Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 031)

Area #1 continued: As you explore the cavern you find four stairways that lead down into the floor of the cavern to four areas that are carved out of the stone.

Area #1D: At the bottom of the stairway you find a blood stained door. That door is fastened shut from the outside. Beside the door is a sign in three languages. Even odds that an adventuring party will be able to read at least one of the languages. The sign says "Death to Those That Enter."

Behind that door is a 20'x60' room filled with 12 coffins. If you enter that room there will be 12 vampires awake and waiting for you. Should have listened to the sign.

Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 030)

Area #1 continued: As you explore the cavern you find four stairways that lead down into the floor of the cavern to four areas that are carved out of the stone.

Area #1C: This stairway is a tight spiral and it leads deep into the earth over 100' and at the bottom is just a small area in front of a very large door. This door is massive and cannot be opened; however, if they examine the door closely they will find a normal sized secret door in the large door. This opens into a 40'x40' room with a 30' ceiling. Along both walls are a row of 15' foot tall statues of warriors with spears and shields, there are 10 on each side. At the end opposite the door is large golden throne and on the throne sits a huge man who must be 20' tall. Too handsome to be a giant and yet giant sized. In one hand he holds a key and in the other hand he hold a blade. He is frozen in position and might be a statue himself.

To his right and to his left are two chests, each 6' long by 3' wide by 4' in height. The lids of both are thrown back and both overflow with gold and silver, with gems and jewels and who know what else they might contain.

What do you do? 

If they move forward, the giant man will come to life and ask them some questions, they will have choices to make and they must choose wisely.

What do you do?

There is a door behind the throne and he holds the key. Will they choose one of the chests they see or the hidden door?  If they choose one of the chests, will they be free to leave or will they have to fight their way out? What about the hidden door, what lies behind it?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 029)

Area #1 continued: As you explore the cavern you find four stairways that lead down into the floor of the cavern to four areas that are carved out of the stone.

Area #1B: At the bottom of the stairway is a landing about 10'x10' and the are no apparent doors. If you are lucky you will find one of the three secret doors (but you will never find more than one) and if you can open it, you will find a 10'x10' room with a table on the right side of the room.  One the table is a small chest. On the left side of the room is a coffin. As you enter the room, vapor pours from the coffin and forms into a figure. If you live, the chest will contain a very special ring. 

What do you do?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 028)

Area #1 continued: As you explore the cavern you find four stairways that lead down into the floor of the cavern to four areas that are carved out of the stone.

Area #1A: A 20'x60' cellar has a heavy wood and metal door.  If you can get inside, it is a wine cellar fully stocked, it gives every sign of having not been touched for a very long time. If you check, you will detect magic and if you take a individual bottles out and check, you will eventually find that you will detect magic on all the bottles and there are a great number of bottles. If you try some of the wine it will, taste to each of you, what you each think of as perfect. You will feel invigorated after drinking it.

*today was the anniversary of my wife's passing, this will be shared tomorrow.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 027)

Area #1 continued: When fully mapped the map cavern is 2300' feet long and 400' wide for much of its length and the ceiling height varies from about 120' to 300' feet. There are approximately 85 passages leading out of the cavern and some of them are seen to tend upwards and some tend downwards with the majority tending to be fairly level.

The floor of the cavern is somewhat level with large boulder laying here and there and lots of stalactites and stalagmites. Some have joined to become columns. A river runs through the cavern; however, it can be crossed easily due to a large fallen oblong boulder that it flows under. There are areas with thousands and thousands of mushrooms and other areas with cave pearls, their are opening in the floor that form pits and other that seem to have no bottom. There are a variety of stones of various minerals and some could be valuable or otherwise useful.

There is no sign of recent habitation, but there are a number of areas where smaller stones have been used to build walls. These areas give every indication that they were lived in and the faint remnants of wood furniture are still present.

What do you do?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 026)

To bring you up to date, so far there seem to have been two levels and a couple of sub-levels and parts of other levels. Also a really strange tower. The level nearest the ground surface has moved and different levels are coming to the surface OR has it just rotated bringing a different part of the level to the area being searched, OR maybe both are happening, but it is not yet known.

They search all day and late that evening they have found and cleared another opening both there is no stairway, instead they  seem to have found the mouth of a cave.

Area #1 The next morning they descend into the cavern which widens into a long, winding way about 50' in diameter and they gradually descend deeper into the earth. It circles and twists as it winds it way deeper, some places steeper than others. Finally it seems to bottom out and the dwarf remarks that you are over 1000' deep, maybe more from where you started. You come out into an open area, so large that you cannot see the walls or ceiling with the light source that you have.

What do you do?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 025)

Where we left off:

Once they are across, they find themselves in a forest and descending to the ground, they cannot see any pool at all, in fact they can see nothing but trees for over 150' in any direction and that is as far as they can see. Having decided to explore, they end up traveling for hours and eventually they break out of the trees into a vast plain.

