Starting to get a little bit under the pump at home and hobby. That unfortunetly means the dungeons are having to be shortened, with only the juiciest parts and the spaces between.
### 302-565
A deep pit that is never filled with water. Three towns and
travellers dump their rubbish there. Since there are hollows in the walls, it
must be an opening to a network of caves and so is notorious for a place to
hide for man and monster.
The
visitors throw trash from the top, landing in the stagnant pool some 40 feet
below. There is a pinch at 20 feet which obscures the lower level from view,
and it is not mentioned. A ramp descends in a spiral from the lip. All caverns
are 10 feet high, roughly fashioned from hardpacked dirt and loose rock,
vaguely circular and lightless. Unless otherwise noted.
### Any dimensions not stated are assumed to be 10 feet. The
ceiling is assumed to be 10 feet high. Unless otherwise stated, all doors are stuck but can be retried once per turn.
Descriptions in the Before language/writing are labelled
BFTXT
## Level 1 (2nd Level Dungeon)
### One enters from the South/Top side of Room 11 and
progressed down in a spiral to Level 2 Room 13.
### Random Encounters
1 – 1d6 Robber Flies, replace with 1d4 Draco Lizards if Room
1 cleared, if defeated, reroll
2 – 1d8 Pit Vipers
3 – 2d4 Zombies of berserkers and gnolls
4 – 1d6 Gnolls scavenging, replace with 1d6 Berserkers if
Room 14 cleared, replace Berserkers with 6+1d6 Wild Dogs (Wolf) if Room 15
cleared as well.
5 – 8+1d8 Bandits exploring rumours of treasure, if
defeated, reroll
6 – 4+1d4 Red Wyrms of Rage (Giant Centipede)
1.
The cave end stinks of rotting meat and a deep
buzz can be heard.
Five Robber Flies nest here, the
pieces of fleshy detritus thrown or killed in the pit occasionally sticking to
their extremities. Amid the rot is 28gp, chewed but not digested.
2.
In the blackness, a fierce roaring and fire
greets the first character to enter the chamber. Entering causes an illusion of
first sinister, glowing reptilian eyes, then the head of a foul dragon or the
hydra itself, spewing fire and fury (Antarctica Adventure Jam Bestiary).
Engaging the characters.
The monster has AC 9 [10] and vanishes if
hit in combat. Its attacks do not inflict real damage: a PC who appears to die
just falls unconscious for 1d4 turns.
The illusion is caused by the patterns of
stones upon the ground forming a network of interlocking herringbone patterns
and loops.
Scattered among the debris, thrown by
fleeing explorers is 600sp, 300gp and a clay pot containing a Potion of Speed.
3.
A dank chamber, where obscene graffiti, proclaiming
the doom of the pale sun is spread over the walls. Each white or yellow sun
rising to head height, is thrown down by an ill-defined humanoid figure and
converges as a red skull at the far end, ringed with black serpents.
Studying the red skull gives a find secret
doors roll and leads to Room 12.
4.
A dry cave entrance facing the rising sun,
stretching back into the limestone. A scattering of loose scree and tough
grasses make the ground uneven. Nestled inside are 6 Pit Vipers. If it just
after dawn, they are clearly visible as they sun themselves.
5.
A chimney descending some 10 feet below and at a
slant of 90 degrees. Wide enough for 3 people, with no handholds on the melted
smooth rock. The bottom 3 feet are stained a deep ochre and there is a
thickened yet powdery residue on the wall and floor.
The cave bottoms out into a space about 5
feet wide and high with a crawlspace to Room 6.
A party knowledgeable about slimes and oozes would be able to deduce this is
the remnants of an Ochre Jelly which succumb to something here.
6.
Any pooling water from the walls is absorbed
into the patches of cave fungus, otherwise not even dirt. The rock is very
straight and regular except for a jagged and collapsed celling vault.
7.
The walls and ceiling are straight and orderly,
forming a series of vaults above and obviously non-natural. A circle of white
stone is embedded in the floor here; it seems to be marked with curving
grooves.
A Cleric or Magic User with an Intelligence
of 12 or higher automatically knows these are marking for the rise and fall of
the moon. Stepping onto the circle teleports the individual to Level 2, Room 8.
8.
A tunnel terminates some five feet in a door.
