June: Week Four

 Salutations skillful spelunkers! Welcome to this week's installment of The Crucible of Oxyus, my year long Dungeon 23 mega-dungeon. Bellow you will find seven new rooms of dark and dangerous dungeon denizens! This week brings secret treasures, hooked monstrosities, fading murals, and the echoing darkness of a vast underground sea. At the end of the dungeon writeup you will find a complete level map and the encounter table for this month's dungeon. If you like what you've read and want to see how it all began, click here. If you want to start at the beginning of the month, click here. 

Week Four

6/25: The Dead Die Hard

This natural limestone cave is approximately 20 to 30 feet in diameter with  stalactite covered ceilings about 15 feet in height. The floor is heaped with desiccated bones and mostly rotting corpse parts. The stench inside this chamber is putrid. To add insult to injury, there are about ten zombies milling about the chamber, occasionally trying to eat what’s been left on the floor. Their clothes range from the torn rags of adventurers to priest frocks to nothing but crude iron slave collars. 

• South: A natural tunnel leads from the south end of the cave back to the cave with the carrion crawlers, room 6/10
• West: A 35’ long tunnel connects this room’s northwestern corner to room 6/26.
• The Zombies: These zombies are the corpses of those who have died in this miserable underground labyrinth. Their souls unable to find their way back to the surface, these persons’ bodies have reanimated as zombies. Among the adventurers there can be found 2d10 platinum coins, 4d20 gold coins, 2d8 silver coins, and 100 feet of silk rope.

6/26: Pillars of Gold

This limestone cave is roughly 50’ long by 35’ wide with 20’ tall ceilings dripping with stalactites. The room is dominated by two large natural pillars and most of the walls and ceiling in the southern half of the chamber are covered in spikey yellow, lichen-like mold. The musty air is thick with spores and it is hard to breathe. The sounds of clicking and gnashing can be heard faintly to the west.

• South: A hallway has been cut out of bare stone on the southern end of the room that runs for 20 feet before joining a wide, vaulted corridor that runs east/west through the mountain. These two hallways are separated from each other by a  wooden door painted yellow. The door seems to have swelled shut and is stuck.
• East: A natural limestone tunnel from room 6/25 connects to this chamber on the northeastern side of the cave.
• West: A tunnel runs from the northwestern edge of this cave to cavern 6/27. The clicking noises are coming from the direction of this cave.
• The Mold: The lichen-like Yellow Mold is rather toxic if disturbed, releasing choking clouds of spores. Skilled adventurers should have no trouble identifying the dungeon hazard.

6/27: A Hunting Party

This natural limestone cave is approximately 45 feet long by 35 feet wide with a ceiling topping out at 15 feet high. Two natural pillars of rippled limestone keep silent watch over what transpires within the chamber. Inside the cavern, four hook beasts are stooped over a pile of what may have once been lizardfolk as the hungry creatures feast away. The sound of their odd, self-satisfied clicking can be heard mingling in between noises of wet crunches and splatters.

• North: A five-foot-wide corridor has been cut from the rock on the western end of the cave. It leads north to cave 6/28.
• East: On the northeastern end of the room, a tunnel connects this cave to cavern 6/26.
• West: On the western side of the chamber where the cut stone tunnel leading north begins is another carved tunnel. This tunnel leads due west ten feet further into the mountain before stopping at a locked bronze door that bars entrance to room 7/1 beyond.
• The Hook Beasts: The Hook Beasts are bipedal monsters with vulture-like beaks, hardened carapaces, and long hooks for appendages. The beasts are curious by nature and also quite territorial, making them dangerous to most dungeon adventurers. These particular hook beasts are momentarily distracted by their meal and won’t initially notice quiet characters when they first approach.

6/28: The Gallery

This natural limestone gallery runs 85 feet and is approximately 10 to 20 feet wide at most. The ceiling in this cavern is 30 feet tall, and a natural pillar of limestone rises up to support it on the western end of the chamber. The limestone that makes up this cave gallery has some kind of special acoustic qualities to it, noticeably amplifying even the smallest of sounds made in the chamber.

• East: The eastern end of this chamber is connected to a north/south hallway that travels down to room 6/27.
• West: A narrow limestone tunnel on the western side of the cave leads to room 6/29. Human-sized characters will have to squeeze to make it through the tunnel.
• The Echo: Even the quietest of characters will produce loud, overlapping echoes by the time they’re even halfway through this chamber. It is simply impossible to attempt to remain quiet inside the chamber unless one is standing completely still. Characters traveling through the room will trigger a chance of a random encounter. Anyone traveling through the room can be easily heard by anyone in either adjoining cavern.

6/29: The Kitchen

This oddly shaped natural limestone cavern is roughly 45 feet long by 35 feet wide with 15 foot tall ceilings. The room has three rippled limestone pillars that rise up from the floor like the trunks of great trees. This chamber has the look of a kitchen about it. There is a large, rusted iron cooking range with a stove pipe coming out of it and sticking into the wall, and an ancient wooden table against the eastern wall. A series of rusted metal chains have been fixed to the cavern wall with metal cleats. At the end of each chain is a manacle. The sound of lapping waves can be faintly heard from within the chamber with no obvious source. A damp fishy smell hangs in the air here.

