d8: Dungeon! - Vulture Spire

 

Selime Monastry

A small vertical dungeon.

1st Floor

A - Entrance
A small opening leads into these dark and cool corridors cut into solid rock. The northern one ends in a shaft going all the way upwards for 100ft; in sunny days it's possible to spot some light shining in at the top of it. The eastern passage has a shaft too, but, from below, it looks like it leads nowhere.

B - Gnome Camp
A band of 8 Gnomes and their weird, long-necked Wood Golem beast of burden are camped in this small room. They are treasure hunters and well equipped with grappling hooks, drills, shovels, and other tools of the trade.
Their current hoard, 250gp, half a dozen silver ingots each worth 200sp, as well as 3 gems worth 50gp each, is stored behind a secret door in front of which they stacked their luggage.

2nd Floor

C - Maw Passage
The walls and ceiling of this tunnel are decorated with gaping, fanged maws carved into the rock. Everyone dwelling here more than 3 rounds must save vs Spell, or start to notice that the maws are twitching when not observed directly. This is however only a magical suggestion, the maws are actually immobile. The door to D is stuck.

Codex Tudela

D - Chapel of the Hunger
The walls of this chamber are painted with unsettling scenes of cannibalism. Two monstrous stone statues stand close to the walls, and opposite to the door there is a grim, skull shaped altar. The statues are actually 2 Gargoyles, patiently waiting for victims. There's a shaft going up between the statues, while the floor in front of the altar is trapped in such a way that for every person on the platform, there is a cumulative 1-in-6 chance that a trap door will activate, with anyone standing on it falling 20ft down into A and suffering 2d6 points of damage. The altar has a hidden hollow section inside holding a fanged Crystal Skull worth 500gp, a Ring of Floating Disc with 4 charges, a Crystal +1 Dagger and a Bag of Devouring.

E - Traitor Cell
The western end of this small filthy cave opens to the outside and drops downward for some 30ft, but it was closed by a crude palisade, while on the east, a shaft goes up.
A single miserable, crippled Harpy dwells here, barely kept alive from the scraps dropped from above. She can't fly anymore, has only 3HP left, and if forced to fight, does so at a -2 penality.

3rd Floor

F - Cell Complex
This hallway is dirty, dark and smells terrible. On the west, a shaft goes 20ft down to E, while the south-east one goes down 20ft to D. The door to G is stuck.
Two of the cells, F2 and F3, are empty save for piles of rotting garbage, while F1 holds a single half-starved prisoner, a blinded human. He has completely lost his sanity and babbles deliriously.

Dale DeArmond

G - Eagle Nest
The western side of this bone-littered cave is open and drops down 60ft.
A Giant Eagle has built its nest here, and is brooding its 3 eggs. It will attack if disturbed, but will not pursue intruders.
Among the bones there is a Ring of Spell Turning, and there is a fist-sized ruby with a value of 2000gp in the nest. The large, ostrich-sized eggs can be used as food, each one feeding 6 people for a day, or sold to an animal tamer.

4th Floor

H - Windy Tunnel
This carved tunnel is slippery with bird droppings and reeks terribly. Cold wind flows through it constantly. The doors to J are unlocked.

I - Hatchling Crib
One side of this room is open and drops down 90ft into the void. 8 Infant Harpies (stats as harpy, but have only 1HD and can't sing yet) are kept in this room, and make an awful lot of noise playing and fighting each other among their own wastes for food and entertainment. 7 chewed ingots, each worth 50gp, are half-buried in the filth.

J - Larder
15 Giant Locusts are held captive in this small room and fed scraps. Should both doors be open at the same time, the insects will attempt to flee and scatter around.

K - Court of the Vulture Queen

Harpies by Donna Barr - Source

Multiple crude nests are in this wide room. The biggest nest is occupied by the Harpy Queen (stats as harpy, but has HP and fights as a 4HD monster), and she is "attended" by 5 Harpies. They all "wear" tattered shreds of fine garments and pieces of jewellery they stole from their victims. Most of it is utterly ruined, but there's a total of 300gp worth of gold thread woven into the cloth, and each harpy has 100gp of golden rings, trinkets and chewed coins woven into their feathers. They don't care about noise from other rooms, but will attempt to charm intruders they spotted by singing and lure them off the open side of the room, letting them fall down 90ft for 6d6 points of damage. Should anyone resist their song, then they will attack and pursue.

