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View Full Version : 3.5 Crystal Caves of Naica Mine: Updated with troubleshooting challenge



Human Paragon 3
2010-10-25, 07:39 PM
Hi all. I'm running a dungeon based on the Crystal Caves of the Naica mine in Mexico. If you're not familiar, you should google it--to say the place is remarkable is underselling it a great deal. Anyway, I saw a program about them on national geographic, and on the program they had a good map of the cave layout with all the caves labeled (caves have fanciful names like the Cave of Daggers, The Crystal Cathedral, The Queen's Eye etc.). Now that I'm searching for the map it's difficult to find. Has anybody ever attempted to base a dungeon on the crystal caves? Does anybody have the map I'm talking about?

I found a less good diagram on the naica official website, but it doesn't have all the caves listed.

Human Paragon 3
2010-10-28, 06:13 PM
Wow, zero responses? Ah well, immaterial as I went ahead and designed the dungeon anyway. Now I'd like some troubleshooting.

Point I: I am a millenias-old drow civilzation who want my stronghold to be secure.

Point II: You are a party of PCs (ECL 6) who want to get to the end of the dungeon, grab the priceless maguffin, and get out alive. Freeing my slaves is an added bonus, but not necessary for you.

My security:

1- The dungeon is a mine that goes deep into the earth. A high content of lead and cold iron in the mine make it impossible to scry into and impossible to teleport into. The lowest point in the mine is 4,000 feet down.

2- The mine is extremely hot and humid. It's so hot and so humid that even endure elements isn't good enough to completely mitigate the effects of heat exhaustion. The lower down you go into the mine, the stronger this effect becomes.

3- The terrain of the mine is treacherous--much of it is razor-sharp crystals and/or slippery crystaline monolliths. It requires skill checks to move through almost every square.

4- At least one anti-magic field exists in the mine. It is in one of the vertical hallways that decends strait down--a very sheer drop. There may be other anti-magic fields. The PCs do not know about the anti magic field(s).

5- The primary denizens of this mine are specially bred drow sentinals. They have been bred with efriti to be heat resistant. The PCs don't know their stats, but they are 6th level hexblades with optimized feat selection and major bloodlines, most likely.

6- There are also crystaline golems. The PCs know about them, but don't know their stats.

7- If necessary, the drow can flood the entire mine with boiling water. This happens very fast.

8- There are other dangers and denizens of the mine, including a heat-based shadow varient and crystal and steam mephits, primarily there to harass the PCs.

How do you get in? Are there obvious security holes I'm missing? This is supposed to be a very terrible stronghold where the drow keep important treasuers and prisoners, and which has never been breeched.

Human Paragon 3
2010-10-28, 07:20 PM
Anyone? Bueler?