Survivors of the Deeps

As posited in my initial post about my #Dungeon23, the main (known) entrance to Askorun opens but once every 50 years, remains open for a year and a day, then close for 50 years.

Anyone trapped inside is out of luck, and over the centuries, no mortal magic or stratagem has kept the doors open longer, nor managed to force them open.   Wizards have been able to Dimension Door and Teleport out, but if anyone has done so to enter the dungeon, they didn't survive to brag of it.

This post is about these survivors.

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Most survivors are individuals or pairs, although a dwindling company of Dwarves have established a defensible position on the third level, sending out sorties to gather ever more loot.  The problem that these survivors face is that many of them no longer want to return to the surface.

Initially, they did, but with every sleep, the Dungeon whispers to them, entices them, changes them.  While they still recall the surface, many now prefer the Dungeon.  

Frankly, they're all a bit mad, now.   Mad and pale white from lack of sunlight.

Not Derro level mad - at least not yet - but approaching it.  

Especially that human that just can't die.  That poor, poor bastard.  

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Above I mentioned a human that cannot die.  

Augur il-Vec by Daren Bader

Once he was a cleric.  A cleric with a name.  None of this he remembers, although he sometimes cries when he looks at the holy tattoos on his arms.  

He came below with a group of stalwart companions and was quite literally cursed to be the last of them.  In a sack he carries the skulls of his former comrades, and in more lucid moments, pulls them out and talks to them.  

Mostly though, he wanders and as needed he talks and fights, and when at death's door, he fades away, returning later.  He never hungers or tires, though, because of the Ring of Sustenance and Regeneration (and immunity to permanent death) he wears on his right hand. 

50+ years of sleep deprivation have taken their toll.  Yet if calmly approached and spoken to, he may provide some useful information before starting to rave and wandering off or attacking the PCs as he hallucinates.

To end the curse, he and his fellows (their skulls, at least) must be buried in hallowed ground - and the Ring must be buried there, too.  At that point, his spirit appears and thanks whomever buried him. 

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Next is the Dwarven enclave.  Staying below was always the goal of this company.  Initially, the Company of the Axe was a full 27 strong - 20 Dwarves and 7 Gnomes, plus a train of packmules.  In the last 50 years, their size has been reduced to 12 Dwarves and 3 Gnomes, but these 15 still pursue the goal of accumulating the vast wealth of Askorun, but now they plan to keep it here.

Balthor the Stout by Ron Spears

They are led by the Dwarf Oskar Gem-eyes, a noble and a capable warrior with eyes that glitter like the sapphires they are (these sapphire eyes allow Detect Magic, See Invisible, and True Seeing - all of this has a negative effect on his mind).  The Company of the Axe has an arrangement with clanmates that will meet them when the doors to Askorun once again open.  Those on the surface may be shocked at the change in their dungeon-dwelling clanmates - but being Dwarves, they won't show or discuss it publicly.

The key to these survivors' success was preparation.  While the natural food and drink they brought with them (and the mules that carried it all) has long ago been consumed, they have several magical items that they guard with their lives. 

Horn of Plenty - this large wicker cornucopia provides enough fruit and vegetables to feed twenty every morning.

Mug of Many Meads - a large mug that holds a liter of liquid and can fill itself with the best mead one will ever taste 5 times per day.  A full mug is used as a reward to those members of the company that have done something of merit - otherwise it is divided up among smaller cups.

Long Pig - recovered from the hoard of the venerable Behir Azzuzir (from the Night Below box set), this item looks like a 4-inch long ceramic pig.  

Once every five days, on command, it creates a roasted pig (reasonably small, but agreeably filled with chestnut stuffing!) to appear nearby, providing enough food for up to 20 people.

Decanter of Endless Water - as per the DMG; when not filling the pool the Company has constructed, it is used as a defensive weapon, knocking attackers back and prone.

Cauldron of Iron Stomachs - this large black cast iron cauldron is etched with a variety of arcane runes.  It heats and cools upon command - no fire needed.  It stands nearly 4 feet tall and is a good 4 feet across (the mule that carried it in was the first stew cooked in it).  

The survivors have been surviving on perpetual stew - they won't eat their fallen comrades, but anything living they kill ends up in the Cauldron - meat makes the vegetables taste better. 

