An Adventure for Every Monster - Crocodile

Frequency    Common 
No. appearing  3-24 
Armour class 5  
Move  6”/12” 
Hit Dice 3 
Percentage in lair  Nil   
Treasure type Nil
No. of attacks 2
Damage per attack 2-8/1-12     
Special attack Nil   
Special defences  Nil
Magic Resistance Standard
Intelligence Animal
Alignment Neutral
Size  L (8-15’ long)
THAC0  16
XP value 60 + 4/hp


The High King is dead! Woe and tears in abundance, as well as opportunities for the more larcenous members of society.  The tomb of the King lies in an area of rocky gullies and hills and the local thieves’ guild would very much like to get in and help themselves to the wonderful treasures that lie within. Preferably before a rival guild decides to pre-empt them. Of course, being devout worshippers of the very gods invoked to protect the tomb, they cannot do the deed themselves and so turn to the party to assist by breaking in and liberating the riches.
The thieves’ guild will supply the party with a map of the tomb, details of some (but not all) of the traps that have been laid there to catch the unwary and arrange a rendezvous to hand over the loot. A suitably complex safeguarding process will have been arranged to ensure that the party do not simply ride off with the gold (details are up to the DM but it will probably involve assassins, geases, hostages, etc).

Off the party set to the Valley of the Kings, which has the obligatory jackals, vultures and undead lurking amongst the rocks and shadows (many of the ravines in which tombs are delved are so deep that the sunlight never reaches the bottom).

When the party reaches the tomb entrance, they will find that the cartouche of the High Priest who officiated at the burial and sealed the tomb is still intact; they may well assume from this that the tomb is undisturbed. Unfortunately for them, when they break in, they will find that it is completely empty.

It won’t take a genius to work out that the High Priest sneaked back after the funeral, broke in, looted the tomb and then resealed it afterwards.

It will, however, take a genius to convince the thieves’ guild that there was no treasure in the tomb. The thieves will take the view that the party is trying to pull a swift one and call in the heavy mob to put the frighteners on the party to return the loot they ‘stole’. Not kill them, mind. Dead men can’t hand back the treasure.

The party obviously needs to find the missing High Priest and get the treasure back. Tracking him down is not quite so easy; if the DM is feeling harsh, allocate two possibilities and roll for them

a) the High Priest decided that the further away he was from the Kingdom, the better and decided to make his escape across the desert. A huge sandstorm blew up and swallowed him and his mule train in its entirety. The party must somehow track down the remains in the vast and trackless sands.

b) The High Priest was somewhat more relaxed and took another route, stopping for the night by a river where, the next morning, he made a crossing and the mule train was attacked by crocodiles who made mincemeat of it. The treasure is now at the bottom of the river, being guarded – albeit inadvertently – by the crocodiles.

The party now have to get it back without getting eaten which is no mean feat considering they’ll have to dive down to get it and keep the scaly terrors busy at the same time. That assumes that they can find it in the first place – it’s muddy down there.

If the DM is feeling somewhat kinder, dispense with option a) and merely strew the High Priest’s journey with some misleading clues to make the party’s job that little bit harder. Perhaps a few rumours might not go amiss?

1. The High Priest was devoured by a demon after cheating on a promise to hand over the King’s treasure
2. The High Priest has a twin brother who is working with him to defraud the Kingdom
3. The High Priest has lost heavily on linen futures and needs to make up the losses by fair means or foul
4. All the treasure in the tomb was fake and the real riches were smuggled out of the Kingdom to a pre-agreed meeting point where the High Priest was waiting. The cartouche ring was passed to a member of the Thieves’ Guild who wanted to betray his fellows
5. The treasure is still in the tomb but a trap triggered by the break-in has turned it ethereal.
6. The King is not really dead but made a deal with the High Priest to fake his demise so that he could flee the Kingdom with the beggar girl with whom he has fallen in love.

Of course the DM might actually find one of these rumours more interesting to play as the real outcome of this adventure. Please feel free to do so if you want. Of course, the crocodiles will need to be put back in their box unless you can find a use for them.

In case you want to substitute the giant crocodile for its somewhat smaller cousin, these are the stats.


Frequency    Very rare to common
No. appearing  2-12
Armour class  4
Move  6”/12” 
Hit Dice   7
Percentage in lair  Nil   
Treasure type Nil
No. of attacks 2
Damage per attack  3-18/2-20    
Special attack Nil   
Special defences  Nil
Magic Resistance Standard
Intelligence Animal
Alignment Neutral
Size  L (21-30’)
THAC0  13
XP value 400 + 8/hp

The fabled Sarcosuchus, giant crocodile of prehistory with its unsuspecting dinner