Table of Contents PART 1: Introduction 4

Part 4: Upper Level

Moon Doors 1, 2 PART 2: Game Master’s 3 Information 5 4, 5, 6 Legend 6 7, 8, 9 Lands, Cities, and Villages 7 10, 11, 12, 13 The Tinker and his Daughter 9 14, 15, 16 Rumors 10 17, 18 19, 20, 21 Part 3: Entrance Level 22 Magic Doors 13 23, 24 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e 14 25 1f, 2, 3, 4 15 26, 27 5 16 28 6, 7, 8, 9 17 29 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 18 30 15, 16 19 31 17 20 18 21 Part 5: Tower Level 19 22 1, 2, 3 20, 21, 22 23 4, 5, 6, 7 23, 24, 25 24 26, 27, 28 25 29, 30, 31, 32 26 Part 6: Reference Random Encounter Table 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 27 Moth Yule 38 28 Monster Stats Region Map Palace Entrance Level Map Palace Upper/Tower Level Maps Original TSR Maps

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29 31 32 33 34 35 36 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 47 48 49

50 51

52 53 54 55 56 57 58

Part 1: Introduction

Zak Sabbath

Kiel Chenier

B3-Palace of the Silver Princess, is an old TSR dungeon module. I gave 30-odd of my favorite DIY D&D writers a page of it to rewrite each, with nobody knowing what anyone else was up to, then I smoothed out and edited the whole thing together.

This project was really fun to tackle, both in terms of writing and layout/cartography. I’ve always found TSR dungeon modules and maps to be kind of hard to parse, so getting to redesign one from the ground up was a lot of fun.

I was alarmed to find the whole thing fit together quite nicely and arguably makes more sense than the original.

I have tried preserve each writer’s formatting and style as much as possible. Some formatting changes have been made to make certain things more uniform.

dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com

dungeonsdonuts.tumblr.com

Though you should still be able to use the same maps as in the original, everything else has been changed.

• •

Since the original module repeats room numbers (i.e. there’s a room 5 on all three levels), for ease of reference,

•

Entrance Level rooms are in Times, Upper Level rooms are in Futura, and Tower Level rooms are in Big Caslon.

Almost all of the rooms have been given names. A singular type of bullet point has been used throughout. All spell names have been Capitalized and Italicized.

This adventure module is compatible with most OSR games, though there are some discrepencies when it comes to stats. If it helps, here’s a low AC/high AC conversion (assumes a descending AC base of 9). High AC is on the left, Low AC is on the right:

The maps of all three levels plus the surrounding area are all in the back. Special shout-out to Daniel Dean who picked up the slack writing extra rooms for the participants who got too busy to send their bits in.

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10AC = 9AC 11AC = 8AC 12AC = 7AC 13AC = 6AC 14AC = 5AC

15AC = 4AC 16AC = 3AC 17AC = 2AC 18AC = 1AC 19AC = 0AC

Part 2: Game Master’s Information

Tom Fitzgerald

middenmurk.blogspot.com

The information below may be read (or not as the case may be). It is likely that you, as GM, know your campaign and players fairly well and can think up ways of weaving this dungeon into the ongoing narrative of your campaign.

The dungeon was hewn from bedrock by willing servants of the princess and had been lined with mirrors but all were smashed long ago, all that remains is a silvery gravel scattered throughout that crunches underfoot.

There are always going to be unsolved mysteries available for exploitation and with a little bit of poetic license mundane details can be rendered magical. Just as an author might decide many years later that the magic ring won in a riddle-game is the most precious and powerful treasure in the world, so may the little details of the PCs’ inventories and experience connect them to some greater narrative (or not as the case may be).

Doors are of dark wood. Corridors are 10’ x 10’.

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Legend When she came it was as exile, descending from tempestuous night in a silver ship. She fled the collapse of her shining principality in the Immeasurable Abide, an implausibly vast agglomeration of paradisiacal cosms beyond the outer void. All she loved of her glittering homelands was consumed by the tyranny that lurks behind all tyrannies: by the Manifest Density which waits at the end of time. An agent of that creed, the Hegemon Ankylose Dysplasia , driven by colossal lust, sought pursuit beyond the Abide but was prevented by his preposterous gravitas and the girth of his pride from passing through the furled dimensions and on to the lesser cosms where the world hangs.

For a brief span of years she reigned but in many guises, as a pale duke, as a rubicund androgyne in peerless splendour unmatched, and as innumerable others revelling in impermanence in the shining palace. Beneath and beyond the deepest depths of everything smouldered the Hegemon in his immemorially tumescent wrath. His ponderous thought cast a shadow upon the world and the shadow of that thought became the Satrap of Draconia, an archon of inevitability, riding a coiled enormity through the world. This proxy of the thwarted tyrant rose unmerciful from the nothingness beneath. His essence was iron law and determinism and the thing he rode to war was an emblem of the world’s unravelling. The Satrap called her forth and she came resplendent and veiled in glamour. But it availed her not for his mind was a machine and his dictates were simple facts of the universe. No paths led away from him, no choices remained. She went with him in the end and passed beyond all time into the black eternity of his master’s realm.

When she came it was as a shimmering sylph. Her face and voice, diffuse at first, as though seen through a mist and heard amidst many voices, became at once the face of the one desired, speaking words the listener never dared hope to hear spoken aloud in the world. She flickered to perfection and flickered again to a new and ever more exquisite unfolding revelation. For all perfection galls with familiarity and hers would not be still. She was, she said, a myriad, many people – innumerable and aeons old and vanishingly unlikely. For her the perfect realisation of every moment was inevitable. She made a home-in-exile among the mountains and forests long ago. It was a garden, beneath which was a palace of mirrors. All within was reflected innumerably, for of all things she loved most multifariousness and plurality. Silver lamps cast brilliant light upon many marvels borne from her vanished home, devices of intricate improbability and treasures of priceless substance unknown to earthly folk. Many peoples were likewise to be found in her sanctuary for her ways were gamesome and inquisitive. She delighted in all, the Anthropophagous could engage in philosophical discourse with learned men of Meropis and Mezzoramian hierophants, the howling Choromandaean could cavort with Amazones in the pleasure-gardens of her desire. Thus did many a strange meeting and many an unlikely frolic take place.

Thralls of the darkness descended upon the palace to snuff out its lights and to shatter its beauty and were changed. For ever after the echoes of proliferating outlandishness remain, though she is gone the distant memory of her perilous glamour remains in the glittering shards. The shadow of the Manifest Density also darkens the halls with the sense of the eventual certainty of doom. Thus were both the dynamism of reality and its inevitable end represented in that place. This legend is known to few and usually only in fragmentary form. Popular tales regarding the palace are notoriously inaccurate: characterising the place as the haunt of skiapodes, or of bickering three-headed nornlings, as a place where time runs backward towards the wellspring of all things, or as the ossified intestines of some torpid god. Nobody knows what lies within.

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successful save against magic.

David McGrogan

Lizardmen of N’Sau are also never surprised, as they can sense the minds of intruders. These abilities allow them to maintain their independence.

monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com *With a little help from Jean Wells.

Thorold.

A medium-sized village sheltering amidst the forest under the shadow of the mountains. Its people worship three dryads who live in the trees nearby and who maintain their dominance over the population through the use of their powers to charm. Every leap year, at the spring equinox, the dryads each select a young man from the population to ‘amuse’ them; these young men are never seen again.

Lands, Cities, and Villages Gulluvia.

The people of this kingdom are renowned for removing their teeth when they come of age, in a religious right of great antiquity. They then make numerous small incisions in their cheeks, embed each of their individual teeth inside such an incision, and then sew them closed. Adult Gulluvians thus all have 16 irregular bumps on either side of their face. Their reason for doing this is obscure, though priests in Gulluvia make reference to an ancient prophet who removed his teeth to better allow the voice of his God to flow from his mouth. This God, Mitzven, is believed to have flattened the mountains in this area into fertile plains for his people, and he still guides them through a circle of 13 prophet-princes. Travellers in Gulluvia are at constant risk of being captured and having their teeth forcibly pulled out; the few outsiders who frequently trade with the Gulluvians or visit regularly often have their own teeth removed through expedience.

Mere.

A small village in the foothills whose people live a quiet and rudimentary existence, paying occasional tribute to Gulluvia. In the woods nearby lives a hag, who sometimes disguises herself as an old woman panning for gold in a small stream. Once a month, she comes to the village at dusk; on such occasions all the locals hide indoors out of sight, because the hag cannot open a closed door. If she catches anybody she will take them away to be eaten – limb by limb.

Velders.

A bustling small town, rich from taxing passing trade. A proportion of the population has its teeth removed in order to serve as merchants and functionaries for visiting Gulluvia; these unfortunates are treated with great honour and vaunted once a year at a great festival, at which they are paraded through the streets on howdahs carried by strongmen. The cliffs outside the town are an irresistible temptation for youth of Velders, who spend spring and summer building flying contraptions which they use to leap from the cliff tops on the first day of autumn. Huge bales of hay are placed at the bottom to break their falls, but a sizeable proportion are killed or injured each year. This does not deter them, because the rewards for the furthest flyer – fame, wealth, sex – are worth the risk.

Dead Mule.

This village is named after a huge mule skeleton, 30’ long, which lies in its centre. This was the beast of burden of a nomadic storm giant, which died when passing by in centuries past; unable to move its body, the local people simply let it be, and it lies there still. During winter, when the wind is at its strongest, it howls through the mule’s eye sockets, reverberating in its skull like some hideous mighty horn.

N’Sau.

A walled quilombo populated by the descendants of escaped lizardman slaves who were brought to Gulluvia long ago to work. They are poor and miserable, and in their long isolation they have become inbred and backwards, but they are also free. Their inbreeding has allowed them to develop weak psionic abilities; instead of making an ordinary attack, a lizardman of N’Sau can unleash a psychic blast against a target within 20’. This does 1d6 damage, which is halved on a

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Misty Swamp.

Suggested effects are:

I’m leaving this as is because the original is fucking great!

1. Spell backfires on the caster of the party 2. Spell fails: nothing happens 3. Caster throws a different spell of the same level 4. Spell effect is tripled 5. Caster or a member of the party glows for 24 hours 6. Caster or a party member changed into a creature with hit dice equal to the character’s level: lasts 24 hours. If the D&D® Expert rulest are also being used, effects like 5 and 6 can be removed (once the party has left the swamp) by using a dispel magic spell”

“No one knows exactly what lies behind the veil of ever present mist that hovers over the swamp. Some old timers say that the dwarves who make Anterian Brandy live in the swamp near their secret ingredient, the swamp water. This is speculation, as no one really knows what the secret ingredient of Anterian Brandy is. Others whisper tales of an evil wizard living there in a massive tower of shiny black stone. Sometimes, in the dead of winter, fierce thunderstorms can be heard near the swamp, but no one ever sees any lightning. The only thing people who live near the swamp will agree on is that most magic users and elves had best stay clear of it or they will find that their spells will not function properly.

Abaddon Woods.

A deep forest dotted with large, mossy boulders looming like shadows in the gloomy green light. These boulders are known to move during the night. A hunter camping in the forest will awake one morning to find one of these huge rocks now standing at his head, towering over him; or a group of woodsmen will camp with a bivouac leaning against one to awake in the morning to find it collapsed on top of them, the boulder disappeared. Nobody knows why this happens, or how.

One young magic user tried to catch a rabbit with a web spell near the swamp one day and ended up with dozens of rabbits, all neatly webbed, scattered about her feet. She didn’t really mind having the extra rabbits, but the fact that she couldn’t control her magic scared her (as it does many other spell casters). She was one of the fortunate ones; others have not been so lucky.

Moorfowl Mountains.

On the peaks of each of these barren mountains, amidst the swirling wind, rain, sleet and snow, stands a statue. These are criminals, outlaws who were sentenced to death by the ancient empire which once ruled these lands. The outlaws were set in place, alive, on a mountaintop, and over time the elements petrified and mummified them, until they became part of the rock beneath them. They are all still alive, beneath the rock, and when the wind dies down for long enough, their desperate whispers of pain and longing can be heard.

Once a band of daring adventurers ignored warnings not to venture into the swamp. Months later only the cleric returned. He told tales of their battle against creatures made of colored mist, and others that had no visible form at all. He said they constantly fought strange looking creatures with three heads, three arms, and three legs. He told of how their brave elf attempted to cast a magic missile at a beast who was attacking one of the fighters. Suddenly, however, the elf changed into a rhinoceros and wandered away into the swamp. Before any more information could be obtained from the cleric he died. No wounds could be found, and the folks who found him swear he must have been scared to death.

Thunder Mountains.

Thickly forested mountains which are almost constantly shrouded in storms and rain. The storms, the locals say, are summoned by the Basajaun: an isolated tribe of ancient fae creatures who ride giant lynx and are in constant commune with the clouds. The Basajaun reproduce when the lightning strikes the earth, and gather the silver and other precious minerals it gouges from the ground. They avoid all contact with outsiders, and use the rain and lightning to maintain their privacy.

The DM can choose how any given spell cast in the swamp will be changed. The effects should be unexpected by the players, but instant-death results should not be used.

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This trait, along with her red hair and poor decision to be left handed, means it is a wonder she hasn’t been accused of Witchcraft.

Zzarchov Kowolski zzarchov.blogspot.com

They make their living bringing news between villages, delivering small parcels, and repairing various items (usually pots and pans). Most local nobles and village leaders welcome them warmly as more than once Lamdomon has brought last minute warnings of incoming danger.

The Tinker and His Daughter

Unbeknownst to them he has on more than once occasion helped each faction against each other faction, always ensuring there is no strong unified power since he rolled into the region a few years ago. Zappora makes additional income by acting as a travelling healer and selling tonics and salves. These allow an individual to heal an additional hitpoint after a nights rest if they pass a constitution check. If the check is failed on a multiple of 3, an additional hit point is lost. Their wagons contain an assortment of curiosities and quasi-magical junk. Use the table below to see what is in stock at any given time.

A tinker and his daughter travel between the villages around Gulluvia (except for Velders) once a month in a pair of ox drawn vardo. This is unusual as they won’t really exist for a few hundred years. Or maybe not, maybe in your game they are common because fuck chronology and those are cool looking wagons. In that case they are in a pair of oxen drawn Winnebago. The tinker is an older gentleman named Lamdomon with a full head of thick white hair and suspiciously white teeth, his eyes are deep blue and intense (meaning creepy if/ when he stares at you). His daughter is Zappora, a young woman with china white skin (despite being in the sun quite frequently), fiery red hair, and green eyes. She is a superstitious sort who always carries a pair of dice, a package of salt, a bud of garlic, and a small crystal.

Roll 1d4, 1d6, and 1d8. Note the individual rolls and the total:

What?…………………………Cost…………………...…Requirements Sack of tattered rags…………………..5cp……………………...................…Always Copper Pot…………………………….2gp……………………......................Always Healing Tonic/Salve…………………..5sp……………………...................…Always Working Clock………………………..500gp…………………......................16+ on dice Broken Clock…………………………10gp……………………....................<6 on dice Empty Genie Lamp…………………...25gp…………………........................Triples on dice Holy Water……………………………25gp…………………........................Doubles on dice Rubber Tire…………………………...15gp…………………........................8 on d8 Newspaper (indecipherable)………….10gp…………………........................6 on d6 Bottle of Kerosene……………………40gp…………………........................4+ on all three dice Vial of Dragon blood………………....100gp………….............Run of three on the dice (ie. 2,3,4 as dice results) Silver Dagger…………………………30gp……..........…The result on the d8 must be the highest number rolled Quiver of Silver Arrows……………....50gp……….........The result on the d6 must be the highest number rolled Magical Arrow (+1)…………………..100gp…….............The result of the d4 must be the highest number rolled

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Lamdomon’s wagon is filled with standard sleeping and grooming furniture, his stock, as well as a suit of silver armour wrapped in a blanket under his bed. The armour is weak plate armour (-2 AC) but +5 against magical weapons and creatures requiring magical weapons to be hit themselves. He also has a set of riding equipment for some monstrous creature. Zappora’s wagon is also filled with a bed and usual standard furniture, drying herbs hanging from the ceiling, and a couple jars of pickled chicken feet. Under her pillow she keeps a dagger that supposedly keeps away evil spirits and nightmares. This dagger counts as a +1 weapon (it does not give a bonus in combat) and allows a re-roll to any saving throw against fear, mind control, or possession while carried and sheathed or otherwise hidden.

Roll a d6 before you start the adventure. •

• •

• •

On a 4+ Lamdomon is a lord in silver armour and Zappora is the rightful heir to lands of the Silver Princess. Lamdomon is a name level warrior. He wants “The Heart of the Lady” as a memento if the result is a 4 or 5. If it is a 4 or 6 he wants his daughter to claim her birthright and is scheming to keep the area weak until the time to strike is right. One a 1,2,3 they are in fact just a tinker and his daughter with no magical powers. On a 1, Lamdomon and his daughter want to try and play a long con to convince the villagers that Zappora is the daughter of the silver princess and is in fact royalty deserving a throne.

In any event they know where there is a time portal, which is how they can get goods from outside the normal flow of space and time.

