D&D General #Dungeon23

[Bill Zebub]

How does the Ink feel? It's great, isn't it?

Yeah, I love the tactile feedback of the fineliner moving over the paper. And I like the dark contrast that results.

Of course I'm thinking, "What if I change my mind...?"

 

[darjr]

This thread is amazing.

Loot the Body made a #dungeon23 entry that’s a song based of another entry!

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=1020916729/size=large/linkcol=0084B4/notracklist=true/twittercard=true/

 

[Tutara]

I’m doing decks on a spaceship/Spelljammer rather than one megadungeon. The plan is eventually I can just slot them all together or just use them when I feel like it. Anyway, week 3 done! (I know I got east and west mixed up - my excuse is it’s non-Euclidean or something)

 

[Omand]

The language I’ve been using is “no visible exit”, meaning no doors except the one you came in through, which would be an entrance rather than an exit. I think if you look at the maps of these rooms, there should only be one door.

The reason a secret door is not shown on the map in such cases is that it can be on any ten foot section of wall the players decide to have their characters search, so I’ve detached the map of the area beyond the secret door from the rest of the level.

Ah, gotcha.

Thanks for the explanation, I was definitely reading things differently than they way you were framing it.

Cheers

 

[Hriston]

Ah, gotcha.

Thanks for the explanation, I was definitely reading things differently than they way you were framing it.

Cheers

Yeah, no worries. I probably wasn't being very clear in my descriptions. I started writing this with just some very short notes and have expanded that slightly into some formulaic descriptions. Right now I'm shooting for about the bare minimum of what I'd want to run it myself.

Here's another one:

20. This 20’ x 20’ chamber is empty.

 

[Reynard]

Note: I had a change of heart about certain aspects of the upper floors of Parenix Manor and renumbered some rooms:

01.20: Guest Quarters

Access: The only door in to or out of this room is in the north wall, leading to the Kinder Stair, Upper (01.49). The door is locked with a simple lock.

Description: This room was used on the rare occasion that Parenix Manor hosted overnight guests. Like most of the rooms in the manor, it has been exposed to the elements and pests. It was originally furnished with three beds and a small table. The beds are sodden and the bedding rotten. Each bed also has a foot locker at its end, and an armoire stands against the west wall where clothing might be hung.

Unquiet Guests: Unfortunately for them, there were in fact guests in the manor the night that terrible powers ended the Alastairn family reign. Mistress Neva Colburn, her handmaiden Lena and their guardan Sir Hanna Murand were all in the room fast asleep when the end happened. The three women woke when the manor screamed at the presence of some terrible horror, but they could not force the door open, even with Ser Hanna’s prodigious strength. They died torn apart by forces beyond mortal comprehension, but their spirits remain in the room.
If the PCs enter the room during nighttime hours, the door will slam itself shut. A blue glow fills the room as the ghosts of the three women appear, wailing and hugging one another in terror. Their terror becomes the terror of anyone in the room, and those so affected must steady their will or be dragged into madness with the ghosts. The haunting lasts only a few minutes and occurs only once per night. Any who survive the effects are immune on future nights. The ghosts are so maddened that they can provide no information to the PCs even if forced to speak by a necromancer.

Treasure: Mistress Neva’s belongings are in the armoire, including beautiful dresses long since wasted away. However, a beautiful, jewel encrusted pin and a golden tiara can be found. Lena had nothing of value, but Ser Hanna’s enchanted sword remains: it never rusts or tarnishes, and it can cut a demon or spirit as easily as a mortal enemy.

 

[Cadence]

Room 73 - On Guard(ish)

A 15'x15' room with doors in the center of each wall. No doors are locked, although the east door has a table in front of it.

The west door leads to west door in 72.
The north door leads to the south door in 71.
The east door leads to the east door in 75.
The south door leads to the north door in 76.

