Dungeon at Small Creek Part XI

The two rooms on the west wall upstairs are both bereft doors and about half their depth.  The stone walls in the back (west wall) are collapsed and rubble fills the back half of each room.  There are pebbles and broken beams in the front half of each room, along with broken desks.  Rats scurry in and out of the rubble and their bright red eyes glow in the darkness.  The room on the right has a glow stone which still works and lights up the disaster that use to be two work rooms of some sort.

If a search of these two rooms is done there are no traps, (unless the party is stupid enough to try and move the big boulders then there is a chance to be smashed beneath them), and little of value.  There is one tapestry along the east wall of the left room which is in good condition and worth about 500 gold and showing a scene of valleys and mountains.  There is also a small coffer in one of the smashed desk, with some gold and gems in it.  (The GM should decide how much he or she wants to put in.)

There are also ledgers with purchases, expenses and income, showing that the wizard was selling timber, food and gems which his undead servants were growing or harvesting.

Dungeon at Small Creek Part X

The second room on the wall with the top of the stairs has a shut, wooden door.  If a thief checks the door it is neither locked nor trapped.  There is a small chance that the party may hear noise from inside.  If the battle with the mimic went on for more then about 6 rounds then the ghouls in this room will know something is up and will not have a chance to be surprised.

This room is just as big as the first, with a semi-intact bed and wardrobe.  There is a small stash in this room, so put what you think is appropriate for this room for a treasure.  There are some books in this room and one appears to be a diary.  DC 30 search to find and actually want to take the diary.  The diary is of the wizard who took over the village and had the stronghold built.  You can stick in what ever you would like, but make sure to have the following things.  1) He is obviously sane at the beginning, but slowly goes crazy.  2) He thinks someone is out to get him.  (This does not include the Houses that want to take him out.)  And 3) He goes on about how the world owes him for forcing him to become a wizard when all he wanted to be a Knight.

This room smells horribly and there are pieces of dead everywhere.  If a character is squeamish this would be a good time to point out things like that.

These ghouls will not disappear when they are killed and act just like normal ghouls.  Treasure is appropriate for 1d6 ghouls.

Dungeon at Small Creek Part IX

The first room right next to the top of the stairs has a broken wooden door.  If a thief notices or checks there was a strong lock on the door, but it is busted as well.  The inside of the room is 15' x 20' and is piled with wood debris from broken furniture such as a bed, wardrobe and book shelves.  In one corner is a chest, one would store blankets in, and in the other is the remains of a wardrobe.

In the wardrobe there is rotten clothes.  If a search is done there is a small coffer inside with some necklaces and gems of various values, (up to the GM on values).

The chest is actually a mimic.  Mimics have a +20 to disguise checks, so the Players need to roll against such DCs.

There are no secret doors or other ways out.

Dungeon at Small Creek Part VIII

The stairs up from the ball room on the north room are wooden and rotting.  They are stable in some places but going up the stairs is tricky business.  A DC check against acrobatics or climbing of 20 for each step will keep any steps from breaking under a person or having the person note that the stair is too rotten to step on.  Fall damage is normal, no additional damage for any falls.  The highest spot, (the top of the stairs), is only 20 feet high.

Up above, the floor circling the ball room is in fairly good condition.  If you feel obnoxious have the players roll a perception check ever thirty feet or so to see if the spot any weak spots, but don't over do it, since the second floor is in pretty good condition and supported by stone supports.

There are eight rooms up on the second floor, two on each side.

Tomorrow: Room 1

Dungeon at Small Creek Part VII

The east doorway leads to a large, two story room, probably used as a ball and or feast room.  The tapestries and curtains around the room are torn, molding, moth eaten and falling from their rods.  The small niches for statues harbor some statues, but most are broken.  (A perception check of DC 25 reveals that the human shaped statues are all of one man.)  The floor is a hard wood overlay, broken in many places, as if something huge walked across the surface and left huge foot prints.  Tables and chairs are strewn about the room and when anyone enters magical light stones spring to life, lighting the room adequately, but there are still shadows.  There is a door to the east side of the room and stairs on the northern wall that leads to the balconies above as well as the room above.

