New DF Monster: Minions

They're short, they're yellow, they're cute, and your kids love them.

I was writing my campaign notes for the swamp and knew there's a non-zero chance my players could wind up in any hex in the swamp in the next two sessions. Thus, I expanded my notes for the swamp hexes; the western ones before last session, the eastern ones before this one. I have notes for some dungeons, and thus I felt the need to add a little more, so I can wing with a random dungeon map if things go awry.

My notes on dungeons were to have the big baddies, their treasure, a few unique traps, who their lackeys are, and who their minions are. At one point, I felt I needed one, as less than two monsters in any situation is a Bad Thing. I thought for a second, and realized that the perfect minion for this boss was a minion.

And I guarantee you that Dave Arneson would have done the exact same thing, so screw you on being out-of-genre.

Minion

ST: 6	HP: 6	Speed: 6.25
DX: 11	Will: 9	Move: 4
IQ: 3	Per: 10	Weight: 45 lbs.
HT: 13	FP: 13	SM: -2
Dodge: 10	Parry: 9	DR: 1*

Punch (13): 1d-5 crushing. Reach C.

Traits: Appearance (Handsome +3; Androgynous); Broad-Minded; Enhanced Dodge 1; Gluttony (12); Gullibility (12); Hard to Kill 5; Honest Face; Injury Tolerance (Homogenous); Klutz; Luck (Defensive); Magic Resistance 5; Pacifism (Cannot Kill); Pitiable; Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+8); Sense of Duty (Master); Short Arms; Short Attention Span (12); Temperature Tolerance 5; Unaging; Unkillable 1.

Skills: Brawling-12; Gesture-12.

Class: Mundane.

Combat Effectiveness Rating: 35 (OR 3 and PR 32).

Notes: Half have One Eye and therefore are at -1 DX in melee combat and -3 DX in ranged combat. They wear goggles and overalls most of the time. Minions have high resistances. When they resist by 5 or less, their bodies will show their reaction, like bulging or changing hue, before going back to normal, but this will be no different for game purposes. They work for the most evil fellow around and are absolutely true to him or her, but almost never will kill anyone. Their key ability is to survive almost anything. They speak a creole of many nearby tongues.

Sola Scriptura XI: DF 3, Chapter 3

Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level

Chapter 3: Power-Ups

This is a short chapter that eventually became its own book. Obviously, when I get around to reviewing that book in detail, I’ll talk about it more, but some notes about this, rather than rehashing what Kromm already wrote:

• This has a write-up for Energy Reserve on its second page, or that FP-like advantage that recharges alongside FP at the same rate and costs just as much. That it recharges separately is the biggest takeaway, or recharges separately as the text has it. A mighty caster will have reserves of both FP and ER. After needed spells, lots of ER is the first power-up a caster should take.
• As DF11 tells in detail, many templates can exceed normal attribute limits. This gets at something that isn’t explicit in Dungeon Fantasy: unless stated otherwise, attributes and attribute-like secondary characteristics (Will and Per) have a limit of 20. Hit Points are limited to being 30% above ST; Fatigue Points are limited to being 30% above HT (casters take heed); Basic Speed is limited to being 2.00 above (DX+HT)/4; Basic Move is limited to being Basic Speed+3. So, adventurers are not normally “godlike beings” as p. B14 calls folks with attributes above 20. If someone wants to make the Epic Level Handbook* for Dungeon Fantasy, the shooting will start at ignoring the original limits.
• Going through the lists, what strikes me is how often Wild Talent shows up: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Holy Warrior, Martial Artist, Wizard. It’s like saying, “These guys can do anything, so screw trying to write it out!"
• Most of the non-casters can buy some Extra Attack, and some level of Enhanced Defenses. Yes, Enhanced Defenses come in levels. Sorry, Enhanced Parry for one weapon and Enhanced Block are still overpriced by a few points.
• Bards have no limit on Charisma. A Bard who splurged on this would almost never have to fight intelligent foes.

