Dungeons are deadly, dangerous places.

Monsters lurk
in the chambers and passages. Traps may be unwit-
tingly triggered. Natural hazards add to the challenge
of successfully navigating a dungeon.

On top of those dangers, there are sometimes strange

and unexpected threats hidden in the countless dun-
geons that exist across campaigns on a near-infinite
number of game worlds.

What follows are a handful of those strange and

unexpected threats. Please consider these threats a
gateway to your imagination. The ideas included in
this work were designed to be both dropped into your
next dungeon and to inspire new threats of your own
design. As always, this material is best when you twist
and adapt it to suit the exact needs of your campaign.

“Attack the Light”

A couple of ideas for unexpected threats to the party’s
mundane light sources (candles, torches, and lan-
terns), include:

• One of the heroes stumbles, kicking a loose cob-

blestone and unleashing a swarm of insects that
are attracted to light. They overwhelm the flame of
one of the heroes’ mundane light sources, extin-
guishing the light. At least they all died in the act.
• The instant the party starts to swing a dungeon
door open, powerful winds from the other side of
the door extinguish every mundane light source
and blows the door off of its hinges. A slender
gash – to small for the heroes to fit through – is
in truth a portal that connects this chamber to a
demiplane of winds.

ShadowSpark Strange Threats © 2024 Philip Reed, all rights reserved.

For more of the author’s work, please visit https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/16363/

Philip-Reed-Games

Some artwork © Matt Morrow, used under license.

Page borders © Arcanum Game Studio, used under license.

ShadowSpark Strange Threats is an independent product published under the Shadowdark

RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC. Shadowdark RPG
© 2023 The Arcane Library, LLC.
 Failed
DEX Result
Roll
1 The tendrils grab the char-
(or less) acter and yank them close
enough that it shoves the
adventurer into its snap-
ping, snarling beak-like
mouth. The hero is dead.
2 The tendrils hit the hero,
dealing 2d4 damage and

Tendrils of Inky Darkness 3

1d3+1 STR damage.
A tendril grabs the hero
Strands of thick, black ooze hang from the ceiling of the dungeon cham- and holds them tight. (DC
ber, each flailing about as if seeking the adventurers. A colossal, unknown 12 STR to break free.) Roll
monstrous creature from beyond the edges of the cosmos is trapped be- 1d20-6 on this table each
tween worlds, stuck in the portal that ties this chamber to a distant moon. round until the character
The monster completely blocks the portal, preventing the heroes from escapes . . . or dies. The
exploring the alien moon on the other side. character does not get a
DEX roll as described at left
The floor of the room is littered with random bits of gear that may or may so long as they are held by
not be useful to the party. (Roll 3d4 times on the Treasure 0-3 table in the the tendril.
core rules.)
4-5 Several tendrils connect
Fortunately, the monster is permanently stuck and can neither retreat to with the hero who suffers
its own world or finish its journey to enter the party’s world. Unfortunate- 1d10 damage and is para-
ly, the thing is also invincible (it possesses ∞ HP and is immune to spells lyzed for 1d4 rounds.
and magic items), meaning that this room is forever a danger to anyone 6-7 Several tendrils hit the PC,
who enters it. inflicting 1d8+2 damage.
8-12 1d4 tendrils lash out at the
The monsters tendrils reach almost every inch of the room, with the only character who suffers 1d3
“safe” spaces gaps around the edges of the room that are just barely wide damage for each tendril that
enough for the adventurers to cross the room without being struck by the connects with the hero.
monster . . . maybe. (DC 15 DEX each round to navigate the edges of the
room without being struck by the monster’s tentacles.) 13 A tendril strikes the hero,
inflicting 1d4 damage.
Anyone who fails their DEX roll – or those foolish enough to step into the 14 The tendrils snatch a ran-
monster’s reach – is adversely affected by the tendrils of inky darkness. dom item from the hero
Check the player’s modified DEX roll against the results on the table to and drops it near the center
the right. of the room.
“The swarms presented here aren’t ordinary or benign assemblies of little
creatures. They form as a result of some sinister or unwholesome influence..”
– Christopher Perkins (lead designer), Monster Manual

Bizarre Bugs Merchant’s Bugs

Insects, especially those of
the “giant” variety, are a staple
of many fantasy roleplaying
games. Whenever you want to
make things a tad more unusu-
al, you may consider throwing
one (or more) of these insect
swarms into your adventure.
At a glance, these tiny insects look like gold, silver, and copper pieces. They are
rarely found alone and are most often encountered in groups of a hundred or
more. The strange insects sleep for over twenty hours a day, and when sleeping
the huddle together . . . and it is in these moments when the merchant’s bugs
are most dangerous to adventurers.
When sleeping, a swarm of merchant’s bugs looks like a pile of loose coins.
The dificulty of recognizing these bugs for what they truly are depends on the
distance between the adventurer and the pile of sleeping bugs.