Barry Blatt

expanduniver.blogspot.com

Rumours

The party will hear the basic legend of the Silver Princess as given in the module (“Popular tales regarding the palace are notoriously inaccurate: characterising the place as the haunt of skiapodes, or of bickering three-headed nornlings, as a place where time runs backward towards the wellspring of all things, or as the ossified intestines of some torpid god.”), but even before they set off from the Principality of Glantri they may hear further tales, and at the various villages along the way there will be further opportunities to hear something new. 1d3 PCs will hear rumours in Glantri, but at the various villages and towns only one rumour may be heard and only if the players say they are asking about or listening for clues. The PC hearing the rumour will be determined randomly, again unless the players say a specific PC is taking some specific action to find out information.

Roll d6 on the following table adding the PCs Intelligence or Wisdom bonus, whichever is the lower. Each 5gp spent buying drinks, gaining access to

libraries, hanging about in markets etc gives +1; a +1 bonus is gained in Gulluvia, Dead Mule and Mere, +2 in N’Saa and +3 in Thorold; the closer you get to the castle the more definite and truthful the information becomes. Repeated rumours are the same basic information but in a different form.

-2 A gap toothed oafess with pointy ears, a faint beard

and one squinting lizard eye sells you a printed ballad sheet with the song ‘In the Valley of the Silver Princess’ where all the trees are solid silver and have jam doughnuts as fruit, it rains bacon, the herbs come pre dried and ready for smoking, the stones are all made of candy, the birds fly about already roasted and stuffed the sun always shines and no one ever had to do any work. For a silver piece she’ll even sing it to you and do the dance so you know how it goes. She says it’s all true, she’d be heading out that way himself it she didn’t have bunions, and if see her uncle out there don’t forget to say hi.

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meet, sweets, pomegranate seeds, coppers or a snip of beard hair if from a human or halfling man or a dwarf, while human and halfling women or elves must kiss the girl with the skull. Those who refuse to participate will be cursed – ‘May a dragon burn your house!’. This may or may not have effect later in the adventure but someone’s house in the campaign--PC or NPC--will be burned.

-1 A jaundiced young artist sketching people’s likeness

for a few coppers tells you that the reason the lands of the Silver Princess were dragoncursed was miscegenation. Those dwarves and elves that lived out there got too friendly, it ain’t natural and the gods punished them, and the twisted mutants that resulted still live out that way. If the interlocutor is human he lets slip that he doesn’t think such subhumans should live in human towns, and if they are a dwarf, elf or halfling he will be sneering and condescending. He will imply that unless ‘the natural order’ is restored in Gulluvia then it too will have a dragon descending on it.

4

A man-at-arms in the service of the local sheriff says there is no palace, never was. All a fake dreamed up by a cunning clan of highland bandits to keep a steady flow of well equipped curio seekers coming over the Moorfowl mountains. If you go to the market at Mere you can pick up some real bargains on slightly used weapons, armour and adventuring equipment. The people? Eaten - this clan are all cannibals.

0

A jovial goon with a red nose tells you all kinds of off colour Gulluvian jokes. He will warn of the local sexist bye-laws and then exaggerate some, telling the party that punishments for men who commit petty crime start with a good kick in the goolies and rapidly escalate to having your bollocks chopped off with a rusty knife. Claims to have made his fortune flogging the Baroness studded leather knickers with the studs on the inside. If this person is met within the borders of Gulluvia he is grabbed by soldiers and taken outside for a good kicking while the PCs are talking to him. He seems to rather enjoy it.

5 A mendicant monk of the Dwarven order of the

Brothers of Granite starts swearing and cussing the air blue when he hears of the Silver Princess. According to the legends of his clan she was a monster, a sexually insatiable abuser of young dwarves. (Tue) He goes on quite a bit about the details of all these goings on, and about the curiously shaped alabaster objects his ancestors carved for her as tribute. ‘The ones she sought were the natural ones we dug from the marble, the fossils of accursed sea beasts of long ago. We learned how to fake ‘em to keep her and her elvish bully boys off our backs. The Red Dragon was a blessing for us, toasted the mad old bitch.’ (arguably true, metaphysically speaking).

1

A merchant offers to sell you a map of the route to the Silver Palace for 20gp and tells you the secret of getting there without being eaten by dragons. She has gone often to Thorold to buy horses and often visits Mere as well. The path from Thorold is strange though, you must walk north along it with your left eye closed and south with your right eye closed. The hunters of those parts wear eye patches to help them do this, for to forget is to call down the wrath of the Red Dragon. Every result up til this point is bollocks.

6 A graffito of a red dragon rampant is found in a back alley, drawn with red ochre. (The Sign of the Satrap).

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Sir Darvo the Snakebitten is an expert on dragonslaying, and if only he still had his left arm (cobra bite, sawed it off with a bread knife before the venom got to his heart), he’d be out after that accursed Red Dragon in the Moorfowl Mountains. Dragons are greedy beasts, and can be bought off with suitable sacrifices. That’s what these so called Dragon Cults are, scared peasants sending the great beasts dragengeld. Give a Dragon enough money and food and it will go and off your enemies for you. That’s what happened to the Silver Princess he reckons, someone summoned a dragon to sort her out. (Arguably true.)

2 An alchemist asks you to look out for odd plants in

the valley near the palace. He has seen samples of a purple moss that induces sleep, and there is a fir tree that produces a fragrant resin.(False) He has also heard of a delicate silver-white orchid with flowers that resemble a woman’s face. (True) He is vague about the powers of this ‘Princess orchid’, but has a secret manuscript that describes its full powers.

3 A group of children are playing a game as part of a local village festival. They have a horse skull with a few flakes of silver gilding mounted on a broom handle and a teenage girl is hidden beneath a sheepskin holding it up. They laughingly demand ‘The Princesses’ Tax’ from all they

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12 You meet a drunken Thoroldian hunter with an eye

8 The priest of the god Silvanus is too drunk to stand,

patch who has actually seen the palace and been inside. He says the kobolds are thick on the ground in the mountains, but easily bought off with horse meat. He was captured by bandits and taken inside, and knows where they live inside the dungeon. They follow some weirdo dragon cult which he went along with for a while before escaping. He may be bribed to tell about his eye. Some cult ritual made it turn into a reptilian eye and he pulled it out before coming back to town. The strange bit is that he can still see through it as it lays buried in pine needles out n the forest, feels beetles and worms crawling over it. (All true as of the time he went in, years ago.)

as is his sacred duty, and lounges with his head on a boundary stone at the edge of the village, warding off wild beasts and goblins with his holy pipe music. He observes that the legend of the Silver Princess mentions Dwarves and Elves but not humans. Why is this? He knows the answer, saw it in a vision from his god – they were the food. (True.)

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A travelling showman/wizard lets people look around his Wunderkammer wagon for a few coppers. He has many amazing things, tiny mermaids, cyclopes eyes in jars, a mechanical bird and a strange leathery thing that might have come off an octopus but when he insists was actually the head of a dragon. Go it off a dragon cult cum crime syndicate in a south seas city, and they should know! (True--a hatchling of the Satrap.)

10 A local gentlewoman has a fine piece of antique

jewellery said to be the work of the elves back in the days of the Silver Princess. It is a pendant of a sea-horse’s head in profile with diamonds for eyes on a silver chain so fine it pours from hand to hand like water. Scurrilous gossip attaches to this lady, one of her daughters has pointed ears, her oldest son had a full beard by the age of fourteen and none look like her husband, a dreamy chap who grows orchids. A hefty bribe to one her servants will reveal the existence of a further child that was kept in a cupboard until it died. It unknown where it was buried. (True.)

11 A scroll by a scholarly sorceress is found which details an alternate version of the legend of the Silver Princess. In truth she was a Silver Dragon herself, or perhaps half dragon, or maybe a magic user who had polymorphed herself into a dragon (True). She ruled her land through an order of elvish priestesses who worshipped her as a deity and the dwarves were their slaves. The great ruby really was her heart; she had petrified it and ripped it out of her own body so that she might feel no love nor remorse and would be immortal. The author is pretty admiring of this whole set up and details a little of her own work on similar sorceries. She doubts it was a red dragon who overthrew the princess (though it was); she suspects the dwarves finally rebelled, (they did) noting the presence of kobolds in the mountains – these are what dwarves degenerate into when exposed to chaotic dragon magic, she claims (correctly).

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Part 3: Key To The Entrance Level

effect, depending on which door was opened. North -- A small, golden-colored frog will appear at some other random point in the dungeon. This is cumulative for each character in the party. The frogs may or may not all appear in the same room together, at the referee’s discretion. The frogs are in no way magical, but will attempt to return to the room in which they spawned if they are removed.

Natalie Bennett

revolution21days.blogspot.com

Magic Doors

The three doors that lead “nowhere” (on the Entrance Level map) resemble the other doors in the Palace in most respects. Close examination will reveal that the hinges are unusual; they can swing open in either direction. They will be referred to as follows: • • •

Middle -- A shadow will appear in the doorway, and will attack characters who attempt to pass through to the other door. It will remain in the doorway until defeated, even if the characters later attempt to cross through from another door.

North (room 18) Middle (above room 23) South (room 25)

They each open to another door-- The north door opens to the middle door, the middle door opens to the south door, and the south door opens to the north door. The direction depends on which door’s handle was grasped as the door is opened; So, if the party opens the north door, and crosses through to the area above room 23, when they reopen the middle door it will now lead to the south door. Passing through each door from the palace has a different

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South -- The party will hear a random animal noise, echoing from somewhere behind them. The referee may consult the following table, or select animal at their discretion. 1 - Peacock 2 - Moose 3 - Elephant 4 - Jaguar 5 - Crow 6 - Hyena 7 - Jackal 8 - Rabbit

Zak Sabbath

Trent B

dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com

newfeierland.blogspot.com

James Raggi lotfp.com

1d:

All of the portcullises here require at least a combined strength of 30 to lift. If lifted, they’ll crash down 4d6 rounds later and trigger a random encounter check.

Water: Upwelling from below wall → Magic! If Wis 12+ detect unstable images/whispers, drifting like ripples. • Investigate water: (WIS check, + level for MU) Connects to great underlakes with water-spirits. → Scrying pool -> Can look through other water in/ below/near castle (small bucket size+)`. WIS check per new/changed target (maintain indefinitely if succeed). ALSO: In the water sits a 1 inch diameter invisible marble. • Taking water from pool makes the taken water nonmagical in 1 minute. • Drinking: WIS/spell save if more than a mouthful. Sips overload senses momentarily.

1a:

One of the bars of the portcullis here is hollow--it can be destroyed by doing 17 points of damage to it with a serrated or blunt weapon (which will trigger a random encounter check). The hollow bar contains a scroll of Locate Object.

1b:

Hidden in the rubble is a 1 inch diameter invisible marble.

1c:

Pass: Notice something weird, spit water out/vomit. Briefly freaked out (as below, D3+1 rounds). Fail: Overwhelmed by visions, sounds and the inhuman dreams of underlake water spirits. a) Functionally blind and deaf, and b) If rolls any odd number, fail task and vomit forth shadowy, writhing water, which retreats underground. Doesn’t apply to saves.

A ruined bureau sags in the corner, partially singed and pierced by gnarled kobold darts. If searched, one of the remaining drawers contains a letter in an opened envelope: “Galvad-- I don’t care how much of a bother it’s going to be. You have the time to put together the Puzzle of Power and I don’t. Put the damn thing together and neither of us will have to worry about time—or money, or power—ever again! How can you so complain with an artifact of that magnitude in your possession? I don’t want to hear from you again until you’ve finished it! Yours, Uravulon.”

Recover: pass 2 WIS/spell saves in a row (check each hour).

1e:

Water: Upwelling from below wall → Magic! If Wis 12+ detect unstable images/whispers, drifting like ripples. • Investigate Puppet underwater. Noble in red livery, emeralds for eyes, silver sword.. 400gp. • Investigate water: (WIS check, + level for MU) Connects to great underlakes with water-spirits. → Scrying pool -> Can look through other water in/ below/near castle (small bucket size+). WIS check per new/changed target (maintain indefinitely if succeed). • Taking water from pool makes it non-magical in 1 minute. • Drinking: WIS/spell save if more than a mouthful. Sips overload senses momentarily.

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Pass: Notice something weird, spit water out/vomit. Briefly freaked out (as below, D3+1 rounds). Fail: Overwhelmed by visions, sounds and the inhuman dreams of underlake water spirits.

3: Ex Pantry

a) Functionally blind and deaf, and b) If rolls any odd number, fail task and vomit forth shadowy, writhing water, which retreats underground. Doesn’t apply to saves. Recover: pass 2 WIS/spell saves in a row (check each hour).

Too many shadows. Shelves, sacks. → jars of spices etc. Piles of clothes → Filthy Children’s clothes. • Investigate: Light works incorrectly, too dark, shadow angles wrong. Occasional shadows drip mud, soil. • Search: a) Some unbroken jars (shelves), excellent foreign spices (50gp). b) Lice, diseased (in clothes). CON/poison save or, in 2 days, lose 4 CHA (pox, hair falls out), for a month.

1f:

Small woman, not expecting company -> Bedroll out, secret little camp room. Several books, pens, notes on floor, . Woman (34 yrs): Nia Cadwallader. Tinker, searching for blessed family amulet at behest of mother → brother with heirloom came here 3 years ago, never returned. → Hates this place, scared of screams. Kinda going to leave soon.

4: Ex Kitchen

Outside: smells of death. Inside: Powerful smell; blood, rot, dead human. Benches/shelves on sides, boiling Cauldron at back. Monsters!

HD 2 (hp 7), AC 8 (Dex), Atk +0, D6 (Hammer). Move: Normal. Dexterous, Intelligent.

Haunted Kitcheners (3): Skeletal, some with dried skin, dressed in grimy, bloody aprons etc. One has a moustache, one was a small woman. Turn slowly from boiling cauldron to close on the living...

Knows: a) Tinkery things (Thief/Specialist lvl 2, focus on traps, doors, engineering, etc). b) about Kitcheners from room 4, and that children keep appearing, screaming, and being taken. It’s awful, so she will leave the castle soon. Has: a) Old Map (Castle layout, no monster detail), but hasn’t gone farther. Trying to guess where her brother went. b) 2 healing potions (D6+1 hp), 2 invisibility potions, 75gp in currency. Dagger, hammer, tools. Adventurer pack.

HD 2, AC as leather, Grapple, or D4 damage (kitchen tools), Move: Normal. Str/Dex/Con: Normal. • Special: Undead (resist non bludgeoning, fearless etc.). • Tactic: Team up, grapple/drag anything living into Cursed Cauldron: (D6 damage, +1D6 per extra round). Anything killed in cauldron becomes undead kitchenhand next round (behave as Kitchener, ½ original HD). • Range: Not beyond the ends of the hallway outside. Once active, will occasionally patrol said hallway.

2: Old Meeting Room

Large round table, broken chairs. Long desk with cabinets/ drawers on wall. • Investigate desk/drawers: Inkwells and paper, 3 empty, leatherbound books (3 x 10gp). • Search: Hiding in cabinet → Boy (9 yrs): Ruadhrí Uidhirsson. Eating cheese. Dirty. Tear streaks through dusty face. Terrified, confused, hungry, tired → Is lost.

Lost Children (5): Child-sized undead, each prepared differently (skeletal; salted and dried; boiled; baked in oven with garlic; Stuffed with rats and roasted). They crawl out of cupboards, ovens and cauldron to attack. Quick, creepy.

HD 1, AC 10, unarmoured, unarmed. Move: Normal. Dexterous. Worse than adult at all else. Was playing near old gnarled tree, slipped, ended up in room 3. That was yesterday, maybe? → Had to hide from Haunted Kitcheners (which came from room 4), who smelled of blood and rot. He heard another child not long ago, screaming for her life... (Tears follow).→ Is from a town no PC has heard of, speaks with accent of distant land. → Wants to follow PCs, stay safe. Will follow forever if not treated horribly. Is worth about 1000gp to the right buyer.

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HD ½, AC 8 (descending), Grapple or D4 damage (Teeth, fingerbones), Move: Normal. Str/Dex/Con: Normal. • Special: Undead (resist non bludgeoning, fearless etc.). • Tactic: Help the Kitcheners, distract other things so the Kitcheners can cook more easily. • Range: Not beyond the ends of the hallway outside. Once active, will occasionally patrol said hallway. • Search: Spices/Herbs (50gp). Preserved meats... (10gp). 3-dozen carefully arranged children’s toys (150gp). 2D6 Knives/other kitchen tools. Many children’s clothes in many different styles, piled in a cupboard (36gp in change etc.).

•

Cursed Cauldron of Princess Palace: About 5 feet high, carved of a bluish-black metal. Covered in soot and ash, but beneath that are carved runes in (ancient language). Functions as above, when lit and filled. Anything killed in boiling cauldron (D6 damage, +1D6 each round) becomes an undead of ½ original HD (max 4). If victims are prepared with spices, stuffing, basting, or delicious sauces first (at least 10 minutes work), they make undead of 1 higher HD. Undead that are created are under the control of whoever put them in there. Weighs about ~500 kg (~1100 lb) empty.

c) If anyone sits at table head for 2 rounds, will try to cut their throat after pushing chair in (sneak attack, then return to normal behaviour). d) If silverware disturbed, will try to arrange correctly. Insistently, but non-violently. •

•

5: Ex Dining Room

Outside: Weakly hear discordant string-music. Inside: Music spills out, fills hall. Is haunting/agitating. Large, long table, 12 chairs → Prepared child-meats (from room 4) on well-laid silverware. → At head seat: dented crown on floor, meal looks delicious, chicken → bloodstain on wood at head-seat. Ghoulish, elaborate decoration – Child-bones in crude artistic sculptures with lit black candles atop. All over the room → Flayed skins, faces, as rugs and chair covers. Monsterthings!

