D&D General Maps, Maps, Maps! Dungeons, Ruins, Caverns, Temples, and more... aka Where Dyson Dumps His Maps.

[Dyson Logos]

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 11 – Ancient Cults

This is the eleventh map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits directly underneath Map 10 (Lost Dungeons) and Map 9 (Ancient Sewers) above that. A single set of stairs links this area to the lost dungeons above, and a pair passages to the left lead back up to the west (and to Map 13, which will be posted next month).

The intricate stonework and mosaics of the upper sections of these remains of a lost undercity are less prevalent here. These passages were cut out beneath the lost dungeons by latecomers in the failing days of the city that once stood here. The sheer depth of these understructures seems to have protected them at least in part from the collapses and damage to the levels above.

The iconography cut into the stonework also takes a darker turn down here – with repeating skull motifs and depictions of dark rituals and burning cities. These areas were used by a death cult that was working to accelerate the fall of their own civilization. It is the memories and magics of this ancient cult that has drawn the attention of the leadership of the Cult of the Fractured Eye into the depths of this dungeon.

In fact, this is where Eldrin Vaught and Calyxar Duskweaver can be found now, along with two lesser cult members who are tasked with guarding them. Vaught sits upon one of the ancient sarcophagi on the south side of the map, attempting to commune with the dead gods these people once worshiped. But Calyxar is working in the chamber to the north with the three great pillars. Each pillar is etched with the theurgic instructions to learn cataclysmic spells of a lost era, and Calyxar Duskweaver is attempting to learn “The Dreams of Loss”, a divine spell that gradually saps the will of the dwellers in a large area through a series of strange and ominous dreams.

(As the Index Card Dungeon II gets larger and more complex, I’ll be posting an overview of how the existing maps link together each month after releasing that month’s maps)

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 9,000 x 5,400 pixels (30 x 18 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the recommended 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 2,100 x 1,260 or 4,200 x 2,520, respectively.

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 11 – Ancient Cults

Illo by Mikołaj Ratajczak This is the eleventh map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits directly underneath Map 10 (Lost Dungeons) and Map 9 (Ancient Sewers) above that. A single set of …

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[Dyson Logos]

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 12 – Deep Ruins

This is the twelfth map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits underneath Map 5 (Tower Dungeons) and Map 1 (Tower Base) above that. The access from Map 5 is via the secret door to the south of the main area – the very route that the masters of the Cult of the Fractured Eye left to explore several days ago.

Like much of the dungeons beneath the tower, these ancient passages have been severely damaged with the passing of time. Walls have crumbled, stairs are uneven and unsafe, and areas are prone to collapse. The structures down here bear very few signs of what they were designed for or even used for. The only other access besides the stairs from above is the wide ruined passage leading to the east (to Map 13).

The circular chamber has a raised circular platform in the middle, with a single large grey stone floating and rotating about three feet above it, held aloft by a harmless magical field. A few rooms show bits of old furniture – fallen bookshelves, musty old tapestries, and boxes and chairs that have barely survived the ravages of ages.

(As the Index Card Dungeon II gets larger and more complex, I’ll be posting an overview of how the existing maps link together later this week)

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 9,000 x 5,400 pixels (30 x 18 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the recommended 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 2,100 x 1,260 or 4,200 x 2,520, respectively.

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 12 – Deep Ruins

Illo by Mikołaj Ratajczak This is the twelfth map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits underneath Map 5 (Tower Dungeons) and Map 1 (Tower Base) above that. The access from Map 5 is via t…

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[Dyson Logos]

The DreadWarren

Originally built to honour the noble line of House Virell, the DreadWarren was abandoned after a plague decimated the region. Over time, treasure hunters looted the eastern crypts, and recently a small group of bandits have claimed them as a hideout. The western sanctum remained untouched, locked, barred, and protected by arcane seals. A reclusive young necromancer named Thalen discovered the tomb and made it their refuge, drawn by the thematic appropriateness.

The DreadWarren is a burial mound with a central entrance. One climbs the mound and then descends into the round open area below which leads into the tomb proper. The bandits that make this their home maintain a watch on the top of the mound – one or two of their number who ‘stand guard’, bored out of their minds. The bandits prefer to remain in the first three octagonal chambers which have been converted into semi-passable living spaces; the chambers to the south are just too tomb-like (being tombs) and distant from the entrance.

But their arrival worries Thalen. While the door to the western portion of the DreadWarren is sealed, Thalen enters and exits via the secret passage into the central circle… which is now under guard.

Thus, Thalen sent their familiar, Grimble, a clever raven who speaks in short rhymes, with a message and a small pouch of gold to the nearby village, asking for someone to help chase off the bandits. Thalen offers more gold upon completion of the task (which they plan to surreptitiously place via the secret door when the bandits are gone). Thalen can become a repeat patron for the party, always communicating via Grimble… but sooner or later, most groups will come to realize that they are conniving and evil and exactly the kind of person true heroes would try to root out.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 6,000 pixels (24 x 20 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the recommended 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 1,400 or 3,360 x 2,800, respectively.

