Doctor Despair
2021-02-15, 01:48 AM
If you were recently in a campaign with Doggrel, Orion, Arianna, Tironsilas, Lam, or Crow, read no further; consider that your warning.
Setting:
https://i.postimg.cc/C5NkZHK7/Map-Large.png
https://i.postimg.cc/ZKb6GgfM/Dungeon-Ground.png
In the midst of a vast swamp, there is a small, but well-fortified thorp. The walls are thick, and need be to repel the wandering dead that rise from the murky depths. The thorp has grown around the crumbling walls of an ancient mausoleum. Misremembered legends handed down, around, and, in some rare cases, handed back up again tell of an ancient, sprawling empire that spanned the stretches of the swamp from the coast of the inland sea to the far reaches of the mountains, but if ever such a fantastical thing existed (and there is no agreement among scholars that such a thing is anything other than a fantasy), this site is the only surviving remnant. The thorp began as a camp established to explore the dungeon and plumb its depths for ancient secrets and treasures, but has survived as a tourist destination of sorts. People say that any hero worth their salt began their career plunging into the darkness of the mausoleum as a sort of rite of passage. Adventurers travel with the trade caravans that periodically brave the swamp to earn their stripes fending off the undead critters that lie in the depths.
You are one such would-be hero, either travelling alone or as part of your plucky group of adventurers. You are ostensibly here to gather glowing materials to help light the town (as wood is hard to come by in the swamp, so everyone relies on fire beetle glands and what are colloquially known as "mushroom glow-sticks"), but each of you has the heady smell of adventure about you (at your preference, perhaps literally, as the swamp odor tends to leave its mark on those who stay here for any amount of time). You've set up camp on the ground floor of the mausoleum in the midst of a room that seems to have once been devoted to some religious purpose or another, but whose sermons and chants have been usurped by the bubbling of swamp muck, croaking and chirps of bullfrogs and insects, and the ominous silence of the dead.
B1:
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With each step down the stairs, the ambient light grows fainter; the air grows colder; the cloying stench of must and decay grows thicker. The ancient brick walls are slick with lichen, and touching it leaves your hands feeling grimy and wet. The sounds of the swamp slowly fade away as you wade, step by step, into the darkness. It is silent. Dead. Silent.
...
After a few steps more, your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness -- and, when you near the bottom of the staircase, it gets a little brighter. A dim green glow provides just enough light to see by, casting the cracks and imperfections of the stone into sharp relief. As you reach the last step, you can see why - glowing mushrooms sprout from cracks and crevices in the walls. A row of weathered statues stand before you, the fine details of the statues have long-since been worn away; they seem somehow... sad, as they stare sightlessly past you with only the barest trace of features or expression. Suddenly, a noise shatters the silence: Plink! Somewhere, it seems the swamp is steadily trying to reclaim its own.
As you take your first step, a creature scuttles out from behind one of the statues. Its head glows a dull red, and as it waggles its head back and forth, the lights leave a slight after-image of their trail in your vision.
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A DC11 knowledge nature check identifies the creature as a giant fire beetle, a small vermin with its associated traits. A 16 indicates that it is not usually aggressive unless hungry or threatened; some say that they are more afraid of you than you are of them, although this individual seems more curious than anything. A 21 yields that it relies on single bites from its mandibles for defense and hunting. If attacked, the creature will react; (it is ready for combat, but not intelligent enough to prepare an action when it is not going to instigate a fight, so aggressive movement prompts initiative rather than a surprise round); it chitters angrily and shrilly, almost like the hum of a cicada, as it clamps down on any limbs it can reach. It has 4hp, 16AC, and attacks with a +1 bite (2d4 damage). Upon downing the creature, a DC10 survival check allows for harvesting the glowing glands without incident; adventurers know they can take 10 on such a check. Failure by 5 or more destroys the parts. The glands can be sold in the town for 5 gold each (or purchased for 9).
As the adventurers advance through the cavernous corridors, they may harvest mushrooms from the walls; the smaller the mushrooms, the less the town is willing to pay for them (1gp/pound for the common size found growing in the walls), but they may make multiple trips if they choose to.
As you move down the hallway, the silence grows thick around you again. It is difficult to see too far ahead; the glow of the mushrooms only reaches about ten feet from each clump, leaving patches of shadowy illumination or even darkness between the islands of light. The mushrooms seem to grow especially thickly around the sarcophagi nestled into tiered alcoves built into the walls, long-since broken open and pillaged; they also seem to grow thickly around certain spots on the floor, clustering around red X-shapes here and there, but never on the exact same spaces as the shapes.
A DC10 search check on a square with a red X yields the presence of a trap; the area around the mechanism is very well-worn, making it easier to find than normal. A DC15 Knowledge Nature check yields that these mushrooms, as one might guess, tend to grow in dark areas with a lot of decomposition and decay, but their growth can be impeded by too much disturbance or movement.
Upon stepping in the square, the player should be prompted with a DC10 reflex save as the hall is filled with the groaning of tortured, ancient gears turning and the trap activates, but slower than it would have in its heyday. The trap will deal 1d3 bludgeoning damage, or half with a successful save (rounded up), as blades of the trap have long-since dulled and worn down.
The southwest, southeast, and northeast passages each have an additional chamber to investigate on their route. It requires a DC10 strength check to open these doors, but only have the party roll for the first door, then describe the difficulty afterward.
The southwest chamber has two chests; both are empty.
The northeast chamber has a pile of rubble (presumably where part of the ceiling caved in).
The southeast chamber includes a chest (empty) and a corpse. A DC15 heal check or DC20 spot check yields that the wounds are fresh; this man died recently, although it's not immediately clear from what. A DC20 heal check yields that the wounds don't seem to be from slicing damage, which rules out some manufactured weapons. He has two rings on him (nonmagical, worth ~30gp each) and two pairs of manacles (15gp each). A DC10 knowledge local check indicates this is the mayor; DC15 indicates that he is somewhat popular. This will be relevant later for a murder-mystery quest (spoiler: the beetles infesting the dungeon started feasting on the corpses and undead. The undead are a major draw to the dungeon (slaying beetles just doesn't have the same romance), and tourism is the life-blood of the thorp, so the mayor was down here luring zombies into the crypt to restock it from the swamp and save the town. There was some sort of accident, and the mayor was barely able to close the door before he was felled by a stray attack of opportunity). Just outside the chamber lies some sort of remains, thoroughly gnawed-on and picked clean.