Being Dwarves, there are multiple stone, spear, and crossbow-based traps and defensive positions near all the entrances to their redoubt - a redoubt clearly marked with Dwarven runes and the skulls of pigs and mules (and other things they've killed).   They have established a neutral meeting place where other dungeon denizens can trade gold and information for food.  

This neutral place is where the PCs are most likely to encounter them in a safe fashion.  Once these survivors encounter surface-worlders, they trade information for surface foodstuffs (especially bread, beer, beef, salt, and spices - although the Gnomes wouldn't mind some tea) and tobacco.  They will pay for it, but would prefer to pay with information rather than their precious gold.

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One individual survivor is an Elf wizard who calls herself Newra the Learner.  Those that learn her True Name can compel her to divulge all sorts of information.

Belbe, Corrupted Observer by Igor Kieryluk

Newra has been in the depths for two cycles now, puzzling over how to get past the permanent Prismatic Sphere that is keeping something well secured.  Through the translucent glittering lights of the sphere, she can make out a table or workbench with smaller items upon it, and a pair of large chests flanking it.  On a few occasions, she has seen a figure moving about inside the sphere, but how it comes and goes she has no clue.

What she does know is that this Prismatic Sphere is a nasty variant of the traditional spell, as the normal counters to the layers fail to work.  She has worked out how to get past the first two layers through trial and error, but is seeking more spells (and guinea pigs) to test her theories with.  

Newra craves more spells most of all - perhaps a spell the PCs know can break past the third layer.  If she cannot trade for them, she will take them by force.  

Her collection of undead servitors (many of which are spell-stitched former adventurers) keep lesser threats at bay, and her collection of spellbooks (taken from uncooperative wizards) rivals that of established archmages on the surface.

Newra is willing to trade information (and maybe spells) for wine and spices and fresh food.  Her sole source of sustenance is a Spoon of Murlynd, which works, but the blandness of the food it creates is much of the reason she is angry all the time.

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Another pair of Elves lurk near the main entrance.  Brioc carries Cynhafel on her back, because Cynhafel lost both legs two decades ago.  

This has had the side effect of them being difficult to surprise and impossible to flank.  This means that the Meazels have yet to destroy them - they still harry the poor Elves, though.

Their proximity to the surface has made them less mad than most, with Brioc being the most sane of all the survivors.  Which is good for Cynhafel, because he has entirely become a creature of the dungeon.

They have been living on water from the entrance pool and have become adept at trapping vermin.

Honestly, Brioc will be content to die under sunlight, preferably after returning Cynhafel to their home far from Askorun.  

Cynhafel wields a pair of Katars that glow in the darkness, while Brioc wields a short spear.

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A lone Gnome named Kharagosa has found a hiding place on the fourth level.

Deep Gnome Terramancer by David Sladek

This Gnome mageling gets by on honey and beer from his Alchemy Jug, supplemented by whatever he can catch with his Sleep spell, which is mostly rats and other vermin.  

It's a miserable life, but at least he's alive.  

He will gladly give up the Alchemy Jug as a reward to those that escort him to the surface.  

Of course, the escorts may find that Kharagosa heads right back in.

Kharagosa knows that Askorun is a sentient, malevolent being because one item that Kharagosa does not willingly part with is an Amulet of Stonespeak.  

The Amulet of Stonespeak allows its attuned wearer to communicate with the very stones.  The only stones Kharagosa has had access to are those of Askorun, whose thoughts have twisted Kharagosa's view on many things, but does allow Kharagosa to function as an oracle of sorts, because Askorun has had centuries of things to talk about and no one but Kharagosa to tell.  

Kharagosa's only saving grace is that the Amulet doesn't function 24/7, but needs to recharge regularly by being placed in a pot or bucket of earth (although burying it underground works).  Ideally, the pot or bucket is warded to prevent a gate to the plane of Elemental Earth from opening - there are no such wards if the Amulet is buried in the ground.  Submerging the Amulet in water renders it dormant.

Naturally, Kharagosa owns such a warded container of earth - it being how he discovered the Amulet decades ago.  

Incidentally, the Amulet of Stonespeak also allows its wearer to communicate and command Earth Elementals, but Askorun has successfully kept Kharagosa from learning this aspect of the Amulet.

