Z1 - The Maze of Darkness

[thedungeondelver]

Background:

Legends tell of a labyrinthine series of caverns in the heart of the mountains, deep in the wild lands to the north. Over the centuries, innumerable factions have tried to explore, expand, control and dominate this sprawling underground redoubt. Tales abound of bands of marauders that have used the place to escape justice, mad wizards who have established entire mansions with their retinue, unscrupulous ogre-magi that have worried slave pits into the honeycomb of rock halls, warring tribes of dwarves and goblins, aloof and mercurial dragons raising entire clutches of their brood to let loose upon the world - and these are just the denizens!

The treasures rumored to lie in the ruins and galleries is equally fantastic. Rooms where magic-users fought duels in ankle-deep rifts of gold coins, now blasted to frozen pools of glittering alloy, armories that are shelves upon shelves of magic items alone, the commerce of entire tribes of fiendish were-rats cached away in nooks and crannies throughout, piles of treasure to make the most jaded bey rub his hands calloused with envy! Yes, these are merest of the stories of the so-called Maze of Darkness! Who knows what truly lies within the inscrutable caverns, caves, tunnels, halls, galleries, chambers, pits and passages?

Fragmentary records exist, scrawled on parchment, picked in hide, scratched hastily onto the back of metal shields, all created by those greedy enough, or mad enough, to brave the bottomless great dungeon. The true vastness of the place has never been accurately documented - the immense enigma lies beyond easy reach of any overlord, king or dictator, and as long as whatever perilous beasts or mad minds remain inside the place rather than ravaging the civil world, the population at large is happy to let it remain!

Its call eternally beckons the treasure-mad, the justice-seekers looking to stamp out evil wherever it may lay, the greedy cutpurse seeking storied artifact to propel them to the head of their order. Regardless of the motivation, the Maze of Darkness waits for you, adventurer!

Notes for the DM:

The Maze of Darkness is a collaborative megadungeon project started on the Delvers Dungeon forums on August 08, 2009. Its goal is to create a large (hopefully huge) "community" dungeon, whereby contributors can add rooms, levels, sections, etc. There is no set level, although it should be pointed out that when (or if) the project is considered "complete", it may well be beyond the scope of low-level parties (see the README post for more information). All but the best equipped will have a poor chance at succeeding, at least it is the hope of the initial author.

The Dungeon can be placed in the World of Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Mystara, or any number of home brew campaign settings.

The specific placement of the "entrance" is left up to the collaborators, and indeed the dungeon may have multiple entrances and exits (and not all of them need lead to the "outside" - or even back to the characters' home plane!). Dungeon Masters wishing to take all or part of the dungeon for use in their own campaign setting should take this in to consideration, and modify where necessary.

Travel to and from the locale of the dungeon, as well as lodging nearby and et cetera are entirely the purview of the Dungeon Master. There is no one overriding "goal" of the Maze of Darkness - areas that are reported as "cleared" may well be repopulated by the time a different party reaches - a warren of kobolds cleaned out by intrepid adventurers may be taken over by a wandering tribe of goblins under control of hobgoblins, who are acting at the behest of a clan of ogre war-lords, for example.

Notes on Wandering Monsters:

While each section may be given a smaller wandering monster table by the author of that section (see README) for general consideration, use the appropriate table in the Dungeon Masters Guide. As to what level (in depth underground) to use, consult the notes by the author.

Beyond that, have fun, and good luck!

[thedungeondelver]

1. Entry Vestibule

This cavernous chamber is the work of unknown hands, and has been torn asunder, modified, blasted and rebuilt more times than can easily be discovered. Some light filters in from the entryway, casting the elongate room in eerie shadows. Tumbled pillars, heaps of rubble, scummy pools of water and small boulders create a veritable obstacle course on the cracked floor. Careful examination of the floor itself reveals a checkerboard style design in the tile. Whatever opulence this place once had is long gone.

Exits from the room line each wall. Some portals are closed doors, others are ominous, yawning caverns. The dim light from above and behind does not illuminate far enough to dispel the shadows of those branching corridors.

The vaulted ceiling of this place extends far up enough that its upper reaches cannot be easily discerned, perhaps some 30' or more.

Dominating the center of the floor in the room is a large pool of water, dirty and unwholesome looking.

Faint croaks and titters can be heard from the open portals - or is it merely air currents? The entire room has an offensive odor.

...

The entry vestibule is 40' wide, 90' long, running north-south, with the entrance from outside being on the north end. A short flight of stairs leads into the chamber from the surface.

Along each wall are four doors, each approximately 10' apart. Some (as noted) should have doors and are shut; others hang open, and still others have no door at all (either smashed to bits or never there). Along the southern end wall are two additional doors; one is open and the other shut. Within the open portal, far back enough so that they are completely hidden by the shadows lies a group six troglodytes (HP: 9, 9, 7, 5, 5, 4), a hunting party watching for animals that might come to the pools in the room to drink. Suspended above the floor is a large (40x40) net covered in something horrible and sticky (various reeking but otherwise harmless glues made from subterranean fungi). When the body of the party approaches the net, the troglodytes (who are on careful watch) will drop the net which will trap up to five party members in its sticky ropes. They will then hurl spears (one per troglodyte) at any not caught in the net, and then move to melee with hand axes.

If the party avoids the net and does not enter the hallway occupied by the troglodytes, they may follow the adventurers (assuming the group doesn't look particularly well armed or equipped) and attempt to ambush them at a later time. These creatures have no individual treasure.

The scummy pool of water in the middle of the room, while somewhat deep (10") is foul but harmless.