Continuing on:

They camp at the edge of the plains and in the morning they decide to travel out into the plains and after a couple or three hours it begins to get really hot, so hot that they are not sure they can make it back to the trees. So they decide to dig into the loose soil and use the cooler temperatures to survive the hot part of the day, which looks like it will be most of the day.

When they dig, the soil is loose and holes big enough to put their heads a foot below the surface are easy enough to make. They dig two large holes and then use what they have to create a cover for shade from the sun. The last foot or so is small gravel and it is wet with abundant moisture so they have to create high places with dry soil to keep from getting wet. But they are cool enough in their holes and the water seems to be very clear and cold.

The day passes slowly and when they check a couple of times, the heat on the surface is deadly hot. As dusk comes they  emerge as the temperature drops and decide to travel back to the forest. As they travel they see eight moons in the sky, of a eight different sizes, some moving faster than the others. 

As the sun goes down, dozens of different plants start growing at a rapid rate and travel becomes difficult. The start seeing a number of very large creatures emerging from the ground to start feeding on all of the vegetation. Other creatures, predators emerge and several work together to take one of the larger creatures down. 

They hurry faster towards the forest and find it also very busy at night, they retrace their steps, climb the tree, fortunately the rope is still there and they soon find themselves back in the tower. Once they have crossed the pool and the last one sets foot on the floor, the pool disappears and the rope with the hook on one end falls to the floor. There is no trace of what just happened. Looking out a window at the sun, it appears almost no time has passed since they left.

The device at one side of the room still sits there and oddly enough it is covered with a thick layer of dust with no sign of being disturbed.  They leave the tower and it is apparent that their hirelings has sensed nothing amiss nor are aware that they were ever gone.

Now they don't know what to think so after a quiet discussion among themselves they leave the tower alone and resume hunting for access to the dungeon.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 024)

The players have come back to camp above ground, were awakened during the night with another earthquake. Investigating in the morning the stairway underground was no longer to be found. However, they do note that a ruined tower is present that was not previously there, so they investigate.

The tower stands nearly 100' in height with unknown amount of the top missing. Inside the base of the tower (Tower Room #1) they can see that nothing remains and the stairway up is also missing. They rig a way up to the second floor and find it with piles of rubble and broken furniture (Tower Room #2). They do find the remnant of the stairs to the 3rd floor and carefully make their way up the stairs to investigate.

On the 3rd floor (Tower Room #3) the find tables around the perimeter and a few windows. The center is empty but along one side is a device and looking at they find that on the wall side of this device (which is 9' long, 2' wide and 8' high) that there are tubes at about 5'8" off the floor that lead down into the device. These tubes are exactly the size of an arm. 

If one of the players sticks his arm down inside he will find at the end is a glove shape that will perfectly fit his hand and through it he can feel levers and wheels. There are enough of these for five men to use both arms at the same time.

If they do that, here is what will happen. Once all five men are manipulating the wheels and levers, they will suddenly feel the wheels be jerked out of their hands and start spinning. Then they will receive a strong shock that will throw them away from the device. Once they recover they will see that in the center of the room there is now a pool of water about 30' in diameter and the dark water will be deeper than a 10' pole, even though the floor underneath the room is only 2' thick. 

In the center of the pool is an island about 10' in diameter and on it are trees with thick foliage so that they cannot see what else might be there. The trees are tall and somehow seem to pass through the ceiling of the room, but it hurts your eyes to try to see where they apparently interface.

Using a hook they can throw a rope into the trees and secure it there, although they can not see deep enough to see that point in the trees. They can type the rope off in the room and climb across it onto the island. After the first climbs across, he sticks his head out and calls to his companions to come see this. 

Once they are across, they find themselves in a forest and descending to the ground, they cannot see any pool at all, in fact they can see nothing but trees for over 150' in any direction and that is as far as they can see. Having decided to explore, they end up traveling for hours and eventually they break out of the trees into a vast plain.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 023)

Previously  " The door to your left once it is found leads into a corridor that runs for 100' until it reaches an intersection. It has doors on either side directly across from each other, one in each 20' section per side."

We continue.

#9 Fourth room on the left, the door opens into a 10'x10' room. This room is very dusty and the dust is disturbed, old furniture is broken recently and puddles of mostly dried blood are in several spots on the floor.

What do you do?

The dust on the floor will provide clues to a secret door. If it is located and opened, it leads almost directly into a stairwell which leads down to a small sub-level. On this sub-level they will find two dead elves and a dying dwarf.

What do you do?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 022)

Previously  " The door to your left once it is found leads into a corridor that runs for 100' until it reaches an intersection. It has doors on either side directly across from each other, one in each 20' section per side."

We continue.

#8 Third room on the left, the door opens into a 25'x50' room. There is a central aisle running the length of the room. On both sides of the aisle are cells with heavy iron bars. Inside each cell are large men chained to the wall. Each one is between 7.5' to 8.5' feet tall, broad and muscular. Jet black hair, olive skin, and striking facial features. All seem to be frozen, unmoving and unreacting. In each cell on a bench you can see what must be their gear, armor, swords or axes and such. When you first enter the cell area their is something written on the wall on a plaque. It is not in any language you recognize.

