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.