D&D General #Dungeon23
Bill Zebub
“It’s probably Matt Mercer’s fault.”
Part of me wishes I had taken that route, with 12 levels and the old school assumption that character level ~= dungeon level.
We definitely wanted that feel, which is also why we went with the old school blue graph paper look for the map.
I have no idea what levels mine is appropriate for yet... :-/
I'm trying to vaguely keep it in a vague order from low to high (with some of the low actually being easy to avoid highs).
Room 58 - The Tunnel
This 15'x15' room is entered through an unlocked wooden door. It opens into a stone wall with an oddly shaped 5' to 10' diameter stone tunnel heading forward a few feet until it hits a 10' diameter open cylinder that seems to go infinitely up and down. The sides of the cylinder have patches of bioluminescent fungus that give the entire area dim light. The sides are also full of numerous small holes and caves from a few inches to a few feet in diameter and places with rocks embedded in them and possibly a skeleton of some sort, and what appears to be a large number of in-progress columns and figure carvings (trees? Fae? a dragon?). Finally, there is something directly in the middle of the shaft that is hard to make out - a quivering rope? a continuous pulse of some sort?
The cylinder is actually only 10' high, but anyone going out the top or bottom of it (or the caves in the surrounds) comes in the other way. The small ledges above and below the opening are such that someone just cautiously looking from the tunnel would need to pass at DC 15 passive perception to notice something wasn’t right; someone leaning out a bit or carefully looking would notice with no roll. With a bit of looking, the blur in the middle is a small rock traveling at its terminal velocity (around 70 miles per hour, call it d6 damage for stopping it by blocking it with one’s body). Hjuldohr the Dwarf (in room 55) is excessively proud of having been the first to have achieved this and the fey in the room can't bring themselves to try and stop it and the other two Dwarves haven't managed to.
The carvings on the sides are the work of the half dozen Galtzagorriak that escaped from (room to be named later). They work on the room under the charge of the Pech Fionn Clachair who has a plan for the whole room in the works that should keep the tiny ones busy for decades (and thus out of trouble). He just needs to not spend as much time brewing various alcoholic drinks with Ruadhan Srondearg the Leprechaun. Luckily Ruadhan will often leave the room to pull pranks on others. The Wolpertinger (that the other residents have named Conor) will let the Galtzagorriak pet it, but has no patience for the larger two fae. All except Conor hide and cower if Berghildr (room 57) comes in to exercise. If the Dwarves (from 55) get too annoying, the various fey residents might start throwing things at them or playfully taunting.
Fionn’s cave, with his plans and still, is in the north-west corner of the room and anyone small, but over three feet tall, would need to be prone to enter. Ruadhan’s cave is in the north-east corner of the room and is similarly sized. Both of them have “infinite up and down tunnels” and a secondary bolt hole that is a squeeze for someone their size to get out. Ruadhan’s cauldron has 136 gp and is protected by two traps (a DC 14 to notice, DC 16 to deactivate, and DC 18 to avoid, slide trap heaving a victim into the pit; and a DC 18 to notice and DC 12 to deactivate needle trap that gives the poisoned condition until a DC 16 con save is made). The Galtzagorriak live in the very small tunnels in the South-east corner, and Conor lives in an 18” high cave in the south wall that the back entrance of the Galtzagorriak tunnels connects to.
Terminal velocity for a spread-eagle person is around 120 mph, diving is around 180 mph. Presumably no one is trying to do that and I’m not sure any listed maximum damage is adequate for scraping along the sides to stop falling after hitting full speed. Should someone be pushed or tripped into the hole, they should make a DC 16 Dex save. On a save they catch themselves after falling through the floor back to their original level (possibly somewhere else around the cylinder) for d4 damage. On a failure, roll d6 to determine how many tens of feet they fall before safely stopping, taking d4 damage for each. A d12 could be used to determine which clock facing they managed to latch onto.
The Galtzagorriak (CR ¼, Tiny Fey), Leprechaun (CR 1, Small Fey), Pech (CR 1/2 , Small Fey), and Wolpertinger (CR ¼, Small Monstrosity) are all from Izegrim Creations's "Twilight Fables". See D&D 5E - Twilight Fables Now Publicly Available! or contact @Sacrosanct to get a copy.
