The king has commissioned you to design a dungeon for adventurers to explore in a few centuries...

The king has commissioned you to design a dungeon for adventurers to explore in a few centuries. You can leave the actual dungeon-making to the builders and architects. What you're in charge of is designing trials and tests that will allow only the toughest, bravest, and most resourceful of adventurers through to the gleaming treasures and artifacts that await. The king has gathered the greatest wizards, smiths and trap-makers to his side for this endeavor, so do not be afraid to put forward your wildest ideas.

I think we need a labyrinth in there, sire.

The dungeon is recursive, it is completely impossible to escape, ever, (and infinite in number of stories) until you gain at least 1 of all 7 of the priceless treasures, which are as follows.

A giant diamond with 110 faces.
A platinum crown set with 62 flawless cut rubies.
An armlet set with platinum divots and myth-metal embellishment.
A ceremonial sword made entirely out of a myth-metal and set with flawless sublime cut diamonds.
A 260-faced giant Emerald.
An amulet made entirely of cut and shaped jade, set with 118 pearls.
A chestplate set with 112 flawless perfect sublime cut diamonds.

Be sure to include slopes that secretly take the party up or down a level without them noticing to confuse the mappers.

Also subtle teleport traps.

Serious question guys, are the items here ~actually~ beyond price, or in reality would they simply be unbelievably expensive?

When I say 'priceless' what I'm really trying to say is you can't buy it with coin money because it's to valuable.

gotta go with the old "giant valuable statue made of pure sodium hidden behind a curtain of water" bit.

I'm ashamed to say I actually died from that once. I was trying to wrestle it free and the statue fell on me, instant death resulted from a crushing impact.

>When I say 'priceless' what I'm really trying to say is you can't buy it with coin money because it's to valuable

All you have to do is attach a backstory to that item.
>A giant diamond with 110 faces
could easily be one way to describe the Arkenstone, and that was priceless.

In the spirit of the request, i'd imagine a kind of time-capsule treasure chest at the end. The best artefacts from our time to be found only by the greatest adventurers in time of need.

Sodium is reactive with oxygen and so the statue will degrade over the years, especially in proximity to a waterfall. This could be fixed by having the statue be placed in a sealed chamber filled with nitrogen or CO2

What you're saying works too, but what I was originally envisioning is that they're like the treasures in Rogue and Nethack, they don't actually do anything, at all, except be real real real valuable.

Test of Courage: Upon entering a chamber, the way behind shuts closed and they are trapped with a wall behind them and a seemingly impossible task in front. The impossible task is, of course, an illusion and any attempt passes it. The test is whether the adventurer will choose to attempt the impossible task, knowing that they will fail it and die earlier rather than waste away to a slow death of starvation.

Place signs which read 'Lowest Level Ahead' above every exit, even exits that go upward.

Dig deep pits in some rooms and enchant the pits so they receive garbage, spoiled food and drink, carrion, and the corpses of criminals in a regular one way inward teleport. Dust this with poison mushroom pollen.

Dig channels in the floors in some levels and route sewer water, mortal waste, and spent fluids to those levels, making semi-flooded levels you need to use small boats to safely travel through.

Hire a bard with an acting and disguise focus to record the following message in a magic candle.

"Ah at last you have come dunric! The evil wizard Fortinbras is holding me in a prison many floors below. You'll need much luck and help if you are to rescue me, far below where you now stand. You are my only hope of rescue, and I must trust all to your eminent capabilities, Dunric. The ring Dunric! Remember the ring!"

Place this candle on a table in an easy to find secret room not very far from the entrance. For extra laughs place a nonmagical ring on a dead person's hand not very far from the secret room.

Or, y'know, magic.

What if it was acid that only looked like water? Not actual water.

The adventure is the prize!

Now you're just getting lazy, Lord Sukumvit.

>reach "treasureroom
>its actually just the back entrance

Build something really lazy, pocket the money and recruit the staff for a rebellion.

A dungeon made of vampires.
>don't you mean filled with?
No.

fuh
puh
buh
puh

As long as there's a 10x10x10 hidden square pit with a trap in the ceiling above that releases a huge gelatinous cube into it, I'm fine.