OK, the players didn't get to the "riddle room", as they had a little difficulty obtaining one of the four keys that lets them into the room in the first place (yep, the indestructible door with multiple keys, another cliched staple of dungeon crawls). So fortunately, I have another week. I'm gonna go with mish-mash of some ideas which were sent in, and many thanks to all of you! Essentially, the room now has 1 real statue and 35 petrified yuan-ti abominations of various classes. The yuan-ti abominations are the preserved elite of the deceased yuan-ti civilisation, and are all pretty powerful (certainly more powerful than stone golems) - so you don't want to awaken them. (The petrification angle is kinda handy, as the room before the "riddle room" contains a blackstone gigant as a guardian (and keeper of one of the four door keys)). (A blackstone guardian is an enormous marilith-like construct with the power to petrify any creature it touches; see Fiend Folio). The PCs now have to work out which of the statues in the "riddle room" is the real statue, because it holds the McGuffin. Put the "key" (an amulet which caused them to start the adventure in the first place) in the wrong "statue" and all the petrified yuan-ti abominations un-petrify, with rather nasty consequences.
The only clues the PCs have to which is the real statue are written on a yellowing scrap of paper the PCs find on a skeleton in the "riddle room" itself. The skeleton is that of an adventurer who had gained access to the room many centuries previously, after having done the divinations necessary to determine the real statue. But the clues are nevertheless pretty cryptic.
Cheers, Al'Kelhar
The only clues the PCs have to which is the real statue are written on a yellowing scrap of paper the PCs find on a skeleton in the "riddle room" itself. The skeleton is that of an adventurer who had gained access to the room many centuries previously, after having done the divinations necessary to determine the real statue. But the clues are nevertheless pretty cryptic.
Cheers, Al'Kelhar
