The Amber Prison: Steal this DnD Encounter

 Yesterday in a brief moment of respite while subbing,

I stumbled upon this piece of art by Wayne Reynolds.

More than I appreciate his artwork for Paizo and other game systems, I was was filled with inspiration to create an encounter based on this piece. In the description he mentions that it is encased in amber, and in thinking back to my times running Curse of Strahd amber is also utilized in that adventure to retain powerful spirits and entities. 

Why is this demon trapped? Why keep it's weapon so near?

I imagine in the product that this art is meant for this will be explained. For our purposes, it is not significant. What is significant is that some villains whish to free this demon from it's prison and use it for their own nefarious pursuits.

I decided to construct this encounter more loosely than I would if I were crafting it for a game of mine. Instead of included specific monsters from the monster manual or the like, it is written as more of an outline and a story thread than a nitty gritty, down to the numbers encounter. (Mostly because I am lazy at times) but also to allow for some flexibility, and so it can be used in a different system other than D&D 5e.

If you would like the Google Doc version of the encounter, you can find it here. 

If you don't want to read it for some reason I will briefly describe it. The encounter is a race against time. The PCs need to stop the wizards from freeing and controlling the demon. In a certain number of rounds, the demon will be free. If the wizards are stopped, the encounter will be much easier. If they are not, the difficulty will be significantly ramped up.

The Amber Prison

Overview: A nefarious transmutation wizard has located an ancient demon encased in amber deep in an overgrown cave near a large settlement or city. He intends to release it from the amber, and with the help of his enchanter colleague, gain control of the demon.

Outline

• PCs discover and enter the cave by some means

• PCs explore the cave system, encountering research, burly thugs, bandits, and miners employed by the wizards.

• PCs enter the cave nexus wherein the wizards are performing their final ritual of releasing and binding the demon from the amber. 

• Should the PCs ignore the quest or leave at some point. The demon and the wizards will wreak havoc on the nearby settlement, seeking to gain control of it for their plans.

• The demon might also be released and the binding failed, leaving it to roam free and sow chaos.

Combat Encounter Overview: A ritual will be in the midst of taking place once the PCs arrive on the scene. Roll initiative at the start to begin the race against time. In 5 or d8 rounds, the demon will be set free, and in 4 or d6 more, it will have its blade.

The PCs must make it through the minions of the wizards and also defend themselves against the wizard’s apprentices before the ritual can be completed.

If the demon breaks free, but the enchanter is dead, it will become a force of chaos, attacking friend and foe alike with fury and fervor.

Use level appropriate enemies for your party. Each squad should be one difficulty level and will be denoted beside them.

Enemy Combatants and Tactics

This is very dependent on PCs and their level. Assuming about tier 2 level, the following should be appropriate. The combat should take place in a large chamber with boulders and interesting terrain with the amber prison near the back of the chamber opposite of the PCs entry point.

Squad 1 (Easy): PCs x 2 amount of bandits and miners. Can be low HP or even minions.

• Tactics: Get in the way of the PCs, attempt to grapple, and pin the PCs down. Using their reactions for attacks of opportunity.

Squad 2 (Medium): Apprentice Wizards 1 - transmuter and 1 enchanter.

• Tactics: While occupied with the melee combatants, the two wizards will use mostly controlling spells to additionally hinder the PCs and make it easier for the melee minions to hit them. They will use a concentration spell first, and then use ranged attacks against the opposing casters to break their concentration. Magic missiles are especially effective in this regard.

Squad 3 (Hard): Master Transmuter and Master Enchanter

• Tactics: Their first priority is releasing and subsequently binding the demon their whole concentration will be placed on those tasks. Once the timer set at the beginning is complete, the demon will be under their control and will fight alongside them.

• If the Master Wizards are incapacitated before that, the demon will remain trapped.

• If they are incapacitated after the demon is freed, they will lose control of it, and it will have it’s free will again.

Squad 4 (Deadly): Ancient Demon

• Tactics: The ancient demon can either be bestial or intelligent. If it is bestial it will attack the nearest foe until the fall, or target the creature who recently did the most damage to it. If it is intelligent, it will attack the easiest to hit party member who can deal the most damage, generally casters. It will ignore high AC opponents if it misses them once.