• East: There are two entrances into this chamber, both originating on the eastern end of the cave. A narrow natural tunnel in the northeast leads back to cave 6/28. In the southeast, an iron-banded wooden door leads to a small T-section hallway carved out of the living rock. Traveling further east will bring one to the door to room 6/30. Taking the southern passage will take one down a long corridor to a heavy stone door that separates the corridor from the vaulted hallway beyond it.
• The Range: The ancient doors to the range’s firebox have long ago rusted shut. With a successful Open Doors check a character can force the doors open and discover some hidden treasure! Poorly hidden among the ashes of ancient cookfires are four 50-pound ingots of gold worth 500 gp each, two jars of rancid lamp oil, and a stoppered glass bottle with a Scroll of Striking and two Scrolls of Wall of Fire inside it.
• The Secret Doors: If characters are quiet enough, they can discern that the noise of lapping water is coming from the other side of the secret door on the western wall. A cool but stinky breeze can also be felt and smelled coming from the edges of the secretly concealed door. If the fake wall is pushed back, it will slide backwards on a concealed track behind the door and move to the side to reveal a small chamber. From within the concealed chamber, one can see a handle on the opposite wall. The handle is mirrored on the inside of the concealed door from room 6/29. By pulling on either door from inside the concealed chamber, one can open the secret door with ease. Beyond the door is the shore of a vast underground sea.

6/30: Faded Glories

This chamber is constructed out of dressed sandstone blocks and is 25’ long by 20’ wide with 10’ tall ceilings. The only things within the room are three ancient wooden chairs and a few other scattered bits of wood on the floor. Some planks show signs of burning. The four walls of this room are covered in the fractured remains of fading painted plaster murals. The murals depict barren wastelands of striated stone mesas and smoldering, smoking craters dappled with the occasional spikey looking cactus. An angry red sun dominates the eastern wall. Loops of brass have been fixed to the walls around the entire chamber every few feet to allow for ample torches to occupy the chamber.

• East: Through a short ten-foot-long corridor on the eastern end of the room can be found a heavy bronze door, its surface etched with verdigris. This door leads to room 7/1 beyond.
• West: On the western side of the room is a battered and hacked wooden door. Beyond the door is a hallway leading to either room 6/29 or down to the vaulted hallway to the south.

7/1: The Bedchamber

This chamber is made of dressed sandstone blocks and measures 35’ long by 30’ wide. The ceiling within the chamber is 10’ tall. The room is bifurcated by a thin interior wall that splits the chamber between north and south. Behind the wall is a carved stone sleeping platform with shaped stone headrests for pillows. There is a long wooden table and a carved stone chair here as well. In the northern half of the room are two rusted iron chains fixed to the wall by iron cleats, each with a chain that has a manacle attached to the other end. On the western end of the chamber near the entrance is a small niche carved out of the wall  with the remnants of candlewax still pooled at the bottom of it.

• East: On the eastern side of the room is a locked bronze door that leads to cave 6/27.
• West: The room can be entered on the western side by a heavy bronze door between this room and room 6/30.
• Atop the Table: Atop the table are a few crumbling pages of parchment and a thick brass key with an ornate handle. The parchment is a letter written in Demonic, detailing the writer’s obsession with acquiring more slaves for some kind impending sacrifice. The letter gives very specific details on which of the elf, dwarf, mantis folk, or human slaves were to be brought to him and how they are to be prepared for the ritual. The only actual details about the ritual sacrifice are that it is being performed to ameliorate  powerful fire elementals  and gain their magical aid. The letter is incomplete, ending abruptly mid-sentence. The key that can also be found atop the table can be used to lock or unlock either bronze door to this room.

The Underground Sea

To the west of the dungeon level through a set of large double doors can be found an absolutely titanic cavern. The cave ceiling and its farthest shores are completely swallowed by the immense darkness that permeates this chamber. Formed in long-ago eons far from the light of the sun or stars, this underground expanse of inky black water seems to stretch on into nothingness. The reality is that these dangerous waters are also replete with vast wonderous and immense wealth and power. Far to the west lie the technocratic city-states of the lizard folk, and other awe inspiring dangers never before glimpsed by surface dwellers. The lizard folk who occupy cavern 6/24 have two metal boats with odd metal boxes hanging off the ends where the rudder should be pulled up onto the shore to the south of the double doors. To the north, the shore runs for another 200 feet along the cavern wall before ending at the waterline. Keen-eyed characters may be able to just make out an island of some kind looming out of the abyssal waters of the sea to the northwest. 

June’s Encounter Table:

1. 2d6 Lizardfolk with odd electronic backpacks are taking field samples of minerals from the walls of this chamber.
2. Two odd broken wooden shafts with metal and glass baubles attached to each of the shafts like spearheads lie on the floor here.
3. Two Carcass Crawlers are fighting with each other over who gets to devour half of a zombie that is trying to crawl away.
4. 1d4 Lizardfolk, some with stun batons (1d8 and save against paralysis or become paralyzed till the end of your next round), carving up the dead body of a carcass crawler.
5. Three severed arms of a Hook Beast.
6. 2d6 Zombies listlessly trying to recreate a popular folk dance with each other.
7. 1d6 Giant Cave Crabs (use regular Giant Crabs) inspecting the area for a new home.
8. The Sound of clicking can be heard coming from the direction of a previously unexplored area.
9. 1d6 Hook Beasts digging a warren in a corner of the chamber.
10. Odd wet tracks of web-footed bipeds that head off toward the west of the map.

