May: Week One

 Spring is in full bloom here and with it comes warnings of new danger! With the onset of May, we now enter level four of the Crucible of Oxyus. This level has many secrets to reveal, and many dangers too. In the rooms detailed below crafty adventurers will strive to explore chambers filled with arcane danger, disturbing secrets, resplendent natural beauty, and deadly obstacles galore. What rewards await those who dare to challenge the darkness? Read on to find out!   

Week One:

5/1: The Levitating Platform

This square chamber is 45’ long by 45’ wide with 50’ tall ceilings. There is a 15’ diameter shaft in the ceiling that extends 100 feet up to an identical chamber above. In the center of the room is a large metal disk made of concentric circles of iron, steel, bronze, and brass. The disk is slightly convex on the bottom, tilting the disk to one side. Next to the disk is a waist-high metal box with a number of gem-like protrusions, buttons, and switches. The side of the box not facing the disk has had a metal panel removed. There are two green glass tubes with metal prongs sticking out of one side that have been fixed inside the metal box by copper cradles. Although there are two tubes present, there is space enough for three more. The air here smells of metal and wet earth, and to the west a distinctly musical sound can be heard echoing in the distance.

• North: The door on this wall has been covered in a mosaic depicting a beautiful sunset…or is it a sunrise? Beyond the door a cut stone hallway heads further into the dungeon. 
• South: The door on the southern wall is made of rusted iron. Its hinges are rusty and require a successful Open Doors check to wrench open. This creates a good deal of noise. There is a 2-in-6 chance that this will trigger a random encounter as some curious creature wanders over to investigate. Above the door frame is a ceramic plaque of a bright flame.
• West: There is a metal-banded wooden door on the western wall. It looks like it had been hacked at by a weapon at some point. The occasional musical note, almost like drips or plucks, echo through the door.
• The Levitation Station: The disk is actually a levitating platform that allows easy access between the first four floors of the Crucible. The entire apparatus will remain offline until the three missing glass tubes can be located and placed back in their copper holders inside the control box. All three tubes are located on this level. Once the tubes have been replaced the disk will levitate slightly, waiting to be commanded to another floor. The panels on each level can be used to call the disk and send it to a desired level, it takes ten minutes for the disk to travel from one floor to another. Without any instructions the disk will remain at its last assigned floor.

5/2: The Pyramid of Flame

The 35’ by 25’ dressed marble room has 25’ tall ceilings held up by four gigantic, burned pillars shaped into crouching tiger-headed humanoids with backwards hands (their palms face out when they should face in). In the center of the chamber between the pillars is an invisible force-field shaped like a pyramid. Within the pyramidal force-field a bright fire rages. The fire roils and burns endlessly without creating smoke, and it seems that at any moment it could break free of its confines and erupt into the room. The silence here is deafening.

• North: The door to this room is constructed of carved ebony with an exquisite brass lock. The carvings on the door depict cat-headed people with backwards hands bringing captives of many nations before a large bonfire to burn as sacrifices. The bonfire is the largest carving on the door and is depicted with cat-like eyes and a mouth of sharp teeth. The door is locked with an elaborate lock.
• The Pyramid of Flame: Within the force-field, the soul of Shhragggaaash the Fire Elemental dwells. Millenia ago, Shhragggaaash was bound to this plane by the evil tiger-headed humanoids depicted on the pillars. Though they were worshipped and sacrificed to, once the tiger-headed people were gone Shhragggaaash was trapped here without sustenance or release. The ensuing eons have done nothing but drive the poor elemental mad. If freed, he will try to annihilate himself in a blaze of anger and wrath (taking out as many others as he can get his hands on).

5/3: A Dead End

This room is 25’ long by 20’ wide with 15’ tall ceilings. There are reservoirs for oil lamps set about a meter apart around the room. In one dark corner rests a small green glass tube identical to the ones in the machine in room 5/1. The doorway is blocked by a metal grate that has been installed across the entrance to the room beyond.

 5/4: The Curtained Gallery

Down a wide central corridor is a large room with a mildewed green velvet curtain hanging down, dividing the room in two. The corridor is 15’ wide with 25’ tall ceilings. The curtained room is roughly 35’ wide and extends over 60’, although the curtain only reveals the first 35’. Just past the curtain, the dressed stone of the room abruptly stops and the rest of the room continues as a natural cavern.

• North: On the northern side of the corridor are a set of unlocked double doors made of heavy brass. There is also a wooden door behind the curtain on the northern end of the chamber which is locked. (The pearl-handled key from level two can lock or unlock this door.)
• West: The end of the natural chamber narrows to a five-foot-wide passage with a 5’ tall ceiling before proceeding further into the mountain on the room’s western side. The scent of rancid lamp oil can be detected wafting from that direction.
• The Altar: Beyond the curtain to the southwest is a large, pulsating mass of living flesh being used as an altar. Atop it are a platinum circlet (worth 1,000 gp) and a ritual scourge, its myriad claws still burnished with ancient blood. Any caster who makes a small sacrifice upon the altar and uses the scourge (1d4 damage) will have their spells restored. Clerics and Paladins of a Lawful deity must save versus spells or lose all remaining spells for the day, having displeased their god for worshiping at an altar of Chaos. (This will only work once per day per character.)

5/5: The Display Room

This rectangular room is 30’ long by 20’ wide with 15’ tall ceilings. The room is constructed out of a green and red marble with small reservoirs carved into the walls every meter. These small shell-shaped reservoirs are linked by a channel containing old lamp oil that runs along the wall. This feature allows lit wicks to be placed in the reservoirs to continuously keep the chamber lit. On the northern wall are three glass display cases filled with all number of small figurines, jewelry, and other bric-a-brac.

