This is the fourth encounter in my 4E conversion of The Sunless Citadel. I’m posting one encounter per week. Come back next week for a new encounter.

Encounter 4: Forlorn Notes and Dragon Riddles
Encounter Level 1 (500 XP)

The PCs discover an ancient gallery undisturbed for ages, where a lit globe plays brooding music. When they get too close, the volume rises to painful levels. A trapped hallway leads to another chamber where the statue of a dragon poses a riddle the PCs must answer if they wish to open a secret door. This encounter includes the following creatures:

  • 1 magic crossbow turret
  • 1 music globe of doom

sunlesscitadel_enc4

Read the following to the players as they approach the first stone door:

The masonry walls of this 20-foot wide hall are in poor repair. The far end is especially bad, as it has completely collapsed, filling the southern section with rubble. The western wall is in much better shape than the other walls, and it holds a stone door with a rearing dragon carved in relief upon it. The door contains a single keyhole, which is situated in the dragon’s open mouth.

When the PCs open the door, read the following:

As the door opens, a hissing noise and a puff of dust mark the escape of ancient, stale air. The dust of ages, long undisturbed, covers every surface in the large gallery beyond. Three alcoves along the north wall contain dust-covered pedestals with fist-sized globes of crystal sitting dark and cracked atop them. One alcove is set in the southern wall, its globe glowing with a soft blue light and the faint notes of some forlorn song tinkling forth from it.

Music Globe of Doom Level 3 Obstacle
Hazard XP 350
This crystalline globe glows with a soft blue light. Faint, tinkling notes of forlorn music spring forth from it. When disturbed, the volume of the music swells to painful levels.
Hazard:A music globe of doom fills a square. When triggered, it makes a psychic burst attack.
Perception
No check is necessary to notice the globe.
Trigger
When a creature enters a square adjacent to the globe, or the globe is touched.
Attack
Standard Action Close burst 5
Target: All creatures in burst
Attack: +6 vs. Will
Hit: 1d10 psychic damage, ongoing 5 psychic damage, and target is immobilized (save ends both).
Countermeasures
  • A character who blocks their ears gains a +2 bonus to their Will defense.
  • Muffling the globe by covering it (e.g., with a cloth) grants a +1 bonus to the Will defense of all creatures in the blast.
  • A character can smash the globe (DC 14).
  • A character can cast a silence ritual, reducing the attack range to a close burst 2.
  • Removing the globe from the chamber renders it powerless.

Once the PCs open the western-most stone door, read the following to the players:

Dust fills this hall like a layer of gray snow. In the rounded northern end of the chamber, you see a sculpture of a dragon carved from red-veined white marble.

Features
Illumination: The music globe of doom provides dim illumination in the gallery as long as it is active, otherwise it is darkness. The PCs must provide their own light source.

Rearing dragon stone door: This door is enchanted with an arcane lock ritual (DC 36 to break or unlock). Yusdrayl, the kobold leader, has the key.

Magic crossbow turret triggers: The two squares marked in the hallway trigger this trap whenever a creature not carrying a holy symbol of Tiamat enter them.

Dragon statue: This statue stands 10-feet tall and depicts a coiled dragon. A creature moving into a square adjacent to the statue activates a magic mouth ritual. The dragon’s stone jaws will appear to move, and a voice will speak the following riddle in Common: We come at night without being fetched; we disappear by day without being stolen.

Secret door: A Perception check (DC 20) will reveal this door. However, it will only open if the magic mouth on the dragon statue has been activated and the answer to the riddle spoken. The answer is “stars”. An Intelligence check (DC 15) will allow a PC to realize the answer if the players are stumped.