False Hoard Trap

In a corner of the room, a seemingly inanimate dragon skeleton rests atop a mound of glittering treasure.

The dragon skeleton is held together with fine wire. A wire attached to the dragon’s tail leads into a hole in the wall. If the wire, skeleton, or treasure is disturbed (by gathering the treasure, for instance), stone slabs descend from the ceiling to block the room’s exits. A creature directly beneath a slab must decide whether to move into or out of the room. Poison gas hisses from a nozzle hidden under the treasure pile. Roll initiative. Each round on initiative count 10, each creature in the room must make a Constitution saving throw or take 3 (1d6) poison damage. The nozzle continues producing gas for 1 minute, at which point the gas stops and the trap resets.

Hoard. An Investigation check or an examination of the treasure reveals that it consists of worthless costume jewelry, polished tin cutlery, and thousands of copper pieces painted to look like electrum and gold coins. What appears at first to be worth thousands of gold pieces is worth perhaps a hundred.

Skeleton. An Arcana or Nature check, or an examination of the skeleton, reveals that it is a wooden carving, painted white to resemble bones and held together by fine wires. A further examination of the wires reveals that one runs from the dragon’s tail to a hole in the wall.

Wire. Before the trap is triggered, a creature can make a thieves’ tools check to fix in place the wire on the dragon’s tail. A successful check triggers a Critical Success. On a failure, the trap is triggered.