Random encounter table:

1. 1d4 Giant Locusts (2d4 if the ones in J escaped) jumping around
   
2. A Harpy soiling her surroundings
   
3. 1d3+1 Giant Geckos out for a hunt
   
4. A Green Slime dripping down from the ceiling
5. 3 Gnomes inspecting some rock samples
   

Factions, Interests, Conflicts:

• The Gnomes are a greedy bunch, and will try to scam others if they believe they can get away with it. However, they could be convinced to part with some of their equipment, or even to collaborate for a while, if paid in pure gold or gems.
• The Harpies are an airheaded, chaotic anarchy barely kept together by their queen, who has no problem chomping off fingers or whole wings to hold the others in check. They are pretty much incapable of long term planning, and are only concerned with finding new prey or temporary lovers (there's no real distinction for them). They are easily distracted by shiny objects like coins and mirrors, or colorful fabrics, and there's a 2-in-6 chance they will interrupt whatever they were engaged with and fight among themselves over it.
• The crippled Harpy was mangled and imprisoned by the others for not wanting to share her latest toy, and hates them for it. She has, somehow, gained awareness that she would not stand a chance against anything bigger than a rat, and could, maybe, be willing to share information about the others in the hope of getting them killed.
• The blind prisoner had his eyes ripped out by a harpy, and was at some point thrown into the cell, more by mistake than on purpose. He babbles deliriously, his mind long gone, calling for his beautiful darling who stole his eyes and heart.
  

Play Report: HeroQuest

I recently got a group of friends together for a game, and since there are some newcomers in the group, I thought It would be a neat thing to start off with some HeroQuest before the full immersion into the Theater of the Mind.
Despite me telling them the wrong time I'd be online (sleep deprivation is a bitch), in the end we had a fun evening.

We played over roll20 (but I really hope we will soon be playing again in person), and my three players chose to play as Barbarian, Dwarf, and Elf.
Here's how it went!

As their final graduation test, our to-be-heroes are sent into a labyrinth by their teacher, Mentor the Archwizard. They will need to use their skills and powers to defeat the monsters lurking in it, avoid deadly traps, and find the exit. First to escape will be awarded an impressive sum of gold coins.

The protagonists are beamed into the labyrinth, each one at a different location, and their trial begins.
The Barbarian heads off along the corridors, kicks open doors, and unceremoniously beats to pulp the orcs that dare to stand in the way.
Meanwhile, the Dwarf inspects a dead end, only to be hit by hidden trap, and decides to retreat back where they came from. Soon after, the two meet and decide to proceed together.

The Elf, instead, wanders into a different dead end where an orc dwells: the Elf attempts a spell, but the orc manages to avoid it. This does not demoralize the elf: where magic fails, iron does the job perfectly.
As the other two wander aimlessly and inspect stone walls, the Elf finds a sliding wall... which leads to the lair of yet another denizen of the labyrinth! However, this lair directly connects to the exit.

When Dwarf and Barbarian finally manage to escape from the labyrinth, they find the Elf waiting for them, prize already cashed in and exchanged for tools and equipment. However, all have passed the trial, and are now recognized, card-carrying capital H Heroes.
In fact, their first real assignment waits for them already!

A local noble was kidnapped by a gang of monstrous marauders! Whoever rescues them will be granted gold and honor. The three fresh Heroes don't lose time, track down the kidnappers, and enter the lair.

"We should look for doors...", suggests the Elf. "Here's one.", replies the Barbarian, pointing at the heavy iron door decorated with severed heads. The Elf shrugs, opens it, and is promptly jumped by a gremlin. While the Elf is busy, Dwarf and Barbarian decide to look around: the big hallway is too suspicious, so they take a side passage. After shoving another gremlin out of the way, the too find a chest in a room. Careful, the Dwarf inspects it and concludes that it's a trapped lure.

The Elf got rid of the gremlin, and now snoops around too, only to catch the attention of a whole band of gremlins. Barbarian and Dwarf happen to pass by and decide to help bring order in the hallway. The group agrees that that cooperation may be helpful in the current situation, and proceed together. Another few doors lead to a group of orcs, but teamwork solves the situation. The barbarian decides the place is too poor to be the bandit hideout, and devastates a few rooms looking for hidden loot: finally, he finds a bag full of gold coins, hidden under a carpet.

In a further room, a second chest is found, and close inspection reveals it as genuine: inside are gold and a healing potion! Another room, another fight with orcs: the Dwarf gets injured, but is too determinate to leave this world yet, and soon pays back what he owes.

Having inspected all side rooms, only the main hallway is left to explore, and it s soon secured. It leads to the dining room, and the orcs there are not happy to be interrupted during their meal.
After the skirmish is over, the Heroes are perplexed: where is the prisoner?

A through search follows, and a hidden passage is found, leading down deep. At the bottom, the protagonists find the Jailer, a hulking brute who rudely informs them visiting time is over and that they have to leave. The Elf however manages to deescalate the situation, also thanks to the new armor he got at the beginning, and puts an end to the misunderstanding.

The only occupied cell holds the Noble, and the Heroes escort them out. As the group flees, the Jailer uses his last strength to sound the alarm, but it doesn't do much: all guardians have already been beaten up.

The Heroes manage to bring the Noble back safe and alive, and are awarded the prize. They decide to split it unevenly and give the Dwarf the bigger share, as his knowledge was extremely helpful and he suffered the most wounds.

To be continued...