Breaking INTO Prison

[joeandsteve]

I am running a session tomorrow for a villain campaign in a homebrewed setting, and I need a few ideas for the dungeon that will be the focus of the next few adventures. The PCs are looking for a new hidden base of operations after the tyrant they were working for was killed and his empire conquered. I plan on leading them to an abandoned fortress prison camp dating to the start of the empire. What I need is cool ideas for what to put inside the prison. So far I have thought of undead victims, insane prisoners, torture chambers, mass graves, and secret prisoner experiments, but those don't all lend themselves to encounters or interesting challenges. All help is greatly appreciated.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

The wizard who carried out all those experiments on the inmates is still in residence. As a lich of course. At war with the ghosts of those she destroyed.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Next few adventures? How much of a recurring location do you want it to be? Or will the PCs simply be delving deeper and deeper? What level are the PCs?

Doppelgangers in the shapes of the PCs or their loved ones is always generally a creepy thing. Especially when they're holstered down to weird, mechanical "correctional" devices (the actual situation and the doppelganger is looking to get out of it or a sham to draw the PCs in til they can play switcheroo).

 

[joeandsteve]

Well, I probably should have said the next COUPLE of adventures, but the PC's would want to make it their base of operations, so it will indeed be a recurring location, and it will also be pretty deep. The PC's are all 11th level. They are also all evil, so I don't know that they HAVE many loved ones, but the doppleganger idea could be used in other ways...

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

If the PCs are all evil, why not give them a chance to be truly evil?

Introduce some new NPCs by having them locked up in the dungeon. Even better, give some of them useful information and see if the PCs will start toturing them. This is, of course, all a lovely big setup for them to escape later and seek vengeance...

 

[joeandsteve]

I think that they would probably kill anyone they captured and then tortured.

 

[KrazyHades]

How about a tortured half-celestial or planetouched? A real opportunity for villains. Maybe a half-celestial paladin that they try to turn into a blackguard?