Description: The hive is an active* feature suitable for forests, plains, ruins, and other places a hive of bees or other insects might be found.

Setup: Try to place the hive somewhere which combatants are likely to pass near it, such as a natural choke point or a point of interest. This also works especially well with monsters which are vulnerable or resistant to the insects’ toxins.

Use: If any damage is dealt to the hive (including from area attacks), it falls to the ground, releasing a swarm of stinging bees. The bees immediately attack the closest creature, regardless of who attacked the hive, and hound that creature until it dies, disappears, or the swarm is defeated. Once one of those happens, the swarm disperses harmlessly.

Considerations: If the swarm attacks the PCs, they should probably get experience for defeating it; if the swarm attacks the enemies, no experience should be given, it’s just a case of the PCs using the terrain to their advantage to make the fight a bit easier.

Customization:

• Increase the number of swarms released, attacking the nearest n creatures.
• Change the nature of the bees, for example if you’re adventuring in hell make them Hellfire Hornets which are tougher and more dangerous than their mortal counterparts.
• Instead of dispersing, the swarm could continue attacking nearby creatures.

*An active feature is something which must be triggered before it “comes into play.” This is contrasted by a passive element, such as thick underbrush or a lava stream, which is indifferent to the actions of combatants. Look for a more in-depth explanation of active and passive features, and the Dynamic Domains series, this weekend.

Something happened recently, though. The ogres have formed a new raiding party, but this one has otten much farther. They’ve already sacked 3 villages and fought off two militias and a unit of the king’s best. The king hires the PCs to find out what’s gotten into the ogres.

The catalyst of these events is a blight on the ogres’ crops– specifically, on their hops and other plants important in the production of their alcohol. When the alcohol supply dried up, it enraged the ogres. On top of that, without the constant inebriation dulling their senses and judgment, it turns out that they’re amazingly skilled fighters and tacticians, taking full advantage of their size, the terrain, and other factors to defeat any who challenge them.

When the PCs are about halfway through the hallway, a kobold on the far end activates the trap. Buzzsaws begin emerging from the seams long the wall, cutting at the characters. At the same time, more kobolds spring from hiding at both ends of the hallway and charge them. The blades are set just high enough so that they go over the heads of the kobolds.

As soon as the PCs try to help him, kobolds pop out and attack. If they’re going to save the man, they need to do it fast. He’s already lost consciousness and he’ll suffocate to death soon. Once they can clear his airways, he’s not out of the woods yet. The arrow has pierced through the side of his neck, narrowly missing his windpipe, but any healing magic would prove ineffective until the arrow is removed. Making matters worse, the arrow is firmly stuck in place by the same gluey substance.

The kobolds have a couple special arrows with pots of the glue on the end, which they use to try and immobilize the PCs. One of the arrows hit the man in the neck, leaving him in his current predicament. If the PCs can save him, he’ll explain that he’s a traveling merchant, and was attacked. He saw some of the kobolds make off with his horse and cart, and the rest hid when they saw the PCs coming.

The rest of the warehouse is littered with tables housing current experiments and brews, and crates full of exotic reagents. One wall is lined with cages. Some cages are empty, some have dead animals, and some have living animals. Many of the animals appear deformed or mutated. A few appear undead.

As the PCs enter the warehouse, their nostrils are assaulted by a pungent, acrid odor– a disgusting mix of the scents of citrus, sulphur and ammonia. A thin green haze permeates the warehouse and makes it slightly uncomfortable to breathe.

Depending on the circumstances, if Volgart is expecting violence he’ll be ready for the PCs, waiting up on the catwalks to barrage them with his concoctions. If he’s caught unaware, he’ll try to escape up to the catwalks, throwing potions behind him to discourage pursuit. The catwalks groan and strain even under Volgart’s thin frame; if anyone much heavier than him were to follow him up there they’d likely fall.

Volgart has a wide variety of potions available to harass the PCs with, usually throwing them in combinations to take advantage of each other. Some examples are:

Fire-brew: A transparent orange liquid with flecks of gold suspended in it; it explodes in a 15′ diameter fireball.

Acid-brew: A viscous, milky green liquid which coats those it hits and sticks to them, weakening their defenses.

Glue-brew: A clear liquid, almost looks like water. When it comes into contact with oxygen, it expands into a tough, extremely sticky foam which hampers movement.

Noxious-brew: Dark yellow in color, this potion creates a large cloud of gas which takes several rounds to disperse in the stagnant air of the warehouse. Those who breathe it find themselves sickened and nauseated.

