Walking into a mimic

[tim01300]

So I found this encounter idea on a list and I want to run it, but I need some help with the actually logistics of it.
My group are level 3, containing a paladin, cleric, wiz, sorc, fighter, and swashbuckler.


The party stumbles upon a clearing, with a post stamped into the ground. A message scrawled in Primordial reads about a treasure found in the hidden home of squirrels. With a few investigation checks, the party finds an odd tree. Around the back of the tree is a poorly hidden, though hidden, door. The door has no lock on it, but is not open; it has a feeling as though it is stuck. It can be forced open, or pried open, or cut open with fairly decent resistance. Inside is a staircase leading downward, lit by candles embedded in the tree that don’t seem like they’re burning the tree, though they are quite bright. After a 5-minute descent, the staircase ends in what appears to be a basement. The ceilings drip, and the room is damp and warm. (You can also narrate that the stairs are slippery, and have your players roll athletics not to slip). A decent perception roll can see that the floor and ceiling leak the warm water, without much of a source, while a really good perception check will notice that the color of the environment has become darker, and has a reddish tinge. Otherwise, there appears to be a library or study (whichever is easier for you to narrate.) There are no loose papers or pens and all of the books appear to be locked up, so that they cannot be taken out. A chest in the back can be found, a hair too conspicuously. Upon opening it, there is nothing inside but a pit, that smells of vomit and acid. With that, the room begins to shrink, slowly. The party should discover that they’re in the mouth of a giant mimic, who is swallowing them. Upon escaping, the entire tree uproots itself, spits and snarls at the players, and runs away. Best described if you can drop hints about descending the gullet of a beast, such as a hot draft, or distant gurgling.

My first thought is that if they just deal enough damage to the inside of the creature it spits them out, but that seems kinda easy after such a build up.

[Geddy2112]

First off would be converting the encounter to pathfinder from 5E, which this seems written for :)

Seriously though, if you want escape to be an option besides killing the thing, you have to make the "door" to the room easier to break out of than killing the thing. So you can have a TON of HP for the mimic but considerably less for the door. Following the swallow whole rules the door can have a seperate AC and HP. Probably higher AC and lower HP, while the "walls" have a reverse.

Going 5 minutes down into this thing makes it incredibly big, so colossal size would apply if you want to make this a monster. The walls would probably be treated as flat footed, as the only real AC bonus they get would be natural armor of the interior, which is a better idea than hardness.

Crushing the party is the end goal, but start with it filling with acid and basically auto damaging the party each round. 1d6 or so turns up the heat, otherwise they are just on a timer till they auto die. If they do kill the mimic, they will have to cut themselves loose, and they might still die in that case. A 5 minute journey up the throat of the beast that is trying to swallow them is near impossible and lethal for that level party filled with acid. Maybe just make it 15' or so down, enough to lure them in and trap them but not be a dungeon.

[Firebug]

Run it as a chase scene? You have already mentioned various obstacles and checks that would apply to the escape.

[Segev]

In 3e and earlier editions, the Lurker Above, the Trapper, and the Mimic all work together to make a "living dungeon" of this sort.

If you want it just to be one mimic, it's got to be advanced by a ton of HD to get to colossal size or bigger, or you need to make this something like a tiny closet, maybe with what appears to be a door on the far side. Stick them to the interior doorknob and close up behind them.

[Particle_Man]

Have the party fall unconscious and then recover somewhere nearby. The mimic is gone. Continue the adventure.

Give the party members slight shape change abilities, and some adhesive light abilities like spider climb, slowly, as they level up.

Eventually, start giving them weird dreams where they are changing shape into all sorts of furniture.

Finally, have them come to the truth that they are actually children of the mimic that absorbed the personalities of the people killed by their "parent" before it split via mitosis into the current version of the party.

They can make SAN checks as appropriate. :smallbiggrin:

[Segev]

Have the party fall unconscious and then recover somewhere nearby. The mimic is gone. Continue the adventure.

Give the party members slight shape change abilities, and some adhesive light abilities like spider climb, slowly, as they level up.

Eventually, start giving them weird dreams where they are changing shape into all sorts of furniture.

Finally, have them come to the truth that they are actually children of the mimic that absorbed the personalities of the people killed by their "parent" before it split via mitosis into the current version of the party.

They can make SAN checks as appropriate. :smallbiggrin:

That would be pretty cool.

[jintoya]

Have the party fall unconscious and then recover somewhere nearby. The mimic is gone. Continue the adventure.

Give the party members slight shape change abilities, and some adhesive light abilities like spider climb, slowly, as they level up.

Eventually, start giving them weird dreams where they are changing shape into all sorts of furniture.

Finally, have them come to the truth that they are actually children of the mimic that absorbed the personalities of the people killed by their "parent" before it split via mitosis into the current version of the party.

They can make SAN checks as appropriate. :smallbiggrin:
I think I'm going to make this the backstory to a character and see what happens

[arkangel111]

I'm so doing this to my next party. anyone have an idea how to essentially gestalt a mimic race? id want them to gain the abilities over time.