D&D General #Dungeon23

[gorice]

What is an invigilator?

*edited to add: TIL What the word "invigilator" means

I'm not really using it correctly, since the robots are general-purpose guardians, but I like the word.

 

[gorice]

Now that I think about it, an invigilator is someone whose job it is to prevent people looking. So, vigilator is probably more what I was going for. I'll just invent that word and use it instead.

 

[gorice]

And here we are, finally caught up!

15: Freight Elevator

• Sliding brass doors hide a dingy lift.
• (?) No power – doors can be pried open, manual crank on the wall slowly lowers or raises the perforated metal platform. Goes ~100’ down, to the green room in the Fortress of Doors (level 5); or 20’ up, to the Factory (level 10).

16: Market of Grotesques

• Bizarre statuettes of camphor, ambergris, dragon ivory, sandalwood. Wolf-headed nymphs, melting cherubs, moth-gargoyles.
• (?) 2d6 statues are worth a few coins each.
• (??) One is a cult icon for someone’s god. Magically potent.

17: Market of flesh

• Gloom, iron wall restraints, stained floor.

18: Market of Pharmaca

• Rows of little drawers with every kind of herb, drug, and incense.
• (??) Searching can reveal a specific thing if you know what to look for. Otherwise, roll:
  • 1 = health potion
  • 2 = exotic contact venom – blue powder in a tiny clay pot, 2d6 doses
  • 3 = crumbled deep lotus, narcotic and anaesthetic, 2d6 doses
  • 4 = rare incense, worth 5 coins
  • 5 = dehydrated star larva. Add water and apply to wound (or anywhere on the body) and it will crawl in and take up residence as mutant, symbiotic organ.
  • 6 = powdered demon, 1d6 doses. Imbibe to fall into a trance and astrally project.

19: Vigilator Alcoves

• 3 alcoves with brass hooks and spouts.
• (!) 50% chance of a vigilator in one of them; otherwise, check each tick to see if it returns.

20: Teahouse

• A charming and spacious teahouse. Upper story has a balcony with a nice view of the courtyard of bones.
• (?) Hardwood furniture in disrepair; 20 ticks of fuel. 10 slots of fine porcelain cups, pots, & plates worth 3 coins per slot, each, but good luck transporting them.

21: Teahouse Kitchens

• Pots, pans, range
• (!?) There’s an ooze in a casserole dish in the oven.

 

[gorice]

It's the end of August! How is everyone doing? Working on anything interesting? I feel like dungeon23 as originally envisioned is a difficult task to complete, but I like it when people post their dungeon-adjacent creative work here.

Anyway, here's what I've got.

22: Imperial Stair Tower

• Locked (extreme difficulty – purple key or imperial blood unlocks) and magically sealed bedchamber of the captive princess.
• Small barred widows allow a view to/from the courtyard.
• (?) Spiral stair goes down to the spa and up to the palace.
• (!) Lair of the Princess of Sorrow, Erhua. Appears to be someone the PCs know, bound by iron shackles (the shackles are magical and she cannot remove them herself) . Her chains are long enough to allow her free roam of the room. In her true form, Erhua is petulant and sadistic in blood-drenched feathers and grasping talons
  • mien: plaintive whispers, always about herself or her persona
  • needs: to feed on human blood – she can survive in hibernation without eating, but must to feast to regain her full strength.
  • wants: revenge on her parents, who put her here
  • fears: the same
  • knows: the layout of the palace level and how to get there

23: Vigilator Bays

• (!) Lair of the vigilators. Those not on patrol are always here recharging. The recharging ones are dead to the world, but there is a high chance each tick that one will either wake up or return to recharge.
• Rows of alcoves with brass flutes and prongs. Some contain a sleeping vigilator. Workbench with spare parts and d half-assembled automaton.
• (?) The work area has all kinds of parts and doodads.

24: Warehouse

• Rows and rows of shelves lined with pots, chests, sacks and bottles.
• (??) Many units of flour (stale but edible), wine (mostly vinegar), charcoal (fuel), fat and oil (somewhat rancid).

25: Grand Arcade

• Curving marble path with a view of the city below. Planters filled with spiny weeds; apartment doors between the marble columns and arches.
• (!) A vigilator patrols this path.

26: Empty Townhouses (downstairs)

• A row of townhouses, mostly empty aside from the odd bit of rubble or broken furniture. A search may reveal… (d6)
  • 1 = nothing
  • 2 = a child’s doll
  • 3 = 2d6 coins
  • 4 = an antique vase worth 10 coins (delicate!)
  • 5 = a lot of functional but worthless crockery
  • 6 = the husk of a giant beetle grub, long empty

27: Empty Townhouses (upstairs)

• Upstairs balconies overlook the city.

