Dungeon23: Week 28

 Level 5, Area D: Bailey

 

This map is released under terms of the  CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Room 22: Hall of Champions

The eastern portion of the hallway from the Sentry Hall (Room 8) narrows due to lined, half columns forming seven alcoves in between.  The alcoves are lit by glowing fungus globes and perfumed with incense burners.  Each has a statue of a different snake-men Myrmidon posing with weapons.  These are the Great Champions of the Myrmidon caste.  Their names are etched in the Chaotic script of the snake-men at their base: Ji-Tep the Lightning Fang, Ya-Munet of the Poison Countenance, the Viper Twins Me-Hap and Mei-Hap, Lu-Sekh of the Ouroboros Spear, Ra-Jahng the Iron Constrictor, and The Winding Strategist, Nefer-Le.  Standing before a statue and uttering their name out loud in supplication may have an effect (Roll 2d6):

2-3          The statue comes to life (as an animated stone statue) and attacks.

4-5          The statue spews green slime from its mouth onto the petitioner.

6-8          No effect.

9-10       The statue comes to life (as above) and serves the petitioner as if it was under the effects of a charm person spell for one day.  It then returns to its alcove. 

11-12     The statue produces a vial from one of its snake-like mouths.  It is a potion of heroism.

 A statue can be petitioned only once by a character.  Further petitions by the same character have a negative result (roll 1d6: 1-3 animation and attack, 4-6 green slime.)

 

Room 23: War Shrine

Ornate double doors lead to a shrine that features an altar with seven, golden statuettes of the Seven Champions standing at the ready to defend or fight for the carved stone image of the Snake God above.  The altar has multiple offerings placed like the spoils of war for the statue “army”.  Attentive PCs, especially dwarves, notice that the image of the Snake God was carved from a previous, defaced statue of a dragon-like being.  The central eye is a dark hole. The shrine glows with bioluminescent light and is perfumed by hanging censers, same as the adjoining hall.

Each golden statue is worth 150 gp, and there are valuables among the offerings worth 140 gp in total (10x weight.)  The Snake God’s outer eyes (ten in number) are precious stones, worth 120 gp each.  However, handling anything in the altar or the Snake God carving causes an ochre jelly (HP 25) to ooze forth from the central eye hole.

 

Room 24: Spawning Courtyard

This chamber appears to be a dry garden of raked sand around ovoid stones, with a small pond in a corner.  Stone paths lead to fungal wood decks at the sliding door entrances and exits, as well as the pond.

The ovoid stones are actually giant rattlesnake eggs.  Disturbing the sand within 10 feet of a “stone” egg causes it to crack open and spill 2d4 infant, giant rattlesnakes, which attack.  Their bite is weaker than a fully-grown, giant rattlesnake, but their poison is just as deadly (save against poison or die.)

Infant giant rattlesnakes: AC 6 [13]; HD 1-1; MV 90 ft. (30 ft.); ATK 1 HP + poison (bite); SV fighter 1; ML 8; AL N; XP 30 (or HD + one special)

The pond is empty except for blind fish which feed the infant rattlesnakes.

 

"Guys, I don't think this is actually a garden..." (AI image courtesy of NightCafe.)

Room 25: Trophy Chamber

This chamber is filled with displays of relics taken from the Myrmidon’s conquered foes.  Some of the more famous relics among these include:

a.       The golden, fire opal-studded crown of Dunran Stronghelm IV, dwarven Thane of the Magma House, resting on a plinth.

b.      The broken sword of Emperor Traxianos Alamedos.  It still bears his engraved seal of a two-headed roc.  A battered shield with the same symbol below it belonged to a member of the lost, Roc Legion – the fallen Emperor’s personal guard.  Both items are hung on a wall.  Prisoners from this ill-fated force were used to sire quite a few famous Myrmidons.  

c.       The tattered Banner of the Order of Steadfast Radiance with a pair of rusted, acid-pocked gauntlets above it, hanging from the wall.  The Order was an elite brotherhood of renowned paladins of Mythras.  No living member of this order remains, although descendants might exist.

d.      A defaced statue of Mythras that once graced the underground cathedral of St. Pelinar of Narateas.  It is resting on a pedestal.

e.       The broken Horn of the Herald of Erevan, the fabled elven City of Silver Song, resting on a plinth.

f.        Shards from the shattered, Focusing Moonstone of Xazegi – a companion piece to the Lens of Egizax that once controlled the intensity of its powerful beam.  They are resting on a cloth of silk in a glass case.

g.       The broken remains of the Staff of Nysara – the Archdruidess of Eldertree Grove.  The Archdruidess had the horrific “honor” of birthing a revered, Noble's egg before she was sacrificed.   The pieces are resting on a plinth.

