The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave #22: Arch Smuggler's Office

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 23  ==S	22. ARCH SMUGGLER'S OFFICE	=== Area 21

22. ARCH SMUGGLER'S OFFICE. This room, once the office of the arch smuggler (chief of the smugglers), is nicely appointed with plastered walls, paintings, rugs and wooden furniture, including a desk, chairs, chests, shelves, and cupboards, all of which are covered in dust. The only apparent exit is the short passage to the east that leads to the door to Area 21.

Desk. This is in the center of the room, facing the door to the east. A fine padded chair sits behind it, and three plain chairs face it. On the surface is a fancy inkwell (5 gp value), which is empty. The drawers are pulled open, as if rifled through, and some papers are scattered on the floor. A secret compartment in the desk contains a purse with 2d20 gold pieces and a journal, and a second secret compartment concealed within the first contains three potions in waxed-sealed vials: healing (red liquid), poison (orange), and speed (silver), and a shark-shaped key that opens the door to the crypt of the arch smugglers (Area 25). The journal contains evidence that at the time a member of the governing council of Portown was being bribed by the smugglers; this member is now deceased but his son is on the current council.

Cozy Corner. In the northeast corner are four comfortable upholstered chairs facing each other, and between is a small table, on which are two empty bottles of spirits. Nearby, along the east wall, is a small cabinet with glass doors holding a few more bottles of fine spirits, all partially filled, and several glass tumblers.

Bookshelves. Further west along the north wall are two dusty bookshelves holding books on a variety of topics (sailing, the ocean, travelogue, far-off lands, dice games, etc). If examined, none were published more recently than fifty years ago. There is a total of 30+d10 books, and each has a 5% chance of being a rare book worth 1d6 gp.

Cupboards. Along the west wall are three heavy cupboards, each with doors that are closed but not locked. The northernmost one contains shelves with a china dishes, silverware, goblets and table cloths, all now antique and worth a total of 30 gp. The middle one contains spare clothing, hats and boots for sea or town; and the southernmost one contains a variety of small practical items of low value such as candles, lanterns, handtools, etc.

Secret Door. Each cupboard is anchored to the wall, and will not move if pushed. However, the northernmost one is actually set on concealed tracks and, if two hidden catches inside are released, can be slid forward, revealing a 3' high opening leading to Area 23. Handles on the back facing the opening allow it to be pulled back into place once inside.

Chest. On the south wall, towards the west, is a large chest, unlocked and empty. This once held the gold coins now in Area 20.

Cabinet of Curiosities. On the south wall, on the east side of the room, is a cabinet in the form of a set of shelves, each with its own tip-up glass-fronted door. It is not completely full, but some curiosities remain, each of which will fetch 10d10 gp if sold to a collector:

---a perfectly polished orb, four inches in diameter, of unknown purple and green stone, which is strangely heavy for its size (30 lbs).

---a fake "mermaid" constructed from a monkey's torso grafted onto the tail of a fish.

---a "unicorn horn"; in actuality, a narwhal horn.

---a set of five bone dice with numbered faces shaped into the five Platonic solids.

---a clear, hand-sized rectangular stone; a sunstone, non-magically allowing the sun to be detected when the sky is overcast.

---an elaborately branched piece of brilliant orange coral. If inspected, several branches are broken. This coral, if ground, can be used to make a potion of poison.

---a finely detailed, palm-sized model of a sailboat, signed on the bottom with the artist's name (Suderlyn).

The sailboat is in actuality much more valuable than it appears, as it is a magical miniature sailboat. It can be commanded (using the artist's name) to either return to full size (20' feet long) or shrink. It has a cabin with bunks for four, but could seat up to 10 without discomfort. The speaker of the command word must also touch it to cause the change, which is slow (1 turn). It will change 1d20+20 times before remaining full size.

Chronologically on this blog, the previous installment was Area 21 and the next was Area 23.