Estimated reading time: 3 minutes (10 with room descriptions)
It’s already February and I haven’t been always punctual with the daily rooms of my new (mega)dungeon. There is however a whole month’s worth of rooms in my notebook. In the first post I’ve only offered a teaser, so this one will be more detailed. For full descriptions of the rooms scroll to the end of the post.
As I mentioned earlier I chose an abandoned prison as a starting point. You can read the reasoning behind this in the first post so I won’t repeat myself here. On the provided map you can see two distinct sections that I have distinguished by a red filter. The left side is the original prison architecture as built (well, cut into rock) by its founders. The right (red) side is a more recent addition and hides a more sinister side to the place.
There are several cells lining the main corridor, most of which are twinned, except for the two isolation cells. Several storerooms and utility closets are also present. In the centre of the main corridor loop there are workshops and the infirmary. Apparently the infirmary has been used as a sort of children’s room, if it’s to be judged from the furnishings. There is also a secret room that served as a shelter for two unlucky squatters.
The cells are for the most part devoid of anything interesting, with only a few stray coins and low-value items to be found inside them. Two humanoid skeletons can be found in the cells, with copper coin charms. There is a small shrine to an unknown deity fashioned from one twinned cell. The only static combat encounter is in one of the isolation cells, where a brine wraith (stats and description later) is imprisoned in a large jar.
The right side of the plan, accessible from the trolley utility room, consists of two interrogation/torture chambers, a room with a pit to lower levels, an alchemists workshop, and a mold garden. There’s not much to see there, but for a potion of water breathing in the workshop and some trinkets (and infection hazard) in the mold garden. The molds might be of use to an alchemist, herbalist, poisoner, or other persons of similar vocations.
The overall picture any explorer should be getting is that this part of the prison has been used by several squatters including children. At least 4 adults have been present, and their bodies can be found in various cells. The bodies in the mold garden are more recent. The prison block has then been abandoned again, except for the shrine, where relatively fresh food can be found as an offering.
Although not much is happening in this prison block, I tried to create a sense of mystery with the small details. Also an atmosphere of something sinister and ominous that took place in the block not too far in the past. I won’t be fleshing everything out right now, and I’m not going to add dynamic encounters just yet. As I mentioned before I am not a fan of making a dungeon on the run this way, so I will return to this part of the dungeon later. As the dungeon grows, so will my options to tie everything in.
February will be dedicated to another prison block. This time the area will be occupied. There will be some clues that would add to the snippets from January, and we’ll get a fuller picture. If you want to see where this is headed, be sure to follow our social media, where updates will be posted Thursdays. And as always, feel free to like, share, and comment!
Rooms
And now the complete room descriptions. Please note that these are almost verbatim (minus typos etc.) from the notebook I use and I definitely do not consider these well described. They are rather notes than descriptions, really.
- Rock walls, one half of a larger room divided by rusty iron bars, closed iron bar door bound with coarse rope. T: wet rope on the floor, remains of an iron bucket in SW corner
- Rock walls, second half of room 1, door missing, headles skeletal corpse in NE corner (orc). T: 14 cp, perforated and bound to various long bones and ribs
- Another half of twin rooms, door closed and bound with coarse rope, inside are heaps of damp coil baskets of various sizes, from quart-sized to bushel-sized. T: very long and thorough search with DC35 yields 1 brass carpet needle stuck in one of the baskets
- Twin with room 3, bars on W and S sides, stone wall N and E; in NE corner remains of a plain wooden cot with wet blanket scraps; door jammed (DC 25). T: 3 small stones, one partially finished humanoid figurine from the same material
- Two twin cells rebuilt into one room by removing the central barred partition. It has an alcove dug into the N wall; in the alcove is a plain stone altar with several bowls and plates with food both old and fresh; also strips of paper, cloth, and leather with writings on them by different hands (5+). T: 1 small portion of edible food (subterranean), strips with prayers
- Cell with small water-filled jars all ove the floor, door bound with coarse rope. T: one of the jars is silverware (2 gp)
- Another cell with bound door, inside is a simple wooden cot, ceramic bowl and iron bucket; on the cot is a relatively clean and dry blanket. T: under the blanket is a small charm in the form of a baby seal made of ivory
