Help With Organic Dungeon Encounter

[Greysect]

I am a DM trying to design an encounter taking place inside a living dungeon, here, have some context:

The PCs come across a dead end and their only way to advance is a mouth-like orifice in the wall. The crawl space is too narrow to allow for torches, their only source of light, so they must enter the throat of the dungeon in complete darkness. The path runs straight down, the party's bracing against the muscles that constrict them being the only thing that prevents them from falling. eventually they see a light on the other side of the fleshy wall, but no sign of an exit. This proves a perfect time to find a safe point of exit, as the constrictive walls block out air and cause claustrophobia and the arm of a zombie begins to scratch at the leg of an adventurer from below.

Assuming this encounter is made for four level one characters of Tier 4 classes, here are the stats I collected:

*The stats for the wall of flesh blocking them from the safety of the light are Hardness 2, HP 30, and break DC 20.
*The stats of the zombie attacking the PC who first entered the orifice are that of a commoner zombie with the Unkillable variant from Libris Mortis, which means it has 20 HP and fast healing 5.
*The tunnel was made to transport zombies, not people, and will cause the players to eventually suffocate. The players would already be in the tunnel for 16 rounds before they enter this encounter, which means PCs of CON 8 would already be rolling saves to not fall unconscious.
*I was considering, as an alternate method of breaking free, a PC can open a flask of acid in the tunnel, ignoring the hardness of the wall but inflicting acid damage to everyone in the tunnel as well.

Now the question I have to ask is how to handle the use of weapons and movement within the tunnel. I was thinking of making daggers usable within the tunnel with a small penalty, while one-handed weapons require a certain check to wield the weapon at all. Should I treat the tunnel as a creature grappling for the purposes of using weapons and escaping the tunnel after it is cut, and if so, what should its stats be, or should I set DC, and if so, what kind and what number?

Thank you in advance for any questions, answers, and criticism.

[Moriato]

There are already some rules for tight spaces:


Squeezing
In some cases, you may have to squeeze into or through an area that isn’t as wide as the space you take up. You can squeeze through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space you take a -4 penalty on attack rolls and a -4 penalty to AC.

When a Large creature (which normally takes up four squares) squeezes into a space that’s one square wide, the creature’s miniature figure occupies two squares, centered on the line between the two squares. For a bigger creature, center the creature likewise in the area it squeezes into.

A creature can squeeze past an opponent while moving but it can’t end its movement in an occupied square.

To squeeze through or into a space less than half your space’s width, you must use the Escape Artist skill. You can’t attack while using Escape Artist to squeeze through or into a narrow space, you take a -4 penalty to AC, and you lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.


As for cutting their way out, I'd say the rules for a creature being swallowed would be appropriate there, since that's basically what's happening.


Swallow Whole
Being swallowed has various consequences, depending on the creature doing the swallowing. A swallowed creature is considered to be grappled, while the creature that did the swallowing is not. A swallowed creature can try to cut its way free with any light slashing or piercing weapon (the amount of cutting damage required to get free is noted in the creature description), or it can just try to escape the grapple. The Armor Class of the interior of a creature that swallows whole is normally 10 + ½ its natural armor bonus, with no modifiers for size or Dexterity. If the swallowed creature escapes the grapple, success puts it back in the attacker’s mouth, where it may be bitten or swallowed again.


Is this an actual creature they're in, or just a cavern made of flesh?

[Greysect]

They are in a cavern made of flesh.

Assuming a level one party consisting of a Rogue, Barbarian, Warlock, and Ranger, would it be too much to ask of them to deal 30 HP worth of damage with hardness two while under a time limit of CON X 2 -16?

[Moriato]

They are in a cavern made of flesh.

Assuming a level one party consisting of a Rogue, Barbarian, Warlock, and Ranger, would it be too much to ask of them to deal 30 HP worth of damage with hardness two while under a time limit of CON X 2 -16?

Well, assuming that average con is 12, that gives them about 8 rounds. Shouldn't be too difficult, no.

[TroubleBrewing]

Should be really easy, actually. I'd bump it up to about 100. The muscular action of the esophagus should close most wounds in it immediately, and given the massive size of the flesh dungeon, it should be difficult to slice through. 100 points indicates a significant amount of material has been carved out, allowing egress.

[Moriato]

Should be really easy, actually. I'd bump it up to about 100.

I don't know about that. This is a level 1 party, mind you. I'd say if they can use their normal weapons, it should be easy. If they have to use light weapons, well... the ranger probably has one, the wizard might have a dagger but... it's a wizard. I'm willing to bet that the barbarian probably doesn't even have a light weapon. The warlock could probably use his eldritch blast but that's only 1d6 at this point. Anyway, regular weapons it's probably easy, with only being able to use light ones it's probably a pretty good challenge.

[TroubleBrewing]

Oh, I didn't know the party was level 1. I'd still bump it up to about 50 or so. What's the lowest Con score in the party?

[Greysect]

I am creating this dungeon before the party even knows they're playing, but I will be limiting them to tier 4, which is a small and predictable pool.

Characters can hold their breath for twice their constitution, and if it takes them sixteen rounds to get to the light that means Con 8 would already be rolling saves. No one would be dumb enough to have Con 8, but there is a chance of someone being a con 10 Rogue, especially since my party is likely to have at least one new player and I am limiting races to Human and Elf for this adventure. The lowest Con will most likely be 12, so players will have at least eight rounds to whittle at 30 HP with daggers and shortswords.

Seems the numbers work out, and if you are all okay with it then I am okay with it. Lastly, what EL would you set this at? Mind you, there is a single zombie that will be attacking a player as they attack the flesh tunnel.

And while on zombies, the Unkillable Variant adds +1 to CR. In the case of a commoner zombie, would 1/2 CR add up to a total of CR 1 or CR 2?

[Milo v3]

All I could think of was the Game "Prey" when I read the title and OP.

But back on topic, could the players cut through the wall to give themselves more space? This would allow them to be able to fight normally but only in the areas they have damaged.

[Greysect]

I could imagine the party being able to use larger weapons as they tunnel gave.

As I imagine it, the characters are in a nearly vertical chute, stacked on top of each other with only the chute tightening around them to keep them from falling on each other and further down the hole, to where the zombies spawn from. The chute would fit only within a 5 foot square, and they'll be striking the same side of the chute, anyway.