D&D General #Dungeon23

[M_Natas]

Day 22
As you follow the grooves down the right passage, you come across a cave where the ceiling has collapsed, and the jungle has grown in. The air is thick with the smell of moss, and the sound of dripping water echoes through the cave. Sunlight filters through the jungle, casting an eerie green light on the cave. It looks as if the cave has been abandoned for centuries, and it's clear that the jungle has taken over. You can see some roots and vines growing through the rocks, and also some small animals scurrying around. The cave seems to be a very humid and warm place, quite different from the rest of the cave you've been exploring so far. The collapsed ceiling allows fresh air and sunlight to enter, creating a microhabitat where some exotic plants are thriving. The cave is a natural wonder, a hidden jungle sanctuary in the middle of the cave. As you move deeper in the cave, you can see another exit, rhat seems to lead to an underground river.

 

[uzirath]

1/17 — Antechamber (map)

Description: The main corridor leads into an empty cave with a 9 foot ceiling. The floor is strewn with bits of crushed stone, a few torch stumps, and other minor debris. To the west, the ceiling slopes down until it is about 4 feet above the floor. The light gray color on the map indicates the lower ceiling. There are soot marks and scrapes along the ceiling heading down the passage. An Observation or Tracking roll reveals giant rat prints and droppings amongst the detritus on the floor. A faint odor (carrion? animal waste?) emanates from the west passage.
Vision: -10 (total darkness)
Hearing: Normal
Exits: South: 1 yard wide passage further into the complex; West: 4 yard wide passage with a low (4 foot) ceiling to 1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch

Hazards
Low clearance: Characters standing more than 4 feet tall will need to crouch or crawl to pass through the lower area. Crouching characters have a −2 penalty to their attack rolls and +1/2 movement point per hex (2/3 regular Move); defenses are normal. Crawling characters have −4 to attacks (and can only attack with reach C melee attacks), −3 to defenses, and +2 movement points per hex (1/3 Move).

 

[uzirath]

1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch (map)

Description: The ceiling in this low cave barely rises to 4 feet. The central part of the chamber is roughly 13×13 yards with low tunnels leading southeast and northeast. The ceiling in the northwestern portion of the cave drops even lower, barely a foot above the rough, stony floor. Shining a light into the shadows reveals a narrow opening about seven yards back leading into deeper darkness. With a decent light source, an Observation roll at −2 reveals some scrapes along the floor leading back to the opening. Observation at −5 reveals a knife stuck in the ceiling a few yards into the crawl space.
Vision: -10 (total darkness)
Hearing: Normal
Exits: The southeast passage leads to 1/17 — Antechamber. The northeast passage leads to areas 1/20 — Dauðagrip Back Stoop and 1/21 — Glowing Chamber. The northwest crawl space leads through a narrow opening to 1/19 — Dauðagrip Lair. A character who wants to squeeze through this passage must roll against Escape (see Squeezing, Exploits, p. 21).

Hazards
Low clearance: See 1/17 — Antechamber for the effects of a 4 foot ceiling.
Crawl space: The crawl space is so low (1 foot) that a human-sized character needs to be fully prone to enter it. This causes −4 to attacks, −3 to defenses, and a maximum movement of 1 yard per turn.
Dauðagrip: A roper-like creature known as a dauðagrip (Norðlondr Óvinabókin, p. 56) dwells in 1/19 — Dauðagrip Lair. Its 8 tentacles can reach as far as the dashed red outline on the map. With its subsonic hearing ability, it can detect anyone walking (or crawling) on the ground. This ability is ineffective against aerial characters or those using the Light Tread spell or Light Walk skill. It can attack with up to 4 tentacles per turn, attempting to grapple and drag PCs into its lair.

Treasure

• Fine large knife enchanted with Penetrating Weapon (2). The grip is wrapped in strips of troll hide. [$5160, 1 lb.] The knife was forged and enchanted by a Dvergr smith about 90 years ago (and still has her worn mark on the pommel). More recently, it fell into the hands of a stóralf who strayed too far into this cave.

 

[uzirath]

1/19 — Dauðagrip Lair (map)

Description: The ceiling in this cramped cave is only a foot above the ground. The place reeks of old meat and filth. The remains of former meals litter the floor around the edges of the cave. The cave is dominated by a large rock, almost like a natural pillar, with ridges extending from it across the floor. This is a large dauðagrip. It squeezed in here some years ago and grew too large to exit. This suits it well enough as the odor from its former meals attracts new meals. It mostly feasts on giant rats and other local vermin supplemented by occasional larger prey.
Vision: -10 (total darkness)
Hearing: Normal
Exits: A narrow (1-foot-wide) passage exits to the south, leading to 1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch. A web of old rockworm burrows connects the northeast side of this room with 1/20 — Dauðagrip Back Stoop. Unfortunately, the dauðagrip isn’t able to drag larger prey through these tunnels.