The door is emblazoned with the polar constellations of the modern age, raised
from the surface. On Uldore, this is various animals and farming tools. Pressing
the different constellations has a 2 in 6 chance each time of triggering the
scythe trap to swing from the left. A few rusted daggers and wooden stakes
doing 1d8 damage. The fake door is just pushed against the rock face.
9.
A dry cave entrance lit by the noon and evening
sun. Highlighting the limestone darkness beyond. Uneven footing between the
scree and tough grasses. Nestled inside are 5 Pit Vipers. If noon, they are
clearly visible as they sun themselves.
10.
A cave straight walled but crumbled ceiling. It
stinks of rotting flesh and 13 figures stare at the walls. 7 humans and 6
mantis-headed gnolls. Now all Zombies, who attack immediately after detecting
entry. The human bodies have guts ripped from the inside.
11.
This large ramp of earth winds around the inside
of the rubbish pit. Dipping beneath the lip, as the rock gives way to scree and
dirt. Held together with shrubby plants arranged in noonday alignment. Regular
large cave entrances can be seen from the descent, otherwise hidden from the
lip. At the bottom of the spiral, is the second lip, and a steeper decline.
12.
A narrow tunnel with sections only wide enough
for a single person. The running from Room 3 to Room 13. Lots of crude skull
motifs, though they are generations old and flake from breath.
There is a branch halfway along, big enough for a person to crawl through. This
is the entrance to Room 15.
13.
The room contains a transition between
straight-cut walls and natural cave. Fading into rough stone as it progresses
away from Room 16. The tunnel entrance to Room 12 is some five feet above the
ground and behind a fold in the rock. Visible only from reaching the far end.
14.
A cave entrance into the limestone. With only
partial light from even the noonday sun, the interior is smelt, heard and felt
rather than seen. Unwashed bodies, clicking and malice.
Squatting in the back of the cave are 15
Gnolls. Chewing on what look to be human bones and insect chitin.
If they fail to detect the party, they are all observing a tunnel winding
deeper inside.
At their feet are 2000gp of indigestible trinkets. Mostly coins, armbands and
necklaces.
15.
Here fitfully sleep and pace 9 Berserkers.
Occasionally running into each other and twisting on the ground as the wyrm
writhes inside them. As per the Bestiary, the Red Wyrm of Rage will burst from
them if they are slain (Giant Centipede).
Some wear tattered armour and fine clothes;
others dress in disintegrated rags. They are all focused on the entrance to
Room 16.
Amid the gnoll-blood they still wear some
treasure. 1000cp, 4000sp and 1000gp in coins, armbands and clasps. Jewellery: 3
x 800gp, 2 x 900gp and 1200gp and a Sword +1 in the hand of one.
That Berserker is dressed as though he is from across the Sunrise Strait and
his body has a blue diamond tattoo on the shoulder.
16.
This cave is worn straight and regular, with a
carefully constructed vault above. Carved depictions of strange beasts decorate
the wall. Though a widely travelled character might recognise them as dragons
and dinosaurs of the Before Kingdom.
In the centre of the room is the powdered
remains of some yellow-brick benches and a raised pool. Seemingly lifted out of
the surrounding rock but lined with yellow brick on the inside. There are 1d4
draughts of iridescent yet clear liquid remaining. There is a 50% of a Potion
of Gaseous From and 50% of a Potion of Poison with each draught.
17.
A tunnel, wide enough for two abreast takes
several tight turns. Each turn is stained with blood, and the tunnel smells
like iron and death. A dead gnoll blocks the way on the final turn to Room 16.
A side-passage, viewable from Room 16, leads to Room 20.
18.
In this chimney some 10 feet high is 300sp and
400gp in a wall nook. In the form of coins from across the Sunrise Sea, trade
bars and figural jewellery (cow, pig, penguin, fish, horse). A bandit hoard who
no one ever reclaimed.
19.
This tunnel is only big enough to admit one
person crawling at a time. The tunnel widens to a small space where a human can
stand and turn around. A Detect Secret Doors roll will reveal a nook in the
ceiling containing Room 18.
20.
A wide cave where water has begun to erode the
straight walls and celing back to a natural cave. This has destabilised the
roof and for each character who enters, there is a 2 in 6 chance of a falling
block hitting that character. Doing 1d10 damage if they do not Save vs
Petrification.
21.
In the dim light are people milling around. If
hailed they turn as one and advance to attack. Stumbling around and butting
heads until then are 13 zombies, 8 humans with tore bowls and 5 gnolls.
