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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BookTenTiger" data-source="post: 8848098" data-attributes="member: 6685541">Structure for the Dungeon Part 1: The DescentIn planning out this dungeon, I have divided it into five sections. Each section is based on the guidelines of the 5 Room Dungeon.The Descent is themed around Entrance and Guardian. There should be a reason travelers cannot simply waltz into this dungeon. And overcoming this guardian should use some skill.Here's the structure I came up with for the Descent:...The DescentFew travelers have been able to enter the dungeon because of The Guardian. It is an obstacle that might be overcome through the use of (skill) or (class ability). Throughout the Descent the characters will face the Minion and see evidence of The Goon.An NPC or organization in town wishes the characters to retrieve a resource related to (skill / tool / class ability) from the Descent. Accessing it requires overcoming a challenge, possibly using (skill / class ability).Rolling, Rolling, RollingI randomly rolled up a character and aspect for each blank:The DescentFew travelers have been able to enter the dungeon because of The Guardian. It is an obstacle that might be overcome through the use of Insight (Croto) or Rage (Danara). Throughout the Descent the characters will face the Minion and see evidence of The Goon.An NPC or organization in town wishes the characters to retrieve a resource related to Longbow (Bug) from the Descent. Accessing it requires overcoming a challenge, possibly using Investigation (Arkmenos).Filling in the DetailsOkay, I will admit I thought I'd broken my fractal adventure. What kind of challenge could be overcome by Insight or Rage??? I wound up coming up with a really fun puzzle that could be solved in different ways, and that could be encountered throughout the dungeon. I then wrote out a little sketch of what the characters might find. My goal here is not to detail the dungeon room-by-room, but to have enough details that I could quickly sketch out a map.The DescentThe entrance to the Bastion of the Stone Swords can be found in a crag carved into the steep slope of the mountain. The crag is heavily forested, but a keen eye can spot a lightly-traveled trail leading into its depths. A few halfling bandits are hiding in the trees, keeping guard. Their job is to allow in lone travelers or pairs. Once they see a group of heavily-armed adventurers, some will intervene with am ambush, while others retreat to the Bastion to warn their grimlock overseers.The small, twisting path leads through tall trees and thorny berry bushes to a broad set of crumbling stone steps leading to the raw face of the crag’s cliffside. Set into the cliff is a set of huge stone doors. Two stone greatswords cross in front of the doors, preventing them from being opened. The stone doorframe is carved with all manor of fearsome monsters and beasts.This door is barred by the two stone swords (which are actually flying swords). It can be broken open by a Strength (Athletics) check DC 17, or by dealing 27 damage (AC 17). However, the first time a character attempts to force open the door, or damage it, the two flying swords are activated and will fight until they are destroyed. Once both flying swords leave the door, the door can be opened freely. New stone flying swords will magically reappear at sunrise.When a character first approaches within 20 feet of the door, a stone gargoyle with a large, beak-like mouth at the top of the door frame will magically begin to speak. It will say (in Common), “Urgently I require fallen treats!”This guardian gargoyle is part of a security system created by a mischievous stone giant for the Stone Swords. Each guardian gargoyle requires a certain object in order for its door to unlock. The gargoyle gives a clue to its key hidden in a strange sentence. If the characters rearrange the first letter of each word, it forms “fruit.” A piece of fruit or berry tossed into the gargoyle’s mouth magically unlocks the doors.A character may make a Wisdom (Insight) check to notice that the gargoyle sounds hungry.Behind the doors, the characters will find a series of old, but well-crafted rooms connected by stairs descending down into the mountainside. The halfling bandits have made camp here, and use these rooms to craft their weapons, hoard their stolen goods, and plan their upcoming robberies along the roads of the Giant’s Chain. The bandits use a crack in the cliff face, which they have carved into a tiny tunnel, to enter and leave the Bastion without having to go through the magic door.The descent is in three levels. On the top level, the bandits hoard their stolen goods. On the second level, the bandits have their camps and craft their weapons. On the final floor, the bandits meet with their grimlock overseers to plan out robberies and missions given by Valhaxron (whom none of the halflings have met, except in their nightmares).The characters can access the next level of the Bastion through a dark tunnel of a hallway. This is where the grimlocks leave corpses to be pilfered by the halflings. Some of the corpses have been butchered by the grimlocks; others have been left to rot. In truth, the grimlocks leave this terrible tomb so that any invaders will smell of rot and be easier to track.Very little furniture or decorations remain from when the Stone Swords inhabited these halls. However, the walls are carved with scenes of battle, or words of stone giant wisdom carved in the runes used by giants.One room appears to have once been an armory. There are still rusted hooks on the walls where weapons might have hung, and the crumbled remains of a forge and anvil near a ventilation shaft. A weaponsmith in the Greenfolk Council will request that the characters find this room and recover any hidden magical weapons to be studied and replicated.The walls of this room are clearly carved with warriors wielding different weapons: a greatsword, a shortsword and a dagger, a warhammer, and a bow. The characters may notice that every warrior has a weapon in his hands except one: the archer has an empty hand closed in a fist. A character using Intelligence (Investigation) will understand that an arrow belongs in this hand, and that the closed hand is a clue to a closed and hidden secret door.Touching an arrow to the hand causes a magical effect, in which the hand seems to open. At the same time, a secret door opens, allowing the characters to access a small room. This was once storage for magic arrows. Only one quiver remains, with 20 Walloping Arrows. They are formed from stone, but the giants’ runes carved upon them make them light as wooden arrows.ReflectionsAgain, this worked out a lot better than I could have imagined! I really like those guardian gargoyles, I wound up coming up with a bunch of scrambled mnemonic clues. Honestly I'm going to be scavenging this adventure for lots of fun things to use in future campaigns.Next up, the Maze, where the characters will face a Puzzle or Roleplay Challenge.</blockquote>

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