The passageways each lead to another large set of stone doors (DC10 strength check to open or close them). The doors seem to have some sort of inscription on them in barely legible runes. A DC30 decipher script check can uncover some of the meaning (here lies... secret... balance... lands...); otherwise, it's all Greek to them, so to speak.
Before each door lie two statues on each side in front of some decorative carvings. The western entrance is missing a statue, however; even the plinth is gone. After seeing a second entrance apart from the western one, a DC10 wisdom check prompts the party to notice the missing statue (if they haven't already), but nothing further can be found here at this time.
Pushing open the large doors, you must blink to adjust to the light in the new room. The colonies of mushrooms seem to have grown much more vigorously in this room, dominating the surfaces of the large support pillars that hold the vaulted ceiling; your instincts tell you these specimens would be worth much, much more than their smaller brethren in the hallways. The open sarcophagi at the center of the room have been similarly overcome. You only have a moment to absorb this information, however, before some sort of shambling horror turns its attention to you and begins to lurch in your direction.
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If the party enters from the north or west, they are immediately accosted by a bipedal creature. A DC 12 Knowledge Religion check identifies it as a halfling zombie, an undead creature with all the associated traits; a 17 indicates that it is slow, usually only taking one action at a time, and is resistant to nonmagical damage except for slashing weapons; a 22 indicates that it has no special attacks, and typically relies on mindlessly making a bee-line for its nearest prey and trading blows until it wins or dies. The creature has 16hp, 12 AC (11 flatfooted, 11 touch), DR5/slashing, and a +3 slam attack (1d4 +1 damage). They are mindless, so if kited, will walk through the traps and automatically fail the reflex saves to avoid damage, but will stop following after losing line of sight for more than a few rounds.
If the party enters from the south or east, they immediately see an altercation of sorts taking place between a creature (same knowledge checks as before to identify it as a halfling zombie or, perhaps more accurately at this point, a quarterling zombie) in pitched combat with two giant fire beetles. The zombie's legs have been almost entirely stripped of flesh, and it is now prone, with the penalties associated with being prone. This zombie has 8hp remaining, 8AC against melee attacks, 16AC against ranged attacks, the normal special qualities, a -1 slam attack, and a movement speed of 5. One of the beetles is missing a leg and leaking some sort of ichor from its thorax, but the other seems unharmed. The party may wait out the combat, in which case the beetles eventually slay the zombie and continue to devour the body, or engage themselves (in which case all three will be hostile to the party, but will attack the creature that most recently attacked it in initiative).
Investigating the sarcophagi around the central support beam yield... nothing. Again, this dungeon has been well-looted save for the mushrooms. Some of them have chewed-through remains, similar to the corpse outside the east entrance. The larger mushrooms, if harvested, can be sold for 5gp/pound in town. Harvesting the larger mushrooms from the central support beam causes a rumble, and a crack runs west along the ceiling. A small amount of rubble falls, but then the tremors subside. A DC10 listen check yields an odd metallic sound from the west.
If the party investigates the western door, they will see that the crack ran down the wall opposite the door and suddenly stopped, branching slightly into an inexplicably manufactured-looking square shape. A DC20 search check now yields, after much prodding and pushing, a sliding mechanism to trigger a secret door. It is clear that, absent this crack, this mechanism would likely never have been found by low-level adventurers. Inside the secret door is a lever; pulling it yields a second rumbling sound, and more dust and mortar falling from the ceiling, but then silence once more.
Upon returning to the ground floor, the party will see that the altar has slid aside to reveal a hitherto unknown secret staircase; this has not been mentioned in any of the records relating to this dungeon.
B2:
https://i.postimg.cc/xjyKFYPm/Dungeon-B2.png
The stairs seem to go down... down... down... almost endlessly. With each step, the air seems to grow more stale, more heavy. Is it the gravity of the situation? Or is it the weight of the mud and muck just outside these bricks, pressing, pressing in on you? If the tunnel collapsed, or if the altar moved back, would anyone find you? Would anyone even know you were down here at all?
...
After what seems like an eternity, you notice a glow from below you on the staircase. That glow slowly grows into a steady shine, and you emerge into a corridor coated in mushrooms; it would appear their growth had gone undisturbed for a long time. If the dungeon seemed silent before, the silence is deafening now. The mushrooms seem to swallow up the sounds of your breaths, your footsteps, your heartbeat. Your ears ring a little, as if they were trying to compensate for the silence. Down a stretch of hallway, you reach one more large and imposing set of doors, much like those leading to the central chamber above.
This door requires a DC15 strength check to open.
The doors grind open, and there is a brief chiming sound. Light floods from the chamber before you, as mushrooms of absolutely gargantuan sizes sprout here and there in the room, taking full advantage of the space. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot what looks to be some vaguely bipedal shape buried under still more mushroom growth. Four sarcophagi lie against the central pillar before you, closed. However, between you and the sarcophagi rise four tiny creatures, each seeming to be some sort of amalgamation of crumbling stone and metal. They stand amidst the tortured scream of rusted metal on metal, then move in your direction.
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A DC11 Knowledge Arcana check identifies these creatures as some sort of animated object, although there is no caster that the party can see, with all the normal traits constructs possess. A DC16 check indicates that animated objects are resistant to physical blows, as are the materials they are composed of, and that these look to be a bit more fragile than stone. A DC21 indicates that such objects mindlessly follow the orders they were given, and so rely on their attacks to trade blows until death, much like the zombies upstairs. The animated objects are tiny, have 2hp, hardness 4 (the stone is ancient and crumbling, much like everything else in the dungeon), 14AC, and a +1 slam that deals 1d3-1 damage.
