Dungeon Magazine #94

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• Three mouthfuls of squirming blue termites have a hidden nest in a lonely rotten shelf in this otherwise empty room. Eating one mouthful heals d8+1 hit points.

  • This gets my vote (after 5 comments), hands down. I especially like the unit of measurement.

    • Thanks. Needs some minor tweaking, but I wrote it while taking a crap that morning, so it's not too bad under the circumstances.

• "HOLEY ROOM: Sacked by a disappointed looter. Old, dusty furnishings, smashed and upturned, including a wooden shelf with a secret button ripped from the wall. 4 mounting holes for shelf bored in wall, 1' apart, 3" diameter, 1.5' deep. Secret alcove opened by pressing catch at end of two end-holes. 3 potions inside.

  Features: Secret alcove containing 3 potions."

  Screw DC search checks.

  • I want to add:

    "YOU SUCK VIGGO! THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!" is burned into the wall.

• You need to include DCs for a 3e game, but there’s no reason you can’t indulge in a little remedial DM/player education:

  "This room is featureless except for a series of holes in the wall in the far left corner, which are all that remains of a 3 foot wooden shelf. The holes are large enough to accommodate a finger, and can be found with a DC 20 Search check, or automatically if the PCs are searching the walls (as for secret doors). There are catches inside the holes which will open a small compartment containing the treasure. The catches can be found with a DC 22 Search check, or automatically if the holes are closely inspected."

  I'm assuming we aren't adding any clues that weren't in the original; otherwise I would be inclined to have rotting pegs sticking out of the holes, which would be obvious and mentioned in the preceding boxed text. Who puts a wooden shelf in a cistern, anyway?

• Dusty Cube:
  Swept disturbingly clean, close examination will reveal several splatters of blood on the ceiling and a set of holes bored in one corner. There are catches in two of the holes that will open a Hidden Wardrobe if pressed simultaneously.

  Hidden Wardrobe - A stone stall, barely big enough to stand in, containing rotten clothing and three vials of magical elixir: a black tarry Philter of Hate (+2 attack +1 damage, 1 point AC penalty for 20-WIS turns), An ivory tub of greenish Wax of Division (1D6+3 applications, each allows a normal cutting weapon to strike weapon immune creatures), and a red glowing test tube of Artificial Light (will act as a light spell if agitated, lethally poisonous if ingested).

• Opulent carpets and couches once decorated this chamber, but gnawing giant rats have left them ragged and filthy. The only undamaged item is a shelf of mildewed mahogany too high on the wall for the rats to reach. Four small holes in the wall beneath it may once have supported similar shelves, but two of them also hold hidden catches (Search DC 22 to spot them). Pressing both catches open a hidden niche, in which sits a tarnished hand mirror, the Glass of the Sodden Countess.

  Once a prized possession of Countess Khowderei (a noblewoman infamous for her drunken misadventures), the Glass must be thoroughly polished before it will function properly. The Glass can be used to store potions (and other potables) by pouring them into it. The possessor then need only name the stored drink to see her reflection appear to quaff the named beverage. The possessor then tastes it and feels its effects. The mirror currently holds two shots of single-malt whiskey, a tankard-full of northern mead, two Potions of Lesser Restoration (just the thing for hangovers), and a Philtre of Delusion (for 30 minutes, it gives the drinker the mistaken idea that she can read others’ most secret desires). The mirror radiates a moderate dweomer of illusion.

  Along with the mirror, the niche holds a note in common. It reads “two single-malt, one northern, two hair of the dog, and hearts’ secrets”.

• "Apparently empty room. A secret compartment in the left wall (Search DC 22) hides three potions."

• The floors are scraped and scoured, room barren save one crumbling shelf in the corner, covered in patches of moss. There is a faint scent of mildew. Hidden beneath the shelf are four small and grimy holes, suitable for prodding by a stick, or poking from a courageous finger. Doing so in the first or last hole prompts a peculiar grinding sound. Pressing into both at once makes the stones of the wall slowly separate with a tremendous grinding noise, revealing "The Alcove".

  "The Alcove" is a small, moist cavern covered in mushroom and mold growths. Shattered green glass and a strange bluish green glowing liquid fill a small pool in the center of the room. Three green bottles with no labels are tucked in the corner.

  The liquid here magically enhances plant and fungal growth. For humanoids and most animals, could either result in changing size, internal fungal growth, transformation into a myconid, temporarily learning to speak fluent Plant, or simply tasting the distinct flavor of truffle oil. Oozes and sentient plant-like creatures will recklessly pursue this liquid if it is nearby while animals fearfully and instinctively avoid it.

• "The room is empty but careful searching might benefit the PCs. A DC 20 search check reveals the remains of a shelf in the far left corner. The wooden pegs and board have long since rotten away, but close examination reveals a secret switch which opens a small compartment behind the shelf which contains 3 dusty bottles of halfling wine. The years have transformed the vintage into potions of lesser healing (or similar potions at DM discretion)."

• (Going for Brevity:)
  Looted Armory Chamber - A secret compartment under a shelf opens when hidden catches in peg holes are pressed (DC 22 Perception). It holds three gourds filled with goblin-made Haste potions. Users feel overwheming hunger after the haste effect ends: Save (Will DC 16) or devour all available food items.