These relics have lost any magical power they might have once had.  However, each is potentially worth 4d100 gp to a knowledgeable collector, or possibly more to appropriate individuals or organizations with ties to the item (GM’s discretion.)  Each item is also protected by a fire-spewing trap that activates when one removes the item from its carefully-weighted display or wall hook. The origin of the gout of fire varies; roll 1d6: 1-2 display, 3-4 floor, 5-6 ceiling.  The flames cause 2d6 damage to everyone within five (5) feet from the point of origin (save against breath for half damage.)  The flames are angled to avoid harming the displays.

 

Emperor Traxianos' last charge against the denizens of the Underworld (AI image courtesy of NightCafe.)

Room 26: War Gallery

This chamber is a gallery with bas reliefs, sculptures, and paintings in fungal papyrus scrolls depicting legendary Myrmidons triumphing over lesser beings; most are horrific in theme to anyone other than the snake-men.  The floor features a large mosaic of a winding, two-headed snake, with each head pointing to the entrances/exits of the chamber.  The mosaic winds in such a way as to walk the individual through the exhibits in a chronological order from south to north.  Images of smaller snakes orbit around the larger mosaic.

Stepping in floor areas away from the mosaic causes pressure plates to activate spikes that thrust upward from the floor in multiple, angled directions from holes in the smaller snakes’ mouths (save against breath at -2 to avoid.)  The spikes deal 2d8 damage and are poisoned.  The poison deals 1d6 damage per turn for five (5) turns.  A successful saving throw against poison ends the effect.  In addition, the poisoned character moves at half speed and suffers a -1 to hit and damage for the duration.

 

Room 27: Weapons Range

Characters approaching this large chamber are met with random explosive or cacophonous sounds.  There are three (3) snake-men Myrmidons observing a weapons demonstration (HP 29 with ophidian lower limbs, extendable hood, sword and shield; 16 with thick scales, venomous blood, and polearm; 21 with venomous blood, snake arms, and polearm.)  Before them them are two, bizarre siege engines, each with two (2) ennan engineers manning them (HP 11, 9, 9, 12; armed with serrated hand axes and short swords.)  On the other end of the chamber are mock up walls and other obstacles, some with unfortunate test subjects chained in place as targets for the siege engines (2d4 normal humans; 1-in-6 are demihumans.)  A few have already perished from the testing onslaught.

The first siege engine (“a”) is a massive, mobile ballista constructed from fungal wood, reinforced with bronze and steel.  Its quadruple "bow" is in the shape of snake coiled in a figure eight, with the mouth expelling a hollow-headed, ballista bolt packed with a wad of explosive, alchemical powder inside.  The ballista bolt causes 2d6 damage on a direct hit and explodes as a fireball (5d6 damage.)

The second siege engine (“b”) is a small, mobile catapult made of the same materials as the first siege engine.  The arm and bucket are carved in the form of a hooded cobra, and fires a round, ceramic jar that cause 2d6 damage on a direct hit.  The jar shatters to release a cloud of poisonous, fungal spores (treat as a cloudkill spell.)

It takes three (3) rounds to reload a siege engine with two operators, or twice as long with only one.  Each siege engine can fire twice before ammunition is expended (they were mostly used up in the demonstration.)

In combat, the ennan will turn the siege engines towards the PCs, even in the direction of the snake-men Myrmidons.  However, they will only fire into a melee if they fail a Morale check (the ennan sometimes become a little exuberant with their creations.)

A secret door from Room 26 leads to the back of the chamber, in the middle of the firing line.  While the obstacles can provide cover, characters may still be in danger from the area effects of the weapons.

One of the obstacles off to the side is large shield made from giant snake scales that radiates magic.  This pavis of warding scales provides a +3 bonus to Armor Class against missile and ranged attacks when placed on the ground and grants resistance to energy (fire, cold, lightning, etc.)  The person behind it enjoys a +2 to saving throws against these attacks, which deal one less point of damage per die.

 

Room 28: Great Hall of War

This grand, columned hall is the entrance and drilling area for the Myrmidon garrison.  The columns are painted with hieroglyphs of snake-men at war, and feature banners with the Myrmidon symbol above.  While the hall is empty, traffic to and from is somewhat frequent.  Wandering monster encounters in this area are 2-in-6.

The Great Hall is a staging area for Myrmidon forces in the True Temple (AI image courtesy of NightCafe.)

 

The hall exits south to a cyclopean stairway that leads to the Palace of the Nobles (Level 6) below.

 

 

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.