•

Haunted Concert: SW corner, not visible from door, 3 skin-covered skeletons in tattered regalia, playing mostly damaged instruments horribly. Music stand with sheet music*. → One skeleton crumpled, skull smashed with viola. HD 2, AC 10, non-combative. Move: normal. Str/Dex/Con normal. • Special: Undead (resist non bludgeoning, fearless etc.). (2HD because they persist despite substantial damage) • Tactic: Unaggressive/unresponsive. *Chambray’s Cursed Movement (song) – 2 rounds: feel agitated. • 2 more rounds (and each round thereafter): WIS/spell save or attack random living thing visible. Effect stops if < 2 musicians are playing. Haunted Handmaiden: Skeletal. Stands patiently in NW corner. Partially clothed, some finery around her feet. HD 2, AC 10, D4 damage (concealed dagger) (3D4, sneak attack). Move: normal. Str/Dex/Con normal. • Special: Undead (resist non bludgeoning, fearless etc.). (2HD because she persists despite substantial damage) • Tactic: Stand patiently, but: a) Will respond to commands by PCs in rotten/cruel way. b) will politely pull back chairs for any PCs that approach the table.

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Search: Some Clothing/finery, uniquely styled. (25gp). Cello is in decent condition (50gp). Silverware (80 pieces) (~ 1500sp, or 750 if melted down. More valuable if silver standard). Crown (Simple, gold, on floor at head seat): (175gp.) *Chambray’s Cursed Movement: Sheet music for the song in question. It is haunting, unnerving, and discordant. Functions as above when played competently by 2 or more stringed instruments, affecting anyone hearing humanoids who can hear it strongly/clearly. Door Open? Music can be heard clearly 12 squares (120ft) from the door to 5.If this room is visited a second time: Three ghouls wearing armor sitting around it gnawing at a corpse. • Ghouls: Unlike some of their relatives, these are peaceful corpse-eaters who think it impious to slay their prey before eating it. They are part of the chivalric Order of the Maggot, here to scout the dungeon. • Their leader Imrilka negotiates for the group. • They are willing to barter and trade for information about the dungeon and the corpses of sentient beings. • Trade stock: ring of jailer’s keys to Room 32 jail cells, blue salve (ethereal for 1d6 turns, save vs poison to avoid permanent agoraphobia on effect end), Whisper, a cool black spikey halberd (1d10+1), enchanted hippogriff femur (they don’t know it’s just a horse femur), lightning gauntlet (1d6+1 electrical).

Ghouls: AC 5 chainmail, HD 2, Hp: 12, 14, 8, Attk: 3 (claw/claw/bite) or 1 (weapon), sword 1d8+1, claws 1d3/1d3, bite 1d3 + paralyze, SD: turned as 3 HD undead, XP: 59 ea.

•

Humza K. lotbieth.blogspot.com •

6: Abandoned Barracks

Originally a barracks. Onyx statue of a guard in full armor, with sword/shield (6’) standing on pedestal (1’) looms over this room; scratched, scarred, and beaten up but still impressive. Onyx circle in front of statue, maybe 4’ in front. • Room Contents: bedrolls, footlockers, scattered detritus to the left/right of the statue • Stone Circle: 2’, about wide enough for someone to stand on. Tiny runes in gold trace around it. • Statue: if someone with 1-handed weapon and shield stands on the circle, the statue activates. Moving off the circle causes the statue to return to its original position. • First Routine: Parade. The statue will initiate three different parade-ground stances (for example: attention, present arms, right/left face, etc.). If the person on the circle matches the stance within 5 seconds, the statue proceeds to the next stance. • Second Routine: Spar. The statue moves off its pedestal and salutes the circle. If the salute is returned, the statue attacks the person on the circle for three rounds. Hits from the statue deal no damage, but sting like hell. • Victory: if the statue is hit all three rounds (or otherwise clearly defeated) the circle glows a bright green. The statue’s opponent gains +1 to hit and damage for the next 3 days. • Survival: Otherwise, the statue salutes its opponent and returns to the pedestal.

Ramanan Sivaranjan save.vs.totalpartykill.ca

8: Cavern

The walls of this cavern are covered in a squat black fungus that seems to suck up all the light and deaden the ambient noise. A good place to hide out in a pinch, but the party will need to sort out the displacer beast first. A large six legged kitten is tucked away in the back of the cavern, tethered to the far wall by a 20’ chain. (It’s tentacles have yet to grow in.) Animal bones and detritus on the floor indicate it is being fed by someone. They are trying—and failing—to domesticate the creature, though it will react positively to anyone who feeds it.

9: Gallery

The floor is made of a deep black marble, veined with white and gold—250 GP per square foot, but it’s heavy as fuck and requires the right tools to be removed with care. There is seating along the walls, long built-in benches. Embedded within a mess of mouldy cloth that was once a dark red cushion is a key to the nearby secret room (11). In its current state players will need to pull apart the cushion to find the key.

Statue: AC: 3, HD 3, HP n/a,  Attk: 1 (stone sword), Dmg: n/a, XP: 65

7: Abandoned Barracks

Once a barracks, now smashed to all hell. Six heads w/ tops sawn off are spiked atop a shelf; their dead bodies (all wearing chainmail and tabards) litter the floor. • Heads: 4 male, 2 female. Tops sawn off maybe 2” down. Heads stare ahead, faces distorted horribly. Start whispering (mouths don’t move) when someone approaches within 5’. • Don’t remember names or why they were killed, but whisper wistfully about their past and loved ones.

Can always tell 1) who’s come through room in last 10 days, 2) what spells were cast in the dungeon in last 10 days, 3) ID of the “most powerful” being in the palace (highest HD; split ties by proximity to this room). Bodies: always freshly bleeding, no matter when observed.

The walls of this room are covered in a severely damaged mosaic that depicts the castle and its history. Spending a turn carefully examining the artwork provides a 1-6 chance of learning some interesting detail of the castle.

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The Animated Plate Mail is actually quite clever, letting the players know they may pass and there is nothing interesting behind them. This Armor is cahoots with the Zombie in Room 13 and the Skeletal Wizard in Room 16, and wants the players to go through the secret door in Room 11.  If the players attempt to convince it to move by bribing it somehow, it will let them check the wall and look through the secret door. If faced with violence, it will feign defeat. The only time it will fight them seriously is they threaten the Zombie in Room 13.

10: Gallery The marble from room 9 continues into this room, and forms a sunken pool in the centre of the room. Benches in the water provide great seating to view the now damaged mural that adorns the ceiling. Characters who spend a turn carefully examining the mural have a 1-6 chance of learning one detail about an NPC found within the castle. The pool is filled with an ameboid creature (AC 9, HD 2, MV 10’, ML 12), its nucleus looks like a large floating gem. Characters who touch the creature must make a Save vs. Paralysis to avoid being completely immobilized for 2d6 turns. Characters who fall into the creature suffer d8 acidic damage per turn. Within 48 hours the creature can completely dissolve anything that falls into its body.

13: Zombie Room •

•

Reynaldo Madriñan breakrpg.blogspot.com

•

The cross legged individual is a variant of zombie that can speak, and works with the Skeleton Wizard in Room 16. They will call out to the players and offer to buy items or sell the ones nearby. Their prices are reasonable and they are pretty friendly. If the players threaten or otherwise try to harm them, they call for the Animated Armor in Room 12.

11: Medallion Room •

•

A blue-ish pedestal made of stone in the center, with a noticeable silver medallion on top. This assumes the players have not interacted with the medallion in Room 16. Floor and walls are flat and smooth, also blue. The “doors” to room 10 and 12 have visible seams that give them away (on this side) but our otherwise identical to the rest of the room.

14: Beast Statue Cave Room •

If a player attempts to touch  the medallion, they are prompted to make a saving throw. Failure means the medallion switches with its counterpart in Room 16, which brings the pile of dust it is sitting with along for the ride. This all happens in a brilliant flash, so it appears as if the character has disintegrated.

12: Animated Armor Room •

•

A suit of Animated Plate Mail stands guard here. Instead of a normal helmet, it has a simple but sad looking metal face. This room is blue, smooth and featureless otherwise. The exits to room 10 and 13 are creaky but otherwise featureless. Behind the Animated Plate Mail is a secret door; any amount of searching will reveal a seam and place to push.

A pile of random adventuring gear: a Silvered Longsword, suit of chain mail, backpack filled with tiny gems worth about 250 GP total. These are rigged with an Alarm spell hidden under the backpack - if it is moved it makes a horrible screaming noise that can be heard in all adjacent rooms. There is a shriveled person sitting cross-legged near the pile. The room is smooth, blue and featureless otherwise. The exits to Room 12 and Room 8 are overtly creaky but otherwise unremarkable.

•

The largest part of this area has a terrifying statue of a muscular, sinewy beast sculpted from bronze in the north west corner. It stands, as if ready to pounce. It is quite heavy (500 lbs or so) but worth 6000 GP if the players find a way to move it. There is a permanent version of a the Light spell hooked on the ceiling, allowing the statue to cast a huge shadow. The rest of this room is unfinished and cave like, and oppressively dry. A few withered corpses with rusted and ruined equipment lie about the largest part. The doors and stairs leading out of this place are ugly but serviceable.

Two Shadows rest in the shadow cast by the statute, and will eagerly attack anyone inspecting it or resting in this room. They will wait for a good opportunity.

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15: Magic Mouth Statue Room

•

•

The doorways to this room are large and ornate, and framed in silvery metal. The floor has marble tile, and there is a particularly lovely statue of a well dressed young woman made of silver. The statue is on a marble pedestal, but if the players are persistent it weighs about 500 lbs and is easily worth 6000 Gold Pieces. There is a very difficult to find secret door that leads to Room 16 behind the statue. A normal sized character must crawl to get through it.

There is a 50% chance that the Statue has a Magic Mouth spell cast on it by the Skeleton Wizard in Room 16. If so, the spell will be cast on the back of the statue’s head (as not to warp it’s easily visible features” and will recite the following message: “Brave adventurers, seek my amulet in the blue room to the northeast if thine heart be true. It is guarded by the Woeful Armor”

16: Skeletal Wizard Room • • •

•

A pile of bones among a set of frayed, but fine robes lay in the corner. Room has a strange, unfinished appearance. Floor is not level. A silver medallion lying in a pile of dust in the center of the room. This assumes the players have not interacted with medallion’s counterpart in Room 11. The secret door leading into this room is more visible it is in Room 15, but still requires one to crawl to get through. The door to room 18 is visible but warped, requiring force to open.

The pile of bones is actually a skeletal wizard that can instantly reassemble itself or fall apart. It is otherwise a a 4HD Skeleton that can cast 1st and 2nd level spells. If an adventurer is teleported here from Room 11 they will assemble and attack them in hopes of stealing their stuff and hoard it in Room 13. The medallions are a set of magical items that switch places with one another (Taking whatever is touching it at the time along for the ride) if the command word is NOT uttered when picking one up. Unwilling participants are allowed a saving throw, but unattended objects are not.

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Kelvin Green kelvingreen.blogspot.com

17: Carpet Statue Room •

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Remember the door north of 18 is magic

18: Shifzak’s Room •

Remember, the door north of 18 is magic (see Magic Doors) and leads to the hall north of 23 and, when opened, a small, golden-colored frog will appear at some other random point in the dungeon. This is cumulative for each character in the party. The frogs may or may not all appear in the same room together, at the referee’s discretion. The frogs are in no way magical, but will attempt to return to the room in which they spawned if they are removed.

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19: Orange Ooze Room

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Setting these figures in their places and lighting the brazier causes the figures to crudely animate roughly, exaggerated and halting, sliding around the surface with all the grace of a butter pat in a dish. The shadows they cast, however, are rich with detail, and anyone failing a save vs Wands experiences phantom sounds echoing through the chamber, carrying not words exactly but an understanding. A sense of being there.

Daniel Dean

basicred.blogspot.com

20: Invisible Library

Small shelves line these walls. They contain invisible books. Several seem to be missing from the otherwise neatly organized rows. Anyone capable of seeing the magically invisible may see these books, as will any creatures who are themselves magically invisible. Creatures who are invisible naturally or made invisible through magic may read and understand these books, as can anyone able to perceive them who also casts Read Languages. Anyone who can read these books, written in invisible language, must save vs Petrification or become deeply engrossed in the books. They will ignore others trying to communicate with them. They will put aside their present concerns and will find a comfortable place to read on the floor. The books do not contain any information: they are gibberish which is magically fascinating. Here the victim will remain until their magical understanding of the text fades, or until they pass out from exhaustion. It is possible to wrest an invisible book from victims, who seem to be miming very passive aggressively. They will treat this as theft of precious property. If an invisible book touches the floor it opens completely, dropping all occupants of the room 6 feet onto a pile of broken bones, some visible, most invisible. Save vs death or take 1d6+6 damage. At the bottom of the pile of invisible bones is a small leather sack. It appears to be empty but contains some invisible marbles.

21: Brazier Room

There is a long rotted chair, once plush and ornate. There is also a large table with a hole cut into the middle. In this hole is located a small brazier. On the table facing the entrance is a cabinet containing small, eight inch wax figurines. There are many colors of wax here and hints at fine detail. These were expert craftsmanship once but time and use has weathered them into uglier forms. Each figure is marked with a symbol at its base corresponding to a symbol carved inexpertly into the table.

The shadow play shows a clandestine meeting between two men in a crowded square (shadows appear which no figure can cast). They are happy to see one another, when the most impressively dressed of the two is joined by four soldiers. The second man is crestfallen, angry, betrayal in his face. He weeps darkness. The first man comes and embraces him, kisses him, and then turns away as the soldiers seize and lift the second man. He is carried away cursing the first man. The smiling facade of the first man does not fade at first. Then the fire begins to smolder and go out. As the darkness fills the chamber, a glimpse of ultimate heartbreak is seen on the face of the man in the resplendent dress. His face in his hands he mutters, “I did what had to be done.” The same scene will play every time the brazier is lit, players in their places. Countless times already. The door to the south is one of the three magic doors. (See: Magic Doors.) It leads to Room 25 and a shadow will appear in the doorway, and will attack characters who attempt to pass through to the other door. It will remain in the doorway until defeated, even if the characters later attempt to cross through from another door.

22: Seamstress Room

There is a work in progress here on a dress maker’s dummy. It is a glorious golden gown that was under construction for a hundred years. It has been forgotten about far longer. If a master seamstress was able to devote her life to finishing it the garment’s value would be more than a small castle. However, those without this expertise will ruin the dress with all attempts to manipulate it. Traversing the room without contacting or disturbing the dress is difficult because of how elaborate it is, spread out like a web about the room. Players who make it to the small bureau on the other side of the room will find a drawer filled with a hand mirror (value 20g) and a pair of

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silver shears (value 80g, damage as silver dagger +1). Disturbing (and therefore ruining the dress in any way) causes the pins holding it together to fire out of the dummy like bullets. There are 49 pins in the dummy and 11 are “fired” each round, as the dummy spins on its pedestal. The shots home in on the direction from which the damage occurred, and follow any additional damage done to the dress. Each pin does 1 point of damage. Save vs Petrification in order to maintain use and feeling in the area of your body that was hit. A failure means partial paralysis until the pin is removed.

attractive to members of their own sex (2 point bonus).

24: Harp Chapel

Ruined and spent candles line sconces around this room. Rotting wooden pews form a crude octagon around a central point. It is difficult to see (three successful Search checks) but the center of the room is occupied by a massive harp. It is almost made of air, so perfect is the glass of this harp. Touching the harp will cause it to play a discordant nocturne. Each Turn spent ‘playing’ this harp will improve a dumb animal’s disposition by one degree (from aggressive to hostile, hostile to neutral, etc).

If the mirror has been retrieved, an old dwarven woman will be seen cursing silently behind you in your reflection.

23: Sand Trap

Each turn spent playing also causes 1d4 skeletons to appear, sitting attentively in their pews. When you stop playing they will become irate and attempt to claw you to death.

The floor of this room is covered with multi-colored sand, some of which lies in heaps and dunes. There is a clear outline in the sand of a trap door in the middle of the room. Inside this 15’ pit there are three degenerate kobolds. They have been trapped here for a long time and have resorted to cannibalism. They have taken turns and cast lots to determine what parts of each other get consumed. They are eager to be rescued under any circumstances and in no position to bargain. If the party is reluctant to help they will begin to plead, offering their many services, even offering to kill the other two if desired. They will try to top one another and may come to blows in the pit. One is blind and his fingers are all gone. He was this group’s mapper when they could see, and has memory of (d100) percent of the dungeon layout. Knows lots of jokes. One has no tongue, genitals, ears, or nose. He is very strong and has a master quality axe, which is what they’ve been using for mutilation. He has +3 to force doors. Excellent cook. One has no left arm and no left leg. He has a 50% chance of being able to disarm traps. Will pledge himself to one of the PCs’ gods. The sand is a fungal waste product and drug. Snorting it lets someone see invisible things for 10 minutes. Characters high on dust will find themselves more

Carrying the harp out of the room requires a successful Save vs Death each round, or the harp will be handled in such a way as to cause a microscopic crack. The magical properties of the harp will be gone forever. Failing three saves means you bungle and drop the thing, shattering it into a jillion near invisible pieces. Getting the thing out to a proper market is next to impossible but will fetch between 600-1200gp.

