pukunui
Legend
Hi all,
I'm on holiday and am finally working my way through The Shattered Obelisk myself. I'm up to the Zorzula's Rest section, which has what might be the worst map I've ever encountered in a WotC product. This is especially surprising given it was done by Mike Schley.
You may recall that Justin Alexander took issue with the lack of a key on the Indigo Sanctum map. Well, that is potentially the least of the Zorzula's Rest maps' problems. These maps are really doing my head in trying to figure out how everything connects and what the vertical distances area between different areas.
Before we go any further, the Zorzula's Rest features section states that, unless noted otherwise, rooms have 15-foot high vaulted ceilings, while tunnels (and presumably hallways) have 10-foot high flat ceilings.
Now, here's the map of the mining level:
We are told that that there is a 30-feet shaft connecting Z4 to Z12. (As an aside, the description for area Z4 refers to a lift in the shaft, whereas the description for area Z12 refers to it as an elevator - consistency, people!) Neither the map nor the text indicates any elevation change in the tunnels leading out of Z12. However, looking at the way the mine cart tracks go over or under various other bits suggest that not all of those chambers are on the same horizontal plane. The mine cart tracks leading out of area Z13 appear to go under areas Z16 and Z17, implying that Z13 and perhaps Z14 are lower down than Z12. The cart tracks go over the passage from Z16 to Z18, however, implying that Z18 is lower still.
The description for Z15 states there is a 30-foot high cliff with three tiers of scaffolding on it. I'm going to assume the top level is 10 feet below the top of the cliff, while the middle level is 20 feet below, and the bottom level is 30 feet below. The cart track runs along the middle tier and goes under itself before spiraling around Z14 and then going over itself into the tunnel that leads under Z16. However, the text for Z14 states that the track "spirals around the cavern before plunging deeper into the mountain", which suggests to me that the intersection ought to be the other way around (with the east-west segment above the north-west segment).
If we assume that the mine cart track tunnels are 10 feet high, then the tracks that run under Z16 must be at least 10 feet below that cavern. I'm going to assume that the pool of sewage isn't very deep. However, in order for the sewage to pool only in that one section of the cavern and not spill out into other parts of the level, it must be lower in elevation than the surrounding areas.
Let's say that Z17 is the highest cave on the level, with its 15-foot high ceiling directly below the upper level of Zorzula's Rest. That implies that the floor of Z13 and Z18 is at least 10 feet below the floor of Z17. Z18 is on the same level as the middle tier of scaffolding, which is 20 feet below the upper level of the dungeon. Since the cart track goes over the tunnel connecting Z16 and Z18, that implies that the tunnel descends from Z18 to Z16. In order to have the cart track connecting Z13 and Z14 to go below Z16, then it must descend steeply from Z13 to Z14, with Z14 therefore being the lowest area on the level ... and therefore the map of the cart track spiral is definitely wrong and should have the east-west segment above the north-west segment.
Confused yet? Now let's look at how the various vertical access points between the two levels line up -- or don't, as the case may be!
If you line up the elevator shaft (red), then the bucket conveyor belt (blue) that goes from the forge (Z7) to the storage chamber (Z18) doesn't line up properly. Also, the upper level of the map appears to show the edge of the pyramid in the lava, but that would mean the bridge is much shorter than it is shown to be on the lower level map (green).
Also, regardless of how you line things up, it's clear that the scaffolded cliff (Z15) should be visible on the upper level map jutting out from below the forge area.
Let's see what else we've got:
Firstly, there's the known issue with the pantry (Z9) opening into the captain's quarters (Z10) instead of the kitchen (Z8). Clearly the pantry door should be moved to the west wall, but that would mean moving the table on the kitchen side so it's not blocking the door.
Another issue is the front entrance:
The text states that there is an arrow slit to 10 feet off the ground to either side of the front doors. These arrow slits are not shown on the map. The text also indicates that there's a parapet accessed via the two spiral staircases shown on the map that allows defenders to utilize the arrow slits. That's obviously what the heavy solid line between the staircases is meant to indicate. Fine, but what does the dashed line represent, and what are the ladders for? They aren't mentioned in the text.
