Magic Maze

The King’s magician has been laboring to construct a magical maze to be revealed at an upcoming celebration with a prize promised to the first party to reach the center of the maze and take it. The maze is designed to be safe for participants, however, it is quite easy to add some wandering monsters to the maze if you want a more triwizard tournament feel to the affair.

Progress is mostly dictated via survival checks (DC20, each representing one minute of time within the maze); some PCs may wish to simply brute force the maze by simply taking all right turns or a similar method, but it should be noted that this is extremely unlikely to reach the center faster than a luckier/bolder competitor. For this reason, there is no actual map of the maze, nor should one be provided to the players. A “Maze Score” of 20 is needed to reach the end.

There are four entrances to the maze, of varying distances to the center. They give a bonus depending on which one is selected:

This bonus can either be random for your players, or they could get a hint from the designer, or something with more intimate knowledge (following the lead of whoever happens to be the local favorite, for example). If you're looking to extend the process, you could also have the start position be determined by a preliminary contest, with the winner getting what amounts to a head start.

Each survival check affects the current maze score of the competitors:

In addition to the basic survival checks, there are some points of interest for PCs, located within different "score zones", representing how far into the maze they have gotten.

0-5 range
Wishing Well: A small fountain stands at a dead end with a sign labelled "wishing well". Any players detecting magic on the well will notice a conjuration aura around the pool. Noting the magic does not severely impact their progress; however, a player stopping to actually investigate the nature of the magic will need 10 minutes and has therefore almost certainly failed to finish the maze first. Stopping to throw a few coins in likewise won’t set the player back much. For every 5 gp thrown into the well, the gold will disappear and a random item will take its place such as:

Misdireciton Fog: The second area of interest is a large central branching area covered in a thick golden mist. This too is detected as magic with an enchantment aura. Any player stepping into the mist notices a mild chill effect and must make a will save with a DC 17. Failure causes the player to grow confused and begin traveling in circular routes as they suffer a -4 penalty to their survival check and frequently misremember turns they have already taken. Heading through the mist is the fastest method of reaching the end, but it can be avoided. Doing so gives the players -5 Maze score.

In the 6-10 score range there is only one notable section. A large pit blocks the player’s path. This is an obviously magical pit as the PCs can see no bottom and anything dropped into the pit is not heard falling. The edges of the pit are flush against the maze providing no room to walk or climb. Any player electing to jump the pit must make a DC 15 athletics check. Success grants an additional 3 maze score while failure causes them to get dimensional doored to the outside of the maze disqualifying them.

Once the score is 11+ they are near the end. 2 Notable areas exist in the back portion of the maze. The first is a trio of the king’s guards standing before a fork in the maze. The middle of the trio has been ordered to present each arrival with a poem. Clearly bored and unenthused with this task, he looks to a piece of paper and recites: Halt and heed, before you proceed, of us three, ask what you need. Opportunity knocks, but be precise, you only get to ask us twice. Some truth, some lies, some in between. But tarry not, time is wasting, the correct path, your route will hasten. The left guard is the liar, the middle guard may tell the truth or lie as he sees fit, and the right guard must tell the truth. They are extremely practiced and bored at this task, and will not give any clues via perception or sense motive. The path to the right will gain the player +3 score, and the path to the left will exit the maze disqualifying the participant. If questioned or presented with some off the wall queries the guards will ask that you keep questions referring only to the paths/guards themselves. And will mutter under their breath about some smartasses trying to question them about planar biology to trip them up.

The final section of interest is a large golem blocking a straight section of maze. It stands defensively and when approached it will challenge any player to try and punch it twice in quick succession(two successful punches in one round VS an AC of 20). It will make no move to retaliate unless the PCs attempt to actively attack it with weapons or spells in an attempt to destroy it. Successfully bypassing the golem gains another 3 score. Players who reach the center of the maze first are rewarded with a compass seated upon a pedestal. This compass provides +1 to survival checks and can additionally cast locate object once per day.




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