Warlock of Firetop Mountain - Encounter Analysis 5

Right, the final batch of encounters for the pre-river area. This section has some potentially interesting combat encounters, and a minor social encounter too.

Encounters

The Iron Cyclops

Summary: The player enters a large square room, with mosaics and marble stonework decorating the wall. In a corner of the room is a large metal statue of a one-eyed humanoid creature. Set in the eye socket is a large, glittering gem. If the player attempts to take the gem from the statue, the statue slowly comes to life, eventually craning its head toward the player and stepping down from its pedestal, attacking the player. Once the player has defeated the iron cyclops, they are given an opportunity to stop and rest. The player prises the gem from the statue, evaluating its worth as about 50 gold pieces. As the player is doing this, they notice that the breastplate of the statue appears to be loose. Opening this, the player finds a key with the number 111 on it. Having fully searched the room, finding nothing else, the player leaves.
For this combat encounter, I'd probably run the iron cyclops as an Animated Armour (MM page 19). My main concern here is that the players would simply be able to surround it and kill it far too easily if they are a larger party of about 5 or 6. To remedy this, I would maybe add a trap to the door, so a portcullis or something drops down after 3-4 PCs enter. The portcullis would raise itself again after the iron cyclops is defeated. Ideally, this would test how the PC's deal with a separation situation on a small scale, but make sure to adjust the PC's you allow to enter if some of them are particularly weakened. As for the eye of the cyclops the gem is magical (as will be seen in future encounters), and any players with magical abilities will probably be able to sense this. If you're just planning to run this dungeon as a one-off, you could probably get away with pre-scripting the effects of the gem in certain situations, but if you want to incorporate this dungeon into a larger campaign you're gonna want to flesh it out as a magic item. For a low-level party, I'd make it function like a Circlet of Blasting (DMG page 158), but replacing the spell with Witch Bolt (PHB page 289), and maybe add an additional effect.

The Barbarian

Summary: The player comes to a sturdy wooden door, without hearing anything on the other side. When it is opened, there is suddenly a barbarian jumping towards the player, swinging a battleaxe. Once they are defeated, the player can search the room, finding nothing of particular value, except in a chest in the far corner there is a wooden mallet and five sharpened wooden stakes. The player can then exit through a door opposite to the door they entered through.

Running the enemy here as a Berserker (MM page 344) should give a decent-sized party a challenge, but would be potentially deadly to smaller 1st level parties, so consider giving the players some sort of advantage here, like the ability to sneak up on the Berserker or reduce their stats a little.

The Paintings

Summary: The player enters a small square room, with another door in the opposite wall. The room is well decorated, with a polished marble floor, and the walls are adorned with several paintings. If the player examines the paintings, they notice that one has the nameplate of Zagor, the warlock which currently makes the mountain his domain. The player is drawn to this picture, and begins to feel fearful and weak in comparison to the warlock's might, decreasing their stats. The player can leave at this point, or try to attack the picture through one of several measures. They are given the option to slash at the painting with their weapon, but if they do so it animates and makes an attack towards the player before clattering to the ground. The player can also attempt to use a wooden stake on the painting, but it is also wrenched from their hand, clattering to the floor. The player can also attempt to throw cheese at the painting, to which laughter fills the room without any repercussion. The final option given to the player in the book is to hold up the eye of the cyclops to the painting, at which the figure in the painting contorts in pain, its eyes turning white and its figure becoming limp. Doing so bolsters the players courage, increasing their stats.
This encounter is a nice chance for the players to get a little glimpse of the boss of the dungeon, and a semi-puzzle encounter with a decently logical resolution. I mean, I don't really see any players choosing to use any of the "bad" options here, apart from maybe attacking it with a weapon, which honestly is my favourite of the bad options. If they do attack, I'd run the attack as a single weapon attack from a Flying Sword (MM page 20), but adjusting the weapon attack to whichever weapon the player used to attack the painting. I'd also add a case to deal with spell attacks against the painting. For this, I'd probably give the painting an AC of 13 to be used when attacked with a spell. If the spell attack exceeds this, it would damage the painting normally with a sensible effect on it determined by the spell. However, if it is less than this, I would have the spell reflect onto the caster. As for the stat changes, I would probably give the players a wisdom saving throw upon initially encountering the picture, gaining a level of Exhaustion or taking some psychic damage on a fail, and undoing any negative effects if they destroy it and granting inspiration to whoever destroyed it.