• South: Two large double doors made of heavy brass allow entrance into this room from the large corridor to the south. The doors are each carved with scenes of ancient tiger-headed humanoids with backwards hands wielding scimitars and spitting fireballs. Both doors depicts similar scenes of slaughter against elves, dwarves, and what look like mantis-people too.
• East: On the eastern wall is a rather corroded metal door. It is pitted and scratched, and the reservoir next to it is loose. There is also a small, dark glass plate above the lintel. (This door is trapped. To open safely, the shell reservoir next to the door must be pushed down. If instead the regular latch is used to open it, the glass plate above the door will slide open and a corrosive acid will spill out. (1d8 damage and the acid has a 3-in-6 chance of destroying a character’s clothes and armor by eating away at the leather straps and closures.)
• The Cases: There are many different objects in the case. After at least ten minutes of searching characters will discover seven porcelain figurines of ancient elven warriors (each worth 50 gp), 500 gp worth of various small gold rings and necklaces, a gold and silver amulet with the evil eye set into it in lapis lazuli (grants the wearer +1 to Spell Saves), three different holy symbols for gods who are no longer worshipped, a copper athame (dagger +1 against spellcasters), a seashell etched with magic runes (a scroll of Fireball), and a Resting Stone (a special quartz crystal that grants anybody who sleeps within 10’ of it wonderful dreams of contentment and joy).

5/6: The Cave of Music

This limestone chamber is roughly 90’ long and varies from five to 30 feet in width. The ceiling is studded with stalactites. Two are so long that they reach the floor, creating a set of natural pillars. The limestone in the chamber is carpeted with small crystals that reflect torchlight like a thousand stars. From the northwestern end comes the musical plonk of water droplets as they drip from the ceiling into a set of rock pools before they eventually spill over, allowing the collected water to carry on further down the tunnels. The water makes a soothing symphony of sounds that echo throughout the chamber. In the center of the room are the scattered, dark, green-tinted bones of humanoids. Along the edge of the chamber a mining pick, its haft broken in twain, can also be found.

• East: There are two natural tunnelways that enter the cavern from the east. The northeastern passage leads to the metal-banded wooden door to room 5/1. The southeastern corridor curves south, leading to the door to room 5/5. In the southeastern corridor, a secret door is also hidden. This door is made to appear as a natural part of the cave wall. Careful inspections of the cave floor will reveal tracks in the dirt coming from out of the wall where the secret door is hidden. There is a loose stone in the wall at floor level just next to the door. When this stone is depressed, the door will open and reveal a secret staircase that leads all the way up to level two and down another level to level five.
• West: There are two natural tunnels that allow access to the chamber from the west. The northwestern tunnel contains a small stream from the rock pools that runs along the side of it as it turns north and continues into the earth. The southwest end of the room is separated from room 5/7 by one of the natural pillars. Characters will have to squeeze past to enter chamber 5/7 from this direction.

5/7: The Locust Nest

This natural limestone cavern is roughly 35’ by 20’ feet with low 10’ tall ceilings. There is a noxious odor that becomes immediately evident to anyone who enters this chamber. It smells of animal musk and putrid air. Besides the smell, explorers will also quickly become aware of the buzzing sound of many insects. The cavern walls here are studded with foot and a half wide holes. Within many of these holes are Cave Locusts.

• East: The eastern end of the cavern narrows into a tunnel roughly 5’ wide and 8’ tall that bifurcates after about ten feet. One tunnel leads south to the locked door to room 5/4. The other tunnel continues east until it leads to the partially blocked passage to room 5/6.
• West: The room narrows back down to a tunnel on this end. It reduces to only 5’ wide and 5’ tall, making combat within the confines of the tunnel tricky.
• The Locusts: The Cave Locusts are resting when first approached. If characters within the room refrain from loud noises or overly bothersome poking and prodding of the locusts, then the creatures will continue to slumber. If such cautions are not taken, the Locusts will awaken and begin to attack any whom they find in their nesting chamber. There are 2d8 locusts resting here.  A search of the cavern will reveal a skeleton key (works on any door on this floor that doesn’t require a special key) and an amber amulet carved in the repeating geometric style of the dwarves (worth 100 gp).

*A quick housekeeping note. I have gone back and updated my previous Dungeon 23 posts so that they are all searchable by month, not just week number. 

April: Week Four

 Happy end of April everyone! This week we close out level three of the Crucible of Oxyus. The final exploration of this strange prison level is filled with rooms of danger and intrigue. Read on to discover new botanical baddies, rare magical treasures, and heretofore unseen fantastical phenomena. At the end of the dungeon description there will also be this month's encounter table and the full map for level three!

Week Four:

4/24: The Spiders

This room is a 30’ by 35’ rectangle of dressed stone with 30’ high ceilings. A darkened, fist-sized, amber-colored gem has been faceted into the ceiling of this room like in many of the others. The blue double doors in the northwestern corner of the chamber open onto a landing raised about 20 feet above the floor.  A lever to open a portcullis that separates the landing from a steep ramp down into the enclosure is found just past the double doors. The portcullis is lowered. Across from the portcullis and ramp is a raised platform approximately 20’ high with metal railings around it. Behind the platform is an iron-banded wooden door. Thick cobwebs hang from the ceiling and the sides of the raised platforms obscuring the floor of the chamber and the southern wall.

