Mad Artificer

The party, a ragtag group of 3rd level adventurers, hears a word from the town of a mad artificer who has been kidnapping and experimenting on the townspeople. The artificer was an eccentric but seemed to be a good person, but only recently have his experiments turned malicious. The town pleads with them to investigate. Arriving at the cave where he is believed to be holed up, the party finds a cave leading into the mountain. And here the party finds themselves.

Setup

• Establish Marching Order
• Learn who's playing what. Adjust plans on the fly accordingly.
• If anyone dies inside, they are automatically under the effect of gentle repose, as though the whole labyrinth is protected from decay.

The Cave

As the party squeezes into the cavern, the larger of the party have to hunch to keep their head from the ceiling. There are no immediate threats within, other than some small spiders. Investigating the turns leads them to find the kidnapped townsfolk... or what's left of them. Mangled bodies, bizarrely stitched together, failed experiments, you suppose.

There are 2 entrances to the dungeon proper. The Hearth and Corpse Disposal

The Hearth

Entering the dungeon, they find a roaring hearth to one side, with some smithing equipment before it. Along the walls are suits of armor. Once the party goes more than 2 spaces south of the entrance to the room, 6 of the suits awaken. They form a phalanx, barring the party from advancing further into the cave. In a Whisper (voiced like the dark brotherhood door) one of the suits demands to know why they have come. Regardless of the answer, the armors are not moved. They warn the party to turn back or be forced to turn back. The party can fight them, or turn back and find the other way in through Corpse Disposal

The longer the party hesitates, they form up in a diagonal line advancing towards the party. This intentionally makes them ready targets for AoE spells. Animated Armor After 3 rounds, or if the armors advance on them to be matching the doorway, a guttural sound echoes from the Hearth, as dirt falls in and the fire is extinguished. Whatever the state is, the armors reposition to the fireplace, as a damaged flesh golem falls down the chimney. The armors have no means of hurting it, and only magical attacks can wound it. They will lose focus on the party, providing them a chance to escape or backstab them. The party might not know unless one is a dwarf or otherwise a smith, but a light hammer on the ground is adamantine, allowing it to hurt the golem. Whoever uses it would be wise to hold on to it.

Optional: One of the animated armors is different, he is intelligent. He tells the party to take care with them, as normal weapons can't hurt them. His head is knocked off by the flesh golem, which prompts him to be more amiable to the party.

The Button

Entering through either The Hearth or the West Wing, the door slams behind them once the last member of the party enters the room. In the middle of the room is a pedestal with a button, with a symbol of a snake eating its tail on it. The room is lit by magical torches in the corners of the room. When the button is pressed, the torches begin to flicker, as a counter begins on the wall above the southern door. it counts down from 10 to 0. At 7 the lights begin to go out one by one each second. 3-1 The ground of the room begins to shake. at 0, the torches relight and the doors all open. (Note, if 1 person leaves the room and comes back, and now everyone is in the room, the doors close again.)

To the south is a hallway that forks into 3 paths. Entering the end of any of the paths warps you to different locations in the dungeon. The left path warps you back to the hearth.

The middle warps you to the fork in the Mimic Town wing.

The Shadow

The right one warps the party member into the darkroom between the Hearth and Corpse Disposal. There, they fight a shadow. The Shadow Each person that enters the room triggers another shadow. Once all shadows present are defeated, the party members in the room are teleported back to the button room.

West Wing

the west wing is fairly simple. It is a long hallway with 3 hidden doors.

One leads to what appears to be a broom closet. The door opens with just a push or a lean against the wall. Inside is a bloody broom, mop, and a dagger. A dwarf or smith can tell it is an adamantine dagger. If anyone moves an item in the room and leaves, a damaged flesh golem drops into the closet.

One leads into another room, this one with bookcases lining the walls. The books are journals, detailing the experiments of the madman. On a desk is a bundle of papers, an arcana check by a wizard or sorcerer or a survival check by a ranger or fighter recognize them as thunder paper. As a bonus action, you can use the paper to imbue your weapon, making it considered magical and dealing 1d4 thunder damage for 2 round. Alternatively, if you use a full action to apply it, it lasts for 4 rounds. There are 5 of them.

If skipping glassworks, make it fire paper.

Corpse Disposal

The 3rd room is a grisly sight. Several half-made flesh golems, apparently dead, lie in the corners of the room, with another attempt strewn out on a table. Bookshelves in the room contain more notes on the experiments, and healers kits, and 3 scrolls, which a cleric, paladin, or artificer recognize as scrolls of Revivify, alongside 3 diamonds, worth 300gp each.

depending on how the party is doing, pass on or limit the revivify scrolls. Don't want too much handholding.

Glassworks

Past the study with the thunder paper is a room with a forge, and several ornate, glassy suits of armor standing in the middle of the room. If anyone touches any of the equipment in the room, they become hostile Glasswork Golems. They lack the warning, protective nature of the animated armor from the Hearth, instead, they go straight for the kill.

For speed, skip this section, it's essentially a filler fight.

Mimic Town

In the first room lies a chest. This one is not a mimic. Within the chest lies 3 potions of healing, and some bits of parchment a wizard, sorcerer, or ranger recognize as bolt paper. Same rules as the fire paper, but lightning damage.

The bolt paper is a bait, as flesh golems heal from lightning damage.

There are 2 paths, a forked teleportation area to the north, and another hallway to the west that goes into a room with several more chests. 2 of these chests are mimics. 2 others of the chests are trapped and empty, one emitting a stinking cloud when opened. The other launches a cloud of daggers. Both traps last for 3 rounds.

The remaining not trapped chests contain cure wound scrolls and fire paper

Beyond the room with the single chest is a fork with 3 more paths, any interaction with the previous one tells them it is teleportation. The middle takes them back to the button room, the left takes them to the hearth, and the right takes them to The Pool Room.

The Pool Room

Upon stepping on the right teleporter, they are dropped into the pool room, which features a large pool in the middle of the room. If the party makes noise (stealth check, auto-fail if anyone wearing heavy armor moves without actively trying to be sneaky) the Water Weird in the pool awakens. If someone gets too close to the pool, the creature attacks them.

Water Weird

The creature will try to drown one of the party, dragging them into the water. It will retreat back into the pool every turn. This will proc a lot of op attacks but makes it invisible while under the water.

Once the weird is dealt with, a door opens on the far side of the room, revealing a path into the now-familiar forked teleportation room. The middle takes them to the Shadow room. Left warps them back to the hearth. Right moves them into the boss's chamber, The Lab.

The Lab

As the party arrives in this final chamber, the stench is the first thing they notice, as blood coats the floor. A gnome looks back at the party, a wild panic in his eyes. He jumps across the table in front of him, where you can see what you recognize by now as a flesh golem, but this one seems much more put together. He places his hand on its head, awakening it with a shocking grasp. The creature lurches up, and the gnome scrambles onto its shoulders.

The Gnome will use a shocking grasp on the golem to heal it 1d8 each turn. Once the golem is under 60hp, 2 reduced-threat flesh golems charge out of the piles in the corners, attacking whatever party member is nearest. They are raging.

Once the main golem is under 40, the gnome awakens [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/stone-defender Rusty].

Rusty

HP	AC	Add. features
50	16
Slam	+6 to hit	11 bludgeoning	DC10 prone
Intercept	+5AC	reaction	on other
Self Repairing	Heals 5 at start of turn, unless hit by lightning damage.
Ground Fault	Rusty takes double damage from lightning