With the tip of his boot, Gavin prodded the body lying on the kitchen floor. No response. Wedging his foot under the body, he turned it on its back. Zaron’s vacant eyes met his, and Gavin noted the look of mild surprise fixed on the mage’s face. He guessed that magically retreating hadn’t paid off this time for Zaron. Rifling through Zaron’s robes yielded a wand.

The Ederes family was out looking for Gavin, but they would return for Zaron to make a meal out of him. He hadn’t liked Zaron all that much, but sparing his body from the cannibals would be a last act of kindness. Slowly turning around, he spotted a frying pan, a large bottle of lantern oil, and Zaron’s discarded quarterstaff. Gavin bared his teeth in a wide smile as a fitting trap occurred to him.

Cooking is a lot like trapsmithing: you take several different ingredients and you combine them to make something special—something delicious. The searing and snatching trap is also a delicious combination of items. A wizard’s wand acts as a glorified tindertwig, igniting the oil in the frying pan. The frying pan, which is attached to a pole, launches the flaming liquid upon a foe. As a bonus, the pan will sear itself to the target, effectively grappling him or her for at least a few moments.

Searing and Snatching Trap    CR 3
Type mechanical; Perception DC 19; Disable Device DC 20
Trigger location; Reset none
Effect flame fried; Attack +10 touch (3d6 fire damage plus searing snatch)
Effect searing snatch (the target gains the grappled condition and cannot move farther than 10 feet; overcoming the trap’s CMD of 25 frees the target from the grapple; alternatively the target can destroy the 10-ft. pole to free itself [hardness 5, 10 hp])

Next Installment

What can Gavin do with a kobold corpse, a bag of cornmeal, a set of thieves’ picks, and a block and tackle?

The Challenge

Name four adventuring items and receive a murderous trap in return.

(This post is Product Identity.)