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Often survivors become undead - surviving after a fashion, but not really.  Mostly, they become ghouls after being forced to cannibalism in the dark, but other types of undead are certainly possible.  

Balthor the Defiled by Carl Critchlow

As such, these individual undead can be found anywhere.  If incorporeal, their remains are no doubt nearby, forever waiting to be properly buried. 

But the corporeal undead just skulk and stumble about, waiting to bring the hated living to ruin.

Frankly, it's a miracle that Askorun isn't crawling with undead.  Perhaps with time, it will.

Until then, wise adventuring companies have clerics among them.

And wise DMs have a random encounter table featuring an Undead subtable.

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There may be some foolhardy sorts that intend to stick around in the depths.  The smart ones outfit themselves with magic items that are variations on the Create Food and Water spell.  Items such as these are worth their weight in platinum to these mortals.  

As the survivors demonstrate, this doesn't help that much, but it's a start.

(Re-)Stocking the Megadungeon: Special

Specials!

Specials might be my favorite keyed areas on a dungeon map, because they let me stretch my imagination, or at least let me test how deep my inspirational reading and ability to lift ideas from other game supplements goes.  Specials are the stairwells, statues, pools, trapdoors, puzzles, labs, enigmas, and weird things that don't fit anywhere else.

Basically, Specials are the (mostly) noncombat set pieces that make a dungeon yours.  Several are discussed here.

If nothing else, the Special category is an excuse pull Goodman Games' excellent Dungeon Alphabet off the shelf and do some browsing/rolling to see what is what.  

If you enjoy dungeons and/or random tables, this book should be on your shelf or hard drive.

The first level of my megadungeon has 17 specials to play with (not counting the known entrance).  If 1 is a hidden way to the surface, and 5 more are ways down to the second (or lower) levels, that still leaves 11 specials to fill. 

Standing Tall

Statues and pools are solid choices for a Special, but can (and will) overlap with traps and trap triggers.  Still, 3 of each sort leaves me with 5 more specials.  A puzzle (hiding an 'unguarded' treasure), a limited dungeon oracle, a minor weird or gonzo thing, an enigma, and something that can only be accessed at a higher level (similar in play to enigmas, puzzles, and weirds) brings us to 17 specials.  

Uncounted are secret doors - solving them nets a shortcut or some hidden loot, so are their own prize (these real life secret doors make me want to remodel or build a new house).  Also uncounted are the statues that are just that - statues.  Some broken, some whole, statues that do nothing but loom tall and make PCs/players wonder are filed under Empty.

Or traps, if necessary.

Weirds and Enigmas probably need further description.

Weird is my term for whatever strangeness I come up with, conjured from a fever-dream or an OSR blog post or publication.  To be honest, the latter is where many of my ideas originate.

Enigmas are those things that the PCs, the players, and maybe the DM cannot explain.  Enigmas are a known landmark in the dungeon, but nobody knows exactly what it is, what it does, or how to interact with it.  Over repeated visits, aspects might be discovered.  On this first level, the Enigma might be folded into the dungeon oracle encounter (I plan to lift the one from the Holmes sample adventure).

I have a grand plan for statues AND a pool on the second level, but for this level, I'll be referring to the Dungeon Alphabet and the tables in the Ready Ref Sheets.  As this is BX, there will eventually be living statues, as well as gargoyles and petrification victims, scattered across the levels.  This first level, though, will feature simpler statues.

One that functions as a lock, one that functions as a trap, one that opens a secret door, one that hides a treasure (unguarded?), one that is part of a puzzle, one that is an enigma.  Astute readers will see this is more than 3 statues.  With this as my base plan, I'll fold these ideas into the random tables and other level features.  

Wet Blanket

Pools and other water features need to be touched, bathed in, or drunk from to 'activate' them.  All three of these actions can prove fatal in a megadungeon, but this is the only way to get the rewards from pools, so whatever is a PC to do?  A dungeon oracle or a local may be able to share a pool's secret, but mostly, it is on players/PCs to determine on their own.

I know that some pools in my megadungeon will function as wet gates - you duck your head under in one pool and come up in a different pool (likely always the same destination pool, although a cyclical teleporting pool could prove interesting - it changes location of exit once every 24 hours, so players aren't sure where it may end up, but the party gets lost together).  That said, none of the first level pools are sending pools, but one may yet become a receiving pool.

