Stronghold map, and they'll only be visiting part of one level), and I want to have several beats:
1) A taste of the old dwarven fortifications, even though most of these are in disrepair on the first level, or have been destroyed/disabled by the dragon.
2) A hint at who's been squatting inside the lair in the last 10 years. (Or, more accurately, who's tried to rob or take over the place, gotten stuck inside and gone mad ...)
3) And finally, what I need help with: Some undeniably draconic elements, enough to challenge a level 5-6 party, but not be a complete TPK, although if it got them to say "well, we don't have the resources to keep fooling around in here; grab the scale and go," so much the better.
So how would you dress this set? Gax was an old green dragon by the time she left, and she had 500 years of kobold servitors trying to please her to make the mountain her own. (Note that she didn't let the kobolds actually live in the complex, though, because she didn't trust the little bastards. They have a warren of their own nearby.)
I'm probably going to go with some of the Ronin Arts dragon hazard ideas, but beyond mere hazards, I want some stuff that will spook the characters and maybe even the players.
Your suggestions are much appreciated.
In the meantime, the adventurers will enter her lair, looking for a green scale for a ritual to conjure up an aspect of Bahamut to counteract a local kobold tribe's ritual to conjure up an aspect of Tiamat. (If you think this sounds like the climax of a campaign, with Tiamat and Bahamut battling all over the barony, while kobold and human/dwarf/gnome armies clash, you're right.)
I want to conjure up a taste of menace. When they explore Green Mountain, they're only there for a brief visit (I'm using the 0one Blueprints' Dwarven Stronghold map, and they'll only be visiting part of one level), and I want to have several beats:
1) A taste of the old dwarven fortifications, even though most of these are in disrepair on the first level, or have been destroyed/disabled by the dragon.
2) A hint at who's been squatting inside the lair in the last 10 years. (Or, more accurately, who's tried to rob or take over the place, gotten stuck inside and gone mad ...)
3) And finally, what I need help with: Some undeniably draconic elements, enough to challenge a level 5-6 party, but not be a complete TPK, although if it got them to say "well, we don't have the resources to keep fooling around in here; grab the scale and go," so much the better.
So how would you dress this set? Gax was an old green dragon by the time she left, and she had 500 years of kobold servitors trying to please her to make the mountain her own. (Note that she didn't let the kobolds actually live in the complex, though, because she didn't trust the little bastards. They have a warren of their own nearby.)
I'm probably going to go with some of the Ronin Arts dragon hazard ideas, but beyond mere hazards, I want some stuff that will spook the characters and maybe even the players.
Your suggestions are much appreciated.
