This area is for the DM only, it’s my source material and plot info that is
Not for Players!
So chill out and get out of here unless I invited you to see it.
Anyway:
For tables on treasure rewards and the such
Dungeons, points to keep in mind!
1: Interest Curve. Build into something greater. Have themes that grow on themselves.
2:No Room is just a Room. Is the room a hallway, a kitchen, a dining hall, an armory, the latrine? Even something as simple as a hint of purpose gives a dungeon more life. Storage room, wine cellar, library, den, pool, bath, refractory, vestibule, laundry, scullery, pantry room, cold room, bedroom, secret closet,
3: Remember to deliver on at least 3 of the 4 parts of a good room: Combat, Narrative, Puzzles, Reward
- The PCs deliver their cargo to the docks and collect their pay.
- They are offered a great sum of money if they can collect
Jombo J Gizjuglar gives a carefully bundled package that is stitched into leather to the PCs who saved his life. They are instructed to take it to the residence of Trang Snegnellicus and have the package delivered; directly to Trang himself.
Characters are urged to deliver the package (containing the Patient Embryo) to one of the only living wizards in all of Urath, Trang Snegnellicus (Human Wizard 14). Once they arrive, they will find a trapped mansion populated with paranoid guards from eras past. They eventually find a large locked door that has what appears to be hundreds of bloody escape attempts, but no bodies and lots of blood. It seems that the bodies simply disappeared.
Room 1F: Vestibule has 4 suits of armor lining the main hall. Perception check (DC25)for the front guard running off if the party stays together. The Armor looks fine but is decorative, made of finely engraved metal and stone. A cursory examination
Room 1F: Entranceway contains a large pool of water in the center of the room, with a large silver statue of a nude woman in repose. Artwork and baubles are on the walls, covering most available surfaces; essentially everything is worthless. There is a large vaulted walkway to the north on the west side, and a small service door to the north on the east side. There is also a large steel door on the
Room 1F: Study/Dining Room has staircases at the back of both sides, leading both up and down. A large fireplace sits at the back of the wall. A large dining room table seating 12 dominates the room. There are many exits to this room: 2 south to Entranceway, 4 staircases (2 up, 2 down). A Coral Imp rogue wearing brick-red armor (cloth armor) sleeps in a chair, surrounded by pie crusts and cans
Room 2F: Bedroom has a coat room preceding it.
Reward: There are robes hanging in the hall; the pockets have elemental crystals in them. (1d6 earth crystals lvl1, 1d4 fire crystals lvl1, 1 water crystal)
The door is unlocked. In the bedroom itself is a dwarven lv2 sapper with his girlfriend, a human lvl 1 rogue. Depending on how previous rooms have gone
Room 2F: Arboretum There are plants of many types hanging around. This room is HUGE and chock full of greenery. Some of the plants are overgrown, but many are either dried up or withered from disuse.
Upon finding the key and opening the door, the characters find a contraption attached to a killing machine. Every seventh minute on the dot, a human (Trang) steps from the crystal, screams “NOOOO!!!!” and is immediately killed by some sort of laser-like spell that tears a hole in his head. His body then slumps into a canal, the canal flips open like a trapdoor and Trang’s body falls into a hole below.
The PCs can choose how to get to the Fire Realm, but most air routes don’t go there since they come from the water or air sections of Peth. These routes are only available to certain government/military groups, and will not be usable by the PCs. They will have to take some path through the Earth Realm.
Once the characters deliver the Embryo, they are told to keep it and they are told a tale:
Each realm has an associated Lord that lives deep within its territory. These Lords are growing old and tired, and are starting to be unable to keep up their Lordly duties (Water makes the water run well, Earth assures that the earth is well stocked with life, Fire keeps the magma and fire flowing, and air is the general quality of the breathable air). You must make your way to the other 4 embryos that represent the new pantheon of 4 Lords and take them to the City Above the Skies where they will hatch in the unfiltered sun.
The characters are in fact being manipulated by an organization that wants to bring about the endtimes. (The Order of One Light).
