Level 3B – The Hexperiment (North)

This section of Stonehell lies under the domain once ruled by the Plated Mage, a magic-user obsessed with achieving immortality without embracing undeath. Roughly fifty years before the present campaign, the Mage and his apprentices transformed a large portion of Level Three into a gleaming, magically charged research complex.

Overview

The Plated Mage’s laboratories were dedicated to replacing organic life with magically infused machinery — what he called “arcanitech.” His earliest efforts involved apes and baboons, which he modified through alchemy, proto-matter, and mental augmentation. These experiments birthed bizarre hybrid creatures such as bone monkeys, plated monkeys, and the diminutive Small Men, who still haunt the area today.

Eventually, the Mage prepared to undergo transformation himself, but growing incursions by adventurers forced him to retreat deeper into Stonehell. His sealed laboratory and its creations remained behind, slowly decaying into haunted ruins.

In more recent years, a chaotic wizard named Fulkth has moved into the level with a band of bugbear mercenaries and charmed gargoyles, seeking to seize the Plated Mage’s legacy. Their intrusion has driven many of the surviving experiments into hiding.

Environment & Hazards

Every surface in the Hexperiment is eerily smooth and faintly luminous, as if molded by unseen hands. The air crackles with static electricity and the metallic scent of ozone. Non-spellcasters often grow dizzy or nauseated after extended exposure. A low-level magical resonance pervades the area, confusing detection spells.

Traps and magical wards still function: glowing glyphs open teleporters, unleash traps, or even release gelatinous cubes from ceiling chambers. Some corridors are sealed by Repulsive Doors that hurl intruders away when touched.

Notable Locations

• The Birthing Pool: A triangular basin of pink-gray proto-matter used to create life through alchemical fusion. The room remains arcane locked.

• The Labyrinth: A maze of dead ends guarded by runes, teleport glyphs, and lurking gelatinous cubes.

• Small Men’s Lounge: A dust-covered breakroom containing miniature furniture and a strange machine that brews gray, bitter “coffee.”

Inhabitants

• Fulkth the Chaotic: A scheming wizard who has partially secured the complex.

• Bugbears: His enforcers, stationed throughout the halls.

• Small Men, Bone Monkeys, and Plated Monkeys: Descendants of the Mage’s grotesque experiments, now furtive scavengers.

Themes & Tone

Level 3B mixes mad-science horror and arcane ruin. The adventurers will find eerie relics of magical experimentation and the lingering presence of intelligence gone awry. The Plated Mage himself, now a steel giant whose exposed brain floats in a glass cylinder, continues his research far below on Level 4B, his influence still felt here.

For players, Level 3B represents a shift from the feral chaos of upper Stonehell to the unnerving precision of magical science