A healing pool, a fountain providing the equivalent of liquid courage, and a pool that shrinks bathers to three inches in height, whereupon they tend to drown.  This last pool features a large mosaic on the bottom - a red fish (technically, a herring).

Going Down

In proper megadungeon fashion, the deeper PCs go, the greater the risk, and the greater the reward.  Ensuring that the players know and understand this from session 0 is crucial, if only to keep them out of the 'clear each level' mindset.  As XP comes from GP recovered, base desires to level up should also motivate them to seek out the deeper levels.

That said, I want most level shifts to be obvious and descending to be a deliberate player choice.  On occasion, PCs will find themselves lower, by trick or trap, but overall, descent should be of the players' choosing.  To facilitate good play, the way down must be obvious.

On this first level, I am planning on at least five ways to move to lower levels, but this doesn't just mean stairwells.  Deep pits (sudden or not), shafts, multi-storied/tiered chambers, chutes, ladders, elevators, teleporters, long gentle sloped passages, and deep pools can all serve as a passage to the lower halls.  

If you've read my Monsters post, you'll know there is a pair of Ogre brothers (named Smash and Grab) that operate a winch-operated lift that passes through the second level and ends on the third level.  Their spokesgoblin arranges payment with whomever wants to use it - paying to return to the surface this way is closer to extortion than a fee.  Those that refuse to pay are left below - often as a result of being knocked back in by one of the brothers.  Where the lift is located, it is about a 100' drop to the floor of the third level.  The ghouls down there enjoy the fresh food.

An easily discovered stairwell leads to a large landing on the second level featuring statues, a pool, and multiple paths into darkness.  The bandit/berserker faction will point out its location, for a fee.

A hidden stairwell is guarded by a small bugbear colony.  It ends on the second level among the rest of that lair.  

A yawning darkness-filled (due to multiple darkness spells at the 10' down mark) pit in one of the corridors opens into a chamber on the second level; its floor has several burned out torches on it, as well as a long-dead (and looted) corpse with a broken neck.  The pit itself runs almost wall-to-wall (about a 6 inch ledge along both sides) and is about 20' long.  Observant PCs may notice pitons driven in one of the walls above one of the ledges.  

The last means of transit is a multi-storied/tiered chamber that has its floor on the fourth level, as well as landings and corridors running off into the second and third levels.  

The Registry

The Codex Gigas. Yes, it is that large, and so is the Register in the megadungeon.

One planned weird Special is one I have used in other dungeons, and that is a well-lit room featuring no obvious light source, a podium, and an oversized, thick, open book upon it.  The book contains the names of all beings to set foot into the dungeon.  Ever.

As those beings die, their name is lined through in red.  A mortal adding, editing, or lining through a name is bound to have ... interesting effects.  I wouldn't try it.

This same book might provide a canny adventurer-cum-researcher the names and fates of all sorts of historical and legendary beings.  Realizing that a few names from early in the book are still unlined through might even cause concern, especially when at least one of those names is used by someone the PCs know.

Brazen Head

A second weird is lifted directly from the Holmes sample dungeon.  Since I have no intent to publish this megadungeon, I can cut-n-paste from others' work, and in this case, I have.  The booming voice of the Brazen Head echoes down halls, attracting curious monsters, as well as competing magic-users, angry that the daily question has been lost to meddling adventurers.

Rainbow Connection

This enigma might end up on the second level, but bears mentioning.

A shimmering, rainbow spherical hemisphere fills a large chamber.  Through the shifting colors, a table and several chests can be made out.  Some adventurers claim to have seen a skeletal being moving inside the sphere, but that is just the wine talking.  Probably.

As DM, I know it is a treasure-vault of a lich.  The sphere is a custom Prismatic Sphere, custom as in different spells disable the various colors.  After a few turns, the sphere regenerates missing bits, and the remains of would-be looters are disposed of in an equally magical fashion.

It is rumored that a magic-user that dwells in Skara Brae knows the first spell and third spells in the sequence and can cast them.

The lich intends to forcibly recruit whomever manages to penetrate the Sphere.  So far, none have pierced it, despite the Brazen Head being capable of telling askers which spells are needed.  It is the learning of those spells that poses the issue.