The Embryos do indeed contain Lords, but the organization wishes to gather all 4 embryos to destroy them and bring about. Three things are true of the Lords and the Embryos:
One, an embryo is invulnerable if the corresponding Lord is killed.
Two, an embryo of the corresponding type will be created if the corresponding Lord is killed.
Three, once an embryo hatches, it immediately becomes the new god, instantly killing the current god of that type.
Thus, a god can have a few embryos out there at any one time, usually ranging from one to four. These embryos have unknown conditions to hatch, and it is unknown why the gods would choose to renew themselves in this fashion.
A viable way to get an embryo of each type would be to collect as many embryos as possible, then kill the gods of the types that you do not yet possess.
The organization wants to remove the embryos from ‘circulation’ and prevent the crucial cogs of the world from stopping completely. It is the characters understanding that
- The Lord of Dark Earth, Thraa
- The Heartbeat of Chaos, K’threa
- The Lord of Clear Thought, Quasis
- The Lord of Pure Breath, Pilgrim
- Uboyz Hungstout
- Hooboy Tepwood
- Trechera
- Jarthood
- Ballzorc McScrotitch
- Shangela Falsewood
- Yumfie
- Skitmitter Angus
Dilmont Knubscallionary - Chinstrap Mulligan
- Brendle Retchenburg
- Erup Asha
- Nortph
- Antarticus
- Jutt Flutlerduckabee
- Gutter
- Stib Stabba
- Yelka
RANDOM NAMES
Uboyz Hungstout
Hooboy Tepwood
Trechera Heartwood
Shangela Falsewood
Yumfie Skitmittterangus
Dilmont Knubscallionary
Chinstrap Mulligan
Brendle Retchenburg
Erup Asha Nortph
Antarticus
Jutt Flutlerduckabee
1 Longdwarves
The PCs are walking through a wurm tunnel, lined with Trail Imps and fungus colonies. Deep within the caverns the only light is from torches and the purple-blue glow of phosphorescent fungus and moss. If the characters encounter any orange moss clumps, digging under them will yield 1d3 earth crystals. If the characters encounter any hanging blue moss clumps, they will have a 50% chance of having 1d3 water crystals.
Longdwarves create ‘flash cities’ of miners, farmers, hunters, ranchers, and a few fighters and barbarians. They come in many different versions depending upon the depth of Urath you are in, with the bottom depth having the most population by far (75%). The middle 10mi contains 20% and the top 10mi contains but 5%. There are several different factions of dwarves, each with their own culture and idiosyncrasies.
The characters unknowingly enter Beckhalathaz during a festival. Longdwarves are preparing for a rare event: The Wurm Riding Festival known as. The Dwarves attach insane contraptions to either the mouth or the tail of a wyrm and ‘ride’ it down a tunnel, for thrills and to hopefully find storehouses of gemstones, fungi, and game. The characters unknowingly break some taboo, and they are encouraged to make the ride as penance… otherwise they will be thrown into the mines for weeks!
(This sect of Longdwarves have a very tightly-controlled, almost religious sense of rationing and use of food and supplies. If a character eats local fungi or game within their ‘lands’ then they are subject to servitude. If the PC should murder any of the Trail Imps that supply the city with food and water, then the PCs will be attacked on sight.)
All of the longdwarves assemble in the arena and throw earth crystals into a small pit in the center. They cheer and throw more and more crystals on until the rumbling of a wurm is heard. The PCs are supplied with their choice of a ‘saddle’, an ‘eye’, or a ‘sled’ style harness.
Saddle: attaches to the tapered back of the wurm, giving the riders a furious ride as the wurm attempts to buck off the contraption. The contraption itself has buckles and a rollcage fashioned from the cavern’s metal deposits.
