Labyrinth Library

Floating Obscurer (3)

 Labyrinth Library

For OSR Adventures

Roll 1d20

Wrath is a special mechanic in the Labyrinth Library. Every time a party member damages or destroys a book OR gains Wrath as specified in each Encounter. The more Wrath the players gain, the darker and more dangerous the Library gets.

[1] Several books animate and fly from shelf to shelf, reorganizing themselves as needed. If you pick one of the books out of the air the party gains 1 Wrath.

[2] Cool Fountain sits in the middle of a small circular room of books. It is pure drinking water, but otherwise has no special properties.

<Wrath is 4 or Greater>

The Fountain is replaced with foul smelling green water. The water burns your tongue terribly and deals 1 point of Con damage if drunk.

[3] Book of Mouths. Magic book on a podium. The book is tied to the podium with a silver chain. Removing it from this chain will incur 1 Wrath. Each page has a mouth drawn upon it, which can come alive. Roll d6 for a random page;

1. Jolly Fat Woman's Mouth- Sings Opera. Loud enough to crack glass equipment or items, roll for random Encounter.
2. Beast's Mouth- Snarls and bites the reader, save or take 1d6 damage
3. Sorcerer's Mouth- The Sorcerer Mouth casts 'Charm Person' on whoever opens the book to this page, trying to get them to remove the book from the podium.
4. Snake's Mouth. Sounds like hissing to everyone in the party except the most dishonest. The snake mouth tells them about [4], but asks them not to share.
5. Baby Mouth. Laughs, party feels oddly relieved. Removes -1 Wrath.
6. Stitched up mouth. Depending on Wrath;
   (1 or less) Doesn't speak.
   (2-3) Makes dire prophecy
   (4 or more) Screams dealing 2d6 damage to party

[4] Ordinary looking bookshelf with a silver trim. There is a large red book on the shelf which has a hallowed out middle that holds a gold chain studded with rubies and sapphires. Worth 600 g.

[5] Leering faces peek out from between book shelves. The book shelves are pressed against the wall. While creepy they actually are quite talkative and will give the party directions.

<Wrath is 2 or Greater>

The faces will give directions but will always try to lead the party towards [6] or [7] either on the way to their destination or lying to claim it is their destination.

[6] Small Maze-like section of the library that seems eager to trap people within. It only takes 1 Turn to find your way back out of it, but trying to break through the white-paneled walls as a shortcut will gain the party +1 Wrath. No matter how many times the party smashes through the walls here they still only gain a single point of Wrath.

<Wrath is 2 or Greater>

Maze shifts its position and seems generally darker and more cluttered. Takes 1d4 turns to find yourself out.

<Wrath is 4 or Greater>
The maze has become bitch black and Dark creatures inhabit it. Roll 1d4 Darklings to attack every turn you are in this maze, takes 2d4 turns to find your way out.

Darklings (1HD, +1 AC, d6 shadow claws)

Darklings appear to have physical and solid shapes but defy any kind of description or sorting out. Light makes them recoil and if cornered somewhere they will simply die instead of being known. Light spells deal damage equal to caster level if used on the Darklings.

[7] Appears as a regular hallway but with a gigantic guillotine trap, that comes out between two shelves. The trap deals 1d8+1 damage; save vs traps/agility to avoid. Resets itself after 1 turn unless permanently disabled by a skilled person.

[8] Feasting Hall. Long table set in center of library, books piled to the sides to make room for past meals. Underneath the table about halfway down is a iron dagger bound with a strap to the underside of the great table. Within this dagger is a smaller golden dagger that can only be opened with a twisting motion. Worth 80 gold.

<3 Wrath or Greater>

Several friendly hobbits manage a nearby oven and offer meat pies to the player characters. The meat is very obviously rancid and possibly of human origin. If refused the Halflings will attack (stats as goblin, 1d6+1 Halflings)

[9] In the center of a small outlet in the Labyrinth lies the corpse of the old librarian. An elder human with a purple sash, ripped and torn by claws. On his body is a silver chain and 1d6x10 copper pieces in a burlap sack.

Looting his body does not incur Wrath, but burying him in the dirt outside the library or in [10] removes -1 Wrath from the party.

[10] Book-Trees. Floorboards of the library torn up to reveal dirt underneath, with large trees around the room. The trees are 'growing' books, with tiny unripened books being terribly misspelled and poorly paced penny dreadfuls, while fully ripe books fall off, revealing a random volume on matters such as philosophy, poetry, or natural sciences.