Remnants of a previous stage of the fight.
22.
This straight-walled room is dustless. A decoration
of screaming cows, pigs and human faces surround the door beyond.
Spread out on the floor is a Grey Ooze,
which rises to attack whatever walks upon it.
23.
This straight-walled room consists of eight
yellow-brick vats, rising to waist-height. Though one has a broken side,
spilling grey powder on the floor. The grey ooze dwelt here, but was displaced
by a past earthquake, which broke the vat and release a toxic gas.
Any who step inside this room must Save vs
Poison or die.
24.
This straight-walled room has a jagged and
tenuously ceiling. Buttressed by its own weight between the half-fallen blocks.
Whichever door is opened causes a cave-in as
the falling blocks seal off that passage. Once the character explore halfway
into the room.
## Level 2 (3rd Level Dungeon)
### Random Encounters
1 – 1d6 Tiger Beetles, if Room 13 cleared, replace with 6+d6
Robber Flies, if defeated, reroll
2 – 1d6 Harpies, if Room 5 cleared, replace with 1d4 Medium
on the prowl for threats, if Room 10 is cleared, replace with 8+1d4 Red Wyrms
of Rage (Giant Centipede)
3 – 1d6 Crystal Statues, pretending to be bodies of beetles
and dogs on the floor, if Room 12 cleared, replace with 3+2d3 Giant Geckos
4 – 1d8 Shadows, moaning in strange languages and fearfully
avoiding inhabited rooms. Reroll if in a room that is or was inhabited
1.
Narrowing into the rock is a path. First wide enough
for a crawl then a tight squeeze for even a small being. Finally, it ends in a
dead end and anything that has gotten this far must be pulled out or pass a
Save vs Petrification once per round to escape.
2.
A shaft descends for 10 feet before abruptly
stopping, the bottom 5 feet filled with stagnant water. Halfway down is a
crawlspace leading to Room 1.
3.
A Chimney that rises 15 feet from Room 8 to Room
5, at a 45-degree angle. Requiring rope or two hands to climb. The walls were
once smooth and notched. But something has clawed and worn away at the holds.
4.
Natural walls and ceiling but the otherwise
empty cave has a worked smoothed floor. A door at the end is fake if examined.
Halfway into the cave is a trapdoor that
activates when more than 1 person enters the room, the whole floor tips into a
slide that deposits those in the room into Room 5.
5.
This cave reeks of insect droppings. No matter
what the walls and ceiling were once like, everything not fouled with waste is
covered in claw and mandible marks. If the characters surprise the 5 Harpies.
They find them willowy destroyers in separate nests of sticky powder, bone
fragments and scrub. Otherwise, the insectoids descend from the ceiling, making
their discombobulating harmonics.
In the nests are gems worth 3 x 10gp and
500gp of gold coins and trinkets.
6.
A smoothed room where some carvings have been
defaced by the harpies. Whatever information could have been gathered has been
vandalised beyond recovery.
7.
A rough cave with a crude idol depicting a
strange combination of fish and mammal
If approached within a couple of feet (effectively touching or closely
inspecting) it speaks in the language of the Eastern sailors.
“Beware! This is a land of birds!”
8.
The long walls and ceiling are straight and
orderly, forming a series of vaults above and obviously non-natural. A series
of circles embedded in the floor are defaced with a single cleave in the
stonework, except one. All are marked with curving grooves.
A Cleric or Magic User with an Intelligence
of 12 or higher automatically knows these are marking for the rise and fall of
the moon. Stepping onto the circle teleports the individual to Level 1, Room 7.
9.
A worked room stripped bare and rubble pushed
into corners. Alone in the middle is a large crystal shard crudely imbedded
into a pot. When anyone enters the room, the crystal flashes once. Expecting a
counterflash. If not, the crystal glows and the pot shatters, releasing a cloud
of poisonous gas that fills the room. Save vs Poison o die.
10.
This worked room is well lit, with wooden
furniture in recent styles of the interior of Uldoore. Among the bedstands,
chests and clothe stands, is piles of scrolls and clay tablets.
Seven men and woman are busy if surprised,
consulting various documents by candlelight or washing robes.
These 7 Mediums will demand an explanation
for why they have been intruded on and will act in a haughty manner to disguise
the fact they are a monastic cult, centred on the creature in Room 11. If the
characters insult, refuse to leave or accuse them of being a sinister cult, the
mediums attack.