• East: A heavy set of blue-painted metal double doors with small, grated windows in them separates this chamber from the ring corridor to the west. The doors are unlocked. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)
• West: Atop the freestanding platform is a heavy wooden door that’s been barred shut on the other side.
• The Amber Gem: When the double doors are locked, an amber-colored light emanates from the fist-sized gem faceted into the ceiling. The magical light radically slows time for those who bathe in its emanations. For those trapped inside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those outside will seem to accelerate so fast that they appear to become invisible. For those outside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those inside will appear to stand perfectly still as though time for them has completely stopped. If this gem is shattered, the magical time effect will immediately cease. The properly colored keys (the handle that matches the door’s color) are enchanted to turn such lights off and on again when locking or unlocking the door.
• The Spiders: Hiding in the upper reaches of the web are four Giant Black Widow Spiders. These spiders have been locked in here with little to eat and are ravenous. They will wait until PCs enter the room and start to explore, then attack.
• Among the Web: If the web is thoroughly searched, characters will find a pouch with 2d10 gold coins in it, a black-handled key and a silvered short sword along with the bones of a humanoid.

4/25: A Green and Verdant Chamber

This dressed sandstone room is 40’ long by 25’ wide with 30’ tall ceilings. There are two blood-red gems the size of fists faceted to the ceiling. They glow an intense red color and bathe the room in its eerie glow. The entire northern half of the room is raised about 20’ off of the ground and has metal railings protecting the edge. The southern end of the room is completely covered in trees and vines of all kinds. Vines cover the tropical trees and snake their way onto the railing. The smell of fresh earth and plant life is heavy on the air.

• West: In the northeast corner of the room atop the observation platform is a small hallway that allows access to both this room and room 4/26. Between both rooms is a vine-choked metal door that leads north. This door has become stuck by all the plant material clogging the corridor.
• The Blood-Red Gem: The magical glow from this blood-red crystal allows plants to flourish under its light in the absence of sunlight.
• Among The Vines: Those from jungle climates or knowledgeable about plants and animals will recognize these species. They originate many thousands of kilometers to the south, across a great and deep ocean. If characters stop to gather botanicals, they will discover 2d4 rations worth of fresh fruits and vegetables alongside 1d4 portions of Docem Lily, which can be made into a poultice that heals 1d4 hp per use when applied to a wound. Characters will also discover the bodies of two adventurers. They appear to be a fighter and a mage by the manner of their dress, and they haven’t been dead for more than a day. If their corpses are searched characters will find 200 gold coins, two golden bracelets with moonstone pendants (250 gp each), a jeweled scabbard for a short sword made of silver, gold, and bronze pieces hammered with repeating spirals and geometric motifs (700 gp), a scroll of Lightning Bolt, and a red-handled key.

4/26: The Chameleon Vine

This dressed sandstone room is nearly identical to room 4/25. There are two blood-red gems the size of fists faceted to the ceiling. They glow an intense and eerie red color. The entire northern half of the room is raised about 20 feet off of the ground and has metal railings protecting the edge with entrances on the eastern and western ends of the room. This chamber is choked with all sorts of tropical plants, including the very dangerous Chameleon Vine which feeds on not only the body of a creature, but its mind as well. This allows the vine to grow into a shape vaguely resembling the last thing it killed and devoured. This vine simulacrum can remember pieces of its victims’ lives and memories. Even the very learned would struggle to identify the plant, as it can change its leaf shape and color to mimic surrounding plant life. (There is a 1-in-6 chance that a character with the necessary background could identify the vine from its surrounding foliage.)

• North: The northern wall of the raised platform has a series of torch loops on it. A close inspection of these will reveal that the second loop closest to the western wall is loose. If pulled, a secret door will slide to the right and reveal a hidden staircase that allows travel to the levels above and below this one.
• East: Atop the observation platform to the east is a small hallway that allows access to both this room and room 4/25. Between both rooms is a vine-choked metal door that leads north. The door is stuck.
• West: On the western end of the platform a short hallway leads to a locked, iron-banded, green-painted wooden door with a small, grated window. (This door can be unlocked by any green-handled skeleton key.)
• The Blood-Red Gem: The magical glow from this blood-red crystal allows plants to flourish under its light in the absence of sunlight.
• The Chameleon Vine: The Vines in this room are dormant, but if characters attempt to cut or pick plants in this room it will awaken their wrath. The Vines are currently in two forms, that of a great cat and that of a humanoid. There are two Chameleon Vine Panthers and three Chameleon Vine-Men. Their stat blocks are below:
• Chameleon Vine Panther:
• AC 4 [15], HD 4* (18hp), Att 2 x claw (1d4), 1 x bite (1d8) or 1 x squeeze (2d8)
• THAC0 16 [+3], MV 210’ (70’),
• SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4),
• ML 10, AL Neutral, XP 125, TT U
• Squeeze: If the Vine Panther has successfully made an attack against an opponent on the previous round and their opponent hasn’t moved out of melee, they can automatically grapple their opponent with their vines during their nest round. The victim’s movement is reduced to 0 and they take 2d8 damage. They will continue to take damage every round until they are freed (It takes a successful Open Doors check to free a grappled character, though this does take an entire round.)
• Chameleon Vine-Men:
• AC 3 [16], HD 4+1* (20 hp), Att 1 x claw (1d8) or 1 x squeeze (2d8)
• THAC0 15 [+4], MV 120’ (40’),
• SV D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4),
• ML 10, AL Neutral, XP 200, TT U
• Squeeze: If the Vine-Man has successfully made an attack against an opponent on the previous round and their opponent hasn’t moved out of melee, they can automatically grapple their opponent with their vines during their next round. The victim’s movement is reduced to 0 and they take 2d8 damage. They will continue to take damage every round until they are freed. (It takes a successful Open Doors check to free a grappled character, though this does take an entire round.)

4/27: The Cube

This 35’ by 35’ square chamber of dressed sandstone has 35’ tall ceilings. There is no gem in this room and the interior is unlit. The main entrance is a set of blue double doors on the south wall which open onto a landing separated from the rest of the chamber by a portcullis. The lever for the portcullis is just inside the landing. There is a steep ramp that travels 20 feet down to the chamber floor from there. A 15’ wide platform is attached to the western wall with a sturdy metal door to allow access from the corridor to the west of this room. The landing and its portcullis appear obscured to anyone peeking through the small windows in the double doors.

