A riddle. For my party.

[killem2]

Before I explain, anything or why I am using this, I just want to know if I may have made it too hard. I just want to get an idea of what you all think I'm referring to.



A deep, booming, unknown voice struggles to keep laughter in hand as it recites a riddle to you in your sleep.

Beneath a depth long lost to man,
lie creatures of feast and of famine.
Defeat of me rewards the feast.
Defeat of you begins the feast.
Halfling please do sneak and sneak and sneak some more.
For what we are opens the door.

The laughter sticks with you, in your mind even after you awake.

[dascarletm]

Well, as far as the difficulty of the riddle, I think it's referring to a creature, or encounter the players are going to face. So if that is the case, the reward being foreknowledge to what they face, then that depends on the player's knowledge of dnd. If they are fairly green, or just don't know the books in and out, then it may be impossible based on that.
I have a few idea's of what it could be.... maybe not.

[Flickerdart]

It's obviously a magic potato bug locked away in a subterranean vault; if you defeat it, you can feast on the delicious potatoes it has hoarded, but if you lose, it escapes and eats the world's potatoes, causing great famine across the land. The bugs have powerful jaws that allow them to burrow through wood, reducing any door to rubble in minutes.

I mean, duh.

[killem2]

flicker, you are hilarious haha.


dascarletm, you are so hot it is crazy. You are very close. It would make more sense, with the room they are in when they find it.

[ArcturusV]

Honestly the first thing that jumps to mind is some Warhammer type thing like a Chaos spawn. Defeat it, and you delayed the inevitable fall to chaos, and spread knowledge of chaos which leads to greater amounts of chaos later on (even if the knowledge is only in the minds of the characters exposed to it). Fail? And you end up with a world or location falling into madness, gorging itself on the sanity of all that stand before it.

[killem2]

Ok, I'm going to give just a bit more. When they come to this room, there are to stair cases that go up the sides of this large large room, to, two elevators that are magically unable to go down unless you have the password or defeat this "creature" that is at the lower level of the room.

Also, parts of the riddle are literal, some are figurative. (in relative d&d terms I mean)

[KoboldCleric]

Beneath a depth long lost to man,
lie creatures of feast and of famine.
Defeat of me rewards the feast.
Defeat of you begins the feast.

This makes me think Illithid.


Halfling please do sneak and sneak and sneak some more.
For what we are opens the door.

This makes me think Skeleton, so clearly the answer is:

Illithid Skeletons! :smallwink:

[killem2]

This makes me think Illithid.



This makes me think Skeleton, so clearly the answer is:

Illithid Skeletons! :smallwink:

Damn, that is good. I wish I would have thought of that, but that's not where I was going with it.

It links up, because there will be a mindflayer later on but not this fight. Ok, so when you get to this room, there is a dragon here. A big dragon. And OLD dragon.

[weckar]

Analysis time!!!


Beneath a depth long lost to man,
From the underdark, or a dread plane

lie creatures of feast and of famine.
A swarm creature, such as locusts

Defeat of me rewards the feast.
Defeat of you begins the feast.
A carnivore well known for being edible, and most likely large.

Halfling please do sneak and sneak and sneak some more.
Vulnerable to sneak attacks, I'm assuming the player is a halfling.

For what we are opens the door.
It carries keys...

My hunch says it is a Cerberus...

[Deophaun]

An aberration of some kind, or an ooze. It could fit any number of those creatures, and it doesn't speak to anything particularly unique or dangerous about them. Technically, your riddle can be defeated by someone taking 10 on a dungeoneering check and listing every monster that comes to them. Won't take more than a few minutes game time. At which point, the response of the elevators will tell them which one it is.

[killem2]

Ok guys, you have firmly proved I am not the greatest dm ever haha.

Ok, the creature is Wyrm. (what am I)

When you die, Worms eat you, the slang phrase when I am dead I am worm food. (defeat of you)


This room is located roughly 450ft below the main level of the castle. (beneath.... the background story to this area is this castle was destoryed with an epic demon was slain and crashed into the castle and buried it self and was sealed away deep deep deep into the ground)

When you defeat the wyrm, (I pronouce it worm if that is correct), you get a feast (wealth, richest, a dragon hoard), and if you die, you are worm food. (defeat of me rewards the feast)

There is an area effect of darkness from teh dragon's area before you can see anything and this halfling who is a rogue LOVES to search for secret places. (halfling sneak and sneak and sneak some more)


it may make more sense to teh party itself and what they have already encountered and what they will encounter.

[Lapak]

It's a little too vague. With a riddle, you want it to have one clear answer if it's supposed to give them a real forewarning of what they're facing; as you see from the responses, there are a bunch of different more-or-less on target guesses that fit the riddle.

I mean, if they're just supposed to know that something big and dangerous is ahead, it'll accomplish that, but if they are supposed to recognize it as a dragon I'm guessing that they won't - or they only will if they happen to get lucky with the direction their mind runs when thinking about it.

[killem2]

It's a little too vague. With a riddle, you want it to have one clear answer if it's supposed to give them a real forewarning of what they're facing; as you see from the responses, there are a bunch of different more-or-less on target guesses that fit the riddle.

I mean, if they're just supposed to know that something big and dangerous is ahead, it'll accomplish that, but if they are supposed to recognize it as a dragon I'm guessing that they won't - or they only will if they happen to get lucky with the direction their mind runs when thinking about it.

The good news is, they will know.