The sarcophagi contain an appropriate masterwork cold-iron weapon for each party member. Add the Feycraft template for each mundane, non-caster rogue-type character, but don't count it against their wbl. The mushrooms crumble if the party attempts to harvest them, having overgrown beyond their structural integrity. They are worth 5 silver per pound if dragged up.
Behind the central pillar is a large tablet made out of a strange material. Similar runes are carved into the side, but are worn beyond recognition. It is firmly fixed to the wall and resists any efforts to remove it; in fact, it seems to be essential to the structural integrity of the entire pillar. It detects overwhelmingly to detect magic as an abjuration of some kind. However, absent a macguffin the party will get later, the party won't be able to do much with it.
Hello, friends! I am planning my first campaign, and I was seeking some feedback on what I've put together for my campaign so far from any more experienced DMs. I'm particularly worried about balancing the combats; level 1 is such a swingy beast, but I'm worried I may have under-tuned it too much to compensate.
If you were recently in a campaign with Doggrel, Orion, Arianna, Tironsilas, Lam, or Crow, read no further; consider that your warning.
Hello, friends! I am planning my first campaign, and I was seeking some feedback on what I've put together for my campaign so far from any more experienced DMs. I'm particularly worried about balancing the combats; level 1 is such a swingy beast, but I'm worried I may have under-tuned it too much to compensate.
Setting: In the midst of a vast swamp, there is a small, but well-fortified thorp. It has grown around the crumbling walls of an ancient mausoleum. Misremembered legends tell of an ancient, sprawling empire that spanned the stretches of swamp to the far reaches of the mountains, but if ever such a fantastical thing existed (and there is no agreement among scholars that such a thing is anything other than a fantasy), this is the only surviving remnant. The thorp began as a camp established to explore the dungeon and plumb its depths for ancient secrets and treasures, but has survived as a tourist destination of sorts. People say that any hero worth their salt began their career plunging into the darkness of the mausoleum as a sort of rite of passage. Adventurers travel with the trade caravans that periodically brave the swamp to earn their stripes fending off the undead critters that lie in the depths. Our heroes are one such plucky group of adventurers, each exploring the dungeon either independently or as part of a group, ostensibly to gather bioluminescent materials to help light the town (as wood is hard to come by in the swamp); there are two entrances that lead to the depths.
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B1: Upon entering the Dungeon B1, the adventurers will be greeted by the fetid, cloying stench of must and decay. The walls are slick with lichen and, although there aren't any visible puddles, the distant Plink! of dripping water can be heard. For some inexplicable reason, the silence of the dungeon seems pregnant with some sort of anticipation, as if there were an audience just out of sight waiting with bated breath to hear what they would say. Plink! A row of statues stand before the stairs. The stonework is weathered and riddled with divots from the ravages of water and time, and the lions' share of their features have been worn away to nothing; the half-suggestion of facial features, staring sightlessly ahead, could be enough to unnerve those of weaker constitutions. Plink! Here and there, small, green mushrooms sprout from the seams and cracks in the brickwork of the walls, each glowing enough to provide dim, but steady light for about 10 feet. The mushrooms have been a key part of the dungeon's aesthetic that has made it so attractive to adventurers; their glow is enough to see by, more or less, but leaves enough to the imagination to leave the thrill of danger and mystery. People say that any real dungeon always has glowing mushrooms... Plink!
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/9/98/Giant_fire_beetle_2e.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20210131175128
Regardless of which entrance the adventurers chose, as they enter, a creature scuttles out from behind one of the statues. Its head glows a dull red, and as it waggles its head back and forth, the lights leave a slight after-image of their trail in your vision. A DC11 knowledge nature check identifies the creature as a giant fire beetle, a small vermin with its associated traits. A 12 indicates that it is not usually aggressive unless hungry or threatened; some say that they are more afraid of you than you are of them, although this individual seems more curious than anything. A 13 yields that it relies on single bites from its mandibles for defense and hunting. If attacked, the creature will react (it is ready for combat, but not intelligent enough to prepare an action when it is not going to instigate a fight, so aggressive movement prompts initiative rather than a surprise round); it chitters angrily and shrilly, almost like the hum of a cicada, as it clamps down on any limbs it can reach. It has 4hp, 16AC, and attacks with a +1 bite (2d4 damage). As it is by itself, as long as it doesn't win initiative and crit, this shouldn't be a lethal encounter, and the party should be able to retreat if there are any significant injuries sustained. Upon downing the creature, a DC10 survival check allows for harvesting the glowing glands without incident; adventurers know they can take 10 on such a check. Failure by 5 or more destroys the parts. The glands can be sold in the town for 30 gold each (based roughly on the cost of a Sunrod).
As the adventurers advance through the cavernous corridors, they may harvest mushrooms from the walls; the smaller the mushrooms, the less the town is willing to pay for them, but they may make multiple trips if they choose to; it may not seem worth it for the greedier adventurers, but the risk-averse may appreciate the relatively safe, steady income. As they walk down, a the players may notice (or the adventurers may be prompted to notice with a DC5 spot check) some cracking red paint on the floor in the shape of an X. There are several such marks clustered around this part of the hallway, and the mushroom growth is very dense around the area where the X is marked, but there are almost no mushrooms on the marked spaces themselves. A DC10 search check yields the presence of a trap; the area around the mechanism is very well-worn, making it easier to find than normal. Stepping on the mark yields a DC5 listen check to hear the groaning of tortured, ancient gears turning, rusted hinges grinding on one another, and dilapidated mechanisms activating. A very old trap activates (slower than it used to be; DC7 if the player noticed any of the earlier hints, or DC10 without any hints), dealing 1d3 bludgeoning damage (the blades have long-since dulled and worn down, just as the statues and mechanism have) on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one (rounded up). Deeper along each corridor is a second trap; this has no X marking it, but a DC 15 spot check yields that the mushrooms growth around that square looks familiar (or the players may notice on their own). The mushrooms grew especially thick there due to the blood splatters from adventurer injuries, but the traps also damage mushroom growth where they actually activate. Apart from the more difficult spot check, these traps are identical to the more clearly marked ones.
