Lair of the Owlbear

 

There’s a 50% chance the owlbear is in its lair, sleeping. If it’s not, roll d6 for every 2 turns spent inside. On 1-3 the owlbear returns, possibly with a fresh kill. If the owlbear is sleeping in its nest, every turn or if a loud noise is made, roll a d6. On a 1 it awakens, grumpy and looking for food (The party gets a surprise round to act).

1) Entrance

• Barrow’s stone door is tossed to the side.

•  There’s bits of dead bodies, animal carcasses and blood splattered around it and clear drag marks leading inside. There are coins and a few gems scattered around, worth 20 gp in total.

• The smell of death and rotting meat comes from within. 

2) Votives

• Votive statues on piles in the niches on the floor.

• Votives are made from clay, stone and metal.

• There’s enough tarnished silver ones to be worth some money. If 1 turn is spent collecting them you can get 2 slots worth of little votives worth 200 gp total.

• Dried and fresh blood pooled around them. Brown feathers can be seen stuck in the mud.

3) Bodies

• Corridor slopes gently down to the main burial chamber.

• On the floor among pools of blood are mangled remains of bodies. There is fur (identified as bear fur) and more brown feathers around them.

• Searching the remains yields 2x long swords, 1x helmet (slightly banged up), 2x lanterns (no oil) and a pouch with 60 gp in various coins (100 coins total).

4) Nest of the owlbear

• Main burial chamber of the barrow, now converted into a nest. 

• A giant sticky pile of cloth, sticks and clothes form a large nest. If the owlbear is in its lair it’ll be sleeping in the nest. It seems like there’s a faint light or glow emanating from it.

• Stench of rotting flesh is overwhelming. Save vs poison or get violently sick (making a lot of noise). 

• If a character spends 1 turn digging through the detritus of the nest they can find some treasures. Roll 1d6 and consult below. If the treasure is already found, just pick the closest one. If the owlbear is sleeping in its nest, searching the nest has a 1-4 chance to wake it up, giving the party 1 turn of surprise before it starts mauling them. 

I dig through the nest! 1d6

1. Scroll containing a 2nd level spell. Roll d6: 1 - Cleric, 2-4 - Magic-User 5-6 - Illusionist.

2. Loose gemstones. 2d6 of them each worth 200 gp.

3. Potion of healing.

4. Leather codpiece with a secret purse in it. Contains 1 gold ring worth 350 gp + 1d6 x50 gp in coins. 

5. Mace +1, can also hit incorporeal undead.

6. Magic helmet with a crystal third eye. The third eye provides illumination like a torch when the helmet is worn, but the wearer is always the first person to be attacked in a fight.