25: Red God Altar

This is one of the oldest rooms in the dungeon, though that may seem impossible. Yes, this crudely hewn room was a place of ancient and humble worship of a demanding and vicious red god. This is a place of power for the ancient paths. There is a stone altar here which will animate if a Cleric is present and not consecrated in blood to evil deeds. It has 5HD and cannot be harmed by edge weapons. It will attempt to batter and crush for 1d6+4. Each time it inflicts damage the altar gains 2 HP and +1 to hit. If the Witch retreats here they may recover by placing a hand on the altar. They may recover HP by absorbing the HP of the altar. They may recover spell slots by reducing the altar’s HP by 8 for each level of the spell slot. If the party is in the room and the Witch is not, the party will be undetectable by magical means.

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The magic door here leads to Room 18. Passing through it, the party will hear a random animal noise, echoing from somewhere behind them. The referee may consult the following table, or select animal at their discretion. 1 - Peacock 2 - Moose 3 - Elephant 4 - Jaguar 5 - Crow 6 - Hyena 7 - Jackal 8 - Rabbit

Several racks are here. Their chains rattle against their safeguards, trying to stretch out victims who are not there. Several breaking wheels are fixed to the walls, rotting away next to whips and scourges.

26: Wax Mummy Altar

Creamy stalactites drip from the ceiling and a thick white shell covers ruined tapestries on the walls. A contingent of soldiers stands guard here beyond the veil of death: twenty wax mummies sitting in the lotus position. Breaching the door breaks their seal and the extant mummies will stir. Some of the mummies will not have been prepared properly and are obscured by a large, inanimate, soapy mass (roll 1d20, this value represents functioning mummies). The failed mummies are worth 75g each to an alchemist or sage. The wax mummies burn well, taking twice as much damage from fire. If fire is presented as a hazard treat them as having Morale 6. There is an illuminated manuscript in the center of the room, sitting on a plain block altar. The mummies are unaware it has been completely ruined by time and the very conditions of their mummification (a protective covering is shattered, shards covered with waxy film). If attacked, or if the party molests this manuscript, then the mummies will firmly resist. Otherwise they will try to chase the party from the chamber. Treat these wax mummies as intelligent zombies with a 2pt. bonus to AC, morale 12, and C3 saves. They may make a Spell save against being turned. Their touch transfers some of their waxy build-up and confers their vulnerability to fire. If all the mummies are trashed and their bodies searched (this search will take twice as long as normal) you’ll find a total of 137 silver in religious ornaments and signifiers on their persons.

27: Torture Room

This is a place of torture. There is a great covered furnace in the center of the room. Leaning against it are pokers,

hooks, brands. Several gibbets hang from the ceiling, some of which are still occupied by skeletons. These skeletons are animate but not super hostile: they thrash forever in the throes of maddening hunger. They will reach for you, perhaps hurt you, but only out of voiceless supplication, not malice.

Many things in this room may be weaponized elsewhere in the dungeon at your DM’s discretion but nothing so well as the bastinado poles. Soaked in the blood and sweat of a thousand, these three poles act as magic quarterstaffs for the purpose of overcoming magic resistance. On a hit you may elect to halve the damage. If you do so the target of your enmity suffers 2X damage on the fourth consecutive round following your strike. There is a scrapbook resting on a tool rack. It contains pressed and dehydrated faces.

28: Mouse/Rat Kingdom

This is a bunk room in the throes of a civil war. Rats and mice have each claimed several of the bunks as their own private kingdoms. They vie for control over the room entire. This room reeks strongly of rat piss and mouse shit, save -2 against Breath or be blinded and unable to breathe without retching. If the door is left open for more than a turn the battle will spill into the halls and follow the party. Once the armies notice the party both sides will fight to vanquish them before they can ally themselves with the enemy. There are no cute little mouse castles or adorable rat armor here. Though they fight as two nations they are still only vermin. The top bunks have little hovels made out of mud and ratshit and that’s about it for development. Combat is conducted with tooth and claw. The valorous or important dead of the opposition are displayed hanging from their tails along the upper bunks, at least until they rot away and fall into battle. Mice and rats scramble over their dead and sometimes pause to eat them. Intelligent compared to most mice and rats they do not have a true language or society apart from normal rodent society. They cannot be reasoned with or communicated with, except through magic.

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Buried deep within the mass of wrestling rats and mauling mice, in the back of the room, under a bunk, are the sodden remains of a robe and skeleton. There is also a ring of rodent command, which can affect up to 5HD of rodents per round. If the rodents make their save against Wands in order to resist control they will instead savagely attack the wearer without regard for their own safety.

James Maliszewski

grognardia.blogspot.com

29: Barred Room

30: Ash Mold Room

If cured of petrification this figure will introduce himself as Pelton Neff, promptly age three hundred years, and die. Most of his possessions will also crumble away apart from a short sword, 2d6 arrowheads, a bag of rusted caltrops, and a ruby the size of an apple. If this ruby is harmed (from being intentionally split or chipped or else suffering the equivalent of a Dragon Breath attack) it will explode with the force of a Red Dragon’s Breath, spreading out like a burning sphere. This does not destroy the ruby or its parts. However, any studied appraiser will tell you the ruby is not actually valuable as rubies go; it’s worth as much as a garnet of equal size.

The western door is locked.

This room has a small opening in the wood of the door, like a rotted out knothole. Peering inside one can see a stone figure. He is holding the door closed, gazing out of his hiding place fearfully. -4 to force the door open.

Retrieving the ruby wakes up a long-sleeping shadow, who will try to kill the party until it can take the ruby from them. It cannot communicate its desires to the party unless ESP is used, except by pantomime. It will not have much patience waiting for the party to figure shit out and will be relentless once it decides to attack. If the shadow manages to retrieve the ruby it will plunge it deep into its chest, flesh growing out of it until a 9’ tall nude beauty stands before the party. If questioned she will identify herself acridly as Two More Hawks Neff Daughter of the Princess and the Satrap. She will then dissolve into pink mist, leaving behind her ruby heart. The heart is now worth twice as much as a normal diamond of its size.

Northern door is burnt and stuck. Scorched wood, melted metal fragments, and white ash litter the room, along with the blasted remains of three people. Two wear now-useless plate armor, while the third is devoid of anything but charred scraps. Inspection reveals the “ash” is scintillating mold. Any spell cast within 10 feet of the mold rebounds upon the caster for maximum effect. Without careful precautions, any character entering the room has a 10% chance of carrying mold spores with him and suffering the same effect.

31: Metal Key Room

Metal keys of all sizes and shapes adhere magically to the ceiling of this otherwise empty room. The keys cannot be removed by physical means but the casting of any spell within the chamber causes them all to fall, clattering to the ground. This deals 1–4 points of damage to anyone caught in the hail of keys and summons a wandering monster. As soon as one key is touched, all the others fly back up to the ceiling. The touched key opens one locked door, regardless of how the door is locked, after which it dissolves into a silvery liquid. The eastern door is locked.

32: Prison

All of the cells are locked, except K. Stepping into K and closing the door teleports anyone inside it to a random cell (1: A, 2: B, 3: C, 4: D, etc.). Cell D holds 600 sp, 40 gp, two 100 gp gems, and a treasure map. Guarding the trove are two sword spirits, which rush to inhabit the weapons of the two highest hit point characters in the cell. The possessed weapons then float in the air and attack, doing damage appropriate to their type. While floating, they have AC3 and half the hit points of their former wielders. Once defeated, they revert to normal.

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33: Polyhedra Statues

Five stone statues depicting nude humans whose heads have been replaced by convex regular polyhedra stand here. In front of each is a large, unlit wax candle. Lighting a candle grants a +1 bonus to the next 1–4 rolls using dice matching the polyhedron. Each bonus is only available to one character at a time and no new bonus can be granted until all of those previously granted have been used. A sixth statue no longer has a head. Lighting the candle in front of it results in a –1 penalty to the next 1–4 rolls using ten-sided dice.

34: Statue of Death

The magical stone statue of a hooded figure holding a scythe and an hourglass stands here. Anyone who touches it must save successfully versus petrification or become displaced in time for 1–20 minutes. While displaced, a character does not exist – he cannot be detected by any means, assuming anyone could even remember him, which no one can, since he no longer exists. After the appropriate time elapses, the affected character again exists, picking up where he left off before touching the statue. Should a character fail his saving throw after touching the statue a second time, he is permanently erased from existence.

35. Kobold Worship Room

10 Kobolds worship a stone statue of a beautiful woman that stands in the northern part of this cave. The kobolds collect treasure for their “goddess” and drop it into a 20foot deep pit in front of the statue. The treasure currently consists of 400 cp, 100 sp, a crystal chalice worth 100 gp, and a jeweled box (worth 50 gp alone) holding five 50 gp gems.

36: Dragon Fountain

A successful open doors roll lifts the rusted portcullis. Beyond, a stone statue of a dragon stands on a small island surrounded by five-foot deep cold water, at the bottom of which is a heavy metal rod that transforms into a +1 weapon of a type appropriate to the character who currently holds it. The statue’s eyes are small rubies, each worth 175 gp. Blind, translucent fish swim in the water.

Jensen Toperzer

teal-deer.tumblr.com

37: Dusty Library

The door to this room is locked. The room is a library, and it is almost completely undisturbed, with everything in it covered in a layer of dust much as the day it was left. A globe showing the known world as it was when the castle was abandoned rests in the northeast corner. A large table displaying a map of the area surrounding the castle is in the center. Small figurines dot this table, representing towns, villages, resources, and the like. As this room has been relatively undisturbed, most of the books are intact, though fragile. Most are reference books of various sorts, detailing history, politics, religion, and other subjects, albeit written in archaic dialects, dead languages, and utterly unknown tongues. The books range from general to ludicrously or disturbingly specific: one massive tome speaks only of rare potato varieties, while another book contains a highly detailed account of one PCs life up until 4 years ago, clearly written in a language that died out at least a thousand years ago. The DM is encouraged to be creative if the PCs do a thorough search. There is one spellbook containing spells of levels 1-3 of the DM’s choice. A book on the table is a travelogue on a mysterious land the PCs have never heard of before in an old, but translatable language. In it is described a tower of red marble, accompanied by an illustration. A model of this tower sits on the table on its side, out of place among the rest of the models and figurines. Its bottom is a shaped bit of metal preventing it from standing up straight, as though it belongs slotted into something. The globe is highly valuable, and is made of polished rare wood, lapis lazuli, serpentine, and mother-of-pearl, inlaid with gold, and set on a gilded stand. It is bolted to the floor. Though the globe is, for the most part, hopelessly out-dated by modern standards, it shows the location of the mysterious and foreign land from the book on the table. If the model of the red tower is placed in a slot on the capital city of the mysterious and foreign land displayed on the globe, the secret door to Area 38 opens. If removed, the door closes again after a full minute. The figurine serves as

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a key to the other side of the door as well, this time placed in a slot hidden just below a torch sconce in the next hall. The PCs can remove the globe with some work, though it is very large and heavy (2ft diameter). Doing so will break the mechanism that controls the secret door to Area 38. The door can still be opened by force, if the PCs figure out where it is.

38: Sitting Room

This is a dusty but well-appointed sitting room. It is less opulent than other rooms in the palace may have been, but the frayed and vermin-eaten pillows speak to a sort of comfortable secret place. The windows offer a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside, and a tarnished but functional brass telescope sits near one of the windows. Low bookshelves line the walls; they are filled with somewhat scandalous romances and quite a lot of sheet music. A harpsichord rests in the corner, its strings long rotted into uselessness. The southwestern window is open and its bottom pane broken, a grappling hook attached to the bottom with a long rope that goes down to the ground outside this tower. There are footprints in the dust here, and everything of obvious value that can be easily carried has been removed recently, leaving dust-free silhouettes on the furniture. The telescope remains as it is surprisingly bulky and difficult to carry—it is about 3 feet long with a 4-inch diameter lens, and is not collapsible. One of the folios of sheet music is the long-lost opera of a famous musician, faded but intact and readable. Only a PC well-versed in musical history could identify it, but, if they can, they will know it as an extraordinarily valuable collector’s item. Obviously, the previous intruder was unaware of this. The footprints in the dust continue down the stairs to the secret door to area 37. It is clear that someone attempted to force the secret door open, but they did not find the keyhole mechanism (hidden under a wall sconce in the hallway), nor were they able to break the door down. There are hooks near the trapdoor in the ceiling for a rope ladder, but the ladder is missing. The trap door leads to Area 1 on the Upper Level.

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Part 4: Key To The Upper Level

Daniel Dean

basicred.blogspot.com

THE MOON DOORS

There are no rooms behind the Moon Doors, so they cannot be bypassed. Though they show smooth rock when opened in fact they lead to one another, and through time and change. Their intent was to evolve a higher level of thinking to deal with the stagnation of a difficult siege, and thereby breed new solutions. It did not work as intended, and instead was thought to be an easy escape. It is actually a misleading trap of damning convenience. Roll 1d4 to see which door you emerge from, using the remaining 4 doors. Only your movement through the dungeon is affected by which door you emerge from: all other effects depend on which door you enter through. On entering your fifth door, instead roll on the Time Table. No character may enter any Moon Door more than six times.

The messages on the doors refer to the potential outcomes of the doors collectively, rather than the individual doors’ abilities. These messages are in an ancient tongue requiring Comprehend Languages, apart from the Harvest Door, which is in a recognizable form of elf. If a door’s pool of Saving Throw effects is empty characters making their saves receive no benefit. Characters entering through the same door they exited is allowed. Characters entering the same door repeatedly, such as going through the Hunter Door then backtracking to the Hunter Door once again, suffer penalties. For starters, repeated use of an individual door increases the likelihood of locking out the use of all Moon Doors for a character. Additionally, the Saving Throws made when passing through a door are made at a 2 point penalty for each time a character enters a door after the first time (-2 for a door used twice, -4 for a door used 3 times, etc.). Finally, a character’s roll on the Time Table is adjusted by -1 for each time they repeated use of a door.

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The Hunter Door

South-facing door in the corridor outside 1. A crimson sandstone, the carved arch reads enter and be transformed. Begins play with 1d12 HP inside. Death/Poison save: gain 2 HP; fail: lose 1d3 HP.

The Empty Door

South-facing door in the corridor outside 23. Marble frame and a door like one sheet of glass, a frost-like message reads enter and be destroyed. Begins play with three bless spells inside. Petrification save: you are blessed until you use your next Moon Door; fail: you are instead blighted the same duration.

The Reaping Door

North-facing door going west in the same corridor, south of the oubliette in 21. An ancient oak door older than the dungeon but somehow still intact, a crude carving reads enter and be imprisoned. Begins play with 1d8 days of rations inside. Breath save: filled as from a day of rations; fail: lose all rations.

IF YOUR SECOND DOOR IS... • The Hunter Door- A strangler with specific intentions on you appears in a random room. • The Empty Door- A random room swaps places with the Empty Door. Space constraints apply to the room’s contents. • The Reaping Door- All treasure from this dungeon weighs 5x as much. • The Azure Door- You may use no other doors. • The Perfect Door- Gain temporary use of a random spell in the door. IF YOUR THIRD DOOR IS... • The Hunter Door- A strangler appears in a nearby room, and he knows right where you are... • The Empty Door- A random Moon Door disappears. • The Reaping Door- You may use no other doors. • The Azure Door- 20% chance of Level Drain 1. • The Perfect Door- Gain permanent ability to cast a random spell in the door 1/day. IF YOUR FOURTH DOOR IS... • The Hunter Door- A strangler exits the door with you, and Surprises you! • The Empty Door- You may use no other doors. • The Reaping Door- You age 1 year. • The Azure Door- 20% chance of forgetting where you are entirely. • The Perfect Door- Gain permanent immunity to a random spell in the door.

The Azure Door

West-facing door in the corridor to the west of 22. Shining cobalt steel, iron letters have been affixed to read enter and be saved. Begins play with 2d6 nights of restful sleep inside. Wands/Staves save: gain benefits of a night’s restful sleep (but do not recover Magic-User spells); fail: -2 to hit and saves until you sleep.

The Perfect Door

North-facing door in room 18. Tarnished silver door whose elaborate filigree reads enter and be transported. Begins play with 2 Level 1 Magic-User spells and 2 Level 2 Magic-User spells inside. Spells save: Gain temporary use of a Level 1 Magic-User spell; fail: lose all spells& are Confused (save ends). IF YOUR FIRST DOOR IS... • The Hunter Door- A murderous strangler appears in a random room. Servant of quicksilver devil. • The Empty Door- A random mundane door disappears. • The Reaping Door- You lose your level x10 in coins. • The Azure Door- 20% chance of a false memory of using an additional Moon Door. • The Perfect Door- You may use no other doors.

IF YOUR FIFTH DOOR IS... • The Hunter Door- You may use no other doors. • The Empty Door- A random party member disappears. They are outside the dungeon, as if they never entered. • The Reaping Door- You age 11 years. • The Azure Door- 25% chance of forgetting who you are entirely. • The Perfect Door- Gain the permanent effect of a random spell in the door, targeting you.

