Oh Monster, Where Art Thou?

There are just two 3D-printed Wandering Monsters to go for our beloved Dungeon Delve table. Let’s see what mosied into our table today!

With our slithering snake entry last week, this time, we wanted to introduce a confounded NPC encounter. Safe to say, your ragtag group of adventurers aren’t the only ones walking this dungeon. So what happens when a lost NPC barrels into your long resting party?!

Once again, we look to the fantastic paint talents of Laughing Bear Games. Arkansas Adam just crushed the color job here! The details on the tiny map in this miniature’s hands blew us away. We think he could be a witch, but we haven’t weighed him against a duck yet.

Our resin-printed Map Explorer miniature is by Cast n Play and comes from their Dwarven Stonepath Explorers series. They printed like a dream on our Anycubic Resin printer. Cast n Play has been killing it lately with incredible releases, including Townsfolk Vol II and Terrain Essentials II Interiors.

Here’s Miss Gadmack in all her glory. Cast n Play nailed this sculpt, as it almost feels like she’s about to run into us while she frantically checks her map! Oh, and never mind the skull near her feet. 😉

Arkansas Adam from Laughing Bear Games spared no expense detailing this 3D-print! That map colorization is just off-the-charts good. Now, we just need to wrap up a little scenario of why she’s suddenly barging into your game group’s long rest!

The idea here is that Gadmack is insanely lost and getting quite frustrated. This particular dwarf wears her emotions on her leave, so she’s belting out cuss words and stomping her feet as she moves from hallway to hallway. She’s well past the “I don’t give a [blank]” stage of who hears her. A monster fight would allow her to get rid of a little stress.

That’s what DM Ben will play off of, though – Gadmack has gotten so lost that she is becoming irrational and starting to lose it! The party must calm her quickly before she alerts more dungeon guards to the group’s location. They’ll need to use some skills like a Persuasion or Medicine check. An intimidation check might even suffice…anything to get her to zip it!

Here are some roleplay panic phrases you can use:

• “I just can’t find the exit no matter where I turn?!”
• “The walls just all look exactly the same. Why?! Why is that?”
• “Am I going in circles? I must be going in circles?!”
• “Tell me! Tell me how to get out here!!”
• Gloss-over eyes. Sweat rolling over her forehead.

The skill challenge here will be three successes before two failures with DCs of 14.

If the group fails, grab a handful of your most common miniature monsters that fit your current dungeon, like Orcs or Goblins. For our work campaign, Orcs would be the likely wandering muscle here. DM Ben doesn’t mind the relatively light stats (AC 13, HP 15, +5 att/1d12+3) because he’ll go with a larger quantity of eight monsters (against our six-character, fourth-level party) or an encounter medium difficulty.

Gadmack is no slouch when it comes to combat, but the problem is that she will go into berzerk mode and just start swinging! DM Ben will do a 50-50 percent roll to see if she attacks the nearest player or the closest monster. Then, she reaches for her battle-ax (+6 att x2/1d8+4) and proceeds to act like a bloodthirsty lunatic!

If her HP falls to 15 or lower, she will bolt for the closest exit, screaming down the hallway. DM Ben will also give her a greater potion of healing (4 d4+4) and a potion of invisibility (opponent attacks at disadvantage) to use as needed.

Regardless of the outcome, the players lose their opportunity for a long rest and must take a level of exhaustion. If she hasn’t already run away, she will decline any invitation to join the party but will offer the group helpful details about the dungeon and even throw 100 gp at the group as a thank you.

Once again, a huge thanks to Arkansas Adam for his fantastic paint jobs!! We’re really jazzed to share more of his excellent works in future posts. Be sure to visit his Instagram, Facebook, and Etsy (where you can request a custom quote for some paint jobs on your own pile of shame).

Now, all that’s left to do is update our table!

Just one more entry to go! Until next time!