The four Derro in this room (Ari, Migrim, Miirn, and Xeer) have lost the thread of what they are doing. They know they're supposed to wait for Inka Krigran to give the order to finally attack -- but they can't remember quite why they hate Edyllin Fallshine (who apparently provides them food -- the way Inka looks at the food makes them suspicious he is up to something). They worried about becoming absent minded for the first week or so, and just don't care so much now and have stopped doing the mental exercises they were told to. They are supposed to check on their companions in 75, but that group has been annoying lately... and so they may or may not have been passing the food over. Just in case they have the table sitting in front of that door. Leaving the table in front of the door means they can't use one side and so sit on the floor to play cards instead of at the table. Beyond the table, stools, and cards, all the room has otherwise is a chamber pot that they sometimes quickly empty into 76 to releave the boredom - especially if they have just retrieved it from lending it to Inka in 72.

Migrim and Miirn are in training to be savants. They each have 20hp and can do mage hand and prestidigitation at will. Migrim can cast invisibility once per day and Miirn can cast sleep once per day. They each suspect the other of cheating with their cantrips and so keep a close eye on each other.

Ari's hooked spear (Knee cruncher) is +1 and both knocks the opponent prone and does damage on a critical.


With thanks to Derro Names for some names.

View attachment 273180

Room 75 - All that is lost...

A 15' x 15' room with doors in the center of each wall. Only the west door is locked.

The locked west door leads to east door in 74.
The north door leads to east door in 76.
The east door leads to east door in 73.
The south door leads to east door in 71.

The Derro Blinmot, Dakur, and Diinal aren't really here anymore and so are spared worrying about what the savant Inka Krigran might want or about backing up their comrades in 73 if needed. They're now the six-spike armed thing with the faint traces of two extra heads in its chest that stands perched on the chair in the corner. It loves listening to the Fallshine in room 74 next door. It has listened to it a lot. Duzlinn, the remaining Derro wouldn't listen and has been nailed to the top of the table, using the legs of some stools that used to be in the room. The table is cracked and leaning slightly and the chamber pot underneath collects whatever it needs to. Duzlinn hasn't talked much lately, but the four in room 73 to the east are heard once in a while, and sometimes the thing in 76 will jibber. The Tri-Derro thing tries not to be distracted from the music in it's head. It won't be happy if anything distracts it when it isn't ready. Duzlinn understands that now. The Tri might even follow through a door if whatever disturbs it runs away and it can get a claw in to keep it open. It would probably be exploring already, spreading the Fallshine's song, if its claws had any fingers left.

The Tri-Derro has stats similar to a Lost Sorrowsowrn but is clearly three Derro melted together (their equipment is mostly piled around the chair). If the room is gotten to fairly early in the trek through the vault then the Tri hasn't fully evolved yet and it's embrace damage is only 18 (3d10+2), the psychic damage is also 18 (4d8), tightening embrace is 13 (3d8). If the room is gotten to later in the trek through the vault then the damage is full.

An early trek means Duzlinn might be saveable and able to explain that Inka Krigram was leading them to capture the rumoured cleric? druid? Edyllin Fallshine who has the power to make food and water, and bring her back to their base. He doesn't remember many details of the base. He's so tired. He'll still try to kill you if he can eventually (but that's just him being Duzlinn).

A late trek means Duzlinn's brain is no longer functioning and he would help make a quad Derro if only the Tri would unstake him. Or, if the Tri is dead to find the Fallshine. Or, to embrace whoever is there if the others are all gone.

Parts of names swiped from u/hyperionfin's reddit post on Derro names.

The next room created (#114) is in post #358 D&D General - #Dungeon23 .

 

[Malmuria]

Week 3 is done! My work on this has not been 1 room a day. I spent some time on Monday doing the map, then didn't write anything all week, then wrote all the descriptions today. This is a more complex, not to scale "axonometric map" of a metro station. There are lots of loops in this one, and it connects to the first three levels of the undercity (the J, F, and M lines). The main faction here is a druidic figure named Tiaho who leads a group of incorporeal swifts that roost in a stairwell. The swifts are the souls of people who died in the tunnels. This was inspired by the Vaux's Swifts that roost in the buildings of downtown LA every year as they migrate.

This metro station also features animated advertisements that are feuding with each other, buskers singing songs about birds, and a lift that only functions if you feed it candy, which you can find on the F platform (watch out for the mutant gator though!).

 

[Bill Zebub]

2nd day using ink. Broke out the opti-visor. Inked the gridlines this time.

