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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9727225" data-attributes="member: 7035894">Ohmigosh - I changed virtually the entire thing and just kept the map and the basic premise of an archamge's lost lair. My write up is 12 pages long. In small print.I love WPM, but it very much shows its age in that, plot-wise, it is pretty nonsensical.In this version, set for a party of 6 players, level 7, it's still the long neglected lair of the archmage Keraptis, who vanished in the Age of Arcanum, but was known for tinkering at the boundaries of magic and technology. My backstory is that he found a volcanic island (which puts it in the right region for the current campaign) and was working on harnessing its geothermal energy while working on his immortality project, like any good archmage does. Unfortunately, Keraptis botched his attempt at lichdom, so he survives in the inner sanctum, but as a sort of twitchy, muttering lunatic of a lich (which depowers him enough to be level appropriate).Centuries later, a bunch of Dwarf traditionalists came to the island. They had stolen a sacred artifact, the Hammer of Moradin, from their home city and, learning of the fabled lost lair, decided to repurpose the dungeon to hide the hammer. This they accomplished, just using the east wing of the dungeon as the rest was more trouble than it was worth, but the volcano erupted as they were leaving, killing them and wrecking their ship.Recently, the party discovered that wreck while testing the artificers submersible (seen in photos above), and with it clues that have led them to the island (the dwarf barbarian knows of the legends around the hammer). So here they are.Changes:Surface entrance is buried after an eruption; added a second underwater entrance, which is how the party is getting in.Kept the neglected gynosphinx, but sassed her up a bit.The east wing is now dwarven themed. Kept the green slime; added a dwarf skeleton with more clues/flavour. The nine orbs room now basically is a "truth or consequences" game as the spirits of the dead dwarf fundamentalists tests the worthiness of the party. Kept the idea of the numbered golems but made them stone defenders. Kept the swinging discs trap with a few tweaks; it's always good fun. The final room now has an iron golem guarding the hammer of moradin (in it's dormant state, so unlocking its full potentian can be a plot thread for the rest of the campaign).The central wing is now about the archmage's research area and the main engine of the complex. All the foes are redesigned with this in mind, so helmed horrors, water elements, and living spells. The former lviving quarters for the werewolf guard and his wife are now the archmages study and lab. The central encounter, with the magical membrane protecting the platform, is somewhat similar except now the platform is built around a geothermal-thaumic engine, protected by living spells.The west wing is about the archmages living quarters. I kept the weird floating river feature but now it leads into a storage area for spell components guarded by magical constructs (all of which are getting kind of glitchy after all this time). I tweaked the traps a bit, and the heat trap is now a magnetic trap coupled with a living cloudkill spell that should really mess with them. The tiered aquarium is now fully dead and packed with creepy, atmospheric details. In in the final room is the above mentioned Keraptis himself.So...big changes, but I think it makes a lot more sense now, and ties in much better to their story.</blockquote>

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