Saturday, March 1, 2014

D&D Puzzle/Trap Room

The party enters a large cavern (or room). The only thing inside it a three-foot tall white stone idol. The idol is brightly illuminated from above, obscuring its features. You cannot discern the source of the light. 

Arcana Check 
Easy:  There is an almost overwhelming amount of magical energy filling the entire room. 
Moderate: The energy seems to be emanating from the idol itself. 
Additionally, to any PC with experience in the Underdark this energy seems a bit familiar. To any gnome PC, the energy is familiar and even welcoming. 

If the PCs send someone in first (with some people staying outside), there is a kind of spacial warping effect - they move normally but can't cover the distance between the door and the statue. There are no apparent exits from this room. If the characters decide to give up and leave, you could have them turn around and go back the way they came... only to have the same room appear before them in the other direction. This should suffice to should the PCs that they all must enter the room. As soon as the last one steps inside...

The second you step inside, you feel a slight bump at your back. When you turn around, you see nothing but a smooth wall. A moment later, you blink and find yourselves standing in a semicircle around the illuminated idol. 

Religion Check
Easy: This appears to be a gnome deity. 
Moderate (or Easy for a gnome PC): This is Calladuran Smoothhands, god of the svirfneblin.
Difficult (or Moderate for a gnome PC): Calladuran Smoothhands is a neutral deity, the god of the darkness beneath the earth, magic, protection, and... trickery. (Mwahahahaha!)