• South: A heavy set of blue-painted metal double doors with small, grated windows in them separates this chamber from the ring corridor to the south. The doors are locked. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)
• West: The metal door atop the platform has been barred shut from the other side. There is sand and dirt all over the floor of the platform and some of the flagstones are loose.
• The Gelatinous Cube: Waiting just inside the landing between the double doors and the portcullis is the room’s sole inhabitant, a Gelatinous Cube. At some point the cube must have pushed its way through the metal bars of the portcullis and has been waiting for the door to open since. If characters fail to see the creature it will surprise them with an attack as soon as the doors are opened. The ring corridor is just wide enough to allow the Cube to pursue fleeing characters, but as soon as the Cube loses sight of them it will cease to chase and begin moving its normal exploration speed in the opposite direction around the ring corridor.
• A Loose Flagstone: There are some loose flagstones on top of the platform on the western side of the room. If characters search under them they will find someone’s abandoned loot, including 200 platinum coins stamped with the face of an unknown elf queen, two intact amber gems (worth 650 go each), three gold rings with small cameos made of carved gemstones (each worth 200 gp), and a platinum circlet made to look like grape leaves wrapped in a wreath (1,000 gp).

4/28: A Grizzly Scene

This dressed sandstone room is 20’ by 30’ with a ceiling 30’ high. There is a ramp from the entrance that leads 20’ down to the floor of the chamber. Across from the main entrance is a 20’ high platform with a metal railing. A metal door on the northern wall allows access to the platform. There is a water bucket in one corner of the chamber and a large mass of straw that was probably used for bedding. The straw pile and the walls here are covered in dried blood. The metallic smell of it is pungent. Human body parts in advanced stages of decay litter the chamber.

• North: Behind the platform is a sturdy metal door that has been barred from the other side.
• South: An unlocked, iron-banded, blue-painted wooden door with a small, grated window allows entrance into this room from the ring corridor. (This door can be unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)

4/29: A Gruesome Error

This is a simple dressed sandstone cell, 20’ by 20’ square with 10’ tall ceilings. The chamber’s only piece of furniture, a bed, has been pushed into the middle of the room. This room has a faceted crystal in the ceiling like the others, but something seems to have gone wrong with this one. Atop the bed a female humanoid in tattered clothes stands, a large chunk of flagstone in her hand. She is frozen in the motion of smashing the amber crystal with it. Something must have gone wrong though, as she has been transformed into crystal during her attempted act of destruction. Her whole body is now a giant amber crystal.

• East: A locked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small, grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.)
• The Body: If the room is properly unlocked, the crystalized humanoid will immediately shatter into a thousand pieces. The pieces are in total worth 1,000 gp in total.

4/30: The Quiet Way Out

This is a small, dressed sandstone cell, just 15’ by 20’ with 10’ tall ceilings. The amber gem that was faceted into the ceiling has been smashed to bits. There is a cot against the back wall. Atop the cot lies the desiccated corpse of a dwarf.

• East: A locked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small, grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.)
• The Body: The dwarf appears to have died a long time ago, as the body is very old and brittle. Even still, it is clear that this fellow died from starvation. His only possession is a small wooden amulet of Agen Ataar, the dwarf’s chief god and protector.

Encounter Table:

1. 1d2 Chameleon Vine Panthers looking to expand their range.
2. 2d6 Orcs from the level above, searching for treasure.
3. The sound of footsteps quickly receding into the distance.
4. 1d4 Chameleon Vine-Men imitating a party of adventurers setting up camp.
5. 1d4 Wererats and 2 groups of 2d4 rats from the level above, hunting for food.
6. The Rhagodessa, hunting through the corridors for prey.
7. The half-chewed head of mustachioed human.
8. 1d6 Dwarves from the level below, looking for food.
9. 2d6 Zombies dressed in the tattered robes of Oxyus’s guardsmen, bumbling around trying to unlock doors without any keys.
10. A distant and savage roar.

 

April: Week Three

 Salutations scrambled seekers! Welcome to this weeks installment of my Dungeon 23 project, The Crucible of Oxyus. At the beginning of April we descended down to level three and started to explore this bizarre level full of locked doors and time frozen prisoners. Now that we've come to week three we shall start to find other sorts of creatures imprisoned here, beasts and monsters from across the known world. What secrets await? What mysteries shall unfold? What treasures shall be uncovered? Read on and see!

Week Three

4/17: The Stairwell

This 30’ by 25’ chamber made of well-dressed sandstone has 15’ tall ceilings and is ringed with loops for torches, though none are present. A large stone staircase dominates the room, allowing those from levels above and below to access this level. A single child’s shoe in the corner of the room is the only clue of prior occupation.

• East: There is a narrow stone hallway on the eastern wall that turns south before connecting with the main ring corridor. A thick stone door with a rather ornate metal lock bars the way. The door shimmers with a wan yellow glow. Anyone who attempts to open the door without the correct key will trigger a magical trap that shrinks anyone in front of the door to 1 foot in height. Characters caught in this effect must save against spells or suffer its consequences. This effect lasts for d4 hours. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 can lock or unlock this door without triggering the trap.)

4/18: The Leucrocottas

This dressed sandstone chamber is 35’ long by 30’ wide with a 25’ tall ceiling. A fist-sized, amber colored gem has been faceted to the ceiling inside this chamber. Its amber glow dramatically slows the passage of time. The entrance is elevated 15 feet above the floor with a waist-high metal railing to prevent anyone from falling into the pit. A dilapidated ladder descends to the floor where a water bucket and a large nest of bedding can be found. Atop the bedding, two stag-bodied creatures with lion-like tails and faces reminiscent of a badger’s rest (these are Leucrocotta). They appear motionless.

