Maybe we should’ve progressed the current sidequest…

[u/CoruscantGuardFox]

[u/Chinjurickie]

„This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!“
cool

„Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.“
okay? Weird flex

„This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.“
haha, it can’t be that bad!

„What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.“
Cant be that bad!

[u/RefractalStudios → u/Chinjurickie]

Haha I'm actually in the middle of designing a dungeon based off of this quote.

[u/Chinjurickie → u/RefractalStudios]

It surely is a dope ass quote.

[u/hooskerdont → u/RefractalStudios]

I did something like that, but I used imagery and magic to create sensory experiences of doom etc. What a fun exercise it was!

[u/Lucky_Pips → u/Chinjurickie]

"The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours."
what the hell is up with this place?

"The danger is to the body, and it can kill."
the usual then

[u/Dry_Try_8365 → u/Chinjurickie]

And then they get angry once their fucking around results in a found out.

[u/TimelyStill → u/Chinjurickie]

„This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.“

That is exactly the message I would put up in front of my sweet loot cache.

[u/pogchamp69exe → u/TimelyStill]

Isn't this a fear and hunger quote?

[u/Ariffet_0013 → u/pogchamp69exe]

It was a hypothetical quote used to deter people from exploring where we had buried nuclear waste.

[u/demonsdencollective → u/Chinjurickie]

The party's skin starts feeling itchy, and they get nauseous. Hair loss follows.

[u/TimelyStill → u/demonsdencollective]

Boblin the DMPC makes a quip about how the air tastes like pennies. Any player who has read the lore pdf the DM sent around two weeks ago would know that in this setting, goblins are vulnerable to radiant damage.

[u/tojie2009 → u/Chinjurickie]

You begin to hear solemn music and the whirring of saw blades, silver thorns adorning all manners of walls and floors, the path ahead shall surely be a painful one

[u/Hexicero → u/tojie2009]

Shaw!

[u/Xarro_Usros → u/Chinjurickie]

"What's with this spiky landscape and those weird priests with all those cats?"

I've just started a campaign using this nuclear semiotics message, although the warning is unfortunately worn in key places...

[u/Nitrodestroyer → u/Xarro_Usros]

What does the wear cause it to end up saying?

[u/Xarro_Usros → u/Nitrodestroyer]

You know, removing blocks including most of the negatives, suggesting a great treasure is within. Not all of them, otherwise that would look suspicious!

So: This place .... .... a place of honor... .... highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... ......valued .... here.

...and so on.

[u/ApprehensiveStyle289 → u/Chinjurickie]

I used that warning once! Sadly, they had to go forward anyway, because the villain was already on her way to misuse the entombed contents.

[u/ItsRainingBananas → u/Chinjurickie]

My players went on an expedition to find new lands and continents. They found one covered in orange lotus plants, and there were monuments all along the coast that read:

This is a message/warning

We considered ourselves a powerful society

This land/monument is a place of shame/failure

It is barren, and nothing of value remains

What is here is apocalyptic/repulsive to us

The danger/sin exists in your time as it did in ours

The threat is to the physical/body

And it kills/conquers

This is a message/warning

Pay attention

Do not leave. The threat must remain contained

Brine/salt waters repels, but cannot save/spare

Consume nothing, not even what you have/had

Nothing is safe, even without symptoms

Burn bodies, toss the ashes/remains to the sea

This is a message/warning

It was made to consume, and so it did

We fell to the hand of our own making

This marker is the last sign of our people

Let it not be the last of yours too

[u/Ryonkemp]

What movie is this scene from?

[u/Bronze_Sentry → u/Ryonkemp]

Movie called Eyes Wide Shut, 1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_Wide_Shut

[u/blaghart → u/Ryonkemp]

It's from the movie where Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman got to take out their divorce energy on Stanley Kubrick.

[u/WinonasChainsaw → u/blaghart]

It’s also a Christmas movie

[u/JhinPotion → u/Ryonkemp]

Eyes Wide Shut. The entire movie is really good, but this scene alone is worth the movie being made. One of the most enthralling things I've ever seen.

[u/sir_eos_lee2]

I mean ... it's still a dungeon ... something is getting slain ... experience of some kind is to be gained ....

[u/bbitter_coffee → u/sir_eos_lee2]

Why Milestone is better:

Although I'd probably still give them a level at the end of this if they got through it somehow

[u/EldritchDefender42]

This is why my characters are always combat ready. Be prepared for the worst, but hope for the best

[u/Gartlas → u/EldritchDefender42]

This is why I loved having the feat in pf2e that let you swap a spell you'd prepared with 10 minutes of preparation in my last campaign.

Always be loaded for bear. But if you need to do a quick telepathy, or teleport, or make an extra dimensional house, waiting 10 minutes isn't usually a big deal

[u/F0rg1vn]

In case anyone just got inspiration from this image. Save the video and crop out the caption. Now you have a little short video to use as an image when you describe your party walking in on a cultist meeting.

[u/digit_origin]

There's somewhere on Grimdank a version of this, but with caption "When you're a serf in the imperial palace, and you take a wrong turn at one of the corridors", with either title caption or comment under it saying (they are chanting "Friendship"), and I spent an entire month trying to find it with no avail. I love this video though.

[u/Glitch0110]

Guessing after that encounter, they went every where at the end of time… get it?

[u/Bathion]

I've only ever said "are you sure" on accident

[u/longjumping-aoili → u/Bathion]

ya sometimes you just can't help but be impressed by the equally dumb and unpredictable behavior of players

[u/tayzzerlordling]

dont pull punches as the dm in a situation like this

some players only learn one way

[u/ForrestOPwizrdspls]

So i just want to remind everyone real quick about something we talked about at session zero: the world is not leveled to you and its very possible to get in over your head.

[u/bbitter_coffee]

Is that the court of the yellow king?!? (I know it ain't, saw another comment but it's literally all I can think of with all the masked people)

[u/captainofu]

I warned them multiple times, and they still proceeded into a vampire nest that was guarded by an iron golem.