The southwest, southeast, and northeast passages each have an additional chamber to investigate on their route.
The southwest chamber has two chests; both are empty. This dungeon has been often-plundered and, were it not for the fact that the mushrooms are worth more than the chests, even the chests would probably have long-since been taken out of here.
The northeast chamber has a pile of rubble (presumably where part of the ceiling caved in), but a DC15 spot or search check yields the presence of a crystal (that can be sold for 100gp in the town).
The southeast chamber includes a chest (empty) and a corpse. A DC15 heal check or DC20 spot or search check yields that the wounds are fresh; this man died recently, although it's not immediately clear from what. A DC20 heal check yields that the wounds don't seem to be from slicing damage, which rules out some manufactured weapons. He has two rings on him (nonmagical, worth ~30gp each) and two pairs of manacles (15gp each). A DC10 knowledge local check indicates this is the mayor; DC15 indicates that he is somewhat popular; DC20 indicates he has been seen recently; DC25 indicates that you are fairly certain there were no recent rumors of a kidnapping. The same DCs may be used to gather this information in the thorp later, and will be used for a murder-mystery quest (spoiler: the mayor was down here luring zombies into the crypt because the beetles have been eating them all, he fears the crypts will become too boring if they seem "safe," and the town will lose its tourism).
The passageways each lead to a large set of stone doors (DC10 strength check to open or close them). The doors seem to have some sort of inscription on them in barely legible runes. A DC30 decipher script check can uncover some of the meaning (here lies... secret... balance... lands...); otherwise, it's all Greek to them, so to speak.
Before each door lie two statues on each side in front of some decorative carvings. The northwest passage is missing a statue, however; even the plinth is gone. A giant fire beetle clings to the wall where it would be, evidently eating some of the mushrooms. Attacking the beetle and missing its AC results in the adventurer striking the wall. A DC 15 listen check yields an odd sound during the strike. A DC25 spot check (or DC15 if you've seen the other entryways to notice the difference) reveals that the empty space seems weird. A DC20 reveals that the panel moves inward, then sinks when pressed on, revealing a secret chamber behind with a lever. Pulling the lever causes a grinding sound; a DC17 yields that the sound seems to be coming from upward.
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Entering the doors leads the adventurers to the central chamber. The chamber is much larger, and the ceiling is higher, and the mushrooms have grown to much more impressive sizes; if harvested, these mushrooms would sell for 50gp each. On the western side of the chamber is the top half of a decaying creature, yet it turns to observe the newcomers; its lower half is skeletal, and not very functional. A DC 11 Knowledge Religion check identifies it as a halfling zombie (or perhaps more accurately a quarterling zombie at this point), a 15 indicates that it resistant to nonmagical damage except for slashing weapons, and a 20 indicates that it can only take one action at a time as a slow creature. On the right-hand side is a zombie in a similar state, with two giant fire beetles biting into what remains of its legs. The zombie seems indifferent to the beetles; a DC15 Knowledge Arcana check indicates that some magical effects can cause undead creatures to only be hostile to certain types of other creatures. Both zombies, when they have line of sight to the adventurers, become hostile and begin moving. The beetles scuttle way, but will retaliate together if attacked. The zombies, missing their legs, have their movement reduced by half and are considered prone (-4 to attacks rolls, -4 to AC against melee attacks, +4 to AC against ranged attacks), but have their full hitpoints (16), AC (12), attacks (+2 slam (-4 for prone), 1d3 +1 damage), and DR (5/slashing). They are mindless, so if kited, will walk through the traps and automatically fail the reflex saves to avoid damage, but will stop following after losing line of sight for more than a few rounds.
Investigating the sarcophagi around the central support beam yield... nothing. Again, this dungeon has been well-looted save for the mushrooms. One of them has a skeleton! ... A generic, actually-dead skeleton though. Harvesting the larger mushrooms from the central support beam causes a rumble, and a crack runs northwest (as if the structure were marginally less well-supported in that area; there is a small crashing sound. Investigation yields a small pile of rubble outside the door, and a crack that runs down to the location of the secret panel and stopping there; a DC10 spot check yields that that seems weird. Why would the crack stop there?
If the party is able to find the secret lever, they will discover (upon returning to floor G) that the altar has slid backward to reveal a downward staircase (that has thusfar gone unmentioned in other records of the dungeon). The air is stale, and almost seems to be equal parts dust. The stairway descends sharply into darkness, but there is a bright glow visible in the distance.
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B2: At the bottom of the winding staircase, the glowing mushrooms sprout from every available crack and crevice in the walls; it seems their growth has gone undisturbed for a long time. The mushrooms muffle the party's echoing footsteps as they progress down the hallway; at the end lies a large and imposing door, similar to those above, although this one requires a DC15 strength check, as it has been opened much less frequently. Inside is another circular chamber, a mirror of the chamber above, but its contents are much larger in scale. The sarcophagi are larger (and unopened), and the mushrooms around the pillars have grown to a gargantuan scale. The sarcophagi contain an appropriate shield or armor piece for each party member made with the Feycraft template, as the remnants of what appears to have once been armor (DC10 survival check to determine the moisture destroyed some sort of leather or wood material). The mushrooms, although large, have actually become cumbersome to work with, and are worth less than the large mushrooms in the central chamber above if the party somehow manages to drag them up the narrow steps.
In addition to those sources of WBL, the room also contains a large, metallic creature of some sort lying flat on its back. It doesn't react when approached, and scores of colonies of mushrooms sprout from its body; a DC14 Knowledge Arcana check will identify it as some sort of permanent animated object, although the object in question is difficult to determine. Additionally, when the doors open, with the grinding of ancient metal on metal, four tiny animated objects (DC11 Knowledge Arcana check to identify) turn towards the party and attack (2hp, hardness 8, 14 AC, +1 slam that deals 1d3-1).
