All right, I want to get my Shadowdark play-by-post up and running, so it’s about time I got serious about some preparation. I have rolled up three different dungeons to start with, so I just need to develop them properly and I should be good to go. Well, aside from that I should probably roll up a village for the players to hawk their loot in, but that can wait a moment.
I’ll start with the smallest and simplest dungeon, the one I plan to start the game with the players entering the first room of. Thus, I give you:
THE CRYPT OF THE CHORTLING BANDIT
Kresh Skullgrin, the Chortling Bandit, once terrorised travelers through the Folbrun Forest. While never more than a local pest, he had enough success that upon his death of choking on a turkey bone, his band buried him with honours in the cellar beneath a remote mansion he’d once put to the torch. There he might well have stayed, but for Lofflun, new Grandmaster of the Tailor’s Guild in Sabrum. Kresh was buried with his collection of skulls taken from the people he had killed, and one of them belonged to Lofflun’s grandmother Gloda. A man of sentimental attachment to his family history, Lofflun has offered a reward of 100 gold pieces to any adventurers who can delve into the Crypt of the Chortling Bandit and bring him the skull. It is meant to be easily recognisable by the leaden eyeteeth that should still be in it.
It sounds like a nice, simple mission for a group of newcomers to the delving trade. What could possibly go wrong?
The dungeon is laid out like this, based on the five dice I rolled. We ended up with a treasure room (5) protected by a trap room (4) and two empty rooms (1, 3). The last room (2) got inhabited by rival crowlers, who I rolled up and gave a mysterious reason for being in a dungeon that’s really far too low-level to be worth their while. Perhaps they will make another appearance later in the campaign?
The danger of the crypt is Risky: various giant vermin keep getting in and nesting here, so things like rats, bats and centipedes might turn up if a random encounter is rolled.
ROOM 1: ENTRANCE
The door at the bottom of the narrow stone stairs has been pried open, revealing a room made from rough stone, with the broken remnants of benches scattered across the dusty floor. Four large, matted-haired bodies, rats the size of hunting dogs, lie dead in pools of blood that glisten in the light of the players’ torches. There is a faint light coming through a crack in the murky wooden door to the west. There is also another closed door to the north.
There is nothing of interest here, but it allows the players a chance to realise that there’s someone already in the dungeon and that they need to plan their approach accordingly.
ROOM 2: TROPHIES
A long room stretches out before you, the walls hung with rotted tabards and helmets dented and rusted beyond all use. There are two doors, one to the east and one to the north. A small pool of light spreads from a lantern placed on the floor, and in its glow a bearded man in silvered mail is binding a shallow leg wound of a large-eared goblin in a faded-blue, mud-stained robe. You recognise them as fellow members in good standing of the Crawler’s Guild; Jin, Templar of Saint Terragnis, and Fronl, a Conjurer of some skill. You recall that they haven’t been seen for over a year – what are they doing here, in a site of little promise that should be beneath their skill? As you watch, Fronl gives off a yelp of alarm, and Jin turns around to face you, scowling.
Jin and Fronl have in fact been prisoners of a wicked sorcerer who only released them in return for dire oaths to go on a quest for him. In service to it, they needed to find one of the skulls of Kresh Skullgrin’s victims and interrogate him using Jin’s Speak With Dead spell. Having done so, they are taking a moment to catch their breath before leaving the tomb.
Their shameful bargain aside, Jin and Fronl are men of honour and aren’t interested in harming the players. If they are provoked or threatened, Fronl will attempt to cast Sleep on the players before the pair withdraws from the dungeon. If the players instead deal with them politely, Jin will warn them of the trap in Room 4 and the giant dung beetles in Room 5. They will not help beyond that, however, as they are in a hurry, and nor will they willingly reveal their reason for being here.
JIN THE HUMAN PRIEST: AC 14, HP 13, ATK 1 mace +2 (1d6, close), MV near, S +2, D +0, C +0, I -1, W +2, Ch +1, AL L, LV 5
Templar of Saint Terragnis. +3 to spellcasting, can cast the following spells: Cure Wounds, Light, Turn Undead, Cleansing Weapon, Blind/Deafen, Speak With Dead
FRONL THE GOBLIN WIZARD: AC 11, HP 11, ATK 1 throwing knife +1 (1d4, near), MV near, S -1, D +1, C +0, I +3, W+1, Ch +1, AL L, LV 4
Conjurer: Can cast the following spells: Charm Person, Sleep (always cast with advantage), Light, Detect Magic, Invisibility, Web.
ROOM 3: WINE CELLAR
A long passage spreads out into the dark, lined with stout barrels. The air is filled with the bitter stench of spoiled vinegar, competing with a sharper, fresher manure smell. At one spot on the wall, the rough stones have collapsed, opening a gaping hole into the dirt; too low for a humanoid to walk through, though crawling through it might be possible. A dark, reeking trail stretches from the aperture to a half-open door in the eastern side of the room. There is also an open door to the south, and a faint, flickering light is coming from the room beyond it.
There is nothing here of value or interest, but if random encounters are rolled, they’ll likely originate here.
ROOM 4: TRAP
The room is small, square and covered in raised, square cobbles. There are three entrances, to the east, west and south. A dark, reeking trail stretches between the half-open door to the west and the empty doorway to the east. The bare stone wall by the eastern doorway is chipped and broken in a way the other three walls are not.
Kresh Skullgrin’s followers set up a trap in the form of a row of automated crossbows here, and it has already been triggered several times in the dungeon’s history, mainly by the dung beetles from Room 5 (though they are too low to the ground for the bolts to hit, so the bolts have just shattered against the opposite wall instead). If someone searches on the floor, they find rotten and shattered remnants of wooden crossbow bolts. If someone searches the wall directly opposite to the exit, they find a series of small, round holes (the crossbows are mounted inside the wall, constructed so that they slowly reload themselves between shots. They can each fire four more times, after that they will be out of arrows). If someone walks straight to the exit without checking for traps, everyone currently in the room has to make a DC 15 Dexterity roll to avoid being struck by crossbow bolts and take 1d6 damage.
ROOM 5: THE GRAVE
A small room with a single door. At the far wall is a crude stone table, and on it lies a skeleton with its hands clasped on its chest. It’s wearing a long, dark-lacqured chainmail shirt, and twin hooked daggers are placed by its side. By its feet is a small, golden bowl with a sprinkling of dully gleaming gold, silver and copper coins in it. A long shelf stretches around the length of the room, and human skulls line it, eyeless sockets staring blankly above eternal leers. The room stinks, only faintly of rot but strongly of manure. Two glossy-black beatles the size of fat hogs stir from a nest of solidified dung beneath the table, horns sticking out threateningly.
Two giant dung beetles have made their nest here and will attack intruders. Jin and Fronl encountered them, but preferred to cast a Sleep spell on them to killing them; they are now stirring. Kresh’s modest treasure includes a gold bowl worth 15 gp and another 9 gp, 22 sp and 80 cp in loose coins, along with two nondescript daggers worth 1 gp each and a surprisingly fine suit of chainmail worth 60 gp. The bowl and coins are worth 1 XP between them, and the armour another 1 XP. One of the skulls along the wall has a leaden eyetooth and is the one Lofflun wants. Giving him the skull will earn a reward of another 100 gp and 1 additional XP.
GIANT DUNG BEETLE (x2): AC 13, HP 10, ATK 1 horn +1 (1d4 +knock), MV near, S +1, D -1, C +1, I -3, W -1, Ch -3, AL N, LV 2
Knock. DC 9 STR or pushed a close distance and fall down.