Dungeon23: Week 3

Time does indeed fly!  As I write this, I'm in the process of finishing the first level of the Temple.  If you're new to the blog, please start here and catch up!

Level 1 - Area C

 

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

 

 

Room 15: Library

This room has wooden shelves and scattered scrolls, clay tablets, and books, some of which are attached to the shelf by rusted chains.   

Two (2) male and three (3) female halflings with stolen weapons and armor have barricaded the entrances/exits with shelves.  They are escaped prisoners who are traumatized and paranoid, and may be hostile (-1 to reactions) until they realize the characters aren’t gobb-men or worse.  If escorted out of the dungeon and to their village (location TBD) the characters will receive 50 XP and a 150 gp reward from the village’s burgomaster.   If the characters escort the halflings to the entrance of the Temple, they only get 50 XP.

Most of these reading materials here are damaged and nearly illegible.  However, a fragment of some sort of prayer of the Cult still exists, written in the Common tongue:

The Snake God Watches

From the dark side of His Lunar abode

His Serpents embrace the world

(Note: this is a good place for any replacement player characters, halfling or otherwise.)

Room 16: Chamber of Urns

This room is lined with 11 large urns – nine (9) along the walls and two (2) in the center of the room.  The oblong urns are approximately three feet tall and four feet at their widest point and are painted with fading, serpentine hieroglyphs.  Only seven out of the 11 urns are intact.  Roll 2d6 for the contents of each intact urn if searched (treasure contents only occur once each; treat as empty otherwise):

2     A cobra
3-4   1d4 vampiric snakes (see Room 2)
5    A gobb-man playing with himself (if PG-13 audience) or picking his nose enthusiastically.
6    A sleeping kobb-man
7 – 8    Empty
9     Human bones
10    A human corpse
11    Coins (117 silver, 92 copper, 28 gold)
12     Coins (468 silver, 366 copper, 111 gold, 3 platinum,) and an emerald necklace worth 125 gold

Room 17: Gobb-man Temple

This was the final reward and resting place of nobles and other wealthy individuals who devoted themselves to the Cult (with financial support, of course.)  The walls of this room are lined with upright sarcophagi.  The tops of the sarcophagi are decorated with cobra-like hoods where the snake’s “mouth” is an opening showing an embalmed corpse inside.  At the far end of the room is a dais with a (secret) stone door carved with a large snake head.  The stone door blends as part of the wall.
 

The western side of the room has tables with crude, alchemical equipment such as ceramic bowls and a mortar and pestle.  The opposite end has a living space with scattered straw, furs, and skins (some humanoid) as well as various fetishes hanging from ropes strung along the serpentine columns.

This is the abode of a gobb-man “priest” and his “acolytes” (1d6 present at any time).  The columns are hollow and vent air from Level 2 below.  The “priest” has heard harpies’ singing (room number TBD) through the vents during his louts-addled trips and has begun worshiping them.

Gobb-man “priest”: AC 6 [13]; ATK 1; DMG 1d4 (dagger) or special; HD 2; HP 8; MV 9; SAVE 17 (mage); SPECIAL lotus sleeping powder (2 uses;) AL C; XP 60.

The Gobb-man priest is a coward and will let his acolyte(s) defend him while he pulls back.  If engaged, he will blow lotus powder from a tube (treat as a sleeping spell) then attempt to escape through the southern passage by opening the snake head door with a special hexagonal key on his person (similar, but not he same as the one in Room 7.)  

Each sarcophagus has small jewelry, trinkets, and grave goods inside worth 2d10 gold coins.

Room 18

The stone walls of this room are carved into scenes of grotesque religious rituals that honor, placate, or otherwise sacrifice to chthonic, serpentine creatures.  Anyone examining the reliefs must succeed at a saving throw against magic or find themselves transfixed, following seemingly animated scenes of horror towards a large, central being whose form is reminiscent of the Cult’s symbol.  Any time spent examining the reliefs while transfixed is doubled (one turn becomes two turns.)  Searching the room in any fashion also requires a saving throw to avoid becoming transfixed.
 