Any scholarly characters who examine the books and know of literature will notice that the books are not wholly original, but instead regrowth of ancient books once held within the library, as if growing to replace the damaged, destroyed and pilfered books of the library. Damage to the booktrees causes 1 immediate Wrath.

One tree has upon a branch a golden apple. You do not gain any Wrath for taking it, but it is high up.

<Wrath of 4 or more>

The book trees groan angrily at the party as they approach. If they don't leave immediately, the trees summon forth a random Encounter to attack.

[10] Spellbook Section. Several spellbooks lay behind a locked glass case. This can be opened either by the Minotaur Librarian or by conventional means. Smashing the glass also works, but incurs 1 Wrath.

The spellbooks within contain random 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd level spells, 1d6 of each level. Additionally there is a black book that contains 1d4 higher level spells, one of which includes Disintegrate or similar high level damage spell.

Included in this black book is instruction such the spell can be cast by using one lower spell slot category (and therefore cast by a less experienced magic user), but casting the spell this way deals 1 Constiution damage to the caster. This is not expressly told in the book.

<2 Wrath or Greater>

One of the books on the shelf is replaced with a Book Golem, which activates either when opened or removed from the shelf and ignored for a moment.

Book Golem (3 HD, +2 to Hit, 2 attacks, holds 2 paper swords; deals d4 damage, weak to fire)

The Book Golem unfolds from the book with the center of its chest being the opened book as sort of a breastplate. The paper that makes up its body is unnaturally thick and hard to injure, but it is as easy to light on fire as any book.

Killing or damaging the Golem does not incur any Wrath.

[11] Minotaur Librarian's Home. Large cottage built in some forgotten aisle of the library. Breaking into his house and/or stealing any of his things make him gain 2 Wrath, but ONLY for purposes of calculating his Wrath based abilities and mechanics.

The home is sparse but contains a few (1d6+1) engraved ivory drinking horns, worth 10 gold each. Additionally, the Minotaur's battle axe is here, which is a d10 great weapon.

[12] The Minotaur Librarian. He is browsing a random aisle of the library, nearly ignoring the party unless they make enough noise. He is scholarly, honorable and talkative and will discuss any books or academic subjects at length.

As long as the party does not anger him by breaking into his house, stealing his things or attacking him, and as long as they remain <4 Wrath points, he will be extremely helpful and even guide the players towards parts of the library or open locked doors for them.

He will not engage any of the monsters of the library and will instead pretend not to notice, refusing to comment on it if pressed.

<Wrath of 4 or Greater>
The Minotaur goes berserk and seeks to destroy the party. Add him to the wandering monster encounters from now on.

Minotaur Librarian (HD equal to number of party Wrath points. + to hit and AC equal to HD, d10 battleaxe damage once he retrieves it)

[13] Random desk that has a floating magic quill, writing on its own. Taking the quill or speaking in this area will anger the resident Whisperer Demon, who attacks the loudest person in the party.

The quill itself is magic and writes whatever is said to it, but anyone speaking overwrites the last thing it was told to write. It writes at normal writing speed and if broken ceases to work.

Whisperer Demon (1HD, +3 AC, invisible, d4 claw attack)

Nearly powerless demon that can only tempt people to sin by whispering things into their ears. Clerics get a +2 to turning attempts against this weak-willed demon.

Currently writing strongly-worded letters to the nearest king in an attempt to get him to cheat on his wife with the queen of the trolls. He can't find his way out of the dungeon and has messed up the letter so many times that he will attack anyone who breaks his concentration.

<Wrath of 4 or Greater>

The demon has become a much more powerful Tempter, gaining +1 HD and being able to cast Charm on party members.

[14] The Table of Contents. Large leather bound book on a stool. This book gives directions to the location of every single mundane and common book in the library. If the players have any subject in mind, they can follow the table of contents to find it and take it. This does not cover for 'rare' books or magic books, which are a separate category.

Additionally, if the table of contents is damaged or destroyed in the player's position, even by accident, 1 Wrath is gained.

[15] Fairytale escaped from a book. The area around the party shifts to reflect generic stories of knights and castles, talking animals, fairies, princesses and dragons, and so on. This still takes place in the Library, but books are stacked like castles, a gremlin is forced into a pink dress, etc.

The Fairytale will try to get the party members to play out a famous or silly tale that wastes 2d4 turns to play out fully, and will require at least one acting check (roll d20 + charisma bonus vs Fairytale health) to end.

Escaped Fairytale (3HD, can only deal d4 damage but can mess things up in other ways, noncorporeal- manipulates reality.)