• South: A locked iron-banded, blue-painted wooden door with a small, grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.) Opening the door with the key will automatically switch off the amber light, causing the creature to start moving as though it had just been unfrozen in time.
• The Amber Light: The amber-colored light emanates from a fist sized gem faceted into the wall above the door. The magical light radically slows time for those who bathe in its emanations. For those trapped inside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those outside will seem to accelerate so fast that they appear to become invisible. For those outside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those inside will appear to stand perfectly still as though time for them has completely stopped. If this gem is shattered, the magical time effect will immediately cease. The properly colored keys (the handle that matches the door’s color) are enchanted to turn such lights off and on again when locking or unlocking the door.
• The Leucrocottas: These creatures are not truly sentient, but they do possess a cruel cunning and the ability to mimic sounds and voices perfectly. When they first see a character in the room with them, the Leucrocottas will call out for help in the scared voices of children or old women. They are just repeating voices they have heard before, attempting to lure characters into the enclosure so they can attack and eat them. Under the rotting bedding the bones of a human child and two adult humans can be found, along with 2d10 gold coins and a rusted dagger.

4/19: The Manticore

This dressed sandstone chamber is 45’ long by 25’ wide with 30’ ceilings. There is no gem in the ceiling of this room. The place where it would be is just a series of gauges now. The entranceway and platform are 20 feet above the rest of the room, with a metal railing protecting characters from falling onto the floor below. An empty bucket and a rotting wooden ladder have been set on the side of the platform, and atop the rotting straw bedding the mostly rotten corpse of a manticore lays. A sword is still embedded in the creature’s skull.

• South: An iron-banded, blue-painted wooden door with a small, grated window is the only way in or out of this room. The door is unlocked. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)
• The Manticore: The creature is well decayed, but it is clear it expired by violence. The sword in its head can be retrieved with a successful open doors check. This is in fact a Sword +1 of Wounding! Underneath the monster’s corpse the crushed corpse of an adventurer can be found. They had a pouch with 2d20 gold coins, a silver holy symbol of the Blood God Avarti (worth 100 gp), and two flasks of oil in a backpack.

4/20: The Flail Snail

This is a large 30’ long square chamber with a 30’ tall ceiling. A fist-sized, amber colored gem has been faceted to the ceiling inside this chamber. Its glow dramatically slows the passage of time. The double doors in the north of the room open to a small antechamber. The double doors enter onto a landing about 20’ above the floor of the room.  A lever to open a portcullis that separates the landing from a steep ramp down into the enclosure is found just past the double doors. Across from the closed portcullis and ramp is a raised platform, approximately 20’ high with metal railings around it. Behind the platform and through a short hallway is another door. In one corner of this chamber a large water basin rests. On another side of the room a large purple Snail with a giant, blue-speckled shell can be seen. It appears to have large spikey balls at the ends of its eyestalks instead of eyes. This must be the fabled and feared Flail Snail!

• North: A heavy set of locked, blue-painted metal double doors with small, grated windows in them separates this chamber from the ring corridor to the north. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key. Unlocking the door will turn the amber gem off.)
• South: At the back of the platform a 10’ long hallway leads to an iron-banded wooden door. This door has been barred shut on the other side.
• The Amber Light: See room 4/18 for details of how the light works.
• The Snail: The Flail Snail is aggressive due to lack of food. No one has been in to feed it in a long time (from the snail’s perspective). If approached cautiously and offered food, it will be more docile and willing to ignore or befriend characters.

4/21: The Scorpion Nest

This is a large 30’ long square chamber with a 30’ tall ceiling made of dressed sandstone. A fist-sized, amber colored gem has been faceted to the ceiling inside this chamber. Its glow dramatically slows the passage of time. The double doors open onto a landing about 20’ above the floor of the room.  A lever to open a portcullis that separates the landing from a steep ramp down into the enclosure is found just past the double doors. Across from the portcullis and ramp is a raised platform approximately 20’ high with metal railings around it. Behind the platform and down a short hallway is another door. In one corner of this chamber a large water basin rests. Inside the enclosure is a large mass of straw. Clearly visible atop the pile of straw are two Giant Scorpions and the partially decomposed corpse of an elf in rusted chainmail.

• North: A heavy set of locked, blue-painted metal double doors with small, grated windows in them separates this chamber from the ring corridor to the north. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any blue-handled skeleton key.)
• South: Just like room 4/20, the back of the platform has a 10’ long hallway that leads to an iron-banded wooden door. This door has been barred shut on the other side.
• The Amber Light:  See room 4/18 for details of how the light works.
• The Scorpions and the Elf: There are actually three Giant Scorpions nesting in the straw pile. The third is asleep under the two visible scorpions. The scorpions are territorial and will try and defend their food stores (the elf’s corpse) from anyone entering the chamber. The corpse shows signs of being decomposed for only a few weeks and smells quite pungent. It bears a necklace of woven platinum and white gold with sapphires clustered at its center (worth 550 gp). A search of the straw pile will yield one heavy shield emblazoned with a golden lightning bolt, 2d10 scattered silver coins, and two keys - one key with a lacquered blue handle (this key will lock or unlock any blue door on this level), and another key with a lacquered black handle (this key will lock or unlock all unpainted wooden doors on this level).

4/22: The Rogue Rhagodessa

This is a large, dressed sandstone room, 55’ long by 35’ wide with 40’ tall ceilings. There is no gem in the ceiling of this room. The place where it would be is just a ragged hole now. On the western side of the room are the remnants of the entrance. The stout blue double doors, however, are missing. The portcullis between the entrance landing and the rest of the room has been opened allowing easy access to the raised platform that hugs the western and northern sides of the room before it plunges 20 feet down a ramp on the southern wall into the enclosure proper.

