May: Week Two

 The seasons turn and the march of time draws us inexorably closer to our own deaths. Will halls of the Crucible of Oxyus be the site of your greatest triumph, or your final oblivion? Week two of May's dungeon level is here, replete with devilish treasures, devious monstrosities, and the echoing sounds of your own doom! Read on to see what secrets still lie in the darkened earth beneath the mountains, if you dare!

Week Two:

5/8: The Stair Room

This dressed sandstone room is 50’ long by 45’ wide with a raised platform on the northern end. The ceilings here are 25’ high and painted with the constellations of the summer sky. The northern wall has loops for torches on it. The raised platform is protected by a rusted metal rail and can be accessed by a short stair. In the middle of the platform is a large, enclosed stone staircase that allows access from the second to the fifth floor. There are old blood stains on the lower level of this room alongside a scattering of broken chainmail links and a shattered axe head. The air in this chamber is a few degrees hotter than the surrounding rooms and corridors.

• North: The northern wall has a concealed door in it. The door fits almost perfectly flush with the wall but is easy enough to spot if someone is searching carefully. The door is hinged on the top and pushes into a corridor beyond that leads to room 5/9.
• South: The door on the southern wall is frescoed with a scene of a field of smoldering volcanos. This way leads to room 5/14.
• East: The eastern door is a thick wooden door covered in hammered brass plates. The door is patinaed with verdigris, especially in two areas - a hand-sized area on the top left of the door and a similarly-sized spot of extra verdigris roughly halfway down the door across from the handle. The flagstones on the inside of the room in front of the door have been slightly reddened by something, and the same is true for the stones of the hallway on the opposite side of the door. This door is trapped. Both areas of the door with extra verdigris are actually pressure plates. If they are pressed into the door a loud click will be heard, indicating the trap has been deactivated. If the door is opened without deactivating the trap, it will trigger. Anyone standing within 10’ of the door when the trap is triggered must make a successful Breath save as red mist starts pouring out of some well-concealed holes along the edges of the door. Those who fail the saving throw take 2d8 damage and suffer a -2 penalty to all attack rolls for an hour, those who succeed take half the damage and suffer no penalty.
• West: The entire western wall of the platform has collapsed at some point in the past and now a 15’ wide, 25’ tall tunnel runs down and out of this room and further into the mountain. The distant echo of hammers can be heard from down the wide passageway and a dull orangish glow can be seen emanating from further down the tunnel.

5/9: The Announcing Room

This cut stone room is 30’ long by 25’ wide. The ceiling of the chamber is 15’ tall. A silk pull string with a frilly pom-pom at the end is dangling from a small hole in the ceiling in the middle of the chamber. Each wall has a different beautiful tapestry covering it. Because of the hanging tapestries, the air here seems to eat sound, rendering the room very quiet. The smell of mothballs permeates the chamber.

• North: The tapestry on this wall has a silvery lilac fringe and is woven through with lilac, sage, silver, and gray threads. The scene depicted is of a choir of elven slaves wearing rags and iron collars. Behind them a tiger-headed humanoid with backwards hands holds a brass chain connected to the slave’s collars. In his other hand he wields a bloody cat-o-nine-tails. He grins sadistically as the slaves seem to be crying out in agony. (this is worth 2,000 gp)
• South: The tapestry hanging from this wall has gold fringe and depicts two green mantis-people with iron collars standing on a large dais alongside a gigantic bronze gong. The gong has been painted with the leering face of a demon. The mantis folk can be seen in mid-swing as they bludgeon the gong with large, padded hammers. (this is worth 2,500 gp)
• East: This wall has a black-fringed tapestry that depicts a bare-chested tiger-headed humanoid blowing on a long, straight brass horn. The bell of the horn is shaped like the face of a dwarf, their mouth agape in pain. The tiger-headed humanoid stands amidst the aftermath of a battle, with bloodied bodies littering the background. (this is worth 3,000 gp)
• West: This wall has a crimson-fringed tapestry hung on it depicting a writhing dwarf, naked save for her iron slave collar and with a large gash across her stomach. Her intestines are being pulled out and strung on a golden lyre by a looming tiger-headed humanoid who is obliviously tuning their instrument. (this is worth 3,000 gp)
• The Pull String: This elegant pull string is connected to an elaborate mechanism that rings a large bell, announcing whoever pulls it to the rest of the dungeon. If a character pulls the pull string, a loud, deep bell can be heard sounding through the entire dungeon level. This alerts any intelligent monsters on this level to an intruder in their midst. All wandering monster checks from now on indicate a 4-in-6 chance of an encounter. This will reset back to the normal chance of an encounter after one day without the bell being rung. Monsters encountered will have zero chance of being surprised by the party once on alert.