28: Beetle Lair (downstairs)

• The entrance to this townhouse has collapsed, and part of the balcony has caved in along with it. A truly awful smell emanates from with, ripe and rancid.
• (!) The carrion beetles bring the wyvern’s discarded meals here and lay their young in the rotting flesh. The floor is covered in bones, hair, rotting meat, and pale grubs the size of a person. The grubs are mostly defenceless but spew corrosive bile, and their parents will not be happy with any intruders.
• (??) Beneath the whole stinking mess, buried under bones and filth, is a great treasure.

29: Beetle Lair (upstairs)

• (!) Lair of the carrion beetles. As with all lairs, they may not be home, but random encounters are much more likely.
• The room is completely bare aside from dried blood smeared all over the floor, especially toward the stairs. The smell from downstairs is overpowering.

30: Warzone

• Signs of battle: husks of giant lavender beetles, carved up and scorched; a dismembered vigilator automaton.

31: Courtroom Balcony

• Overlooks the courtroom in the Fortress of Doors (level 5). Dusty but intact chaises longues and coffee table.

Next week: the Temple of All Gods.

 

[M_Natas]

Days 187 - 188 - Skullhaven - Port

Days 189 - 198 - Skullhaven - Pirate Base

Above the harbour of Skullhaven lies the base of the pirates who have taken up residence here.

While the subjugated slaves sleep in cages, the pirate captain, a Neogi, has set up cosy quarters. With the help of a magic crystal and a ritual he developed himself, he manages to keep a larger number of slaves under his control.

In another chamber, he subdues particularly resistant spirits. Those who cannot be subdued are processed in the slaughter chamber.

In the workshop, the prisoners toil to keep the pirate's rickety ship in working order.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Well, we're at the top of the tower, and we've navigated through the strangely empty (mostly) labyrinth, and have arrived at the central core...

If we are able to get through the shuttered gates of what was known as the Zenith Demesne, we'll be inside a huge domed space about 3 miles in diameter. And it will be here, passed the locked massive gates, the we'll begin to experience the still ongoing war between the last bastion of the Phaerimm who built this tower, and the Arrayed Forces of the Consort of Death.

Most of the eastern half is controlled by the undead, although one of the nodes there is a gargantuan Gibbering Abomination there that's been eating up zombies and ghouls etc who have been unfortunate enough to be caught by it

The western half is the last remaining Phaerimm in the Tower - Urix the Redempted, and her Redeemer Army. They/She has been fighting to get back through the gate at location 12. But it hasn't happened yet...

Next section will include details about the Inner Domain and the Capitol Citadel (areas 11 and 13 on the map below)

 

[gorice]

All right, first week of September out of the way! I like this one: it gives me a chance to do a bit of a funhouse level while also maintaining a theme.

Level 9: The Temple of All gods​

A vast, decrepit maze of impossible geometry.

Was: A monument to the vanity and greed of the Emperors.

Intruder: the High Magus, turned traitor along with his followers.

Synthesis & Fallout: Warring congregations looking for followers. The Magus attempts to birth the New God.

1: Pantheon

• Lined with marble statues. The gods have all turned their backs. Natural light from high windows.

2: Imperial Shrine: Great Hall

• Gloom and smoke. A high-vaulted hall with rows of bone-packed gibbets, glowing braziers, and smouldering incensors hanging from the ceiling. Floor is littered with human bones, ash, and broken swords.
• (?) The massive doors leading to the ziggurat stair are made of solid gold and shaped like snarling lions. They open easily, but are far too heavy to be stolen unless broken apart somehow.
• (?) Gibbets, braziers and incensors hang from heavy chains of uneven length; from 10’ up to 30’ (near the ceiling). It might be possible to move upward from one to another if you find a low one.
• (?) There is a mezzanine floor overlooking this hall, hidden by shadow and pillars.

3: Imperial Shrine: Ziggurat Stair

• The stair is made of human skulls.
• (!) At its summit: the Avatar of Empire.
• (?) The door at the summit leads to level 11: Imperial Palace.

4: Imperial Shrine: Mezzanine Arcade

• 30’ up. Clear view of the great hall from between the pillars.

