Adventure Backdrop: Deep Roads

I’ve been playing a lot of the computer game Dragon Age: Origins recently and I’ve really enjoyed the great writing of the game: they really put together a deep and interesting history for the game’s setting.  One of the elements of this history keeps inspiring me with adventure ideas and encounters every time I think about it: The Deep Roads.

In the game’s history the dwarven people once had a vast underground empire.  The cities of this empire were connected by a massive series of tunnels that the dwarves had dug and that spanned hundreds of miles underground.

This idea, a series of underground highways, just keeps inspiring me as a DM.  What heroic adventures must have been undertaken as those roads were first carved?  What difficulties must have faced those undertaking the creation of such an ambitious work?  What troubles and opportunities did the Deep Roads create during the heyday of the dwarven empire?  And after the empire’s fall, when the deep roads were lost to them, taken over by horrors from below, what opportunities for adventure do they present?  Who could resist the lure of the lost treasures of a dwarven empire?  What needful items might be lost down their dark and crumbling avenues?

In the coming days I will be posting some encounters, creatures, and adventure seeds that take place against this inspiring backdrop.  For today, I refer you to one of the creatures that slithers along the dark passages of the underdark: the Crawling Drake.

Crawling Drake

This creature’s common name is something of a misnomer, as this dragon-like creature has no legs, just a scaly, sinuous, serpentine body and a pair of muscular wings. Able to rise and strike by propping itself up with its wings, these drakes deliver vicious wounds with their snapping jaws.

The origin of their species is speculated to be a mixture of dark things of the underlands, such as a corruption of fang dragon touched by creatures from the outer realms of cruelty and madness. Able to speak a few words of broken draconic and undercommon, crawling drakes are not especially intelligent, but they are tremendously fearsome, nasty and cruel.

Crawling drakes are crafty combatants and adept stalkers, and so will ambush their prey when possible. Once they pick a target, they will attempt to crush them in their coils while delivering bite after bite.  If possible they will attack the weakest-looking member of a group first.

Presented below is the wyrmling version of this monstrosity, as it is encountered while still young and relatively small.

Wyrmling Crawling Drake Level 5 Elite Lurker
Medium Aberrant Magical Beast (Reptile)- XP 400

Initiative +11 Senses Perception +9
HP 96; Bloodied 48
AC 19 Fortitude 17, Reflex 18, Will 16
Vulnerable 5 poison
Saving Throws +2
Speed 4, fly 8
Action Points 1

Powers

Venomus Bite – At-Will, Standard Action, Poison
+10 vs AC, 1d10 + 4 damage, the target is grabbed, and make a secondary attack:
Secondary Attack – Venom
+8 vs Fortitude, 1d6 + 4 posion damage and ongoing 5 poison damage (Save Ends).

Crushing Coils – At-Will, Minor Action
Target must be grabbed
+8 vs Fortitude, 3d8 + 4 damage and the target is weakened until the end of its next turn.

Hypnotic Coils – Immediate Interrupt when Attacked, One target within close blast 5, Recharge 4-6
As you prepare to strike the loathsome beast, its moving coils cause a sudden disorienting vertigo.
+6 vs Will, the target is dazed (save ends) and takes -4 on the triggering attack’s to-hit roll.

Alignment Evil – Languages some Undercommon, Draconic
Skills Perception +9, Stealth +12
Str 18 (+6) Dex 21 (+7) Wis 15 (+4)
Con 12 (+3) Int 9 (+1) Cha 9 (+1)

A character knows the following about crawling drakes with the following Dungeoneering skill checks:
DC 15: These large aberrant reptiles, called Crawling Drakes by the dwarves, are dangerous hunters of the caverns below the surface.
DC 20: Crawling Drakes use a venomous bite and their crushing coils to kill their prey, and have strangely hypnotic power over men’s minds.
DC 25: Ironically, though venomous, Crawling Drakes are themselves particularly susceptible to poison.


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Gremlins!

Of all the unseliee fey none are better known for causing annoying mischeif then gremlins. Cruel pranksters of the first order, gremlins love to untie knots, steal linchpins, pull stoppers out of drains, or anything else that will cause consternation in their victims. So sneaky are gremlins that their victims usually never see them, only hearing cruel, sniggering laughter as the gremlin’s pranks come to fruition.

Gremlins make their homes in caves and caverns, and are found in large numbers in the feywild’s underdark.  They live by theft, and usually take food from a target.  If retaliated against they will make a career out of harassing someone with dangerous pranks and sabotage.

Gremlins – Level 2 Lurker
small fey humanoid – XP125
Initiative +6 Senses darkvision, Perception +3
HP 25 Bloodied 12
AC 15  Fortitude 12   Reflex 16   Will 13
Speed 6

Powers
Dagger (At-Will, Standard, melee 1)
+6 vs AC, 1d4-1 damage.

Steal (At-Will, Standard, only usable while invisible)
Younk!
+6 vs Reflex (note: Gremlin will usually have combat advantage while making this attack)
Hit: the gremlin has stolen a small piece of non-held equipment, such as a purse or a loaf of bread, from the target without being noticed.  If the target is aware of the Gremlin’s presence they take a -10 on this check.
Special: if the gremlin misses by 5 or more the target notices the attempted theft.

Sneak (At-Will, Standard)
As stealthy as a kitten in mittens, the gremlins tiptoe towards their victims.
The gremlin becomes invisible until the end of its next turn.

Disappear (At-Will, Immediate Interrupt, when attacked)
You raise your weapon to strike the horrid little thing, only to find it is no longer there!
The gremlin becomes invisible until the beginning of its next turn and teleports 2.

Alignment Evil – Languages Elven, Common
Skills Acrobatics +11   Stealth +11  Theivery +11
Str 8  Dex 20  Wis 14
Con 13  Int 12  Cha 6
Equipment leather clothes, dagger

Tactics
Gremlins who come upon adventurers will often sneak up on them and steal all of their food, though they may instead take an object that the heroes consider especially important or valuable, such as a quest item.  Usually this happens during several surprise rounds, since the gremlins are so stealthy.  This can then lead to a rollicking chase, perhaps culminating in a challenge of riddles or some other such frustrating confrontation.
Gremlins will never simply attack someone.  They would rather set a trap or, better still, sabotage their victim’s equipment and watch them die as a result.  Climbing kits and ropes are favorite targets for this treatment.
As cowardly as they are cruel, gremlins will never stand and fight.  If somehow cornered or caught they will bite and scratch desperately to try to escape, and may plead for their lives if unable to do so.

Gremlin Lore
The following can be recalled with a successful Arcana check of the following DCs:
DC 15 – That horrid little madly grinning goblin is a Gremlin, awful pranksters from the faerie lands.
DC 20 – Gremlins like to steal and sabotage things, and can disappear at will.


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