Nirrum and I both enjoy stories
At least one of us can tell which ones are true.
We are now nearing the end of the Danzuishanese Maze as I ran it the first time. This floor took up two sessions and the next floor took up half of one. For that reason I'm not going to post up the Sixth floor, and save its secrets for another day.
We also have two new tracks for this one, as it took quite a long time to write.
Listen to this for a moment, and allow yourself to relax. As we enter the Maze again.
This room Is cold and coated in frost. It is an ellipse, 900ft long and 200ft wide (\frac{x^2}{a^2}+\frac{y^2}{b^2}=1).
Thank you, Desmos.
Staying in this room for more than an hour without heat or travelling gear requires constitution saves to avoid freezing. The check is 9+the number of hours spent in the room. Creatures with resistance or immunity to cold automatically succeed on this save.
The majority of the room is a slow slope toward the centre, where a river runs through the room starting at (h=\frac{z_0.866}{-4.5}) and collecting in two pools, both 400ft from either end, one slightly south-west, the other slightly north east, creating a radial symmetry to the room as the river flows under the central mound and exits the room on the south east side
A Set of standing stones creates a ring around the middle. Running between the stones, creating the pattern of a Seven-pointed star, is a single strand of thick red-dyed wool thread.
The First thing done in this room was the Paladin sliding down the hill on a shield.
The other end of the room has a thin humanoid figure that is 4'9. Its face is only made of a mouth, it has long, stringy lavender hair, it is pale and wears no clothing. Its ribcage is impossibly small. It has two extremely gangly arms with only three fingers but two thumbs and a central micro thumb at the base of its palm. When the players approach it opens the mouth, the mouth continues to open and the skin around the mouth continues to fold back while the body retracts into this impossible opening jaw. Eventually all that is left is a flat half-disc composed of the roof and floor of a massive mouth on either side. It falls to the floor. If the party touches it, it bites them. It has the stats of a maw demon.
Have you ever seen a man eat his own head? The idea of something opening its mouth wide enough to consume itself has always been funny to me, and I like the jumping bean Idea.
Behind it is a large metal door, beside which is a glowing blue circle made of some rubbery material. Pressing this circle opens the metal door, which slides upward with a hiss, closing after 18 seconds.
I included a large mirror inside of a square room and two buttons, one of which was green and the other of which glowed purple to creatures with darkvision, that is to say, infrared. Instead of just having a door I made it an elevator to increase tension and drama. Never describe it as an elevator, just what an elevator feels like
This brings us to my favourite song on the playlist
Room 2 is a large temple. Statues around this 30ft tall room resemble a mantis with each shoulder producing two arms that seem to be able to come together to mimic one arm. Each statue holds a pick like polearm to the throat of the next statue in sequence. There are five in total.
The Image of Garl Glittergold, God of the Gnomes, is lovingly carved and painted into the wall opposite the previous room. Leaving a gold piece or any treasure in front of Garl Glittergold and walking away causes the wall to fade out to reveal a basket with 4630gp worth of various sizes of topaz inside it. To the left and right are two corridors. Both are twisted in the same direction, such that the floor begins to rise to the right. Walking down this hallway causes one to feel the pull of gravity change to match the orientation of the floor. It twists 270 degrees before splitting into two even hallways. At the end of each hallway, a right-turn leads to a room. A hole in the ceiling leads up to floors 4 and 2.
They still never investigated the shaft going up, but the cleric decided it was a good idea to give an offering to Garl in the form of ten coins. He was rewarded handsomely for his respect
We also have two new tracks for this one, as it took quite a long time to write.
Listen to this for a moment, and allow yourself to relax. As we enter the Maze again.
Fifth Floor - The Ancients
This room Is cold and coated in frost. It is an ellipse, 900ft long and 200ft wide (\frac{x^2}{a^2}+\frac{y^2}{b^2}=1).
Thank you, Desmos.
Staying in this room for more than an hour without heat or travelling gear requires constitution saves to avoid freezing. The check is 9+the number of hours spent in the room. Creatures with resistance or immunity to cold automatically succeed on this save.
The majority of the room is a slow slope toward the centre, where a river runs through the room starting at (h=\frac{z_0.866}{-4.5}) and collecting in two pools, both 400ft from either end, one slightly south-west, the other slightly north east, creating a radial symmetry to the room as the river flows under the central mound and exits the room on the south east side
A Set of standing stones creates a ring around the middle. Running between the stones, creating the pattern of a Seven-pointed star, is a single strand of thick red-dyed wool thread.
