"The Minotaur Maze" - Part 2 of "The Crystal Tower" ------------------------------ A Neverwinter Nights Module for characters Level 8-13 By Jaspor of Guild of the Zodiac v1.0 Released 08/12/2002 www.gotz.org www.beerdrinkingfools.org Send any comments, questions, or bug reports to : jaspor@beerdrinkingfools.org DM Guide --------------- After penetrating the defenses of the Crystal Tower, the adventurers successfully retrieved the Sacred Chalice and returned it to the Villagers of Wirktus. However, it has become apparent that something far more sinister and dangerous lies behind the appearance of the Tower and the theft of the Chalice. All signs point to Greydale, a small city to the east of Wirktus. The adventurers depart Wirktus as heroes and begin their journey towards Greydale. Along the way, they come upon an area that has recently been buzzing with activity. It seems as if a dangerous labyrinth, known as the Minotaur Maze, has been attracting a lot of interest lately. Rumor has it that within the Maze lies a powerful Artifact of some sort. Various groups have been trying to solve the Maze and claim the Artifact. Perhaps these groups might know something about the theft of the Sacred Chalice? What exactly lies at the end of the Maze? What do these groups want with it? The Minotaur Maze consists of a wide variety of riddles and puzzles for characters to solve in order to progress deeper into the maze. It will take more than a big axe or powerful spells to conquer this challenge. So bring your wits, put on your thinking cap, and dare to face the challanges that await you in The Minotaur Maze. --------------- WARNING!!!!!!: --------------- This document is intended for those who plan on acting as the Dungeon Master for this module. It contains detailed information about the storyline, the quests, the NPCs, and the monsters found within the module. If you intend on playing this module, and want to be surprised, STOP READING NOW! SPOILERS AHEAD! You have been warned. :P STOP READING NOW! SPOILERS AHEAD! You've been warned again! The Story: --------------- The story continues as the characters decide to travel to Greydale to further investigate who or what was behind the theft of the Sacred Chalice in Wirktus. However, on the way to Greydale, they are approached by a familiar face and told about a dangerous maze in the area. Recently, more and more people have been entering the maze to try and solve its riddles and challenges. Whatever lies at the end of the maze, it seems a lot of people are suddenly interested in getting to it. Can you solve the puzzles and riddles of the maze and get to the end before the other groups do? Server Set Up: --------------------- The level range this module is intended for is around the 8-13 range. Obviously, how many characters are playing will determine how well they survive. Most monsters are spawned in using the encounter system, so most fights should be balanced pretty well based upon the current players. The module also includes a "leveling up" NPC at the beginning to bump new characters up to the minimum suggested level before they start out (see the "Starting Out" section below). So putting the server up for levels 1-13 would keep out those overly powerful for this module, yet not discriminate against new characters. As far as PvP and party settings go, I usually have on the "Only One Party" and "Party Only PvP" options set. Feel free to use your own, though I make no guarantees about what will happen if all the PCs start murdering one another. :P Starting Out: ------------------- A Welcoming Room is included in this module where all players joining will start out. In this room is a single NPC, a Priest of Tyr, who will speak to the PCs. He gives some brief credits about the module, and offers to level up the PC to level 8 or 10 (based upon whether they are playing single or multi-player). He also gives them some gold to start out with. The NPC sells a wide variety of basic equipment so a new character can fully equip themselves before heading into the world. Basically, this room is there so that a brand spanking new character can join the module, level up to a level (8-10) appropriate to start the module at, and let's them equip themselves. If a character joins that is already of the appropriate level and fully equipped, they can totally skip this step. It is there for the convenience of new characters. Once equipped, the PCs can tell the Priest that they are ready, and he will give them a key allowing them to open the locked door leading out into the "real world". (No, not the show on MTV, the exciting adventure itself!) This exit is a one-way door, so once the PC leaves this Welcome Room, they will not be able to get back in. The