Thursday, January 5, 2023

The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave #21: Meeting Room

This is an installment of a new dungeon adventure set in the Portown milieu, which I'm writing for Holmes Basic D&D. You can find the Introduction to the dungeon here: Area 1.

Each entry includes part of a "pointcrawl" map showing the area & any exits, which include links allowing you to navigate the dungeon:

 
Area 24



S

 

Area 22 ===   21. MEETING ROOM  
 
 
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Area 17

21. MEETING ROOM. This large room (150 feet east-west and 70 feet north-south), once used by the smugglers for meetings, contains furniture in disarray, a drinking fountain, and a skeleton on the floor.

Exits. There are two visible exits: In the center of the south wall, a short passage leads to the door from Area 17, and in the center of the west wall is a wooden door to Area 21. The latter is locked, and can either be opened with the key on the skeleton in Area 7, or by picking the locking. Beyond this door a short passage leads to Area 22 (to be described). 

Secret Door. There is also a small secret door in the center of the north wall, which can be opened by depressing a stone on the floor in front of it, allowing the door to swing inward into the room. Beyond the door is a 10 foot long passage leading north to a staircase down to Area 24.

Furnishings. The room contains two heavy wooden tables, each 10' long and 5' wide. One is upright near the eastern wall, and has five wooden chairs still around it, and a number of old candle stubs sitting upon it. The other lies on its side a few feet away from middle of the northern wall (it was unsuccessfully used to brace the secret door from being opened from the other side...). Scattered about the room are nine more intact chairs and the broken remains of ten chairs. In the northeastern corner of the room is a tall triangular cabinet, of sturdy wooden construction, filled with old pewter pitchers and drinking vessels. 

Drinking FountainIn the southeastern corner of the room is a small basin of water, which is fed by piper mounted in the rock above the basin, and which appears to drain through a hole in the bottom. The flowing water remains clear and is safe to drink. 

Remains. On the floor near the overturned table lies a non-animated skeleton, still wearing decaying leather armor and backpack, and with a dagger nearby. The skeleton is intact, except for its left hand, which is missing. The backpack contains a rusty set of lock picks, flint & steel, torches, and a fine triple-pronged grappling hook (worth 35 gp) attached to old rope, 50' in length (50% chance of breaking if used to support weight).

Dice Dragon. A dice dragon, once a companion to the smugglers, still nests in a crevice in the wall behind the top of the cabinet in the northeast corner. Its possessions include six gems (roll the value of each randomly on the gem table) and a shiny brass key that it found that will open the crypt doors in Area 24. It cannot speak, but has a bit of chalk to write with, and with friendly PCs will communicate an offer to gamble for the key if a gem of at least least 100 gp value is wagered.

Dice Dragon (1): DX 18, AC 2, HD 1+1, hp 6, #AT 1 bite for 1d6 or breath faerie fire 3x/day, target is +2 to be hit for 4d4 rounds

Chronologically on this blog, the previous installment described Areas 19-20 and the next posted installment will be Area 22.

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