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Investigation of the room reveals a large tablet made out of a strange material. Similar runes are carved into the side, but are worn beyond recognition. It detects overwhelmingly to detect magic as an abjuration of some kind. However, absent a macguffin the party will get later, the party won't be able to do much with it.
Setting:
https://i.postimg.cc/C5NkZHK7/Map-Large.png
https://i.postimg.cc/ZKb6GgfM/Dungeon-Ground.png
In the midst of a vast swamp, there is a small, but well-fortified thorp. The walls are thick, and need be to repel the wandering dead that rise from the murky depths. The thorp has grown around the crumbling walls of an ancient mausoleum. Misremembered legends handed down, around, and, in some rare cases, handed back up again tell of an ancient, sprawling empire that spanned the stretches of the swamp from the coast of the inland sea to the far reaches of the mountains, but if ever such a fantastical thing existed (and there is no agreement among scholars that such a thing is anything other than a fantasy), this site is the only surviving remnant. The thorp began as a camp established to explore the dungeon and plumb its depths for ancient secrets and treasures, but has survived as a tourist destination of sorts. People say that any hero worth their salt began their career plunging into the darkness of the mausoleum as a sort of rite of passage. Adventurers travel with the trade caravans that periodically brave the swamp to earn their stripes fending off the undead critters that lie in the depths.
You are one such would-be hero, either travelling alone or as part of your plucky group of adventurers. You are ostensibly here to gather glowing materials to help light the town (as wood is hard to come by in the swamp, so everyone relies on fire beetle glands and what are colloquially known as "mushroom glow-sticks"), but each of you has the heady smell of adventure about you (at your preference, perhaps literally, as the swamp odor tends to leave its mark on those who stay here for any amount of time). You've set up camp on the ground floor of the mausoleum in the midst of a room that seems to have once been devoted to some religious purpose or another, but whose sermons and chants have been usurped by the bubbling of swamp muck, croaking and chirps of bullfrogs and insects, and the ominous silence of the dead.
B1:
https://i.postimg.cc/Fzm0snh1/Dungeon-B1.png
With each step down the stairs, the ambient light grows fainter; the air grows colder; the cloying stench of must and decay grows thicker. The ancient brick walls are slick with lichen, and touching it leaves your hands feeling grimy and wet. The sounds of the swamp slowly fade away as you wade, step by step, into the darkness. It is silent. Dead. Silent.
...
After a few steps more, your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness -- and, when you near the bottom of the staircase, it gets a little brighter. A dim green glow provides just enough light to see by, casting the cracks and imperfections of the stone into sharp relief. As you reach the last step, you can see why - glowing mushrooms sprout from cracks and crevices in the walls. A row of weathered statues stand before you, the fine details of the statues have long-since been worn away; they seem somehow... sad, as they stare sightlessly past you with only the barest trace of features or expression. Suddenly, a noise shatters the silence: Plink! Somewhere, it seems the swamp is steadily trying to reclaim its own.
As you take your first step, a creature scuttles out from behind one of the statues. Its head glows a dull red, and as it waggles its head back and forth, the lights leave a slight after-image of their trail in your vision.
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A DC11 knowledge nature check identifies the creature as a giant fire beetle, a small vermin with its associated traits. A 16 indicates that it is not usually aggressive unless hungry or threatened; some say that they are more afraid of you than you are of them, although this individual seems more curious than anything. A 21 yields that it relies on single bites from its mandibles for defense and hunting. If attacked, the creature will react; (it is ready for combat, but not intelligent enough to prepare an action when it is not going to instigate a fight, so aggressive movement prompts initiative rather than a surprise round); it chitters angrily and shrilly, almost like the hum of a cicada, as it clamps down on any limbs it can reach. It has 4hp, 16AC, and attacks with a +1 bite (2d4 damage). Upon downing the creature, a DC10 survival check allows for harvesting the glowing glands without incident; adventurers know they can take 10 on such a check. Failure by 5 or more destroys the parts. The glands can be sold in the town for 5 gold each (or purchased for 9).
As the adventurers advance through the cavernous corridors, they may harvest mushrooms from the walls; the smaller the mushrooms, the less the town is willing to pay for them (1gp/pound for the common size found growing in the walls), but they may make multiple trips if they choose to.
As you move down the hallway, the silence grows thick around you again. It is difficult to see too far ahead; the glow of the mushrooms only reaches about ten feet from each clump, leaving patches of shadowy illumination or even darkness between the islands of light. The mushrooms seem to grow especially thickly around the sarcophagi nestled into tiered alcoves built into the walls, long-since broken open and pillaged; they also seem to grow thickly around certain spots on the floor, clustering around red X-shapes here and there, but never on the exact same spaces as the shapes.
A DC10 search check on a square with a red X yields the presence of a trap; the area around the mechanism is very well-worn, making it easier to find than normal. A DC15 Knowledge Nature check yields that these mushrooms, as one might guess, tend to grow in dark areas with a lot of decomposition and decay, but their growth can be impeded by too much disturbance or movement.
Upon stepping in the square, the player should be prompted with a DC10 reflex save as the hall is filled with the groaning of tortured, ancient gears turning and the trap activates, but slower than it would have in its heyday. The trap will deal 1d3 bludgeoning damage, or half with a successful save (rounded up), as blades of the trap have long-since dulled and worn down.
The southwest, southeast, and northeast passages each have an additional chamber to investigate on their route. It requires a DC10 strength check to open these doors, but only have the party roll for the first door, then describe the difficulty afterward.
The southwest chamber has two chests; both are empty.
The northeast chamber has a pile of rubble (presumably where part of the ceiling caved in).
The southeast chamber includes a chest (empty) and a corpse. A DC15 heal check or DC20 spot check yields that the wounds are fresh; this man died recently, although it's not immediately clear from what. A DC20 heal check yields that the wounds don't seem to be from slicing damage, which rules out some manufactured weapons. He has two rings on him (nonmagical, worth ~30gp each) and two pairs of manacles (15gp each). A DC10 knowledge local check indicates this is the mayor; DC15 indicates that he is somewhat popular. This will be relevant later for a murder-mystery quest (spoiler: the beetles infesting the dungeon started feasting on the corpses and undead. The undead are a major draw to the dungeon (slaying beetles just doesn't have the same romance), and tourism is the life-blood of the thorp, so the mayor was down here luring zombies into the crypt to restock it from the swamp and save the town. There was some sort of accident, and the mayor was barely able to close the door before he was felled by a stray attack of opportunity). Just outside the chamber lies some sort of remains, thoroughly gnawed-on and picked clean.
