Eyes of Nine
Everything's Fine
Back from camping trip a day early - time to get Wed, Thu and Friday done. What I had planned on Monday for these three days was: Market of the Gods, Temple of Lolth the Redeemer, and the Triton city Fallensea
Room 89 - Customer Service Desk
This 175' long, roughly 15'diameter tunnel slopes steadily down to a 30'x30' room split in half by a long wooden 4' tall counter. The west half of the counter has a solid front with a sign that says "Ring Bell" in Giant, Dwarven, and Common, and a large brass push-button bell on top. The wooden piece across the east half lifts to let people pass. 15' in front of the counter a dark string is stretched across the tunnel and a second is 5' further on. The strings are DC 18 to spot with Darkvision, DC 15 in regular light - and are attached to a second bell under the counter, as is the liftable counter board. Either Bell will summon the attendant Jötunn in room 90. They will also come forth if they here Berghildr leaving after dumping the weeks supplies or other similar noise. A large comfortable chair with three mammoth horns on the back sits behind the counter if negotiations run long.
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Room 26 - The Well
Unlike the rough merging of the Worm Tunnel (52) with the Main Hall (13), the entrance to this 25' long cave seems to have been put in intentionally, and the hall floor and adjacent wall tiles are undamaged. The door of thick bars is currently unlocked but can be securely (DC 22 to break open, DC 16 to pick the lock). The 10' tall and wide tunnel slopes down 5' over its length to a 3' deep pool that slowly fills from the north and empties to the south. A brass grate blocks both the 1' diameter incoming stream from the north and the similarly sized exiting stream leaving to the south. Two buckets sit ready for anyone needing water, and a Tortle sits on a thick blue rug.
Quite elderly now, Wolbol is the last of his kind left in the Vault (at least as far as he knows) and enjoys the steady quiet burbling of the stream as it goes by. Chatting with those who come to get water and going down to the main gate (12) once a week to get his own food adds just enough excitement most of the time. If it isn't quite enough, he may put on a show for some of the youngsters ever few months.
Wolbol is a sorcerer, but his stats can be modeled using an Illusionist Wizard, but AC 16 (natural armor), HP 36 (8d8); Str 13 (+1), Dex 8 (-1), Con 11 (+0), Wis 12 (+1); Languages: Aquan, Elvish, Sylvan, and Common; Hold Breath, Claw, and Shell Defense as Tortle.
He has Hypnotic Pattern instead of Phantom Steed. A family legend involves an ancestor who saved a dream creature - perhaps a Baku - which led to their penchant for illusion and mental spells.
Tortle name courtesy of https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/dnd-tortle-names.php .
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Week 8
Pretty excited about this week's entry
Interrupted by a camping trip, but got it done
A hex of rolling hills covered in giant trees, with rivers leading to a large lake in the southern portion
There is actually a massive city in the trees, populated by eladrin, astral elves, goblins, and lolthbound goblins. One of the most powerful factions is the Webroads guild, who manage the domesticated giant spiders whose silk is used for most if not all of the pathways and sky roads connecting all the various trees
One interesting note though is there are hedgerows along the ground none higher than 10-15 feet. These hedgerows define both the borders between the city districts, but also is grown for fencing around buildings or other areas, as traditional fencing is done with wood or stone elsewhere. The webroads do not cross the hedgerows except at the openings in the hedges themselves. A large community of Gorses (a type of pixie) maintains the hedges, grows new ones, and also serves as guardians and gatekeepers
Speaking of gates the outbound gate is guarded by an Asteroid Spider, served by a cadre of astral Elves. There is also an inbound gate here, that drops people almost directly into the center of the Market of the Gods. This market is perhaps the busiest and most well stocked of any in the lower half of the Tower, perhaps the entire tower itself…
Finally, rounding out this very highly populated hex is the Triton city, Fallensea in Lake Alora. There is trade, but sometimes tensions can run high between the surface dwellers and the Tritons
This week I did ask some questions that I would be curious to see the answers to about this hex
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