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TIME TABLE 1. You leap back to a time before the dungeon was created. You die without a save, crushed and merged with earth and stone. 2. You leap back to a time before the Moon Doors existed, in a dungeon under siege. This is where countless dungeon denizens have fled to, leading to massive overcrowding and starvation. 3. You leap back to the beginning of the dungeon, which completely resets. Your values and abilities do not. 4. You leap back one hour, and the last room you explored resets. Your values and abilities do not. 5. You leap to a time when you leave the dungeon, and appear outside unharmed. 6. You leap ahead to the next full moon. You are miles away in a sylvan glade. No one will harm you tonight.

characters to speak back to a room previously identified by sound. On failed check, instead determine the target randomly. • Making an excess of noise while opening or investigating the door will send reverberations of sound throughout the palace. Few inhabitants know of the door and its properties however. (Though the Witch and Psychopod certainly do, as well as any ghosts of long residence.) Others most likely assume they are simply haunted. -------------• A Moon Door (see Moon Doors on pg XX) is nearby--The Hunter Door- South-facing door in the corridor outside 1. A crimson sandstone, the carved arch reads enter and be transformed. Begins play with 1d12 HP inside. Death/Poison save: gain 2 HP; fail: lose 1d3 HP.

2: Parlour

A fully intact drawing room with cushioned chairs, bookshelves, and tables set with light snacking fare. • Exits: northern door (corridor), windows (exterior), southern secret door (corridor). • Examination reveals most contents are purely artificial – books empty of text, food all crude waxen approximation. • After a turn of idling, the demon Kutiraxan will manifest and initiate conversation as if the intruders are invited guests.

Anthony Picaro

straitsofanian.blogspot.com

1: Voices

An empty tower, windows open to the sky. • Exits: eastern door (hallway), central trapdoor (EL 38), 6 windows (exterior).

Southern Secret Door: This door is simply concealed behind a bookcase. As it opens away from the bookcase into the corridor, this presents no problem from that side, though great care is required to move the bookcase away from the doorway without sending the former crashing to the floor.

Eastern Door: Strange moans and grumbles emanate quietly from this door. • The door is not stuck, and its hinges are welloiled. • Careful investigation shows the surface covered in dozens of small perforations. The door itself is threaded with dozens of tubes that connect to adjacent walls when fully closed. • Listening at the door conducts sound from different rooms in the palace depending on where on its surface the ear is pressed. Treat any successful listen check as affecting a randomly determined room or random encounter passing through one of the palace’s hallways. • Whispers spoken through the door’s apertures carry, as do spells that rely on the transmission of sound. An Intelligence check will allow

Kutiraxan [AC 2, HD 9, MV 12 / 15 fly, ML 10]: Hit only by magical weapons, or by any blow accompanying an accurately observed insult. Immune to mind-affecting spells, except those specifically designed to affect demons. • Manifests as a peculiar and anachronistically dressed dandy, a resplendent parakeet shining and silver-tipped, or a tongueless female corpse whose words must be interpreted through a gurgle of blood. • Asks many questions – mainly trivialities about characters’ backgrounds and histories, but also about their business in the palace. Anything told

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•

• • •

•

to it is forever after immediately known to all demons the speaker meets. Automatically detects lies in its presence. It won’t directly call anybody out on a lie, but will keep returning to and emphasizing the lie smugly. Knows a great deal about each of the surrounding rooms if asked, though only through hearsay, and also many other things. Is not technically trapped, but may not go directly from the room to any other part of the palace. If slain, its form coalesces to a small, silver tongue of human shape and proportion, rendered in grotesque detail, set lone on one of the chair cushions. By placing the tongue on a cushion set within similar surroundings, the demon may be re-summoned. The demon will be bound to such a room until any piece of the environment goes to rot or decay or is otherwise exhausted, which will release the demon to do as it pleases. In exchange for a character’s deepest secrets (anything that might be of use to a demon, ever, anywhere), it may also teach any of the following spells:

conversation or interaction. Those affected no longer regard the other targets as friend or ally, and will distrust all statements made by them. If pre-existing issues or hidden bigotries are present, they may immediately erupt into violence. The spell remains active so long as the caster keeps its spell slot empty.

3: Nothing

The empty space that defines a room, without marking or adornment. • Exits: southern door (corridor). • No dust, footprints, or remnant of any passage. All surfaces are completely featureless and smooth, lacking even basic textural quality. • Nothing dwells here, experienced by those who enter only as a disquieting lack of presence of the sort that makes hair stand on end. Those spending time within it empty out, some effects of which are defined below.

The Curse of Perspective [Lvl 1, Target 1 audible, Duration Special, Save Negates] Must be cast in response to a statement, which the target immediately begins to doubt. On a failed Saving Throw, the target may not act in direct support of said statement for the duration; even on a success they do so at -3 to all d20 / -1 to all d6 rolls (cumulative when rolling multiple dice) of relevance. The spell remains active so long as the caster keeps its spell slot empty. The Importunate Echo [Lvl 1, Target 1 audible, Duration Special, Save Negates] Must be cast in response to a statement, up to 5+level seconds long, which is then banked. The caster may afterward cause the target to repeat the banked statement at any time they wish with but a thought. A Saving Throw is only allowed when the spell is first cast. The spell remains active so long as the caster keeps its spell slot empty.

Effects of prolonged exposure to Nothing on sapients, in Turns: 0+. Any character attempting to leave must make a Saving Throw with a penalty equal to the number of turns exposed. On a failure, they stop in their tracks, as if they forgot what it was they were doing. 1. Current worries and troubles are forgotten. For the next hour, +1 to all rolls from increased Morale. 2. A wounds appear instantly healed. No hit points are returned. 3. Short term memory loss. For the next hour, -2 to all rolls from disorientation and decreased Morale.. 4. All memorized spells are forgotten, their spell slot emptied. All spell effects of duration measured in units shorter than days expire. 5. All curses and other major magical effects are removed. 6. Long term memory loss, with accompanying Level Drain. 7+. As 6. Those who perish within the room are swiftly forgotten, as if they never existed at all.

The Haunting Chasm of Separation [Lvl 2, Target 2-12 audible, Duration Special, Save Negates] Must be cast on targets engaged in active

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4: Breathstealer

Logan Knight

A bedchamber with sparse furnishings implying youth, femininity, and resignation. • Exits: southern door (corridor). • Upon entry, a starvation-thin housecat crawls purring from beneath the bedcovers. It is quite affectionate, rubbing itself against visitors.

lastgaspgrimoire.com

Housecat, Normal [AC 9, HD ¼, MV 15, ML 4]: Behaves almost exactly like a housecat. • Accepts no offer of food despite its current appearance. • Shows affection to any who give it attention, even strangers. • By night it steals the breath of its owner, which it chooses as whoever was kindest to it upon first entering the room. Each morning the owner will wake short of breath with the cat seated on their chest, purring loudly. The owner operates at lowered maximum hit points for the day, -1 for each day the cat has been in their possession, down to a minimum of 1 hp per level. (Those without class levels simply die.) Individuals so drained appear visibly thinned, sleep-deprived, and pale. They also experience a recurring shortness of breath if forced to perform any feat of long exertion, resulting in a -4 penalty to all Constitution checks and related Saving Throws. • Rises again if slain, the very next day, to resume previous habits. The cat may only be permanently removed from a bonded owner as a curse, but ownership transfers to the caster. • Each day, for one round per hit point stolen, may manifest its true form as a Breathstealer, which it will do to protect its food source. (The owner does not choose this time directly.) Breathstealer [AC 4, HD 3 +Special, MV 15, ML 10]: A large and only vaguely feline shadow of black smoke. Immune to non-magical attacks. • Attacks suck the wind from foes, and any breathing enemies that engage it in melee suffer a -1 penalty to all rolls each round, cumulative. • Any hit points drained from its host are added to the Breathstealer’s hit point total. • Only if slain in this form does the beast truly die.

5: Storeroom

• A storeroom reeking of mildew. • The food stores are mostly rotten but there’s a nice big bag of salt and an exceptionally large turnip on a shelf in the corner.

6: Darla Ruinthorpe’s Bedroom A smell like a pile of soiled hospital mattresses. An enormous four-poster bed draped in white sheets, a vague red stain visible through the thin canopy.

Pure white hair is splayed out over the pillows, trailing down into a softly bubbling red stain in the centre of the bed. The empty ribcage of Darla Ruinthorpe foams up through the stain, skinny arms slop out and claw at the sheets, pulling out the rest of her slick-red decaying body. On the night she died she had grown tired of her lover Baba Missfeldt (room 10) and arranged for her murder (she replaced her bath salts with Bogseed so that she’d be digested by her bathwater). But when she reclined to drink her tea something awful happened. She’d like you to find out what poison Baba Missfeldt used, steal part of Baba’s remains, summon her physical form in the Black Room (room 7), and murder her with the same poison to send her spirit on to the torment beyond. What’s in it for me? If you re-kill Baba you’ll be able to take the Ageless Orb she has hidden in her walk-through wardrobe (room 9). The rest of the bedroom is furnished as you’d expect with questionable taste, and an upturned

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teacup and saucer sits on top of a bedside table. There’s half a jar of Bogseed in the top drawer.

stuck until the duration ends. If for some reason you decide to summon them both at the same time, their seething rage and disdain for each other will meld them into an 8HD flesh nightmare like the embodiment of a hatefuck that can’t be contained by the summoning circle.

The only part of Darla you can touch is her hair and she can’t touch you at all (or leave the room), but if you try to reach under her pillow you’ll be blocked by a big gross expanding bubble of red ectoplasm that keeps growing until you stop. That’s where she keeps her diary/spellbook.

Flesh Nightmare • 14AC, 8d8hp, +8AB, d6 damage. • In addition to slapping someone around each turn, it can also spit at someone to stick them in place unless they Save vs. Paralysis, or tear off a regenerating writhing part of its anatomy to throw at someone and choke/smother them for d4 damage per Round. • Each hurled body bit has 12AC, d6hp, and +4AB if it has to squirm back over to attack.

7: Ritual Bedroom

There’s a sharp acidity in the air that pricks its way into your sinus. A huge salt pentagram, ringed by thick candles melted to the dry wooden floorboards. Place part of the deceased’s remains in the centre and light the candles, their cells are dragged moaning from death, re-amalgamating their physical form held fast in the air until the summoning circle is broken.

8: Alchemist’s Study

A small study with a modest alchemical set and shelves of jarred sundries.

Anyone attempting to make physical contact with the summoned form (kiss, poison, throw a rock at their face) must first make a Wisdom check to avoid somehow kicking away a salt line or somehow extinguishing a candle and releasing them.

Players can make attempts to find particular books or ingredients they’re looking for by rolling a d6, and find it on a 6. Once a 1 is rolled, nothing else in the room is especially useful.

9: Musty Bedroom

The warm musty sent of an animal waking up from hibernation.

If released, both Baba Missfeldt and Darla Ruinthorpe are level 6 Magic-Users. Baba is much more old and frail than her portrait, and she’ll cower and plead fearfully until she can Charm the first person to show pity for her.

A disgustingly huge walk-through wardrobe. If anyone’s been looking for an elaborate new lady-outfit, whatever they want is probably here.

Darla will fall to her knees and retch while she casts Sea of Humanity to try to escape the room.

There’s something round and shiny nestled in a purple pillow on a shelf, but if you try to touch it you’ll be pushed back by gushes of dank black ectoplasm until you stop.

Sea of Humanity • • • •

Spell Level 3 Duration: 1 Turn/level Range: see below Casting Time: 2 Rounds

Ageless Orb Allows the bearer to alter their physical age as they see fit; mental capacity remains unchanged.

You fall to your knees and vomit a seething, flowing mass of flesh in a skin sack which moves inexorably onwards. It parts and rejoins to move about objects, arms reach out to pull unlucky things down in to it. Anyone swept up in it must Save vs. Paralysis or be

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10: Baba Missfeldt’s Bedroom

A shudder brought on by floor-to-ceiling cold bone tiles. Scattered gold bottles lie at the lion-feet of a copper bathtub, holding a blackened skeleton neck-deep in marshy oil. Baba Missfeldt’s translucent black flesh creeps back onto her bones out of the murk, coughing a streak of muddy spatter over the tiles as her lungs draw false breath. On the night she died she had grown tired of her lover Darla Ruinthorpe (room 6) and arranged for her murder (she poisoned her tea with diluted Milk Slime so that it would expand through her veins and melt her from the inside-out). But when she bathed something awful happened. She’d like you to find out how Darla Ruinthorpe killed her, steal part of Darla’s remains, summon her physical form in the Black Room (room 7), and murder her the with the same thing to send her spirit on to the torment beyond.

What’s in it for me?

If you re-kill Darla you’ll be able to take the diary/ spellbook she has under her pillow. Mixed amongst the scattered bottles and spilt bathsalts are tiny soft black seedlings, just like those in the bottle of Bogseed hidden in Darla’s bedside table. You can touch Baba’s bones and they can touch you, not with any force, but if they were submerged in the bathwater it will eat your flesh. Her skull should be safe to touch. She can’t leave the room.

11: Living Room

Smells like sour milk and ash. A gaudy living room with wingback chairs and a silver table set on a floor covered with skins.

Above the fireplace is an enormous obsidianframed portrait of two young women in a soft embrace; one with pure white hair and skin so pale you’d think she’d never seen the sun, the other with lustrous deep brown skin and a smile just a little too wide. Behind it is a small hollow filled with various taxidermied animal masks and three large strings of fat pearls.

Kiel Chenier

dungeonsdonuts.tumblr.com

12: Guard Station

• Empty. Tables, chairs, playing cards. Weapon rack with 1d6 spears, 1d6 longswords. • A wheel on the south wall opens a portcullis in the eastern hallway. • Against the northern wall is a fireplace and overturned cauldron. Underneath the cauldron is a old block of lard (acts as oil/grease, not flammable).

13: Topiary Garden

• Six topiary animals dominate this garden in two rows: an elephant, a deer, a lion, a bear, a crocodile, a giant mouse. Coming within 10 feet of any of them causes them to animate. They behave like the animals they’re shaped after and have the same stats/hit points except they are vulnerable to fire. • In the centre of the garden is a dry fountain, shaped like stone water bearing women. It is overgrown with thorns and vines. Its spouts are clogged with muck and brambles. Unclogging them causes water to flow out of the fountain once more. • Drinking the water causes a random magical effect in the drinker. Roll 1d12. If you drink more than once, add 1 to every subsequent roll:

A bone china teaset sits on the table, including a jug filled with the sour diluted Milk Slime that Baba Missfeldt used to poison Darla Ruinthorpe.

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1. Thorns sprout from your skin and face. -2 Charisma, +1 damage on unarmed attacks/ grappling. 2-5. Heals 1d2 hit points. 6-9. Heals 1d4 hit points. 10. Terrible swelling. You steadily inflate to the size of a 10 foot sphere, ruining your armour. This lasts for 1d4 hours. 11. Strange Euphoria. You come under the effects of Charm Person from the next creature you see isn’t a party member. No save.   12+. Vine Lung. You take 2d4 damage as a vine erupts out of your stomach and throat, choking you. This vine slithers away like a snake.

14: Throne Room

• Ceiling 90 feet. • This room is completely filled with thick tree-like vines and vegetation that rises up through the room. It’s difficult to move through. • The vines form a canopy 60 feet above the ground. Atop the canopy is a throne made entirely of brambles and brush. Torn and faded tapestries depicting an ancient forest kingdom hand on the walls. • Walking along this canopy is treacherous, requiring a Dexterity check/save every 10 feet. Failure sends you falling to the ground. • Affixed in the centre of the throne is an opal worth 250gp. It’s cold to the touch. • Glued to the ceiling is a 1 inch diameter invisible marble.

15: Sitting Room

• Dusty couches, fireplace, table, mirrors on the walls. • A tarnished music box rests on the table. Opening it reveals a tiny figurine of a princess. She dances as the music in the box plays (“Once Upon A Dream” or similar Disney princess song). While the music is playing, gravity switches to the ceiling for anyone who can hear the music. Roll 1d6 every time the music box plays. It breaks on a roll of 6.

Stacy Dellorfano @StacyRex frivology.com contessa.rocks

[Stats are based on Swords & Wizardry]

16: Bedchamber

This bedchamber is magnificent and completely untouched by the ravages of time and magnificently splendid, like something one might describe in a fairy tale. The floor is composed of highly polished pink granite with veins of purple all shot through. A magnificent royal bed sits in the center of the room on a pristine white rug. There’s a fireplace on the north wall with two chairs around it, and an armoire on the south wall. Give the room a nice, lush description with lots of expensive finery. Gossamer drapes made of spun gold and silver, gem-encrusted furniture, crystal decanters of liquor, the armoire is filled with expensive gowns and shoes, and so on. Everything in the room can be taken, but once the items leave the palace grounds, they will all disintegrate into worthless ash. The room is lit by a warm glow coming from the cupola just above the bed and all along the ceiling molding. It’s meant to light up the mosaics covering every inch of the walls as well as the center and dome of the cupola. On each of the surfaces, millions of tiny marble chips are moving of their own accord, animating a scene between dragon, lady, and a mysterious man in blue and silver armor. This scene varies depending on the alignment of the party member looking at the mosaic. You can handle this in at least two ways. Write up the scene for each alignment, then give handouts to those of the appropriate alignments and force the group to describe each other’s visions in character, or just describe out loud what each alignment sees. For every five minutes the party remains in the room, there is a 20% chance the mosaic will come to life and spit out an antagonist. This increases

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to 100% if any of the party members touches the mosaic, which is on every wall and the inside of the cupola (but not on the floor). The following are brief explanations of each scene - get creative when you’re describing it to your players. Think of the type of metaphor and imagery you can use to convey what happened from each perspective.