- Corner cell with jammed door (DC 20); inside is a cot with a blanket-wrapped skeleton of a human; next to the cot a bowl and a basket. T: 12 cp, perforated and worn by the skeleton as a necklace
- Cell without a door; inside is a broken cot, 4 barred cell doors leaning on the E wall, and several mounds of debris. T: thorough search of the debris yields 1 perforated copper piece
- Utility room, S wall lined with broom racks and other sanitary utensils mostly in bad shape; there is a stone sink in the NW corner covered with an iron grate. S: behind broom rack is a secret door, DC 15 when searching the rack
- Utility room for trolleys, one broken is lying in SW corner; E wall covered by hanging rags, blankets, and raincoats on hooks. S: behind blankets on E wall is a secret door (DC 30)
- Round shaft leading down with only a small promontory from the corridor
- Rough-cut room behind iron-bound door; inside are various restraining devices – chains on walls, stocks, restraining chair. T: rucsty wicked-looking curved knife lying under the chair
- In this rough-cut room there is only a single iron chair with shackles in the middle and several tables lining the walls; on the tables various tools and torture instruments can be found; a curtain bar is at the entrance, the curtain is missing. T: torture insturments; silver chain wrapped in dirty rag (1 gp)
- The room looks better cut than others, there are four infirmary folding beds along the N wall and several cabinets along the S wall; half of the S wall is barred, there used to be a door to room 19, but it is lying nearby. The walls are covered with childrens’ drawings. T: articulated wooden dol with 1 arm missing
- Workshop with several wool-processing worksations; there are various wool-processing tools scattered around (hackles, carders, combs), along with baskets and rotting clumps of wool. T: bone carding comb decorated with scrimshaw (1 gp)
- Storeroom with broken shelves and crates, evidently looted. T: 2 stoneware oil bottles (1 quart each), firesteel, 1d6 rusty iron nails, several buckets, bowls, small flat chisel. S: secret door behind shelf, DC 15
- Guardroom, an empty weapon rack on the N wall, table with chairs (all in bad shape) in the S part of the room, along with some shelves; E door is jammed (DC 40). T: 1d6 cp in various places; an 8-sided bone die, broken whetstone, 1 rotting shortsword scabbard
- Doctor’s room adjacent to infirmary, converted to small dining room; cupboards used as pantries (some food remains), walls painted with faded paint; almost all medical equipment is gone. T: slightly bent scalpel, small forceps, bent needles
- Chandler’s workshop; clumps of beeswax everywhere. T: 2d6 usable candles, few candlemaking resources
- Isolation cell, door locked. Inside is a large jar with lid bound with multiple eelskin straps. E: brine wraith sealed in the jar, attacks immediately after opening the jar. T: abalone necklace in the jar (5 gp)
- Isolation cell, door missing. Remains of several cots and buckets are piled inside along with a battered and broken oar from a galley. T: usable wooden pulley
- Rough-cut room behind double doors. Inside is a mold garden – various colourful patches of mold growing on rotting pieces of furniture, ships, and carcasses – a goat, a large fish, 1 humanoid. The room is lit by crystal shards jammed into cracks in the walls and ceiling, resulting in a pinkish ambient light. Torches and other external light sources give only faint light in the presence of the crystals. T: the fish carcass can be searched for a silver brooch set with almandines (30 gp); the humanoid corpse has 1 gold tooth that comes out easily (1 gp). Manipulating the bodies is a risk, infection is highly possible (CON DC 25)
- Rough-cut room that formerly served as an alchemy laboratory. Broken vessels and various instruments lie scattered on the floor and surfaces. T: 2 gp worth of common ingredients, mortar and pestle, 1 potion of water-breathing
- Surprisingly clean cell with a cot, wooden chest, small shelf; the bars connecting it with its twin are covered with blankets. T: small leather pouch with needles and thread behind the chest, 1 brazen button under the cot
- Twin cell to I/25, less clean but still in better shape than most others; bars covered with blankets. T: a worn iron shortspear in one corner
- Hidden room (door DC 30) with 2 humanoid skeletons in embrace; around them are some small items. The inner door can’t be opened from the inside. T: iron key to I/21, firesteel, empty bottle, small rusty knife
- Door missing, almost empty cell, remains of a cot scattered on the floor
- Another empty cell, thorough search (DC 35) reveals a well-made stash in the wall. T: 2d6 cp, simple gold earring, plain silver ring (3 gp + 1 gp)
- Corner cell, door bound by rope, inside on a cot are potsherds from 3 large jars; the bars are covered with blankets. T: 5 cp can be found among the sherds
- Corner cell, all barred walls covered with blankets smeared with blood from the inside. Door bound, inside there is a large clay amphora without lid, covered in blood, same as the rest of the cell. There is too much blood to fit within the amphora alone
If you read all the way down here, take some time to like, share, or comment. Thanks for your interest, until next week!
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