What do you do? 

Do you try to enter a cell? If so, do you try to revive one of the men?

If the players manage to enter the cell and if they manage to revive on of the men, he will immediately snap his bonds and don his armor, taking up his weapons and other gear. He will speak, but you will not understand him. He will rummage through his kit and will pull out a potion and drink it, then you will be able to understand him. He will thank you for releasing him and will request that you help him set his companions free. He will be sure that you understand the urgency of leaving this area quickly and the danger to yourselves for helping him. Then he mentions rulers and kingdoms that you have never heard of. He will set about freeing all of his companions (ten total). 

What do you do? Will you go with him or will you try to find a way to refuse? Will you try to find out how long they have been imprisoned and let them know that you do not know these kings and kingdoms of which he speaks?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 021)

Previously  " The door to your left once it is found lead into a corridor that runs for 100' until it reaches an intersection. It has doors on either side directly across from each other, one in each 20' section per side."

We continue.

#7 Third room on the right - the door opens into a 17'x18' room. The room is softly lit with candles. A rectangular table occupies the center of the room, there are 6 chairs around the table, all ornately decorated. The table and chairs are of a dark rich looking wood highly polished. A decorative cloth covers the table and a number of dishes are present each filled with hot food and the odors make your mouths water. Each dish sits on its own small round cloth to protect the decorative cloth below. There are two pitchers on the table one with a dark liquid and one with water. Both are beaded with moisture and a trace of frost on their exteriors.

There are six place settings on the able one for each chair. A clean folder napkin covers each plate. The food is hot, steaming and smells delicious. There are various spices, along with salt and butter on the table. Freshly baked bread it also on the table.

It is all waiting for you, what do you do?

If any are brave enough to eat, they will find food safe, nutritious and delicious. If they pack it up and take it all with them, including the table and chairs (important to take the whole thing), they will find that it will produce a complete meal, a variety of different meals, once a day, every day. No food can be taken away from the table and anything not eaten is part of the self-cleaning that happens once eating has stopped.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 020)

Previously  " The door to your left once it is found lead into a corridor that runs for 100' until it reaches an intersection. It has doors on either side directly across from each other, one in each 20' section per side."

We continue.

#6 The second room on the right - the door- opens into a 5' wide hallway, it extends 25' and passes through an open door into an 15' diameter room with soft lighting and a large circular table centered in the room. There are 12 chairs around the table. The table has a number of scrolls on the table and other odds and ends.

Once everyone is in the room the door will close and the room will start to move, it will feel like the floor is dropping out from under them a little and there is a discernible feeling that they are moving. This goes on for a half an hour and then suddenly the movement stops and everyone feels heavy for moment as the room halts.

The door opens and looking out they can see they are in a large cavern and a cylinder extends from the roof of the cavern when ends at the floor in the room that they arrived in. The cavern is lit at a low level with something that is glowing everywhere. The roof is over 200' in height you estimate and the length and width of the cavern are much larger than that. 

Stalactites and stalagmites are everywhere and the stalactites hang down from the roof 40' to 50' in length. There are many other formations and shapes throughout the area. 

If all the players leave the room, then the door will close and the cylinder will retract into the roof. Or if at least one player stays in the room, then they will have the option of all returning to the room and it will rise and return them to where they came from.

If they end up staying in the cavern, they will hear the sound of running water coming from the direction they were facing when the exited the room. For convenience we will call that north. But the cavern is very large and they can only see a little ways, but there is a lot in the area to find. There are also at least 20 caves leading away from this large cavern.

If they explore they will find mushrooms and other fungi growing in various areas, these are edible. If they investigate there is a river about 40' wide and about 2' to 3' deep with a sandy gravel bottom. It has a lot of fish, frogs and other life. In the area of the river they will feel a fresh breeze, but discovering its source will be difficult.

If they stay were they are eventually various creatures will discover them in the room.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 019)

Previously  " The door to your left once it is found lead into a corridor that runs for 100' until it reaches an intersection. It has doors on either side directly across from each other, one in each 20' section per side."

We continue.

#5 The second room on the left is 15'x30' in size. You really struggle to open the door, once you are in the room you see that the walls are covered completely with tapestries and the floor is covered with a room. When you look at the ceiling, it too is covered with what looks like a rug that is attached fully to the ceiling. The floor looks like it is covered with grass, the ceiling looks like the sky and the walls look like trees and hills in the distance beyond the grass in each direction. Even the inside(back) of the door is covered. 

What do you do? 

The room does not appear to have anything else in it. If the party comes inside and allows the door to close they will be outdoors in the scene that was shown on all the tapestries and rugs. There will be just the tiniest outline of the door and the door handle, barely visible. Almost, but not quite, too insubstantial to be grasped. If they all wonder more than a few steps away from the door, they will not be able to find it again.