Another elevation issue: the bridge (Z19) and entrance to the pyramid are stated to be 20 feet above the surface of the blue lava. Inside the pyramid is another lift/elevator that descends 30 feet to the Indigo Sanctum, which has a 20-foot high vaulted ceiling. Even if the lava is only a thin layer, the shaft isn't long enough to descend from a height of 20 feet above the lava to the floor of a chamber with a 20-foot high ceiling below the lava. The shaft probably needs to be 50 or 60 feet long to give the lava some depth and provide room for some solid rock between the bottom of the lava and the ceiling of the sanctum. (EDIT: Actually, I just noticed that the sanctum map shows some stairs descending from the bottom of the elevator shaft, meaning that the elevator doesn't go all the way to the sanctum floor. However, this would still mean that there's only a thin layer of rock separating the sanctum ceiling from the blue lava above it.)
Also, if the mezzanine at the north end of the sanctum is 15 feet above the rest of the sanctum, then it is only 5 feet below the ceiling -- unless we assume the ceiling rises at that end so that it is still 20 feet high, but then we would need the elevator shaft to be even longer, right?
There's also something weird about the conveyor belt that transfers the ore buckets between the forge (Z7) and the storage chamber (Z18). In the forge, if a PC falls out of a bucket, they fall 20 feet. But wait! The default room ceiling height is only 15 feet, and the description of Z7 does not state otherwise! Also, why the heck would the duergar have put the buckets 20 feet up, requiring them to use step ladders to access them? Especially since the conveyor belt, when it works, moves continuously. Must have been pretty awkward to access the ore in the buckets. It's also unclear how the duergar converted the raw ore into usable ingots since there's no smelter in the forge. Furthermore, the map implies that the conveyor belt moves horizontally into Z18, although the read-aloud text states that the conveyor "runs from the floor of the cavern to a hole near the ceiling" and a fall from a bucket in Z18 is only a 10-foot drop. That must mean that the conveyor belt ascends/descends about 40 feet between Z7 and Z18.
Add in the fact that there's a Huge-sized construct in Z18 that would have difficulty maneuvering around even without the conveyor belt taking up a good chunk of vertical and horizontal space in the lower half of the chamber, and it just gets even more awkward!
Lastly, I'd like to look at Z16, which is labeled 'cesspit' and is described as being flooded with 'wastewater'. It is inhabited by a mutated otyugh that "gorges itself on the goblin enclave's sewage". But how does the sewage get there? The pool isn't directly below the latrines (Z5), and the text for that area indicates that the goblins don't use the latrines anyway ("The waste from the latrines has stagnated here.") Plus, the goblins can't actually access the mining level anyway, because the lift/elevator from Z4 is broken and they've barricaded the door to the forge because of the undead there.
As an aside, the text for Z4 and Z12 doesn't indicate where the broken lift/elevator is precisely, as the text for Z4 talks about an "empty shaft". I'm inclined to say that the lift is stuck at the bottom, meaning that the goblins can climb up and down the shaft to bypass the forge. (How else is Ruxithid supposed to get between the sanctum and his bedchamber [Z10]?)
I'm also inclined to ignore the text implying the goblins don't use the latrines and instead assume they connect to Z16 via duergar-made plumbing. Perhaps there's also plumbing connecting trough in the latrine chamber to the hot spring next door.
*The designers got the sulfur aspect correct but real "blue lava" is not actually lava. It's just burning sulfur that gives the appearance of being lava. But sure, this is a fantasy world, so we can ignore that and pretend that this is actual lava tinted blue because of sulfur. On that note, though, the sulfur makes the air in Zorzula's Rest poisonous, but with a single successful Con save, you can ignore it for 24 hours. I would think that prolonged exposure to sulfur-tinged air would increase the risk of becoming poisoned ... I might just ignore that and require the PCs to make a new Con save every hour they spend in the dungeon or something.)