The landing is ringed by a metal railing. The platform on the northern end of the room is the location of a second entrance through a narrow 10’ long corridor. A crack in the northeastern corner of the chamber is filled with dripping water, while a pile of straw can be seen heaped in the opposite side. The stench of animal sweat and old blood fills this chamber alongside the monstrous heaving breath of some unseen creature. Hiding in the shadows at the back of this lair is the huge hairy bulk of the ten-legged horror known as a Rhagodessa.

• North: There is a 10’ long hallway on this wall that leads to an iron-banded wooden door. The door has been barred shut on the other side.
• West: The set of blue doors that used to bar entrance to this room have been removed. The condition of the remaining hinge pieces indicate the door was forced open from the inside. The portcullis beyond the door has been opened and the handle of the lever has been broken off.
• The Rhagodessa: This hairy, ten-legged beast is a cunning subterranean carnivore known as a Rhagodessa. It has a hairy yellow head and abdomen with a shaggy, dark brown thorax and ten gnarled legs with suckers at the end of them. The creature was freed from its time-slowed imprisonment at some point and now seems to be settling into the dungeon rather well. The Rhagodessa will not tolerate anyone in its lair and will fight to expel anyone foolish enough to explore the room. If PCs have encountered the Rhagodessa by rolling an encounter on the the encounter table in the last 30 minutes before entering this room for the first time, then it will be empty, but the creature will return within approximately 20 minutes. A thorough search of the room will yield 2d6 gold coins scattered about and a whole lot of bones.

4/23: The Control Room

This simple 20’ by 20’ sandstone room with a 15’ ceiling has a row of waist-high metal boxes on its eastern side. The boxes are covered in dimly glowing protrusions of many colors. There are switches, buttons, and a small oval piece of reddish glass lit from behind that seems to show a pulsing blue dot moving up and down across its surface. The air here smells of sour ozone, and the boxes give off enough heat that this room is always 75* Fahrenheit.

• North: There is an iron-banded wooden door with a small, grated window on this wall. The door has had its lock smashed in. Beyond the door is a short hallway that leads to a perpendicular service corridor that runs east/west. This service corridor allows access to the back doors of rooms 4/20, 4/21, and 4/22. On its eastern end there is a heavy wooden door.
• The Controls: These odd contraptions with their colored buttons and metal boxes are some sort of control panel for the locks and time-slowing crystals on this level. From this panel a character can lock or unlock any red, blue, or green single door on this level, as well as any banks of red, blue, or green doors. Besides that, one could turn on or off any time-slowing crystal in any room that still had an intact gem embedded in the ceiling.  

April: Week Two

 Greetings explorers! This week we shall start to delve deeper into the third level of the Crucible of Oxyus. Down below we have rooms where time seems to stand still, rooms with potential allies who are not who they appear to be, and rooms where the secrets of this bedamned hole in the ground can begin to be revealed. Read on and enjoy!

Week Two

4/10: A Prisoner in Time

This is a 20’ by 30’ cell made of dressed sandstone with 10’ high ceilings. A small bunk and a side table make up one half of the room’s contents, the other half being a large table propped against the opposite wall. A gray-skinned humanoid with a stubby, upturned nose and six fingers on each of her hands is standing motionless inside the cell. An amber-colored light cast from above the door bathes the room in its glow.

• East: A short 10’ long hallway on the eastern wall stops at a red-painted, iron-banded wooden door with a small, grated window. The door is locked. A red-handled key can lock or unlock this door. Opening with the key will automatically switch off the amber light, causing the humanoid to start moving as though they had just been unfrozen in time.
• The Amber Light: The amber-colored light emanates from a fist sized amber gem faceted into the wall above the door. The magical light radically slows time for those who bathe in its emanations. For those trapped inside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those outside will seem to accelerate so fast as to become invisible. For those outside the glow, time seems to pass normally, but those inside will appear to stand perfectly still as though time for them has completely ceased to pass. The red-handled keys are enchanted to turn such lights off and on again when locking or unlocking the door.
• The Prisoner: The gray-skinned humanoid claims to be a Gyss, a race of six-fingered beings who, she claims, live outside the material plane in the astral expanses between the stars. She calls herself Ekli and claims to have been kidnapped at least a year a go and brought to this place where she was experimented on by the wizard Oxyus and his servants. (Ekli is actually a Doppelganger, an evil shapeshifting fey creature. She will feign friendship with those who free her until she can ask enough questions to replace another character and attempt to kill them when no one is paying attention.)

4/11: The Teleportation Chamber

This 25’ long dressed sandstone chamber is 25’ wide at its northern end, contracting after 10’ to only 15’ wide at its southern end. In the back of the room a 10’ diameter circle made of copper, burnt-orange colored mica, and faceted chips of quartz has been laid out on the ground. Behind the circle and against the back wall sits a rectangular metal box with an assortment of glowing protrusions and large switches and levers on its face. A series of flexible fluted tubes connects the circle to the control box.

• South: A short 10’ long hallway leads to a black-painted, iron-banded wooden door with a small, grated window. The lock on this door has been smashed.
• The Teleporter:  This device will convey anybody standing on the circle to any other magical circle in the dungeon as long as they know the correct set of button presses and switch pulls. The proper return code for this circle has been painted in fading paint on the side of the control box. When this device is activated, it produces a three-note musical tone similar to a flute, then spews forth large amounts of red smoke from the circle before sending 1d6 people atop it to the preprogrammed location. There is a 1-in-12 chance when using this particular circle that it fails, sending those using the device to a random room on the level above this one.

4/12: A Broken Cell

This small 15’ by 20’ dressed sandstone cell looks like a tornado has passed through it. The cell’s bunk has been broken into three large pieces that rest in the southeastern corner of the room. Rotting bedding has also been scattered around the floor. In the corner of the room a hole can be seen, having been hacked out of the dressed stone blocks that line the chamber. A broken amber gem the size of a fist is fixed above the door by stone facets.

