Month Two

 Welcome to month two of my personal Dungeon 23 project! February signifies the start of the dungeon proper. After making your way through the Fortress of Ytrigall and past the Wargate you find yourself in a totally new environment, The Crucible of Oxyus. I'm trying some different formatting for this month's dungeon write-ups, I'm hoping to reduce information overload while still giving you lots of cool content to use at your table. let me know what you think in the comments.  

Dungeon 23

Month Two

Map A

Map B

1/29: The Central Shaft

A 75’ long bridge with railings leads to a giant carved Medusa’s face. A passage runs through her mouth into the mountain. The grand hallway beyond is 15’ by 25’ and carved to look like wood construction. The passageway opens into a large room with a diamond pattern chiseled into the stone walls. It is 45’ square with 200’ tall ceilings. A hole 10’ in diameter in the center of the floor opens onto a yawning abyss.

·       North: Back across the bridge to the fortress.

·       South: There is a 3’ long metal table mounted on the edge of the hole in the middle of the large chamber. Its top is angled away from the hole and is studded with lots of colored glass bubbles and big brass switches.  There is a simple-looking wooden door on the south wall of the large chamber.

·       West: There is a stone door on the western side of the entrance hallway. Locked. The western wall of the large chamber has two doors, both stone. The northernmost door is recessed from the wall with two small fonts carved on either side of the doorway. This door is hydraulically sealed and the northern most font must be pulled up on to drain the hallway beyond and unseal the door. The southern door is less elaborate, having just a handle to open or close it.

·       East: There is a wooden door on the eastern side of the large chamber.

·       Up: In the northwestern corner of the large chamber, a balcony can be spied about 100’ up the wall. A large cut glass sphere of purplish hue pulses a dark light from out of a window next to the balcony. As soon as they enter the hallway and every hour after that, PCs must succeed at a Death Save or lose 1hp.

1/30: The Scriptorium

A 20’ by 40’ wide dressed-stone room with 10’ tall ceilings.

·       General Contents: Multiple tables and chairs. Bookshelf (see table below). There is also a drying rack with incomplete parchment sheets from the books on the shelf. Two magic scrolls have been hidden as well, Darkness and Purify Food and Drink.

·       North: A 10’ wide hallway leads to room 1/31. Halfway down the 20’ hallway, a large pool of water bars the way. The floors here were carved into descending then ascending steps 10’ deep, creating an area for water to collect. Just before this are wall sconces on either side of the passage with carved amphora which are hot to the touch.

·       East: The door that leads to the hallway between this room and room 1/29.

·       South: A secret door on this wall leads to the Week Two dungeon. 

 

Books on the shelf:

Title:	Contents:
Ocinder’s Geography (75gp)	An old and outdated account of the geography of the Western Continent.
Tales of the Far Planes (100 gp)	A travelogue by the legendary traveler Dirsmon Longenstreed detailing his time amongst the outer planes.
The Crypto-Auspex (125 gp)	A magical system for reaching out with the senses using magical lenses and mirrors.
The Journeys of Gigrod Bluflint (85 gp)	A travel journal by a famed dwarven trader, used for centuries as a survival manual in the deep caverns of the world.
Gosminder’s Subterranean Flora of the Western Continent (50 gp)	A more recent field guide to the flora and fauna of the local mountain range.
The Black Art (300 gp to the right person)	A treatise on Necromancy and the beauty of death.
The Red Book of Pandemonium (100 gp)	A combination of a bestiary and encyclopedia on Demonkind.
Celedriath’s Mortal Human Anatomy (65 gp)	The legendary elven sage’s extensive treatise  on the workings of the human body. Invaluable to healers and torturers alike.
The Art of Death (275 gp)	Another Necromantic text including extensive notes on the undead and the magic behind them.
The Mechanisms of War (150 gp)	An engineering manual of the late Akrakogi army detailing extensive hydraulic-powered devices for war.

 

1/31: The Inverted Ziggurat

This dressed stone room is a 40’ square with 15’ ceilings. The floor descends stepwise in a spiral, like an inverted ziggurat. The center is full of water. Three Giant Cave Crabs reside here. There is a two in six chance that one of them is submerged in the watery pool between this room and room 1/30.

·       North: Secret door in the northwestern corner opens to a 10’ wide corridor that leads to room 2/2.

·       South: Brass grate (5’ by 3’) east of the hallway on the south wall. It leads to a natural crawlspace that exits through another grate into room 2/1.

·       Central Pool: At the bottom of the pool: Assorted humanoid bones, 1d20 copper pieces, 2d20 gold pieces, and two amulets of orange tigers-eye jade carved in a diamond lozenge shape. Whosoever wears an amulet will be immune from the necrotic effect of the purple light (see room 1/29). 

2/1: The Crystal Room

This 25’ square room is lined with a paved cobble floor. In the center of the room are four shallow equidistant pools filled with blood. Gigantic purple human-sized crystals are growing from each pool. 

·       North: The northern wall is carved in a frieze showing the scores of captive slaves and war booty collected after a long-forgotten war. In the center of the frieze an amphora full of swords blade down with their hilts pointed upwards can be seen. Anyone who grabs a hilt cuts themselves on a hidden barb, losing 1 hp. The blood from this wound will magically trigger the concealed door in this wall to open. 

·       South: There is a brass grate (5’ by 3’) on the south wall. It leads to a natural crawlspace that exits through another grate into room 1/31.

·       West: There is a secret door to a hidden closet. Inside can be found a set of ritual copper hand tools, their striking edges and blades dipped in gold (15 gp) and a ceramic jar full of blood with a polished obsidian sphere inside it.

