Big Bear Cave
I said I'd do the cave next, so here's the cave. Again it needs a map, maybe I do the map tomorrow?
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Encounters
1-3. 2d6 Bugbear Posers (HD 3, AC as Chainmail, Attack as Claw or Spear) 4-5. 1d6 Cave Bears (HD 5, AC as Chainmail, Attack as Claw x2) 6. Scourge the Octobear (HD 8, AC as Chainmail, Attack as Giant Bite or Giant Claw x8)
Rooms
- Bugbear Guard Camp. A bridge of stone overlooks the main tunnel. Parapets are masoned into the stone, giving cover to 20 bugbears. If intruders are spotted, half the bugbears run to alert the lair, the rest try to drive the intruders back, they have a substantial supply of rocks and javelins.
- Crystal Stairs. Jagged crystalline structures take 1d6 turns to climb up or down. If in a hurry, they can be climbed in 1d3 turns, but characters with less than 13 Dexterity must save vs petrification or fall partway through the climb, taking 2d6 damage. In an earthquake or cave-in, all characters must make the saving throw to climb at normal speed..
- Hot Springs. Terraced pools of effervescent water tinged green, blue and yellow with trace minerals. 1d6 cave bears relax in the pools, they are so relaxed, they get a +2 to their reaction roll. Soaking in a green pool for an hour grants the ability to see magic and invisibility for an hour. Soaking in a blue pool for an hour grants the ability to speak the language of animals for an hour. Soaking in a yellow pool for an hour gives one a fearsome aspect for an hour, all enemies of less than 5 HD must test morale or flee upon setting eyes upon you.
- Bugbear Lair. 185 Bugbears live in this cluster of caves, about 60 of them are skilled combatants. Mostly they farm oil beetles; Big wicker cages hold about 300 of the giant insects.
- Scourge's Lair. If she hasn't been encountered, she is brooding here. Grizzly sculptures made from eviscerated victims tied together with metal wire are piled in the corners, and dangle from the ceiling. Made in Scourge's image, eight arms, eight heads each. She is lonely, talks to them, they are her children. She always wants more children, and believes that one day one will talk back.
- Stone Heart. A pinkish, lumpen structure of granite with veins that run into the grey walls and floor. A hole in the side reveals it as a geode filled with sparkling ruby. A single miner working for an hour can extract 1d10+10 eyeball-sized rubies worth 1000sp each. For each hour of work, they have a 10-in-20 chance of breaking their tools, and a 2-in-20 chance of awakening the heart. If the heart is awoken, the hole in its side seals in one turn, and any ruby in the heart or extracted from it turns molten. The heart begins to beat and the caves shake and groan as if in an earthquake. In 1d6 hours, the mountain wakes, raising its head and stretching four great limbs, revealing itself as a titanic stone bear, the entrance to Big Bear Cave is its mouth. Big Bear Basecamp is crushed as the bear wakes, everyone inside must save vs petrification, or be flattened, those who survive, do so barely with 0 HP remaining.
Bugbear Lair
- Temple. A clergy of 20 bugbear priests guard this large cave. The carapaces of oil beetles are displayed around the edges, each showing gold or silver in the patterns of their shells. The bugbears believe that the metallic shells can be interpreted to tell the future, and beetles hatched with golden shells are revered as holy. Each of these shells would sell for 1500sp to a sage, wizard or curious noble.
- Bile Vats. Beetle bile is collected in two great vats. Black Bile is mixed with limestone dust to make soap. Yellow bile is kneaded like taffy into a fine thread like silk. The two biles ignite immediately when mixed, and the vats here hold enough bile to destroy the whole lair and trigger a cave-in within the whole cave.
- Vault. 10 bugbears guard a heavily locked iron door. 1600 rations of dried beetle-meat, 4500sp, and 20 eyeball-sized rubies worth 1000sp each are carefully stored within.
- Soap Factory. Non-combatant bugbears load barrels of black bile and limestone dust into a central mixing vat, and scoop out ladles of the resultant sludge into molds to set. Beetle bile soap is incredibly sudsy, one block mixed with a skin of water can fill a 10' room with suds, or make a 15' radius area too slippery to move through.
- Spinning Room. Non-combatant bugbears pour yellow bile into a stirring trough, take turns walking in the big wheel to turn the paddles, pull strands from the trough to feed into spinning wheels, and dip spools into vats of dye. Beetle bile silk is incredibly sturdy. A seven-strand braid of it is as good as a rope with the added benefit of being fireproof.
- Chief's House. This cave is guarded by 30 combatant bugbears. The chief (5HD) lazes here with his wives, children, and two overfed oil beetles with pure golden shells. He wears the iron key to the vault around his neck, along with a necklace of 20 eyeball-sized rubies, each worth 1000sp. He keeps the magic spear SHUDDERING WHELP close at hand.
SHUDDERING WHELP
A +2 Spear. When stabbed into the ground, sparks of lightning shoot out to hit all enemies within 15'. Hit targets must save vs paralysis or take 1d6 damage and be frozen in place for 1 round per damage taken, 12 charges.
Scourge the Octobear
Looking somewhat like an octopus, Scourge has eight bear arms and eight bear heads. Her eyes glow with a fearsome hate for all living creatures. The product of a careless wizard's experiment, she killed her master and fled to Big Bear Mountain in search of other creatures like her, but bear and human alike met her with fear and contempt, driving her to live in the mountain's bowels.
No one ever catches Scourge by surprise. She can climb on ceilings and walls like a spider, and her fur is caked in mud and fungus that lets her blend in with the walls of the cave.
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Reading: Enshitification by Cory Doctorow
Listening: Bravery & Honor by Coniferous Myst
Playing The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)