June: Week Three

 Welcome dungeoneers, to another full week of dangerous chambers for your players to explore and exploit. This week brings with it rooms filled with ancient knowledge, royal grandeur, and weird science! You will read about an arcane altar of ice, a chamber lit by a glowing forcefield, and the lapping shores of an ancient chthonic sea! If you want to get reacquainted with this level, check out week one. If your looking for a cool idea for your game's new antagonists, check out this article on brigands. 

Week Three

6/18: The Empty Room

This carved stone room is 45’ wide by 40’ long with 20’ tall ceilings. The walls show the myriad tool marks of countless chisels and picks. An errant stepladder about six feet long leans against the western wall next to two silk pillows and a couple of empty ration jars. The smell of perfume hangs in the air.

• North: A 10’ wide hallway with 20’ tall ceilings connects this chamber to the vaulted hallway to the north that runs perpendicular. There appears to be holes drilled into the sides of the entrance hallway where it meets the vaulted hall, a clear indication that doors once stood here. 
• South: On the southern wall, another 10’ wide hallway connects this chamber to room 6/19.
• East: A wooden door separates this room from a long hallway that leads to the east before connecting to room 6/21.
• West: The wall on the western side of the room has a hole in it from where water has eroded away a natural tunnel that now extends from the western wall of this room to cave 6/23. This tunnel is roughly five feet in diameter, forcing human-sized creatures to crawl if they wish to proceed down the tunnel.

6/19: A Residence

This 40’ by 45’ room is made of polished limestone with 20’ tall ceilings that have been painted to look like a trellis covered in vines. The walls have all been painted in idyllic woodland scenes. The chamber is split lengthwise by a thin stone wall with a doorway in it. The western room has a wall covered in rusted iron chains, and each of the eight lengths of chain are fashioned to the wall by an iron cleat. The eastern room contains a bedroom of sorts, with a large carved stone resting platform with stone headrests. The bedroom also contains two exquisitely carved wooden chairs, two small round tables with empty ceramic oil lamps, and a small credenza. The doorway that splits the chamber looks to have once held a door, though that is nowhere to be seen now.

• North: On the northern wall, a 10’ wide hallway connects this chamber to room 6/18.
• South: On the southern wall, a 10’ wide corridor links this room to chamber 6/20.
• The Credenza: The credenza contains a pile of moldy, moth-eaten silk clothes, a beautiful yellow-gold and platinum necklace with interlocking hoops of gold and platinum (600 gp), a ring of carved ivory (250 gp), a ring of silver with a yellow topaz set in it (400 gp), and a ring of yellow-gold with small chips of amethyst, green jade, and red carnelian set all over the top of it (Ring of Telekinesis).
• The Chains: Each length of chain is approximately 10 feet long and has a manacle attached at the end. The chains are rusty, but most are still strong.

6/20: The Main Residence

This polished limestone chamber is 45’ by 40’ with 20’ tall ceilings. The entire room has been painted a dark but inviting shade of green. This chamber has been separated into smaller rooms by two small stone walls, much like room 6/19. The first room one comes across when entering from the north is a simple entrance room with an altar in the corner made of magically preserved ice. The slab is shiny with ancient of dried blood.

Through the wide doorway to the south is the other room, a beautifully appointed bedroom. There is an ancient faded green chaise lounge next to a small table with an empty ceramic oil lamp resting atop it. In the back corner there is a stone resting platform with stone headrests. Next to it is a beautifully carved wooden chair and table like the ones in room 6/19. On the wall directly opposite the norther corridor is a set of two iron chains attached to the wall by iron cleats.

• North: A 10’ wide hallway on this wall connects this chamber to chamber 6/19.
• East: On the eastern side of the room is an iron-banded wooden door. The door appears to be stuck, but in actuality the doorknob is false. The door itself actually opens on the opposite end than what the knob’s placement appears to indicate. If one takes a closer look at the door, one can notice the nails on the door are all countersunk, except one nail that juts out a little in the top right corner of the door. If that nail head is pressed in, a click will emanate from the door and it will pop open. A footswitch on the wall of the corridor concealed behind the door opens it from the other side.
• The Chains: Each length of chain is approximately 10 feetlong and has a manacle attached at the end. The chains are rusty, but most are still strong.
• The Altar: The altar is made of a slab of magically preserved ice. Mist constantly billows off the top and rolls down the sides of the altar. Atop it sits a jagged black iron candelabra with two jet black candles nestled on it, a silver bell (100 gp), and the bronze holy symbol of the fire demon Aghlakak. Any spell cast within 10 feet of the altar is cast as though the caster were two levels higher than they actually are.

6/21: The Hall of Kings

This long, polished limestone room is 25’ wide by 80’ long with 40’ tall ceilings. The length of the room is dominated by seven granite statues of ferocious tiger-headed humanoids with backwards facing hands. The northernmost statue is twice the size of the others. All the statues are accompanied by bronze placards with odd demonic script written on them.