5: Imperial Shrine: Deacons’ Quarters

• (!) Lair of the Imperial Deacons. Skin and bone and empty eye sockets, chained to an unlife of eternal service.
  • Mien: whispered chorus, sinister chanting
  • Want: more victims for the Avatar, especially apostates
  • Need: to keep the fires lit
  • Fear: the renegade magician
• A gloomy barracks.

6: Imperial Shrine: Storeroom

• Gloomy cellar with seemingly limitless bags of charcoal and incense.

7: Non-Euclidean Corridor

• (!??) This corridor winds back on itself in ways that shouldn't be possible.

 

[M_Natas]

Days 187 - 188 - Skullhaven - Port

View attachment 294047

Days 189 - 198 - Skullhaven - Pirate Base
View attachment 294046
Above the harbour of Skullhaven lies the base of the pirates who have taken up residence here.

While the subjugated slaves sleep in cages, the pirate captain, a Neogi, has set up cosy quarters. With the help of a magic crystal and a ritual he developed himself, he manages to keep a larger number of slaves under his control.

In another chamber, he subdues particularly resistant spirits. Those who cannot be subdued are processed in the slaughter chamber.

In the workshop, the prisoners toil to keep the pirate's rickety ship in working order.

Day 199 – 214 – The Ruins of Skullhaven – Level 0

Here, I’ve tried to take a slightly larger scale. Instead of 5 feet per 5 millimeters (per square), I’ve used a 10-foot scale and oriented myself more towards the level of detail found in Wizards of the Coast’s official maps.
This means that exact room furnishings, etc., are no longer drawn.

Rooms: All rooms are natural caves carved into the asteroid’s stone. The original furnishings within them have generally fallen into decay. Unless otherwise described, the rooms are shrouded in complete darkness.

Entrance (top right): When coming from the pirate base, you enter a hall/cave with two more exits. The western exit has collapsed, and the southern one is barricaded with makeshift barriers. Impaled on one of the barricades is a zombie (former pirate slave) that is still moving.

Small Altar: South of the barricades, there is a small intersection with an altar on the side, dedicated to a long-forgotten deity. The sculpture that once stood on it is broken. In the remaining pieces, you can see many tentacles. To the west, there is a corridor from which roots and mushrooms sprout from the ground. From the south, a foul odor seeps in.

Dining Hall: In the dining hall, you find broken stone tables and chairs. Behind the shattered food service counter lurks the bloated corpse of a slave who fled into the ruins. He is undead. He is too misshapen to walk anymore but tries to stuff anything that comes too close into his open, torn belly. To the south, there is another collapsed corridor leading to the kitchen. To the west, a corridor can be heard gushing with water.

Kitchen: In the kitchen, there is destroyed stone furniture and food remnants turned to dust. In one partially preserved stone alcove, there are magically preserved cans containing black fruits that taste sweet but are unknown. The northern passage to the dining hall has collapsed. The western exit leads to the priest’s offices.

Laboratory: Here, destroyed stone tables are scattered around, bearing inscribed runes of an unknown language. Among the debris, you can find a book in an unknown language that has apparently been preserved by magic. To the east, there is a collapsed exit leading to the room with barricades. Through the southern exit, you can hear a splashing sound. The western exit is blocked by a heavy, rune-encrusted metal door.

Experiment Chamber: The experiment chamber is sealed by a heavy, magically reinforced door, and in front of it is a magical protective circle that prevents anyone from stepping out of the chamber. Petrified bones are scattered within. On the western wall, there are deep grooves in the floor and the wall, behind which there is a hole dug into the wall. Musty, damp air emanates from the hole.

Stairs: In this hall, a spiral staircase leads both up and down. To the east, there is a corridor where you can see vines and mushrooms growing. In the west, there is a corridor whose entrance is flanked by two (alien-like) skull-shaped columns. To the south, a corridor leads to a faint, greenish light (Temple).

Cemetery: In the walls, alcoves are embedded, covered in dust. The corpses that once lay here have long disappeared. In the center, a staircase leads downward. Columns are built around the staircase, adorned with alien-like skulls and bones. From the passage in the east, a draft of air can be felt (Stairs).

Mushroom Room: In this room, the walls and floor are covered with glowing mushrooms. Their faint, greenish light illuminates the room, creating a surreal atmosphere. The floor is covered with moss, and the scent of damp earth and mushrooms fills the air. Sickly roots dangle from the walls and hang above the ground. The exit to the west leads to the chamber with the spiral staircase, where a draft of air can be felt. To the south, the path opens to the water basin room, accompanied by the gentle splashing of water. To the east, you reach the intersection with the altar.