They feel the summer breeze, see the blue sky and the sun. Nothing looks remotely like anyplace they have been in their lives or anything they say near these ruins.

What do you do?

If they have not wondered too far from the door, they can go back into the dungeon or they can wonder away and exploring this world they are in, there will be plenty of adventure to find. What plane or dimension or perhaps parallel world this might be none can say.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 018)

Previously  " The door to your left once it is found lead into a corridor that runs for 100' until it reaches an intersection. It has doors on either side directly across from each other, one in each 20' section per side."

We continue.

#4 The first room on the left is 20'x20' in size. When you open the door you are immediately surprised with the way your torch lights up the room. The ways and the ceiling are all covered, every inch, mirrors. In the reflection in the mirrors, everywhere you look, there beside you is a dragon, a small dragon, about the size of a large wolf. But when you look away from the mirror you cannot see a dragon or anything else in the room. As you look around, you feel a tap on your shoulder, you turn - seeing nothing - but in the mirrors it is obvious that it was the dragon and it looks at you expectantly. 

What do you do? What do you try?

If you try talking with the dragon, you will hear its voice in your head and it will make a request of you and promise a reward if you help it.

What will you do? How will it turn out?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 017)

The door to your left once it is found lead into a corridor that runs for 100' until it reaches an intersection. It has doors on either side directly across from each other, one in each 20' section per side.

#3 The first room on the right is 15'x20', is oddly brightly lit, but no source of light can be seen. The walls, floor and ceiling are all jet black, so dark that it is hard to see them in spite of the room being brightly lit. There is one long table with six chairs around it, the chairs and table are also a really dark black. At the head of the table sits a man. Very distinguished looking, black hair with gray at the temples, a neatly trimmed beard. He wears chainmail armor and the helm is placed to one side. He seems frozen in time and stares straight ahead. The room and everything in it is spotless. Both hands rest on the table and between them is a book. On the cover are symbols that none of you have seen or heard of, but when you look at them a voice in your head says, "The Chronicles of Toran, King of Maloraran."

Softly you repeat aloud, "The Chronicles of Toran, King of Maloraran" and there is a sound like ice breaking and then a deep gasp as King Toran takes his first breath in centuries. He looks at you and speaks, but you cannot understand him. 

What do you do?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 016)

Room #1 (on this level) Continuing on from yesterday, you have decided to go through Portal A. On passing through the portal you feel like you were immersed in extremely cold water (you are not wet) and you are shivering when you come out the other side. You are in a room that has no visible doors, just blank featureless walls and as you stand there looking around the take on a wood grain pattern. The room is 20'x20'.

What do you do?

If they search for secret door they could find none or they could find up to four, one on each wall. Each of the four doors, if found and opened, lead into another room. 

#2 The door in the wall directly in front of you as you came through the portal will lead into a 20'x30' room. The walls are covered in hanging cloth of a solid color under a thick layer of dust. The walls to your left and right have statues wearing armor, holding swords and shields, no dust is on the statues, or their armor or their weapons. There are six to your right and six to your left. There is a thick layer of dust on the floor. At the far end of the room is a large wooden chest on the floor, it is substantially reinforced with steel bands around it. The top had a lock. It is all covered with dust.

What do you do?

The lock is trapped and if they just start working on the lock they are likely to trip it and poison gas will be released requiring all to make a saving throw. A made saving throw allows other actions to be taken, but death will result within 12 hours if the appropriate spell is not cast. A missed saving throw means you are will soon be dead, a healing spell with keep you alive for up to 6 hours. The appropriate spell will save your life.

If they are careful the trap can be disabled by skillful use of two long thin metal tools. Then the chest can be unlocked. Once the chest is unlocked and the lid is raised the statues will come to life and they will attack you. They will fight with some degree of skill and you will soon wonder if their armor and/or shields are magical, fortunately the swords are not magic as only living creatures may use magical swords (other magical weapons, but not swords).

If you are successful in over coming the statues they will crumble away to dust leaving their armor (includes helm of course), shields and swords behind. 

The Chest contains two large royal blue blankets of a very high quality wool, which if checked will detect magic. At the bottom of the chest are two platinum coins and two rings. The Rings will detect as magic.

What do you do?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 015)

Returning to #Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 006) we return to the 12 doors and take a look behind Door #6.

Area #70 - When you pass through this door you will go about 20' down the corridor to three -  3' wide by 8' tall shimmering forms in the air in front of you. You can barely see them by torch light, but would be more visible if you are using Light Stones (or equivalent). Those with the best site can see that one of these is yellow, one is green and one is blue.

What do you do?

Anything like a 10' pole or spear shoved into the shimmer will disappear at the point of contact, but if you pull it out it appears to be unharmed. 

What do you do? 

If you stick a hand into it, it will feel cool to your skin which will tingle on contact. When you pull your hand out it will be normal, but will still tingle a little. 

What do you do?