The Animated Rope

Summary: The passageway coming off the Paintings room ends in a wooden door with a handle of carved bone. The door opens to a pear-shaped room with a rough stone floor, which is uncomfortable to walk on. In a corner of the room, there is a pile of rubble, mostly rocks and dust, but there are also some other items. There are two oddly-shaped pieces of wood, and a length of rope. Upon examination, the pieces of wood are both Y-shaped and smooth, as if weathered. When the player inspects the rope, it appears to be normal, even useful perhaps. But as the player goes to store it, it suddenly animates, snaking up their arm and wrapping about their neck. The player must make successive attempts to cut the rope off their neck, as they slowly take damage. Having successfully defeated the rope, the player presses on.

Quite a nice encounter in the book, and I think maybe even better at a D&D table, with all the players reacting to one of them being strangled, each trying to 'help'. Could this be the newest animated item trend in D&D - the Rope of Asphyxiation? Perhaps not, but you never know. As with the other creatures in this adventure that don't have a direct statblock comparison with the Monster Manual, I will be providing a statblock in a later blog post - probably a slightly altered and reskinned Constrictor Snake (MM page 320).

The Ferryman Beach

Summary: If the player jumps into the river from either of the other beaches they are brought to here. The player stands on a pebble beach, on the south bank of an underground river. There appear to be four ways to cross the river. To the left of the beach, there is a rusted bell, bearing the sign "Ferry Service - 2 Gold Pieces - Please Ring". Near the bell there is a small raft and punting stick which could be used to cross. Further up the river to the right, there is an old rickety bridge that could be used to cross the river. And of course, swimming is always an option.
Okay I know this isn't much of an encounter by itself, but I really think that each of the crossing methods deserve their own encounter. Other than that, there isn't really much else to say about this, though I do like that the book gives a large range of options here, and I like the idea of the players debating between themselves the benefits of each crossing option.
I would also note that this makes a good stopping point for a session if you haven't already, and as such I'll be assuming that players are level 2 from this point forward. I prefer level players up after a set number of sessions rather than tracking XP, so all my players will be levelled up at the end of the 1st session. Regardless, considering the number of encounters before this section, you'll almost certainly have run a whole session at this point, and your players should have enough XP to advance. I'll look into balancing the dungeon in more detail when I begin reviewing the dungeon as a whole.

Crossing the River

The Ferryman

Summary: If the player chooses to ring the bell, after a few moments they see a figure boarding a raft on the far side of the river, rowing over and eventually approaching the player. The Ferryman asks for 3 gold pieces to cross the river. The player then mentions that on the sign it advertised crossing for 2 gold pieces, to which the man gives a feeble excuse about markets and inflation. If the player presses the issue, the man steadily becomes angrier, and as his rage builds he begins to transform, growing hair rapidly and rearranging hiss muscles. At this point, the player can placate him by offering him 5 gold pieces, or they can choose to attack him, in which case his transformation completes, becoming a fully-transformed Wererat. If the player defeats him, they can find 2 gold pieces on the corpse. The player can also choose to escape down the bridge. After he is defeated, the player can use his rowboat to cross the river without any further complications.

I 'm a fan of this encounter, but you'd probably want to think about the possibility of a diplomatic solution is the players attempt to bargain with the ferryman that doesn't just auto-fail. If it does devolve into combat, a Wererat (MM page 209, CR 2) shouldn't provide a big challenge for players at this point, especially considering they have likely rested recently,

The Raft

Summary: Boarding the raft, the player begins to punt across the river. However, a short way into the journey, the raft appears to animate, attempting to buck the player off and into the water. The player can attempt to maintain the journey across, or jump off and swim back to the south bank. If the player is lucky. If the player jumps off, or is thrown off, the raft turns back around, returning to the south bank. The splashing of the player may attract the attention of a swarm of piranhas as they return to the south bank, in which case they will be attacked as they return. If they manage to get back to the south bank safely, they can choose another way across the river, or try the raft again.

