Area Links:
Area A – Monolith District
Area B – Dragon District
Area C – Trade District
Area D – Builders District
Wandering Monster Table (2d6):
2 Roll on the Unusual Table
3-6 See the appropriate District table below
7 Roll 1d6: (1-3) 1d4 denizens appropriate to the District and uninterested in the characters unless approached, (4-5) a known NPC such as Sister Sophiya, or (6) rival NPC adventurers
8 3d4 baern-men (bugbear) Watch deputies with a minotaur or troll leader
9 Heavy Watch patrol of 1d6 trolls or minotaurs
10 Heavy Watch patrol of 1d6 trolls or minotaurs with a gargoyle flying overhead or watching from a perch.
11 Special Watch unit of 1d6 minotaurs led by half as many snake-men Myrmidons
12 Roll on the Sorcerers of the Underworld table below
A - Monolith District
3 A retinue of 1d4+1 snake-men Nobles, half as many Myrmidon bodyguards, and an equal number of Emissary sycophants
4 A marching squad of 2d4 snake-men Myrmidons with polearms and swords
5 A patrol of 1d6 snake-men Myrmidons with swords and shields
6 1d6+1 snake-men Emissaries going about business or errands for their superiors
B - Dragon District
3 As #4 below, but one or more of the acolytes/apprentices are polymorphed, white dragons. A clue to this is that the sorceress or priest leader seems to defer to them.
4 A Clan Molcyrr sorceress (8 HD, spells as elf) or draconic priest (use cleric spell list instead) with 1d4 acolytes/apprentices (1d4+1 HD and spells as elf; acolytes use cleric spell list.)
5 A patrol of 2d6 eunshiel warriors of Clan Sornath (2 HD, spells as 2nd-level elf)
6 A gang of 4d4 bored, young eunshiel looking for targets to prank or harass
C - Trade District
3 As #4 below, but it is a vampire instead, which may pose as a friendly merchant or soothsayer, potential friend, or person in need.
4 A pack of 4d6 ghouls stalk the characters from the shadows and alleys
5 As below, but the “beggars” are thieves of various races with 1d4+4 levels that have marked the player characters
6 1d6 human, demihuman, and/or humanoid beggars. There is a 5-in-6 chance they are diseased and interacting characters must save against poison or become ill. There is also a 1-in-6 chance one or more among the beggars is a moorlock pickpocket interested in some shiny the characters possess.
D - Builders District
3 A Guildmaster’s entourage of 4d6+2 ennan. The Guildmaster has an additional 1d4+1 HD, and a chance for magic items as an NPC adventurer (dwarf.)
4 A squad of 2d6+1 ennan warriors guarding a location, shipment, or patrolling the area
5 4d8 ennan workers marching on strike. Pickhand (see D4) is often behind these as cover for his smuggling operations.
6 Two rival groups of 2d6 ennan Guild members arguing. Depending on a reaction roll, the argument may lead to fighting in the street, or after-hours carousing (or sometimes both.)
Unusual (d4)
1 A young, white dragon being carted on a large palanquin by four (4) ogres and guarded by 2d4 eunshiel Dragonsworn (4 HD, spells as 4th-level elves)
2 1d4 fire or frost salamanders – visitors from opposing kingdoms in the Underwilds.
3 1d6 rust monsters - a discarded, snake-men creation that breed like cockroaches here
4 A pack of 2d6 stray hellhounds (actual ones from the Magma Fields in the Underwilds, not the snake-men’s mutated creations.)
Sorcerers of the Underworld (d4)
1 Lady Arachna (see A6.) If encountered in the Dragon District, she is cloaked or disguised. Her phase spiders are never far off.
2 Elgezerd the Hunchbacked (9th-level magic-user, C): a vile, unkempt sorcerer with a filthy beard, an insectoid eye, and small chitinous patches of oozing skin that he scratches constantly.
Elgezerd has been obsessed with lore of the Old Ones ever since he stole a forbidden spellbook from his master long ago, whom he later slew with spells from it. He seeks entry into the Egg of Khu’utlu (The Ovoid from Beyond the Stars) and has hired several adventurers to do so; all to no avail. Polzarion the Sage (below) was the survivor of one of these ill-fated expeditions.
