The Marbled Wizard’s Four Books / One Page Dungeon Contest

This is my entry for the One Page Dungeon Contest 2024. Gilbert Heckmann drew the picture of the goblin.

1 You stepped into a magical trap and were teleported into a circular room with a diameter of 5 meters. There are paintings on the walls with references to water, fire, earth and air. The door to room 8 is locked.

In the centre stands a marble statue of a wizard. At its feet it says (written backwards and in Greek): Bring me 4 books, one for each element, to convert stone to gold. Set me free.

If you put the books into his hands there will be a flash and a loud noise and the statue and the books will be turned to gold. The golden statue can be moved easily, revealing a hole in the floor which leads to an underground dungeon.

Prior to that every 5 minutes 1 D6 giant rats crawl out of the mouth of the statue.

2 A bath with a 3×3 m pool. The walls have beautiful mosaics of nereids and hippocampi. There are 3 goblins in swimming trunks in the pool tossing a bunch of keys at each other. These are the keys to all rooms of the dungeon. The goblins left their clothes and weapons outside the water. The door to room 4 is locked.

3 A small room with a divan bed. On the table next to it you find the book "Rivers of Glitter & Gold", one of the books you need to bring to room 1.

4 The music library. Papyrus rolls with notated music, ancient wind instruments, a bouzouki, a trumpet all the way up on a shelf but no ladder and one of the books you are looking for: "Cradle Songs for Dragons. Soothing the beast with the trumpet’s call."

5 The alchemist’s laboratory. Various objects on a large table, in dusty cupboards and on the floor between shattered glass and turned over chairs, most of them broken, useless. Alembic, crucible, mortar and pestle, a pair of tongs, bottles and vials. Rats are nibbling at old papyrus rolls, destroying texts as old as the Eastern Roman Empire.

6 The room looks like an archeological burial site. Bones, weapons and armours are scattered all over the floor. A giant skeleton sits in one corner, bent over, holding the book "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck in its hands. It wakes up to defend his possession, if you fail your pickpocketing roll.

7 The door to this room is locked. It smells like incense. A little red dragon is smoking a water pipe. She is stoned, in a funny mode, unpredictable. She is curious why you entered the room. The dragon is guarding a pile of old coins, the relics of St. Georg, the dragon slayer, and the book „The Eternal Fire of Knowledge“. Playing a song on the trumpet from room 4 can put her asleep. The dragon is a deadly opponent if angered and she possesses a distinct aesthetic sensitivity.

8 A 3×3 m room. A human sized bug sits on a pile of corroded metal.

To your surprise it starts to talk, quoting Greek philosophers and making jokes about his exoskeleton and your armour. You cannot be sure if it understands what it is saying or is randomly reciting texts like a parrot or ChatGPT.

All it is really interested in is to devour all the metal parts you carry with you. It is quite a beast.

Try to negotiate.