Locations · Fortification · Other
Fort Hard
The fort seemed like every small boys dream, but in fact it was a very well made magical prison, and the young prince only learned the truth when it was too late and the magic sucked him inside, his cries from his now inch high body too quiet to be heard.
A court mage created this, originally to be used to kidnap the young son and heir of the king of a rival court, so that he could be kept as a hostage for the good behavior of his father. The fort was brilliantly made, with mini beds with duvets and pillows, a mini latrine, and bars on the windows. When the prince touched the door, a spell shrunk him down to an inch high and dragged him inside the fort, and the door shut and locked. His cries for help were unheard, as tiny as his mouth now was, and spies from the rival court spirited the fort away with him inside it. Food had been provided in the fort in tiny amounts, that were like normal sized pieces of food to him.
Alas for the rival king, his hopes of a royal hostage were not to be fulfilled, for a three-inch long spider had crawled inside and the shrinking magic was not meant to be used on spiders. Unarmed as he was, the young prince was fanged by the hungry spider that was now three times his size, and sucked dry leaving only a husk behind. When the fort reached the rival court, the spell was preformed to whisk the young prince out of the fort and return him to full size. The spell worked but instead of a living boy, out came a dead body that had been reduced to skin stretched taut over the bones. What's more, the spell was cast in front of the whole court, including foreign ambassadors. Furious and grief stricken that his son had been kidnapped and killed, the king declared war on his rival,annexed his kingdom after two years of sieges and skirmishes and battles, captured his rival and had him disarmed and placed in the fort with a hungry centipede which tore the prince-killer limb from limb.
*****
The shrinking magic works on humans, as well as Elves and Dwarves, but it does not affect anything else. So ordinary sized spiders, centipedes and other insects that get inside become huge and deadly versions of their former selves. If the GM wants to he or she can introduce other foes as well, such as enchanted model soldiers programmed to attack intruders, booby traps and the like. There is a gold piece in the fort that will seem like a huge disc of gold, but if it is somehow removed from the fort, the PCs will grow back to their normal size whilst the gold piece stays the same size. No magic will work in the fort at all.
*****
The fort itself is a model fort of (insert kingdom or queendom of your choice, named 'Fort Hard' as a rather silly pun. The beds can be slept in, and the food, if it has not gone off, is edible. A crumb after all will seem like a slice of bread, a grape like a large watermelon. The tower doors are locked, and the only way out is back the way one came unless one can break through the wall. The maker feared he might one day be trapped in it, so placed a hidden trapdoor in it, that was deliberately made to be hard to find, and that is the way out.
*****
Plot Hooks
Saving Prince Ryan- After the spell to free the prince is cast it fails to work, and the PCs are sent in to bring the prince out of there and into captivity in the rival court. The prince will fight them, and they are not allowed to kill him or really badly hurt him, although some violence is acceptable. Can they get him before the spider does?
In the Forest- After disturbing a potent patch of Shrinkstools a wolf, now scaled up to the size of a dragon, starts hunting the PCs, to escape they must take cover in the old decaying fort they find in the woods. But other dangers lurk within...
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My only question is why magic doesn't work in the castle. Otherwise it's a good castle for pc's to find in an attic.
It was meant so no captives could magic themselves out of the fort/prison.
This is an awesome item to find in the forgotten castle or the evil wizards yard sale. I like the spell only works on humans and not other animals. A rat or stoat is a beast, and small poisonous things like snakes or lizards. .. lots of potential for serious games or silly or whimsical settings.
I assume that upon creation of this trap there was also created a book/scroll detailing the Release spell. Cool item!
The name sounds like a military-themed porn movie from the 80's, but the idea is a cool one! I'd expand a bit on the 'contents' and 'inhabitants' of the fort, if I used this in a game, to make it a little mini-dungeon.
Nice one.
This is an interesting little trap (get it?). If one exits through the trap door, are they restored to their proper size, or do they remain tiny?
Kind of reminds of that twilight zone episode with Robert Duvall and the Doll's house, but only as far as a tiny house goes.
What if included in the Fort Hard's furnishings was another miniature building...a church to an ancient and barely remembered diety, with tiny stone bed at the head of the chapel, little thimble sized cisterns of dark red liquid and a strange rune on the door.....
Not a bad place to stash one's mistress.....
What if not only the person shrinks, but their sense or experience of time also shrinks. What would be second to us appears to be an hour to them and so on.
4.0/5
Short, sweat and very neat! Poor kid.
How did the spider make it into the 'Fort' though?
The door had been left open earlier.
Ah, so the spider got in before the Prince. Ouch. Talk about walking into a trap.
4/5 Nice, isnt this the expansion of a 7 prisons sub?
Yes it is.