See, i have a few players who I am already playing with, but I need to bring in three more players. those three more players are going down with two high ranking clerics (played by exisiting members of this party but not the one who got this riddle sent to me), they will go down, and get absolutley waxed by this dragon because they won't see it coming, the clerics that is.

The other three people will have knowledge that this is a dragon, because the dragon will teleport them out arrogantly.

[dascarletm]

Well... I wasn't thinking that but close. also PS I'm sig-ing your reply... out of context of course :smallbiggrin:

[Deophaun]

Ok guys, you have firmly proved I am not the greatest dm ever haha.

Ok, the creature is Wyrm. (what am I)

When you die, Worms eat you, the slang phrase when I am dead I am worm food. (defeat of you)
Yeah, this is terrible. Especially considering that there are actual worms (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/purpleWorm.htm) that fit the description.

Plus, the knowledge that you are going to face a dragon isn't all that useful. Knowing that you're going to face a specific kind of dragon is.

[rockdeworld]

On another note, the dragon doesn't open the door, and dragons in general don't open doors, nor are they creatures of famine. The riddle is wrong.

Something better might be like (for a green dragon, with frightful presence):
Grass in a cave, but not grass
Moves toward you, won't let you pass
Bites and tears, blinds and scares
Always sees, rarely cares

[falloutimperial]

Your setting greatly influences the riddles' difficulty. Is it the kind of world where Wyrms have ever been mentioned to the characters? Is it simultaneously the kind of world where the relatively modern phrase "worm food" is used.

[killem2]

I guess I was trying to be too clever on the double meaning of a worm that sounds the same but spelled different. Bear bare, ect.


That's the only connection worms had with it.

It is a black dragon, it is below ruins of castle that is in a swamp, party B which is coming from the sea to return to this area, knows nothing of this area yet, but are the ones who are getting dreams.

There is one other person who has gotten a dream, that was a vision of writings written in draconic (he doesn't know it is draconic yet, not unless he shows this stuff to another player to tell about his dream).

The party A, which is two clerics, assassin, fighter, fighter, are the ones going down into the depths after a suspected occurence of odd activity. The clerics in this party are part of a higher ranking clergy of moradin and are assigned to check this out. The castle is pretty much rubble except for like the front face. Not that that matters here. There are pools of swamp water and a giant sinkhole where part of the floor as caved in and filled with muddy nasty water, that leads down roughly 450 ft or so, and has the initial room where the dragon is.


While yes, the riddle is vague with out any other knowledge, I plan on having knowledge checks for the area, to find out what they are fighting and so on.

What would you suggest as a riddle for a black dragon, under the earth, guarding a large hoard, the switch behind him that will unlock the elevators magical locks?

[Rabidmuskrat]

High above, Darkness soars
Deep below, Darkness hoards
Rocky home, Acid etched
Hides a key you cannot fetch

[XmonkTad]

High above, Darkness soars
Deep below, Darkness hoards
Rocky home, Acid etched
Hides a key you cannot fetch

Whoa. Well that's a good one.

[Gildedragon]

The darkness lies in the deep
It binds the high to the low
Caustic wind beneath the keep
Rending teeth spawned long ago

It holds the key to the gate
Unsleeping on aurean bed
Go on to meet fear and fate
The darkness needs to be fed

[IamL]

I came up with one. (Maybe not as good as rabidmuskrats, but still pretty good.)


When you delved into this dungeon deep
A challenge like this you did not expect
A darkness that makes the boldest weep
A darkness that sweeps through the air
A darkness that roars and gnashes its teeth.
A darkness that destructively etched its lair
With acid, corroding the earth beneath.
Defeat this darkness, else first guess its name
And you shall have both treasure and fame.
Fail in this task, ye stout and brave,
and you will fall to your boggy grave

[dascarletm]

When you delved into this dungeon deep
A challenge like this you did not expect
A darkness that makes the boldest weep
A darkness that sweeps through the air
A darkness that roars and gnashes its teeth.
A darkness that destructively etched its lair
With acid, corroding the earth beneath.
Defeat this darkness, else first guess its name
And you shall have both treasure and fame.
Fail in this task, ye stout and brave,
and you will fall to your boggy grave

change did not expect to something with prepare so you can rhyme with air.

[IamL]

Okay, thanks for the advice. Here's the updated version:

When you delved into this dungeon deep
For A challenge like this you did not prepare
A darkness that makes the boldest weep
A darkness that sweeps through the air
A darkness that roars and gnashes its teeth.
A darkness that destructively etched its lair
With acid, corroding the earth beneath.
Defeat this darkness, else first guess its name
And you shall have both treasure and fame.
Fail in this task, ye stout and brave,
and you will fall to your boggy grave

[Spuddles]

The riddle is so ominous it makes me think kyuss spawn, mindflayers, chaos spawn, obyrinth lords, elder gods, or far realm nasties.

It's a good riddle, just not for a dragon. If you left some clues around for a dragon- scorch marks, bones, dragon motifs in architecture & art (scales, wings, snouts, etc), then it may be more clear to better players.

[edit]
new one is great!

[killem2]

I agree it was my first attempt at a riddle.

I used that shorter new one, should be fine, I don't want this to be some epic stage, just a fun easy puzzle to look into and go on. I like to throw those at my players.

[Steward]

I really like this riddle, and I think if you combined it with some physical evidence to help the players it should fit perfectly in your campaign. I like the idea of having clues left behind especially; maybe some charred, melted armor lying around -- and if someone is careful enough to look at it for a few moments, they might realize that the damage was caused by acidic spew.