Sunrise Over the Black Lake

Things within or around a lake tainted by evil. Roll (d12):

1. It is believed that the memories and knowledge of dead sorcerers can be gathered and extracted from the waters of the lake to make potions. 
2. Message in a bottle floating in the lake. Message inside says one of the PCs is cursed. Judge to randomly decide which PC, who then suffers a -4 on Luck rolls for next 1d4+1 days. Curse can be lifted by magic. 
3. Eyeballs on the end of stalks around 1-2’ high grow around the edges of the lake. The eyeballs blink and always watch the PCs. The eyes have been extracted from nearby villagers. 
4. Children from a nearby village laughing and playing together at the water’s edge. They have black boils over their bodies and black puss is drooling from the mouths. 
5. A huge boulder smeared with blood. 
6. The water of the lake looks like it’s boiling with steam rising, but when the PCs get close, it is actually freezing cold. 
7. Crystal clear water, with what looks like two-headed mermaids with golden tails swimming beneath. 
8. Music and happy singing coming from a distance. 
9. Animal/plant hybrid creatures feeding with their intestines coming out of their stomachs and going into the ground. 
10. A life-size statue of a person pointing in a direction. An absurd riddle written on the base of the statute gives a clue to the PCs. 
11. Hundreds of large eggs, about the size of a human. Some have already hatched. 
12. A polished marble staircase, leading underground.  

As Eternity Opens

The PCs are in a dungeon and enter a room with no ceiling. Looking up, they observe an ominous black sky filled with countless bright stars. It’s odd because they're certain they are several levels underground. If they climb out of the room, they find themselves on a completely flat, featureless landscape. The sky continues to the horizon in all directions, there is dead silence and it is lifeless.

If the PCs travel more than 1d100+500 feet from the exit, they become bewildered and lost. Irrespective of which direction they travel in, they periodically stumble upon another hole in the ground, the exact room from where they exited. They discover a hole every d100: (1–90) 1d20+20 minutes. (91–95) 1d10+1 hours (96–98) 1d100 miles. (99) 1d100 years. (00) 1d100 centuries. The PCs can climb back inside and continue the adventure, otherwise they inexplicably discover the same hole, again and again, for all eternity. The PCs will never hunger, thirst or age and the night will never become day.

The PCs gradually suffer stat loss if they chose to stay outside, as they begin to lose their minds. Each PC makes a Will save (DC10) every 1d3 days spent above the dungeon. If the roll fails, the PC suffers 1d3 Personality loss, which recovers at 1 point every 1d3 days. If Personality reduces to 0, the PC becomes insane.

Wanderers in the Dark

Inexplicable things found in a dungeon. Roll (d14):

1. A painting on the wall depicting the party. 
2. A newborn baby in a cot. 
3. An undead creature playing beautiful music on a harpsichord. 
4. A church organ made of singing, severed heads. Half are singing “Feed me!” and the other half singing “Eat me!” in unison. 
5. A toy snowdome with a tiny, living blue dragon inside. 
6. A room with a heartbeat. 
7. A room where torches burn fitfully and give off a lot of thick black smoke. 
8. A speaking door which will let the party pass if they can answer a riddle. 
9. Nine glass globes hanging by a rope from the ceiling, each containing a key. 
10. A face carved into the dungeon wall which speaks and says: “Turn back...this is not the way.”
11. A small device which whispers your words into the sleeping ears of others.
12. A coin that hypnotizes anyone observing it spinning. 
13. An underground forest. 
14. A section or room of the dungeon where every PC becomes invisible to other members of the party. The PCs can only see themselves, they can’t see each other. 

The World is Made of Words

The PCs enter a room where humanoid entities called Language Miners are operating some kind of free-standing machine full of knobs, dials, levels and chimneys of various widths and heights. The machine is made of an unknown material. The design looks like it could have come from the Victorian-era Industrial Age of the 19th century.

The Miners are using the machine to create language, the substance that builds the world. Letters of the alphabet rise from the chimney which initially appear solid, but slowly become a smokey, translucent substance and melt into air.

If the PCs ask the Language Miners any questions, they answer back with the following. Roll (d7):

1. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you...we’ve been expecting you. We believe you have many questions for us”
2. “A mystery solved loses all luster...let us preserve the wonder of this event by leaving it unexplained”
3. “In this circumstance, I can think of no useful magic.”
4. “It’s creator would be proud to see such an inventive use for this device.”
5. “Your lives hang in the balance. What is your choice?”
6. “You have picked such an inconvenient time to arrive....I’m afraid we can’t attend to you at present. We are unable to take any questions at this time”
7. “We have some very, very bad news for you...what you are searching for is very far away from here. And by the way....you are all doomed.

Language Miners: (4 or more): Init +1; Atk language blast +1 ranged (60’ range, 1d8) or paralyzing scream (special); AC 16; HD 4d4+4; hp 15; MV 30’; Act 1d20; SP undead traits; immune to non-magical weapons; paralyzing scream (affects 1 target, DC 8 Fort save or immobilized for 1d4 rounds); SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +10; AL C.

Language Miners are about 4’ high and look like a cross between a Halfling and Dwarf. They are plump, have tangerine skin, bright green hair, wear glowing white overalls as a uniform with brown long-sleeve shirts underneath, and polished brown boots. When describing them, use the Oompa Loompa men from the 1971 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a comparison. 

Stats provided are for DCC RPG.

The Spectral Trees

Things PCs find in a creepy forest. Roll (d8):

1. A small pool of liquid silver. 
2. When cut, trees bleed what looks like human blood. 
3. Plants that begin to sing lullabies in unison. Roll d3: (1) Lullabies are a sleep spell. Will Save DC15 or PCs fall into a deep dream-state for 1d3+1 hours, unable to be awoken except by vigorous means. (2) Plants sing 1d3 true rumours about the forest. (3) Plants sing 1d3 false rumours about the forest. 
4. A lost person who can’t recall their identity. One of the PCs knew this person from their past and was certain they were dead. 
5. A colony of fairies living in the canopy of trees who can heal wounded PCs with Lay on Hands. 
6. Absolute and utter silence. Sound is absorbed by the forest, does not travel, nobody can hear each other speaking – the PCs are unable to hear any noise whatsoever, except their own heartbeat. 
7. A perfectly carved stone stairway leading underground. 
8. Several mutilated corpses are chained to a tree. There are strange geometric symbols growing on the trunk.