I believe that covers Specials.  

Now back to the Character Creation Challenge!

Megadungeon Rumors

I've discussed rumors before.  

A good megadungeon should have its own rumor table.  A table that changes and grows based on PC (and NPC) actions.  

The mechanic I'll be using is to allow each player one roll, plus an additional roll per Charisma stat bonus, at the start of each session beginning in Skara Brae (which should be most, if not all, of the sessions).  Whether or not the PCs share the rumors they learn with the others is on them.

Which means that I'll either need to prep things ahead of time using note cards, or do lots of writing as we go.  The note cards seem the simplest method, while providing a useful tactile prop.

Greg Irons, from the AD&D Coloring Book, 1979

After all, some people, even adventurers, need external motivation, and good rumors provide just that.

As the picture suggests, the Green Dragon plays host to the ne'er-do-wells that fancy themselves adventurers in Skara Brae.  Given its crowded confines and flowing alcohol, all sorts of things about the megadungeon might be overheard there, spurring the limited objectives that make a megadungeon campaign work. Marketplaces, shops, bathhouses, religious services, festivals, and the streets themselves are also potential places to overhear rumors.  Hearing the same rumor repeatedly may lend credence to it, or might merely suggest a popular or fascinating bit of gossip.

The initial rumors list will be fairly close to this:

d20	Rumors (italicized words are false)
1	Watch the water that is not water, and beware the basilisk!
2	Old Ebeneezer Hardbottle will pay well for a live meazel - if such things actually exist.
3	My own shadow tried to kill me in the pillared hall; my friends' shadows did kill them.
4	The megadungeon connects to ancient tombs that predate Skara Brae.
5	Caves connect the megadungeon to the sea.
6	The oracle in the third deep likes his ale.
7	I delved too deep and found myself in a large cavern with green glowing fungi on the walls that danced and stirred.  I could make out a city in the distance!
8	There is an unguarded entrance to the third level near the forest lake.
9	Statues down there are far more than odd art.
10	Tristan's bride-to-be Isolde was kidnapped and her dowry stolen by the bandits on the first level.
11	A flaming sword was lost to the orcs on the first level.
12	A treasure-laden funeral barge floats on a vast reservoir on the tenth level.
13	Cadmael Addewid is an elf of his word - just be careful as to what that word is!
14	The Church of Starry Wisdom keeps its treasure vault on the second level.
15	The goblins of the first level can be bargained with.
16	Ghosts of those slain in the dungeon still wander its halls.
17	Angeber Loweherzen swore to eradicate the bugbears of the second level.  He, his flaming sword, and his companions haven't been seen since.
18	Wicked and depraved cults still practice their foul worship in the darkness.
19	I followed stairs deep into the darkness of the seventh level, but ran when I realized the stairs had been chiseled from the bottom up!
20	The dungeon is alive - and it hates us!

The falsehoods have yet to be fleshed out.  Replacement rumors will be generated between sessions.  This may or may not result in nested subtables, as I number the notecards 7a, 7b, 7c, etc.  

I already have ideas for the truth behind rumors #8 and #10.   #16 means I need to reconfigure the wandering monster table(s) with a ghost subtable.  

#13 references the leader of the bandit/berserker faction on the first level, while #1 was lifted directly from the Dungeon of Dread.  I may need to reread that book.

It seems that The Church of Starry Wisdom has a toe-hold in Skara Brae; I will make time to reread some Lovecraft.   Rumors that span the levels suggest that some adventurers have made it that deep and returned to tell of it.  Those same rumors also suggest that the megadungeon is deeper than imagined.

Basically, a good rumor table builds the world while providing players/PCs with focused options of what to do next.  Similar things can be accomplished through job boards and the town council and such, but I prefer the simplicity of a few dice rolls and then off to adventure.  With gaming time at a premium, maximizing the adventuring is crucial.

 

Oracles in the Megadungeon

A good megadungeon includes people beings to speak with.  Item 5 on the Dungeon Checklist even tells us as much.  While factions and rival adventuring parties are inevitable and useful sources of local and limited information, it is the weird denizens scattered throughout the levels that are most useful, both for information and entertaining play at the table.