You can end the Fairytale by either playing along or derailing the story so much and corrupting it that it gives up. Each time you do derail or mess up the story you deal 1d6+charisma bonus damage.

The Fairytale can summon a monster with 1HD once per turn and can move objects or items, as well as deal d4 damage from 'accidents' around you if you anger it.

<Wrath>

Add +1 to damage AND number of monsters it can summon at once per point of Wrath

[16] Gremlin-Stocker's hovel. Home of the gremlin book stockers, its just a nasty camp of old discarded metal and fabric.

The gremlins constantly hide and steal from each other, but always hide their valuables under their beds so they don't teach the other gremlins any new hiding places after they steal back stuff.

They have 2d10 copper coins and a golden key, one of which opens the Tome of Turmoil.

[17] Restricted Books, locked in a room behind an iron door. The keys to this case are only found on the Minotaur Librarian, and this is the one room he refuses to open for the party members. Sneaking in other ways is also possible. No matter how you enter this room the library rejects your presence here and you gain 1 Wrath.

Within this room are 2d6 tomes of great power but also treachery and darkness, each one of them is worth 1d6x100 gold if returned and sold on the open market. One of the book details the worst thing in the world, a monster so horrible that merely uttering its name will summon it. Another book teaches the exact secret and process of turning a necromancer into a lich.

The Tome of Turmoil is also in the room; locked with its own golden lock, and warns on the front cover to not open the book under any circumstances. (Check sub-table if opened)

[18] Pen Pals. Ghostly figures of people appear floating in and out of books, call to players to write about them.

Every line the player writes about the spirits, or giving the spirit a personality, appearance, or fictional life story and skills will make that part of the spirit's being from now on, and also drains 1d4 of a random stat from the writing player.

The spirits beg to be made more and more real by writing more and more. They promise to be helpful as well- following the players about and levitating their personal book. If denied too long they will wail and cause a random encounter.

The only way to destroy the spirits once written about is to either destroying their book (1 Wrath) or write the spirit's own personality or 'story' into a corner, which makes them cease to exist.

Additionally, if any party member dies before the book spirits are destroyed, or if a total of 20+ stat points are dumped into them, the spirits will combine into a real life person of random gender, race, age and class with some skills and traits in the written passages. Replacement PC

[19] Small wing of the library with extremely heavy and confusing books. Entire books are written in highly flowery and nonsensical script, often with ink-heavy childish doodles in the margins of the pages.

Each book is actually written with ink that is partially gold. Burning the books and sifting the ashes will find the gold in tiny flakes, or a chemical concoction made by an alchemist can congeal the ink into lumps of pure gold.

There are 20 volumes and each volume is worth about 5 gold coins worth in gold. Destroying the books inside the library will cause Wrath.

The only way for party members to identify the books as containing gold is to have some way to detect treasure, to learn about it in The History of the Library Labyrinthine (Restricted Book section) or to naturally deduce it from how the books are heavier then same sized books with regular ink.

[20] The Editor. Powerful Wizard who lives within the library, unable to leave due to predilection towards books and text. The Editor is insane and is looking for 'students' (Students of Iron) He is also known to cast permanent but minor transformation spells to the party's appearances or equipment if he thinks they are 'better that way', such as changing the fighter's fiery-red hair to become naturally blond, making the female characters bustier, straightening the old witch's crooked nose, etc.

Conjurer of the Pen Pals and seeking many of the unusual books in the library, as well as means to access the Restricted Section. Can also sense the party's Wrath level and will comment on it, warning them to leave if they reach 2-3 Wrath.

The Editor (3HD, varied stats, casts powerful spells, gains +1 to damage per party Wrath)

If threatened the Editor will typical transform into a paper dragon, which has +2 to hit and AC and has an 'ink' breath attack which sticks to everything and makes stealth impossible. Weak to fire. Can also turn into a bird or an ogre, casts Baleful Polymorph, turns people to stone etc.

Wandering Monsters

roll 1d6

(1) Ganglion Scholars (2HD, +2 AC, d6 claw damage or casts a hex that deals 1d4 damage to character Dexterity; causes swelling of joints)

Appearing; 1d4+1

Rail-thin creatures seemingly made of just bones and skin, with thick and hard lumps where their joints and hands are. Each one of them has a random number (1d4) eyes, that they use to read as many books at once.

They chatter among themselves about the latest news, poetry, and discoveries in the library in an unspeakable alien dialect. For this reason it is very easy to sneak up on them (+2 to sneaking)

<Wrath>
Each point of Wrath cause the ganglion scholars to deal +1 damage with claws and hex.

