This is intended to be a 3-4 hour one shot for 3-5 15th level characters.
Any and all feedback is appreciated.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Backstory (To be read aloud to your party or given as a handout):
At first Lucien Châteaux started his art career with painting postcards and little sketches. He was able to charge them with his latent psychic ability causing them to take a life of their own for a short time. The novelty of them grew and grew until he was approached by a patron of the arts wanting to put their work into a proper gallery. The artist was ecstatic at the prospect, he would be able to work with bigger media than just postcards.
He worked tirelessly into the nights, sleeping only a few hours here and there in order to fill the gallery with portraits, vistas, and all manners of painted art. He was happy and content for a time, until something in his mind shifted.
The artist who contributed to his gallery went mad over time as he worked. The paintings became more sinister and twisted revealing his mind to be slipping into homicidal rage. The public who visited his gallery loved it as they thought they were seeing a living genius share his greatest work, and in many respects they were right. However the artist couldn't handle it anymore, the voices and the screams of his art rang in his head like a constant tolling bell of doom.
He Snapped.
His art sprang to life on the unveiling of his newest piece... a painting covering the entire backside of the room with several other smaller more contained paintings lined the sides. 100 people instantly were set upon by the paintings, the door locked behind them and the greatest of their mages were unable to unlock the door. The artist was laughing along with their screams of agony as they were crushed by the enclosing room perishing with the public who had come to view his greatest work. His spirit still haunts this gallery trapping all the other spirits of his victims. His spirit and psychic abilities are interlinked with his art, even in death.
So now here I am: A broke curator with only an abandoned gallery to his name saved by the luck of being sick the day of the premier. You can pass me by and do nothing or you can help me out and give a man some peace and maybe some prosperity. Be warned though, everyone I sent so far has either died in there or barely came back with a shred of sanity. All the survivors say the same thing, though... The paint brush is his power.
Entrance 1
“You are admitted to the entrance stricken by its chic atmosphere. But it feels like you're being watched...”
Entering the gallery the players immediately notice how normal it seems. The desk sits there with papers and a book on it. A Perception or Investigation check (no need to roll) on the desk will reveal the book to be a “Death Note” with a scribble on the front, opening it reveals that the entire thing is filled with names you can’t read and eventually drawings. The papers are brochures with information on Lucien’s Gallery. Reading it reveals that Lucien was enamored with the statues he recently created, and insisted they be included in his newest exhibit. The other paper will say in a badly written scribble, as if the writer couldn’t control himself:
“The paintbrush is the key."
The players can make a Perception or Investigation on the shelf but they need to make a Wisdom saving throw or be affected by either one of four vexing sketches and roll initiative. The players can also make a Perception or Investigation check on the painting in the room but it will reveal itself to be a grand painting and an initiative roll.
The Studio
“The studio is a mess and the floor seems to be strange. There are five skeletons milling about. They instantly set themselves upon you.”
"They'll keep coming back... they always come back... only holy rites can truly defeat us."
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“This tiny cramped alcove has progressively more erratic writing covering the walls and floors, as well, there are some journal entries strewn about the floor. There is a covered canvas on the wall.”
“You are set upon by the beauty and grandeur of the modern art pieces lining the walls. The statues are large and imposing geometric shapes, obviously put there as an offset to the large fresco at the end of the room.”Entering the gallery nothing seems amiss, at first. The paintings will stay inert until the fresco is activated by a player. The room activates as soon as the paintbrush is interacted with in any manner (i.e. picking it up, touching it, attacking the paintbrush, attempting to cleanse the spirit from the brush). The paintings all focus their efforts to attack, the room has a psychic force field at the end of the room that can’t be passed and blocks all attempts to teleport out of the area (thereby making spells such as dispel magic or remove curse ineffective), and the fresco will start moving 5 ft. every turn. The key to escaping this room is touching the statues in the correct order. Here are the possible combinations:
pyramid-cube-sphere
pyramid-sphere-cube
cube-pyramid-sphere
cube-sphere-pyramid
sphere-pyramid-cube
sphere-cube-pyramid
Either choose a combination or roll 1d6 to choose.
The statues, as a work of art created by Lucien, can also be animated by him. However this makes the encounter exponentially harder, which depending on the group may be fun or frustrating. If you choose to run the encounter this way then you may use the stat block for the adonis statues at the end of the post.
Entrance 2
“You are surprised to see an inky black void on the floor near the door. This is Lucein Châteaux himself come to collect the one thing he cares about most: the paintbrush.”
“I can hear you think, just so you know...”