Options would be to step through one of the three shimmers or to go back. If they go through they will find out that these are portals (for convenience A, B and C). Each portal goes to a completely different place and a completely different encounter(s). If they do not go through, then make note of that and continue with a different direction. Each encounter(s) is of a different difficulty on a different level of the dungeon. Each has a treasure commensurate with the difficulty of the encounter(s).

Random Artifact - 003

Powerful Artifact:  Holy Warrior Sword: Any Holy Warrior of at least 5th Level can bring any Master Work quality sword and place it on the Altar pledging both it and his life in service. He will then fast and pray for 40 days and nights, after which if he is found worthy the sword will be imbued with a degree of power (elsewhere defined) and it will grow with him as he fights evil and Undead, if he is not found worthy, then the sword remains only a high quality sword. When he falls (he will die in service since he may not retire) any other Holy Warrior of at least 5th Level may claim the sword, but only if he also will place the sword on the Altar pledging both it and his life in service. He will then fast and pray for 40 days and nights, after which if he is found worthy he may carry and use the sword. If he is not found worthy, then he must leave the sword at the Altar for another to claim.

Holy Warrior aka replaces Clerics and Paladins. Holy Warriors are what I think Clerics should have been from the beginning. And maybe they started that way. I don't know if Arneson had the no edged weapons in Blackmoor or if that was all a Gygax adjustment to Clerics.

Random Artifact - 002

Powerful Artifact: Arrows of Slaying, this is a quiver of 20 arrows, each of which are coated in silver and have a +3 to hit, when fired each arrow when it hits "appears" to be three arrows and the damage rolled for the single arrow is tripled. If used against undead, upon hitting it will burst into flame and burn for 10 rounds after which it is consumed and ceases to exist. It does 3d6 for each round that it burns in addition to the initial damage it caused. This means that it does 6d6 the first round and 3d6 for an additional 9 rounds versus undead. While it may be used in battle after battle against ordinary creatures, it can only be used successfully once each against undead. It will also burst into flame when hitting a troll doing double damage the first round and 3d6 the second round, but will not be consumed as with undead.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 014)

Returning to #Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 006) we return to the 12 doors and take a look behind Door #5.

When you pass through this door you walk 10' and there is a stairway. If the party decides to descend the stairway they should be asked, do you really want to do that?  If they continue, then they start down a long stairway that is moderately steep and straight. Once the entire party are 15' below the original floor level the walls at the top snap together and the first few steps disappear. As you continue down the stairs the step behind you vanish and the walls come together. It is normal for this to not be noticed, you would normally tell them something seems odd, but they have to think to look behind them. Once they have descended 30' the come to a landing and as the last party member enters the landing the stairs are gone and the walls have all joined behind them, there is no way back. 

At the front of the landing (Area #69) there is an abyss that descends into the darkness. You are on the landing and on three sides are solid walls and on one side is the abyss. The abyss is 15' wide and on the other side is another landing and at the far side of it is a door. 

What do you do? 

If you dither for too long the side of the landing from the direction from which you came will start to vanish a little at a time. 

What do you do?

If they all or some of the party reach the other side, they will find the door very difficult, but not impossible to open. If they are unable to reach the other side, well it sucks to be them. But they should be able to reach the other side if they choose their equipment well and the party is not composed of dwarves, gnomes and hobbits.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 013)

Returning to #Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 006) we return to the 12 doors and take a look behind Door #4.

When you open the door there is a 25% chance that you will encounter 6-20 armed creatures and there is also a 75% that they will be waiting on you and will command you to surrender. Will you understand the language? 

What do you do, if this comes to pass?

The first three rooms in this corridor are store rooms #66, #67 and #68, each 20'x20' and stacked floor to ceiling with many of barrels of flour, grain, molasses, honey, liquor, beans, rice and many other items. The quality will vary greatly from barrel to barrel.

What do you do?

Random Artifact - 001

Powerful Artifact: Armor of Angus, this armor was forged in the heart of the sun and bestowed upon the Holy Warrior Angus for who it is named. No one knows of what material it is made. When found it just looks like an old worn out suit of plate mail. Detect Magic only detects a faint aura of magic. 

However, if worn continuously for 24 hours, all tarnish disappears and it shines brightly lighting the area around it in full daylight (that means that vampires for example, cannot stand against it. It provides +5 protection from weapons and improves saving throws by 5 points and once a day will heal up to half of the Holy Warriors Hit Points at time of need and also heals an additional 1 HP per turn continuously, it automatically has protection from evil continuously 20' radius. This armor will function for any Holy Warrior. 

However, if the Holy Warrior commits an evil act while wearing this armor, it explodes for 30d20 points of damage with a blast radius of 100' and everything within that area takes the full damage rolled,  except the innocent who will be protected and remain unharmed. It will then appear somewhere else at some random time in the future ready for a new Holy Warrior to find.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 012)

Returning to #Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 006) we return to the 12 doors and take a look behind Door #3.