* I played in an epic-level campaign of D&D about 10 years ago. It was like playing superheroes in the skins of D&D characters. My druid/ranger (something like Druid 30/Ranger 9) could wild shape into a gold dragon and track so well that Count Humperdinck would give up, like tracking a gnat on the surface of water on an overcast night, while moving at full speed. It was fun but weird; I think folks who like supers would like it more.

Game log for 17 April 2016

Dramatis personae

Anêr, swashbuckler 

Yémos, cleric

Mayhem, widdwe bawbawian 

Caleb, wizard

Kim, thief

Ash, squire

Quid occurrit, nullo pugnando

Here was a session with no fighting.

Mostly, the gang went down a river and into a swamp over the span of a week. On the second morning on the river, one of the logs on the raft came loose from its ropes, sprung up, and knocked Villûdē, Caleb, Kim, and Yémos into the water. Villûdē was the only one who could swim, so she saved the others, one-by-one, and they heard the log cackle as it floated away. Then they fixed their raft, and lost a little ground.

Three days later, now in the swamp, Caleb, Ash, and Ash's horse fell into a sinkhole when they stopped to make camp. Ash knocked himself out as he fell, so Caleb cast Levitate and brought everyone to the top, Ash needed a lot of healing.

The next day (12 Skraptôs), the gang reached the peat farm. There, they met Ajurêš, an older man with a goatee, who didn't answer too many questions. When Caleb brought up the ibathene, Ajurêš and his hobbit with a cleft lip sidekick walked away. Villûdē told Caleb that they were all nuts for wanting to find the ibathene, and said, "If we get anywhere near it, we're leaving." Nobody argued.

That night, they camped not far from the farm and stocked up on food. Kim and Caleb talked through their path and looked at the map, and chose to move towards a big wooded island in the middle of the swamp.

Two days later, three folks covered in mud hailed them. They were tribesmen of the Spider Tooth Clan. Well, erstwhile tribesmen; the tribe had kicked them out for not sharing their hunting catch of frogs. They thought they should have all the frogs after getting hurt falling out of a tree while hunting for frogs.

Yémos healed them, and they thanked him. They told the gang that it was now in the hunting ground of the ibathene, and the island was the home of a clutch of spirit nagas. However, the heroes went towards the island, and made camp on its edge.

Res aliae 

GM's mistake: I forgot to apply the -5 to Swimming rolls for lifesaving, so this was much easier than it should have been. Oddly, I did apply the difference in ST scores. Oops on what I would have been a good challenge. It was the Weirdness Magnet bother for the session; I'm putting that into my planning now.

The sinkhole, however, was random. How I handle disasters is I roll 3d6 twice. On a 5 or less on either roll is a disaster, which happens at a random time of travel (d12+6 for the hour) or when it makes sense. In this case, it was when they had gotten off the raft to make camp, because how can you have a sinkhole while on a raft?

Why two rolls? DF16 has some disasters happen more often in bad weather, so I make a second roll for those so I can apply a modifier to let that happen. I use the modifiers to Survival and Tracking on page 30 as modifiers to the roll, so in Dire weather, a weather-affected disaster will happen on a 7 or less.

Here are the charts for when I do roll a disaster in the swamp:

Static Swamp Disasters

1 Disease (p. 34)

2 Quicksand (p. 33)

3-4 Stinging Plants (p. 33-34)

5-6 Swarm (p. 34)

Weather-Affected Swamp Disasters

1-2 Disease (p. 34)

3-6 Sinkhole (p. 33)

Yes, I have Disease on both. This is a swamp, that's why. Plains and Woodlands have Disease on only one table. I'll pick the disease when I get that roll; it's likely leptospirosis. (I don't share Kromm's reluctance to use malaria, especially in a world with the Cure Disease spell, but not on these random rolls.) No, no stats here; I have a submission to Pyramid on this. Anyways, for this one, everyone resists HT, then the delay happens, so the players won't know there was a disaster right away. So maybe I rolled it and my players don't know it yet. :-)

It's good that I rolled the sinkhole, however, as in a swamp with many foes, only one roll came up encounter: the tribesmen. They seem to have blazed a lucky path so far.

