Lair of Verrospex the Terrible

Verrospex's Lair

Ghesfa (formerly)

Lester the Molester †

The **Lair of Verrospex the Terrible** is an underground series of cavernous dungeons located in in Skenesos' Great Forest of We. The lair is home to the titular dragon, who uses it to hoard numerous riches and treasures and makes sport of setting up dangerous traps along the way to them, employing many creatures to maintain the dungeons and to serve as obstacles for adventurous challengers, with Verrospex himself serving as the final challenge. The lair has become a popular target for adventuring groups and travellers seeking Verrospex's treasures.

## History

After Silk Greengallow successfully beat Verrospex in a race to save their lives, the dragon conceded defeat to Bluebird's Team and allowed them to keep the treasures they had stolen during their time in the lair. This included the Stone of Analox they had been hired to acquire by Prince Georgios, though they ultimately kept the stone for themselves.

Certain members of the group would remain friendly with Verrospex, enough that sporadic contact was maintained during their formation as the Summer Knights, to the chagrin of some members. Verrospex remained close enough with the Summer Knights to be invited to their Christmas party at Tits & Slither and to request their aid in designing renovations to the lair.

Since the Summer Knights' fame, increasing numbers of adventuring party had challenged Verrospex's dungeon and were having less difficulty passing through each obstacle as more traps had been disabled and more of the residents killed. With each successful challenger that reached the treasure room, Verrospex was forced to eat them when they lost in mortal combat, resulting in a bad case of indigestion accompanying his rapid weight gain. Hiring the Summer Knights to design obstacles even they couldn't overcome, Verrospex's lair was renovated with challenges sufficiently difficult to grant him respite from the plethora of plucky challengers in search of his plentiful fortune.

## Features

When tasked by Verrospex to renovate his dungeon, in order to limit the number of adventurers in search of his treasure that he would be forced to eat, the Summer Knights designed several new rooms.

### Middle Level

#### *Lamb Room*

      Given unlimited resources (and with no fondness for games herself), Lacey delegated the designs of her contributions to an outsourced outfit. She had the so-called 'Lamb Room' converted into a large game board that would illuminate and trap challengers inside. When a tile is stood upon, it illuminates red or blue, depending on whether or not it is armed with a dangerous trap or whether it provides a clue. Only by using the clues written on each blue tile were challengers able to determine all the 'safe' tiles and activate them, unlocking the door.

There were eight red tiles in total. Standing on the A3 tile would cause tall walls to rise along either side of A3-C3, trapping anyone on those tiles. For every person that escaped the trap via D3, the walls would close together by a third of the tile. Standing on A4 would cause the tile to open, dropping the victim into a pit thirty feet deep. B5 would liquify into a gelatinous ooze that would hold the victim in place and, like quicksand, slowly sink them deeper into it. If a challenger were to land on C1, the entire tile would eject them into the air, potentially subjecting them to the harm of another trapped tile, depending on where they land. C4 would blast a powerful jet of water at the person who landed on it, propelling them in any direction. E2 would cause a wrecking ball to descend from above that would swing back and forth along three tiles in a clockwise direction. F2 would set off a small bomb beneath the tile and F5 would strike the victim with a bolt of lightning with the potential to paralyse them.

Five blue tiles additionally ended the effects of certain traps if stood on once the trap was activated. Standing on A2 would stop the wrecking ball over E2 from swinging. D1 would cause the walls along A3-C3 to crumble. C2 would completely deactivate the water jet on C4. E4 would stop the gelatinous quicksand on B5 from swallowing its victim and E1 would then cause it to loosen its grip. Any breaking of the rules would instigate a board-wide shock. Any projectile or ranged attack aimed off the board would be instantly absorbed by rising walls, which then redistributed the projectile horizontally along a random row until disrupted.

#### *Pony Room*

With help from Eleanor, Bollo designed a room with a puzzle that payed homage to his former steed Smith&Wessen.

The room was bare, except for a large stone tree adorning the wall to the left of the exit door on the other end and a life-sized statue of a pony in the middle of the room, immortalising Smith&Wessen. There were five apples hanging from the branches of the tree, made of various metals. One was copper, one silver, one electrum, one gold and one platinum. Each apple had a different coloured ribbon tied around it. The pony was on its hind legs with its jaw open wide, as if rearing and neighing. Below its front legs was a tile with magical runes along its edges. A wise mage might recognise they were alchemical symbols of judgment.