Opening this door you find that it runs for 200' to the next intersection along the way on both sides of the corridor there are 8'x10' cells with 2' thick walls between cells. There are a total of 40 cells (Rooms #26 to #65) Some of them have a skeleton chained to the wall, some have creatures recently expired, some have creatures that look half dead and some have creatures that have been there a shorter time. There is no indication that food or water are ever provided.

The creatures vary quite a bit. You find humans, dwarves, elves, hobbits, orcs and other humanoid creatures that you don't recognize. There are also a few non-humanoid creatures that barely fit into the cells.

What do you do?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 011)

Returning to #Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 006) we return to the 12 doors and take a look behind Door #2.

Going into this corridor about 20' there is a round hole in the middle of the corridor about a foot in diameter and water wells up out of this hole and and flows away from you down a shallow (4" deep) channel in the floor of the corridor and there is a slight downward slope to the corridor and it would probably be missed if not for the flowing water.

Close examination shows that the water is very cold, almost freezing and it is crystal clear. If you follow the water, ignoring doors and such on the corridor walls, the water flows for about 250' before coming to another slightly larger hole and draining out of sight.

Returning to the first sight of the water, if you continue down the corridor you will find alternating empty rooms on either side of the corridor of variable sizes. Some of them might have secrets doors.  Rooms #14 through #25 on this level.

What do you do? Spend time looking for secrets doors through many empty rooms or skip them and keep going?

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 010)

Continuing down the corridor the next five rooms are empty but for broken furniture and dust and such. #8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. 

Another 20' down the corridor on the opposite side from the previous door is another door. This one has the following image engraved into the door.

#13 If you enter this room, it is 10'x10' and in the middle of the room is an anvil, on the anvil lays a hammer, next the anvil is a forge, it is lit and the fire burns hot, a few minutes in the room will have you dripping sweat.  A bellow operates by itself fanning the fire to keep it hot. In the forge is long piece of metal glowing almost white. A set of tongs and a pair of heavy leather gloves are present.

What do you do?

If anyone puts on the gloves, they will enter a trance state and taking up the tongs and pulling the metal from the fire they will begin to expertly work the metal with the hammer on the anvil. They will work very quickly and will not brook any interruption. Returning the metal to the fire from time to time. The hammer rings out as the metal is beaten and folded again and again. It becomes a sword right before your eyes and finally is quenched. 

Then it is fitted to this hilt:

Once the new sword blade is attached to the hilt the one in the trance collapses unconscious, the hammer, anvil, forge and such all disappear and the room is empty and bare except for all of you and the sword.

If you splash a little water in the unconscious ones face and give water to drink they will revive. They will immediately reach for the sword and will find it exquisitely balanced and much lighter than it looks. It swings easily and swiftly. The bearer is loath to sheath it, but finally does. You notice the bearer looks (somehow) taller, straighter, stronger and moves more quickly and more gracefully. Much more will become apparent as the sword is used. The sword has a strong personality as will become clear over time.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 009)

 We left off here:

#6 10' further down the corridor on the opposite side is another door. It leads into a room that is 20'x15' and the floor of the room is sand. You see nothing else in the room and the walls are bare. In the center of the floor the level of the sand is about a foot lower than at the edges and it slopes down to the center from all the edges. 

What do you do?

If you went into the room then you were sucked down into the sand and ended up in a chute that will take you down to the 6th level. 

Or you could have probed it with the 10' pole and found no bottom that you could reach.

Or you could have tied a rope around your waist and with your companions holding it, dived in. That could have had a number of difference outcomes. 

Or you could have left the room and went on down the corridor. 

30' feet further down the corridor you here footsteps and the sound of armor clinking approaching you. What do you do? There is a door to your left? Do you stay where you are or enter the room?

#7 If you enter the room it is 30'x10' and at the back of the room is a floor to ceiling tapestry covering the full height and width of the room 10'x12'. (The rest of the room is bare) There are three secret door, that may perhaps be found. 

The scene on the tapestry is a room with two doors in the background and wood walls that look like cedar, you can almost smell the fragrance. The floor is also wood, a dark wood and there are 4 chairs around a table made of a difference dark wood from the floor. On the table is a map, but the light is such that you cannot see any details. There are four knights sitting at the table looking at the map.

What are you doing? Did any of you bar and spike the door? Are any of you guarding the door? For the moment we will assume that is the case and you hear voices and they are attempting to open the door. Soon they may start trying to chop through the door as they are pounding on the door and yelling.

In the meantime, if you have continued to stare at and study the tapestry, one of the knights looks up and sees you, he speaks to his companions and they all look up. They look disturbed and standing they  draw their swords.

What do you do?

Some of you are at the door and some are at the tapestry, what are the others doing?

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I will say that creating on the fly in the moment is much, much, much easier than just sitting down and writing it out. I find it difficult to be dry and terse. I also chafe at not having players to talk to and interact with. I could not make a habit of prepping, I would much rather pour that time into gaming.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 008)

When you return to the corridor and continue forward 30' a voice says, "The grue feeds well?"

What do you do? If you do not say anything or if the response is incorrect, then ...