Dwarf name courtesy of https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/dwarf-names.php .
Room 57 - The Hall of Doubt
The door to this 15'x15' room has a spear carved into the center of it with a raven on each side. The carving is of good amateur quality.
The door is unlocked, but none of the nearby residents would dare enter Berghildr the Valkyrja's abode. Sucked into the vault during one of the its appearances (see room to be named), she is blocked from leaving the vault or contacting the outside by the wards that Kiven Valpus maintains. The ensuing decades of separation from Valhalla, Odin, and her sisters has slowly sapped her divine vitality and she tries not to think about encroaching mortality or where death in this place might send her. She still palpably radiates invincibility, but it is tinged with despair.
Her room has a comfortable bed with a chamber pot beneath it, a large circular rug, her personal supply of a week's food, and a large sledge with greased skis leaning up against the wall (if she is not out using it). On the first day of each week she ventures to the front gate and gathers several sledge-fulls of food and supplies that she distributes to the rooms in the upper portions and heaves down to the lower ones. It isn’t serving in Valhalla, but what else cuts the boredom? Sometimes she can't stand her routine (or cowardice?) and answers a challenge when she is dumping a delivery to the lower levels, or bathes in the great pool (room # coming) daring anything to interrupt her ablutions. Otherwise, she meditates or practices in her room, or sometimes in the infinite tunnel (room 58).
It could be possible to convince her to aid the party, but she would not be the one to bring it up and would need to believe that lifting the Archon's ban was imminent (so, if the party is going after Khesh Morag's final piece). She can feel the pull of the thing across from Grandma's but knows it is only one of several and so not for her to challenge yet. The idea of Grandma gives her a (rare) smile. She knows what Myrsina and everyone on Shirazz’s floor is but doesn't particularly care. She believes she could defeat the thing in the picture, but it is trapped here too... and what would that solve?
Berghildr (CR 11, Medium Celestial) is as a Valkyrja, but 2 less in each of Str, Dex, and Con, and 4 less in Chr. This lowers her HP to 187; the corresponding saves by 1 or 2, the damage and to-hit on long sword and spear by 1; and the save on blinding light by 2. Her Righteous smite to-hit and damage are reduced by 2. She has lost Divine Awareness, her Martial Advantage bonus is reduced to 11 (2d10), she can longer raise dead, and the rejuvenate is only 36hp (8d8). Her legendary actions are spellcasting and parry . The base Valkyrja stats can be found in Izegrim Creations's "Twilight Fables". See D&D 5E - Twilight Fables Now Publicly Available! or contact @Sacrosanct to get a copy.
With thanks to Nordic Names for naming help.
The next room created (#56) is in post #486 D&D General - #Dungeon23 .
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What are you using (in terms of software) to keep track of your megadungeon?
It had been two sheets of paper and on here... :-/ I need to start keeping track of the rooms to be named later and dangling plot points for sure!
I'm getting ready to start organizing the descriptions in a google doc and haven't decided what to do about the map. Doing the map of a suite of rooms at a time shouldn't be too bad just in a standard art program I hope.
I want to toy with a new format for February. I won't make this "level 2" because it is a little experimental, but a deeper "side level" of the dungeon accessed through an unfortunate portal accident.
Instead of relying on a traditional map, I am going to do it point crawl style. "Go north from here through winding caverns for a few miles and you come to..." Like that. Since I am finding myself busier than in January, I am going to cut down my descriptions to something more concise (if I can contain myself).
I really like the style that @Bill Zebub uses with the "First Glance, Closer Inspection, Secrets" entries. I'll adapt that I think.
Let's get weird!
Instead of relying on a traditional map, I am going to do it point crawl style. "Go north from here through winding caverns for a few miles and you come to..." Like that. Since I am finding myself busier than in January, I am going to cut down my descriptions to something more concise (if I can contain myself).
I really like the style that @Bill Zebub uses with the "First Glance, Closer Inspection, Secrets" entries. I'll adapt that I think.
Let's get weird!