The DreadWarren

Illo by Mikołaj Ratajczak Originally built to honour the noble line of House Virell, the DreadWarren was abandoned after a plague decimated the region. Over time, treasure hunters looted the easter…

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[Dyson Logos]

The Forgotten Hermitage

Nestled into ancient ruins in overgrown woods, this ramshackle structure could be home to a druid, a hermit with forbidden knowledge, or a portal to the mythic underworld attended to by a crone ancient beyond years.

Running with the Mythic Underworld theme we get something like this:

Deep in a forest that the locals avoid (not out of fear, but out of instinct), paths twist unnaturally, birds never sing, and the air is thick with memory. Crumbling stone ruins half-swallowed by moss and roots hide a smaller ramshackle house carved with odd symbols that shift and change when not observed, all overlooked by a statue that weeps water down ancient stairs.

The forest has its own strange inhabitants as one draws closer to the ruins. The Pale Fox appears only at dusk and leads travellers in circles unless they speak the forgotten words to it. The Hollow Eyed Owl watches those who travel the byways – its gaze inducing dreams of places that don’t exist. And finally the Antlered Thing – a stag-like creature with too many joints who mimics voices of the dead.

The house itself is tucked into cyclopean ruins and is home to the crone Mother Ylsa (although she claims no name is truly hers) – a hunched figure wrapped in bark and bone. Her eyes are milky white, and yet she sees things others cannot. She is the guardian of the door to the mythic underworld – but she does not protect it, she tends it like a gardener tending a grave. She offers tea brewed from dreams, and asks that you bury something outside the house before you enter the mythic underworld.

The door itself is always the opposite door to the building. If one enters from the south, exiting to the north leads not to her small garden, but instead into other places. The entrance to this portion of the mythic underworld has its own rules, of course. Torches here flicker with scenes from your past, lanterns reveal things that aren’t there…

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 8,400 x 8,400 pixels in size (28 x 28 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for the recommended 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,960 x 1,960 or 3,920 x 3,920 respectively.

The Forgotten Hermitage

Nestled into ancient ruins in overgrown woods, this ramshackle structure could be home to a druid, a hermit with forbidden knowledge, or a portal to the mythic underworld attended to by a crone anc…

dysonlogos.blog

 

[Dyson Logos]

(I am exceptionally happy with the write-up for the Forgotten Hermitage...)

 

[Brendan Byrd]

(I am exceptionally happy with the write-up for the Forgotten Hermitage...)

Rightly so. A nice balance of spooky but not threatening.

Different genre, but “there is a hole in your mind” popped into mine as a related story hook. (Babylon 5 reference)

 

[CharlesWallace]

(I am exceptionally happy with the write-up for the Forgotten Hermitage...)

The write up very much reminds of “into the wyrd and wild”, a wonderful book you should check out if you haven’t seen it.

 

[Dyson Logos]

The Sporewarden’s Hollow

I’ve been experimenting a bit with five room dungeons again, this time annotating them as I draw them. The goal is to have a collection of quick dungeons in this format that I can grab-and-go and be ready to run with close to zero prep while also being completely system-independent. These more closely follow the classic Five Room Dungeon format regarding the five different “types” of rooms.

The first in the set is The Sporewarden’s Hollow – a set of small caves off the side of a larger cavern or portion of the underdark. The specifics of the Sporewarden are not provided – a servant of Zuggtmoy, a druid of the underdark, an elder myconid, or perhaps someone almost totally consumed by a strange fungal growth beyond their control?

The entrances into the Hollow are both through the fungal garden, a collection of massive mushrooms and smaller fungi that are spread around the descending passage into the hollow (and that conceal the smaller passage that leads to the western of the Hyphal Libraries). The passages are encrusted with dry fungi that emit hallucinatory spores when brushed against.

The Hyphal Libraries themselves are fungi that are “read” by inhaling their spores and reliving the contents of their stories. A few more traditional books are kept in the western library – mostly used to catalog what information is in which mushrooms. A gate of fine mycelial threads blocks passage to the area beyond the libraries – this living gate will open to anyone who has been brought into the collective spore-empowered psychic grouping of the Sporewarden and the library. Within the last cavern we find the Sporewarden as well as their treasure – a dessicated dryad sealed in a mycelial shell, asleep and hibernating, awaiting rebirth for untold ages.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,800 pixels (24 x 36 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 2,520 or 3,360 x 5,040, respectively.

