Arcane Kobold

#dungeon25 January Location; Hidden Isles of the Heart Circlet

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While I enjoy the various year-long dungeon prompts to build a 365 room megadungeon I don’t vibe with that. Instead I’m going to take a twist on the daily room generation and spend one month building a location in the style of SlyFlourish fantastic encounters. It’s a system I enjoy and find the prep to be minimal enough that I enjoy it and can use at my tables.

Hidden Isles of the Heart Circlet

Gives me a sailor moon vibe small series of isles that are mist-covered that hold pieces of the “Heart Circlet”

3 key features or aspects

  1. Mist shrouded isles that are difficult to navigate through the rocky waters.
  2. The main isle has a large tower that holds the ruby heart, the main jewel of the heart circlet. On the more clear days you can see the tower rising just above the mists.
  3. Two smaller isles to the north and south each hold a half of the circlet protected by a creature.

Historical layer

The main island was the home of long forgotten wizard. The smaller isles were where they released created creatures, trying to perfect beasts and monstrosities. It is said that in their attempts to perfect nature they drove their love away before sinking into madness.

Notable NPCs or random encounter table

2d6 encounter table

  1. Dragon searching for a new lair
  2. Treant who has lived in the woods since before the wizard.
  3. Leader of a Druidic order 1-2) participating in a ritual 3) healing members after an attack 4) planning with other members 5) awakening a tree 6) talking to the treant
  4. Members of a Druidic order attempting to reclaim the isles being attacked by a monstrosity 1-2) Worgs 3) Ettercaps 4) Ankhegs 5) Cockatrice 6) Manticore
  5. Members of a Druidic order attempting to reclaim the isles 1) setting up camp 2) setting traps 3) cleansing mutated animals 4) scouting
  6. Mutated pack of animals including a dire leader, 1-2) wolves 3-4) deer 5) bear and cubs 6) Spiders
  7. Monstrosity attacking normal beasts 1) Owlbear 2) Worg 3) Hippogriff 4) Ankheg 5) Ettercap 6) Cockatrice
  8. Manticore
  9. Chimera
  10. Ghost
  11. A wizard looking for lost works or rare ingredients.

1d10 mutations

  1. Dire. This creature is larger and more fierce than common versions of this creature.
  2. Blinking. This creature can teleport in short bursts up to double its normal movement.
  3. Acidic. This creature’s natural attacks drip with acid secreted from its body.
  4. Spores. This creature releases spores that have an additional effect such as poison damage or a charming effect.
  5. Elemental breath. This creature has a breath weapon. 1) fire 2) lightning 3) cold 4) acid 5) poison 6) thunder/sonic
  6. Multi-headed. This creature is always alert from having multiple heads and has an extra bite attack.
  7. Ironhide. This creature has fur or skin that make it tougher than normal.
  8. Spiked frills. This creature grows needles on its body. Either creatures attacking it in melee take damage or it can fling needles at enemies, maybe both.
  9. Color blending hide. This creature’s hide adapts to the surroundings giving it a near invisible quality while standing still.
  10. Roll twice. Roll twice and combine the results re-rolling any additional 10s

Fantastic items or resources

  • Mutated animals for magical items
  • Heart circlet: a silver circlet with an emerald set on it in the shape of a heart.
    • The emerald is in the wizard’s tower and the two circlet halves are on the smaller islands.
    • Possible magical features:
      • 3/day speak with animals or beats for 10 minutes.
      • Advantage on attempts to interact with animals.
  • Wizard tower, may contain spells, spell books, and magical ingredients.

Hooks

  • Druidic order requests help to clear an isle
  • Heart circlet needed as a mcguffin
  • Rare spell or components
  • Druid, ranger, or some nature-focused character needs to atone.
  • Shipwreck from the mists and fog that magically surround the isles.

Secrets or clues

  1. A Druidic order is attempting to reclaim the isles for the natural world.
  2. The wizard’s love was a druid who attempted to leave but was killed by the monstrosities the wizard created.
  3. The ghost roaming the island is the wizard’s love, seeking vengeance against the chimera that killed her.
  4. The heart circlet is a magical circlet that can charm beasts and simple monstrosities.

This work by Brandon Cole is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0