• South: A small hallway on the southern wall leads to a locked stone door to room 6/22.
• West: A 75-foot-long corridor on the northern end of the western wall connects this chamber to room 6/19.
• The Statues: Starting on the northern end of the room and working down the statues are:
• Rakshasa the Great. The Demon King, he from whom the Great Race take their name. Blessings of fire be upon him.
• Wearing baggy pants and riding boots with a long coat over them. Rakshasa is wearing a baldric with a wicked looking sword strapped to it (the blade resembles the Ghoul Seed in room 5/29.), diadem that resembles a crown of ferns, and a necklace studded with eight rubies (500 gp each.)
• Zurkonai Redtooth. The Wall Breaker, he that sailed a sea of blood at Aknar. Blessings of fire be upon him.
• Wearing similar clothes to Rakshasa with a large sash across his waist and a turban, Zurkonai has two serpentine daggers in his backwards hands and a large tome strapped to his back. He too wears the diadem of ferns.
• Jamresh Ash Lord. The Conqueror, he who fashioned an empire of iron and blood. Blessings of fire be upon him.
• Wearing flowing robes and a long cloak with a wide sash round his middle, Jamresh holds an orb in his left hand while his right rests upon the hilt of a long sword. He wears a crown with spikes over top of his diadem of ferns.
• Ultiponai The Wicked. The Scourger, he who made a meal of his rivals. Blessings of fire be upon him.
• Wearing long baggy pants, a long shirt, and a short cape, Ultiponai wears a baldric with a wide triangular dagger attached to it and wields a scourge with seven whips. He wears a crown of spikes with patterns of ferns beaten into it.
• Faraq Slave Binder. The Iron Lord, he who broke the enemy upon his wheel. Blessings of fire be upon him.
• Wearing billowy pants, a long robe, and a wide sash, Faraq wears a harness with many daggers strapped to it and a turban. Over top of the turban is a crown of spikes with patterns of ferns beaten into it.
• Baidasa Twist Talker. The Blood Drinker, he who bound the Gesh of Tibor and made of them his fodder. Blessings of fire be upon him.
• Wearing billowy pants, a long shirt, and a thin sash with an overcoat over top of everything, Baidasa holds a rod with a tiger head at the end in his left hand and an orb in his right. He also wears the same crown of spikes with fern patterns on it. If the rod in the statue’s hand is twisted, a small, concealed compartment in the statue’s back will open, revealing a small sack of 20 quarter-inch sized rubies each worth 200 gp.
• Qorlimesh Fire Friend. The Axe of the Demon, he who burned the towers of Liggak and rent the realms of Togrash twain. Blessings of fire be upon him.
• Wearing close-cut pants and a long shirt with a thin sash round his middle, Qorlimesh holds the same tiger-headed rod as the previous statue, and in his right hand he holds small cage. He wears the crown of spikes as well.

6/22: The Library

This is a polished limestone room, 50’ long by 45’ wide with 15’ tall ceilings. Glowing white crystals have been installed along the walls every two feet, fitted into ancient brass lamps for permanent illumination. The room is dominated by 24 bookshelves and a long wooden table with carved wooden chairs set around it. The bookshelves are filled with books of all sizes and colors. The smell of book glue and leather is strong in the air here.

• North: A locked stone door made of carved marble can be found on the northern wall. The door leads to a corridor that will direct explorers to room 6/21. (The door requires the loose knob to be pressed in before the lock will allow a key to rotate and unlock the door.)
• East: A heavy wooden door on the eastern wall leads to a hallway that travels to room 6/16.
• West: On the western side of the room is an iron-banded wooden door. The door appears to be stuck, but in actuality the doorknob is false. The door itself actually opens on the opposite end than what the knob’s placement seems to indicate. If one takes a closer look at the door, one can notice the nails on the door are all countersunk, except one nail that juts out a little in the top right corner of the door. If that nail head is pressed in, a click will emanate from the door and it will pop open. A footswitch on the wall of the corridor concealed behind the door opens it from inside the locked corridor.
• The Collection: The bookshelves are filled with too many books to list here. General information on ancient history and  geography, the ancient empires of the Rakshasa, demons, dragons, gods of chaos, fire magic, ancient literature, and warfare can be easily acquired after 1d4 turns of searching. Specific information on these topics takes 1d4 hours to find. Detailed information on supernatural subjects will take 4d6 hours to find. The information-seeker cannot take any other significant action while searching the archive. This time may be broken up, however. There is a two-in-six chance that each search attempt will also uncover a random arcane scroll hidden in a book. After six scrolls have been acquired this way, no more can be found.

 6/23: The Sound of the Sea

This limestone cavern is  roughly 35’ long and 15’-20’ wide with 10’ tall ceilings with small stalactites hanging down. The smell of dead fish is wafting from somewhere to the southwest. In the same direction the sound of lapping water can be heard. The ground here has been disturbed by many feet.  

• North: The walls of the cavern in the northeast corner have eroded away and now the northern wall has a tunnel going from this chamber to the vaulted corridor that runs east/west.
• South: The southern end of the cave narrows into a tunnel that travels south, then west before it connects to cavern 6/24. The smell of rotting fish and the cacophony of waves echoing through the caverns emanates from this direction.
• East: On the eastern end of the cave is a tunnel that leads back to room 6/18.

6/24: The Lizardfolk Camp

This immense limestone cavern is roughly 65’ long by 50’ wide with 25’ tall ceilings dripping with stalactites. The cavern interior is dominated by a glowing translucent half globe of scintillating green energy that casts chartreuse shadows across the cavern walls. Inside the clouded green dome are five tents, a couple of small braziers, and a large and unwieldy machine studded with wires, lights, and odd brass ornaments. The camp is inhabited by a group of green-skinned lizardfolk wearing odd goggles. They are all wearing harness, and some have packs strapped to them. The sound of waves crashing on a shore can be heard from the western end of the room. The air here smells of ozone and dead fish.

