I know #Dungeon23 is intended to be a daily writing prompt, but I have mentally dropped into a once-a-week type pattern.
And it's only the second week!
I also need to remind myself that this is not intended to be a finished product, merely a rough draft, because the awesome maps and entries others share are intimidating to me. Maybe I need to not look at what others are doing?
Regardless, I must soldier on. This should carry us through today.
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9 - Cold Trap - the wall is cool to the touch, and opening it lets cold air wash over the opener. Like see-your-breath cold. To open the secret door requires pressing an oddly-shaped stone at waist-level.
Moving into the corridor gets colder. A light source reveals a large bas-relief of a face in the far wall, its cheeks puffed like its blowing.
At the X on the map is a pair of magical sensors about 4 feet up the wall. Breaking the line between them activates the trap, sending a Cone of Cold (8d6 damage) down the passage (it extends to the door). The sensors can be seen with Detect Magic.
It takes 24 hours for the trap to recharge.
10 - Cold Storage - the door to this room is cool to the touch, but otherwise unlocked and unstuck. Inside the room is a stout table against the back wall, with a chest pushed under it.
The table has a coffer, a mace, and a helmet setting upon it. Each is covered in dust.
Coffer - ornate, carved wood with silver inlays. Unlocked. Interior still aromatic (from wood), 3 potion vials on a bed of silk. Under the silk is the key to the chest. Potions are unlabeled (poison, healing, gaseous form).
Mace - touching anything on the table (or the chest) animates the mace. It fights as a Fighter 3, AC as chain, 6 hp. When defeated, it crumbles to rusty broken metal.
Helmet - donning the helmet allows the wearer to See Invisible, but renders all normally visible things invisible. While worn, words appear on the wall: 'great treasure is found at the crack of dawn.'
The chest is locked and contains several hundred loose silver coins. Is there a cavity under the chest?
11 - Dead Zone - crunching, tearing, and growling can be heard upon approach. Entering shows the source of the sounds - a trio of ghouls feasting on dead adventurers. They'll happily stop to attack and feast on PCs. Ghouls are the gluttons of the undead world.
The Ghouls have no treasure, but the corpses they are munching on do. TREASURE
Observant sorts notice a few bloody footprints - three-toed and webbed - and drag marks heading off towards area 12.
12 - Meazel Foyer - this chamber contains several hundred sacks haphazardly piled on top of each other, some areas knee-high, some taller. The sacks are full of bones - one humanoid (lots of orc and kobold, but other races too) skeleton per sack. Inspection shows that bones have teeth marks from gnawing. The first sack searched contains 3 gems. Each other sack has a 1 in 6 chance of 1d4 gems.
Emptying a sack and searching it takes a full turn.
The third sack opened contains the remains of a human fighter whose spirit manifests when the sack is opened. His name is Bartholemew, and he promises a great reward to whomever carries his remains out and inters them in holy ground. His spirit stays in the room and begs anyone who listens to bury him. If greedy PCs have dumped many sacks, his bones are mixed in. He can point them out, but it takes an extra turn for each sack dumped.
Sacks near the concealed doors have ropes tied to them, so the Meazels can pull them in and hide the door.
13 - Meazel Lair - each of these concealed nests are made of clothing, blankets, and other detritus and smell of death. Getting to the next requires passing through a tunnel that runs between 4' and 5' tall, and as wide, meaning invaders are in it single file and likely stooped over, fighting at disadvantage.
All told, there are a dozen of these nests, each with its own concealed entrance and escape route connecting to the chamber just off room 14. These routes are twisty, turny, and wind up and down - overlapping one another, but not connecting to the others. Just a rats' next of tangled, tight, caves. All dark, all ideal for murder.
Nine of the nests are potentially occupied, at a 50% chance. If empty, the occupant is off hunting (on random encounter table).
Individual treasures are as follows; jewelry is worn and weapons carried, coins are in sacks hidden in nest:
a. ring, ring; 3d20gp
b. Ring of Detect Thoughts, ring; 6d20gp
c. no Meazel (long dead) - nest is infested with yellow mold and TREASURE
d. ring, bracelet; 4d20gp
e. Dagger of Stealthy Murders; 8d20gp
f. no Meazel (long dead) - nest contains giant rats and TREASURE
g. necklace made of gold coins pierced and strung together; 2d20gp
h. ring, ring, ring; 4d20gp
i. no Meazel (long dead) - nest contains giant centipedes and TREASURE
j. bracelet; 5d20gp
k. Short Sword of Piercing, ring; 7d20gp
l. ring, ring, necklace; 3d20gp
Meazels that hear combat creep about and wait to ambush from behind. It's not so much that they are helping one another as taking advantage of the situation.
14 - Meazel Dumping Ground - here is where these Meazels have been dumping their ill-gotten gains (except for gems) for the past two or three centuries. Going through it is noisy and allows any not-yet-killed Meazels the chance for a vengeful sneak attack.
While any mundane weapon or armor can be found here, there is a 3-in-4 chance it is damaged due to ill treatment and age (lots of rust and rot). Still, among the jumbled mess one can also find up to a dozen of these items as well as a variety of miscellaneous equipment.
Hundreds of silver and copper (and dozens of platinum) coins have sifted to the bottom of the pile and take several days to collect.
Detect Magic is a surefire way to find an enchanted Lantern, an enchanted Crossbow, an enchanted Axe, a scroll tube with spell scroll, a cursed Sword, a cursed Helmet, and a pair of Boots of Elvenkind. Even with the spell, it takes two turns to recover one magic item (d8 - each boot is a separate items), and it makes noise.
15 - Kobold Warning - several heads on stakes (orcs, mostly) stand as a warning and territory marker that this area; Magic Mouth has been used on several to act both as warning and alarm.
16 - Kobold Front Door - kobolds here will have heard the Magic Mouths in area 15, and are hiding, waiting to attack or retreat as needed. A volley of arrows from both sides is the first warning unwary PCs get as they advance towards the double doors at the far end of the hall.
The door to the south is concealed behind flaking wall murals.
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