#Dungeon23 #CommunityEdition - Level 1 (January)

[Rik Pease]

Room 31 - The Perils of Excess

The secret door to gain access has never been found by The One True King in Room 30.

In here are many shelves holding bottles which have been opened and emptied aeons ago. Hidden among them are two flasks of Holy Water.

In the centre of the room is a small fountain which feeds a font of water. Inscribed around the fountain are the words:

Blessed be the water within, drink freely holy one and be quenched of thirst. Ne'er though fill thy flask twice or mine waters will foul, and thy greedy heart will burst.

The font contains Holy Water, and, as suggested in the rhyme, if any one person takes more than one flask or bottle from it, the water will be fouled and become poisoned.

If the Holy Water is imbibed directly from the font it will act both as a cure light wounds and a cure disease spell on the first occasion. After that it has no beneficial effects. Note that this is per person, so more than one character can benefit.

Once fouled any water drunk directly from the font requires a save vs poison, death results from a failed saving throw.

[coureur_d_bois]

Room 27 - The Fresco of the Six Queens Age

room 27.png (9.2 KiB) Viewed 1767 times

***Boxed Text***
As you enter this room, you are dazzled by the formidable spectacle that appears before you. This chamber shaped as a triangle is illuminated by a large brazier that appears to have been lighting this room for ages. To your left, on the eastern wall, a magnificent fresco has been painted with vivid colours and an astonishing amount of details.
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Note to GM: This room contains no monster, trap, or treasure, though it contains the key to solving the stone disks puzzle (rooms 11 and 12).

The large brazier: The brazier is lit with the Continual Light spell and instead of illuminating the room with flames it instead contains a floating 2 foot diameter orb that irradiates light. Removing the orb form the brazier ends the Continual Light spell and it becomes an inert glass orb. The brazier is shaped as 3x3 feet a cylinder, richly decorated with engravings. If the brazier is dragged or otherwise moved away from its position, it will reveal a mysterious plan on the floor; in the middle, a schematic representation of one of the calendar devices found in rooms 11 and 12. Next to this, an arrow points to the first section of the fresco (on the left) and another one point to the last section (on the right).

The fresco: The fresco takes all the space on the curved eastern wall, from floor to ceiling (12 feet high). It depicts a romanticized version of the Six Queens Age, an era in which six feminine rulers ruled on the lands that surround the dungeon. The fresco is divided into six distinct parts, each one pertaining to a specific queen that ruled during this age of lost glory.

When the players stand before the fresco and can see it in its integrality, read the following text:

***Boxed text***
This work of art is truly breathtaking and you all are truly amazed by the level or care and detail the artist has invested in this fresco. A bronze plaque in the top middle portion of the fresco reads 'The Six Queens Age: Rise and fall of an age of prosperity, progress, and valour'. The paintings appear to be a continuum of six distinct artistic representations, each one being linked to a specific feminine character, each representing exactly one sixth of this immense painting.
***End boxed text***

First Queen: When the players look at the first section of the fresco (starting from the left) read the following text.

***Boxed text***
A smaller bronze plaque at the bottom of the section reads

Queen Valeriana II - First Ruler of the Empire, winner of the Last Crusade, First Ruler of the Six Queen Age
Ruled from the 29th day of the second month 476 to the 25th day of the ninth month 502

The scene depicts a great battle with a warrior woman in full armour riding a white horse. Her long blonde hair waves with the wind of the battlefield where she is depicted massacring hordes of humanoids that appear to be a amalgamation of goblins, orcs, and trolls. The tone of this portion of the fresco is darker and the fighting queen appears as the last hope of light in all this darkness.
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Note to GM: The 29th day of the second month 476 is the begging of the Six Queens Age. It corresponds to the stone calendar in room 11.

Second Queen: When the players look at the second section of the fresco (starting from the left) read the following text.

***Boxed text***
A smaller bronze plaque at the bottom of the section reads

Queen Valehilda IV - The Just, Founder of the Main Court and Builder of the Sacred Gate, Second Ruler of the Six Queens Age
Ruled from the 26th day of the ninth month 502 to the 14th day of the fourth month 528

In this scene, a woman dressed in a long blue robe holds a roll on which are listed various rules. Behind her a bright blue sky clashes with the previous section of the fresco. A large stone building with columns and golden domes can be seen behind her, while further away, on top of a mountain a gate-like structure irradiates a blueish glow.
***End boxed text***

Third Queen: When the players look at the third section of the fresco (starting from the left) read the following text.

***Boxed text***
A smaller bronze plaque at the bottom of the section reads

Queen Derana III - The Scholar, Founder of the Academy of Thought and Prayer, Third Ruler of the Six Queens Age
Ruled from the second day of the fifth month 528 to the 30th day of the 12th month 559

In this scene, the queen stands in the stairs or a magnificent building with large silver doors and marble covered wall. She wears a long purple dress that goes all the way down to her feet, and a long red braid above her shoulder drops to her knees. In one hand she holds several tomes piled up and on the other a fist-sized orb that glows with a soft green light. Around the queen, several people represented as a bit smaller individuals stand, looking at her in awe.
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Fourth Queen: When the players look at the fourth section of the fresco (starting from the left) read the following text.

