A Deadly Garden

[AlanBruce]

First off, Sparky, Dantie, Niwrad, Business Scrub, and Christine- please stay out.


Greetings! I'm running a game deep in Fey Wood territory. The party composition:

Grey elf conjurer 10

Grey elf Beguiler 10

Human Prestige paladin/Inq. 10

Human Dragon Shaman 10

Drow Lolth Touched wiz1/paladin of freedom 5

The party has been trekking for over a week in these woods and having all sorts of encounters: mad fey, undead, wild animals, monstrous vermin, mad druids. In short, pretty much anything I could place and make sense given the situation in a big haunted forest.

At long last, the party is reaching their destination, but for that, they need to enter a sacred Rose Garden.

Now, this isn't your regular Rose Garden. Once, maybe. Now, it's a hedge maze. A large hedge maze with thick walls of roses and thorns. Walls that reach up to the ceiling, so as to avoid overland flyers just cruising above the maze.

The objective: snatch a particular rose from a creature that lives in the maze- a Battlebriar (MM3).

The "Rose bearer", as we'll call him, patrols this very large hedge maze at a casual pace. Until he is alerted of intruders. In which case, it becomes a panic fest to avoid the beast and hide from him. I have thought of placing man sized bulbs which a PC can use to hide in. The stench from the bulb's fluids would deter the Battlebriar from searching for the interloper (assuming he wasn't too obviously spotted).

The maze is big enough that I have placed loot around the maze for the greedy (adventurers). Obviously, the loot is scattered and not easy to reach, but it's there and the party has the means to teleport by now.

What I'd like to get from you, playground are ideas as to what natural/magical hazards, thematically adapted to a place like this could be present. As well as some plant monsters that may inhabit certain areas of the maze and have not bothered the Rose Bearer, but may present an interesting challenge for the PCs.

Thank you very much in advance.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Minotaurs are typical maze inhabitants, for this specific maze I'd give them the Greenbound Creature template from Lost Empires of Faerun, or failing that the weaker Woodling template in MM3. You'll need to give them some class levels to fight a 10th level party, I'd use Warblade and give them Iron Heart Surge and Wall of Blades. You could use Greathorn Minotaurs from MM4 with either of those templates instead, I'd still include one Warblade level for the above maneuvers.

A Forest Landyrm from the Draconomicon would definitely be a suitable encounter.

Topiary Guardians in MM3 of Dire Lions, Bears, and/or Tigers can be spread throughout the maze guarding certain places.

Forest Trolls (MM3) with Ranger levels who climb high up on the walls of the maze and use poisoned arrows and javelins could be a challenge. Give them Hidden Talent: Chameleon and cast Camouflage and just snipe at anyone trying to navigate the maze and they can be very frustrating.

[AlanBruce]

Thank you, Biffoniacus_Furiou! Those are excellent ideas.

I forgot to mention they just had a big troll encounter.

Troll scouts, tempests, wildrunners and dervishes.

Con damage through poison nearly killed them, but I guess I can throw a few forest trolls in there with some plant template.

I was thinking wood woads. Perhaps a party of rangers lead by a druid. Assassin vines, perhaps?

How could I have skipped on the Topiary Guardians? Those are perfect!

[Harlot]

Strategically spaced assassin vine for slam & grapple attacks?
Here's a thread for amping them up a bit:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259652

[Norin]

Yellow Musk Creeper with Yellow Musk Zombies! Good fun!
(Fiend Folio p. 190/191)

[unseenmage]

I compiled a list of all the obscure plant life I could find. A lot of it is extraplanar. A lot of it is Dragon Mag. content. But none of it is really over powerful.

Curiously enough i named it The Dark Garden (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292690). Enjoy.

[John Longarrow]

Two questions that may be very fun.

Have you looked at some of the swarms out there? Fey one called Petal (IIRC) would be good hanging around.