I'm on holiday and am finally working my way through The Shattered Obelisk myself. I'm up to the Zorzula's Rest section, which has what might be the worst map I've ever encountered in a WotC product. This is especially surprising given it was done by Mike Schley.
You may recall that Justin Alexander took issue with the lack of a key on the Indigo Sanctum map. Well, that is potentially the least of the Zorzula's Rest maps' problems. These maps are really doing my head in trying to figure out how everything connects and what the vertical distances area between different areas.
Before we go any further, the Zorzula's Rest features section states that, unless noted otherwise, rooms have 15-foot high vaulted ceilings, while tunnels (and presumably hallways) have 10-foot high flat ceilings.
Now, here's the map of the mining level:
We are told that that there is a 30-feet shaft connecting Z4 to Z12. (As an aside, the description for area Z4 refers to a lift in the shaft, whereas the description for area Z12 refers to it as an elevator - consistency, people!) Neither the map nor the text indicates any elevation change in the tunnels leading out of Z12. However, looking at the way the mine cart tracks go over or under various other bits suggest that not all of those chambers are on the same horizontal plane. The mine cart tracks leading out of area Z13 appear to go under areas Z16 and Z17, implying that Z13 and perhaps Z14 are lower down than Z12. The cart tracks go over the passage from Z16 to Z18, however, implying that Z18 is lower still.
The description for Z15 states there is a 30-foot high cliff with three tiers of scaffolding on it. I'm going to assume the top level is 10 feet below the top of the cliff, while the middle level is 20 feet below, and the bottom level is 30 feet below. The cart track runs along the middle tier and goes under itself before spiraling around Z14 and then going over itself into the tunnel that leads under Z16. However, the text for Z14 states that the track "spirals around the cavern before plunging deeper into the mountain", which suggests to me that the intersection ought to be the other way around (with the east-west segment above the north-west segment).
If we assume that the mine cart track tunnels are 10 feet high, then the tracks that run under Z16 must be at least 10 feet below that cavern. I'm going to assume that the pool of sewage isn't very deep. However, in order for the sewage to pool only in that one section of the cavern and not spill out into other parts of the level, it must be lower in elevation than the surrounding areas.
Let's say that Z17 is the highest cave on the level, with its 15-foot high ceiling directly below the upper level of Zorzula's Rest. That implies that the floor of Z13 and Z18 is at least 10 feet below the floor of Z17. Z18 is on the same level as the middle tier of scaffolding, which is 20 feet below the upper level of the dungeon. Since the cart track goes over the tunnel connecting Z16 and Z18, that implies that the tunnel descends from Z18 to Z16. In order to have the cart track connecting Z13 and Z14 to go below Z16, then it must descend steeply from Z13 to Z14, with Z14 therefore being the lowest area on the level ... and therefore the map of the cart track spiral is definitely wrong and should have the east-west segment above the north-west segment.
Confused yet? Now let's look at how the various vertical access points between the two levels line up -- or don't, as the case may be!
If you line up the elevator shaft (red), then the bucket conveyor belt (blue) that goes from the forge (Z7) to the storage chamber (Z18) doesn't line up properly. Also, the upper level of the map appears to show the edge of the pyramid in the lava, but that would mean the bridge is much shorter than it is shown to be on the lower level map (green).
Also, regardless of how you line things up, it's clear that the scaffolded cliff (Z15) should be visible on the upper level map jutting out from below the forge area.
Let's see what else we've got:
Firstly, there's the known issue with the pantry (Z9) opening into the captain's quarters (Z10) instead of the kitchen (Z8). Clearly the pantry door should be moved to the west wall, but that would mean moving the table on the kitchen side so it's not blocking the door.
Another issue is the front entrance:
The text states that there is an arrow slit to 10 feet off the ground to either side of the front doors. These arrow slits are not shown on the map. The text also indicates that there's a parapet accessed via the two spiral staircases shown on the map that allows defenders to utilize the arrow slits. That's obviously what the heavy solid line between the staircases is meant to indicate. Fine, but what does the dashed line represent, and what are the ladders for? They aren't mentioned in the text.