The First thing done in this room was the Paladin sliding down the hill on a shield.
- Cutting the thread undoes the seal in the room and unleashes a frost salamander from the far door.
- Unwinding the thread from its anchor at the north corner frees a level 2 Fighter Eladrin. She is winter seasoned, and upset at her imprisonment and the loss of her people. Her name is Graven and she wields a pair of Dha (shortswords).
- Meditating in the middle of the standing circle for more than a minute puts a player under the effects of *sanctuary* indefinitely. Until the sanctuary ends (such as from making an attack), the character can cast druidcraft at will
- walking seven times clockwise and seven times counterclockwise around the standing stones summons an old
Human Archdruid who floats for a moment, smiles, then vanishes into ash wordlessly as soon as he touches the ground, leaving behind a *staff of the woodlands*. Each time a player walks around the circle entirely, a light shines at the tip of one of the standing stones.
Alas, They simply cut the cord. I wanted this circle to be a few things, to have multiple stories depending on how you interacted with it.
Have you ever seen a man eat his own head? The idea of something opening its mouth wide enough to consume itself has always been funny to me, and I like the jumping bean Idea.
Behind it is a large metal door, beside which is a glowing blue circle made of some rubbery material. Pressing this circle opens the metal door, which slides upward with a hiss, closing after 18 seconds.
I included a large mirror inside of a square room and two buttons, one of which was green and the other of which glowed purple to creatures with darkvision, that is to say, infrared. Instead of just having a door I made it an elevator to increase tension and drama. Never describe it as an elevator, just what an elevator feels like
This brings us to my favourite song on the playlist
Room 2 is a large temple. Statues around this 30ft tall room resemble a mantis with each shoulder producing two arms that seem to be able to come together to mimic one arm. Each statue holds a pick like polearm to the throat of the next statue in sequence. There are five in total.
The Image of Garl Glittergold, God of the Gnomes, is lovingly carved and painted into the wall opposite the previous room. Leaving a gold piece or any treasure in front of Garl Glittergold and walking away causes the wall to fade out to reveal a basket with 4630gp worth of various sizes of topaz inside it. To the left and right are two corridors. Both are twisted in the same direction, such that the floor begins to rise to the right. Walking down this hallway causes one to feel the pull of gravity change to match the orientation of the floor. It twists 270 degrees before splitting into two even hallways. At the end of each hallway, a right-turn leads to a room. A hole in the ceiling leads up to floors 4 and 2.
They still never investigated the shaft going up, but the cleric decided it was a good idea to give an offering to Garl in the form of ten coins. He was rewarded handsomely for his respect
- If the players take the right corridor and then another right, they come to a chamber with a painted-on dark overcast sky and painted on stone walls over plaster. The paintings are poorly done. This chamber is entirely empty but about twelve seconds after someone enters the room, an Armanite appears, raging and looking for a kill.
So, funny story. They entered this room in initiative order, and I described a tiny crack in the air in the middle of the room that smelled like sulphur. On the second round, the cleric cast dispel magic and rolled like, a 22 versus the DC of 18 that the spell was cast at, thus, preventing the entire thing from happeneing - Taking the right corridor then the left leads down a snaky hallway to a small river. At first it appears to be water, but anyone who smells the water before tasting it finds out that it is white vinegar (7% by volume, suitable for pickling). The river runs through aqua and teal walls that appear to be made of cracked ceramic. The diffuse light comes only from the ceiling for once. The channel is 5ft wide and creates a winding path that leads to a 10ft waterfall (of vinegar) and then into a deep pool (90ft wide), within which is a gargantuan (dojo/weather) Loach (statted as a plesiosaurus with double to-hit, damage, and health; and an ac and Intelligence of 16, as well as immunity to acid damage). The loach speaks Giant loach. It will attempt to eat any creature that attacks it or does not move after entering the pool. The Vinegar does 1d4 acid damage to any creature that tries to breath in it. If talked to, the loach says that it will reveal a secret to anyone who defeats the Identically statted Loach detailed below. At the bottom of the pool covered by gravel is a grate that leads to floor 6-1. If the party completes its request it tells them that if they find the mark of the loach in another room, that splashing it with vinegar or salt will reveal a secret room with treasure inside. (Floor 7)
I never did write floor 7. They encountered this loach and asked his name, I told them it was Richard Burton and that his Brother's name was Sharyar. The druid stayed in this room actually and rolled a new character, leaving this one to record Richard Burton's stories. - Taking the left corridor and then a right leads to a spiralling water slide coated in soapy water that smells of jasmine. At the bottom of the slide is a 60ft drop into a pool with a hostile and Vibrant red dojo loach with blue spots along its length, and six giant sharks, each Capable of fly 60ft if they are chasing after a creature. The Loach recites "Tales from One Thousand and One Nights," In giant loach, but does not communicate otherwise. the bottom of the pool of soapy water (which does 1 poison damage to any creature that tries to breath in it) is covered in mud but the mud hides Joffrey, a sentient greatsword, who is pinned against the grate leading to Sixth Floor (2).(dungeon masters guide to magical items homebrew)
- Joffrey
Weapon (greatsword), uncommon (requires attunement)
While you wield this weapon, as an action you can direct the sword to fly you up to 30 feet in a direction of your choice. The sword can carry the weight of one Medium or smaller creature. You can use Joffrey to fly for up to one hour, all at once or in several shorter flights, each using a minimum of 1 minute from the duration. If you are flying when the duration expires, you descend at a rate of 30 feet per round until you land. Joffrey regains the 1 hour of flight capability when you take a long rest.