Sola Scriptura X: Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level, Chapter 2: Mixing Professions

Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level

Chapter 2: Mixing Professions

Multi-classing. Well, this is GURPS, where there are no classes, so it’s more like multi-roles. Whatever. It’s multi-something, and this is the chapter.

The lenses are all 50-points, and distill the essence of the second template into that. As such, this review will be a little different than the others, but we’ll start with the traditional part.

First is Affording Lenses at Character Creation. Read: either start with 300 points, or spend some of your discretionary points on a lens. Adding Lenses in Play is spending earned points on a lens, either little-by-little, or all at once, if you can wait that long.

There is a sidebar about Niche Protection. Personally, if everyone is alright with this, you can screw niche protection. The easiest way to do this would be to let wizards cast Healing spells if nobody wants to play a cleric. That’s Lend Energy, Lend Vitality, Minor Healing, and a wizard likely already has Lend Energy to learn Recover Energy. Anyways, this sidebar is for theory of all this.

Taking Two or More Lenses is how to be an über-munchkin. My spell-checker wants to call that über-munchkin-munchkin, incidentally, which seems appropriate. The bit mostly notes that after a few lenses, this doesn’t add too much. Lenses and Improving Abilities means if you buy a lens, you can start raiding that lens’s base template for power-ups. Lenses, No Frames is how to handle all this in a game that doesn’t use templates.

Another sidebar, Saving Points on Multiple Lenses, comes at the bottom of this column. The example it gives says most of it: if you buy Combat Reflexes once, any lens with Combat Reflexes costs 15 points less. There’s a bit about akin skills—Alchemy vs. Herb Lore, and Esoteric Medicine, Religious Ritual, and Theology Specialties—and not spending too many points on them.

Interpreting Lenses starts us towards the lenses themselves. There’s a bit about Choice and Marginal Lenses, which tells us to go Bard-Wizard, not Bard-Barbarian. Attributes says the book gives attributes as bonuses, and remember secondary characteristics when upping them. Advantages says there will be a footnote about skill boosts from them. Disadvantages are mostly for Chi Mastery or Holy Might. Skills has a note about replacing Brawling with Karate, and Wrestling with Judo. Special Abilities are for points in those, like Druidic Arts. Special Skills lists two sets of these to save space later: Bardic Skills and Chi Skills.

Now for the lenses, all 110 of them. I’m not going to go into each one, as there’s 110 of them, each one already has remarks akin to what I would write, and there’s 110 of them. That’s 110 lenses, one for each class template combination, even silly combinations like Barbarian-Wizard. Instead, I’m going to write about what I found about these lenses when I reverse-engineered them a few years ago, and I’m sorting these in the order of the class into which the munchkin is multi-classing. The text instead sorts these by the first template, so this isn’t the same.

Barbarians are Strength above all: every Barbarian lens adds ST. The weaker ones (e.g., Bard-Barbarian) add HT as well; a few (e.g., Knight-Barbarian) add Per. Everybody who lacks it gets High Pain Threshold, and most everyone gets Outdoorsman. Their skills are the woodsman kind of skills.

Bards are IQ above other attributes, and everyone dumber than a Thief gets a point. They’re about their Bardic Talent, Charisma, and Musical Ability, and their skills are Musical Instrument, Public Speaking, and Singing. Everyone puts points into Bardic Skills and Bard-Song advantages, and into spells. The text gives Bardic Magery for those bards who want to have a bigger spell list, and Bard-Song Talent for wizards taking the Wizard-Bard lens, since they already can cast from a bigger spell list.

Clerics are also about IQ, much like the Bard. This is the same for all the casters: Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards need IQ. Their key advantages are Clerical Investment and Power Investiture, and everyone who doesn’t already have it needs a disadvantage for Holy Might. Points go into Holy Might advantages and spells. 

We’ll break for a sidebar about Evil Clerics, which gives us a 0-point lens to make your clerics eeeeevil. Mostly, we call all their abilities “Unholy,” and swap a few skills to be a little more evil. Oh, yeah, and they have Social Stigma (Excommunicated) instead of being goody-two-shoes. As this chapter is about lenses, there’s a bit about Evil Clerics in Other Careers, which is for Evil Clerics taking a cross-class lens, and Is Evil Cleric Right for You?, which is about other templates taking an Evil Cleric lens. The next page has Evil Clerical Spells. They can’t heal, but can cast Mass Zombie and Summon Demon with enough Power Investiture.