Quests! ------------------ On the road to Greydale, the players will come across Aedyn, the Paladin of Tyr who they may or may not have come across in the first module. Basically, he tells them that a bunch of bad people are going into the maze and trying to reach the end to claim the powerful Artifact that is down there. He asks that they enter the maze, and attempt to reach the end before the others do. He offers a reward, but doesn't specify what it would be. Main Quest: Solve the Maze and retrieve the Artifact that is at the end. Sub-Quests: There's really only one sub-quest in this module. Though I could probably argue that each individual riddle is a sub-quest in itself, I won't. :P 1.) Captain Froktor - On the first level of the maze is Captain Froktor, a dwarven pirate. He explains that someone had stowed away on his ship, stole a treasure map from him, swam to shore, and ran down into this maze. He's been chasing them, but is a but lost in the twisting tunnels. He offers a reward if the players return the treasure map to him. Solution: The map can be found on a corpse in the eastern part of the Maze. Feel free to add your own NPCs and Quests to the Maze itself. There's surely plenty of places to hide stuff, so this wouldn't be too hard to do. ;) The Riddles & Puzzles ------------------------ The Maze has at least one Riddle or Puzzle on each floor. The riddles themselves will be spoken one-liners by plot-flagged (ie, invulnerable) minotaurs. The players must speak the correct answers aloud for the minotaurs to recognize the correct answer and act accordingly. First Level - Starting Out. A minotaur asks a random riddle to unlock the door to the Second Level. Second Level - Right or Wrong? A word puzzle guards the door to the Third Level. If the players say "right" or "wrong", the door on the right will unlock. If they say "left", the door on the left will unlock. Third Level - Riddle chests. The players must collect seven jewels stashed throughout this level. They must then place them in the chests, arranging them in order from least valuable to most valuable. Putting the wrong item in chests 1, 4, and 7 will result in a trap going off. The merchant, Drido, located outside the Maze entrance has gems for sale on him for reference regarding how much each is worth. However, only the gems found on that level will work in the chests - purchased gems will not work. Fourth Level - Floor Levers. Two floor levers must be used in the correct pattern in order to unlock a series of five doors. Getting the patten wrong causes all the doors to shut and lock. Fifth Level - Riddle Mania! This is the final level, and consists of 3 random riddles to unlock doors. Then there is the final riddle presented by the Lord of the Maze. Once the players have solved that, they're pretty much done with the module. There is a portal in a room connected to the final room which will bring players out of the Maze. The Ending ----------------- If the henchman, Drakken, was brought along to the end, a surprise awaits! Otherwise, it's pretty much over. If the players exit the Maze and try and go down the Road to Greydale, they will be brought to a final room called "The End" where the Priest of Tyr explains the module is finished. The End. What's Next? ------------- Next up is Greydale itself. The players will have to choose sides, and they will find out a lot more about what's going on and who is trying to get ahold of all these Artifacts. Encounters ----------------- Here are the mobs that make up encounters in the various areas. NOTE: The encounters in the module have been set to respawn after a certain amount of time. Just because players may have killed everything in a given area, that does not mean that it will be empty when they come back later! The amount of time between respawns varies from encounter to encounter, and is usually between 30 and 60 minutes. This was basically done for multiplayer, so that when a player joins after the rest of the group has already gone through and killed stuff, the late arrival will still have things to kill. It is not meant for players to "camp" areas and wait for stuff to respawn. These would probably be good to throw on the quickbar for spawning in additional mobs as needed: Wizard of Thay Apprentice of Thay DreadKnife Assassin DreadKnife Wizard DreadKnife Archer Drow (of all types) Duergar Dwarves (of all types) Spiders (of all types) I guess that's about it. I've had this module running to the public for several days now, and I think I've fixed all the bugs. However, if you find any, or if you have any other questions or comments, feel free to email me at jaspor@beerdrinkingfools.org and I'll get back to you. :) Thanks for playing, and hope you enjoyed it! -Jaspor