5/10: The Glowing Grotto

This natural limestone cavern is roughly 80’ long and around 30’ wide at its widest. The ceiling of this chamber rises almost 50 feet, although a crack in the back of the cave leads even further into the darkness of the waiting stones. There is a ledge on the northern side of the cave ten feet above the level of the entrance. Atop this ledge a multitude of lichen-like plants glow with orange, yellow, and white light. Their glow lights up the entire cavern as though by candlelight and spills into the tunnel beyond. Among the glowing lichens are a crate of torches, a crate of iron spikes, and a crate of hammers. Each crate is roughly two feet square, and they are all branded with a dwarven clan seal. At the back of the cave, a thick rope descends from the large crack in the ceiling to the cave floor.

• The Supplies: Any character fluent in Dwarvish can tell that these crates have been branded with the mark of Clan Urg’Vesh. This name is from a local dialect of Dwarvish. The native dwarves of this continent were almost eradicated millennia ago in some great tragedy, and they now hide under the earth in large strongholds and trade little with the surface world. Almost all dwarves encountered on the surface are immigrants from the Eastern Continent who fled here 2,000 years ago or later, after the end of the Wars of Fire.
• The Crack: The ceiling in the back of the cave is cracked, and a natural chimney has formed that leads up to the crack in the ceiling. A thick hide rope descends from the darkness of the crack all the way down to the cavern. If explored, the crack will lead many miles under the mountain through hazardous terrain, eventually terminating in a cave on the other side. Of what can be found along that path is not in the scope of this project to detail though.

5/11: A Wet Corpse

This limestone cavern is roughly 25’ in diameter with a low six-foot-tall ceiling. A small stream of water flows from a tunnel in the south of the chamber out the tunnel to the north and eventually into the larger 15’ wide tunnel that dominates the northern end of this level. The room reeks of rotting flesh and the half-decayed body of a dwarf in rent chainmail can be seen face down in a pool of water in the room’s center. (If it hasn’t been entered yet, then sounds of animalistic feeding can be heard from room 5/12.)

• North: There is a short six-foot-wide passage that connects this cavern to the larger east/west running tunnel.
• South: There is a natural set of stairs that separates this chamber from room 5/12. Water is slowly running down the steps, making it hazardous to traverse them in combat.
• The Body: This dwarf has been dead for a few days at least. The chainmail it wears has been rent open and huge gashes cover the torso. Half the corpse’s head is missing. If searched, the dwarf is found to have a broken clay holy symbol of the god Agen Ataar, The Great Master Of The Earth.

5/12: Ghouls in the Grotto

This natural limestone cavern is roughly 30’ to 35’ in diameter. Its roof is peeked in the center at roughly 30’ in height and slopes aggressively down to four feet high at the chamber’s edges. The trickling stream that flows through room 5/11 flows through this cavern as well, originating further south. The stream flows into the chamber from the natural steps that enter the cavern to the east. The cavern is echoing with the sounds of a gruesome feast. 2d8 Ghouls are clustered about the cavern, ravenously devouring the half rotten corpse of two poor dwarves. There are only parts of the bodies left, as the ghouls have torn them apart in their feeding frenzy. The faint sound of musical water drops can be heard distantly to the south.