The Sporewarden’s Hollow

I’ve been experimenting a bit with five room dungeons again, this time annotating them as I draw them. The goal is to have a collection of quick dungeons in this format that I can grab-and-go…

dysonlogos.blog

 

[Brendan Byrd]

View attachment 414696

The Sporewarden’s Hollow

I’ve been experimenting a bit with five room dungeons again, this time annotating them as I draw them. The goal is to have a collection of quick dungeons in this format that I can grab-and-go and be ready to run with close to zero prep while also being completely system-independent. These more closely follow the classic Five Room Dungeon format regarding the five different “types” of rooms.

The first in the set is The Sporewarden’s Hollow – a set of small caves off the side of a larger cavern or portion of the underdark. The specifics of the Sporewarden are not provided – a servant of Zuggtmoy, a druid of the underdark, an elder myconid, or perhaps someone almost totally consumed by a strange fungal growth beyond their control?

The entrances into the Hollow are both through the fungal garden, a collection of massive mushrooms and smaller fungi that are spread around the descending passage into the hollow (and that conceal the smaller passage that leads to the western of the Hyphal Libraries). The passages are encrusted with dry fungi that emit hallucinatory spores when brushed against.

The Hyphal Libraries themselves are fungi that are “read” by inhaling their spores and reliving the contents of their stories. A few more traditional books are kept in the western library – mostly used to catalog what information is in which mushrooms. A gate of fine mycelial threads blocks passage to the area beyond the libraries – this living gate will open to anyone who has been brought into the collective spore-empowered psychic grouping of the Sporewarden and the library. Within the last cavern we find the Sporewarden as well as their treasure – a dessicated dryad sealed in a mycelial shell, asleep and hibernating, awaiting rebirth for untold ages.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,800 pixels (24 x 36 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 2,520 or 3,360 x 5,040, respectively.

The Sporewarden’s Hollow

I’ve been experimenting a bit with five room dungeons again, this time annotating them as I draw them. The goal is to have a collection of quick dungeons in this format that I can grab-and-go…

dysonlogos.blog

This is going to fit into my homebrew beautifully!

(Where psionics is the near exclusive realm of plant and fungal entities; and can only be "tapped into" by PC's that have a mycelial infection, or have been implanted with a sliver of pScion-wood.
(Picture a hunting party of treants chasing a paniced character through the woods, trying to stab them in the eye with sharp pointy bits of wood...just so they can finally have a decent chat...))

ETA
Kosh: You have forgotten something.

 

[Dyson Logos]

The Vault of Echoes

Hidden within the crumbling remains of an abandoned amphitheatre lies the Vault of Echoes – a place where sound lingers far longer than it should, curling in corners, whispering in stairwells, and sometimes shaping itself into something dangerous. The walls, floors, even the air itself, seem to hum faintly, as though remembering every word ever spoken here. Sages speak of a magical organ within the vault that can lift even the most foul of curses and can produce a song that weakens artifacts as a step towards their destruction.

Resonant Gates
Brass portculli etched with spiralling glyphs stand sealed, vibrating almost imperceptibly. They open only when a specific tone (perfectly pitched and sustained) resonates within the chamber. Each portcullis reacts to their own tone, and striking a tone other than these three triggers an ear-splitting dissonance that stuns everyone nearby (and definitely attracts wandering monsters).

Halls of Circles
Three circular corridors, their walls carved with concentric rings that draw the eye inward. Here, deafening voices scream and chant in a cacophony that makes one’s head ring, and confuses all thoughts but only inside the hall. Outside, there’s silence. The cacophony is disorienting, making speech and thought nearly impossible. Navigation is hopeless unless the voices are silenced, perhaps by destroying hidden resonance crystals embedded in the walls. Without silencing the voices, wandering through here prevents spellcasting and leads to a random set of double doors each time (roll 1d8 and count around from the top set of doors).

Whispering Well
A perfectly round stone shaft descends into black water. Dropping an object into it prompts a faint, whispered prophecy… or an intentional lie. The voice that answers always knows a truth the listener fears, and sometimes uses it to manipulate them.

The Final Composition
A grand performance hall, dominated by an enormous, baroque pipe organ. Its pipes shimmer like polished bone. The “instrument” is a massive mimic, its lures and tentacles disguised among the organ’s pipes. It is held here in stasis by the music of the vault – but anyone playing it will disrupt the magic and awaken it.

Harmonic Chamber
The antechamber of these two rooms is home to six lithophones (like a xylophone, but using different shapes and sizes of rocks to produce sound). To open the secret door into the second chamber requires playing a specific set of notes across all six lithophones. The second chamber contains the pipe organ that is imitated by the creature in the Final Composition.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,800 pixels (24 x 36 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 2,520 or 3,360 x 5,040, respectively.

The Vault of Echoes

Hidden within the crumbling remains of an abandoned amphitheatre lies the Vault of Echoes – a place where sound lingers far longer than it should, curling in corners, whispering in stairwells…

dysonlogos.blog