Eye: This is a cage that is designed to sit INSIDE of the wurm’s mouth while it moves ahead. Some models have levers and knobs with which to prod or poke or burn or otherwise alter the creature’s trajectory (this has mixed success). Any eye model will certainly require an escape mechanism as well (usually a bar that extrudes to both sides to halt the beast within its own burrow by keeping it pinched open)
Sled: This drags behind the wyrm at a relatively safe distance. The fear with this style is the debris being kicked up behind the beast. The advantage is abandoning a ride is pretty easy.
Should the characters successfully “forge the wet”, they receive accolades and good cheer.
Characters
2
Evil Irondwarves have perfected a ritual that utilizes an incredible confluence of gigantic dwarven hardware in order to create a signal that the Burrow-Wurms are following. The wurms burrow all around the area and stop the tunnels from being created elsewhere.
(note: most Irondwarves and other residents of Urath refer to obviously-evil Irondwarves as “Ironwhores” as a perjoritive)
Setup: anywhere in the tunnels if we’re having fun in the tunnels. The characters meet a band of Coral Imps who are attempting an infiltration of an Ironwhore base. If you are able to talk to any of them, they will detail what is going on:
There are two great engines that need to be activated together in order to start or stop the machine. When the ironwhores need resources, they activate the machine, but in the last 10 or so years they have been keeping the engines on non-stop. The Imps think that it is an advance in their powers, not their ambition, that had kept them in check, but now they appear to have a different source of power that never requires recharging. This means that there must be a source that they can destroy or steal to stop the machines from running.
The PCs can enter the chamber. There will be a single vestibule before the characters empty into a gigantic
3
The characters are offered a ring that used to belong to a great merchant that was said to make the woman rich, but the man fears that his wife was eaten by the OWLBEAR SQUAD that lives in the eastern forest. The PCs have literally never heard of an owlbear, so they are immediately confused.
A small village near the forest is full of gruff hunters and their families. They are terrified of OWLBEAR SQUAD. At little to no urging, the whole town will come to you and extoll the virtues of OWLBEAR SQUAD and how terrible and efficient they are. If the players venture into the forest, where the owlbear squad is said to be at night.
As the players follow a semi-obvious trail of blood and destruction through a forest path, they may be able to see things scampering behind them. If they ever get suspicious, archers will start firing arrows from high perches. A few turns after either running or
Enemies
| Skesis | CR1 |
XP 400
N Medium Magical Beast
Init +2 Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +X
AC 15 touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 11hp (2d10+0 con)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +1
Defensive Abilities DR Immune Resist
Speed 40 ft.
Melee Bite +2 (1d6+0)
Str 11, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 13
Base Atk +2 CMB +2 CMD 14
Feats 1 total feats from HD
Skills 2 Skill Points , +2 Acrobatics , +0 Climb , +2 Fly , +1 Perception , +2 Stealth , +0 Swim
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ability (Ex) Scare: Shrieks at an enemy DC 12 save, works as scare cast at 3rd level
Shaken: A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.
| Skezz (armored) | CR2 |
XP 400
N Medium Animal (Reptilian)
Init +1 Senses Low-light vision; Perception +X
DEFENSE
AC 16 touch 11, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 15hp (2d8+6 con)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +0
Defensive Abilities DR Immune Resist
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft. (25 ft. in armor)
Melee Claw +3 (1d8+2)
Ranged Weapon +2 ( )
Space 5 ft. Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks
STATISTICS
Str 14, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 4
Base Atk +3 CMB +3 CMD 14
Feats 1 total feats from HD
Skills 2 Skill Points , +1 Acrobatics , +2 Climb , +1 Fly , +0 Perception , +1 Stealth , +2 Swim
ECOLOGY
Environment
Organization
Treasure Value
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ability (Ex) Scare: Shrieks at an enemy DC 12 save, works as scare cast at 3rd level
Shaken: A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.
| Burrow Wurm (young, up to 20yo) | CR4 |
XP 1,200
N Large Magical Beast (Earth)
Init +6 Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +X
DEFENSE
AC 18 touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+6 Dex, +3 natural, -1 size)
hp 57hp (6d10+24 con)
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will -1
Defensive Abilities DR Immune Resist