(2) Students of Iron (1 HD, +2 AC, +1 to hit, d6 rusted iron rods. Immune to transmutation spells, polymorphing, and paralysis)

Appearing; 2

Robed apprentices with faces that look covered in silver paint. Their face has actually been partially transformed into Iron, meaning they can no longer speak or express emotions.

They wordlessly gather books, materials, and fight a few other creatures of the library. As long as the players do not interfere, they are neutral, but they will attempt to take any MU characters spellbook or other books sought by the editor by force if they see it or overhear the party talking about it.

One of the students will have a golden face (+1 HD and AC) has the power to transform into a random magic creature. (25% of each; Werewolf, Succubus, Troll, Giant Bee)

<Wrath>
Each point of Wrath causes another student of Iron to appear. At 4 or Greater Wrath there will +1 additional golden faced students in each group.

(3) Floating Obscurer (2 HD, -2 AC, constant flight, has poison breath attack dealing d4 damage per round it is breathed in. Lasts 1 round)

Appearing; One

Fat, bulbous man with light green putrid skin. Wears a fluffy and feathery outfit that has lost almost all its color and shine due to age and decay. The man has has has eyes stitched shut, and seems to fumble around, but can see just fine even in dark places. It can often be seen rearranging books on the shelves while cackling to itself, messing them up. Also likes to punch any flying books out of the air, which flutter to the ground like injured birds. This is a sign one is near.

The Obscurer likes to throw books at the party and stay out of reach usually, but gets in close to use his breath attack since it dissipates so quickly. If injured will probably just fly over the shelves and retreat, laughing all the way.

<Wrath>

Each point of Wrath makes the Obscurer's gas last 1 round longer. At four or greater wrath, the Obscurer releases a cloud of his smoke on death.

(4) Stocker Gremlins (1 HD, stats as goblin but with d4 shivs and improvised weapons)

Appearing; 1d4

These Gremlins appear like small goblins or kobolds but furred. Surprisingly well kept, but very stupid. Cannot read, has a magical sense of where each book goes upon touching it.

The group of gremlins is tied via chain and collar to a large iron push-cart. They pick up books and return them to their proper place on the shelves, a job they despise. They do not attack party members unless insulted or if the party picks up any book in front of them and doesn't put it back; they can speak common (poorly) as well as snippets of other languages.

<Wrath>

Every Wrath causes the Gremlins to gain +1 HP and become more aggressive. At 4 or more Wrath, the gremlins have attached spikes to their cart and will try to ram it into anyone in their way.

(5) Book Worms (1HD, d6 bite, can burrow and curl up inside a book to avoid an attack)

Appearing; 1d6

White worms roughly the size of a cat. Some worms have tiny black markings on them that appear like words as camouflage, but the letters are just jumbled up gibberish. Tend to jump out of books that they use for nests and hiding places.

Killing the worms or their book nests does not count for gaining more Wrath, as the worms already ruined parts of the library.

<Wrath>

Add another 1d4 worms per each point of Wrath.

(6) Lantern Skeleton (1HD, d6 shortswords)

Appearing; 1d4

These generic skeletons have flames within their skulls and put light out from their eyes at an unnatural brightness and range.

If the party members already have light sources the skeletons will be aggressive, if they do not the skeletons will instead crowd around the party and simply try to illuminate things for them.

Helpful skeletons are often targeted by other monsters and traps of the Library. 50% chance one of the friendly skeletons likes the party so much that they will travel out of the Library with them and follow them anywhere they go, lighting the way and no longer becoming aggressive even if encountering lights brighter then his own.

<Wrath>

If at 4 Wrath or Greater, the skeletons will pretend to be friendly until the party need them most, and then will extinguish their own lights and become regular aggressive skeletons without light instead.

Tome of Turmoil

If the players open this Tome...

• Add +1d6 Wrath
• Chilling Scream is heard throughout the entire Library Labyrinth
• Conjure a random encounter at their immediate location, ambushed
• The Editor seeks to destroy them and take the tome for himself.
• All books carried by the party members have their words scrambled.

Note; Scrambled Books include MU books unless a Save vs Magic is made, which only protects their personal spellbook. Regular books can be unscrambled at a rate of one book per day of downtime, but spellbooks require one day per highest level of spell within that book.

Additionally, for a number of days equal to amount of Wrath they have when they leave the Library the party will be unable to enter any Libraries or private book collections of greater then 100 books or else they will be attacked by conjured monsters from the Library itself.

The book can be sold to dark Wizards for 10,000 gold or more, but it is rumored that within the books mysterious pages are the secrets to starting the apocalypse.