Back to the list. Druids need IQ. Next to D&D, all casters seem more alike because they use the same attribute. Nothing like Wizards using Intelligence, Clerics and Druids using Wisdom, and Bards and Sorcerers using Charisma. They need Power Investiture (Druidic), use Druidic abilities and spells, and have a bunch of religious and nature boy skills, like Naturalist and Theology.

Holy Warriors have a broad base of attributes, and everyone taking a Holy Warrior lens has to buy at least one attribute, but it varies. Casters and Thieves get ST and HT, the others buy IQ. They have their Higher Purpose, Holiness, Schtick, and their Holy disadvantage. They have skills relating to being holy (Exorcism), being hunters of a foe (Psychology), and fighting (Strategy, Melee Weapon).

As Evil Clerics get a sidebar, so do Unholy Warriors. It has a 0-point lens to make a Holy Warrior bad, just like Clerics have. There’s New Horizons for Unholy Warriors, which handles Unholy Warriors taking a lens, and The Legions of Evil Want YOU!, which are for other templates taking an Unholy Warrior lens.

Knights need ST; casters and Thieves also take HT. Already strong folks like Barbarians and Holy Warriors take DX. Combat Reflexes and High Pain Threshold are the defining advantages, and those with spare points also take Born War Leader. After some complementary skills like Armoury and Leadership, most of the templates (other than Barbarian) goose up their Melee Weapon skill.

Martial Artists aren’t defined by their attributes at all. No template that takes a Martial Artist lens spends points to boost their attributes. Obviously, this makes lower-ST templates, like Bards, and lower-DX templates, like Clerics, less feasible as Martial Artists. They all take Chi Talent, Trained by a Master, and Disciplines of Faith, as well as points in Chi advantages and skills. Everyone also takes Karate and Judo, and usually Acrobatics and Jumping too.

Scouts tend to have good DX scores, so Barbarians, Holy Warriors, and the caster templates take a point of it. Some of the dumber templates take some Per. Everyone takes Heroic Archer; Thieves, emphasizing their skills, also take Outdoorsman. Everyone takes Bow and Fast-Draw skills, and most take others, like Camouflage and Survival.

Like Scouts, Swashbucklers have high DX scores. They have Enhanced Parry and Weapon Master as their key advantages; a few templates take Weapon Bond and Combat Reflexes too. Their key skills are Melee Weapon and Acrobatics.

Thieves have good DX and IQ scores, and everyone taking a Thief lens puts points in one or both of them. Everyone takes Flexibility, and most folks also take High Manual Dexterity too. There are many Thief skills, and folks will take many of them: Climbing, Forced Entry, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Stealth, Traps.

Wizards have high IQ, and many templates take extra for a Wizard lens. The other caster templates take some extra FP too. Of course, anyone becoming a Wizard takes Magery, and points into spells. Alchemy, Occultism, and Thaumatology are the Wizard’s main skills.

Game log 3 April 2016

Dramatis personae

Anêr, swashbuckler
Yémos, cleric
Caleb, wizard
Mayhem, barbarian
Kim, thief
Ash, squire

Quid occurrit

We move forward the next day, 4 Skraptôs 2852.

Yémos went to Town Watch headquarters. On the way, a priestess in a black cowl and standing under a canopy beckoned him to learn about the Lady of Darkness. Yémos asked the priestess if the Lady of Darkness knew about the swamp, and the priestess said, “The Lady of the Darkness can see where no one else can see."

Yémos kept going to the Town Watch. There, he asked whether the Town Watch captain was there, and the Watchman there said she was not. Yémos left a message, asking whether it was alright to go into the swamp for business of the Church of Saundīvós.

