Exploring the unexplored

They take wild octos every year and put them in a conjoined tank that is separated only by a plexi glass wall full of holes big enough for them to put arms through but small enough that their beaks can’t fit through. Each octopus is given food, healthcare, and enrichment, and the opportunity to get to know each other.

As Valentine’s Day approaches the marine biologists that specialize in octos make assessments of their interactions and judge if the two are compatible for mating or if they are still aggressive toward each other.

If the octopuses have been witnessed being friendly and seem interested, the gate is lifted and they have their day of romance.

But octopuses engage in cannibalism in the wild and any smaller octopus is wary of getting eastern by a larger one… So yeah, if they haven’t been friendly the possibility of cannibalism is very high. And as a program designed to help save the species they aren’t going to risk it. So the octopuses are released (not together) back into the wild and the Aquarium sets about finding a new pair to play match-maker with.

I just thought of an EVIL dungeon.

Backstory: i work for a company that does vacation packages (I’m not a travel agent because im hourly with incentive not purely commission). One of the partner hotels gave THIS as a way to encourage us to book through them. It’s basically a six sided maze with pits where the ball gets stuck but the more i stared at the it the more i wanted to make it in a game.

So you’ll need one of these, that way you know your map is properly aligned. Photocopy it and trace it (to scale) onto grid paper. Let your adventurers go around on it.

The goal is to clear all the sides and get to be center. The pits i mentioned earlier are designed to get the ball stuck but i say make those lead to other sides like short cuts, and in doing so your players will see there is a portal to go through in the center they must find the right one. (They can’t go into the wrong hole see the portal and travel to it like by flying).

When they first begin they think it’s just a maze but when they get to the edge it looks like a cliff with canals cut into them vertically. As they attempt to scale down it it, the gravity shifts and they’re walking right side up. If they get to the hole and attempt to scale down it, same thing. If they throw something down the side it will land on the floor and reveal the gravity shift and the 3 dimensional nature of the maze.

Each side has some small villains, a mini boss (your discretion) and there’s a major boss blocking the portal in the center. “Find the path” and “guidance” doesn’t work, and you cant raise above the wall. Once they defeat a mini boss give them a hint which way to go so they can clear all six sides. Obviously give them some dead ends where they can rest and recover. This will REALLY aggravate your players but give them decent rewards along the way to keep them motivated, don’t skimp out on the magic items (if you don’t want to get too many magic items make them consumable magic items like spell scrolls and potions).

The maze is on a demiplane. Once they clear it and get to the center, perhaps they can use it as their own prison for future encounters.

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