Ideally in the middle of a player communicating a plan they have yet to share with the party. Talk too long and he will attack the party (10 minutes max), plan against him and he attacks the party (referring to him as a obstacle isn’t enough but actively trying to turn against him will trigger him to attack), the only way to convince him to stop is to relinquish the paint brush willingly to him. In receiving the paint brush it slips through his fingers and he realizes that his time is done. He bids the party farewell with “I see I have done many wrongs, perhaps it is time for my punishment...” Alternatively your players can fight him, however unless the area is sanctified in some way by a high level cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger (any divine caster) then your players can avoid him reforming 4 days later. However the divine caster cannot do it all by themself: Non-divine casters can help with a Religion check DC 20; martial characters likewise can make the Religion check. There needs to be at least 3 out of 4 successes but a divine caster reduces this number to 2 out of 4.
medium undead, neutral evil
AC 31 (natural armor)
HP 60 (12d8)
Speed 0 ft.
STR 30 (+10) DEX 1 (-5) CON 10 (0)
INT 10 (0) WIS 10 (+2) CHA 20 (+5)
Damage Immunities Fire, cold, lightning
Damage Resistances Slashing, piercing
Damage Vulnerabilities Bludgeoning, Acid, Thunder
Condition immunities All
Senses Truesight 5 ft. (blind beyond this radius)
Challenge Rating 8
Languages Common, but can't speak
Proficiency Bonus +4
False Appearance (Object Form Only). While the statue remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary object.
Legendary Actions
Adonis Push. Recharge 3-6. If a creature is within 5 ft. of the statue then, as a reaction, that creature is pushed 20 ft. in a random direction (1d4: 1 North, 2 East, 3 South, 4 West; 1d6: 1 Northeast, 2 East, 3 Southeast, 4 Southwest, 5 West, 6 Northwest) and must make a Dexterity save DC 16 or be knocked prone.
Lair Actions
Manifest Spirit. As a reaction, if the statue is in its object form when hit by an attack or spell, the statue destroys itself and summons 2 enigmas. A new statue is created after the enigmas are defeated at the original place of the statue.
Lucien Châteaux
Large undead, neutral evil
AC 16
HP 240 (20d10 +120)
Speed 0 ft.
STR 10 (0) DEX 22 (+6) CON 10 (0)
INT 10 (0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 20 (+5)
Damage Vulnerabilities Radiant
Damage Immunities Necrotic, Poison
Damage Resistances Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Thunder; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing From Nonmagical Attacks
Condition immunities All
Senses Truesight 120 ft. (blind beyond this radius)
Challenge Rating 17
Languages Common
Proficiency Bonus +5
Passive telepathy. Lucien in life was always aware of the thoughts of others. This ability still is with him in death. This means that Lucien is privy to any psychic communication, as well as auditory.
Actions
Psychic Assault. Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 25 ft., one target. 32 (8d6 + 5) psychic damage.
Legendary Actions
Manifest Painting. Recharge 5-6. Lucien can summon one of the following monsters as an action at will: vexing sketch, lovely painting, or dreadful painting. They appear on the closest unoccupied wall and go right after Lucien in initiative order, in order of their creation.
Reforming Skeleton
Medium undead, neutral evil
AC 12
HP 28 (4d8 + 8)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 15 (+2)
INT 6 (-2) WIS 8 (-1) CHA 10 (0)
Damage Vulnerabilities Bludgeoning
Damage Immunities Poison
Condition immunities Exhaustion, Poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 9
Challenge Rating 8
Languages Understands all languages it knew in life but can't speak
Proficiency Bonus +4
Reform. When the skeleton hits 0 hit points roll 1d6: after that many rounds, if the inert skeleton isn't consecrated, then it reform at full hit points.
Actions
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. 4 (1d6) bludgeoning damage.
Psychic Assault. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. 4 (1d6) psychic damage.
Lucien's Paintbrush
Wondrous Item, Legendary, Requires Attunement
You can use one of 4 charges to cast one the following spells as an action:
Major Image
Hallucinatory Terrain
Phantasmal Killer
Programmed Illusion
Mirage Arcane
You can also cast Silent Image at will.
2 charges of the paintbrush recharge at dawn.
An Arcana check DC 19 will reveal the nature of the paintbrush. Each use of the paintbrush drives your character towards insanity. Roll 2d6 each time a charge of the paintbrush is used, adding that many tally points towards your character going mad. Madness is capped at 100 points, at which point your alignment shifts to neutral evil, and erratic and schizophrenic behaviors are evident to all. Reference the table for the effects the paintbrush has on you.
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