While you wield this weapon, as an action you can direct the sword to fly you up to 30 feet in a direction of your choice. The sword can carry the weight of one Medium or smaller creature. You can use Joffrey to fly for up to one hour, all at once or in several shorter flights, each using a minimum of 1 minute from the duration. If you are flying when the duration expires, you descend at a rate of 30 feet per round until you land. Joffrey regains the 1 hour of flight capability when you take a long rest.
- Thrown Weapon 40/120
- Sentience. This is a sentient item of a chaotic neutral alignment, with an intelligence of 10, wisdom of 11, and a charisma of 9. The weapon communicates telepathically with its wielder when held. It has no senses, it cannot see, hear, smell or find its way on its own. If let go the weapon can fly but is guaranteed to get lost.
- Personality. Joffrey speaks like a confused old man. It likes being referred to as Jeff. It is almost always confused because it lacks a way to sense the world outside the sword. Due to this it is also quite curious and often asks many questions to its wielder about what is going on and where they are. If it’s wielder has been exploring, adventuring, and learning new things, being told of these occurrences excites and brings joy to the weapon. If its questions are ignored for 2 weeks or more, the weapon weeps for itself
So it turns out that the sharks were far far more deadly than Sharyar. Flying, 3d10 bite damage is a powerful combination it seems. I also realize I didnt' write the size of the room. I made it 120ft to accomodate the combatants. They found Joffrey and got him out. Joffrey is from a homebrew I found on /r/unearthedarcana, and I was quite pleased with it. My favourite out of that is the Charity weapon described on the first floor. They exited through this path, communicating telepathically that this was the way to go.
- Taking the left corridor and then a left leads to a Massive goblin filled castle ruled by Skull lord who wishes to escape, but won't describe how he got there. Each of the three heads introduces themselves as "Clarence, Haxushi, and Kalikor" from right to left. If they ever need to escape danger or if they think it will benefit them, they will betray the party. A door behind them leads to the Sixth floor(3).
Somehow, They got the impression that clarence wasn't evil. These goblins got to come along with the party as did the skull lord. The Lich at this point was extremely well fed, having consumed the souls of all things the party encountered so both of them tolerated eachother for the...I'd say two hours they remained in the maze after this. I very much expected both undead to have a reason to attack the party long beforehand.
The Fifth floor only contained three rooms that the party saw. Don't panic though, in the near future, I'll be livestreaming my worldbuilding and worldbuilding process and part of that will be the Danzuishanese Maze, as I plan to vastly expand how it can be played, changing up the forumla of your average random dungeon. The next floor and the vision of a couple of later floors is not without inspiration either
But long story short, the party took the next possible exit, and earned their badges as Maze-hunters. They then bought not one but two castles within the city with their exorbitant spare change. This brings them up in time to the beginning of a new era on Snarl.
This blog post is going to mark the beginning of another gap until both my current parties reach the year 5854, whence I'll be taking a massive break from DMing and streaming my worldbuilding, asking others for help, and looking to the people watching for suggestions and content. The Danzuishanese maze revitalized part of my imagination but the amount of work I do in between sessions has me thoroughly drained for now. This mostly means that I just need to take a break and do what I do best. Worldbuild and lorecraft to make up for the amount of holes my improvisation leaves.
Dal rahi aleeg kem'i,
Nirrum the Mad
Dal rahi aleeg kem'i,
Nirrum the Mad
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