1.20 Eyes Wide Shut Room

• 25' below room 1.19
• Floor covered with debris from fresco decaying from ceiling.
• Large black stone altar. Discolored. Yes, it's ancient, dried blood.
• Gaping, jagged hole in the floor. No discernible bottom. Any evil detection registers a 10/10.
• Slight breeze, sulfurous and warm, rising from pit.

 

[M_Natas]

Of course I'm thinking, "What if I change my mind...?"

See that as a benefit. No change possible, so nothing to worry about.

 

[Hriston]

21. This 30’ x 40’ room is empty.

 

[Cadence]

Not really a room, so I'll be adding one later today...

An introduction to the 365 rooms of
The Vault of Khesh Morag

The Vault - part prison, part former cross-world marketplace, part abducted slice of life from multiple realms - may have come to the attention of the party in many ways, perhaps:

• Some mystics on the world felt the arrival of a powerful force from beyond.
• An oracle sensed the arrival of a great lich.
• The sages predict the return of the legendary traveling market hall of Magnaemptio that last visited 400 or more years ago.
• The sages predict the return of the rampaging dungeon of Khesh Morag that was last seen between 350 and 400 years ago and spilled death across the countryside.
• The sages predict the return of the prison of Khesh Morag that was last seen sometime in the last 350 years.
• A huge chunk of the local underground has been replaced by something extradimensional -- apparently incorporating parts where some of the locals lived and are now possibly trapped inside.

Millennia ago, Khesh Morag - great old one touched, demon protege, arch-lich - was finally captured. Too powerful for his captors to destroy, he was imprisoned in a heavily enchanted crypt on a small moon of a deserted planet, with a small group of eternally vigilant (supposedly) guards to maintain the wards. Time and forgetfulness conspired to weaken the wards and memories of the guardians until, with vast expenditure of power, the lich was able to warp space and call some aid.

For Millennia the traveling market hall of Magnaemptio made its rotation through many worlds. A vast cave that was home to a variety of merchants, it would appear on each world in its rotation for its appropriate time - maybe for a night or a year, maybe once a century or once a millennia - before moving on. And then 400 years ago it showed up somewhere different.

For fifty years the merged market and vault rampaged across scores of realms, gradually adding pieces of those worlds to itself. And then finally it hit one with active enough patron deities to try and deal with it, but (again) not enough power to safely do the job completely. Seals were added to ward the vault from outside communications or any teleportation or gating, wards were installed to keep the things inside away from the entrance and the guards, and a great Archon - Kiven Valpus - was installed as warden.

The Vault still travels, and once in a while picks up a new addition, but no longer spills death willy-nilly where it arrives.

The specifics of the Archon and the rules for interacting with the Vault are in room 2 (link coming when I make it). If the final hook given above is used, the newly missing local environs can be used to replace the section of the vault that starts at room 200 (link coming when I make it).

The entryway and room #1 is in post #118 D&D General - #Dungeon23

 

[Xamnam]

Week 3: SUNKEN

15. Fight Pit - A hexagonal depression has been carved out of the center of this chamber. A ghostly voice calls out for new challengers.
16. The Ruptured Basin - Origin of the water that now floods the area. A slow trickle still ebbs from the mostly empty catch basin
17. Armory - Most of the leftover armor and weapons have been ruined by the waist high water that fills this room.
18. Gilgu's Hideyhole - A descending hand torn tunnel, too small for normal sized creatures to enter. A magic amulet is stashed at the very end.
19. Barracks - What once were rows of neatly arranged bunks have moldered and decomposed in the stagnant water. Hungry bats roost in the high ceiling.
20. Frink's Kitchen - Mushrooms have overtaken this common space, some floating on algae mats. The oldest lie in wait to defend their mycelium family.
21. Airlock - This room descends into the water, becoming an entirely submerged tunnel. Well trained aquatic snakes serve as the final guards.

 

[M_Natas]

Day 21 - week 3!