• North: A locked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small, grated window allows entry to this chamber from the main hallway to the north. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.)
• East: A hole in the masonry has been carved in the southeastern corner of the room. It looks as if an original worked stone feature used to be present on this wall but had been hacked at until there was an opening large enough to allow egress from this cell. Beyond the hole a cut stone corridor leads further east.

 

4/13: The Hobgoblin

This 15’ by 20’ dressed sandstone cell contains a simple cot on the back wall and what looks like a hobgoblin collapsed on the floor. A warm amber light baths the cell from a source above the door. A small slot carved into the corner of the western wall may have been used to feed this poor creature.

• North: A locked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small, grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be locked or unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.) Opening with the key will automatically switch off the amber light, causing the humanoid to start moving as though they had just been unfrozen in time.
• The Amber Light: Please refer to the Amber Light entry in room 4/10 for a description of how the effects from the light work.
• West: The southern corner of the western wall has a worked stone feature at about hip height. The stones of the wall have been carved into a 2-inch tall, 12-inch long slot. Beyond the hole there is only darkness.
• The Hobgoblin: The body slumped over on the floor looks to be a weeping hobgoblin. If the PCs manage to switch off the amber light, he will resume his crying until he notices the PCs. He calls himself Hragal. He claims to have been here too long to remember much of his past. He was once like any other Hobgoblin until Oxyus began to experiment on him, and now he has been transformed through magic into a Thule, a Hobgoblin/Troll/Ghoul hybrid. At some time in the last few months (for him) the guards stopped coming with food. Despite his generally chaotic nature, Hragal feels an obligation to aid the PCs for rescuing him from imprisonment. He will agree to help the PCs until he has a chance to repay his life debt by saving another PC from death. Hragal sees the other prisoners here as food or sport and won’t be happy if PCs aid others.

4/14: The Guard’s Office

This 20’ by 30’ room of dressed sandstone has 15’ high ceilings. The room contains a long table on the eastern wall that is scattered with papers. A small table on the southern side of the room bears a pewter candelabra that holds five half-melted candles. Empty ration tins and the blackened remnants of a small fire in the northwestern corner suggest that other explorers had made their encampment here not too long ago.

• North: A hallway in the middle of the northern wall leads further north to the ring corridor, but not before it crosses an east/west corridor that leads to feeding slots for rooms 4/12 and 4/13. The western side hallway is missing its food slot. Instead, a large person-sized hole has been bashed in the wall from room 4/12. At the entrance to the ring corridor there is a locked, iron banded wooden door with a small, grated window. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 or any black-handled key can open or lock this door.)
• East: In the southeastern corner of the room a short 15’ long hallway leads to room 4/16.
• West: In the southwestern corner of the room a short 15’ long hallway leads to room 4/15.
• The Table: The long table on the eastern wall is scattered with correspondence from a Memresh to his subordinate Heskelesh. In the correspondence Memresh complains about their lord Oxyus insisting they must finish with the “enhancements” on the prisoners so that they may be added to his army as soon as possible. Memresh reprimands Heskelesh for “damaging” their lord’s prisoners and warns him against any further unnecessary injuries. Below the table a loose paving stone hides a small stash of 200 gold coins stuffed into a wooden box.

4/15: The Lever Room

This 20’ square room of dressed sandstone has 15’ tall ceilings. The western wall has two waist-high levers built into stone housings built into the floor. A small table on the north wall and a lone black-handled key hanging from a series of hooks are the only other things in the room. The smell of sweat and animal dung permeates the air here.

• East: A thick wooden door separates this room from the hallway to room 4/14.
• West: A ten-foot-long hallway on the western wall leads to a black-painted, iron banded wooden door with a small grated window. This door is locked from the inside. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 or any black-handled key can open or lock this door.)
• The Key: This black-handled key can be used to unlock doors to administrative rooms on this level, as well as any manacles found here.
• The Levers: Each lever operates one of the portcullises in the large hallway to the west of this room. The northern level will either open or close the northern portcullis, and the southern level will do the same to the southern portcullis.

4/16: The Holding Area

This room is a 20’ by 20’ square with 15’ high ceilings. It is made of dressed sandstone, although the floor has been stained with a dark rust color due to years of blood soaking into it. Four sets of manacles have been affixed on the walls by iron cleats. The iron of the chains is rusted and pitted with age.

• East: A ten-foot-long hallway connects the eastern wall to the ring corridor east of this room. At the end of this hall is an iron-banded wooden door with a small grated window. The door is unlocked. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 or any black-handled key can open or lock this door.)
• West: On the western wall is a thick wood door that separates this area from room 4/14.

 

April's Dungeon Begins!

 Down, down, down we go! Our first stop in April leads us down to level 3 and all the mysteries it contains. This week's dungeon brings us down to a new level of the Crucible of Oxyus and reveals to careful dungeon delvers new rooms filled with danger and reward! Tales of sorrow, hints at danger, and clues to this level's purpose can be found in the rooms below. Read on to find out more...

Month Four

Week One

4/3: The Landing Chamber

This 45’ square chamber is cut out of the mountain itself with a 55’ tall ceiling. The center of the chamber is pierced by a 15’ diameter shaft that enters the chamber from the ceiling and exits the chamber through the floor. A large metallic rectangle roughly the size of a large chest is sat next to the shaft. This box-like object has a number of glowing protuberances and a series of levers on its surface. The shaft above travels 100’ down from room 2/27 to this one. The smells of dried animal dung and sour sweat permeate this room.