If that’s not enough, here are some more ideas to make the combat unique and memorable.

When he’s near death, Volgart takes out a purplish potion and drinks it, transforming him into a hulking monster. Alternatively, Volgart might accidentally plunge into the cauldron from the catwalks when the PCs defeat him, emerging from it as the hulking monster with dramatically-appropriate timing.

Have the cauldron steadied by several wooden legs; when a fire-brew destroys one of them, it tips over and spills its contents on the floor. The effect is up to you…

If the animals are released, many of them (especially the flying ones) will try to attack Volgart. Some may attack the PCs.

Allow the PCs a knowledge check of some sort to identify the random potions on the tables; they might find any of the potions Volgart’s using, or may find healing potions, poisons, etc. I recommend coming up with a simple table for rolling for these potions. For example:

Random potions
1d6: Potion
1: Fire-brew
2: Acid-brew
3: Glue-brew
4: Noxious-brew
5: Healing potion
6: Poison

Special thanks to my friend Leonard Bass for the inspiration

He’d run off to explore a cave as a teenager and become trapped in a cave-in. There he found an altar to a long-forgotten god, but paid little interest to it since it had long been picked over of valuables. A day and a half later he freed himself and returned to his village only to find every building razed; every crop burned; and every man, woman and child killed. The perpetrators were sloppy, and he easily tracked them down… a few dozen orcs. He desired vengeance greatly, but knew it would be suicide to confront them.

In his despair, Saursa ended up returning to the cave where he’d been trapped, and to the altar he’d found. He prayed to that forgotten god for the strength to exact his vengeance, and his prayers were answered. The next day, he tracked down the orcs as they marched and something amazing happened: he turned into a half-man, half-bear creature, like a werebear. Unlike a lycanthrope, though, his change was controlled not by lunar cycles but by his temper.

He slaughtered the orcs mercilessly, feasting on their carcasses. Though it was an epic fight, and he was quite badly wounded, his anger fueled him and fought off the wounds. He fought not as a man would fight, but as an animal: desperate, ruthless, without compassion. Before long, his grisly task was complete and every orc had been killed.

A few months later, he found himself living in a new village, and even had become engaged to be married. When another man flirted with his fiancée, he grew angry and again found himself changing into the bear-creature. When he regained his human form, he found himself drenched in blood– not just that of the flirt, but of his fiancée, of several children, and of the many men of the village who’d tried to fend him off.

Saursa realized that he would be forever condemned to live alone now, for being too close to other people could only lead to tragedy. Over the years, he’s learned to control himself to some extent even in the bear form, but he is never in complete control and it is always an effort to force himself to back down.

Encounters with The Ursine Hermit

The players stumble across Saursa’s crudely-built cottage deep in the woods. He is alarmed to see them and tries to shoo them off. If they will not relent, he will reluctantly accommodate them but try to hurry them along.

The PCs stumble upon Saursa, in bear form, attacking bandits who were raiding a caravan. Saursa accidentally discovered the commotion and the predatory bandits awoke his instinctual rage, forcing him to fight them off. After defeating the bandits, it’s clear that he’s conflicted and part of him wants to attack the PCs and the caravan itself, while part of him does not.

Ultimately, if the PCs find out his secret and are able to convince him that they can handle themselves around him, he will ask to accompany them in their journeys (avoiding villages and towns, of course), and he will be a staunch, if unpredictable, ally.

The same thing happens if anyone else enters the room. They all turn invisible, including anything they’re carrying. If anything is tossed into the room, it, too, turns invisible.

The room is used to store treasure, and there are a couple of invisible treasure chests hidden inside. Additionally, there is a magical beast lurking in the room, one for whom lack of sight is not a hindrance.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a terrible beast lurks beneath the streets. Just before the countdown begins, it bursts up from a manhole, sending several people flying, and begins a wanton slaughter.

Transfixed by the ball and deafened by the jubilant throng, even those alarmingly close to the creature are completely oblivious to what’s going on. Several dozen try to run away, but are trapped, and it takes a minute or more before the people in the general area start to panic.

When they do, though, a stampede occurs. People trample each other to get away from the deadly beast.

The PCs might be in the vicinity of the beast’s emergence, pressed into fighting it in the cramped quarters until the crowds start to realize what’s happening and run away. Alternatively, they might be farther away, forced to fight against the tide to reach the beast.

In the latter case, it’s important that they actually have a reason to fight instead of just running away. They may be police officers, government agents, or even scientists from a facility secretly breeding horrors like this. Maybe they even tracked it here and knew it was going to happen.