Upon entering the room, the doors would be magically sealed. The apples could be easily picked from the tree and the inside of each ribbon would read a short verse:

Blue ribbon - tied around the copper apple:

> "What you feed me, I will eat,
>
>

> What remains is yours to keep."
>
>

Red ribbon - tied around the silver apple:

> "Wisely choose that which you give,
>
>

> If you wish to safely live."
>
>

Yellow ribbon - tied around the electrum apple:

> "One poor choice and curses fear,
>
>

> Or you may be entrapped here."
>
>

Pink ribbon - tied around the gold apple:

> "Clear the mind and gather smarts,
>
>

> Make the choice with purest heart."
>
>

Green ribbon - tied around the platinum apple:

> "Those deemed worthy by the steed,
>
>

> Overcome the pull of greed."
>
>

Challengers were to deduce that the only way forward is to feed an apple into the pony's mouth. Each apple could be determined to be worth at least 200 of each metal's corresponding currency.

Each apple fed to the pony would cause a different effect:

* Copper - The pony would not move and the platinum apple would be transformed into a rusted pile of scrap.
* Silver - The pony would slowly descend so that its front hooves lightly pressed on the rune adorned tile. The door would then open halfway, but the party would be cursed to forever refuse all gifts they want and to accept all gifts they do not.
* Electrum - The pony would descend and press on the tile, opening the door. However, the door would start to descend slowly, while random tiles of the floor would become adhesive, making escape difficult.
* Gold - The pony would drop down onto the tile and the door would open with no additional effect.
* Platinum - The pony would swing down onto the tile and the door would open fully. The copper apple would then transform into platinum and split in half to reveal a diamond at its core.

### Lower Level

#### *The Card Game Room*

The next room Lacey had designed was pretty bare, with Verrospex's original decor remaining. The ceiling had gargoyles in each corner, there were pillars along the load-bearing walls and worthless gems littering the sides. The door was removed in place of an archway that once inside, would simply appear as a completely solid brick wall, preventing challengers from leaving. The doorway would seemingly disappear as soon as a person enters, though anyone outside could still see in through the archway, with those inside unable to see out through the brick wall. On the other side of the room were two bricked-up door frames.

Though the decor was barely changed, a stone slab was added to the centre of the room with a small deck of cards depicting various well-known adventurers. These were chosen by Lacey as important figures that prospective adventurers should know of. The 'Patamei's People of Importance' cards could be purchased individually at the newly-installed gift shop, Lacey having contracted merchandising rights with Verrospex. They depicted all Summer Knights except for Lacey herself, as well as Thelar the Dawnbringer and Sunni Wukong of Geornan's Fabulous Adventuring Group and Archemydus Reiner, Borla Ablomova and Eifil the No-Holds Bard.

Along the top of the slab were three crude carvings representing various races. The monstrous carving represented tieflings, half-orcs and dragonborn, while the humanoid carving covered humans, elves and half-elves and the shorter carving encompassed gnomes, dwarves and halflings. The more intricate carvings down the side of the slab represented various classes of title and profession. The first depicted various warriors such as rangers, barbarians, fighters and rogues, while the second depicted diviners such as paladins, clerics, monks and bards, and the final carving depicted mages including wizards, sorcerers, warlocks and druids.

Correctly categorising the cards on the slab would cause one of two doors to materialise in either of the door frames on the other side of the room. Since the cards depicting Honey and Bollo would occupy the same space on the slab, challengers would have to take a leap of faith deciding which door was the correct one, though both led to hallways of continued dungeon. Bollo's card would grant access to the left-hand door, leading onwards to the gift shop where the cards could be individually purchased as collector's items. Honey's card would grant access to the right-hand door, which served as a portal to the Chamber of Profane Sorrows in Kozani, as a means to divert fifty per cent of challengers.

After the Summer Knights tried out the room, Lacey had the portal to the second dungeon outfitted to be one-way, so that returning through the door would simply lead further into the Chamber of Profane Sorrows, instead of returning challengers to Verrospex's lair.

## Residents

 Lester the Molester †
 Hag Witches †
 Ghesfa | Former Guardian of the Lamb Room

## Trivia

* The lair formerly held the coveted Stone of Analox, before it was acquired (along with other magical items) by the members of Bluebird's Team.
	+ So far, this is the only group known to have survived facing Verrospex, with whom they remain friendly.