this gave me a lot of questions. like, why does the manticore want the scarab locket? and why is that locket tucked away in a hard to reach loft on top of the kitchen? why do all these bandits follow this manticore if it does not care wether they live or die?
also, running the manticore: when it reaches the stronghold, does it just go for the scarab, grab it and runs away? since it says that the locket is all it really wants. or does it not know where the locket is?
this is very cool but it gave me so many questions that seem hard to figure out an answer to. I did really really love the manticore's name!
that's okay! I wasn't planning on using him as a combat obstacle either, but the statblock got me thinking about why he would send the party down there and I could only think of him wanting them to be monster food, and I couldn't imagine a compelling argument for him running away with the ability to use death rays and the like.
that said, I enjoyed the thought experiment of a very strong wizard passing himself off as a weak one to lure adventures downstairs as meat for his experiment, and the doom that would come in their minds if the experiment tells them that they've been tricked and the guy upstairs is too strong for them to handle!
hey! I was reading The Monster under the Tower and a lot of questions showed up in my mind from the intention of the adventure.
the statblock given to the mage is that of an Archimage (a level 10 wizard), which seems quite strong for level 2 characters, and could easily kill the two werewolves.
how are the players supposed to beat the mage if they wanna save the child? or if the players are supposed to be the meat being sent down there to feed the beast? did your players manage to beat him when you tested the adventure? seems like they'd go out with at least one dead (if not all, from a fireball)
