d12 Lakes, d12 Not Lakes

LAKES

1. Giant bubble of air is trapped in slightly less giant net, just beneath surface. A fairly robust fort is down here. Inhabitants have taken sensible precautions against you popping their bubble.
2. Shape-shifting otherness under the water is trying to take over new host bodies by feeding them fish. Doesn't know how to make fish look right.
3. Lake is the key to a weather wizards' temple. Water must be at exact height during precise lighting conditions in order to reflect sunlight onto a secret door. This fact is well known.
4. The decrepit library of an eccentric druid. Also a lake, to be clear. The 'books' are braille written into the scales pike. Minnows will assist you in browsing the collection.
5. At the bottom is everything ever lost in a lake. This applies in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Rusted swords and jewelry are gummed together with innocence and pride.
6. Actually a giant's eye. You swim in the gross watery film on the surface. Blinks once a year, over the course of summer. Everything left on eye mysteriously gone once blink completely. Still counts as a lake.
7. Contains small underwater village. Inhabitants will pretend to be unaware of the outside world, then rob you blind. Maybe literally.
8. Incredibly dense bank of fog, topped up daily by morning dew. Uncomfortable mid-point between air and water. You can breathe and swim in it. So can eels, crocodiles, etc.
9. Water isn't sacred, it's sacredness, as carefully collected by a secret order of secret priests. Splashing this holiness water on undead will not harm them, it will just make them want to start a church.
10. Lake is beer. That's it that's the whole idea. Look me in the eye and tell me that doesn't stand on its own just fine.
11. Sulfur pools connected buy underground currents. Messaging between the pools is easy, once you've mapped the currents. Some connections may span many hundreds of miles.
12. Lake water is mutagenic when mixed with the pulp of a common fruit. OJ Mutagen potions are easy to make, or entire lake can be tainted, resulting in some exciting fish-themed monsters.

LAKE

NOT LAKES

1. Actually the reflection of a lake about 30 feet above your head. You didn't see the one in the sky until you got to the shore and now it's falling on you.
2. Is only nymphs. Maybe there was water here at some point, but not anymore. Now it's just thousands of heaped, angry undines.
3. Incredibly detailed drawing of a lake. Seems like an obvious trap for... something, but if you just wanted to draw people in from a distance did you really have to do individual fish scales?
4. The sunset caught in the air here and you assumed it was reflecting off water. Do not be below the imaginary waterline during the next sunset/sunrise.
5. Is giant, blue brain. Throbs uncomfortably. Can utilise any nerve endings it touches. Throw a head onto it to hear it talk. Stick an arm in it if you're fanging a high-five.
6. Is a magical experiment. Kind of like a bag of holding the size of a small city, connected to the elemental plane of water. Diminutive scientists will be enraged if you drop things in the water.
7. Huge chunk of mirror embedded in earth. Your reflection is holding stuff you don't own. Anything you drop may be caught by your reflection, anything they drop may be caught by you. Good way to get rid of cursed items. They may have thought of this.
8. Curious living fissure from elemental plane of void. Follows you around like friendly dog. You may wake up next morning to find a lake in the town square, or your living room.
9. Extremely unhappy giant jellyfish. Doesn't know how it got here. Will teach you hard-to-find jellyfish spells if you can get it to nearest sea.
10. Sea of powdered turquoise. Actually remains of huge turquoise golem, slain in epic quest. If disturbed will attempt to reform and carry out inscrutable ancient mission.
11. Lake only exists from a distance or in dreams. If you can drink it from a distance or in a dream, your thirst will be quenched as normal.
12. Secretly ghosts. If you camp by its side, the next morning it won't be there. If you drink it you're drinking ghosts. SpoooooooooooOOOOO000000ooooooppppppyyyy!

(why didn't we call our blog Secretly Ghosts)

NOT A LAKE

V. HIGH QUALITY USEFUL TABLE OF DEFINITELY LAKES

1. Lake is ghosts, secretly
2. Lake, secretly, is ghosts
3. Secretly, ghosts, lake is
4. Ghosts is (secretly) lake
5. Lake is secret ghosts
6. Ghosts replaced lake. Is secret
7. Lake is ghostly secrets
8. Secrets! Lake is ghostly
9. Silly ghost seeks crate
10. lakenotlakeisnotalakeisghost
11. secretssecretssecretssecrets
12. ghostsghostsghostsghosts