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.