Caleb and Anêr went to see Nabbrášus to see if she knew who ran the swamp. Her orc guard, Barash, greeted them warmly, and let them inside. After saying she was sorry about Péllē the crooked slaver, she said that nobody owned the swamp, though Maksilíā, a dressmaker, held the title of Vīšpûna of the Vámbon over a patch of it where nobody lived.

After a few laughs about Maksilíā’s title and a few warnings from Nabbrášus to not let Kim anywhere near her home, Caleb and Anêr left, going to Caravan Outfitters by the West Gate to buy a map. Right outside Nabbrášus’s home, a one-armed man was running after a horse. Anêr ran after the horse right as it moved past him, and grabbed it. It started to stop when Anêr covered its eyes with his hands. The one-armed man reached Anêr, and thanked him, and asked for help hooking the horse to his furniture cart again.

At Caravan Outfitters, instead of the shaggy-haired red-headed man, a brunet-haired man helped them, though still there was the incense. He sold them a map of Dumenrôn Swamp for 100 farthings. He had no rafts in stock, so he sold them the ropes and other stuff needed to make a big one for 50 farthings.

That afternoon, they looked for a guide. The first guide they met was Kamil, a fat Natalunese woman who barely spoke Mannish. She could point at the map and say, “Swamp. I been in swamp.” Unhappy, the heroes looked for someone else, and met Villûdē, an older woman with long earlobes. She said she would be true to the gang so long as it paid her, and asked for details. When it was clear to her that the heroes had no idea where in the swamp they were going to look, she said that the plan was “insane,” as the swamp was too big to go looking paddy by paddy for a pair of boots.

That night, the heroes went to see the Princess of Gold at Wild Cats, in hopes she would have a tale to tell about Saint Hubbins. On the way, a man with his arm in a sling ran towards them, and warned of coming doom for Caleb. Everyone stayed a few steps from Caleb until they got to the Wild Cats dive. There, for a couple of farthings, the curly blonde-haired Princess of Gold told them this tale:

Saint Hubbins wanted to tame the ibathene, a big snake with an eye on a stalk, and so he went into the swamp with his band of merry men. In there, they got lost, and walked around the swamp, asked a man for directions, then wound up talking to the same man when they came around to him again. At last, they found the ibathene. 

Upon seeing the ibathene, one of Saint Hubbins’s men spontaneously combusted. Another got his arm stuck between two rocks, and tried pulling it out. Instead, his arm came off and he passed out from the shock, bleeding to death. The ibathene looked down at the three men still there. He leaned over and ate one, while Nigel, Saint Hubbins’s friend, stayed in the back, still with fear. Saint Hubbins went forward, hoping to have his boots make their sonic boom to make the ibathene’s eardrums bleed, but the ibathene leaned down and bit him. Nigel ran, and the last thing he saw were the Boots of Saint Hubbins falling down as the ibathene ate the long-haired saint. 

Nigel fled for days, living off the land, until he reached a peat farm. There, he told his tale, and from there, went to live in Mīstássun, living the rest of his life as a third-rate hatter and telling the tale of his late friend.

The next day, Yémos patted himself for his coins, and found that he had forgotten to cast Watchdog the night before and someone had stolen his coins. The heroes then went back to Villûdē, and told her of the peat farm. She said that she knew where the peat farm was, and all thought it was a good spot from which to start.

They set forth, and made it to Caleb’s home village of Kerváron, after passing a gang of 15 shifty-looking men. There, they stayed at his parents’ home that night. However, they could find no help with making a raft, and so went east the next day to the Ūktrés River, and there spent two days making a big raft.

Res aliae

A session with no fighting, and playing to my favorite part of GMing, NPCs. The players chose to interact with the Princess of Gold, who from May 2015 until but a few days ago was only a name. Never write plots, nor write solutions to problems, as to where the players lead you might be more interesting.

I'm not one for video of tabletop roleplaying games (why do folks find that interesting?), but my players got a kick out of my telling of the tale of Saint Hubbins. One told me it was a cross between Frank Zappa and Monty Python. Thank you, I take requests but don't do bar mitzvahs or confirmations. It would have made for good video.

Much of the session was taken up chatting with a fellow in the game store about pizza delivery stories. Amusing, but it kind of cut into what we got done.