Another elevation issue: the bridge (Z19) and entrance to the pyramid are stated to be 20 feet above the surface of the blue lava. Inside the pyramid is another lift/elevator that descends 30 feet to the Indigo Sanctum, which has a 20-foot high vaulted ceiling. Even if the lava is only a thin layer, the shaft isn't long enough to descend from a height of 20 feet above the lava to the floor of a chamber with a 20-foot high ceiling below the lava. The shaft probably needs to be 50 or 60 feet long to give the lava some depth and provide room for some solid rock between the bottom of the lava and the ceiling of the sanctum. (EDIT: Actually, I just noticed that the sanctum map shows some stairs descending from the bottom of the elevator shaft, meaning that the elevator doesn't go all the way to the sanctum floor. However, this would still mean that there's only a thin layer of rock separating the sanctum ceiling from the blue lava above it.)
Also, if the mezzanine at the north end of the sanctum is 15 feet above the rest of the sanctum, then it is only 5 feet below the ceiling -- unless we assume the ceiling rises at that end so that it is still 20 feet high, but then we would need the elevator shaft to be even longer, right?
There's also something weird about the conveyor belt that transfers the ore buckets between the forge (Z7) and the storage chamber (Z18). In the forge, if a PC falls out of a bucket, they fall 20 feet. But wait! The default room ceiling height is only 15 feet, and the description of Z7 does not state otherwise! Also, why the heck would the duergar have put the buckets 20 feet up, requiring them to use step ladders to access them? Especially since the conveyor belt, when it works, moves continuously. Must have been pretty awkward to access the ore in the buckets. It's also unclear how the duergar converted the raw ore into usable ingots since there's no smelter in the forge. Furthermore, the map implies that the conveyor belt moves horizontally into Z18, although the read-aloud text states that the conveyor "runs from the floor of the cavern to a hole near the ceiling" and a fall from a bucket in Z18 is only a 10-foot drop. That must mean that the conveyor belt ascends/descends about 40 feet between Z7 and Z18.
Add in the fact that there's a Huge-sized construct in Z18 that would have difficulty maneuvering around even without the conveyor belt taking up a good chunk of vertical and horizontal space in the lower half of the chamber, and it just gets even more awkward!
Lastly, I'd like to look at Z16, which is labeled 'cesspit' and is described as being flooded with 'wastewater'. It is inhabited by a mutated otyugh that "gorges itself on the goblin enclave's sewage". But how does the sewage get there? The pool isn't directly below the latrines (Z5), and the text for that area indicates that the goblins don't use the latrines anyway ("The waste from the latrines has stagnated here.") Plus, the goblins can't actually access the mining level anyway, because the lift/elevator from Z4 is broken and they've barricaded the door to the forge because of the undead there.
As an aside, the text for Z4 and Z12 doesn't indicate where the broken lift/elevator is precisely, as the text for Z4 talks about an "empty shaft". I'm inclined to say that the lift is stuck at the bottom, meaning that the goblins can climb up and down the shaft to bypass the forge. (How else is Ruxithid supposed to get between the sanctum and his bedchamber [Z10]?)
I'm also inclined to ignore the text implying the goblins don't use the latrines and instead assume they connect to Z16 via duergar-made plumbing. Perhaps there's also plumbing connecting trough in the latrine chamber to the hot spring next door.
*The designers got the sulfur aspect correct but real "blue lava" is not actually lava. It's just burning sulfur that gives the appearance of being lava. But sure, this is a fantasy world, so we can ignore that and pretend that this is actual lava tinted blue because of sulfur. On that note, though, the sulfur makes the air in Zorzula's Rest poisonous, but with a single successful Con save, you can ignore it for 24 hours. I would think that prolonged exposure to sulfur-tinged air would increase the risk of becoming poisoned ... I might just ignore that and require the PCs to make a new Con save every hour they spend in the dungeon or something.)
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