·       The Crystals: These crystals glow with a faint magical radiance. The crystals radiate a malevolent energy that enhances the necrotic effect already at work in the dungeon (room 1/29). Players who stay in this for more than a turn must succeed at a Death Save every turn or lose 1 hp. 

2/2: The Training Room

This is a natural cavern. The main chamber is 20’ long by 30’ wide with a 25’ long L-bend. The ceiling varies from 10’ to 20’ high due to stalactites. Two fighting dummies are fixed to the floor and a rusted weapons rack holds a few poor-quality swords and spears.

·       Western Bend: There is a spiral stone staircase leading up here and a large wooden door that separates the training room from a hallway to room 1/31.

·       South: The other side of the concealed door in room 2/1 opens into this room.  In the southeastern corner, water drips from above into a small puddle.

2/3: The Apparatus Room

The spiral staircase climbs 100’ until it enters a 40’ long hallway with three green-painted archways. The eastern side bends south, ending at an iron-banded wooden door. The door is barred on the other side. Room 2/3 is a rectangle of well-hewn stone 50’ long by 40’ wide. The southeastern corner of the room is open to room 1/29 below. A balcony with wrought iron railings juts out into the open air of room 1/29. The balcony is surrounded by stone pillars that rise 30’ to the ceiling. The Hierophant and five Melted Cultists can be found here most times, working on the machinery. North: In the northwest corner, a magic circle has been consecrated. It faces a small slab altar, and behind that sits a human-sized quartz statue of the snake-god of chaos and darkness, Aboses. A blood-covered stone table sits east of that. A large metal rail has been fixed to the floor and wound with copper wire on the northeastern side of the room. It radiates a magical field that slows anyone’s movement in the northern half of the room (cutting all movement in half).

·       South: An observation balcony thrusts out into room 1/29 here, ringed by supporting basalt pillars. There is a collection of large mechanical and chemical apparati on this side of the room.

·       West: A smaller quartz statue of Aboses can be found between the odd equipment.

·       The Apparatus: The majority of the mechanisms in this room are connected together to power the Necrotic Radiator that is hanging out of the window into room 1/29. The Radiator is being powered by a combination of necrotic magic and hydraulic power. If the mechanism are properly disrupted, it will shut off the damaging magic that pervades this level of the dungeon. A large control panel with three large switches can be used to shut down both the Necrotic Radiator and the device-slowing movement.

Garaxeses, Hierophant of the Temple of the Malevolent Eye

AC 8 [11], HD 6** (27hp), Att 1 x dagger (1d4) or 1 x Chill Touch (1d4 and lose 1 STR)

THAC0 14 [+5], MV 120’ (40’),

SV D8 W9 P10 B10 S12 (7),

ML 9, AL Chaos, XP 500, NA 1 (0), TT T

·       Spells Prepared: Cause Fear x 2, Hold Person x 2, Curse, Cure Serious Wounds

·       Ring of Feather Fall:  Once a day the wearer of the ring may invoke its magic. The ring slows the wearer’s fall for 1d6 rounds, allowing them to safely float down from of heights of 10’ or more without taking damage. The wearer falls at half their Encounter Speed for the duration of the effect.

·       Bracelet of Chill Touch: Once per level (or monster HD) per day, after a successful attack, the wearer deals 1d4 damage and drains 1 STR from their target (-1 to attack per point of STR lost).

·       Garaxeses is the hierophant of an Aboses cult. He has dedicated himself to Aboses, the snake god of death and darkness. Garaxeses desires to fully restore the Necrotic Radiator and use its power to siphon the life energy of the entire dungeon into a crystal chamber on level 4. He believes he can use the devices left over after Oxyus’s fall to bring his god to this plane of existence. His cult remains ignorant of this larger goal. They believe that the Radiator and its negative long-term effects are blessings of Aboses granted to them by the Hierophant. The necrotic energies have warped their flesh and deranged their minds. They are now his zealous servants.

Melted Cultists

AC 8 [11], HD 1 (5hp), Att 1 x sacrificial dagger (1d4), or special attack,

THAC0 19 [0], MV 50’ (25’),

SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S15 (1),

ML 8, AL Chaotic, XP 15, NA 2d6 (1d6), TT R

·       Special Attack: Each Cultist has a randomly assigned mutation (roll1d4). 1) Spit acid in a straight line 10’ long (1d6). 2) Horrible, melted calluses cover their body (+2 to AC). 3) Extra fingers and a third arm allow the cultist to grapple a foe on a successful attack. 4) A wretched smell (unable to cast or concentrate on spells within 10’ of this Cultist).

·       The Cultists appear melted and warped by some unknown magics. On closer inspection, the cultist’s skin is almost reptilian in its appearance.  Each carries a carved jade amulet in the shape of a blazing goat’s eye (30gp) and wields a sacrificial copper dagger.

 

 

2/4 The Reservoir Cave

A 105’ long cave, no more than 25’ across at its widest point with a 25’ tall stalactite-covered ceiling. There are piles of waste throughout the cave-- mostly feces, food waste, and broken pottery. Patches of Yellow Mold can also be spotted on the cave wall.

·       North: 10’ high heaps of garbage and human waste pushed against the walls.

·       South: The end of the cave is a natural reservoir for rainwater. Three recently-built stone pillars support the cave roof.

·       Under the Water: There is a tunnel under the waterline in the eastern wall that leads to a large vertical water-filled chamber. The chamber is 125’ deep. At the bottom, a chest filled with 1,000 gold coins can be found.