Good Scene The fair and innocent princess is gifted with the magnificent stone by the local dwarves, the man in the blue armor sees her at the celebration, the two get married, then he and the dragon brutally turn on the fair and innocent princess. She learns the only reason they’re there is to steal My Lady’s Heart. She confronts them, and they turn and attack her. She fights back and kills the man with his own sword, but has difficulty taking on the dragon. She wounds the dragon, and is finally able to lure it beneath a portcullis that she slams down, but it’s too late for her by then - with it’s last gasp of air, the dragon casts a spell that imprisons her in the ruby.

Monsters

Mosaic Dragon: HD 4 (16); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 claw (2d6) or gravel breath (3d6); Move 6; Save 13; CL/XP 6/400; Special: Requires magical weapon to hit, Gravel Breath sprays gravel in a 10’ cone, piercing weapons do half damage.

Neutral Scene The fair and innocent princess is gifted with the magnificent stone, which she immediately becomes enamored with in a dangerous way. She flaunts the stone whenever possible and holds a magnificent party for the purpose of showing off her great wealth and beauty. This attracts a thief in the form of the man in blue and his red dragon. So arrogant is she that she flirts and teases the man in blue with her wealth, knowing full well their intentions.

convinces her to marry him, though she still keeps the ruby far from his reach. Though both had their flaws and wanted to use one another, they genuinely fall in love. It doesn’t take long, however, before he is accused with attempting to steal the necklace. The two have a violent argument, then in anger he flies away with his dragon to torch the valley. Towards the end, he comes to his senses, realizing he’s gone off the deep end, and returns to Lady Argenta, grieving over what he did in his anger. She’s waiting, however, with a small army to battle both man and dragon and sentences them to death. With his dying breath, the man in the blue armor curses Lady Argenta to be trapped by her own lure. She wakes up the next morning trapped in the ruby.

Monsters

Mosaic Warrior: HD 3 (18); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 long sword (1d8); Move 9; Save 13; CL/XP 6/400; Special: piercing weapons do half damage.

Evil (Chaos in some rules) Scene The fair and innocent princess is gifted with the magnificent stone, which instantly twists her heart into something not so fair and innocent and traps all that is good about her within. When she sees the man in the blue armor, she decides he must be hers, so she does everything possible to finally get him to fall in love with and marry her. At first, he seems intent on stealing Lady Argenta’s necklace, but he soon learns that the necklace has altered her, and she will stop at nothing to protect it. Realizing he’s in over his head, he tries to leave, but finds he can’t just leave her alone to continue being destroyed by the ruby. He confronts her with his dragon, but finds that she’s become too powerful. She charms them, then has them burn the valley to the ground. Upon their return, she demands they kill each other, which they do, though they manage to take her with them. With all three dead, all that’s left is the ruby, which is still holding all that was good about the princess.

He, in turn, turns up the charm and eventually

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Monsters

Mosaic Evil Princess: HD 3 (17); AC 4 [15]; Atk 1 dagger (1d4) or spell; Move 9; Save 14; CL/ XP 5/240; Special: Charm Person, Sleep, piercing weapons do half damage.

shake his head vigorously and try to pantomime ‘no’ towards the necklace. He’s trying to warn the adventurers off the necklace because it’s inhabited by an angry silver dragon, but it should come across as him not wanting someone else to steal his loot. He’ll attack if his warnings aren’t heeded.

17: My Lady’s Heart

Monsters

Ghost: HD 2;

This room is lined in nearly black marble polished to a brilliant shine. It’s lit by a single magical lamp in the center of the room just above a pedestal holding a teak case with a glass cover that shows off My Lady’s Heart. The ruby is slightly smaller than the legend pronounces it to be, but it’s still quite large. It’s in a very simple setting, surrounded by diamonds on a thick, braided, silver chain.

Treasure

My Lady’s Heart • +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence • 3 Charges Charm Person • 2 Charges Sleep • Worth 10,000 gp Lady Argenta resides in My Lady’s Heart, and thus will go wherever the owner takes her. She is an ancient silver dragon intent on getting home to her hoard. She isn’t inherently evil (thus, detect evil spells don’t bring anything up around the necklace), but she will try to do whatever she can to turn circumstances to her advantage. In order to get back there, she needs to be released from the ruby. How that’s accomplished is up to the GM.

Lady Argenta is trapped within the ruby, though that won’t initially be obvious to the party. She’ll seek out handsome male characters, or whoever she thinks is most likely to be sympathetic to her cause (and also gullible). Once her target is found, she’ll talk to them and them alone, whispering in their ear. She’ll sound weak and wounded, though innocent and sweet. She’ll tell a story of being trapped in the ruby by the wicked warrior and his dragon, who destroyed her home and attempted to steal her heart. She’ll explain she was able to kill both dragon and warrior, but not before the spell that trapped her in the necklace took effect.

Generally speaking, she’ll be a helpful guide, giving advice to whoever carries the gem if for no other reason than she needs them to help her get out of the gem.

She doesn’t know how to escape the ruby, but will promise the adventurer she’s targeted all the help and knowledge she can give in exchange for taking her with them and looking for a way to get her out of the gem. If someone tries to take the necklace who isn’t the adventurer she’s targeted, she’ll become fearful and demand only her targeted adventurer handle the necklace. If someone else still insists on holding the necklace, she’ll constantly harass her targeted adventurer so long as the necklace is within 100’ of the target. Whoever approaches the box - which is unlocked and untrapped - will be stopped by the ghost of a man in blue armor. He’s unable to speak, but he’ll

18: Library / Study

This room, and it’s adjoining room (Room 19) have both been turned into some sort of nesting spot or nursery for something that lays very large eggs. The walls were once lined with shelves that held books and scrolls. Now, about three quarters of each of the bookshelves has been destroyed, and all the books and scrolls that were once housed there have been scattered on the floor or used as nesting material for about a dozen very large eggs. A Terror Gnome raiding party is currently in the process of checking out each of these eggs. There’s a definite smell of roasting meat coming from the other room, which door is open and shows a similar scene. The raiding party will turn on the party and attack immediately. As action begins, a Scrollnado will also come to life from the debris on the floor.

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There is a Moon Door here: The Perfect DoorTarnished silver door whose elaborate filigree reads enter and be transported. Begins play with 2 Level 1 Magic-User spells and 2 Level 2 Magic-User spells inside. Spells save: Gain temporary use of a Level 1 Magic-User spell; fail: lose all spells& are Confused (save ends).

Monsters

Terror Gnome Raiders (Adult - 4): HD 2 (5, 9, 3, 8); AC 5 [14]; Atk 1 Bite (1d6) and weapon (1d6 short sword); Move 9; Save 16; CL/XP 2/30; Special: None. Terror Gnome Raiders (Juvenile - 2): HD 1 (7, 7); AC 5 [14]; Atk 1 Bite (1d6) and weapon (1d4 dagger); Move 9; Save 17, CL/XP 1/15; Special: None;

Terror Gnome Raiders (Adult - 4): HD 2 (5, 9, 3, 8); AC 5 [14]; Atk 1 Bite (1d6) and weapon (1d6 short sword); Move 9; Save 16; CL/XP 2/30; Special: None. Terror Gnome Raiders (Juvenile - 2): HD 1 (7, 7); AC 5 [14]; Atk 1 Bite (1d6) and weapon (1d4 dagger); Move 9; Save 17, CL/XP 1/15; Special: None; New Monster: Scrollnado

New Monster: Scrollnado The magic in the area is chaotic and always in flux. When battle begins, a number of the scrolls and parchments on the floor kick up into a whirlwind of terror that lashes out without care as to which side it attacks.

Scrollnado: HD 4 (11); AC 2[17]; Atk 1 per spell table; Move 14; Save 12; CL/XP 6/400; Special: See monster description.

Treat the Scrollnado like another combatant in combat. When its turn comes around, there’s a 50% chance it’ll attack the party members, and a 50% chance it’ll attack the monsters.

New Monster: Terror Gnomes

Roll 1d10 on the table below to see what spell the Scrollnado casts. Each time a spell is cast, the scroll for that spell disintegrates, so mark it off the list. Once the Scrollnado is out of spells, it’s effectively ‘dead’, and no longer poses a threat.

Terror Gnomes are what you get when a bunch of already evil and wicked dark beings enslave another race and torture them over thousands of years. They have long since become their own race and freed themselves from the tyranny of their former owners. Indeed, the Terror Gnomes committed genocide when they freed themselves, destroying their previous captors to the last in horrifying ways. They now resemble ‘gnomes’ only in their small stature. Terror gnomes live their entire lives in subterranean tunnels, only coming to the surface in raiding parties to find valuables left behind in abandoned places - particularly abandoned places that connect up to their own network of caves.

When the main combat (that is, the fight with the monsters) ends, the Scrollnado loses power and falls to the flower (it only comes to life with adversity). If the party members wander out of the room and leave the door open, however, there’s a 25% chance the Scrollnado will leave the room and begin roaming the dungeon. In that case, add the Scrollnado to your wandering monster table. d10 Spell

1

Magic Missile

2 Fireball 3

Terror Gnome raiding parties are away from their home for such long times that they form family units within the raiding parties. Both male and female terror gnomes take on the care and feeding of their young, and they often have young with them. Thus, when fighting a Terror Gnome raiding party, there is a 5% chance each individual gnome may be carrying an infant in a sling, and a 20% chance one or two of the party’s members are juveniles.

Lightning Bolt

4 Sleep 5

Monster Summoning II

6 Web 7

Charm Person

8 Darkness 9

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Hold Person

10 Slow

19: Library / Study

20: Privy Chamber - Shit Golem

This room looks much like Room 18, save for the fact that there’s a large spit in the middle of the room upon which a baby dragon fetus is currently being roasted.

This is a fairly common privy - a pit with some boards on top that have holes in them. Underneath the board, a Shit Golem lies in wait. It will spring forth (messily) and attack when anyone walks into the room.

Effects of eating roast baby dragon fetus:

Monsters

1d6 Effect

1

For 1d4 hours, you can shoot a 2d6 lightning bolt from your fingers once each combat.

2

For 1d4 hours, you can breathe fire for 2d6 damage once each combat.

3

For 1d6 hours, your skin becomes scaly, effectively adding the AC of Chainmail to whatever AC you already have. You feel a massive amount of guilt for eating a baby dragon fetus.

4 5

Nothing seems to happen, but in 3d6 minutes, the adventurer who dined on the dragon flesh will suddenly burst into flames that do 3d6 damage or half if the adventurer makes a saving throw.

6

In 1d6 days, a juvenile dragon will track down the scent of baby dragon fetus on the adventurer, and attack the party wherever they happen to be.

21: Statues Weeping Blood and Screaming

This is more of a corridor than a proper room, but it has an odd feeling to it. The marble floor has been laid out to form a circular pattern with darker pieces forming the outside and lighter pieces making up a wheel-like pattern on the inside. The ceiling rises higher here than in any of the connecting corridors, supported by statues that form each of the four corners.

Dragon Egg Table: If an adventurer steals an egg from either room, there is a 5% chance each day the egg is in the adventurer’s position that it’ll hatch. The eggs are overly large and are difficult to carry around with you. The average size human wouldn’t have any problem with the weight, but would require two arms to carry it with. If the egg hatches, roll on the following table to determine what type of creature crawls out of the egg and declares the nearest living being ‘mommy’. 1d6 Egg

1

A giant ostrich

2

A baby red dragon

3

A baby blue dragon

4

A baby silver dragon

5

A wyvern

6

A baby gold dragon

Monsters

Terror Gnome Raiders (4 - 1 w/ infant): HD 2 (10, 5, 9, 11); AC 5 [14]; Atk 1 Bite (1d6) and weapon (1d6 short sword); Move 9; Save 16; CL/XP 2/30; Special: None.

Shit Golem: HD 2 (5); AC 5[14]; Atk 1 Fling Poo (1d6) or Gas Cloud (save or pass out); Move 9; Save 16; CL/XP 3/60; Special: Cloud of gas that knocks out target on a failed save.

The marble statues holding up the corners are winged women standing about 12’ tall a piece. Their wings touch one another at the tips, forming the archways that lead to other hallways. The women are all blindfolded, but looking down as if they were looking at the direct center of the intersection. Though the statues are all carved out of marble, the blindfolds themselves are made of linen, and each one holds a wood and metal spear that she clutches to her chest. The spears have ornate designs carved into their shafts, and the spearheads look sharp and wellmade. They look like they could fetch a great price even to the untrained eye. When the party enters the corridor, the statues all begin to weep blood in unison. Their linen blindfolds quickly become soaked with the sticky blood that then drops down their cheeks and onto the floor. The angels will only animate and attack if someone attempts to take a spear, or tries to harm one of the statues. When the statues animate, they also begin to scream - deep, bloodcurdling screams that should

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announce their presence to anything else in the area. A moon door is nearby (see Moon Doors on pg XX)--The Reaping Door- North-facing door south of the oubliette in 21. An ancient oak door older than the dungeon but somehow still intact, a crude carving reads enter and be imprisoned. Begins play with 1d8 days of rations inside. Breath save: filled as from a day of rations; fail: lose all rations.

Monsters

Crying Statue (4): HD 3 (12, 11, 18, 17); AC 2 [17]; Atk spear (1d8+1); Move 14; Save 14; CL/XP 4/120; Special: Piercing weapons do half damage, spears have Charm Person charges.

Neither sight is real. A Psychopod, a psychic, land-dwelling predatory octopus is hanging by one tentacle in the centre of the room, puppeting desiccated corpses with the other seven. Anyone touching a corpse will see through its illusion and perceive the Psychopod. At the same time, the Psychopod will drop its puppet and attempt to grapple. Those successfully grappled by the Psychopod have their image and voice replaced by one of its design. No matter what they say or do, for as long as the creature has them in its grip, their sound and appearance will be under its control. All the Psychopod knows how to say is “Help!” and “Illusion!”. It does not fully understand what these words mean, though it has learnt what kinds of image cause people to interact with it in the ways it desires.

Treasure

• Spear of The Broken Hearted: +1 Spear, 1d6 Charges of Charm Person.

Psychopod: Armor as chain, Move standard’, 5 Hit Dice, 40hp, grapple & strangle x7 1d4 damage, beak 1d6 damage Morale 7 minus num of tentacles cut off.

Patrick Stuart

falsemachine.blogspot.com

If driven off the Psychopod attempts to retreat up the chimney holding its puppets behind it and continuing the masque as best it can.

22: Wrecked Room

The bodies are dressed in high-status dinner-table attire with roughly 1d6x10 worth of jewellery each. The octopus-eating silverware scattered on the table and floor is worth 100 gp if recovered.

Signs of battle. Huge U-shaped table. Ruined banquet. Fireplace cold. The first, third, fifth, (etc) people to enter the room see a beautiful young woman hanging from a chandelier. Six men circle her and poke with spears. She swings to dodge the stabbing blades, but she is bleeding badly. The men roar with rage and the girl cries “Help! Illusion! Help!”

• A Moon Door is nearby (see Moon Doors on pg XX), The Azure Door- West-facing door in the corridor to the west of 22. Shining cobalt steel, iron letters have been affixed to read enter and be saved. Begins play with 2d6 nights of restful sleep inside. Wands/Staves save: gain benefits of a night’s restful sleep (but do not recover Magic-User spells); fail: -2 to hit and saves until you sleep.

The second, fourth, sixth, (etc) people to enter the room see a huge, horned monster-man with one cyclopic eye thrashing in the centre of the room. A rope around the monsters neck is slung over a chandelier. One man tries to pull it off its feet. Five more stab with spears or pull at it with ropes around its arms and legs, but the creature is uninjured and the men tire and bleed. The monster roars with rage, the men shout “Help! Illusion! Help!”

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23: Kitchen

If PC’s manage to focus the window on the Witch, perhaps by saying “show me myself”, then the Witch will pause for a moment, turn to the point of view of the window, scream “What!?”, and leap through the window, closely followed by her allies. The encounter is now!

Signs of a struggle. Pots, pans and cutlery of every kind spread everywhere. Gigantic sushi knives jammed in walls and inside doors. Huge glass tank with lid popped of in corner of the room. • A Moon Door (see Moon Doors) is nearby--The Empty Door- South-facing door in the corridor outside 23. Marble frame and a door like one sheet of glass, a frost-like message reads enter and be destroyed. Begins play with three bless spells inside. Petrification save: you are blessed until you use your next Moon Door; fail: you are instead blighted the same duration.

24: Long, Odd Shaped Room

Grey light from two windows to the south-east. Statue in the alcove to the south. Bookshelf at the north-east end. The view from these windows is occluded by a dim mist which never seems to pass. There is no handle to open them. The statue is marble, a young woman with an inane expression holds a fat annoying bird, perched on her finger, up to her ear and listens to its song. The bird is chirping the wrong way. The bookshelf is full of diverse eggs, neatly arranged.

The Statue Twisting the bird so it faces the right direction will cause the statue to say; “What would you see?” The voice of the statue is exactly as irritating as its face. If the PC’s name an object, person, or place within or near the castle, the window will clear and show them what they asked to see. The statue will speak any words or make any sounds that might be included in the image, but it can’t do voices, it repeats everything in its own inane monotone with a half second lag. This includes environmental noises like wind and falling objects. The window always assumes the person asking is the Witch so if PC’s ask to see “my greatest enemy” or “my most dangerous foe” then the window will show the PC’s themselves.