• North: The water running through this cavern has carved a series of steps through the mountain, linking this chamber with room 5/11 to the north.
• East: The flow of water from room 5/6 has over time carved a series of tunnels and natural stone steps through the earth. This passageway leads from there to room 5/12, linking it with the tunnels to rooms 5/13 and 5/14.
• The Ghouls: Who these wretched creatures once were in life has by now been lost to the ages. They know only hunger and pain now. The ghouls are comprised of the bodies of elves, dwarves, and mantis people. The dwarven ghouls seem to be fresher than the other ghouls. Though they display an animalistic cunning, these creatures no longer possess the gift of speech or reasoning and will attack the living on principle.

5/13: The Shimmering Cavern

This cavern is double lobed, the larger section being roughly 35’ in diameter and the smaller section roughly 15’ in diameter. The ceilings here vary from 35 feet in places to only six feet or less feet. The stalactites that hang down glitter with a metallic green. The walls of the cavern also show large veins of a metallic green mineral. The light that shines off of it shines back golden in color, casting the entire cave in shimmering golden light if well lit. The musical sound of distant water drops plonking away can be heard echoing down the tunnel to the south.

• South: This room has only one entrance. The tunnels to the south connect to this room by a narrow rent in the cavern wall.
• The Mineral: To dwarves and other characters well versed in prospecting, geology, or alchemical metallurgy, this mineral is identifiable as Yktinite. Yktinite can be smelted and refined into a legendary metal known as umbral steel. Umbral steel is lighter and stronger than regular steel and can be enchanted with spells of shadow and stealth very easily. It makes weapons that resist detection and can deal damage to a foe’s shadow itself. The knowledge to smelt and refine Yktinite has been lost to all but the most learned and powerful alchemical smiths.

5/14: The Mushroom Grove

This oddly shaped limestone cave is roughly 50’ by 45’ with ceilings that vary from 10’ to 30’ in height. The musty odor of cave fungus hangs heavy in the air here. There are two prominent species of toadstools covering the sides of the cavern. Both red capped, yellow spotted mushrooms with gills and purple-colored toadstools with green spots and pores can be seen here. To the west the distant musical echo of water drops can be heard.

• North: There is a tunnel at the north end of the cavern that leads to a door with a gray, red, and orange fresco of a burning cloud on it. this door leads to room 5/8.
• West: The western end of the cavern becomes a narrow tunnel only five feet in diameter that leads to a junction between rooms 5/6, 5/12, and 5/13.
• The Red Mushroom: The red capped mushrooms with yellow spots and gills are a variety of hallucinogenic fungus called Logira that easily resemble a common underground food mushroom known as Yeksmal. There is a 2-in-6 chance that even a knowledgeable character will misidentify this mushroom as the regular edible species. If eaten, characters must succeed at a Poison saving throw or become under the effects of the mushroom within 2d6 minutes. Those under the influence of Logira will be overcome with a strong berserker urge for violence as their vision becomes tinged with red. For the next 1d4 X 10 minutes those under the influence will gain a +2 bonus to their melee damage and suffer a -2 penalty to their armor class. Once the hallucinogen has peaked the user will suffer a -3 penalty to attack roll for the next 1d4 hours. Those under the influence of Logira can be discerned by their over abondance of saliva and the fact that their saliva turns red while under its effect. There are only 1d6 uses of this mushroom.
• The Purple Mushroom: The purple mushroom with green spots and pores is called Kreesin. It is easily identified by most savvy dungeon explorers because of its beneficial effects. Not only can Kreesin be eaten as a ration, but it extends and enhances the senses, something that can make a difference when in a dangerous environment like the underground. The fungus starts to take effect after 1d3 minutes, enhancing one’s senses and preventing the eater from being surprised during the duration of effect. The mushroom’s effect will last 4d6 X 10 minutes while the user suffers from constant dry mouth and a sensitivity to loud noises and bright lights. After the mushroom wears off the user will be overcome with exhaustion and must sleep an extra four hours when they make a long rest to sleep. There are only 1d8 uses of this mushroom.