I love animated items, and any excuse to use them is good enough for me. if the players choose not to use the ferry, this crossing method is probably the one they will go to first, considering bridges are so often collapsing in D&D they generally come with an air of mistrust, especially those that are clearly in disrepair. The raft should also have a similar trait to the Antimagic Susceptibility that the Animated Objects (MM page 19) have in D&D 5E, although it is unlikely that players starting the dungeon at first level will have access to Dispel Magic or Antimagic Field.

The Bridge

Summary: The bridge is extremely old and worn, with rotten planks in many places. As the player is crossing, a plank breaks under their foot, potentially sending them tumbling into the water. If they make it past this without falling in, further up the bridge it begins swinging as it strains to support the player's weight, and the handrail comes away as the player leans on it, with a chance for the player to fall into the water again. If either of these hazards cause the player to fall into the water, they are met with a swarm of piranhas, after which they are able to swim back to the south bank (the same as if they come off the raft). Towards the end of the bridge, the player slips on a patch of moss, once again with a chance to fall into the water. If they fall into the water here, they are met with a large crocodile which quickly attacks them. At this point, the player also notices a turbulence from further south in the water making its way towards the player and the crocodile. If the player kills the crocodile before this turbulence reaches them, they are able to swim up to the north bank of the river, as the turbulence occupies itself with the crocodile's corpse. However, if they are still battling as the turbulence reaches them, the player discovers it to be a swarm of piranhas. If the crocodile is particularly wounded, the piranhas mostly attack it, and the player only has to deal with a small number of them. After the piranhas are dead, the player swims to the north bank.
I would consider this and swimming across to be the least likely options for a group of players to take, which is honestly a shame 'cause I really like the detail put into this encounter. The bridge offers a variety of hazards, and depending on the specifics of how you run them they're gonna provide either STR or DEX saving throws. You could even expand the bridge encounter to a full-scale collapse the players need to escape from, in which case you could run it similar to a chase encounter as demonstrated in the DMG (page 252). As for the monsters, I'd run the piranhas as a Swarm of Quippers (MM page 335), or just a small number of Quippers (MM page 335) if the majority attack the Crocodile (MM page 320). Normally, the players shouldn't have much trouble fighting these creatures, but the encounter will probably be harder than the creatures' CR may suggest considering the characters will be in the water.

Swimming

Summary: The water is icy cold, and as the player sets of swimming they notice they seem to be attracting the attention of a turbulence in the water. At this point, they can swim back to the south bank without further trouble, or redouble their efforts and attempt to get to the north bank quickly. If they do so, they soon notice a pair of reptilian eyes watching them from further ahead in the water. Now, they can keep swimming towards the eyes, or take a detour which will take them closer to the turbulence. If they swim towards the eyes, they encounter the crocodile, the same as the later bridge encounter. If they take the detour, they fight a swarm of piranhas before swimming back to the south bank.

Though this is probably not the option the players will choose, it still offers a pretty decent encounter if it is what the players choose to do. You might want to give a little more flexibility in the behaviors of the piranhas and the croc, but that sort of thing shouldn't be hard. There's also the possibility here that the players might not see the crocodile before they are upon it, giving the croc surprise in the encounter.

The Northern Bank

Summary: To the north of this beach is a glistening stone wall, with many colours of moss adorning it. There are three options to move on from here: to the north-west of the beach, a passage runs off into the stone; in the middle of the rock face in front of the player there is a large wooden door in the rock; and continuing eastwards up the beach.
Not much of an encounter here, as this room is mostly presenting different options of progression to the player. If your players were particularly harmed in crossing the river, or didn't rest on the south bank, you should probably encourage them to rest here considering a number of difficult encounters are ahead.

Okay, here we are, finally done with the pre-river area! The next step after this is the "Maze of Zagor", where the encountered creatures tend to be significantly larger than those we've seen so far. I'm also interested by the idea of running a maze in D&D, as it poses a specific challenge to the DM. I'll probably end up making a post dealing specifically with running a maze-like scenario, and how to make it interesting to the players.