Near the end, we got to a question for which I had no answer. How long does it take to build a raft? I did a quick Google search and a check of my GURPS Low-Tech stuff, but in the end, I had no idea, so I threw out "two days" to keep the game moving. This is with chopping down trees. I feel embarrassed that I can't come up with a number in light of my forefathers: my last name comes from a German sawyer.

Working on an adventure

I said something about making One-Page Dungeons for GURPS, and I chose to put my lack of money where my mouth is. This is a work in progress and is much bigger than I had first thought, but I still want to put it out there. I have a lack of game stats at this point on purpose, following Mike Mearls's advice to design your dungeons for OD&D first. That way, they are interesting in of themselves, not because the rules make them so. I'll make them for traps, and a few more for monsters.

If anyone has any suggestions or notices something wrong, please, make a comment below. My idea is to make something like Beneath Castle Everglory, but with the hindsight of having seen Dungeon Fantasy over many years. And a bit smaller.

Notes:

• I need names for the bandit in room #1, the bandit leader in room #5, the two bandit mages in room #7, the three prisoners in room #8, the bandit leader in room #11, the two bandit lords in room #13, the orc sergeant in room #17, the strong goblin in room #21, the orc sergeant in room #31, and at least one ghoul.
• I need a compelling link for the orcs, a reason why someone would go looking for the orcs rather than the bandits or ghouls. The dungeon needs to work on more than one hook.
• I need to make a rumor/hook table, and a list of things a Research roll would uncover.
• These are without question the best maps I have ever made, which says more about my lack of skill at making maps rather than the quality of these maps. There were many random rolls that made them on tables in the Tome of Adventure Design. I'm pleased with the results, if you want the truth.
• Most walls between rooms are 6 in. (DR 78, HP 75). 
• Most doors are wood (DR 2, HP 29).
• The bandits are Basic Warriors from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 1: Mirror of the Fire Demon (p. 423), except instead of mail armor, they have leather armor (DR 2, $340, 19.5 lbs.). The bandit leaders are +2 to all skills and +1 to ST, DX, and HT. The bandit lords are +4 to all skills, +2 to ST, DX, and HT, and +1 to IQ. Both the leaders and lords wear mail armor. The bandit mages are Artillery Mages from the Mirror of the Fire Demon. 
• The goblins are Common Orc Soldiers from Mirror of the Fire Demon (p. 47), but are goblins instead of orcs (-1 ST, -2 HP, no Acute Hearing 2 or Bully (12), instead have Cowardice (12) and Sharp Teeth). The tough goblin is a Tough Orc Soldier with the above changes.
• Both of these are why I want GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 69: Fearsome Foes. The bestiary at the back of Mirror of the Fire Demon comes nearest to this idea.
• To quickly handle changes in ST to damage, add the increase to swing damage, and half the increase to thrust damage, rather than going through the full calculations.
• Wandering Monsters happen on a 7 or less. A clue happens on an 8 if moving. Roll every hour, which means every 6 rooms if exploring. Also roll when doing things that make noise, like opening a stuck door (roll Forced Entry to avoid the check), fighting, or bashing down a door. If resting overnight, an encounter happens on a 12 or less; 9 or less means 2 encounters, and 6 or less means 3. Do this instead of making hourly rolls.
• Apply the -5 to reaction under Negotiation (DF2, p. 10) if the players encounter the monster in its lair. For the bandits, this is all of level 1; for the orcs, this is all of level 2; for the ghouls, this is rooms #33 through #36. A monster outside its lair is more willing to talk. That's my compromise with the text.
• Scale is one square equal to 10 feet, as you should expect from a dungeon using TSR Blue on the maps.

Level 1

Way in is a crude wood and iron door (DR 10, HP 34), behind which is a rising passage (35°). The first level is about 100 ft. above the door. It is locked (Lockpicking +2, DR 3, HP 6). Lighting comes from braziers filled with oil, which gives full light. Ceilings are barrel-vaulted and 10 ft. high.

