Cactus Garden
RoomDCC 103 · p.8
Open source p.8Area 1-9 – Cactus Garden
Sand and gravel cover this area filled with cacti, agave, and succulents. The path through the garden splits with options to the left, right, and center. The leftmost path is completely overgrown with dusty red, fleshy-looking foliage. The center path seems mostly clear, though some cacti push in from the sides as the path rounds a towering saguaro cactus. The right-hand path is mostly overgrown with thorny greenery that droops down from above.
The left-hand path is safe and loops around to the right-hand path. The right-hand path is safe and loops around to the left-hand path. However, both paths are overgrown with various (non-thorny) succulents and look like they’re less passable than the middle one. Unfortunately, the middle path leads to a thorny trap (getting in is simple; getting out is not). If the PCs take time to investigate the left or righthand paths they will discover that the semblance of obstruction is false—they can easily pass along either path. If they don’t, the middle path looks like the easy one.
The center path is a dead end. The cactus spines bend easily in one direction allowing prey to enter. Up to 5 PCs could get caught if they’re bunched up. If they attempt to leave the thorns pierce the PCs and hold them in place while draining them of fluids ( hp per round). To get out, the nontrapped PCs must carefully cut the spines away (1 round per PC starting with last to enter).