The passageways each lead to another large set of stone doors (DC10 strength check to open or close them). The doors seem to have some sort of inscription on them in barely legible runes. A DC30 decipher script check can uncover some of the meaning (here lies... secret... balance... lands...); otherwise, it's all Greek to them, so to speak.
Before each door lie two statues on each side in front of some decorative carvings. The western entrance is missing a statue, however; even the plinth is gone. After seeing a second entrance apart from the western one, a DC10 wisdom check prompts the party to notice the missing statue (if they haven't already), but nothing further can be found here at this time.
Pushing open the large doors, you must blink to adjust to the light in the new room. The colonies of mushrooms seem to have grown much more vigorously in this room, dominating the surfaces of the large support pillars that hold the vaulted ceiling; your instincts tell you these specimens would be worth much, much more than their smaller brethren in the hallways. The open sarcophagi at the center of the room have been similarly overcome. You only have a moment to absorb this information, however, before some sort of shambling horror turns its attention to you and begins to lurch in your direction.
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If the party enters from the north or west, they are immediately accosted by a bipedal creature. A DC 12 Knowledge Religion check identifies it as a halfling zombie, an undead creature with all the associated traits; a 17 indicates that it is slow, usually only taking one action at a time, and is resistant to nonmagical damage except for slashing weapons; a 22 indicates that it has no special attacks, and typically relies on mindlessly making a bee-line for its nearest prey and trading blows until it wins or dies. The creature has 16hp, 12 AC (11 flatfooted, 11 touch), DR5/slashing, and a +3 slam attack (1d4 +1 damage). They are mindless, so if kited, will walk through the traps and automatically fail the reflex saves to avoid damage, but will stop following after losing line of sight for more than a few rounds.
If the party enters from the south or east, they immediately see an altercation of sorts taking place between a creature (same knowledge checks as before to identify it as a halfling zombie or, perhaps more accurately at this point, a quarterling zombie) in pitched combat with two giant fire beetles. The zombie's legs have been almost entirely stripped of flesh, and it is now prone, with the penalties associated with being prone. This zombie has 8hp remaining, 8AC against melee attacks, 16AC against ranged attacks, the normal special qualities, a -1 slam attack, and a movement speed of 5. One of the beetles is missing a leg and leaking some sort of ichor from its thorax, but the other seems unharmed. The party may wait out the combat, in which case the beetles eventually slay the zombie and continue to devour the body, or engage themselves (in which case all three will be hostile to the party, but will attack the creature that most recently attacked it in initiative).
Investigating the sarcophagi around the central support beam yield... nothing. Again, this dungeon has been well-looted save for the mushrooms. Some of them have chewed-through remains, similar to the corpse outside the east entrance. The larger mushrooms, if harvested, can be sold for 5gp/pound in town. Harvesting the larger mushrooms from the central support beam causes a rumble, and a crack runs west along the ceiling. A small amount of rubble falls, but then the tremors subside. A DC10 listen check yields an odd metallic sound from the west.
If the party investigates the western door, they will see that the crack ran down the wall opposite the door and suddenly stopped, branching slightly into an inexplicably manufactured-looking square shape. A DC20 search check now yields, after much prodding and pushing, a sliding mechanism to trigger a secret door. It is clear that, absent this crack, this mechanism would likely never have been found by low-level adventurers. Inside the secret door is a lever; pulling it yields a second rumbling sound, and more dust and mortar falling from the ceiling, but then silence once more.
Upon returning to the ground floor, the party will see that the altar has slid aside to reveal a hitherto unknown secret staircase; this has not been mentioned in any of the records relating to this dungeon.
B2:
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The stairs seem to go down... down... down... almost endlessly. With each step, the air seems to grow more stale, more heavy. Is it the gravity of the situation? Or is it the weight of the mud and muck just outside these bricks, pressing, pressing in on you? If the tunnel collapsed, or if the altar moved back, would anyone find you? Would anyone even know you were down here at all?
...
After what seems like an eternity, you notice a glow from below you on the staircase. That glow slowly grows into a steady shine, and you emerge into a corridor coated in mushrooms; it would appear their growth had gone undisturbed for a long time. If the dungeon seemed silent before, the silence is deafening now. The mushrooms seem to swallow up the sounds of your breaths, your footsteps, your heartbeat. Your ears ring a little, as if they were trying to compensate for the silence. Down a stretch of hallway, you reach one more large and imposing set of doors, much like those leading to the central chamber above.
This door requires a DC15 strength check to open.
The doors grind open, and there is a brief chiming sound. Light floods from the chamber before you, as mushrooms of absolutely gargantuan sizes sprout here and there in the room, taking full advantage of the space. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot what looks to be some vaguely bipedal shape buried under still more mushroom growth. Four sarcophagi lie against the central pillar before you, closed. However, between you and the sarcophagi rise four tiny creatures, each seeming to be some sort of amalgamation of crumbling stone and metal. They stand amidst the tortured scream of rusted metal on metal, then move in your direction.
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A DC11 Knowledge Arcana check identifies these creatures as some sort of animated object, although there is no caster that the party can see, with all the normal traits constructs possess. A DC16 check indicates that animated objects are resistant to physical blows, as are the materials they are composed of, and that these look to be a bit more fragile than stone. A DC21 indicates that such objects mindlessly follow the orders they were given, and so rely on their attacks to trade blows until death, much like the zombies upstairs. The animated objects are tiny, have 2hp, hardness 4 (the stone is ancient and crumbling, much like everything else in the dungeon), 14AC, and a +1 slam that deals 1d3-1 damage.
