I'm GMing Pathfinder 1e this weekend and my players will be delving through a cave that was once a silver dragon's lair. I want to have a bunch of encounters planned out so that I can stretch this crawl out to the end of session, since we have a guest player who we don't want in the story for too long or too short.
Stuff they will find so far:
-Group of Frost Giants in the entrance. They don't speak common, but are pretty chill guys if a player remembers to cast Tongues.
-SO MANY SPIDERS, while escaping down a spiraling cavern. I'll have them crawling out of the walls and stuff.
-A Black Pudding. Never used one of these, and I don't think my players would know what to do immediately.
-Long underwater cave with some aberrations in it, maybe gibbering mouthers. Also a gigas clam with a huge pearl to lure in the party ninja.
-Big ending surprise - it's not a silver dragon's lair, it's a black dragon's lair, and this whole plot was him luring you to get eaten. Why is this cave so long? Because the black dragon just uses his underwater secret entrance/exit for his schemes.
Party is level 10 and there will be 5 of them, 6 with animal companion. Does anybody know any good encounters for a group like this? Doesn't need to be system specific - I'd love ideas for cool cave traps and stuff.
Let’s do loot instead. I’m a sucker for the trade off style loot that adds some flavour to the world.
Bard’s Lament (AKA the Spicy Trombone)
Appearance: A bronze hemisphere with a diameter the width of a man’s shoulders. It has straps to stick on the back. Warm to the touch. Hollow-sounding if knocked on. It has five pipes protruding in each of the cardinal directions, including upwards. One of the side-pipes narrows into a mouthpiece, whereas the others widen into horns. Engraved into the bronze is an image of a satyr playing the horn, with a dragon emerging from the horn.
Effect: When blown as a standard action, a Fireball spell is cast simultaneously in each of the other cardinal directions, to the sides and upward. 3/day. (Spell cast can be adjusted based on party level to fit campaign. Make it an empowered fireball, or even a dragonsbreath.)
Lore: This instrument belonged to a fabled court bard. It was a one-of-a-kind instrument, able to entertain a crowd by simultaneously fire bending and playing music. The bard, however, grew too close to the sorcerer-prince’s betrothed, and in jealousy, the prince cursed the instrument. The next time it was played in court, it is said to have incinerated much of the royal family. The bard, in penance, was condemned to enter a dragon’s lair, never to return.
Where to find it: can be placed in a dragon’s hoard strapped to a skeleton, or can be found facing into a corner or crack, with a charred skeleton on top, its mouth on the mouth piece.
Bonus: with a sufficiently high Perform check, the player can prevent the fireball from coming out one or more sides.