PanNarrans
2010-09-21, 07:06 PM
So, I ran an adventure to introduce a couple of beginners to D&D. Simple dungeon crawl to retrieve a stolen dragon egg.
A kobold lair was hidden underneath the seabed; to get there, they'd made a magic chute of air to to the bottom of the sea, stolen from that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story. It was maintained by a magic spinning top, constantly whipped to keep spinning by a kobold sorcerer in a trance.
The party made their way down, got through the kobold entrance hall, found the sorcerer behind an illusionary wall, and killed him. This collapsed the whirlpool. As they span the top again, it formed again.
Confident they could make it back to the surface this way, they pressed on. Eventually they captured the egg; the dragon who'd stolen it smashed the room they were in, leaving them falling down a five mile deep chasm into lava (stolen from here http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/8/3/).
The party managed to save themselves from a lava-y death, and escaped the dungeon. The psion's crysmal companion was left to whip the magic spinning top, so the party could climb the rope to their boat. The crysmal swam up to the boat after abandoning the top, leaving the whirlpool to collapse.
I honestly did not anticipate what came next. I'm told the look on my face as I realised the consequences was hilarious. To my credit, none of the party realised it either.
The party had left the trapdoor leading into the kobold lair open. As the whirlpool collapsed, thousands of tonnes of water crashed into the dungeon, drained roared through the dragon's lair, and poured down a chute leading to lava. As thousands of tonnes of water turned instantly to superheated steam, THE HUGEST EXPLOSION IN THE HISTORY OF ANY OF MY CAMPAIGNS was created.
The party managed to ride out the ensuing tsunami and make it back to Murk, which had suffered a LOT of property damage. I gave them XP for the dragon who died in the blast; it was just too awesome not to.
A kobold lair was hidden underneath the seabed; to get there, they'd made a magic chute of air to to the bottom of the sea, stolen from that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story. It was maintained by a magic spinning top, constantly whipped to keep spinning by a kobold sorcerer in a trance.
The party made their way down, got through the kobold entrance hall, found the sorcerer behind an illusionary wall, and killed him. This collapsed the whirlpool. As they span the top again, it formed again.
Confident they could make it back to the surface this way, they pressed on. Eventually they captured the egg; the dragon who'd stolen it smashed the room they were in, leaving them falling down a five mile deep chasm into lava (stolen from here http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/8/3/).
The party managed to save themselves from a lava-y death, and escaped the dungeon. The psion's crysmal companion was left to whip the magic spinning top, so the party could climb the rope to their boat. The crysmal swam up to the boat after abandoning the top, leaving the whirlpool to collapse.
I honestly did not anticipate what came next. I'm told the look on my face as I realised the consequences was hilarious. To my credit, none of the party realised it either.
The party had left the trapdoor leading into the kobold lair open. As the whirlpool collapsed, thousands of tonnes of water crashed into the dungeon, drained roared through the dragon's lair, and poured down a chute leading to lava. As thousands of tonnes of water turned instantly to superheated steam, THE HUGEST EXPLOSION IN THE HISTORY OF ANY OF MY CAMPAIGNS was created.
The party managed to ride out the ensuing tsunami and make it back to Murk, which had suffered a LOT of property damage. I gave them XP for the dragon who died in the blast; it was just too awesome not to.