[SemajTheSilent]

(A real quick one here... this is the northern most door on the east wall of ROOM 1).

2. GUARD ROOM: This door is locked and trapped by some prior inhabitant; failure to discover the trap will result in being pricked with a poison needle (save vs. poison or die through violent rigors in 1d6 turns). Once opened, the inhabitants will issue forth as best they can and attack the party. The room is occupied by 4 zombies (HP 10, 8, 8, 6) and 10 skeletons (HP 5 each). All skeletons are armed with longswords, while the zombies will natively eschew any weaponry from their prior role as guards for this area.

The room is musty and smells of human decomposition with stagnant water in small puddles on the floor. Weapon racks along the walls of this room still hold weaponry in various states of decomposition and rust. A careful search will reveal 2 longswords (apart from those with the skeletons) still in good enough condition to be used. There are no other entrances to this room.

[ChoralReave]

Room 3 ( behind the closed southern door in room 1)

Behind the door, there is a 10 foot wide passage, proceeding southward for about 20 feet, then opening into a gallery. The gallery is about 20 feet wide by 50 feet deep, running north-south.

Along both the east and south walls, there are 4 niches that hold statues. The niches are spaced evenly, taking up about 10 feet of linear space, and forming a semi-circle that holds each statue. The ceiling is vaulted so that there is a bit of a ledge over each row of statues.

On the east wall, the statues depict the ages of man. The northern-most statue is a young boy, followed by a mature man in armor, holding a sword. The next statue is that of an old man leaning on a staff. The last statue is a skeleton, arms folded over its chest, although it stands upright rather than laying in repose.

On the west wall, the statues are of various animals. Running north to south, they depict: a lamb, a deer, a bear, and finally an eagle. Each statue attempts to show each animal in a vertical pose, with the bear and deer standing upright on their haunches. The eagle is depicted larger than life, the bear smaller, so that the statues are approximately the same size. (Most of the statues are about 10 feet high, including a small unadorned base.) Not much could be done with the lamb and the child, however, and it is noticeably smaller than the rest.

On the ledges above, 3 Huge Spiders (AC:8, HD:2+2, MV:18", hp: 10, 11, 7, 13) are lurking. They will attack any edible looking creatures that attempt passage. Once the spiders engage the party, 2 Large Pedipalps (AC:7, HD:1+1, MV:12", hp: 5, 7) will scurry out from their hiding places behind the statues and attack.

Should the party dispose of the creatures and/or search around, they can find 13 gold pieces scattered around the statues. A thorough searcher will notice the eagle has a ruby in its beak (which can be removed without damage to the statue) worth 500 gp.

A 10 foot corridor exits to the south...
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Here is one interpretation of the map thus far, with my room being # 3:



The Pedipalps are detailed in Module Q1.

I would find it interesting if someone did something more with the statues, perhaps giving them more significance later. Basically, this is just a bug room except for the gallery.

[thedungeondelver]

4. Rubble-Choked Corridor
The second door on the eastern wall (south of Area #1) is a 40' corridor that runs directly east. At 40', the corridor is completely collapsed. Beams, stumps of columns, packed dirt and boulders bar any further progress directly east. A 2' hole is in the southern wall, just before the blockage. Wet sand lies strewn around the hole, and although no tools are nearby it has the appearance of being freshly dug.

...

The hole is in fact a scouting tunnel dug by giant ants. The tunnel beyond the hole opens to 3' diameter, and can accommodate a character of gnomish or perhaps halfling (unarmored) in size. The hole can be expanded by digging to allow dwarven characters through, but digging the tunnel out beyond 4' diameter will seriously weaken it, and there is a 50% probability of a cave in every 20' of progress beyond the 4' diameter digging. At any rate, the tunnel runs roughly southwest, curving beneath the entry hall and sloping sharply downward, continuing for some 120' before opening into a gallery of maze-like tunnels, containing the nest of giant ants. There are fifteen worker ants (HP 8 (x5), 7 (x2), 6 (x2), 5 (x2), 4(x3), 3(x2), plus eight warriors (HP 14, 12 (x2), 10 (x4), 9 (x1)) and at the center of the nest a bloated queen (which does not fight, but will summon all warrior ants if attacked). Fungal growths cast a dim, pale light in the center of the nest, refracted by 12 pieces of uncut jade (base value 50 G.P. ea.) pressed into the damp sand. A scattering of bones lies in one of the tunnels, 1' beneath it buried in the sand is a rotten leather pouch containing a potion of treasure-finding.

[ChoralReave]

5. Storage Room

(Northwestern door, opposite room 2 - size and shape mirrors room 2.)

What's left in this room suggests it was perhaps used as temporary storage. A long table dominates the center of the room, but there are no chairs or benches. Shelves line three of the walls, having two levels of shelves at different heights. (The wall with the one door has no shelves, and is bare.)

The shelves are almost all rotted away, with basically traces of wood indicating what they were. On the floor are the objects that once rested on these shelves - candles, small implements, and so on. None of these are of any value.

The table is in better shape. However, there is a coating of some kind of brownish substance over the whole of the top surface. Beneath this brown coating, several objects can be made out: a pair of boots, a knife, candlesticks (maybe), and some other common objects. One of these is a Phylactery of Faithfulness. There are 2 candlesticks which, if cleaned up, are worth 35 g.p. each.

The brown coating is Brown Mold (AC:9, HD: -, SA: Freezing, see MM for details). Keep in mind that Brown Mold grows from heat, so if the party tries to burn it off, they will only be increasing their troubles.