Wandering Monsters

1     1d bandits from room #5

2     1 ghoul from room #36 (level 3)

3     1d orcs from room #17 (level 2); trying to be secret

4     1d giant centipedes from room #27 (level 3)

5     1d rat swarms

6     1 gelatinous cube

1) Armory. 1 bandit. Has a dose of monster drool (Poisons-12), which he'll use if he gets a chance. His brother is the bandit leader in room #6.

2) Mushroom room. Locked door (Lockpicking +4, DR 6, HP 12). Mushrooms are edible, but 1 in 6 gives hallucinations. Buried among the mushrooms is a note on parchment that says, "Heat the statue."

3) Pantry. Stuck door. In back is an old altar to Gianniam, god of runes and symbols. Altar is a carved book showing Gianniam opening the book. Weighs 300 pounds. Under the altar is a trap door to room #20.

4) Cursed bedroom. Locked door (Lockpicking +0, DR 3, HP 6). Anyone who comes inside must resist Will+2 or be stuck in the room for 10 minutes for each point of failure. After this, victim must try to resist again to leave.

5) Barracks. There are 13 bandits and 1 bandit leader here, but will be down 1d bandits on patrol. The leader has a bow and 15 silver pennies. Leader is the brother of the bandit in room #1. They have 30 copper farthings in a ceramic urn. They do not want others to see them as cowards, so will withdraw but not break and run.

6) Privy. Stuck door.

7) Wizards' bedroom. 2 bandit mages. They have 30 copper farthings and 1 gold piece, as well as a map to a vampire's lair 100 miles away. The vampire has over $25,000 in treasure.

8) Lockup. 3 prisoners. Locked door (Lockpicking +0, DR 9, HP 18), and opening it triggers an alarm. One of the prisoners is important, and the bandits have issued a "pay or he dies" order.

8A) Statue. Rusty wire mesh statue of a man bowing his head. It's magical and putting heat on it for 5 seconds opens the door to room #9 (door is iron-bound, DR 15, HP 39).

9) Hot bath. There is a large metal chest (Lockpicking +0), with 200 copper farthings and 15 silver pennies. Opening it calls forth an invisible giant black widow spider.

9A-9F) Closets. 9A has stuck door.

10) King's chamber. On a balcony in the back is the Moribund Throne of Mists. Sitting on the throne lets out a mist throughout the room. It takes 20 seconds to fill the room and comes from the throne. Anyone in the mist is at -5 to see and takes 1 toxic damage each second unless he resists HT each second. The one sitting on the throne is immune. The mist goes away after a minute.

11) Sauna. Stuck door. 12 bandits and their leader, who has 13 silver pennies and a bow. They do not want others to see them as cowards, so will withdraw but not break and run.

12) Sauna.

13) Massage parlor. 2 bandit lords are here. 20 copper farthings, 15 silver pennies in a burlap bag. They are lazy and make the other bandits do everything for them. Each has 2 doses of monster drool (Poisons-16), which they'll use if they get a chance. One of the bandit lords is an escaped convict with a price on his head.

14) Cold bath (Lockpicking +0, DR 6, HP 12). Locked door. In one of the old baths is a trapdoor. Under it is a steep stair that goes down to level 2, 80 feet under level 1. Anyone can go into the landing midway between the two stairs, but to leave, he must put a coin of any kind in the magic toll box. If someone breaks open the box, it is empty, and nobody can leave the landing until the box is back in place.

Level 2

Ceilings are 10 ft. high other than room #15 (20 ft. high). No light; the braziers are empty.

Wandering Monsters

1     1d orcs from room #17

2     1d-2 ghouls from room #36 (level 3)

3     1d bandits from room #5 (level 1); trying to be secret and bearing light

4     2d giant centipedes from room #27 (level 3)

5     1d giant rats from room #23 (level 3)

6     1 ooze

15) Hall. West secret door (DR 3, HP 33) is a wood panel that hides a tunnel. Tunnel slopes down (5°, 20 ft.) and goes 200 ft. to a big rock (400 pounds), which blocks going out. East secret door (DR 1, HP 23) is wood panel 15 ft. up wall. Standing on lowered balcony springs stander up to door. 1 carrion crawler. Attracted to light. 100 copper farthings in a metal cabinet.