The sarcophagi contain an appropriate masterwork cold-iron weapon for each party member. Add the Feycraft template for each mundane, non-caster rogue-type character, but don't count it against their wbl. The mushrooms crumble if the party attempts to harvest them, having overgrown beyond their structural integrity. They are worth 5 silver per pound if dragged up.
Behind the central pillar is a large tablet made out of a strange material. Similar runes are carved into the side, but are worn beyond recognition. It is firmly fixed to the wall and resists any efforts to remove it; in fact, it seems to be essential to the structural integrity of the entire pillar. It detects overwhelmingly to detect magic as an abjuration of some kind. However, absent a macguffin the party will get later, the party won't be able to do much with it.
Hello, friends! I am planning my first campaign, and I was seeking some feedback on what I've put together for my campaign so far from any more experienced DMs. I'm particularly worried about balancing the combats; level 1 is such a swingy beast, but I'm worried I may have under-tuned it too much to compensate.
If you were recently in a campaign with Doggrel, Orion, Arianna, Tironsilas, Lam, or Crow, read no further; consider that your warning.
Hello, friends! I am planning my first campaign, and I was seeking some feedback on what I've put together for my campaign so far from any more experienced DMs. I'm particularly worried about balancing the combats; level 1 is such a swingy beast, but I'm worried I may have under-tuned it too much to compensate.
Setting: In the midst of a vast swamp, there is a small, but well-fortified thorp. It has grown around the crumbling walls of an ancient mausoleum. Misremembered legends tell of an ancient, sprawling empire that spanned the stretches of swamp to the far reaches of the mountains, but if ever such a fantastical thing existed (and there is no agreement among scholars that such a thing is anything other than a fantasy), this is the only surviving remnant. The thorp began as a camp established to explore the dungeon and plumb its depths for ancient secrets and treasures, but has survived as a tourist destination of sorts. People say that any hero worth their salt began their career plunging into the darkness of the mausoleum as a sort of rite of passage. Adventurers travel with the trade caravans that periodically brave the swamp to earn their stripes fending off the undead critters that lie in the depths. Our heroes are one such plucky group of adventurers, each exploring the dungeon either independently or as part of a group, ostensibly to gather bioluminescent materials to help light the town (as wood is hard to come by in the swamp); there are two entrances that lead to the depths.
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B1: Upon entering the Dungeon B1, the adventurers will be greeted by the fetid, cloying stench of must and decay. The walls are slick with lichen and, although there aren't any visible puddles, the distant Plink! of dripping water can be heard. For some inexplicable reason, the silence of the dungeon seems pregnant with some sort of anticipation, as if there were an audience just out of sight waiting with bated breath to hear what they would say. Plink! A row of statues stand before the stairs. The stonework is weathered and riddled with divots from the ravages of water and time, and the lions' share of their features have been worn away to nothing; the half-suggestion of facial features, staring sightlessly ahead, could be enough to unnerve those of weaker constitutions. Plink! Here and there, small, green mushrooms sprout from the seams and cracks in the brickwork of the walls, each glowing enough to provide dim, but steady light for about 10 feet. The mushrooms have been a key part of the dungeon's aesthetic that has made it so attractive to adventurers; their glow is enough to see by, more or less, but leaves enough to the imagination to leave the thrill of danger and mystery. People say that any real dungeon always has glowing mushrooms... Plink!
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Regardless of which entrance the adventurers chose, as they enter, a creature scuttles out from behind one of the statues. Its head glows a dull red, and as it waggles its head back and forth, the lights leave a slight after-image of their trail in your vision. A DC11 knowledge nature check identifies the creature as a giant fire beetle, a small vermin with its associated traits. A 12 indicates that it is not usually aggressive unless hungry or threatened; some say that they are more afraid of you than you are of them, although this individual seems more curious than anything. A 13 yields that it relies on single bites from its mandibles for defense and hunting. If attacked, the creature will react (it is ready for combat, but not intelligent enough to prepare an action when it is not going to instigate a fight, so aggressive movement prompts initiative rather than a surprise round); it chitters angrily and shrilly, almost like the hum of a cicada, as it clamps down on any limbs it can reach. It has 4hp, 16AC, and attacks with a +1 bite (2d4 damage). As it is by itself, as long as it doesn't win initiative and crit, this shouldn't be a lethal encounter, and the party should be able to retreat if there are any significant injuries sustained. Upon downing the creature, a DC10 survival check allows for harvesting the glowing glands without incident; adventurers know they can take 10 on such a check. Failure by 5 or more destroys the parts. The glands can be sold in the town for 30 gold each (based roughly on the cost of a Sunrod).
As the adventurers advance through the cavernous corridors, they may harvest mushrooms from the walls; the smaller the mushrooms, the less the town is willing to pay for them, but they may make multiple trips if they choose to; it may not seem worth it for the greedier adventurers, but the risk-averse may appreciate the relatively safe, steady income. As they walk down, a the players may notice (or the adventurers may be prompted to notice with a DC5 spot check) some cracking red paint on the floor in the shape of an X. There are several such marks clustered around this part of the hallway, and the mushroom growth is very dense around the area where the X is marked, but there are almost no mushrooms on the marked spaces themselves. A DC10 search check yields the presence of a trap; the area around the mechanism is very well-worn, making it easier to find than normal. Stepping on the mark yields a DC5 listen check to hear the groaning of tortured, ancient gears turning, rusted hinges grinding on one another, and dilapidated mechanisms activating. A very old trap activates (slower than it used to be; DC7 if the player noticed any of the earlier hints, or DC10 without any hints), dealing 1d3 bludgeoning damage (the blades have long-since dulled and worn down, just as the statues and mechanism have) on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one (rounded up). Deeper along each corridor is a second trap; this has no X marking it, but a DC 15 spot check yields that the mushrooms growth around that square looks familiar (or the players may notice on their own). The mushrooms grew especially thick there due to the blood splatters from adventurer injuries, but the traps also damage mushroom growth where they actually activate. Apart from the more difficult spot check, these traps are identical to the more clearly marked ones.
