Dungeon23: Week 2

One of the drawbacks of this project which I'm starting to realize is that because I'm making things up daily as I go along, there is an unplanned quality to the dungeon.  As a result, these areas and rooms are starting to seem like a rough first draft - with lots of little side notes, "TBDs", etc., to remind myself that I must address them later.  Therefore, I apologize to the dear reader.  I think a possible solution will be an addendum blog post once each level is completed, with a full map and notes along with any changes.

 

Pictured: A typical day of dungeon writing at the Lair

 

Level 1 - Area B

This map is created under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

 

Room 8  

The room is dominated by a raised and walled off area on the north end. The wall is a latticed, wooden screen where the High Priest would hear the petitions of the lesser cult members.  The walls have alcoves where servants and petitioners would stand quietly.  The north exits have faded and torn banners with the symbol of the Cult above.

There are five (5) oor-men that hold a mockery of this court.  The leader (a subchief with 8 HP) sits inside the screened area with his bodyguard (7 HP) and are armed with swords.  The three other oor-men stand guard in alcoves near each of the exits, which may make some of them difficult to see.  They are armed with spears.  The oor-men are at war with the gobb and hobb-men for dominion of the temple and on a positive reaction, may negotiate with mercenaries willing to get their hands dirty by killing their enemies.  The leader will pay 15 silver for hobb-man and 10 silver for gobb-man heads.  The payment comes from a small, iron chest next to him with 1,600 copper, 40 gold, and 640 silver coins inside.

If a battle ensues, the leader will fight from the rear and if routed, will flee to Room 9 and attempt to trap characters.  The leader wears a Cult holy symbol that enables him to do this.

 

Room 9

This chamber has serpentine hieroglyphs along the north and south walls.  There is a 20 ft. wide mosaic of the Cult's symbol on the floor, surrounded by four pillars with snakes pointing in four, cardinal directions.  Stepping on or passing through the mosaic without a holy symbol of the Cult causes the hieroglyphs to glow and stone doors to fall, closing the east and west exits.  Poison gas then begins to spew from spigots inside the mouths of snakes in the pillars.  Characters breathing the gas must save against poison or begin to suffocate.  Suffocating characters can last three (3) minutes plus their Constitution modifier before falling unconscious.  Characters that fall unconscious must save against death every minute thereafter or perish.  The gas stops after six (6) minutes, dissipating into a fine yellow dust that coats the ground (and any characters.) 

 

There is a secret maintenance panel on the southwest wall opens  by inserting a Cult holy symbol and turning.  Inside is a valve that can stop the poison gas, as well as two levers that open and close the east and west exits.  The doorways can also be opened with a Cult holy symbol from either side of the wall.  The symbol-opening mechanisms are concealed as part of the hieroglyphs.  However, there are no other such symbols painted anywhere else on the walls, leaving a clue to their importance.

 

Room 10

There is a makeshift wooden pen separating the north and south halves of the room.  Four (4) pox curs, a corrupt amalgamation of canine and dire rodent, are present in the pen, gnawing on the bones of hapless gobb-men, and other humanoids that have been fed to them.  The pox-cur’s bite is diseased (5% chance, victim gets a save against poison.)

Pox cur: AC 6 [13]; ATK 1 bite (1d4 + special); HD 2; MV 16; SAVE 16 (warrior); SPECIAL: diseased bite; AL N; XP 60

In the northwest corner of the (inside the pen) is an old, wooden chest with coins (78 gold, 1,590 silver,) and a gold serpentine bracelet worth 3 gold coins. 

 

Room 11

This is a large, vaulted chamber with many arched, serpentine columns (think La Gran Mesquita but with snakes.)  There are five (5) crude tents plus a large, central tent made of wood, skin, and bone, tied to the columns.  There are also cook fires near a shallow pit dug in the center, which is surrounded with heads of humanoids on stakes.

There are a total of 30 oor-men living in this chamber.  However, only 15 are present at one time (the rest wandering the temple or out raiding.)  The Chief of the oor-men (4 HD, 12 HP, +2 damage) tends to be present only during daylight hours (50% chance of being asleep in his tent.)

At the GMs discretion, there may be 2d10 humanoid captives, which the oor-men use for menial labor and cruel or depraved pleasure.

The Chief’s tent contains his treasure in a large chest: 165 gold, 2,760 silver, 149 electrum, and 7,400 copper coins, and a Cult holy symbol with a large ruby for the central eye worth 280 gold coins (which the Chief wears during nighttime.)  This symbol is a key to the central elevator (see Room 13.) 

 

Room 12

The walls of this room are covered in glyphs and other strange markings, which have been either crudely carved on the walls or painted with dark, bodily substances.  The northern and southern parts of the room are separated by a tattered curtain.  Old straw is scattered on the floor.  There is a pair of chains on the southern and southeast wall opposite of a secret door (opened by a rusty iron torch sconce.)  The northern part of the room has a wooden chair next to a crate.  Inside the crate are bellows and a small grinder, which is covered in dried blood with small bits of unidentifiable flesh inside. 

 

Room 13

A powerful stench is detectable right before reaching this chamber.  The reason for the stench is the piles of refuse that are the foul leavings of an oor-goliath that lives here.

The oor-goliath is a semi-intelligent reptilian abomination with the build of a large, carnivorous ape.  Its glowing eyes make it ironically difficult for it to surprise prey in the dark (only 1 in 6 chance.)  It despises natural creatures and devours them on sight.  Although bipedal, it runs on all four limbs when active and attacks with powerful, crocodilian jaws.  Its dense, scaled body can turn most weapons (half damage.)   The oor-goliath finds particular joy in tearing apart armored prey like shellfish.

Oor-goliath: AC 4 [15]; ATK 1 bite (2d4 + special); HD 2+1; MV 16; SAVE 16 (warrior); SPECIAL: dense body; AL N; XP 60

The piles of refuse include bones, torn clothes, and damage armor, as well as bodily waste.  Sifting through the muck yields coins worth a total of 120 gold (weight as much as 150 coins.)

 

A chamber beyond has a 10ft. by 10 ft. bronze cage in the center, which is actually a type of elevator.  Using the the oor-man Chief's holy symbol (see Room 11,) in a panel within the cage activates the elevator and makes it descend to Level 2.  A separate holy symbol can make the elevator go to and from Level 3.

 

Room 14

This large chamber is rough and unfinished, with a tall cavernous ceiling approximately 30 ft. above.  Beams of light shine through holes in the ceiling during daylight hours.  There are two 3-5 ft. wide ledges connected by a 5 ft.-wide, wood and rope bridge, and small, rocky ledges on the east and west sides 15-20 ft. above the bridge.   The eastern and western ledges above are connected by ropes.

Anyone crossing the bridge is ambushed by 13 kobb-men (see Room 6 note), who pelt victims with rocks from the ledges (1d4 damage) or zip-line up and down the ropes above in leather sling chairs to drop larger rocks (1d6 damage) on any bridge crossers.  Only half are attacking at one time as the others assist the zip-liners by handing them rocks and pushing them to the other ledge.

Anyone falling from the bridge drops into a small underground lake/cistern on Level 2 below.

There are caves on each side that are little more than small warrens.  Beings larger than a dwarf or halfling must crawl to get inside.  The warrens are the kobb-men’s debris-filled sleeping areas.  The western warren has a burlap bag with 74 gold, 530 silver, and 6,800 copper coins inside, along with a variety of low value goods such as pottery, wood tools, and utensils.