• East: A natural tunnel on the eastern end of the room leads back to room 6/23.
• West: The wall on the western end of the cavern has eroded way to reveal a truly massive cavern beyond containing an underground sea. Waves beyond lap upon the bone-white sand of the shore.
• The Device: The device resembles a metal tank with metal panels attached. Large cylinders about a foot long are attached under the tank. Wires lead from multiple points on the control panels to the tank. The device is maintaining the green energy field. While it operates, a forcefield of green energy enrobes the machine at a distance of 20 feet. The energy field prohibits anything solid or magical from entering. The field is impervious to dispelling and can not be destroyed by brute force. The machine has enough charge to maintain operations for another two months before the power source must be replaced. Anyone wearing the copper and green glass bracelets the lizardfolk are wearing can pass into and out of the field without trouble.
• The Lizardfolk: These lizardfolk are part of a technologically advanced underground society located further to the west. They are exploring the caves after having found anomalies in the area’s ambient magical fields due to the presence of the lemberite crystals in room 6/7. The lizardmen are led by their team leader, Ketsa, and their lead explorer, Locgral (who  can be found in room 6/7). Besides Ketsa, the group here consists of 1d6 +8 lizardfolk.
• Mien: The lizardfolk are wearing some manner of leather harness, and they all have a copper bracelet with a glass bobble on it. Some have on odd, heavy cloth jumpsuits with leather kneepads, elbow pads, and belt. As well, they all have a set of leather and glass goggles. Ketsa can be identified by her high leather collar and the steel and copper square she wears as a badge of rank. Four lizardfolk wield Disruptor-Rays and Personal Energy Shields (see further down), while the rest have electro-batons (see further down).
• Demeanor: Ketsa and the rest of their explorers are Lawful. She is cautious and takes the safety of her team very seriously. She won’t begin hostilities if she thinks a more peaceful solution is still tenable. Ketsa and the others speak to each other in a heavily accented form of Draconic, but she does know Undercommon, Dark Elf, and Goblin, as well as a smattering of Common. Ketsa and the others are willing to entreat with players that do not threaten them, and will consider a mutual exchange of information or possibly bartering for basic supplies. They Lizardfolk are eager to meet non-chaotic races for trade as well as to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.
• Means: The majority of the lizardfolk wield electro-batons if they have to (1d8 and save or become paralyzed till the end of your next round). The four lizardfolk  who guard the camp wield Disruptor-Rays (1d8, missile 5’-50’/51’-100/101’-150’, save vs. paralysis or fall unconscious for ten minutes.) and Personal Energy Shields (use a charge to activate. Once activated, the shield negates the first two hits against the target. Can only be activated once an hour. 4 charges remaining). The Lizardfolk have two self-propelling boats stashed on the beach to the west. They are anchored against the shore to the southwest of this chamber. The Lizardfolk have advanced knowledge and magical acumen that they can also trade.
• Desires: The lizardfolk are from a technologically advanced society to the west, across the underground sea beyond the chamber. They seek to understand their underground world, but have only just started to explore the caverns on this side of the sea. The lizardfolk seek knowledge on any parts of the dungeon that players have previously explored. They are also curious about the surface world, having dwelt under the earth for so long that they now view the world above as more than a little mythological.  

June: Week Two

Apologies sagacious searchers, the realities of daily life had to intrude on my schedule. I hope you'll find the wait was worth it. Today I bring you seven rooms of subterranean splendor and malicious mystery! Read on to discover rooms of faded beauty, resplendent treasure, and billowing fire! If you enjoy what you see, take a look at last week's dungeon, or start back at the beginning. 

Week Two

6/11: The Statue Room

This finely carved rectilinear chamber is 30’ long and 35’ wide with 15’ tall ceilings. There are four statues that occupy the room, two on either side of each entrance. The two statues on the north entrance are carved of marble and are painted in bright colors. They depict matching wolf hounds, their faces fixed in rictus snarls, forever staring southward. The two statues on the southern door are made of polished tan sandstone and depict a set of kneeling, half-naked elves wearing slave collars, their heads bowed.

• North: The entrance to this room from the vaulted hallway to the north is through a wooden door and then down a 25’ long hallway.
• South: the southern end of the room has a wooden door separating this chamber from the corridor to the south.

6/12: The Hidden Vault

This well-dressed stone chamber is 40’ long by 30’ wide with 15’ tall ceilings. The room is filled with piles of gold. The contents of the piles is mostly gold coins, but there are also a large portion of golden dishware, serving vessels, goblets, and jewelry. The air smells clean here.

• North: There is a secret entrance to this chamber from the northern hallway that passes it at a right angle. On the wall at the end of the north-running part of the hallway is a small niche with lots of scuff marks on the floor in front of it. If a weight of over a pound is placed in the niche, the secret door in the wall will slide open to reveal the chamber.
• South: The southern entrance to this room is also through a secret door. An inspection of the walls of the chamber will reveal a loose stone on the southern wall. If the stone is pulled out of the wall, a pressure plate is revealed. Pressing the pressure plate will open the secret door, revealing the natural stone tunnel beyond.
• The Gold: There is 40,000 gp total in gold coins and other gold objects present in the room.

