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View Full Version : Pathfinder Help needed for a small "menagerie" style encounter for PF/3.x



Lord of Shadows
2014-05-14, 02:47 PM
Get those creative juices flowing! I could use some help with an isolated (and possibly abandoned) outpost on a remote moon. The party's only way of getting to it is by a Gate-style transport ring (that also goes to other places, just trying to be ready for anything). This location is based on an entry in the Secret Santicore 2011 (http://gibletblizzard.blogspot.com/2011/12/secret-santicore-2011.html) article called "Shards of the World."

This encounter is for a 12th level PF/3.x group of about 5 or 6 characters.

First, the legendary info known by the party:


The Bastion is a grim iron fortress that legends usually place on a moon of the 5th planet of the system. It appears at first glance to be a well-fortified military outpost built by some unknown power. Legends tell a much different story, however, describing it as a laboratory experiment begun by some ancient alien beings for a completely unfathomable purpose. The Bastion is said to be populated by every kind of intelligent creature known, all of which have been – or are being – driven mad. Legends also say that it doesn't seem to be made to keep things out... it’s made to keep them IN.

Next, a description of the map I have found to use with this encounter:


The design is circular, with an outer ring of rooms facing inward. There are four "portal rooms," one at each of the cardinal points. Each portal room has a window that provides a view of the rest of the facility, as well as the moon beyond (and possibly the related planet). Around the circle between each of the portal rooms are four groups of five "cells" (20 total), facing into a circular hall that goes completely around connecting all the cells. At the center is a hub consisting of an observation/control room, living quarters, and storage. There is a trap door in the circular hallway that allows access to a lower level/crawlspace that contains all the mundane stuff the place needs in order to function.

This is presumably one "level" of a much larger facility, but I don't want to get too big with this. The "alien beings" who built it may or may not be present in some form, and the cells may have automated feeding and waste disposal systems that could have kept any "specimens" alive, or not. Also the crawlspace is dark, and damp, and terrifying.

Ideas I am rattling around: some of the specimens got loose, and roam the circular hallway and/or other areas (this place is big). And of course there is something down in the crawlspace.

There is nothing in particular planned that the party needs to recover from here, although the portal they are departing from is in the tomb of an ancient wizard who dabbled in prophecy and had a Fey consort.

Thanks in advance.
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Lord of Shadows
2014-05-14, 09:00 PM
Some additional thoughts..


All 20 "cells" contain something, and the "magic" of the place rotates them all through a cycle of suspended animation and activity, which explains how they can all still be here after some unknown amount of time. Most of these creatures have gone mad, and sorting out the truth about what is going on will be a challenge.
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Some of the cells have creatures, many of whom look strangely like explorer-types, although some look exceedingly strange (alien). All but one are in suspended animation upon arrival, but that one is quite mad, and what he says makes no sense to the party. Something about, "go away or the monster will eat you!" (The "monster" is The Bastion, and anyone who enters an empty cell becomes its prisoner; there is no one "in control")
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Some powerful creature "got loose" in the past and took over this "level" of the complex. This could go in any direction from "Alien" to "Transcendence." There could be other "prisoners" here hoping for someone to show up who will release them.