16) Audience hall. 5 goblins, who are upset with orcs masters for guard duty.

17) Dining room. Nasty Bone tribe of 14 orcs and 1 orc sergeant. Room will always be down 1d orcs as they are on patrol. They skin their downed foes and keep the bones to show off. They keep a metal coffer with 3 silver pennies and 600 copper farthings here.

18) Barracks.

19) Barracks.

20) Shrine. Floor is shaped like an upside-down ziggurat, and each drop goes down 5 ft. The door down to room #23 (G on the map) needs all 4 knobs on the southwest wall turned until the latch opens, and is hidden to room #20 (DR 30, HP 49). The door up to room #3 (F on the map, DR 30, HP 49) is easy to see, but the altar in room #3 blocks the opening there.

21) Goblin barracks. Stuck door. 6 goblins and 1 tough goblin. These goblins are resting while off their shift.

22) Trapped barracks. Once the door is shut, webbing drops from the ceiling and traps everyone therein as if it had Binding 14.

Level 3

The ceilings are 10 ft. high. The rooms are unlit, other than #33 to #36.

Wandering Monsters

1     1d ghouls from #36

2     2d orcs from room #31

3     2d rat swarms

4     2d giant centipedes from room #27

5     2d giant rats from room #23

6     1 black pudding

23) Receiving room. Door in ceiling (DR 30, HP 49) goes up to room #20. 21 giant rats. Attracted to light.

24) Closet.

25) Lava. Stuck door. West-most 10 ft. is a lava river. Rock island midway through has huge metal chest with 100 copper farthings and 150 silver pennies. Going near the edge by the island triggers blade trap from ceiling, and dodging blade might mean victim falls in lava.

26) Bondage room. Locked (Lockpicking -2, DR 8, HP 18) large wooden chest has 200 copper farthings and 300 silver pennies. Opening chest wakes hidden giant oil beetle.

27) Orgy room. Stuck door from #29. SM +3 sticky corrosive wailer fungus. 

28) South foyer. Room has a 26.5° angle down, so it dips down 15 yards from west to east. This is one yard down for every two yards west; apply fighting at different elevations.

29) Whip room. 3 harpies. Stone jar with 600 copper farthings and 250 silver pennies.

30) Tentacle room. 18 giant centipedes. Attracted to light.

31) Bedroom. Stuck door from #32. Mirrors on the ceiling. Wall of fake gems. Turning the right gem and jumping back to the right tile opens the secret door (DR 15, HP 39). 25 orcs and 1 orc sergeant looking for treasure bear a large wooden chest with 400 copper farthings and 200 silver pennies.

32) North foyer. Room has a 26.5° angle down, so it dips down 15 yards from west to east. This is one yard down for every two yards west; apply fighting at different elevations.

33) Magic lab. Clay jar among the old lab tools has 500 copper farthings and 50 silver pennies. Opening it summons 20 giant centipedes. High sanctity evil, low sanctity good. Torch-lit (-3 Vision).

34) Sacrifice room. Locked door from #33 (Lockpicking +0, DR 3, HP 6). Anyone sitting in the tall Sordid Throne of Memories must make a Fright Check as past slaughters take over his mind. Altar has an unholy book on it and scalps on its sides. Very high sanctity evil, low sanctity good. Sanctity keeps safe the book's wood covers. The book is of the evil god Krazul, and shows ways of sacrifice. The more depraved the reader is, the nastier the sacrifices shown are. Anyone making a sacrifice heals damage in HP equal to the HP of the victim. Torch-lit (-3 Vision).

35) Priest's bedroom. High sanctity evil, low sanctity good. Torch-lit (-3 Vision).

36) Cult room. 12 ghouls. The ghouls were part of an evil cult that contracted ghoul fever, and still wear their old yellow robes. 100 copper farthings and 250 silver pennies in a stone jar that is an old chamber pot. Anyone handling the money must resist HT or contract diarrhea. High sanctity evil, low sanctity good. Torch-lit (-3 Vision).