6/13: The Ballroom

This dressed stone room is massive. It runs 75’ by 40’ and has 30’ tall ceilings. The ceiling is painted as though it is wreathed in colorful garlands and the walls are covered in paintings of all manner of flowers. The large room echoes with even the slightest sound. Two very faded and dilapidated chez lounges, one red and one blue, occupy one side of the room next to a small table with a candelabra of half-burned of candles in it. Behind the lounges are a series of silk brocade privacy screens blocking the western end of the room from view. A small burnt patch in the middle of the floor indicates a fire was once kindled here. Otherwise, the room is empty.

• North: There is a brass door though a small entrance corridor that separates this room from the vaulted hallway to the north.
• South: Behind the privacy screens in the southwestern corner of the ballroom is a locked brass door that leads to a corridor to the south that will eventually connect to cavern 6/14.

6/14: Cave of the Hook Beasts

This irregularly shaped limestone cave is roughly 75’ at its longest point and 55’ at its widest, with ceilings stretching over 30’ tall. The edges of the cavern are spiked with small stalagmites, and a natural pillar of joined stalactites and stalagmites takes up the center of the room, blocking sight. An animal musk-like scent hangs in the air here and the sound of clicking can be heard throughout.

• North: A 35’ long hallway connects this cavern to room 6/13 through a locked brass door.
• South: A natural limestone tunnel in the south of the cavern leads to a T-section that runs roughly east/west.
• East: On the eastern end of the cave is a brass door similar to the one at the entrance to the north. This door, however, has been so badly broken that the lock doesn’t work, and the door is barely hanging on by its hinges.
• The Hook Beasts: In the south of the have are 2d6 Hook Beasts who are quietly clicking away to each other in their odd language. The Hook Beasts are bipedal monsters with vulture-like beaks, hardened carapaces, and long hooks for appendages. The beasts are curious by nature and also quite territorial, making them dangerous to most dungeon adventurers.

6/15: The Pillars of Fire

This cut stone room is 50’ long. About half the length of the room is only 15’ wide, opening halfway through to a wider 25’. The ceilings in this room are 15’ high. The southern half of the room is dominated by eight thin pillars made of carnelian, carved to look like writhing flames. The walls of the entire chamber have been painted, although it is starting to peel in places. The walls display scenes of tiger-headed humanoids riding war chariots pulled by horses made of living flame as an army of elves, mantis people, and humans flee before them.

• North: The entrance to this room from the north is through an open doorway that separates this room from the vaulted hallway to the north that runs east/west.
• South: The wall on the southern end of the room has been carved into an arched doorway. Set in the doorway is a polished sandstone door with a brass handle. Beyond the hallway is a long corridor that runs for about 75’ south before it ends at a similar sandstone door.
• The Pillars: These pillars are exquisitely carved from pure red-orange carnelian. If one was to be taken from here, it would be worth 6,000 gp and weigh about 450 pounds. If at least two pillars are taken from a single side, the ceiling will groan loudly. If more than three pillars on a single side are removed, the room will collapse! All those inside the room when this happens must save vs. breath weapons. Those who fail take 3d10 damage from falling debris, and those who succeed take half.

6/16: The Flaming Chamber

This dressed stone chamber is 40’ long by 35’ wide with 10’ tall ceilings. A gigantic jet of flame from the center of the room assaults the senses with heat, light, noise, and choaking flames. There is a five-foot-wide lip around the edge of the room that is clear of fire. It’s not clear initially what is issuing the flame. The wind in this room is loud and powerful, and any loose items hanging off of characters is in danger of blowing away and catching on fire.

• North: There is a door on the northern wall that leads to a long corridor that eventually connects this room with room 6/15. The door is made of polished sandstone and the brass handle is warm to the touch.
• East: The dressed stone of the southeastern corner opens up into a natural limestone tunnel that runs east to a T-section that leads to either room 6/14 or 6/17.
• West: A five-foot-wide dressed stone tunnel leads west, further into the mountain.
• The Giant Jet of Flame: The entire massive conflagration that occupies the center of the chamber is actually a powerful illusion. It is so powerful that only by directly interacting with the illusory flames can one discern that they are in fact not real. Players will take 1d6 damage from the “heat” for every minute they spend in the chamber. Only by interacting directly with the flames (like being pushed into them) will a character be granted a Spell Save to determine if they can realize it’s an illusion. Those who are not successful will receive 1d6 damage every round they are in contact with the flame, though like all illusions, the damage is only perceived, not real. If a character would take enough damage this way to kill them, they will fall unconscious instead and appear dead to those still under the illusion’s sway.

6/17: The Forgotten Dead

This irregular limestone cavern is roughly 75’ long and anywhere from 30’-40’ wide with 15’ tall ceilings with small stalactites hanging down from them. Large parts of this cavern are covered in a spikey yellow mold that stinks of musty, rotting death. In the southern end of the cave, a small pile of bones and cloth scraps is heaped. The chamber has a waiting silence about it.