• Far. DC 19 WIS.
• Near. DC 16 WIS.

If an adventurer succeeds on their roll, then

they properly identify that the pile of gold is in
truth a mound of sleeping merchant’s bugs.

When a player character steps within close

range of the sleeping merchant’s bugs, the
insects awaken and swarm the character who
disturbed their slumber.

For 3d4 rounds, the bugs deal 1d4 points of

damage to their victim and then they scatter,
scurrying away as fast as possible. A swarmed
hero who devotes their action to shaking off the

Spell Mosquitoes bugs does not suffer damage that turn.

To most of the population, these buzzing bugs are a nuisance and not
a true threat. Spellcasters – both divine and arcane – who encounter
these tiny terrors are in terrible danger. Unfortunately for cast-
ers, the bugs are drawn to magic and swarm any spellcaster
who closes within close range of the swarm.

A spellcaster under attack by these horrible bugs

cannot cast a spell. The swarm lands on their
victim, each one stabbing the caster with their
proboscis and draining spell energy away from
the character. A spellcaster engaged with spell
mosquitoes may check Dexterity on their turn
(DC 12) and, if successful, they manage to swat
at the bugs in such a way that the swarm moves
to another caster within near range. They will
return to an earlier victim if their are no other
suitable targets.

Any amount of fire damage that strikes the spell

mosquitoes’ victim destroys the swarm.
Corrupted Spellbook
In dungeons across the lands – when a wizard or mage
is slaughtered and their body and belonging left to rot –
there are rare instances when a patch of fungi or hazard-
ous slime slowly makes contact with the slain wizard’s
spellbook . . . and something unexpectedly bizarre
happens.

A corrupted spellbook is a wizard’s grimoire that has

bonded to one of the many slimes, molds, or other fungi
that inhabit most dungeons. It is an extremely rare trans-
formation, one that requires decades to complete, but
when it happens the resulting gestalt is truly horrific.

Corrupted Spellbook
A wizard’s grimoire covered in a strange growth.
The organic creature that clings to the spellbook –
using it much as a hermit crab uses a shell or oth-
er object – slowly drags itself toward the heroes.

AC 9, HP 12, ATK 1 tentacle +2 (1d6), MV near

(climb), S +1, D +0, C +0, I -4, W -4, Ch -4, AL
N, LV 2

Impervious. Immune to morale checks. Im-

mune to damage from acid, cold, or fire.
Corrosive. Nonmagical metal, if it comes into
contact with a corrupted spellbook, has a two-
in-six chance of being completely dissolved by
this hazardous goo.
Arcane Slash. Any time that the corrupted
spellbook successfully strikes a foe and inflicts
less than maximum damage (1-5 points), there
is a four-in-ten chance that the attack deals
1d4+1 points of damage. (DC 15 INT to reduce
the suffered damage to 1 point.)
Unwitting Spell. If a corrupted spellbook’s ten-
tacle attack deals maximum damage (6 points),
then the creature also casts one of the spells
recorded in the grimoire. The gamemaster rolls
1d3 to determine the level of the cast spell and
then chooses any spell they wish to inflict on the
heroes. A corrupted spellbook exhausts its spells
after 3d4 have been cast. There is a 25% chance
that an encountered corrupted spellbook will
have already used all of its spells, in which cast
the tentacle attack deals only 6 points of damage
and has no other effect.

Once a wizard’s grimoire has been transformed into a

corrupted spellbook, the tome is forever lost. Any scrolls
once contained within the spellbook’s pages are forever
destroyed by the transformation.
Grasping Vines
In extremely rare instances, the bizarre fungi xylaria polymorpha – better
known as “finger moss” to most people – grows to an incredible size. These The vines sprang to
warped patches of hazardous growth look like any other tangle of vines and
weeds . . . until someone is within close range of the mass of vegetation. life without warning,
several of them reaching
Grasping Vines out to grab the unwary
Thick, intertwined vines that are attracted to the heat given off by most
living characters and creatures. warrior. The multitude
AC 10, HP 20, ATK 2d4+2 tentacles +1 (1d3 + engulf), MV near of vines looked much like
(climb), S +2, D +0, C +0, I -4, W -4, Ch -4, AL N, LV 4 the arms and hands of
Engulf. If a target is hit by three of the growth’s tentacle attacks in same green-fleshed zombies,
round, it is pulled into the thickest part of the tangled vines. Engulfed their unexpected attack
characters and creatures suffocate and die in 3d4 rounds if they do not
break free or are released by their companions. DC 15 STR on the hero’s disturbing those who
turn to escape. Others who devote 1d4+1 rounds to hacking at the vines witnessed the event.
and focusing solely on freeing someone can rescue the engulfed victim.