The southwest, southeast, and northeast passages each have an additional chamber to investigate on their route.
The southwest chamber has two chests; both are empty. This dungeon has been often-plundered and, were it not for the fact that the mushrooms are worth more than the chests, even the chests would probably have long-since been taken out of here.
The northeast chamber has a pile of rubble (presumably where part of the ceiling caved in), but a DC15 spot or search check yields the presence of a crystal (that can be sold for 100gp in the town).
The southeast chamber includes a chest (empty) and a corpse. A DC15 heal check or DC20 spot or search check yields that the wounds are fresh; this man died recently, although it's not immediately clear from what. A DC20 heal check yields that the wounds don't seem to be from slicing damage, which rules out some manufactured weapons. He has two rings on him (nonmagical, worth ~30gp each) and two pairs of manacles (15gp each). A DC10 knowledge local check indicates this is the mayor; DC15 indicates that he is somewhat popular; DC20 indicates he has been seen recently; DC25 indicates that you are fairly certain there were no recent rumors of a kidnapping. The same DCs may be used to gather this information in the thorp later, and will be used for a murder-mystery quest (spoiler: the mayor was down here luring zombies into the crypt because the beetles have been eating them all, he fears the crypts will become too boring if they seem "safe," and the town will lose its tourism).
The passageways each lead to a large set of stone doors (DC10 strength check to open or close them). The doors seem to have some sort of inscription on them in barely legible runes. A DC30 decipher script check can uncover some of the meaning (here lies... secret... balance... lands...); otherwise, it's all Greek to them, so to speak.
Before each door lie two statues on each side in front of some decorative carvings. The northwest passage is missing a statue, however; even the plinth is gone. A giant fire beetle clings to the wall where it would be, evidently eating some of the mushrooms. Attacking the beetle and missing its AC results in the adventurer striking the wall. A DC 15 listen check yields an odd sound during the strike. A DC25 spot check (or DC15 if you've seen the other entryways to notice the difference) reveals that the empty space seems weird. A DC20 reveals that the panel moves inward, then sinks when pressed on, revealing a secret chamber behind with a lever. Pulling the lever causes a grinding sound; a DC17 yields that the sound seems to be coming from upward.
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Entering the doors leads the adventurers to the central chamber. The chamber is much larger, and the ceiling is higher, and the mushrooms have grown to much more impressive sizes; if harvested, these mushrooms would sell for 50gp each. On the western side of the chamber is the top half of a decaying creature, yet it turns to observe the newcomers; its lower half is skeletal, and not very functional. A DC 11 Knowledge Religion check identifies it as a halfling zombie (or perhaps more accurately a quarterling zombie at this point), a 15 indicates that it resistant to nonmagical damage except for slashing weapons, and a 20 indicates that it can only take one action at a time as a slow creature. On the right-hand side is a zombie in a similar state, with two giant fire beetles biting into what remains of its legs. The zombie seems indifferent to the beetles; a DC15 Knowledge Arcana check indicates that some magical effects can cause undead creatures to only be hostile to certain types of other creatures. Both zombies, when they have line of sight to the adventurers, become hostile and begin moving. The beetles scuttle way, but will retaliate together if attacked. The zombies, missing their legs, have their movement reduced by half and are considered prone (-4 to attacks rolls, -4 to AC against melee attacks, +4 to AC against ranged attacks), but have their full hitpoints (16), AC (12), attacks (+2 slam (-4 for prone), 1d3 +1 damage), and DR (5/slashing). They are mindless, so if kited, will walk through the traps and automatically fail the reflex saves to avoid damage, but will stop following after losing line of sight for more than a few rounds.
Investigating the sarcophagi around the central support beam yield... nothing. Again, this dungeon has been well-looted save for the mushrooms. One of them has a skeleton! ... A generic, actually-dead skeleton though. Harvesting the larger mushrooms from the central support beam causes a rumble, and a crack runs northwest (as if the structure were marginally less well-supported in that area; there is a small crashing sound. Investigation yields a small pile of rubble outside the door, and a crack that runs down to the location of the secret panel and stopping there; a DC10 spot check yields that that seems weird. Why would the crack stop there?
If the party is able to find the secret lever, they will discover (upon returning to floor G) that the altar has slid backward to reveal a downward staircase (that has thusfar gone unmentioned in other records of the dungeon). The air is stale, and almost seems to be equal parts dust. The stairway descends sharply into darkness, but there is a bright glow visible in the distance.
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B2: At the bottom of the winding staircase, the glowing mushrooms sprout from every available crack and crevice in the walls; it seems their growth has gone undisturbed for a long time. The mushrooms muffle the party's echoing footsteps as they progress down the hallway; at the end lies a large and imposing door, similar to those above, although this one requires a DC15 strength check, as it has been opened much less frequently. Inside is another circular chamber, a mirror of the chamber above, but its contents are much larger in scale. The sarcophagi are larger (and unopened), and the mushrooms around the pillars have grown to a gargantuan scale. The sarcophagi contain an appropriate shield or armor piece for each party member made with the Feycraft template, as the remnants of what appears to have once been armor (DC10 survival check to determine the moisture destroyed some sort of leather or wood material). The mushrooms, although large, have actually become cumbersome to work with, and are worth less than the large mushrooms in the central chamber above if the party somehow manages to drag them up the narrow steps.
In addition to those sources of WBL, the room also contains a large, metallic creature of some sort lying flat on its back. It doesn't react when approached, and scores of colonies of mushrooms sprout from its body; a DC14 Knowledge Arcana check will identify it as some sort of permanent animated object, although the object in question is difficult to determine. Additionally, when the doors open, with the grinding of ancient metal on metal, four tiny animated objects (DC11 Knowledge Arcana check to identify) turn towards the party and attack (2hp, hardness 8, 14 AC, +1 slam that deals 1d3-1).
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Investigation of the room reveals a large tablet made out of a strange material. Similar runes are carved into the side, but are worn beyond recognition. It detects overwhelmingly to detect magic as an abjuration of some kind. However, absent a macguffin the party will get later, the party won't be able to do much with it.