Water Basin Room: Here, a large room features a deep water basin on the western side. The water glistens in the pale light, and it’s hard to discern its depth. Strange algae float on the surface, and the soft splashing of water creates a soothing soundscape. If you go north, you return to the Mushroom Room, where the air is saturated with mushroom spores. To the east lies the dining hall, and you can sense a foul odor from there. The southern corridor leads to the priest’s offices, where the scent of dusty books lingers in the air.

Temple: This room exudes eerie grandeur. The walls are covered in strange symbols and signs that glow in a faint, greenish light. In the center stands an altar with an ornate book resting upon it. The atmosphere is eerie, and a touch of magic hangs in the air. The exit to the north leads to the spiral staircase, from which a gentle draft can be felt. To the east lies the shrine, where a very faint bluish light flickers. Also to the east is the meeting room, where soft footsteps echo from the walls. The southern corridor leads to the priest’s living quarters, and the presence of the spirits is palpable.

Shrine: The shrine is a small room filled with strange statues and offerings. In one corner, an eerie bluish flame flickers. A solemn silence pervades the space, only interrupted by the faint flickering of the flame. This room opens to the meeting room in the south, where soft footsteps echo from the walls. To the west lies the temple, from which a faint green light emanates. To the east are the priest’s offices, where the scent of dusty books fills the air.

Meeting Room: This room appears to be a place for secret meetings and rituals. The walls are covered with old parchments and scrolls. In the center, there is an ornate table scattered with cards and documents. The exit to the north leads back to the shrine, where the bluish light flickers once more. To the west, the temple stretches, where the symbols on the walls glow in blue light. To the east, you reach the priest’s offices, and the faint rustling of weathered paper can be heard.

Priest’s Living Quarters: This is where you find simple sleeping bunks and personal belongings that have long gathered dust. The atmosphere is calm and peaceful, as if the spirits of the priests still linger here. If you head north, you return to the temple, where the symbols on the walls glow in blue light. To the east, the path leads to the bath, where the scent of lavender and rosewater fills the air.

Priest’s Offices: This room was once the workspace of the priests. Weathered desks and dusty bookshelves bear witness to bygone days. A ghostly silence prevails, as if the priests are merely waiting to resume their work. The exit to the east leads to the kitchen, and you can feel a hint of electrical charge in the air. If you head north, you return to the water basin room, accompanied by the moist air of water. To the south, the path leads to the bath, where the scent of cleansing and care hangs in the air.

Bath: The scent of lavender and rosewater water is still in the air. The north exists to the priest’s offices, the west to the priest’s living quarters.

 

[gorice]

Level 9, Week 2! Having a lot of fun with this level.

8: Imperial Shrine: Hall of trophies

• Rows upon rows of of treasures and grotesques. Weapons and armour piled on racks. Taxidermied people in diverse ethnic clothing styles with jewels for eyes. Priceless funerary urns from extinct eras. Mouldering heaps of silk brocade. A pile of crowns.
• (!) All the good treasure is trapped.
  • 12 taxidermied people – the gemstone eyes are worth 100 coins each, but they are also stoppers, holding in toxic spores.
  • Arms – any weapon or armour you can think of, plus a paired sword and energy pistol, gold-chased and sapphire-encrusted. All are rubbed with Prince’s Embrace, a deadly contact venom
    • (??) Venom visible as a faint blue sheen on careful inspection.
  • 7 funerary urns – not actually priceless, 1000 coins each – sit on plinths with pressure sensors. Removing the weight causes lead darts coated in adder venom to fall from the ceiling, landing in a 5’ radius below.
    • (??) Many coin-sized holes in the ceiling in the area above the plinths.
  • 100 silk robes with brocade, half damp and soiled. The good ones are worth 100 coins each. Beneath the pile of robes sleeps a bone-eater.

9: Colonnade

• 60’ high colonnade with columns like vast marble tree trunks. Lit by dim lights shining from beyond.
• (??) The light seems to change depending on where you stand – each passage between the columns goes to a different place.

10: Shrine of Tears

• A garden courtyard. Water pours from a weeping statue into a clear pool.
• (!) Drinking the water causes you to fall into a deep sleep for 3d6 hours. When you awake, your injuries are healed, and you have permanently forgotten something.
• (??) Something is wrong…
  • There shouldn’t be a courtyard here. It’s under the city.
  • You can hear the sea.
  • The sky is hazy turquoise.
  • …Beyond the high courtyard wall is a tiny temple island on an ocean planet.