• North: In the northeastern corner of the chamber is a cleverly hidden wall of stone, fashioned to appear as a natural part of the wall. A careful search of the walls here will reveal the wall’s presence. It is easy enough to break through the wall, if a not more than a little loud. On the other side of the wall, a small natural tunnel runs north. The secret corridor leads north to the other side of one of the secret doors to room 6/12 and right past a stairway that leads back up to the third floor.
• West: A natural tunnel through the limestone connects the northwest corner of this cavern back north and west to a T-section that splits off to either room 6/14 or room 6/16. The sides of the tunnel approaching this cavern are covered in the same Yellow Mold as the chamber itself.
• The Mold: The spikey, lichen-like Yellow Mold is rather toxic if disturbed. Skilled adventurers should have no trouble identifying the dungeon hazard. There is roughly 200 square feet of mold growing on the chamber walls.
• The Heap of Bones: The heap of bones and cloth in the corner is the remains of a poor soul who died here many ages ago. Among their remains is a black steel dagger with a wire-wrapped handle. If the body is disturbed, a Wraith, the cursed soul of the poor person who died here, will materialize and begin attacking the party until they flee the area. The wraith has enough intelligence left over to use the Yellow Mold against a group its attacking. The dagger is a Black Dagger +2, and wounds from this dagger can only be healed by magic.

June: Week One

Hello daring dungeon dwellers! Welcome back to my Dungeon 23 mega-dungeon, The Crucible Of Oxyus. This week we enter June and the first seven rooms of a new dungeon level. Below you'll uncover a luxury bathing complex used by the dungeon's ancient inhabitants, encounter a group of technologically advanced lizardmen, and narrowly escape the stinking horrors of a cavern full of carcass crawlers! Read on to discover more! If you like what you've seen you can always check out the beginning of the dungeon, or try out one of my location generators for more weird OSR goodness. 

Week One

A: There is a staircase that leads up all the way to level 3 here. 

6/4: The Sauna

This humid stone chamber has been carved out of straight bedrock. It measures 20’ wide by 30’ long with 15’ ceilings. The walls are lined with long, half rotting benches, and an iron stove with lava rocks set on top sits in the corner, lonely and cold. The smell of sweat and steam permeates everything here, and the floors are slick with condensation. 

• West: There is a door between this room and a hallway that runs east/west. The door is a banded wooden door with old but still intact yellow paint on it.
• South: On the southern wall is a banded wooden door similar in size to the western door. The difference is that this door has been painted blue. Beyond the door is a short hallway that leads directly to room 6/5.
• The Stove: The stove has been cold for a long time. If the ashes are searched, characters will find a small golden bracelet (worth 100 gp), a thumb-sized iridescent pearl (Pearl of Wisdom), and a set of delicate crystal lenses affixed to a frame for aid in seeing (Eyes of Miniscule Sight).

6/5: Water Control

This 20’ square room has 15’ tall ceilings and is cut into the mountain itself. The southern half of the room is dominated by four upright pipes that extend from out of the ceiling and into the floor, surrounded by another set of pipes that have been bent to run parallel to the floor. This pipe is fixed with a series of control wheels. The air here is strong with the smell of mildew and rusted metal. A thin film of mold grows over most exposed surfaces here, and there is an odd broken wooden shaft with a metal and glass bauble attached to it like spearhead lying on the floor. 

• North: There is a small hallway that leads back to the door into room 6/4 on the northern wall of the room.
• The Controls: The various wheels and switches that make up the control panel in this room adjust water level and temperature in the baths (6/6) and sauna (6/4). The busted bauble on the end of the broken shaft can be used as an improvised mace but is otherwise inoperable.

6/6: The Bath House

This rectangularly-carved stone room is 30’ wide by 40’ long with a 25’ tall, vaulted ceiling painted like a forest canopy. There are two long benches on the northern wall (similar to the ones in room 6/4), and the rest of the room is dominated by a cold pool of water about 3 feet deep. A lip of stone runs around the edge of the pool, although the western edge of the lip is quite degraded. The walls are painted in moldy and faded scenes of a forest glade dappled in sunlight. The painting depicts satyrs and pixies with faces fixed in terror, fleeing from three tiger-headed humanoids with backwards facing hands wielding wicked looking barbed scimitars who are painted on the western wall. 

• East: On the northern end of the eastern wall is a banded wooden door that has been painted yellow. This door leads to an east/west corridor across from room 6/4. A perpendicular hallway in the middle of the cross corridor leads south to area A and eventually a long 10’ vaulted grand hall that runs west further into the earth.
• West: Against the pool on the western wall where the tiger-headed humanoids are painted is a secret door. The outline of the lead-most warrior cleverly conceals a door. If the warrior’s sword is pressed, the door will recede into a pocket on the wall, revealing room 6/7.

6/7: The Explorers

This natural limestone cave is roughly 40-45’ in diameter with 20’ tall ceilings pierced with many small stalactites hanging down. Two thick natural pillars dominate the room, their flowing forms covered in a tiny carpet of little amber-colored crystals that seem to glow with a warm inner light. Standing among the beautiful crystal-covered pillars of the cavern are 6 green skinned lizardmen wearing odd glass goggles and wielding long glowing staffs with quietly strobing baubles of metal and glass affixed to their tops like spearheads. A thin copper wire runs from the bauble at the top of the staff into odd clay boxes the lizardmen are wearing on their backs.