As you explore the forgotten laboratory, you notice that a side wall has collapsed, revealing a cave that leads deeper into the earth. The cave seems abandoned, but as you look closer, you see that there are two other exits that lead further down into the earth. An old, large skeleton with a deformed head lies on the ground, its bones overgrown with fungi and picked clean by time and scavengers.
You can't help but wonder what happened here. Was the collapse of the wall a recent event or has it been there for centuries? Was the laboratory built on top of the cave, or was the cave discovered after the laboratory was abandoned? And who, or what, was the poor soul whose remains now lay before you?
As you stand there, contemplating the mystery, you can't shake off the feeling that this cave holds secrets that are yet to be uncovered. The two exits beckon you, inviting you to explore further, to discover what lies beneath the surface. The eerie silence of the cave is only broken by the sound of dripping water and the faint echoes of your own footsteps.
The old skeleton serves as a reminder that danger may lurk around every corner in this forgotten place, but the thrill of discovery is too great to ignore. You take a deep breath and head deeper into the cave, ready for whatever secrets it may hold.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This week went great. I got a full above-ground area written up (seven areas of interest in a small sandbox area), got an idea for an evocative room down below I wrote up as well.

And then I realized that I could give another layer to the background of my setting, ripping off not just one CRPG but a second one as well, which the later inhabitants built on top of. That new additional background means there will be a dungeon within a dungeon, with one week for several months being devoted to a now-lost complex that only has hidden entrances on the top and bottom levels to the rest of the complex. Player characters who find their way in -- there are clues on the surface already for those who speak to townsfolk in the town I sketched out the first week of January -- will get lots of deep lore about what's going on, a mix of classic OSR dungeon crossed with Call of Cthulhu, and a totally different set of resources to bring to bear in the lower half of the mega-dungeon.

I'm a big believer that players who like investigating every corner of a game setting should get rewarded for it, while those who don't care about such things should be able to plunge in and get a satisfying experience. This additional history and secret dungeon levels accomplishes both goals.

 

[Reynard]

01.21: Kinder Hall and Privy

Access: A door in the south wall leads to the upper kinder stair (01.19). There are two doors in the west wall: the southern one leads to the Kinder Lounge (01.22) and the northern one is locked and leads to one of the Kinder Bedrooms (01.23a).

Description: This long hallway is mostly nondescript. The white plaster on the walls has crumbled away to reveal stone and at the end of the hall a moldering curtain partially obscures the privy.

Waste Away: The Alastairn family experimented with many strange magics over the century and a half of their master of Parenix hall and explorations beneath Mornrax Hill. The kinder privy was the strange culmination of some of that research. The privy appears as any other, except that in the bowl is what can only be described as a sea of otherworldly stars. Anything dropped into the privy is torn from this universe and dropped in another, irrevocably irretrievable. Over the decades, the arcane engineering containing the magic of the privy has weakened, however, and if anything or anyone touches the “sea of stars” it or they must resist the pull or be themselves forcibly drawn into the privy and forever lost. If the privy itself is broken, the weird portal within flows out like water, devouring everything. In the end, anything and anyone within a 10 foot sphere of the privy is obliterated before the energy folds in on itself and closes the portal forever.

Treasure: A golden hair comb and a silver mirror can be found in the cabinet next to the privy.

 

[Bill Zebub]

1.21 Storeroom

• Boxes full of large candles
• A few standing iron candelabra. Heavy.
• White shrouds folded on a shelf. Modly.

 

[Cadence]

Room 75 - All that is lost...

A 15' x 15' room with doors in the center of each wall. Only the west door is locked.

The locked west door leads to east door in 74.
The north door leads to east door in 76.
The east door leads to east door in 73.
The south door leads to east door in 71.

The Derro Blinmot, Dakur, and Diinal aren't really here anymore and so are spared worrying about what the savant Inka Krigran might want or about backing up their comrades in 73 if needed. They're now the six-spike armed thing with the faint traces of two extra heads in its chest that stands perched on the chair in the corner. It loves listening to the Fallshine in room 74 next door. It has listened to it a lot. Duzlinn, the remaining Derro wouldn't listen and has been nailed to the top of the table, using the legs of some stools that used to be in the room. The table is cracked and leaning slightly and the chamber pot underneath collects whatever it needs to. Duzlinn hasn't talked much lately, but the four in room 73 to the east are heard once in a while, and sometimes the thing in 76 will jibber. The Tri-Derro thing tries not to be distracted from the music in it's head. It won't be happy if anything distracts it when it isn't ready. Duzlinn understands that now. The Tri might even follow through a door if whatever disturbs it runs away and it can get a claw in to keep it open. It would probably be exploring already, spreading the Fallshine's song, if its claws had any fingers left.

