Area 12, Demented Distraction

I am still playing along with Matt Jackson and his amazing Collaboration Dungeons. In Dungeon #2, I have populated a room with an great trick Statue. Check out the full post on MSJX.com.

12. Demented Distraction.

The long passageway is lit from above, in a soft orange light when viewed from the hallway. As the characters progress down the stairs, the light shifts to a strong blueish white. The light emanates from a long central beam in the ceiling.

The alcoves are not lit at all and have deep shadows. The characters will find searching for traps or secret doors to be very difficult without their own bright light source. Torches and lanterns are insufficient to remove the penalty, but a magical light spell or a magic weapon’s glow will help. Waiting a round for one’s eyes to adjust also is beneficial.

At the far end of the chamber is a titanic statue of a man with eight arms. Each arm holds bowl like mirror. The statue is made of steel, but show signs of distress.

When the characters step off the last stair and on to the floor of the hallway, a bolt of energy will lance out from one of the mirrors striking a finger’s breadth in front the lead character’s foot. Every time the characters step forward, the statue fires.

There is a pattern to the bolts, the top two left hands, the right bottom two hands, the upper right two hands, and then finally, the lower left hands. The statue responds instantly to any motion forwards, and can fire as often as necessary to lash out any and all members of the party. It can detect people that are astral, invisible, out of phase, etc. unerringly.

If a character contrives to place an item between their foot and the bolt, the item will be vaporized without a saving throw. The character will be blown backwards 5 feet and take 1d4 points of damage.

Likewise, firing missiles or spells at the statue causes a bolt to vaporize the missile or in the case of magic, negate the spell. There is no saving throw for this, it is automatic. Once the attack has been dealt with, the statue does not fire on the players unless they move forward again.

Characters can step into the alcoves to avoid fire, which will likely confuse the issue.

Retreating or moving left or right does not receive a response, so long as the person doesn’t advance towards the statue.

There is no way to prevent the statue from firing, no way to reflect, block or deflect the bolts or hide from them. There is no solution to this puzzle. The statue unerringly fires bolts one finger’s breadth IN FRONT an advancing person’s foot.

The statue will stop firing at a character as soon as they advance past the last alcove. Players who figure out the puzzle will find the statue to be quite inscrutable. It is resistant to all attacks of any kind, and ignores any brute force attack made on it. It will also ignore people searching or climbing on it.

However, if someone attempts to vandalize the statue, all eight mirrors will fire on them for 1d4 points each. This requires a normal attack roll and happens 8 times per round. Bolts that miss the vandal will NOT hit or injure other people. It will not stop firing on the vandal until they have been vaporized or they escape up the stairs leading to area 8 or around the corner to area 7. If the character returns, the statue will start firing again. In fact, it will fire on vandal as soon as they enter it’s line of sight.

The statue is unaware of speech and will only attack the people that attempt to harm it. If the party waits 3 rounds after the vandal leaves or dies, the statue will glow bright red for 10 rounds, after which, vandal’s handiwork will be burned away.

Behind the statue is a corpse wearing +2 chainmail, holding a wax crayon in one hand. There is also a Mace of Disruption under the corpse and in it’s Bag of Holding are three potions, to be randomly determined. If the characters are having a rough time of it, there is also map to this point showing the hidden doorways in the alcoves.