I wrote a little bit about how I'm doing my megadungeon in a pointcrawl style here, in case it is helpful:
Level X: The Underrealm of the Godecho
Somewhere in the dungeons below Parenix Manor, there is an arcane portal. It’s origin is unknown -- it certainly existed long before the Manor was built and perhaps long before the first ancient tomb was dug in Mornrax Hill. Its power is immense but unreliable and anyone passing through it surely did so by accident. How they might ever find their way back is unknown, even if such a thing is possible.
The portal leads to a vast underground realm full of wonder and horror. The realm itself seems to be sentient, and its hatred and malevolent will are palpable. The realm’s inhabitants call it the Godecho, and indeed it seems to be the lingering thought of some dark divine power.
Once characters enter the Underrealm of the Godecho, they are trapped until they discover the way out. Not even planar magic or reality warping wishes can free the unfortunate visitors. Luckily, the underrealm is not desolate and is inhabited by some creatures that are potentially helpful. Even so, horrible monsters and the Godecho’s own cruelly will haunt and hunt the characters as long as they are imprisoned in the realm.
0X.01: The Distant Shore
Form: A small rocky island in a wide underground lake.
Illumination: Bioluminescent moss grows on the ceiling perhaps a hundred feet above, creating a greenish twilight.
At First Glance: The rocky island is roughly 60 feet across. There is a hut made of what appears to be wood in the center of the isle and a garden patch of various fungi adjacent. A boat big enough for 4 persons to ride in is tied up next to small dock.
On Closer Inspection: The “wood” is actually some dense, hard form of fungus cut into planks. The boat is made of the same stuff. The fungus in the garden is edible, but it looks like it is overgrown and hasn’t been harvested in a long time. Inside the hut, there is furnishing for a single individual about human sized, but little else can be gleaned.
Secrets: The owner of the hut, a garkling called Vulgaxl, is currently a prisoner of the Godecho (see room 0X.xx) for the crime of helping travelers upon their arrival. A deep sturgeon patrols the waters around the island and attacks anyone taking the boat or swimming in the waters.
Connections: The lake is about a half mile in diameter, with fungus covered shores ranging from a few feet to a few dozen yards in width before the cavern walls. There are passages north (0X.02), south east (0X.03) and west (0X.03).
Somewhere in the dungeons below Parenix Manor, there is an arcane portal. It’s origin is unknown -- it certainly existed long before the Manor was built and perhaps long before the first ancient tomb was dug in Mornrax Hill. Its power is immense but unreliable and anyone passing through it surely did so by accident. How they might ever find their way back is unknown, even if such a thing is possible.
The portal leads to a vast underground realm full of wonder and horror. The realm itself seems to be sentient, and its hatred and malevolent will are palpable. The realm’s inhabitants call it the Godecho, and indeed it seems to be the lingering thought of some dark divine power.
Once characters enter the Underrealm of the Godecho, they are trapped until they discover the way out. Not even planar magic or reality warping wishes can free the unfortunate visitors. Luckily, the underrealm is not desolate and is inhabited by some creatures that are potentially helpful. Even so, horrible monsters and the Godecho’s own cruelly will haunt and hunt the characters as long as they are imprisoned in the realm.
0X.01: The Distant Shore
Form: A small rocky island in a wide underground lake.
Illumination: Bioluminescent moss grows on the ceiling perhaps a hundred feet above, creating a greenish twilight.
At First Glance: The rocky island is roughly 60 feet across. There is a hut made of what appears to be wood in the center of the isle and a garden patch of various fungi adjacent. A boat big enough for 4 persons to ride in is tied up next to small dock.
On Closer Inspection: The “wood” is actually some dense, hard form of fungus cut into planks. The boat is made of the same stuff. The fungus in the garden is edible, but it looks like it is overgrown and hasn’t been harvested in a long time. Inside the hut, there is furnishing for a single individual about human sized, but little else can be gleaned.
Secrets: The owner of the hut, a garkling called Vulgaxl, is currently a prisoner of the Godecho (see room 0X.xx) for the crime of helping travelers upon their arrival. A deep sturgeon patrols the waters around the island and attacks anyone taking the boat or swimming in the waters.
Connections: The lake is about a half mile in diameter, with fungus covered shores ranging from a few feet to a few dozen yards in width before the cavern walls. There are passages north (0X.02), south east (0X.03) and west (0X.03).
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