• South: The cave is attached to a long 10’ vaulted hallway that runs east to west on the southern end by a short corridor. A banded wooden door that separates the cave from the hallway has swollen shut.
• East: A short corridor on the eastern end of the cave leads to the secret door to room 6/6. There is a small handle on the wall on this side that can be pulled to open or close the door from this side.
• West: The western end of the cave splits into two separate tunnels, one leading to cave 6/8 and one to cave 6/9.
• The Crystals: Those knowledgeable in geology, alchemy, or scrying magic will know these crystals are a kind of mineral known as lemberite. Lemberite is special because it reacts with the ambient magical energies found under the earth. The crystals grow faster in the presence of more powerful magical fields, but they also have a side effect of obscuring the areas they grow in from scrying and other extra sensory magics.
• The Lizardmen: These lizardmen are part of a technologically advanced underground society located further to the west. They are exploring the caves after having found anomalies in the area’s ambient magical fields due to the presence of the lemberite crystals. The exploring lizardmen have already been to rooms 6/4, 6/5, and 6/6. The lizardmen are led by lead explorer Locgral. 
• Mien: The lizardmen are all wearing some manner of heavy cloth jumpsuits with leather kneepads, elbow pads, and belt. As well, they all have a set of leather and glass goggles. Locgral can be identified by his high leather collar and the steel triangle he wears as a badge of rank. Three of the other lizardmen are wielding the odd hafted baubles, and two more have small rock picks and clay jars for collecting specimens.
• Demeanor: Locgral and the rest of his explorers are Lawful. He is generally reasonable, if a bit cautious. He won’t begin hostilities if he thinks a more peaceful solution is still tenable. Locgral and his band speak to each other in a heavily accented form of Draconic, but he does know Undercommon and Goblin too. If Locgral and the others can be convinced that the party has no ill intentions, they will warn them of the Carcass Crawlers who nest in cave 6/10.
• Means: The staffs with odd baubles at the end are actually detection devices the lizardmen are using to collect data about the crystals before they chip off samples. When used in conjunction with the special goggles the lizardmen all have, one can see magical fields as a rainbow of different colors. The colors vary depending on what kinds of magic are present and to what concentration they are. The lizardmen also wield electro batons if they have to (1d8 and save or become paralyzed till the end of your next round). The lizardmen have access to all kinds of technological wonders back in their city.
• Desires: The lizardmen are from a technologically advanced society to the west, across an underground sea. They seek to understand their underground world but have only just started to explore the caverns on this side of the sea. The lizardmen seek knowledge on any parts of the dungeon that players have previously explored. They are curious also about the surface world, having dwelt under the earth for so long that they now view the surface world as more than a little mythological.

6/8: The Bedroom

This natural limestone cave is 50’ long and only 25’ wide with a ceiling roughly 10’ tall. A large post bed made out of exquisitely carved mahogany with a crimson, orange, and green silk canopy dominates the room. The bed is the sort one sees in inns, large enough to sleep four comfortably at least. Next to the bed is a side table, and across from them is a wooden wardrobe with water lilies carved on the doors. The cavern smells slightly of cinnamon with the coppery scent of the deep earth overlaying all else. 

• East: A narrow tunnel leads out of this room to room 6/7.
• The Bed and Wardrobe: The bedding seems like it was laid out recently and is very soft. Under the right pillow is a Dagger +2, Biter. The wardrobe smells of cedarwood and contains many fine gentlemen’s clothes including a colorful silk smoking jacket and an embroidered fez with the letter O on it in gold thread. Though the clothes are exquisite, they are all sized for a halfling or a child.

6/9: The Echoing Chamber

This limestone cave is approximately 20’ in diameter with a 20’ tall ceiling. There are bones on the ground here in the corners of the cave and a most pungent and horrific smell is emanating down the tunnel from cavern 6/10. The walls of this chamber are smooth and reflect sound extremely well, creating a cacophony of echoes when all but the stealthiest try and pass through.

• East: A short 20’ long tunnel on this wall connects this cave to cave 6/7.
• West: The tunnel on the western wall connects this cave to cave 6/10. The terrible stench of death wafts from down the tunnel.
• The Echoes: The echoing is so bad in this chamber that characters must immediately make an encounter check when they enter the chamber. If characters fail, the carcass crawlers in room 6/10 will be altered to their presence and come to investigate.

6/10: The Lair of the Carcass Crawlers

This large limestone cavern is roughly 60’ long and 25’ wide with a ceiling stretching up to 30’ high.  A cluster of three natural pillars mark where the cave’s stalagmites and stalactites have knit themselves together over the eons through the slow processes of accretion. Nestled about the cavern are a handful of frightening carcass crawlers who have made this place their lair. The stench of the corpse-eating monstrosities is almost enough to stun a person. 

• East: The eastern end of the cave is connected to cave 6/9 through a narrow tunnel.
• West: The southwestern end of the cave is composed of a tunnel that splits as it exits the chamber. One leg of the tunnel turns south and connects with the vaulted hallway that runs east/west. The other leg of the tunnel proceeds west into the mountain.
• The Crawlers: The crawlers here have made this cavern their home for a long time. There are 1d3+2 carcass crawlers present when the cave is first explored. At least two will be hiding on the ceiling and nestled in with the pillars. The crawlers are territorial about this cave and will try and push invading characters out of the cave and collapse a tunnel to block further intrusions.
• The Stench: The stench of the dead and rotting corpses of the various monsters eaten by the carcass crawlers that lie scattered about the cave is overwhelming. The stench is truly wretched, forcing characters who do not take precautions before they engage the monsters to succeed on a poison saving throw before they can take an action. Those who fail take a -2 penalty to attack rolls till the beginning of their turn next turn. Those who succeed do not suffer the penalty.