Elgezerd travels with two (2) 3rd-level apprentices and four (4) guards (two 3rd-level, and two 2nd-level fighters,) all which are members of his cult to the Old Ones. His hunchback is actually a nest for stirge-like creatures of alien origin that he bred with knowledge form his stolen tome. They have a strange, symbiotic relationship. The alien stirges, 3d4 in number, have an AC of 5 [14], a 1d4 damage attack, suffer only half damage from cold and fire, have 6% magic resistance, and are aligned with Chaos.
Elgezerd has an intense hatred for Xyvraa (see the Emporium in C2,) and the feeling is mutual. He is no longer welcome at that place of business.
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| Elgezerd is obsessed to with the secrets of the Old Ones, especially the Ovoid From Beyond the Stars (AI image courtesy of Bing Image Creator.) |
3 Omonzhorra the Seeress (see the Alkastra Encounter Tables.) She would prefer not to be here if not for the fact that there has been a vergence of destiny slowly but surely building around the player characters by this point. Omonzhora and her entourage have also gained 1d3+1 levels by now. If Omonzhorra is no longer in this world, one of her apprentices has taken her place as Seeress.
4 Polzarion the Sage (9th-level magic-user, L.) Polzarion was the only survivor of an adventuring party in the Underwilds. He has become an expert in Underworld lore, first by necessity, and then by choice, eventually making the City his home. It is said that his mental faculties are not all there, due to exposure to the Ovoid from Beyond the Stars. Has he been inside?
Commentary
Dungeon Level and Second Home Base
Although I am now more than halfway through the ten levels of my Dungeon23 project, I feel this level marks a transition point between the more standard dungeon of Levels 1-6 and the stranger Levels 8-10 below. I figure that it may be difficult for adventuring parties to make it all the way back to the surface through the True Temple every expedition by this point. Therefore, I decided to make Level 7 the Chaotic home base, in contrast to the (mostly) Lawful City of Alkastra. I tried to strike a balance between making an explorable location with monsters, traps, treasure, and multiple path choices, while at the same time providing necessary services and safe-ish places for adventurers to stay longer term. I hope I succeeded.
Thanks, Steve Winter!
Some of you may find the abstract map of the City familiar. This is because it is inspired by this post of the TSR alumnus’ blog. Specifically, the city map for the board game John Carter, Warlord of Mars.
I’ve wanted to make and use a map like this ever since I read that post. I almost did it for the City of Alkastra, but decided to keep the idea in my back pocket for later, since I already knew that there would be an underground city at some point in the dungeon. In my humble opinion, every classic style dungeon should have an underground city, whether a portion of it, such as in Holmes’ sample Skull Mountain cross-section, or the entire thing like in Moldvay's Lost City.
Other Sources of Inspiration
In researching classic sources for the City of the Snake-Men and the Underwilds, I (of course) have been going through the D series of AD&D modules, specifically, my copy of GDQ 1-7 Queen of the Spiders. Another source which was in the back of my head and likely inspired the Monolith/True Temple is the article City of Sunken Spires by Eric L. Boyd in Dragon 267 about a duergar city built on stalactites. Another product I wanted to read for inspiration, but no longer have a copy of, is the 2nd-edition mega-adventure the Night Below. True confessions: I was never much of a fan of Underdark adventures, but with this project, the concept is growing on me.
And yes, I know the deep fey are my “Great Value” version of drow and duergar. At the time, I wasn’t sure whether I would use the SRD, so I created my own stand-ins for these. Lady Arachna is my obvious, self-deprecating criticism of this. The limits of AI art (and my lack of skill with these tools) didn't help, either. A more accurate depiction of eunshiel would be something like the BECMI shadow elves crossed with grey aliens. The ennan are squatter and stockier versions of the same, and inspired by both Dark Sun dwarves, and the dwemer of Elder Scrolls video game fame.
Still, I think with Level 7, the deep fey have become distinctly their own thing. The category of deep fey seems to imply that there may be other types, and I'm open to the possibility of creating new ones as I continue with Level 8 – The Underwilds.
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.
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