When the party enters the room, a large shadow comes to life in the north west corner and unfolds into a large skeleton holding a two handed sword, bits of armor and clothing still attached.  This is a skeletal champion.  The CR is 2 normally, but scale this to fit your party. It should be at least 1 level higher then the party, if not 2 or 3.  On the skeleton is a magical 2-handed sword, a necklace of protection, (appropriate level for your campaign and make sure to add that into the skeleton's armor), and a small pouch of gems.

On top of being Skeletal Champion, if your party is fairly high level, have it able to summon a swarm of smaller skeletons.  Adjust accordingly.

There are no more creatures in this room.

Dungeon at Small Creek Part VI

The southern door leads into a small coat room.  There is a door in the far end of the coat room that leads into the kitchens.  There are broken metal hooks, broken chests and old velvet curtains that have become moth eaten and torn.  There are some old coats and cloaks, but all in a disrepair and covered in dust.  A detect magic will find a single blue cloak with simple embroidery with the aura of abjuration (protection) magic.  The cloak is a Cloak of Protection +3, (or an equivalent).  There is also a secret door that leads into a secret prison in the corner of the cloak room.  The DC to find the secret door is 30. It is not locked by difficult to find.

There are no monsters in this room, except for very large dust bunnies.

Dungeon at Small Creek V

The door to the north leads to what once was the way to the stables.  The hall is straight and goes through two sets of double doors.  The hall is plain, with just small niches for light stones or lamps.  The trap lays between the two sets of double doors.  The DC to find the trap is 25 and the disable it is also DC 25.  When someone steps on the pressure plate in the middle between the two sets of doors the doors lock and then sand begins to poor in and until it fills to almost the ceiling.  After the "fill" line is reached after 20 minutes the sand drains away, the trap resets and the doors unlock.

Past the second set of doors is what use to be the stables.  There enough room for 20 mounts and hay and grain for a good month for them.  There is a stone trough at one end that still holds drinkable water and if a detect magic is cast will show it has a conjuration spell laid upon it. Moss and mushrooms grow on around the trough.  There are skeletons of horses in some of the stalls and one human skeleton with a spear through the rib cage pinned in one of the stalls.

The party will also find a single ghost in here as well.  Two things can happen.  Either the party attacks and take care of the ghost that way, or they can talk to the ghost.  The ghost is the ghost of the stable hand pinned in the stall.  He tells a sad tale of trying to save his horses from the House war party and tried to explain he wasn't trying to help the wizard, but no one would listen to him and killed him.  The raiding party also just left the horse sealed in since they saw the horses as tainted.  This is what saddens the ghost the most, not his death.  The ghost will not attack the party first, but will wait to see what they do.

Dungeon at Small Creek Part IV

After walking into the keep/dungeon the first room was obviously meant to be a reception hall.  It is large, with three ways out on the north, west and east walls.  There are broken remains of benches, the cloth rotting.  Banners, tapestries, and paintings hang askew on the walls, while the floor looks as if there were pictures of tiles at one time. The pictures are hard to discern on the floor and the paintings and tapestries are covered in mold and dust.  Statues of wizards sit in niches, though the features are worn away.  (A perception check of about 40 would allow players to notice they are all of the same wizard in different poses.)

There are three trap pressure plates in this room.  Two, on the sides of the room trigger a patrol of zombies each (1d6+1 each trap).  These zombies have no treasure and disappear when "killed". The middle pressure plate results in a pit trap.  (Sixty feet with spikes.)  The wizard was able to turn this off and on, depending on who he was bringing in to his home and if he wanted them to die horribly.

The DC to find the trap is 20, and the DC to disarm the trap is 25.

Dungeon at Small Creek Part III

The opening to the Dungeon/Stronghold is set into the side of the hillside nearby.  Originally the Wizard had reliefs carved into the stone around the doorway, but was never finished.  Half finished reliefs look twisted, like the Wizard's soul as they writhe around the doorway.  The stout wooden doors are just starting to break down, but they are still strong enough to withstand battering rams for a while.  The doors are protected by a spell of protection which will shock a person with lightning if they try to open the door without the secret word.  A mage can dispel the magic but it takes a high DC to bypass or the runes can be disrupted by a thief, also with a high DC, as determined by the GM.

