The Nether Prison of the Astral Vulture pt. 2 (#Dungeon24)

Today we’re continuing to stock the megadungeon we started yesterday. In the last post, I picked out some Clash of the Titans-themed monsters from an old Different Worlds magazine as my intentionally placed monsters. This week, I’m turning to Monster & Treasure Assortment to stock the remaining rooms. Following the information presented in Fantastic Medieval Campaigns, there will be a 2-in-6 chance that any room contains a monster, and a 3-in-6 chance that any of those monsters are guarding treasure. Empty rooms have a 1-in-6 chance of containing something else like a trap or treasure.

a large dungeon map on blue grid paper arranged as a central square with additional squares on each corner.

The Rolls

Room 2: 3 Centipedes, 3 100 gp gems in a chest (I rolled “protected by poisonous insects inside container” so I think the centipedes have it covered) behind a loose stone in the wall.

Room 3: 4 Zombies, 400 sp in pottery jars protected by explosive runes

Room 5: Empty

Room 6: 3 Warriors: no Treasure

Room 7: Empty

Room 8: Special

Room 9: Empty

Room 10: Empty

Room 11: Carrion Crawler, 600 cp in stone containers inside an “ordinary item”

Room 12: 2 Robbers, 300 gp loose but disguised

My Spin

Room 2: Several of the wall bricks in this room are loose, and several more have fallen to the floor to expose the dirt behind them. Investigation will reveal a chest stashed behind one of these. Three toxic centipedes reside inside, the once-humanoid owners of the treasure who hid them here shortly before transforming into worms.

Room 3: Four clay jars line the far wall, with lids emblazoned with names. Slumped against each is a humanoid corpse, rotted with age. These four prisoners sealed their minds in funerary jars and left their spirit-husks to guard them. Anyone opening the jars is hit by a blast of raw spirit energy (save vs spells, 2d6 damage).

Room 5: Empty, the door to the west is trapped with a swinging blade. 

Room 6: Raiders, accustomed to the sea. Dressed in chainmail and fighting with axes, shields, spears, and bows. They are new to the prison and planning their next move.

Room 7: Empty save for a handful of giant vulture feathers, carefully bundled in sets of four.

Room 8: A skeletal warrior frozen in a lunge, thrusting its sword into a desiccated carrion crawler, whose tentacles are still wrapped around the figure’s arm.The two starved, locked together in mutual paralysis. The sword is Clearwater, a fine longsword with a blue-steel blade.

  • Clearwater: +1 sword (Lawful, slay chaotic monsters, paralyze chaotic monsters, Read Magic, 12 intelligence, communicate via telepathy, detect invisibility, detect slopes, note shifting walls and rooms, speaks elvish, dwarvish, goblin, and lawful, multiply Str. by 1-4 for 1-10 turns).

Room 9: Empty save for the broken remains of several broken cages, large enough for a party of humanoids if repaired.

Room 10: Empty, save for a sweeping pile of dust and ash blown in from the chute in room 1.

Room 11: A carrion crawler, the offspring of the one killed in Room 8. It remembers what killed its parent, and has constructed a trap to lure similar creatures in; 600 cp gathered in a stone trough in the center of the room.

Room 12: Two robbers, wanderers from the ashen fields above, make their lair here. They have plumbed the depths of the vulture’s prison in search of treasure, and are preparing to escape with 300 gp, currently hidden under layers of vulture feces. The vulture is unaware of the secret door into Room 4.