***Boxed text***
A smaller bronze plaque at the bottom of the section reads

Queen Ursula I - The Heretic, Destroyer of the White Palace, Leader of the Inquisition, Fourth Ruler of the Six Queens Age
Ruled from the 30th day of the 12th month 559 to the second day of the sixth month 566

In this scene, the tone is much darker and the background depicts the burning ruins of a city in which a much larger white structures appears to have been razed. The sky is dark and the reflection of the fire on the clouds gives an impression of despair and destruction. Queen Usrula appears at the forefront, hanged to a tree, her crown laying at her feet.
***End boxed text***

Fifth Queen: When the players look at the fifth section of the fresco (starting from the left) read the following text.

***Boxed text***
A smaller bronze plaque at the bottom of the section reads

Queen Anariana VI - The Restorer of Order, Builder of the Tower of Illyath, Fifth Ruler of the Six Queens Age
Ruled from the the third day of the sixth month 566 to the 16th day of the eight month 588

In this scene, queen Anariana appears with a long silk dress. A beautiful diamond crimped on a gold brooch holds her long black hair that contrasts heavily with the milky tone of her skin. The sky turned back to blue and behind her an infinite grassland undulates in a succession of flat hills. A tall white tower seems to be planted in the middle of the decor.
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Sixth Queen: When the players look at the sixth section of the fresco (starting from the left) read the following text.

***Boxed text***
A smaller bronze plaque at the bottom of the section reads

Queen Oriana VIII - The Fierce, Princess of Galdin, Winner of the Battle of Buldakh, Endbringer of the Empire, Last Ruler of the Six Queens Age
Ruled from 27th day of the eight month 588 to the 22nd day of the fourth month 606

In this scene, a tall young woman fully dressed for war and holding two spears appears victorious on a battlefield drenched in blood and littered with bodies. She holds two spears, one in each hand, and has one knee down. Her gaze in set on a golden crown that lies upside down on the ground. In the background, hundreds of people hold banners of different colours.
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Note to GM: The 22nd day of the fourth month 606 is the ending of the Six Queens Age. It corresponds to the stone calendar in room 12.

The Prayer of the Blue Moon

The message on the wall gives a hint on how to open the chest in room 13.

***Boxed text***
Facing the fresco, on the western wall a message has been carved into the stone. Letters appear to have once been covered with thin gold sheets, but only slight remnants of that era persist. The message can still be read however and the letters are crisp and well defined.

They who speak the the Prayer of the Blue moon thrice, without hesitation and a pure heart, will be considered wardens of the Kingdom and heir of Princess Oriana the Fierce.

Prayer of the Blue Moon
Light wanes every closer
Firm we stand in the boon
Shadows deepen in the gloom
Of the blessed azure moon

***End boxed text***

Update:

• 2023-02-05: Added prayer of the Blue Moon + hints on how to open the chest.

[Solomoriah]

Title for Room 29.

Not very creative but here's a couple of suggestions:
Apparatus Room
Mechanical Room
Gnomish Enigma

I've labeled it "The Machine" in my working manuscript.

[Solomoriah]

Room 26 updated on original post. You're welcome

Okay, I LIKE that nasty disease.

... how many times do you say something like that?

[lars_alexander]

I really like the interaction between the rooms, and encounters of the various participants. Redcaps looking for the one-eyed monster, that messed up their place, made me smile.
When I think back to the poor orcs of the entrance area, and all the rest that awaits them, no wonder, they're scared.

[Solomoriah]

Okay, I've been collecting all the rooms, and I have one question for you...

You guys are all clear on the fact that this is level 1 of the dungeon, right?

Wow. I though Olde Island Fortress was tough...

[coureur_d_bois]

Okay, I've been collecting all the rooms, and I have one question for you...

You guys are all clear on the fact that this is level 1 of the dungeon, right?

Wow. I though Olde Island Fortress was tough...

I told myself the same thing

Some encounters are clearly there just to create TPKs! I would assume that we will somehow playtest thing, maybe we can fix some of these issues then.

[Solomoriah]

... seriously, my fourth level group would run screaming from the throne of the one true king ...

[coureur_d_bois]

... seriously, my fourth level group would run screaming from the throne of the one true king ...

Maybe the door that leads to area 30 could be magically sealed and could only be opened with a key or an artifact hidden much lower in the dungeon. We could apply the same logic to encounters that would automatically result in a TPK.

I only selected monsters from the level 1 table in Dungeon Encounters (page 144 of the Core Rules) to give a fair chance to players. Clearly some contributors were a bit more liberal in their choice of monsters.

[Solomoriah]

Actually, the throne is the one that worries me most. It has a lethal trap at the entrance that could easily wipe out the front line of an "average" first level party before they every face the three monsters in the room, all of which need magic weapons to hit and have ACs of 17 and 18 and 6 to 8 hit dice.

I was reading this one closely because I don't want supplement classes as required reading just to run a general-purpose dungeon; Bhusher is listed as being a 2nd level Spellcrafter, so I just read the spells he was granted and swapped out the whole supplement for a simple one-off version of the repair spell. But in reading the room (hah) I realized just how deadly it is.

I feel like we should nerf it, or move it to around the 5th-6th level (May or June). The One True King could be a skeletaire, and his generals might be zombies. We could add one or two if we want it tough.

Also, I moved the pit 10 feet in front of the door, making it avoidable if detected.

What do you guys think?