Just inside the doorway is a pressure plate which summons up zombies to attack those who activate the trap.  1d6+1 zombies are summoned and the DC is 20 to disarm the trap, with a 25 to locate.  The Zombies have no treasure and when they are "killed" they disappear in a poof of smoke like they were never there.

Dungeon at Small Creek Part II

Outside the "Dungeon" lay the ruins of a small town, foundations mostly, but stone chimneys and a few stone buildings still stand.  Trees and brush have begun to over run most of the buildings and there are a few feral farm animals, such as chickens, draft horses, sheep and a few milk cows who are the descendants of the original farm animals.  They stay around the town because predators will not enter the area and the animals know it.

If a group was to come into the town they may encounter several things:

1) Undead, mostly zombies and ghouls, appear occasionally, though they seem to ignore the farm animals.  (Some sort of bond still exists between these once farmers and their livestock, strangely.)  They come in groups, (1d4+1) and attack any living humans/humanoids on sight.

2) They may find the general store, or what remains.  There are some arrow heads, scythes, and metal instruments that still remain in somewhat good repair.  In one corner of the cellar is a small chest of coins the owner had from his business dealings.

3) In the Mayor's house in a rusted, old metal chest is a diary of sorts where he speaks about the Wizard who came and tried to take over the town without magic at first.  This may give some insight to how the Wizard thinks and what the stronghold may be laid out.

Tomorrow: The entrance to the "Dungeon".

Dungeon of Small Creek

Once a bustling little town upon the Small Creek near Brightwater, this town was taken over by a rogue wizard who wanted his own little empire. He killed the residents, turned them into undead and used them to create a stronghold in the cliffs that ran behind the town.  When his deeds were heard of, House Brightwater sent Knights and mages to take him down, which they did after losing quite a few of their numbers.  The stronghold was blocked off by way of rocks and magic but over the years the wards have weakened and the stones have fallen away, showing the way in once more.  Beyond lays years of undiscovered surprises and what ever the wizard left behind. 

Thus begins our adventure.

The Library of Tayke, After Shaniko

After Shaniko came through and crushed Tayke then tried to take over all of Martapa, the knowledge of the Library of Tayke was lost to the world, for the most part.  Some of the knowledge was rescued by a single librarian and his family, though it was only a fraction of what they had.  At this point, all contact with the original Tayke (see my fourth book...hehe), so there was no where to run to.  They headed to a small village in the north, that lived in the caves along the coast.  There he and his family copied every single scroll they had, though it did take time, and spread the knowledge to four winds.  Copies of these scrolls can still be found in treasure troves, private libraries and ruins of villages and towns on the east side of the Tsalagi Mountains.

The library itself was burned to the ground, though the cellar below was not completely destroyed.  If treasure hunters were to look around they would find a secret, magically hidden room in the cellar, (covered in debris and years of vegetation grown), and inside there is a small stash of scrolls.  The contents are up to the GM, but some of the scrolls have ancient magic, some have some engineering skills, and some is history and geography.  These are what the Tayke considered the most important so the GM should consider carefully what they put in.

The Library of Tayke, Before Shaniko

The Library of Tayke was not huge by the standards of the Grand Library of Notitia, but it was large.  A single story, with a storage basement, this building had the sweeping roof lines and clay tiles of the city of Tayke, with the vibrant colors as well.  Several attendants took care of the building at all times, along with the scrolls and the few books it held.  (Tayke and its culture used scrolls more then books to hold information.)  Special cases were made for the scrolls, which were usually kept in fancy scroll cases made  of fine metals or carved woods.  Anyone could use the library, for the people of Tayke were all taught to read, from the lowest farmer to the Leader of Tayke himself.  Tayke's library held not only history, but talk about magic, engineering as well as geography.  Many Leaders of other Houses would send their young heirs here to learn about ancient realms, magic and the study of engineering.

Classes were held here every day, and the subject depended on the instructor.  A lot of the time it was history or geography, but sometimes magic and engineering would be taught.  Anyone who could come was welcome.  For a time there was an ogre who wanted to learn to read and the people of Tayke would not turn him away.  He proved to be a worthy ally, saving the House Leader from his own people, though it cost him his life.