• North: The northern wall is separated from a 15’ wide corridor that is attached to this room by a large portcullis. The mechanism to open it doesn’t appear to be here.
• South: A five-foot-wide hallway leads from the chamber on the southern wall. It doesn’t appear to be more than 10’ tall.
• East:  A five-foot-wide hallway leads from the chamber on the eastern wall. The ceiling here is 10’ tall. There is a long drag mark of rust-brown blood heading out of this chamber. The immediate entrance to the hall has 1d8 gold coins scattered about it.
• West: A five-foot-wide hallway leads from the chamber on the western wall. It is only 10’ tall.
• Hallways and Corridors: The access corridors on this level are made of dressed sandstone blocks, and there is also a main hallway that circles this level. The three narrow corridors located on room 4/3’s eastern, western, and southern walls allow travel directly to this ring corridor. The 15’ wide grand concourse that occupies the northern wall of room 4/3 is blocked on both ends by two portcullises. Their operating mechanisms are not visible in the grand hall proper. The circling main access hallway is 10’ wide and exceptionally clean. It can be seen on the eastern end of this week’s map.

4/4: Storeroom

This small 15’ by 20’ room of dressed sandstone has 10’ tall ceilings. A shattered fist-sized, amber-colored gem has been faceted in the ceiling. It is half full of dusty crates and boxes. The smell of the chamber suggest that something may have died in here.

• North: An unlocked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.)
• Crates and Contents: The various crates contain spoiled rations, moldering clothes, and half-decayed shoes. Behind the crates in the corner, the corpse of a rotting Gnoll is sprawled. If searched, the Gnoll is found to have 2d10 silver coins and a rusty dagger on him.

4/5: The Elf’s Cell

This 20’ by 25’ room with 10’ tall ceilings of dressed sandstone is sparsely appointed. The shattered remnants of a fist-sized amber-colored gem can be seen faceted the ceiling in the center of the room. At one end of the room a desiccated old cot rests. On the other end, a small table made of scrap wood can be found alongside a bucket. This sight is made sadder by the old bones of some forgotten humanoid that had slumped against the door long ago.

• North: A locked iron-banded, red-painted wooden door with a small grated window is the only way in or out of this room. (This door can be unlocked by any red-handled skeleton key.)
• The Table: Atop the table are strewn a dry inkwell, a broken quill, and a handful of parchment sheets. Half the parchments have been written on, but the delicate Elvin script is not easy to understand. If deciphered, the parchment sheets reveal the story of the cell’s occupant, Neaglin. Neaglin was an Elf of some unheard-of kingdom who was absconded from his wooded homeland and forced to live in this cell. He had no idea why someone would choose him to kidnap, but it seems that once he got here he was subjected to a plethora of horrible experiments by the wizard Oxyus and his assistants. His last writings are just filled with confusion as to why his handlers left and when they would return.

4/6: Another Cell

This room is a 20’ square with 10’ tall ceilings. A hole the size of a fist has been chiseled out of the ceiling. A rotten old cot in the back of the room is the only object present. A large, rust-brown stain of dried blood occupies the middle of the floor. The name HYRAX has been scratched into the wall the cot lays against. 

• East: The hinges of a robust door are all that remain of this room’s entrance. The room is attached to a 10’ wide corridor that runs north to south.

4/7: The Quartermaster’s Office

This is a small 15’ by 20’ cell with an additional door on the eastern wall. Empty sconces on the walls here can be used to hold torches.  The room contains a table and a waist-high bookshelf stocked with old ledgers. An inkwell, quills, and drying-sand are set atop the table awaiting their master’s return.

• South: An unlocked iron-banded wooden door with a small grated window is the only way in or out of this room.
• East: An iron-banded wooden door with a small grated window in it can be found on this wall. The door has been locked. Through the door a passageway leads to room 4/8. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 and any black-handled key can open this door.)
• The Ledgers: The ledgers on the bookshelf that are still in good enough condition to read seem to focus mostly on animal fodder schedules and supply orders for items like chains, manacles, and lamp oil, as well as personnel requests for “specimen transportation” events.

4/8: Main Storeroom

This dressed stone room is 20’ by 20’ with 15’ tall ceilings. Empty sconces on the walls here can be used to hold torches. At its center is a circular table, and in the corner a small collection of dried old crates can be found. Chunks of broken wood, rotting rags, and dirt cover the floor here. It smells faintly of animal dung.

• South: A locked iron-banded wooden door with a small grated window allows ingress to this room from the access hallway. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 and any black-handled key can open this door.)
• East: Another iron-banded wooden door can be found on this wall. The door has been locked. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 and any black-handled key can open this door.)
• West: A small 15’ long corridor on this wall leads to a door to room 4/7.
• Crates: The crates contain approximately 200 feet of rusted chain, 10 sets of manacles that have completely rusted shut, 20 old torches, and three sets of block and tackle.

4/9: The Pantry

This dressed sandstone room is a 20’ by 20’ square with 15’ tall ceilings. This room contains a large wooden table dyed rust-red by gallons of blood with two rusted cleavers atop it (as Axe), a handful of barrels encrusted with dried blood, and a small brass grate in the center of the floor. The metallic-sweet smell of old blood and ages-old rot permeate the air in this chamber.

• South: There is a corridor that leads to this room from the eastern end of the south wall. This hallway leads to room 4/8.
• East: Through a small hallway on the eastern wall a locked iron-banded wooden door separates this room from the large ring corridor to the east. (The pearl-handled key from room 3/13 and any black-handled key can open this door.)
• The Barrels: There are three barrels in the corner of the room. The largest contains 300 feet of hemp rope in a large coil, and the other two contain bones and the rotten meat that clung to them, having now  been transformed by time into a smelly mass of rotten muck.
• Secret Stash: If the room is searched thoroughly, characters will notice that the brass grate is loose. If it is removed, a pouch containing 20 gold coins, two gold rings with semi-precious stones (worth 100 gp each), and a red-handled key are found.