In total, they have 67sp stashed in their
chests.
Each carries a crystal they use to
counterflash the shard in Room 9. It requires some form of magical class to
activate.
The scrolls and tablets describe the
mechanisms of the teleporters in Level 1, Room 7 and Level 2, Room 8. They also
reveal this used to be a Before experiment site, where teleportation magic was
used to acquire and send samples from anywhere on the continent and the waters
girting it. When the Titans buried the complex with the new sun, only one
researcher, the Reverend Mother survived to see new angles to the universe and
achieved immortality.
Each knows only one of these spells: Read Magic x 2, Ventriloquism, Detect
Magic x 2, Floating Disc, Sleep.
11.
Lavish and well lit, with tables, curtained bed
and chests, many gewgaws and mirrored metal on the walls. So, servants can
speak without suffering.
An oracle of the past and a foreteller of
the future is the leader of this obscure group. A shapely ornate robe and veil
do not hide the stilled movement of unnatural age. This is another obscuration;
the Medusa is inhuman fast. Should she suffer more than half her HP in damage,
she screams and surviving 5 Crystal Statues from Room 12 or the 7 Mediums from
Room 10 arrive next round.
On a table is a Crystal Ball, centrepiece
of study. On the wall is a Shield +1, made of reflective green glass. Behind is
a crawlspace to Room 17. A foreign pot on the chest holds a Potion of Invulnerability.
Inside the chest are two Spell Scrolls written in the language of Before.
BFTXT: Long Night Survival For Spirit Summoners – Create Water, Curse, Remove
Curse, Bless, Resist Cold
BFTEXT: Sun Studies – Contact Higher Plane, Detect Magic (MU), Levitate,
Clairvoyance, Continual Light
12.
A dark room worked but dusty. A series of
statues line the walls, five in total, each in some form of pose of grief or
anger. On the centre of the floor, picked out in homemade clay paint is the
words: To Not Die, Command Them With Authority.
This is a lie; the 5 Crystal Statues obey
no one but the Medusa in Room 12 ad attack as soon as they are interacted with
or the party reaches the middle of the room.
These statues in the light are less crystal and more crystallised, the same few
frames of finality repeated in a stuttering loop. The Oracle’s displeasure and
her survivor’s curse.
13.
Here is the bottom of the pit, an hourglass
funnel where the edges are hidden in darkness from the central shaft. The
ground is covered in stinking and rotting refuse and mould. Strange mushrooms
twist around rubble and mould obscures the sucking mud.
Movement is reduced by 20 feet for all characters
and humanoids.
The 6 Tiger Beetles which feed on the
detritivores and falling scraps have no restriction and scuttle forward into
the light to feast.
14.
A long rising passage, whoever goes first hears
a pop like a bubble of soap at the halfway mark.
They must make a Save vs Petrification or suffer 1d10 damage from the falling
stones ahead of them pouring down.
15.
This rough chamber bears faint cracks all
around, as if from a freeze-thaw cycle. Each player who enters has a 2 in 6
chance of hearing a popping noise, followed by a long thin bone scything out of
a crack in the ceiling for 1d8 damage.
The bone has no means of support, but for
each strike it drops out of the crack until it has struck 6 times. When it
falls to the ground, inert.
16.
The cave is cold, as if the long winter night
has seeped in and never left. A small pile of clothes lay in a corner.
Here lies 1 Doppelganger, who has hidden
from the sun for many years, venturing out in winter to acquire treasure and
kills, as many men wished in their hearts they did. The false-thing is cunning
and will take the form of whatever person it feels would get the most sympathy
from victims. But always pretending to be a delving merchant or explorer who
has become trapped by the fighting, now nearly hypothermic. And with sunken
cheeks and belly pulled so taught from hunger they cannot seem to walk.
To show proof of intentions, it shows the
800gp piece of jewellery it keeps for such a purpose, an elaborate torc
engraved with seals and penguins. It targets whoever takes it from them first
with a seemingly mad savagery. As if reclaiming it. On death it liquifies into
water then becomes vapour.
17.
A pit some 20 feet deep. Ten feet away is an
entrance to another cave, the walls are rough. Hidden at the bottom of the
shaft is a black cloak, visible only with 1 in 6 chances from above or if ones searches
the bottom by hand.
Beneath it is: 3000sp, 600gp and Jewellery
worth: 500gp, 900gp and 1000gp.