After 30 seconds the voice says again, "The grue feeds well?"

What do you do? If you do not say anything or if the response is incorrect, then ...

"They don't know the passphrase, attack them!"  "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

(BTW everyone should know the passphrase.)

In the area of the voice, several humanoid creatures come out of a doorway and engage you in combat, if you survive you may continue. However, if you defeat the creatures, the voice will begin screaming Fire! and will continue repeating that. 

What do you do? 

#5 If you enter the room that the creatures just came out of, it is about 30' x 30', it is well lit and contains tables, chairs, bunks and other accoutrements. At one end is a cooking area and a chimney leads up from it. A fire burns and the room is a little smoky. To one side is a pile of wood.  There are shelves and cabinets near the cooking area. On the tables are mugs with what smells like ale and a jug is on one side of each table. There are cards and coins on each table. Behind the bunk area are racks with some armor and weapons with quite a few empty slots.

There are no secret doors or traps to find.

When you return to the corridor the voice will be quiet. You will either find more of the creatures or you will not.

#6 10' further down the corridor on the opposite side is another door. It leads into a room that is 20'x15' and the floor of the room is sand. You see nothing else in the room and the walls are bare. In the center of the floor the level of the sand is about a foot lower than at the edges and it slopes down to the center from all the edges. 

What do you do?

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BTW

Somewhere you might run into this creature, it is known by many names and if you can see into the ultraviolet, then this is what you would see. Otherwise it would be completely invisible to you and it is only encountered in the dark. If a light were to shine on it, then it will instantly teleport away and you will not be sure that you saw anything. It normally attacks from behind, grabs its prey and teleports away.

One name is The Appetite!

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 007)

Back out into the corridor and another 15' down the corridor a smelly, gooey looking dark mess in the middle of the corridor appears so quickly you almost step into it. It smells like rotten eggs and it bubbles as you look. It lacks a foot or so of extending to the walls, you might be able to get around it. 

What do you do?

If you poke it with a ten foot pole you will now have a nine foot pole. If you hurry past it along either wall, six players can get past it, but by that time it will extend itself all the way to the walls. Any other players will have to jump and do it quickly as it is expanding. Once everyone is past it, it will disappear without a trace, perhaps it lies in wait hidden to return again in an instant. If you probe the floor where it was a moment ago with a ten (or maybe a nine) foot pole, you will detect nothing but hard floor.

Does anyone want to walk back across where it was? Are you sure you want to do that?

#4 Another 15' and you come to another door. This room is 30'x30'. It appears to have a wood floor carefully put together to completely cover the stone beneath. It is carefully polished and is a very dark attractive wood. The walls are covered with a much lighter wood and two walls have shelves that appear to be attached to the walls. The shelves are covered with old books and even older scrolls, most of which are very fragile. The writing is very faint due to age and it cannot be deciphered. The right hand wall has a floor to ceiling mirror. The walls to either side of the door are bare. There are two tables in the room with a single chair at each. The each have a candle burning and a blank scroll, a quill pen and an ink fountain. A single mark has been made on each scroll. 

The large mirror draws you interest. When you look into the mirror you do not see the room reflected, nor do you see yourself. You are looking at a large flat field with the grass eaten short, behind it is a small hill on which sits a pair of knights on horses.  

They see you and start moving towards you.

What do you do?

As they reach the flat area, they couch their lances and knee their horses into a trot, it is at this point that you realize that you and your companions are in the field on a hot, sunny day. As the knights approach they pick up the pace and it turns into a charge.

What do you do?

If you survive the fight you will be stuck on the world of the field and will have to find the way back or if you figured out how to break the spell you will continue in the corridor.

 

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 006)

After the last excursion underground the players having survived and avoided some encounters that most surely would have wiped them out, returned above ground to camp and during the night there was a terrible earthquake and in the morning the ruins were even more ruined if that were possible. 

# Remember this campaign runs on the Silver standard see #Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 001)

The stairway they were using is nowhere to be found, not a trace. After they search the area they find a new opening that is a spiral stone staircase and it takes them all day to clear it. The night passes uneventfully and the next morning they cautiously try to explore again.

The staircase descends about 40' into the earth to the center of a room which is about 120' in diameter. The room, floor and walls are all closely fitted cut stone. They are fitted so well that not even the thinnest blade can fit between any two stones. The staircase continues on down into the earth and a cool breeze comes up the staircase from below. You can hear the sound of rushing water coming from below and it may be your imagination, but you think you hear screams and roars and other sounds.

#1 This room is lit up like midday. The room itself has a decorative stone tiled floor that is light in color. There are about 30 benches scattered throughout the room, four fountains and beside each fountain is a metal post that runs floor to ceiling. Each post has hooks from which hang 40 metal cups on each post. The water is sparkling and smells fresh and makes you think of the mountains. Throughout the room are trellises draped with vines which are in bloom with a profusion of colors and scents. The portion of the walls that are not taken up by the doorways, are covered with artwork. 