Also who are the grounds keepers. Pixies (invisible) would be really good for this. For more fun, Pixie LVL 3 warlock can be really effective if the party doesn't run see invisible all the time. Course the pixie runs See the unseen and has the lance to hit at 250'. Alternately use forest gnomes. Just have the BBEP (Big Bad Evil Plant) ignore them because its learned they take care of it.

[Palanan]

I've had a lot of fun with the fetid fungi from Monster Manual 5 (pp. 56-57). Each one is only CR 1, but you can drop in an entire colony, or even a cluster of colonies--and they'd be especially appropriate for a maze, where the leafy walls will funnel them towards the party from both directions.

Even if the fetid fungi themselves aren't that much of a threat, the party won't necessarily know that up front, and their resulting efforts may attract other plant creatures or the like.

Another classic low-level plant creature is the twig blight, or "twiggies," which first appeared in Sunless Citadel and was later reprinted in one of the Monster Manuals, possibly MM III. Individually they're only a threat to a rather weak farmhand, but a whole grove of them could make for a protracted, messy fight, especially since they can blend in perfectly with the structure of the maze.

For a slightly higher-level plant creature, I really like the vinespawn, again from MM5 (pp. 198-199). I used one in my last campaign and gave it the appearance of a mobile strangler fig, that unwrapped itself from its favorite tree and went straight for the tasty adventurers. That was a fun fight...at least for me.

:smallbiggrin:

.

[nedz]

You could have some of the rose bushes trees awakened. These could move around, when no one is looking, to change the layout of the maze. Bonus points if you trap the party in a loop.

Actually you could have most of the maze mobile. More bonus points if someone is mapping it meticulously.

[John Longarrow]

As a secondary encounter, have a reflecting pool. Cool, clear water that is several inches deep. Underneath is an ooze or pudding of some kind.

Something to consider. What if the characters decide to just cut through the walls if the maze? Is that a possibility for them? Or are you intending they can't cut through. For myself, I think it would be kinda cool if they could, but that the roses release a nasty pollen when cut (DC 20 Fort or sneeze your head off for 1d20 rounds. Treat as exhausted while sneezing plus cannot move silently) with the roses regrowing in 1d6 rounds after they punch a whole through.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by John Longarrow
As a secondary encounter, have a reflecting pool. Cool, clear water that is several inches deep. Underneath is an ooze or pudding of some kind.

An aballin would be perfect for this. They're from Monsters of Faerûn (pp. 11-12) and they do this for a living:


"Aballins lie passively, masquerading as puddles, small ponds, fountains, or cavern pools, indistinguishable from fresh water until a potential victim approaches. When they sense prey nearby, they alter their structure, becoming a 10-foot-tall column of living fluid and lashing out with gelatinous pseudopods at their opponents."

Good times, especially when the party is hot and thirsty after a couple hard encounters just before this.

:smalltongue:

[John Longarrow]

Palanan

But it really needs to be a pudding! That way once the party defeats it, they suffer the wrath of the great Cosby!!! :smallcool:

AlanBruce

As a fun idea, have a juggernaught set up for lawn care running around the maze mowing the grass (and anything else that gets in its way). For fun, have a Grig on its back giving it directions, kinda like a gardener on a riding lawnmower.

[Keld Denar]

Moar Topiary Guardians. Lions and Tigers and Bears (oh my)!

And octopus.

[AlanBruce]

These are great ideas! Thank you so much!

The walls of this maze are 10 ft. thick. The conjurer has Abrupt Jaunt, so he might or might not be able to move through the walls.

I had anticipated the burning of the walls with fire spells, torches and the like. And yes, I had thought of some effects that the roses might have, like sleep pollen mixed with a glitterdust.

The shrieker fungus sounds like a great alarm system. Have them shriek. The party tries to cut them down, only to realize that something else is quickly moving through the maze towards them. Panic ensues!

I will definitely implement all these ideas. It's a big maze, and the critters should be evenly spaced out, but I'd want the battlebriar to be the main threat.

Although the juggernaut with the grig gardener is too good to pass up.

And yes, I had thought of movable walls, to disorient the party. Worse case scenario, they can always teleport out of the maze and try again later.