Hazards
Crawl space: See 1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch for the effects of a 1 foot ceiling.
Dauðagrip: This dauðagrip has eight tentacles and is SM +1 (Norðlondr Óvinabókin, p. 56).

Treasure
Searching the cave is a disgusting process, but there is a fair amount of loot here from former victims.

• 1 empty, slightly rusty iron vial with silver inlay [$45, 0.50 lbs.]
• 1 very large silver bracelet roughly engraved with reptilian faces [$1,035, 0.75 lbs.]
• 7 ozs. of Sealing Wax [$8.75, 0.70 lbs.]
• 3 glow vials [$30, 0.5 lb. each]
• 1 scroll case, bone and metal [$75, 1 lb. (empty weight)] containing:
  • 1 universal charged tattooed leather scroll of Strengthen Will 3 (3 FP, 1 minute duration) [$300, 0.15 lbs.]
  • 1 universal charged tattooed leather scroll of Wither Plant (12 FP) [$1,200, 0.15 lbs.]
  • 1 universal charged tattooed leather scroll of Repel Spirits (5 hex radius, 2 hours, 20 seconds to read) [$3,000, 0.15 lbs.]
• 1 plate breastplate, dwarf sized, DR 6 [$1,313, 10.5 lbs.]
• 21 billon coins [$210, 0.42 lbs.]
• 139 copper coins [$139, 2.78 lbs.]
• 18 silver coins [$360, 0.36 lbs.]
• 7 tumbaga coins [$420, 0.14 lbs.]

 

[uzirath]

1/20 — Dauðagrip Back Stoop (map)

Description: This cave has a 4-foot ceiling. There are signs of a recent encampment along the eastern wall, including the remains of a small fire. The west nook has four small (~10 inch) holes in the wall. The remains of the body of a goblin lies beneath one of the holes.
Vision: -10 (total darkness)
Hearing: Normal
Exits: Tunnel leading south to area 1/21 — Glowing Chamber and 1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch; four small tunnels heading west to 1/19 — Dauðagrip Lair (the tunnels are just under a foot wide at their mouths, but they narrow to about 6 inches at points).

Hazards
Low clearance: See 1/17 — Antechamber for the effects of a 4 foot ceiling.
Dauðagrip: The dauðagrip in 1/19 — Dauðagrip Lair catches prey here (within the red dashed line), but can’t pull large victims through the rockworm tunnels.

 

[Hriston]

22. This 20’ x 20’ room is empty with a pair of one-way doors leading into room 21.

 

[uzirath]

1/21 — Glowing Chamber (map)

Description: This area continues to require most delvers to stoop beneath a 4-foot ceiling. The southeast end of the central column has pinkish striations that glow dimly in the darkness. (These are actually a type of tiny fungus rather than a mineral.)
Vision: -7 (dimly glowing striations)
Hearing: Normal
Exits: Tunnel northeast to 1/20 — Dauðagrip Back Stoop; tunnel west to 1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch; tunnel east (9-foot ceiling) leading further into the caves.

Hazards
Low clearance: See 1/17 — Antechamber for the effects of a 4 foot ceiling.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Oh man, I just created my hex for week 4; and I've already got ideas for 4 or 5 of my 7 days worth of locations. It's a hex devastated by a proxy war between Tieflings and Duergar fighting on the side of Mammon, Zariel, and Duerra; and High Elves fighting on behalf of Corellon and the demigods of Arvador. Meanwhile, 500 feet up, is a smallish community of gecko and chamelon people and their town can only be accessed by flyers and those who can walk on walls. They also control a force of dragonnettes and wyverns that have severely hampered the elves AND infernal forces' air strikes. The ground is covered in a maze of trenches and pools of acid...

 

[hedgeknight]

Oh man, I just created my hex for week 4; and I've already got ideas for 4 or 5 of my 7 days worth of locations. It's a hex devastated by a proxy war between Tieflings and Duergar fighting on the side of Mammon, Zariel, and Duerra; and High Elves fighting on behalf of Corellon and the demigods of Arvador. Meanwhile, 500 feet up, is a smallish community of gecko and chamelon people and their town can only be accessed by flyers and those who can walk on walls. They also control a force of dragonnettes and wyverns that have severely hampered the elves AND infernal forces' air strikes. The ground is covered in a maze of trenches and pools of acid...

Holy $#!+balls! I can't wait to see how you draw that up!

 

[Cadence]

1/21 — Glowing Chamber (map)

Description: This area continues to require most delvers to stoop beneath a 4-foot ceiling. The southeast end of the central column has pinkish striations that glow dimly in the darkness. (These are actually a type of tiny fungus rather than a mineral.)
Vision: -7 (dimly glowing striations)
Hearing: Normal
Exits: Tunnel northeast to 1/20 — Dauðagrip Back Stoop; tunnel west to 1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch; tunnel east (9-foot ceiling) leading further into the caves.

Hazards
Low clearance: See 1/17 — Antechamber for the effects of a 4 foot ceiling.

View attachment 273423

I love that map for this set of rooms!