Cassandra can tell you, being an accurate soothsayer ain't all cakes and roses.  Sometimes, all you can do is make your predictions and watch them be ignored.  Right, Julius?

So here are four such oracles and an honorable mention.

1. An intelligent mimic in the shape of a statue, located at a busy intersection on level 2.  Observant players/PCs notice that the statue slowly grows and shifts appearance between encounters.  Mostly it lives off of vermin and lone dungeon wanderers.  It will happily trade information for food (it is partial to fresh goblins and has a sweet tooth, but in the end isn't that picky).  While it speaks broken common, it doesn't have much of a vocabulary (but can learn) and communicates more by numbers (1, 2, many), rough size, how many legs things traveled on, and how they taste and smell.  This can help regarding monster taste.

2. There is a high-ceilinged square chamber on the 3rd level that has one entrance.  Suspended from the ceiling in the center of the room is a large cage that ends about 3 feet off the floor.  Seated in a lotus-position within the cage, among pillows, books, and what appears to be a bottle or two, is a being wearing simple robes.  The being within appears as a bald, clean-shaven human male.  He sits facing the entrance, and motions the PCs closer, holding a hand to his ear to suggest he cannot hear them from the doorway (which is a lie, as he can hear them just fine). His name is Asklepios, and he spends much of his immortality projecting astrally through the dungeon, watching and learning.  The cage keeps him alive indefinitely, but it doesn't prevent him from wanting creature comforts, such as good wine, tobacco, lotus, and books - offering any of these in trade can provide better answers than not offering them.   He is fond of telling dungeon delvers 'if you have a question, just Ask lepios!' before laughing at his own joke.

Note that Asklepios is a bit of a dick, partially due to temperament, partially due to boredom, occasionally because he is drunk.  Because of this, Asklepios enjoys baiting entire parties to close with him and then he wills the floor away.  

Beneath the chamber is a long drop to a cold dark pondish-lake on the 5th level (bugbears lair nearby and listen for splashes). PCs that survive his 'little joke' and return get some free answers; those that don't provide Asklepios some entertainment as they vainly try to find a way back in the dark.  The bottom of that lake has a large quantity of empty wine bottles.

Despite all this, Asklepios knows LOTS about the megadungeon; whether or not he shares information with the PCs depends on how much they amuse (or bribe) him.

3.  Elsewhere on the 2nd level is a rectangular room. The side walls feature rainbow-hued tiles spanning all 40' of the walls that slowly move as the PCs watch.  Asking a question aloud nets an answer of sorts as the colored tiles fly off the walls and begin to spin around in the center of the chamber (like the school of moonfish in the movie Finding Nemo), to form shapes that answer the question asked.  The mural is NOT all-knowing, so forming a question mark is possible.  After answering 2d4+3 questions, the tiles fly back to the wall and become dormant, turning grey in color.  They won't wake until next session.  Some adventurers report that the tiles have a voice, but that is unverified.

4.  The face on the floor.  He's hungry, his mouth is large enough to swallow your foot (and he will keep your footwear) or a halfling, but mostly he's lonely.  No magic yet has determined where the things Face consumes go, but once somethin is gone, it tends to stay gone. Regardless, Face is bound to this chamber on the 4th floor, but can move about the floor and tries to position himself near whichever entrance (there are several) has noise coming from it.

Of all these oracles, Face is most likely to lie and spin tales to keep people there and talking to him.  If attacked, Face squinches his eyes shut and holds his breath until he turns blue.  Then he disappears, until the next session, at least.  

(My inspiration comes from the Grimjack comic book, where there is a face on the floor of at Munden's Bar (I'm thinking that Munden's Bar should - at least sometimes - open up to Skara Brae).  But a Google search turned up lots of references to 'the face on the barroom floor' that are far older than Grimjack.)

The honorable mention is the Brazen Head from the Holmes Sample Dungeon (1977), room I on page 43.  I won't lie, this oracle is on the first floor of my megadungeon, and its booming voice can be heard echoing through the halls (attracting wandering monsters) whenever it speaks.  Control of this head (as it is one question per day, not one question per asker per day) may yet turn that area into a siege environment.

So, in closing, provide a means to answer PC/player questions, as secrets aren't much fun if nobody learns them.