The Tri-Derro has stats similar to a Lost Sorrowsowrn but is clearly three Derro melted together (their equipment is mostly piled around the chair). If the room is gotten to fairly early in the trek through the vault then the Tri hasn't fully evolved yet and it's embrace damage is only 18 (3d10+2), the psychic damage is also 18 (4d8), tightening embrace is 13 (3d8). If the room is gotten to later in the trek through the vault then the damage is full.

An early trek means Duzlinn might be saveable and able to explain that Inka Krigram was leading them to capture the rumoured cleric? druid? Edyllin Fallshine who has the power to make food and water, and bring her back to their base. He doesn't remember many details of the base. He's so tired. He'll still try to kill you if he can eventually (but that's just him being Duzlinn).

A late trek means Duzlinn's brain is no longer functioning and he would help make a quad Derro if only the Tri would unstake him. Or, if the Tri is dead to find the Fallshine. Or, to embrace whoever is there if the others are all gone.

Parts of names swiped from u/hyperionfin's reddit post on Derro names.

View attachment 273255

Room 35 - Links Squad

The first of Shirazz's squads is made of two long timers and two recent additions. They have developed a solid sense of teamwork - and maybe even comaraderie. They are not necessarily fond of the mayor's spartan lifestyle, but appreciate that they are well rewarded and treated, and that they get to exercise their talents and have entirely bought into his vision.

The squad leader Menkek is an excellent tactician (stats as Hobgoblin Captain but INT 14 and WIS 12). Potions of Healing (x2), Climbing, and Giant Strength (21). +1 Great Sword. Gems worth 50gp.

Ravrok has been with Mekek from the start (Hobgoblin 14 STR, DEX, and CON, 32hp, +4 to hit, 6 (d8+2) with sword or bow). Potions of Healing (x2). Two +1 arrows. Gems worth 35 gp.

Shardol the Mask (Hobgoblin Iron Shadow) has come to value slumming with the more brute force types. Potion of Healing, Potion of Invisibility, and Feather token whip. Gems worth 40 gp.

Lorborz Smush (Half-Ogre) is correct when he thinks that his fellows (at least in this squad) actually accept him. 24 gp, gems worth 5gp.

If they're off the floor, their 20'x20' room will be unlocked, with nothing of particular value in it. The chests underneath the comfortably made beds have extra sets of clothes and a few replacement supplies. There is a lidded chamber pot under each bed. Each has their own weapons rack, and the table can be moved between the beds to clean a space for training. If they're elsewhere on the floor (perhaps eating) then much of their gear will be here.

Name help from https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ .

The next room created (#68) is in post #374 D&D General - #Dungeon23 .

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Waste Away: The Alastairn family experimented with many strange magics over the century and a half of their master of Parenix hall and explorations beneath Mornrax Hill. The kinder privy was the strange culmination of some of that research. The privy appears as any other, except that in the bowl is what can only be described as a sea of otherworldly stars. Anything dropped into the privy is torn from this universe and dropped in another, irrevocably irretrievable. Over the decades, the arcane engineering containing the magic of the privy has weakened, however, and if anything or anyone touches the “sea of stars” it or they must resist the pull or be themselves forcibly drawn into the privy and forever lost. If the privy itself is broken, the weird portal within flows out like water, devouring everything. In the end, anything and anyone within a 10 foot sphere of the privy is obliterated before the energy folds in on itself and closes the portal forever.

Well, this definitely solves a number of problems involving waste in dungeons.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Week 3, done! S’oss’zzak - a hex the size of San Diego. In the middle is a huge fallen titan around which has arisen a 10sq mile city of Yuan-Ti. Surrounding it are grasslands threaded with rivers and dotted with the remnants of some former civilization