D&D General #Dungeon23

Day 6 of Dungeon23
The Enchanted Cask: a cramped, cluttered shop squeezed between two larger buildings, with a dingy exterior and a mysterious old hag for an owner. The windows are cluttered with bottles and vials of all shapes and sizes, and the door is propped open, beckoning curious customers inside. Just be careful what you buy - the old hag's potions may come with unintended (and hilarious) side effects.

Picture made in Stable Diffusion. Map by Hand.

• 120' deep crevasse. (See X.X for bottom.)
• Narrow, treacherous path leading downward.
• Rope bridge old, rotten, missing planks. Will it hold?

For today and tomorrow (a bit of a cheat since it's an old sketch, but it fits my megadungeon plus doctored it up a bit)...



And here's the resource page from the other D23 thread, printed and taped into my journal. I revised it to include The Perilous Wilds (recommended), and also add that the author Jason Lutes has playtest docs for Freebooters in the Frontier that has some wonderful tables which I'm incorporating into my D23 as well: Core Books

01.06: Kitchen

Access: The kitchen can be accessed through two doors in the south leading to the cookhouse prep room (01.05) and a door in the north leading to the Grounds.

Description: This massive, once well furnished and stocked kitchen was used to prepare the meals for Parenix Manor. The massive hearth is big enough to roast a large pig or hang a great cauldron -- which is currently in place there. Shelves and tables are covered in the evidence of food long ago rotted or devoured by pests.

Boil and Trouble: The last use of the kitchen was not to cook food, but rather to summon something from the veiled dark by matriarch Constance Alastairn. She filled the cauldron with all the right offerings and sang the right dirges, but she was called away by the calamity that ultimately devoured the last of the Alastairn. Despite the ritual being unfinished -- or perhaps because of it -- something nonetheless slithered into the cauldron from the outer reaches. The cauldron is occupied by an amorphous devourer. It senses anyone entering the kitchen but remains still, appearing as a thick black tar in the cauldron until it suddenly lashes out with a pseudopod. The amorphous devourer cannot be sated and will attempt to dissolve and absorb as many characters or creatures that remain in the kitchen. It cannot leave the cauldron but can reach up to 6 feet away with a pseudopod.

Treasure: If the amorphous devourer is destroyed it’s black bile like liquid remains can be poured out from the cauldron. The cauldron weighs 300 pounds and will fetch a high price from a coven of witches or a hag.
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I was sort of fiddling with weird names for regular monsters (flying bloodworms for stirges) but now I am going to just keep doing it in light of recent events. Don't expect any goblins or cloakers or (in this case) black puddings!

Cadence said:

Seriously, there is a room 2.

Room 11 - The Sewer System

The 5'x5' grate from room 10 drops 10' down to the surface of the water in a 150' long segment of a stream that is 15' deep. The ceiling at the north end rises 20' and the water rushes out of 1-6" tall caracks in the rocks near it. At the south end the ceiling also rises to 20' (albeit with no water causing the extra height) , while at the water level there are two large rocks and many small ones that provide some protection before one is rushed over the 100' tall water fall (to room 300 below). There is faint glow provided from an edible lichen on the ceiling that is home to a variety of moths and a plethora of bats. There are a scattering of carp in the stream ranging from a few inches to a few feet that often manage to hide various rock formations on the bottom of the stream, hide from the very angry giant crocodile that feeds on them. There are normal sized cray fish and snails providing sustenance to both the crocodile and carp (in addition to the occasional bat death and their guano). An underwater search of the stream near the middle will reveal that a Black Dragon Wyrmling once tried to hide in some of the rocks as the front half is stuck in between some. The back half is missing and and the fleshy inside meat has been either eaten by the carp or washed out.

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I really need to start these earlier in the day or do the big rooms a bit over several days or give less detail, but in any case, I swear there will be a room #2.


Room 41 - Eleandra's Bedroom

The doors to the 20'x20' room are barred from the inside if the room is occupied (2am-6am meditating, 20% chance at other times unless Eleandra has already been met). It is hard to break in (DC 25 Str) but easy to pick through the very thin crack in the door from the outside. However the several small bells resting on the bar are pretty much impossible to non-magically stop from falling off unless some sort of clarivoyance is used to see that they are there. There is a large canopied bed against the opposite wall, the south wall has a wardrobe and a weapons rack. The north wall has a small stand with a chamber pot inside of it and a writing desk with a chair. Right in front of the door is a large rug with a very valuable chest in the middle.

By rights the chest should be a mimic but it isn't. It's empty, but touching it will send the rug of smothering beneath it and the flying sword and halbred on the weapons rack into action. (The Halbred is as flyigng sword, but has AC 18, HP 25, and does d10+1 damage). The bow on the weapons rack is magical (+1) but not animated with 10 arrows. They will also attack anyone breaking into the room while Eleandra is there.

The wardrobe actually contains a variety of fine elvish clothes. The stand and chamber pot are what they seem, as is the chair. The desk with paper and pen, paper with elvish writing describing what can be found below (pure fiction) is actually the mimic.

The bed is very comfortable and the Drow Mage Eleandra who provides protection to the nearby denizens is quite fond of it. She is also quite fond of living. She wears a ring that causes the wearer to have the false appearance of an older high elf (similar to disguise self, but on her it only change the colorations, so the DC to tell is 22). The ring also gives disadvantage on insight checks against her when she's lying and advantage when she's telling the truth. (Consider asking what the two rolled numbers were in order and not saying if they were with advantage, disadvantage, or neither).

After she apologizes for her defense mechanisms attacking the party, she will happily tell them about the nearby rooms and how to defeat them (not really) and that she survives by doing just enough magic for the surrounding folks to make them not gang up on her. If the party is heading out to the surface world she would love to finally get out of here (or so she says - she would also like to help take down the party if the occasion arises).



The next room created (#42) is in post #211: D&D General - #Dungeon23 .

1.7

• Two skeletons near intersection, visible from stairs. Blackened. Skill check: caused by lightning damage.
• 5' metal disk embedded in south wall
• Creatures approaching cautiously will feel static charge in time to retreat. Creatures entering hallway will be struck by lightning, unless they are wearing violet robes.
• Flying also works.
• Iron doors at far end push open easily, but swing slowly shut. While both doors are open lightning trap is disabled.

Here is my work from Week 1. Two rooms, one item, some inhabitants/monsters, and a group. Tomorrow I'll work on a rumor or a hook for the adventurers to explore Beyond the Golden Falls (my working title for now).

Week 1:

Day 7 - the Temlple of the Seamother - now with special effects


The temple of Maris at the marketplace in Freehaven is a rickety old building that looks like it might collapse at any moment. It is cluttered with all manner of nautical paraphernalia, including old anchors, broken oars, and rusted ship wheels. The priests of Maris are a motley crew of salty old sea dogs, who spend their days lounging in the temple, telling tales of their adventures on the high seas and swilling down jug after jug of seaweed wine. Some say the priests are genuine believers, while others say they are just in it for the easy life and the offerings that come their way. Regardless of their motivations, the temple of Maris is a popular destination for sailors and pirates, who come to pay their respects to the Sea-Mother and seek her blessings for their voyages. Some say the temple is haunted by the ghosts of long-dead sailors, who still roam its halls, seeking to share in the revelry of the living. Whether this is true or just a myth is anyone's guess, but one thing is certain: the temple of Maris is a place of joy and merriment, where all are welcome to come and raise a toast to the goddess of the sea.

Week 1 complete