11: Shrine of the Dark: Corridors

• Long corridors lead into absolute darkness.
  • Don’t reveal this sublevel on the map, if you are using one. Characters must navigate by feel, players by vague description.
• (!) The dark here is magical. Fierce and sudden gusts of wind blow out flames. Magical or technological lights flicker and die. Night vision goes blind.
• (!) Without precautions, getting lost is easy.

12: Shrine of the Dark: Carvings

• The walls here are carved into all kinds of strange reliefs and pillars.
• (!) The jumbled layout of this room makes it extremely easy to get lost.
• (??) The carvings are grouped by theme, one around each entrance.
  • (a) Bizarre chimeras with a mix of human and animal features – ridged tusks; smooth bodies; barbed tentacles; tiny hands emerging from eye sockets – lead to the Hall of Echoes.
  • (b) Skulls with faceted eyes lead to the Pit.
  • (c) Hunched, weeping, naked figures clutching their faces lead back to the temple proper.

13: Shrine of the Dark: The Pit

• (!) Pit trap. The curving stone is polished and slippery. Fall 15’ down sheer slippery walls into the pit. At the bottom: Eyeless ghouls, feeble but hungry.
• (??) There is a small ledge along one side that you can sidle along the wall without falling.
• Leads to the Treasury.

14: Shrine of the Dark: Treasury

• (?) Writhing, scaly snakes of cold hard metal (gold); fistfuls of faceted stones (black diamonds); an icy hilt in a polished wooden scabbard (Lightdrinker, a legendary sword).
• (!) Robbing this room will awaken the Darkwight in the Hall of Echoes.

 

[gorice]

Another week, another seven rooms.

15: Shrine of the Dark: Hall of Echoes

• (!) Lair of the Darkwights. When awoken: mimic speech; move like leaves in the wind; hunger for tender eyes.
• Sound travels far and strangely here, like in a cathedral.
• (?) The great statue of the Dark is a fractal chimera, ice cold, rippling with impossible shapes. Reproductions of its surface (charcoal rubbings, sketches from memory) reveal things that cannot be seen and risk madness or blindness. They may also fetch an incredible price, with the right buyer.

16: Vault of Little Gods

• Thousands of statuettes of every size and material, jumbled everywhere. Smells of old incense and dried flowers.
• (!) Difficult terrain. Don’t tread on a little god, or you might get a little curse.
• (??) If you’re looking for a minor deity, it’s in here somewhere.

17: Well of Stars: Empyrean Vault

• A courtyard under a night sky. Crickets and jasmine. Paper offerings and a golden dagger (100 coins) on a huge stone slab at the end.
• (?) The slab is loose and can be moved, with difficulty. Beneath: the Well of Stars, water shining with the night sky, even when in shadow.
• (?) The water feels normal, until you reach an arm’s length through…

18: Well of Stars: Fountain

• (!) Gravity reverses on the path through the deep water.
• A fountain with marble steps, starts shining in the water. Surrounded by a portico of marble nymphs; water trickles through their hands. Unfamiliar trees with sweet-smelling fruit.
• (!?) The water is clean and refreshing; the fruit are nourishing and delicious. Consuming them makes you more susceptible to the Prince’s suggestions.

19: Well of Stars: Cell

• (!) Lair of the Star Prince. Eternally beautiful inhuman youth under a dread skeleton that burns with starfire.
  • Mien: oh, won’t you stay?
  • Wants: stories and company from beyond
  • Needs: to stay here – it cannot leave the cell.
  • Fears: being alone
  • Knows: all about the other temples
• The cell is a comfortable room with lounges and a chest against the wall. Smells of jasmine and incense.
  • (?) Chest contains great fistfuls of Sapphires worth 10,000 coins, but you have to dig them out of the powdery incense a few at a time. The Prince may offer some in trade.

20: Caterpillar Shrine: Lost Souls

• Walls like fingers, limbs. Become more fleshy as you advance. Faint groans.
• (!) Lair of the Lost Souls, warped faces peeking from behind their long fingers in the walls, begging for a little water, or blood. When roused, some pull themselves out of the wall to attack. When killed, their waxy flesh melts from their bones and their skeletons burn black and keep fighting.

21: Caterpillar Shrine: Sanctum

• High granite walls covered with spiral patterns. A vast sacrificial altar stained black with blood. A ragged wound in the wall, about 20’ up and 10’ wide.
• (?) The hole leads to the sump in the Spa.
• (!?) Placing blood on the altar summons the Caterpillar Demon from the Spa; she just crawls out of the hole in the wall.