Need advice FAST on dungeon design!

[Paradoxish]

Sorry for the urgency of the title, but I'm planning my game for tommorow and I seem to have a bit of writer's block. I have what I thought would be a simple dungeon crawl, but I'm having some trouble coming up with a realistic way to inhabit this "dungeon". Here's some background on the adventure:

The player's are going to be entering a temple which leads into an underground complex controlled by a cult (real original, I know). The Temple itself is located on the outside of the mountain and is cylindrical in shape. The base (lowest three levels) of the tower is 60 feet in diameter, the next four levels are 100 feet in diameter, the next level is 140 feet in diameter, and the top three levels are only 20 feet in diameter. So it's narrow at the bottom, gets wider towards the top, and then has a very narrow spire sticking out at the very top. Hope that makes sense...

The temple is built next to a fairly tall mountain, with a long land bridge (about 80 feet long) running from the highest level to a cave in the side of the mountain. The final battle of this adventure will probably take place on this land bridge and I've already got that part planned out. I need help in planning everything below that, though. The temple is controlled by a cult which worships a "dead" (He's not really dead, but he's significantly weakened) God - one of seven such Gods. The cult is working with the Duergar who live in the underground complex to build an army in the name of said God, but the Duergar don't have a presence in the temple itself. Instead, the Cult is making use of a few kobold tribes in the area to do work for them on the "outside". Here's where things get sticky...

The Kobolds are also serving as hired muscle for the temple - they're the guards of the lower level and do the menial tasks for the cultists, who live mostly in the mountain complex and upper levels of the temple. The cultists have been using the Kobolds to snatch children from human villages in the area and this is what the PCs are here to investigate. My problem is that I can't decide how to populate the lower levels of the temple. I plan to have an altar on each of the lower levels, but other than that I'm not sure what I should put besides barracks where the Kobolds live. What other things would be found on these lower levels? I was thinking of adding a few prison areas and 'cages' for creatures that the cultists and Kobolds are keeping (and possibly breeding)... any ideas on what else I should add down there?

 

[ptrpete]

The kobalds need someplace to hang out, even if its just a room with some card games and a half-empty ale keg.

Pets? Something that runs away and causes a loud noise if its disturbed can be just as nasty as something that stays and fights.

Storerooms for all the supplies. Not just the weapons, but also food, cleaning stuff, the equipment to maintain the weapons, candles and sacrrifical knives for the cerimonies, etc...

Secret passages with spy-holes so that the cultists can spy on the kobalds and ensure their loyalty.

Are the kobalds living in the temple or just working there? You've got the barracks, but did the whole tribe move in or just the warriors/workers? The non-combatants will need some place to live and spend their time. Maybe a schoolroom where the young kobalds are brainwashed into being the next generation of willing cannon-fodder. Alternativaley, have the women/children kept prisoner on the upper levels, held dostage to ensure the good behaviuor of the rest. Then the PCs can rescue them, and the kobalds can be grateful, showing the way past some of the traps, or showing the secret passage to the uppermost level, or whatever is appropriate.

 

[Paradoxish]

Alternativaley, have the women/children kept prisoner on the upper levels, held dostage to ensure the good behaviuor of the rest. Then the PCs can rescue them, and the kobalds can be grateful, showing the way past some of the traps, or showing the secret passage to the uppermost level, or whatever is appropriate.

Ooooh, I like that. Gives the Kobolds another motivation to be working for these guys besides just fear or greed. I think this is what I'll use the largest of the lower levels (Which is actually the highest level inhabited primarily by kobolds) for.

 

[Mark]

Perhaps they have some other prisoners, some monstrous, from the surrounding mountain region..?

You might want to draw up, snag from online, some symbols for the cult and print them for handouts.

It's never a bad idea to try and work in senses other than sound and sight (descriptions and handouts) like smell or taste. Can you have something ready to cook up in the kitchen that might help set the mood for when they camp or of the kobold area? Maybe something that you can share with everyone, if it isn't to horrid...?