Encounter Overview
Setting: The encounter takes place in a ruined ancient crypt, a possible location of an ancient artifact, lost knowledge, or a weapon.
Party Size & Level: Suitable for a party of 4-5 Level 5 characters.
Encounter Description
A large, rectangular room (50 ft by 30 ft) with a sarcophagus in the center and several broken crypts along the walls. When someone enters the crypt from the entrance at the center of the long wall, a glyph of warding with a prestidigitation effect igniting flickering torches in the chamber to provide dim light.
The crypt is equipped with a long-forgotten defensive mechanism. Once someone has entered the crypt, every 3 rounds, the floor panels shift, causing parts of the floor to rise or fall, creating difficult terrain and potentially isolating party members.
- Trigger: After every 3rd round.
- Effect: Roll a d6 to determine the changes:
- 1-2: Floor rises 10 feet in 4 random 10×10 ft sections, creating difficult terrain.
- 3-4: Floor falls 10 feet in 4 random 10×10 ft sections, creating pits (10 ft deep, 1d6 fall damage).
- 5-6: Both effects occur simultaneously.
- Note: A panel will not rise above 10 feet above the main floor or fall 10 feet below the main floor. If those sections are meant to move up or down when in those upper/lower limits then they do not move at all.
- Perception/Investigation Check (DC 15): Reveals faint lines on the floor indicating potential movement.
Creatures:
- 3 Skeleton Warriors
- 1 Wight
- 2 Quasit
- 1 Cambion
Encounter Objectives:
There can be many goals ascribed to this encounter, but it is mainly designed to destroy all the creatures in the room to gain access to the sarcophagus. One of the twists that can be added is to have the fiendish creatures also be trying to access the sarcophagus for the mcguffin that lies within.
Tactics
- Skeleton Warriors will form a frontline, engaging the party directly.
- Wight will use its Life Drain to weaken the party and create additional zombies if possible.
- Quasits will use their invisibility to ambush and sting from behind, targeting spellcasters and ranged attackers.
- Cambion will utilize its fire rays and spells to control the battlefield, staying airborne or in advantageous positions created by the shifting floor.