The Bookshelf The eggs on the bookshelf contain knowledge and secret plans. However, in order to protect this information, each one also contains a tiny monster which will attack if the egg is broken or disturbed. If an egg is broken, secret information is revealed written in neat spirals round the inside of the egg. PC’s will need to get the pieces together and examine them to decipher the information. This takes intelligence and time. Each one also contains a tiny 1HD monster that attacks on sight. Assume their standard armour is as chain and they do d4 damage each. 1. Troll. d4/d4 regenerates 1hp per round till burnt. Gives you the antidote to any poisons used by the Witch so her victims can be cured. 2. Dragon. Flies. d4/d4 plus d6 fire breath. A map to treasure buried on a mountain peak. 3. Spider. Poison save vs paralysis or be frozen for hours equivalent to the level of fail. Witch has been poisoning nearby wells and this information tells you which ones. 4. Snake. Poison, save vs death or zero hp. Reveals identity of assassin undercover in court of local ruler. 5. Displacer Kitten. Not where it seems to be. Armour as plate and shield. Contains a ‘Teleport’ spell. 6. Mermaid. Flops and sings. Men save vs spell or be enchanted. Location of secret smugglers cove. 7. Tyrannosaur Rex. d6 bite. Last known location of a mage with the ability to travel in time. (table continues...)

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8. Hypno-Moth. Save vs paralysis. List of evil conspiracy members in local towns and villiages.

Ys cannot attack or defend herself in battle. If violence breaks out she will flee to room 28.

9. Frost Giant. STR 18, wrestles your knees. Instructions of creating a potion of strength. 10. Gelatinous Cube. Attaches to foot or hand and dissolves its way along the bone. Location of buried body in high-level murder case. 11. Vampire. Hypnotism. STR drain on crit. Only dies under direct sunlight or pencil through heart. True name of a low-level daemon or Imp.

The Silver Girl is called ‘As’. She is honesty and honour. She never lies, though she may choose not to speak. She disapproves of crime and deception. If As is destroyed then the Witch will remember her honesty. She will not lie directly and her half-truths will be easier to see through. Armour as chain, Move standard’, 2 Hit Dice, 10hp, strike 1d6 damage, Morale 11.

12. Medusa. Can only petrify one body part at a time. Location of the legendary Maze of the Blue Medusa.

As will only use violence if she sees someone doing something wrong, deceptive or dishonourable.

Should a melee break out in this room it is entirely possible that the bookshelf will be disturbed and that the eggs will roll off, either all at once or one at a time.

The Shadow Girl is called ‘Os’. She is fear of death. (The Witch left basic daily fears alone so she doesn’t do anything too stupid). Os is wary, suspicious and sardonic. If Os is destroyed then the Witch will remember her fear of death and her morale will drop to 4.

25: Opulent Bedroom

Opulent bedroom piled with rugs. Dim lamps. Big dark red curtained bed. Long dresser. Chest of drawers. Easy chair. Three naked girls lounge in this room, one pure silver, one pure gold and one of shadow. These are fragments of the Witch in room 28. The Witch removed these parts of her own soul in order to make herself stronger. Now they only need interact with these aspects of herself when they wish, and from a position of advantage, instead of hearing them echoing in her heads.

Armour as plate (shadow), Move standard’, 2 Hit Dice, 10hp, STR drain 1d6 (recovers 1 per hour) Morale 7. The girls will not directly betray the Witch, (they know as soon as the Witch dies they will cease to exist), however they will otherwise act according to their natures. They are pure fragments and must do what they are.

The girls will say only that they ‘belong’ to the Witch. Not how. The Gold Girl is called ‘Ys’. She is innocence. She fears nothing, takes joy in everything new and forgets details quickly. If Ys is destroyed the Witch will remember her innocence and begin to doubt her evil deeds. It may become possible to persuade her from their dark path. Armour as chain, Move standard’, 2 Hit Dice, 8hp.

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26: Bonsai Room

Scrap Princess

A dried up dead bonsai (1 metre high) treent in crude vase sits facing the stairs. Its roots spill out onto the floor and the door sticking like ivy tendrils. Unless the roots are carefully pulled away from the door , opening the door will sever at least one and cause the tree to start screaming alerting the Witch(es). Pulling all the roots away from the door will take at least an hour and require great care to not snap the brittle twisted roots.

monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.ca/

The Chambers of the Witch: The Witch has since lost any other name other than The Witch a long time ago. The Witch was classic scheming crone, living on to amuse herself by punishing hubris, mocking the innocent , and making the naive see the horror that walked with them. She liked games, riddles, loopholes, contests, cruel punishments, cynicism and alternately dethroning tradition and maintaining respect for the old ways (as suited her in the moment). She was an unpredictable old hypocrite who would claim a love for plain speaking and not putting on airs, but scour you alive if you didn’t show manners to her. She liked nothing better than to engineer a great big cluster fuck of Shakespearean proportions. After long centuries of twisted wishes, baleful gifts, dire prophecies, kidnappings, feeding parents their children, blights, and dooming dynasties, she was eventually destroyed by losing a series of wagers, and forfeiting her skin, bones, and hair and teeth and then forced to make her way home through the Razor Sea where she was slowly reduced to dust. After about 50 years her Skin, Bones, Hair and Teeth were no longer subject to the wager (after their winner sworn never to gamble again and rejected all that gambling has brung them) and have made their way home. However each feels that she is The Witch and now they argue and debate which is a proper , fair, and most of all, entertaining way to settle who should the The Witch.

Damaging the tree enough to split it open will release a cloud of spores which will causing nausea and choking (as stinking cloud but 1d8 damage with a failed save.) Additionally anyone failing a save against the spores will then have them live in the victim’s lungs and throat. Anyone inflicted thus will cease to breathe or speak at the Witches dictating. The Witches will only know and be able to command someone if they hear them speak when infected. The bonsai is about as easy to set fire to as damp firewood but it burns hot and with greasy black smoke when it does. The smoke is poisonous and will cause enfeeblement , slow and 1d6 damage per round of exposure , and the tree will burn for 10 rounds. The Witches are immune to both the spores and the smoke.

27: BODY ROOM

The Witches remains , now living separately as Skin , Bones and Hairy Teeth are here more often than not , arguing with each other as they refer to various legal and wager situations to decide on who should be the new Witch. The room is full of books, scroll, games, legal documents, and crude tables and shelves to contain them. One corner contains a cauldron and Witch kitchen implements, currently shoved into a untidy heap to make room for their research. Occasionally one will fly up and out through the chimney to find some more research material or consult someone.

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For each Witch roll a d6.

IF the Witches finally agree who is the new Witch they will combine into one 15th level wizard with hair and teeth as a replacement for all their soft organs. The Witch that won will have its personality traits dominant. The Witch will then begin inflict herself on the land.

1-4: here reading or arguing with what other Witch that is here also 5: Out, about to return soon 6: Out, will return in an hour For results 1-4 the nearer the numbers are to each other the closer the Witches are in agreement with each other. If the numbers match they are teaming up against the other Witch. If all the Witches are all in agreement (all 3 numbers are the same) they will be preparing to settle the matter once and for all (see below)

Left to their own bickering they will most likely settle on a contest of wickedness where each goes out and machinates a scheme and then a judge decides who is the best at being a horrible person. They will either use the most innocent person they can find as a judge or the most corrupt.

SKIN:

They are open to considering any other method of deciding though.

BONES:

If fought they will fly around the ceiling casting spells and cackling. One of them will concentrate on directly harming the opponent’s, the other summoning minions, and the third; spells that hamper or confuse. They will flee if at least 2 of them are reduced to 50% of health, but will never flee separately; if one is downed or incapacitated they will stay on until they can flee together.

• She looks like an empty crones skin. She more or less stays the same size but occasionally swelling up with anger or twisting in on herself with laughter. She is more given to pride, ambition , and anger than the others. • She is 5th level wizard but her spells either only affect the skin or conjure their effects out of skin • This is a Witchy Skeleton. She has put garish make-up to be that much more of a horrible creep. She is the most lascivious and carnal of the Witches and is prone to hunger, uncomfortable sexual remarks, pranks and novelty seeking. • She somehow manages to leer and suggest lip licking despite being a fleshless ghoul. • She is also a 5th level wizard but her spells either only affect the bones or conjure their effects out of bones

28: Witch’s Bedroom

This is the Witch’s bedroom , it hasn’t been used in sometime. It’s a large stuffed mattresses surrounded by the Witches collection of taxidermy. Her tastes are people taxidermied by those that loved them (especially forcibly) , saccharine “fairyland” animals done badly, animals that look like regular quality taxidermy but upon closer inspection are actually entirely constructed from human parts, and just regular botched taxidermy.

HAIRY TEETH

The mattress is stuffed with hair (from a variety of sources, none is hers), precious jewels and jewellery and 1d4 magical items that were involved in some kind of prophecy that she fucked up, and a further 1d4 magical item that are “monkeys paw” type cursed items.

• Imagine a really horrible hair clot with a muppet like mouth with far too many teeth in it and teeth jauntily arranged for eyes. She often opens and closes her mouth with a wet sound when she has stopped listening to what some is saying. Which is often • She is the most inventive, cruel, perverse, and pettily malicious of the three. Again, she can cast spells as a 5th level wizard and again these only affect the target’s hair or teeth or conjure their effects out of hair and/or teeth

Living in the mattress are 9 giant bed bugs (stats as giant tick) with their insect faces twisted in a crude likeness of the Witches. Being bitten additionally causes the victim to have a false memory of being personally responsible for something horrible the Witch did. If this act is morally repugnant to them

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they will be unable to recover hit points from rest. A saving throw is allowed at the end of each week. Drinking the blood of a giant bed bug gives the drinker 500 exp , gives a permanent false memory , restores any stat or level loss due to energy drain, and makes the drinker unable to be trusted by anyone forever more.

Magic items of lost and failed prophecy : 1. A Shining gold sword that in the hands of the true heir is a +3 sword. In the hands of anyone else it is a sword that has the light of a torch and allows the user to assign up to 5 points of their armour class each round to anyone within 3 metres behind them (making the wielder easier to hit but the protected harder) 2. True love’s ring: This ring will let the wearer know the whereabouts of their true love at all times. It has been too heavily effected by the last user though and now just gives the wearer the exact knowledge of this one particular drowned skeleton on the bottom of the ocean, with an impression that was their one true love. 3.The crown of duty: a Simple gold crown that gives the wearer +1 intelligence but will be as heavy as a fat pig for every duty or responsibility avoided and will be unable to be removed while a duty or responsibility is outstanding 4.The Clouds Saddle: this is a saddle for flying on a cloud. It doesn’t allow you to control the cloud, just sit on it. To control and fly upon the cloud,( in the absence of other means ), you would want The Clouds Reins, This is currently at the bottom of cliff somewhere with the broken remains of the former owner.

Monkey Paws : 1. A broom which cleans by itself when commanded to (no particular phrase is needed, just a general statement about wishing for someone else to do the cleaning or wondering aloud how all this cleaning is going to get done) . As soon as not observed it will take off with any valuables in the immediate area and start a fire. It will stash itself and the

valuables in the nearest broom cupboard out of reach of the fire. 2. A ring of 4 wishes. The most obnoxious, literal minded , outright spiteful, wishing granting ring ever. When touched it will proudly state that is the only ring of 4 wishes in the world and how lucky the finder is. It, however, is the very worst in wish granting items. • It will abuse the wording of the wish pedantically and ludicrously as possible, and will happily resort to the most bullshit logic, deliberate mishearings or even invocations of arbitrary word limits halfway through a spoken wish. • After granting a 3rd wish it disappear and reappear somewhere else randomly in the world. It will never give a 4th wish to anyone. 3. A mirror that has script suggesting it shows future betrayal. It will actually show you the person most likely to turn on you if you started to act like you suspected them of treachery. 4.A small bag of seeds. Cross stitch on the bag reads “sew to bring riches to barren fields”. Sowing the seeds means 24 skeleton warriors will emerge and proceed to kill , mulch and till the soil with anyone they can find, clacking , hissing , and giggling as they do.

BEHIND THE SECRET DOOR: This rooms door, concealed behind a solemn looking pig judge and a lot of dirt , leads to a black lightless room, where the Witch had stashed away some ironically punished victims and then lost interest in. They are: Two children (a boy and a girl) made of cake. Grey, blotchy, overweight cake, like a soggy, depressed potato. One child will be sadly eating and shitting out the other. After he/she has complete eaten his/ her sibling, he/she then will carefully mould the shit back into his/her siblings shape. The shit will then turn into back into living cake and then remade sibling will sadly begin eating the other. The children are pretty dim and are completely resigned to doing this for as long as it takes to make them

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not made out of cake. There was a trick to this but the Witch has long forgotten it. A sad, pompous, bald bird with a tacky crown in a gold cage. When spoken to it will give dire and completely wrong prophecies. The prophecies sound pretty convincing if you are an idiot. The Witch meant to build a scheme around this , got distracted , and then dumped it here. A fat and handsome toad, looking keenly curious at any new arrivals. Paying it any attention will cause it to burst into a lively song and dance. The cake children will beg anyone not to pay attention to the frog and will sob bitterly the whole time the frog sings. If asked about this the Witch will express confusion that the purpose of the frog is not immediately obvious. “It SINGS and DANCES deary, I don’t understand Why this vexes you so. Let’s get the chap to do that dance again Shall we? HEY FROGGY HOP TO IT! HEhehehehehe”

Scrap Princess

monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.ca/

James Raggi lotfp.com

29: Giant Marble Snake Room The defining features of this chamber are the grand 70’ dome supported by four columns, the great fireplaces along the east and west walls, and the grand column in the center of the room. The great central column is 20’ in diameter and made of marble and sculpted to look like a neatly coiled snake (head near the floor), raising up to, but not meeting, the ceiling. There looks to be a ten foot or so gap at the top, with a light shining from the top of the column.

The snake can be easily climbed with the appropriate tools (triple normal chances if not using tools), and it will be found that the snake is coiled, up to the very top, around a 10’ diameter glass cylinder filled with water. Inside the cylinder is a fist-sized gem that shines with a bright white light. The gem is enclosed between two plates of glass, so it cannot be fished out. The enclosing glass is very sturdy and cannot be broken by dropping objects into the water, nor will it be broken by accumulating weight on it. If the glass is broken (by diving in and personally smashing the glass, for instance), the snake will animate and immediately uncoil. Anyone on top of the column must either jump in the water or make a save versus Paralysis to simply hang onto the side of the glass column, dropping anything in their hands (the column is too wide to safely slide down, and the glass sides too thin to sit or stand on, but strong enough to contain the water and bear the weight of any hanging on); the alternative is to crash to the ground with the snake, taking 60’ of falling damage. Anyone that was lower down on the column simply takes the appropriate amount of falling damage. Those on the floor within 20’ of the column must save versus Breath Weapon or take 2d6 damage from the falling snake. The snake will then attack any living creature on the ground (not on or in the column!). It will remain animate and stalk intruders in and around the room until the gem is again at rest inside the column, at which time it will coil back onto the glass column. Any characters hanging on at this point (they should have the option to jump in the water!) must save versus Paralysis or suffer 1d6 damage as they are buffeted while the 5’ thick snake wraps around where they are hanging. The snake will not leave the room, nor will it go up the fireplace chimneys or onto the balcony. Giant Marble Snake: Armor 24 (-2 for descending AC systems), Move 60’, 8 Hit Dice, 46hp, 1 bite attack for 1d4 damage (very small “fangs”) + poison, Morale 12. The poison will do no immediate harm to the character, but will make her body fat sweet and delicious. Any meat-eating animal (primates

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excepted) encountered, even trained or companion animals or animals otherwise magically controlled, will immediately attack the character to get at the sweet, sweet fat, and any such animals will attack characters affected by the poison to the exclusion of all others. If meat-eating animals are on a set of random encounter tables, the chances for random encounters are doubled as the affected body fat’s scent carries far. The poison will only pass through the system after a solid month of a strict vegan diet (standard and iron rations do not qualify unless paying ten times the usual cost for them). Breaking the diet by even one bite means the diet must be started again from scratch or the poison will not pass.

intended to be a surprise for a great feast. Very soon after the feast the original inhabitants of the Palace had to flee so the corpse was never discovered, and those throwing that party cursed the name of Uncle Frank to their graves, letting all their guests down, the Last Hurrah of the Palace as it turned out, by running off with the dessert budget like that.

James Raggi lotfp.com

If the glass column is destroyed, the snake will in place become once again an inert marble sculpture, then crumble to pieces, unable to sustain its own weight when not carefully balanced. The glass has 25hp, and when it breaks it will completely shatter. Anyone hanging to the edge will fall the full distance. Anyone in the water will take damage as if they have fallen half the distance, with that being halved again with a successful save versus Paralysis. Any characters on the floor, on the balcony, or in the hallway outside will take 2d6 damage as they are slammed with a water wave filled with broken glass, half damage on a Breath Weapon save.

30: Balcony Room

This balcony affords a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside, but this entire north side of the Palace from the balcony down has suffered structural damage. Any pressure upon the railing or outside wall, such as attempting to fasten a rope or grappling hook, climb the wall, or even leaning against the rail, results in the pressured area crumbling. This small collapse weakens the surrounding immediate structure so that it too is weakened and is easily destroyed. It is possible to reduce the entire Palace to dust in this manner, even with bare hands, given enough time and patience. Penetrating the northern wall under the balcony from the outside in order to gain access to rooms on the Entrance Level is also possible.

