Grey Hook's Unpaid Fee | Fantasy Hazard Generated by CharGen

The hazard

The square's old fee post is more than a place to pay market dues. Its buried winches haul hooked chains through the cobbles, catching the ankles of anyone who crosses without paying. During a fight, the hazard turns a busy patch of ground into a dangerous bottleneck and can drag combatants away from cover or companions.

Mechanical
Complex

Stealth: (expert) to notice the concealed pressure plates and chain gutters; the brass fee post itself is obvious.
Trigger: A creature that has not paid the fee steps onto the marked cobbles. The hazard rolls initiative and makes its first Chain Snare Strike against the triggering creature.
Disable: Thievery (trained) to jam a chain winch from a gutter, or Thievery (trained) to disable the fee post's balance mechanism. Two successful checks are required to disable the hazard completely. A critical success counts as two successes.
Initiative: +11
Routine: The hazard spends 2 actions. It uses Chain Snare against one eligible creature, then uses Haul In if it has a creature grabbed. It prioritizes creatures that have not paid the fee, then the nearest creature in reach.
Reset: The hazard resets automatically 1 minute after it has no creature grabbed and no creature remains in the marked square. Its chains retract into the gutters and its fee post returns to its idle state.

Damage

Immunities

critical hits, object immunities, precision damage

Weaknesses

electricity 5

Effects

2

Chain Snare
DC 21
Chain Snare: The hazard makes a chain lash Strike against one creature in the marked square or within 10 feet of its edge. On a hit, the target takes bludgeoning damage and is grabbed by the chain (Escape ).
Haul In
DC 21
Haul In: If a creature is grabbed by a chain, the hazard attempts to pull it 10 feet toward the nearest gutter. The target can attempt a Reflex save to avoid being moved. On a failure, it is pulled and falls prone if the movement brings it into a stall, wall, or another creature's space.

Special rules

Marked Fee Square.The hazard occupies a 20-foot square of marked cobbles around the fee post. Its chains can reach creatures within 10 feet of the square's edges.

Paid Up.A creature that pays the post with a coin worth at least 1 sp is ignored by the hazard for 10 minutes. The hazard can track no more than six paid creatures at a time; after that, the oldest payment expires immediately.

Spotting it

Discovery

A creature that Searches the square and succeeds at a Perception check notices the narrow chain gutters and pressure plates.

Perception

+11

Stop it

Signs of dangerFresh scratches and small blood spots mark the cobbles beside the gutters. · A chain briefly rattles below the paving when a creature steps near the fee post. · The balance scale on the post tips toward any creature carrying a heavy purse.

Countermeasures

A creature can cross the square safely by placing a silver piece in the fee post's slot before stepping onto the marked cobbles. The post accepts any coin of at least 1 sp value.
A creature can Leap or otherwise move over the cobbled square without touching it, provided it does not land within the hazard's area.
A creature adjacent to a chain gutter can use Thievery to wedge the chain with a suitable metal object, suppressing the hazard's attack against one chosen edge until the start of that creature's next turn. The Thievery check uses the Disable DC.
Destroying the fee post or any exposed chain winch disables the hazard. The post has Hardness 10 and 40 HP, with a BT of 20.

In short

Recognize the marked fee square, pay the post, cross without touching the plates, or disable the concealed chain winches.

Its story

What it looks like

Iron-rimmed cobbles form a neat square around a brass fee post.

Why it is here

To enforce market fees and control movement through the square, though its builders left it dangerous enough to become a battlefield hazard.

Who made it

The Grey Hook Square market wardens, with mechanisms supplied by an unnamed locksmith.

Lore

Market gossip claims the fee post was installed after a string of thefts, but the wardens never admit the chains are meant to punish anyone.

Where it is found

Grey Hook Square, a crowded market plaza with stone paving, stalls, awnings, and narrow gutters.

Variants

In a more heavily guarded market, the chains end in blunt hooks. Reduce Chain Snare damage to 1d8+4, but on a hit the target is also pulled 5 feet toward the post without a save.

A corrupt warden has altered the scale so that only a specific stamped token counts as payment. A creature carrying ordinary coins can discover the fraud with a successful DC 19 Society check.

Plot hooks

A vendor insists the hazard has begun snaring people who paid their fees, suggesting someone has tampered with the balance mechanism.

The wardens use the square's chain system to isolate a suspect during a public dispute, forcing the party to decide whether to intervene.

A stolen ledger hidden beneath the fee post records bribes paid to keep certain stalls outside the hazard's reach.

Media

0 images

No images yet.

Visual sheet

Turn Grey Hook's Unpaid Fee into a sheet

A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.