Equally spaced around this room are 12 doorways leading away from it. These doorways have no doors and open directly into corridors. All of the corridors are dark and the light from the room does not shine into any of the corridors by even an inch. Along each of the corridors are a number of little alcoves with benches and spots in the walls for lamps to be placed. Each corridor runs straight for 60' and are like spokes of a wheel around the room. At the end of these corridors is a circular corridor that that connects the ends of all of these corridor together. On the wall of the circular corridor opposite each of the wheel spoke corridor is another door, twelve in total and each is a massive wooden door with steel reinforcing. Each door is locked and has a pull handle. Each lock will need to be picked or a spell used to open the door.

Each door has a symbol in the center of the door, perhaps they are numbered one through twelve. So for convenience we will use that. 

Behind Door #1

The corridor runs off into the distance, at least for as far as torch light shows. There are doors scattered along both walls. All the doors are wooden and they will all be difficult to very difficult to open, even though they cannot be locked, although if occupied they might be barred from the inside.

#2 20' in this room is 10'x10', it contains a table and four chairs, there are 4 skeletons wearing ornate chainmail armor and accoutrements seated around the table. In the middle of the table is a small chest approximately 18" x 8" x 12" (includes the semi-circle lid). The chest is wood and iron, very ornate, encrusted with gems and gold metal work. Inside there are three trays stacked on top of one another. Each tray is covered by a gold cloth, which would detect magic on the cloth. The first tray has a dagger which is of star metal which contains silver. The dagger will glow, visible only to the bearer, when anyone or anything hostile the bearer is present. It has other magical attributes as well. The second tray has topaz, jade, emerald and diamond gems. All have been carefully prepared for display and all are rare specimens of their kind. The third tray has two rings a matched set one allows for breathing under water and the other allow for breathing in other non-liquid environments. These rings will refuse to be worn except by the same person. 

Just one thing, when you touch the chest, all four skeletons are on their feet in an instant with swords drawn, shields in place and they attack.

#3 30' down the corridor this room is 15'x15', it contains a 6' long table with 6 ornate wooden chairs, beautiful dark wood, polished and glowing in the manner of old wood. On the table - several platters with hot steaming food, meats and various other items, fresh bread, butter and oils, spices and seasonings. The aroma makes your mouth water and your stomach growl. What do you do?

If you start eating, the dishes keep refilling as food is taken. The taste is incredible and you are soon lost in the pleasure of the food. But it is all a powerful illusion, there is nothing there. You will eat until you are stuffed and then will immediately want to leave, once you are outside the room you will feel like you have not eaten for a week and you will be ravenous. The memory of the "meal" you just had will  be but a distant memory.

#Dungeon 23 Project - The Ruins of Mount Auyán (Day 005)

 To continue on with the dungeon creation we had this:

Level One

So we have:

Corridor 01 - front right

Corridor 02 - front left

Corridor 03 - left front

Corridor 04 - left rear

Corridor 05 - right front 

Corridor 06 - right rear

Corridor 07 - rear left

Corridor 08 - rear right

So on to Corridor 06 - right rear.

This corridor runs in straight for 20' then takes a 45 degree angle to the right and runs 60' then turns 45 degrees back to the original direction and continues on for 40', then it turns to the right 90 degrees and continues for 80', then it turns 90 degrees and continues on.

Once it turns back to the original direction straight ahead it enters a stretch 200' long that has doors on either side, staggered, every 30'.  These each open into a room that is currently vacant, containing only broken furniture, dust and dirt, rat dung and such. Each room is 25' x 25', there are twelve rooms total in this area.

#37 to #48.

Just past this is a four-way intersection and the floor at the intersection only is bright yellow and is completely clean, unlike the dust and damp in the four corridor that intersect here. At this point one can proceed straight ahead or turn to the right or to the left. 

To the left the corridor walls and ceiling are dark black and a torch barely lights the way at all, but a Perpetual Light Spell lights it quite well and although the floor is damp and dusty the walls and ceiling are abnormally clean and spotless. The walls are freezing, when touched they rapidly suck the heat out of an incautious hand. 

20' feet into the corridor there are doors on either side of the corridor. Large metallic black doors with keyed locks and handles. The locks must be picked or a spell must be used to open them. It would take the strength of a giant to force them. There are six rooms here, three on either side and at 80' total down this corridor another intersection is reached. If someone were to gain access to these rooms they would find storage of everything from food and spices to blankets and other bedding. One room has a chest, the contents can only be guessed. But if you try to lift the chest it is quite heavy. It has no traps, but is locked securely.

#49 to #54 10'x10' rooms

Going back to the previous intersection and taking the leftward corridor things are different, for one thing the floor of the corridor becomes cobblestone in this area and the walls are similar. If you listen at the entrance to this corridor you can hear voices and various odors can be smelled. At this point you may hear footsteps marching towards or away from you.

Once you move 30' into this corridor you pass from darkness to light most abruptly and the light cannot be seen until you pass that 30' point.