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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6176819" data-attributes="member: 42582">I didn't think of anything as elaborate as    [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION]. But your reference to orbs of seeing and so on made me think of crystal balls, and palantirs, and careless casters getting ensnared by trapped crystal balls. And that made me think of a green dragon.A young green dragon is a level 5 solo, and with MV stats should be a pretty interesting challenge for a group of 4 lvl 3 or lvl 4 PCs. Throw in some goblins (maybe a Hexhurler behind a wall of Snipers - I think a Hexhurler could be quite nasty in conjunction with a dragon). Perhaps the orb is "attuned" to the dragon in some way, and so grants a bonus to hit vs the dragon, but also gives the dragon a bonus to hit with its Luring Glare minor action attack (in the fiction, you narrate this as the PC holding the orb feeling compelled to confront the dragon, as if nothing else matters - you could even say that the PC holding the orb is marked by the dragon, to repsent the ensnaring and "focusing" effect of the orb).In terms of the physical details of the encounter, everything that Manbearcat has said about terrain etc makes sense, except in my version above the cave is not the church but rather a forest grove with standing stones - when the ceiling collapses, the stones fall down  - you could even have the standing stones projecting downwards through the cavern ceiling, so that during the fight the PCs (and NPCs) can invoke the stones' magic powers in some fashion.I would also add: the players may not want to let the dragon escape. If they take actions to try and stop this (eg immoblizing it, or knocking it prone, or jumping/climbing up through the cavern to chase it) my advice would be adjudicate those actions fairly, including via level appropriate DCs for skill checks/skill challenges. Whether the dragon escapes or the PCs defeat it, you should have a dramatic resolution either way.EDIT: I didn't give a story suggestion as to why this dragon is down here and attuned to the orb. Maybe the goblins recently discovered the orb buried in the forest at the base of one of the standing stones, and have realised that with it they can awaken the power of a sleeping dragon and thereby conquer the civilised lands. The churches have received portents of this from their gods, and that's why they sent the PCs to try and recover the orb. Once the PCs recover the orb and deliver it to the church, the goblins' dreams of harnessing the dragon's powers are shattered - and this is true even if the dragon itself escapes.For bonus plot development, the priest/bishop whatever who received the orb becomes corrupted by it, and the PCs soon find themselves having to sort out that mess.If you have any primal PCs in your group the standing stones also give the opportunity for minor quests or other plot twists, as primal PCs are probably more comfortable with that sort of magic than the more mainstream religious types. (Primal PCs might also be especially good at harnessing the magical powers of standing stones. They might even try and use this to stop the cavern collapsing when the dragon tries to escape, calling upon the power of the spirits in the stones to bind the cavern roof tight.)</blockquote>

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