The gem will illuminate a 100’ diameter area, but only if it is submerged in water. Every turn it is out of water (or portion thereof, including just momentarily transferring it from one container to another), its diameter permanently lessens by 10’. The gem is worth 1,000gp plus 1,000gp per 10’ diameter of its illumination radius. The chimneys of the fireplaces narrow to 5’ diameter about 20’ up, before emerging on the roof at the 50’ mark. Halfway down the narrow portion of the eastern chimney is lodged a old corpse, wedged in with his big sack. Those approaching from below will see only his black boots (still in decent shape) and rotted red trousers, those approaching from above can see the sack and the skully remains of his grey, bearded head. Disturbing the body causes thousands of maggots to fall from it. In the sack are even more maggots; the sack had been full of pastries and other sweets,

The roof over the balcony is currently stable and safe, as is every other outside surface, so it’s possible to climb up to gain access to the chimneys at location #29.

31: Chess Room

A small table, flanked by two chairs, with a chess set on it occupies the center of this room. The pieces are each decorated with the standards of known nations, citystates, strongholds, and/or tribes, duplicated between the darker shaded side and the lighter shaded side. The most powerful polity will be the King, the least powerful being pawns.

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The exception are the King’s Pawn on each side, which are flat black and white. If people sit down to play chess, the King’s Pawn’s heads will take on the visage of its side’s player (these are then the Player’s Pawns). The chess game will determine future history, with each complete move (white + black) representing one coming month.

The fireplace against the south wall contains a large pile of ash. Hidden in the ash is a skull with sculpted amber eyes and (32) teeth, an insect trapped in every amber gem. The amber gems can be sold for 50gp each, or as a complete set intact in the skull for 3,000sp.

Moving a piece represents the polity represented by the piece mobilizing for war. When a piece takes another, that represents a war that will occur during the appropriate month, the war’s victor represented by the taking piece. A piece representing one political entity taking the opposite side’s piece representing the same indicates a fierce civil war or rebellion. If a Player’s Pawn is taken, the player will die no later than the indicated month, from “natural causes” if nothing else. If the player ends up dying before the indicated month, then from that point forward the future history dictated by the game is voided, and once again there is no fate. The player winning the game chooses one of her surviving pieces, and the polity represented by that piece will become dominant over the rest after the events foretold by the game play out. Choosing the Player’s Pawn means the player may cheat death once: When death “occurs,” the player is instead restored to full hit points and vitality, cured of all ailments, mundane or mystic. Advancing the Player’s Pawn to the opposite end of the board allows the player to promote herself, during the time indicated by the game, to ruler of the nation represented by the replacement piece. To concede this game, the Player’s Pawn is tipped, rather than the King. Concession results in the immediate death of the conceding player. Quitting a game in progress is considered concession (and the player will have the opportunity to reconsider the concession before death occurs).

If an amber gem is destroyed, the spirit of the trapped insect will be released and search for a suitable replacement body. A random present body will be selected, and the current inhabitant of the body must make a saving throw or be evicted and destroyed in favor of the spirit of a mosquito*. If the first body saves, the spirit will go to the next closest flesh-and-blood body, which must save, and then the next, then the next, regardless of species or distance or physical barrier, until it finds a new body. Any body so inhabited by the mosquito will have the consciousness, and therefore the intellect, behavior, and habits, of a mosquito*. * The upper left canine tooth imprisons the spirit of a hyperintelligent mosquito, the one who devised the successful insect assault upon the demi-lich, confident but mistaken in its belief that being one of a swarm of thousands of mosquitos would be good odds against being snared by the undead magician’s power. The body that this mosquito “possesses” will not evict the current inhabitant, but instead meld with it. The effect of this will be the new body possessing the spellcasting ability of a 5th level Magic-User. The allotted spells per day will simply be added to current capabilities if the body is already inhabited by a spellcaster. This does not grant a spellbook, so spells must be gathered before this capability can be taken advantage of. This spellcasting ability will not grow or change with experience. The character will also be required to drink fresh mammalian blood every day, 3hp worth, in addition to normal sustenance or the character will be considered to have not eaten that day.

The chess set will work anywhere it is played as long as it is complete. If any piece is destroyed, the decorations on the remaining pieces fade and it becomes a mundane chess set. (Destroying a piece after the commencement of a game is considered concession.)

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Part 5: Key To The Tower Level

There is a small hand crank next to the mirror which can be used to adjust the mirror’s focus to look at more distant, or closer, objects.

James Raggi lotfp.com

3. 1.

Smeared with blue blood on the door on top of the landing is the word “HELP”. Just beyond the door a mouse, which will wish to closely follow any explorers. It desperately wishes to be consumed by some great big meat eater, but it cannot communicate this to most people. Because it’s a mouse.

2.

A large mirror takes up the entire western side of the westernmost column here. The mirror does not reflect non-living matter, so characters looking in the mirror will likely only see their naked selves standing in mid-air, with the living landscape behind them against a blank white space; mountains nor the sky nor space nor the stars are reflected in the mirror.

999,900 puzzle pieces are strewn all over the floor of this room. That’s 100 10,000 piece puzzles all mixed up on the floor, each depicting a similar (but not identical) flower garden, each missing one piece. When completed, each puzzle is about 8’ to a side. Discovering that the pieces here are actually from multiple puzzles will take 1d20x1d100 hours of puzzle work. Actually finishing one puzzle (minus the one piece, of course) out of this mess will take an additional 1d100x1d100 hours of puzzle work, the next 1d99x1d99 hours, the next 1d98x1d98 hours, etc. The puzzle pieces will not detect as magical.

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4.

This room is empty except for a handcranked mimeograph in the southwest portion of the room. Mounted on the press is a marble bust of a woman pursing her lips resulting in a one inch diameter spherical hole in her mouth. Beside it is a pile of paper (including one sheet fed into it, ready to be printed). Any attempt to print a page will result in “INSERT THE INVISIBLE MARBLE TO ACTIVATE” being printed.

7.

At each of these locations is a large brass gong with a matching carved mallet mounted beside it. These gongs behave as mundane items if struck individually, or if struck together using instruments other than the accompanying mallets. If the gongs are struck at the same time, with the provided mallets, they explode, with such a force that the entire tower is destroyed, everyone and everything in it reduced to rubble and pulp. Those striking the gong (and anyone attached to them via the golden sashes in Tower Level location #5) are dissolved and transported away, safe from the explosion.

If one of the invisible marbles found in this adventure (no second-rate improvised invisible marbles will do!) is inserted into the mouth, it will be ground to dust, and the next page printed will be a random MagicUser spell scroll of random level.

5.

They are reconstituted in a large cave containing a pond glowing with a pure, white light. To those so transported, it will seem as if this has happened instantaneously, but as the speed of their travel has been limited to that of light, 153 years have passed. Their transmission will leave them unable to control their muscles and thus physically helpless for but a moment, just long enough to take in their present situation before acting.

The floor of this room is a mosaic of the night sky, with many stars and other celestial bodies present. Hanging from the west wall is a large tapestry depicting two groups of people, each group holding on to a length of golden cloth while one of their number strikes a gong. Against the east side of the central column is a display case containing two 10’ yellow silk sashes with interwoven gold silk (worth 350gp each).

On the edge of the pond is a young boy lying on his chest, unmoving, his skin bright yellow. His eyes have been pierced by jade pins (25gp each). Rising from the boy is a man, human in shape, but skin and flesh translucent so only his bones are easily seen (2nd level Sorcerer). His penis drips blood and feces as he exits the dead boy, smiling at the player characters, those Dread Ancient Gods from beyond the Stars whom he has summoned from Forgotten Eldritch Terra.

6.

The windows in this room are bricked up. Hanging on the outside of this room’s doors are small signs saying “This room is empty.” And indeed it is. If the doors are closed and there is someone or something in this room, the signs will say “This room is not empty.” The nails (not the signs!) are magical, and if one is hammered in a door and a sign hung from it, the sign will indicate if the room beyond is empty or not.

If hammered into a door leading outdoors, or to a hallway, or somewhere otherwise not a “room,” the nail will rust to nothing, destroying its magic.

Welcome to Carcosa.

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Part 6: Reference Zak Sabbath

dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com

Random Encounter Table:

Moth Yule traps by Ken Baumann (See Below)

Roll d100 every 10 in-game minutes and whenever the party makes a lot of noise. Creature descriptions below 1. Moth Yule Bleth 2. Moth Yule Dorith 3. Moth Yule Apollata 4. Moth Yule Nes the Sly 5. Moth Yule Ooth 6. Moth Yule Velsh 7. Moth Yule Illith 8. Moth Yule Bob 9. Moth Yule Pojma 10. Moth Yule Uneleth 11. Moth Yule Terresh 12. Moth Yule Welt 13. Orbik the Inebriated 14. d4 lizardmen of N’Sau 15. 2d6 Kobolds of the Gilt Gate Tribe--degenerated ex-dwarves 16. d6 Silver dragon cultists--join or be sacrificed. They hate the red dragon cultists. 17. d6 Red dragon cultists--join or be sacrificed. They hate the silver dragon cultists. 18. d4 Order of the Maggot ghouls 19-20. Terror gnomes 21. The party stumbles upon a delicate silver-white orchid with flowers that resemble a woman’s face. No creature that eats any part of it may harm any other creature that similarly partakes of the same blossom. 22-25. Confrontation or meeting between creatures, roll d20 twice on this table to determine who. 26-30. One of the party’s torches goes out.

31-32. One of the party’s lanterns goes out--if there are no lanterns, a torch goes out. 33. Hunger overtakes the party, each party member must eat a day’s worth of rations in the next 10 minutes or be at -1 to everything. 35-36. Thirst overtakes the party, each party member must drink a day’s worth of water in the next hour or be at -1 to everything. Results 37-46 indicate one of the Moth Yule have just left a trap nearby--these traps are dimensionally sophisticated, so they should appear and sound as confusing as possible. 37. Gyrating padlock of cold light, any shadow acts as a key. Save vs. d8 blinding. 38. Strobing smell of burnt roses, 10’ radius, disarmed by steam. Save vs. d4 psychological + risk-blind for d4 rounds. 39. Causally-backwards color-play on wall, diffused by refracted light. If stared at for morev than 1 round, save vs. Confusion for d6 rounds. 40. Ceaseless metallic chewing sounds. d10 psychological + save vs. throwing away metal weapons. 41. Illusion of a very nice room, diffused by a player— not a character—saying “I’m tired/hungry/hungover” or the like. For every minute spent in room, d4 objects disappear from packs (1gp = 1 object). 42. Small hole through which every room the viewer has inhabited is flattened into one nauseating octeract pan-room. Save vs. feeling emotionally and intellectually there for the next d6 hours. 43. Simple vase, actual codex to Moth Yule warcrimes. When held, save vs. d20 psychological, latent d4 days. If shattered, change breaker’s alignment to Lawful Evil. 44. Small pouch of black smoke. If inhaled, d8 poison + save vs. trying to scrape off whatever identifies you— face, genitalia, tattoos, etc... 45. Floor is transplanar instrument, footsteps signal danger, danger rolls you two Encounters. 46. Miasmic ontological lamprey. Eats desire, 10’ radius. 47-00 No encounter.

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Ken Baumann kenbaumann.com

The Cursed Transplanar Kingdom of Moth Yule is just that: cursed. This kingdom’s court cannot assemble unless three conditions are met: 1. Moth Yule royalty must meet as monsters. 2. Moth Yule royalty cannot disclose their true names. 3. The court must assemble once per year to install a new monarch, who is then allowed to mill about in non-monstrous form for the rest of the year. Practically, Moth Yule aristocracy and its hanger-ons only manifest as monsters in a dungeon. Since this means they’re often in danger, Moth Yule monsters are very clever, very cautious, and always angling for adventurers to use as political pawns. If you want to use only a few of the creatures below, they’re “lost”, wandering around the wrong dungeon.

dextrous ATK wolf: d6 x2, spiders: d4 x4 + save vs. becoming racist toward sublunary creatures 7. Illith / Count / Huge leech on fleshy organic wheels, creeks juice, narcissist. / AC studded leather ATK d10 + save vs. severe anemia 8. Bob / Usher / Normal-looking humanoid, actually composed of shy flesh-colored ants. Cries (venom) a lot. / AC leather ATK d6 shortsword, d10 swarm + save vs. d4 poison per round 9. Pojma / Shah / Invisible, manifests as that feeling of just having burnt your hand on the stove, 5’ radius. / AC only magic hits ATK d4 per round 10. Uneleth / Elector / Grinning inquisitor of glass, sharp, mad, jangling. / AC reflective ATK d6 x2 11. Terresh / Landgrave / A spinning tetrahedral skull, speaks Glyphlish, otherwise happy to help. / AC only magic hits ATK d20 dematerialize 12. Welt / Junker / Burbling child, psychic tyrant, skin of cosmic diamond. AC plate ATK d4 + save vs. Geas …each court member carries treasure:

True Name / Title / Details / AC & Attack 1. Bleth / King / Flailing jelly, undulating eyes, smells like strawberries, screams psycho-poison when cut. / AC chain ATK save vs. d12 psychological 2. Dorith / Duchess (King’s master & mistress) / Cloud of jewels with teeth, telepathically whispers potent emasculation. / AC scale ATK save vs. d8 psychological, men roll 2x then use the worse 3. Apollata / Queen Mother / Amoeba-esque floating flame, speaks as if choking, knows too much. /AC only magic hits ATK d20 entropic dissolution 4. Nes the Sly / Prince / Ogre, eyes gently fountaining pus, paraplegic, titanic arms. / AC leather ATK d6 x2, critical hits do 3x damage 5. Ooth / Baron / Crippled ball of appendages, skin flaking off in hissing sheets as it rolls. Hides a lot. / AC dextrous ATK d6 acidic 6. Velsh / Eldest Infanta / Beautiful wolf, bursts into crypto-fascist aether spiders when touched. /AC

Moth Yule artifacts look like bafflingly-gendered variations on the Venus of Hohle Fels. All are single-use. Once used, eachartifact signals to Moth Yule citizens a new bounty for this act of transplanar theft & vandalism. Activated when... / What it does... 1. Submerged in water / Grants +5 to one check. 2. Crushed / Heals one condition. 3. Ignored / Reminds owner of one forgotten fact. 4. Given away / Prevents giver from opening doors. 5. Sold / Forms gem (worth d8 x 1000gp) in seller’s lung over d4 weeks. 6. Lied about / Paralyzes liar with hunger, d10 rounds. 7. Derided / Instantly becomes a massive tree. 8. Praised / Delays d20 damage for d6 rounds. 9. Eaten / Warps eater to staffed transplanar waiting room (cf. Beetlejuice + 2001’s Stargate sequence). 10. Investigated (or Checked) / Grants +1 to curious PC’s INT or WIS.

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Orbik the Inebriated (Zak Sabbath)

Lizardmen of N’Sau

Totally not a defrocked priest of the White-Lipped Goddess with eyes like pinhole burns in bad bread but thinks he is because he’s drunk a lot. Always, actually, because of that Amnesiac Drunk curse cast on him like forever ago by concerned citizens. In truth he is Vermillion the Satrap, ancient red dragon from deep time and bane of the Silver Kingdom. But that was a long time ago. Nowadays he wanders the halls the way nightmares fade and respawn during the catnaps of the chronically stressed, kept cockeyed on the blackfoaming lagers of terror gnomes and scavenged wineskins of fallen adventurers. His curse is threefold: • Must drink always • Cannot leave the Palace • Must be bored

HD2 AC5 ATK +2 1-2/1-2/1-6 (sword) or Psychic blast, range: 20’. 1d6 damage, halved on a successful save against magic. Lizardmen of N’Sau are also never surprised, as they can sense the minds of intruders.

Kobolds

HD1 AC7 ATK +1 d4 (short sword, net, thrown dagger)

Silver Dragon Cultists

HD2 AC5 ATK+2 d6 (lt crossbows, longswords, wear crazy masks of fragmented mirror)

Red Dragon Cultists

HD2 AC6 ATK+2 d4 or d6+fire damage (daggers, whirl 10’ of chain with a morningstar coated in flaming pitch on the end)

The third part of the curse is accomplished via a dull-field which surrounds Orbik at all times. Nothing magical (or even weird) can happen within 20’ of Orbik, unless initiated by Orbik himself. Even so, he is blearily but still more- or less- aware of every feature of the palace and can easily be persuaded to explain things to curious adventurers by any half-creditcable promise of recreational drink. “Oh that’s…that key roooom. It has…ceiling keys?”

Order of the Maggot Ghouls

HD2 AC5 ATK: +3, 3 (claw/claw/bite) or 1 (weapon), sword 1d8+1, claws 1d3/1d3, bite 1d3 + paralyze, SD: turned as 3 HD undead

Terror Gnomes

HD 2 AC 5 [14] Atk +2, 2 atks:1 Bite (1d6) and weapon (1d6 short sword)

In combat he believes himself to be and acts like an unarmored 0-level but has access to evil cleric spells up to level 4 each round (roll d4 to see what level spells he remembers). Other than that he has total magic resistance and 230 hit points.

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Original TSR MAPS

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Original TSR MAPS *Modified By Zak S

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