A hexagonal opening in the southeast wall is a lock that opens a secret door.  The key is currently held by the gobb-man priest in Room 17.  The stairway beyond leads to Level Two.

 

Room 19: Court of the Gobb-men

The room was either a feasting or worsip hall of some sort, with a dais at the end and enclosed areas along the walls.

About 27 gobb-men live in this chamber, with 1d4+10 present at one time.  Their "king" is a corpulent hobb-man (9 HP) sent from below to keep the gobb-men as a first line of defense against the oor-men.  The hobb-man "king" has taken to his posting rather well and is usually found resting on the dais with (at the GM's discretion) 2d10 human and demihuman servants feeding and massaging him.

On a positive reaction, the "king" will pay 15 silver per oor-man head brought to him.  He will also pay 50 silver for the return of his five, missing halfling captives (see Room 15.)

The gobb-man treasure is hidden in secret vault in the northeastern part of the room: 19 platinum, 149 gold, 1200 silver, and 460 copper coins; a piece of rough quartz worth 2 gold, a bloodstone worth 33gp, and a silver orb with a central gem eye surrounded by golden snakes worth 420gp.  The treasure is guarded by eight (8) glowing fire beetles that are accustomed to gobb and hobb-man musk.  The "king" has a key on his person.  

Room 20

This chamber and hallways once formed a barracks for the Cult’s guards.  Rotting wooden bunks and weapon racks with one or two rusted weapons still exist along some of the walls and alcoves (-1 to damage, breaking or rendered useless on a 1 in 20 attack roll.)

The steep, eastern stairs leading up to this chamber are trapped.  A pressure plate halfway up the stairs causes them to collapse into a slide that drops victims into a grated, 10 ft. wide pit below.  The stairs and pit reset after one turn.   The trap can be activated/deactivated by a torch sconce on the wall at the top of the stairs.

The door to the chamber next to Room 19 is locked.  The hobb-man “king” (Room 19) has the key.

The hallway opposite of the stairs and pit trap has a stairway that goes down to Level 2.

Room 21

This was previously the chambers of the Cult’s captain of the guard.  It is now the "brand new" offices of Selonius and Co. Trading Coster, a group of seven (7) traders who have fallen on hard times after a “grave misunderstanding” in the city, and are currently “exploring new ventures” with the creatures of the Temple.  They have been mildly successful, judging by the fact that they’re still alive.  The Company is not above smuggling and some mild banditry when necessary.   Their roster is as follows:

Selonius (6 hp, Neutrality):  a corpulent man, whose gregarious and somewhat sassy demeanor conceals a greedy and cunning mind; armed with a sword and wears leather and a buckler (AC 6 [13])

The brothers Varus (8 HP, Law,) who is tough and ruthless, and Garus (7 HP, Law,) who is rough but toothless.  They are the muscle of the company and armed with a battleaxe and a pole arm respectively.  They wear furs (AC 7 [14].)

Anexa (4 HP, Chaos): a shrewd, dark-haired woman with piercing blue eyes and a no-nonsense demeanor; she keeps the books.  She is armed with a sword, leather, and small shield (AC 6 [13].)

Old Stephan (3 HP, Neutrality): who might be the heart and soul of the Company, if not for his love of strong drink.  He is armed with a hammer and shield (AC 6 [13])

Oyunn (4 HP, Chaos): a quiet, long-haired man of the Steppe; armed with a short bow and short sword and wearing buckskins (AC 7 [12].)

Siobhan (5 HP, Neutrality): the short, girlish, and freckled “face” of the Company, complete with a fiery temper.  She has a crossbow and dagger and is wearing studded leathers (AC 7[12].)

The Company has some serviceable arms, equipment, and other goods to sell (GMs discretion as to specific items,) but prices are marked up 2d10+10%.  They do not have much capacity to purchase items from characters, as they only have 150 copper and 83 silver coins to their name.