The Great Chocolate Getaway | Fantasy Hazard Generated by CharGen

The hazard

A concealed confectionery defense fills the room with scalding, clinging chocolate syrup, turning the floor into a hazardous mess and threatening to pin down anyone trying to escape. The hazard suits a cramped kobold chocolate room: its channels cross the likely routes to the exit, while its mural and machinery offer observant characters ways to spot and sabotage it.

Mechanical
Complex
Fire

Stealth: Expert +13 (trained) to notice the pressure plate and concealed drum; to notice the hidden plate or drum from the room entrance.
Trigger: A creature steps on the concealed pressure plate in the center of the room or tampers with the mural's brass control plate. The drum rolls initiative immediately.
Disable: Thievery to disable the hidden pressure plate and control linkage, requiring 2 successes. A creature adjacent to the copper drum can instead attempt Crafting or Thievery to jam its gears, requiring 2 successes. A critical success counts as 2 successes. A critical failure triggers the hazard if it has not already triggered.
Initiative: +13
Routine: On its initiative, the drum fires a globule of hot syrup at one creature in the room that is not behind total cover. The target must be within 30 feet of the drum, and the drum has line of effect. It then releases more syrup into the floor channels, making each channel square difficult terrain until the end of the next round. The drum does not target a creature already immobilized by its syrup.
Reset: The hazard is manually reset by turning the concealed brass knob behind the mural. The drum can be reset after 10 minutes if it has not been disabled or destroyed. Syrup on the floor remains until cleaned or allowed to cool and harden over several hours.

Damage

Immunities

critical hits, object immunities, precision damage

Weaknesses

cold 5

Effects

1

Scalding syrup
DC 22
A creature hit by a syrup globule takes fire damage and must attempt a Reflex save. On a critical success, it takes no additional effect. On a success, it takes no additional effect. On a failure, it is clumsy 1 and takes a -5-foot circumstance penalty to its Speeds until the end of its next turn. On a critical failure, it is immobilized until it Escapes with ; the syrup also deals fire damage at the end of each of its turns while it remains immobilized.

Special rules

Pressure plate trigger.The first creature to enter a marked floor channel triggers the hazard. The drum rolls initiative immediately, and its first routine occurs on its initiative count.

Clinging chocolate.A creature can Escape from the syrup using the listed DC. A creature adjacent to an immobilized ally can use an Interact action to help pull it free, allowing the ally to attempt Escape immediately with a +2 circumstance bonus.

Slick channels.The syrup channels are difficult terrain while wet. When the hazard is disabled or destroyed, the syrup already on the floor remains difficult terrain until it cools and hardens or is cleared.

Spotting it

Discovery

A character who examines the floor or walls and succeeds at the listed Perception DC notices syrup channels that converge beneath a copper drum concealed behind the mural.

Perception

+13

Stop it

Signs of dangerThe floor's channels are too evenly spaced to be decorative. · A warm, sugary smell rises from the drain even when the cauldron is cold. · Tiny brass gears click behind the mural whenever someone steps near the center of the room. · Kobold footprints skirt the channels and follow a narrow dry path along the wall.

Countermeasures

A creature adjacent to the drain can spend an Interact action to wedge it open with a sturdy object. This prevents further syrup buildup but does not stop the drum.
A creature adjacent to the drum can use Thievery or Crafting to jam its feed gears, with the same DC as Disable. Success suppresses the routine until the hazard is reset; critical success disables it permanently.
A creature can climb the wall to reach the drum or control plate. The mural's seams provide handholds, though slick syrup makes the climb risky at the GM's discretion.
Syrup is difficult terrain. A creature can use an Interact action to clear a 5-foot square with a tool, or use a suitable cold effect to stiffen a 10-foot square, making it normal terrain for 1 minute.
The hazard can be destroyed by reducing it to 0 HP. Its mechanisms stop, but existing syrup remains on the floor.

In short

Avoid the syrup channels, jam the drum's feed gears, or disable the control plate.

Its story

What it looks like

A cheerful mural of dancing kobolds and melting chocolate hides a ceiling-mounted copper drum.

Why it is here

Protect the chocolate stores and delay intruders long enough for kobolds to escape or rally.

Who made it

A kobold pastry-maker known as Auntie Sizzle, who insists the room is a harmless test of kitchen manners.

Lore

Kobolds built the trap to keep intruders away from their chocolate stores.

Where it is found

A cramped kobold confectionery room with a low ceiling, a chocolate cauldron, narrow floor channels, and an exit that may lie across the slick floor.

Variants

For a lower-lethality version, the syrup is hot but not scalding: remove its fire damage, keeping the speed penalty and immobilization.

For an escape-room version, add three visible brass knobs. Turning the correct one, found with DC 20 Perception or Thievery, shuts off the drum; turning the wrong one triggers an immediate routine.

For a more chaotic kitchen, the drum targets the nearest creature, including kobolds, and the cauldron's steam obscures the far half of the room.

Plot hooks

The kobolds claim the trap was built to protect a stolen recipe, but the recipe is actually hidden in the mural's frame.

A rescued kitchen kobold offers to guide the party through the safe route, then admits the drum has begun running without anyone touching the plate.

The room's chocolate is prized by a nearby alchemist, who wants the party to retrieve a sample without damaging the cauldron or its contents.

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