The first OSR(ish) dungeon I ever wrote (and ran), back in 2020. Made for Maze Rats, and populated with the tables found therein. For the map, I printed off the first three floors of Dyson's Delve, and made adjustments as necessary. Posts with Floors 2 thru 4 are forthcoming. Whether my ugly edited maps are forthcoming is a matter of debate.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY -- FLOUNDERING FALLS
Her Ladyship the Baroness of Blunderbone requests the tusk of the Walrakeet, renowned for its restorative properties. The Walrakeet may be found in the region of the Floundering Falls, behind which it is said the beast makes its abode. Convey sundry tusks to Lord Lumpley at Castle Blunderbone for compensation of 1000 silver per tusk, P.O.D..
Level 1
1. Waterfall Entrance
Craggy foothills covered in grass, several low shrubs scattered about; a large, tangled patch of grey brambles takes up a good portion of a hill to the south. Clear, glacier-cold water tumbles down the west face of a cliffside. A narrow and broken path hugs the pool at the base of the waterfall. Parts of the path have fallen into the pool below.
Pool is 15ft deep. At bottom, a topaz worth 50sp and a small fissure through which water drains. Takes some swimming skills to reach the bottom.
Brambles are thorny and difficult to navigate. If hacked at, 2/6 chance a Fanged Badger emerges and attacks. Brambles will need to be hacked for 10 mins to clear a path, STR save or 1 damage from thorns. Once clear, a small entrance to 12 is visible.
Behind the waterfall, a four-foot square patch of scraped stone, with an obvious seam around it. Centred above the square, two tiny brass discs set one inch apart. Strange whispers audible from the falls.
Beyond the entryway, a 10ft deep shaft leads down. Strong winds push up from the dungeon, carrying a mouldering scent.
2. Vestibule
Ripe stench fills the room. Livestocky, sweat and manure and damp air. A small, singed coil of rope on the floor, otherwise bare.
3. Supply Storage
Old roof beams overhead are cracked and bowing, choked by thick grey vines. A massive Lurch Ox sleeps in the centre of the room, among stale heaps of straw bedding.
Vines are Mandrake, traceable into the wall. If inspected, will note their appearance in Room 9. Mandrake root is valuable (will die a horrible screaming death instead of its bearer, who is returned to 1HP.)
Beneath the bedding is hidden an assortment of blunt and rusted caving tools (picks, hammers, chisels, etc).
4. Mural Room
A plain square room. In the corners, broken pieces of table, chairs, an oiled water cask. Greasy smears on the floor. All four walls are covered in a highly detailed bas-relief.
The bas-relief. Amid many ornate curlicues and doohickeys, you see: A lion with a thousand-toothed serpent as its tail, devouring a mountain range. Four hundred caves; venturing into each, a loinclothed gladiator with fists and feet encrusted in fungus. A knight in a swan-beak mask riding a three-headed centaur into battle against an army of quantum ogres. Each of the characters' eyes are inlaid with tiny jasper stones.
On third inspection, the bas-relief will begin to animate. Each character will turn toward the party and display vampiric fangs, from which real drops of blood will descend.
5. Stinger-Mole Den
Large, deep piles of animal dung coat the floor. A pale green, softly glowing fungus is growing on portions of the dung, almost mold-like. In one corner of the room, rotten and shredded linens are gathered into a large nest or bedding.
Search the dung: save vs disease or radioactivity poisoning (intense vomiting & diarrhea begins in d6 hours, loss of 1HP per hour).
Nest details: includes long strands of human hair & shedded tufts of purple fur (Stinger-Mole). Search: a red potion (potion of infrared vision; can see in the dark for 1d6 hours, blurry fuzzy shapes that produce heat only), several broken glass jars.
6. Fire-trapped Room
A dozen mailslot-like vents pepper the walls in regular intervals, smelling faintly of lamp oil. If torches are extinguished, a small pilot light can be seen burning within each vent.
An array of levers on the north wall, each with a differently-coloured handle — from left to right, they are Blue, Green, Yellow, White, Red. In front of the lever array is a small mound of black ash, amongst which bits of bone can be discerned. A pair of small brass discs are mounted above the levers; these are activated only by the Walrakeet's gaze.
The levers must be pulled in the correct order to open the trapdoor to level 2. The trapdoor is marked with a hairline seam in the flagstones. If pulled out of order, the vents pour out fire, incinerating everything in the room. The order matches that of the orrery in room 6, counting from the sun at the centre to Mars at the outside (Yellow, White, Green, Blue, Red).
7. Flooded room
Loud rushing of the waterfall can be heard overhead. From either entryway, steps descend into a submerged pool. From a fissure in the ceiling, a thin trickle of water.
In the pool: a famished Laser Sturgeon swims about lazily; a silver relic on a long chain rests at the bottom. The relic emits a Tolkienesque draw on all creatures, imbuing all who see it with a strong desire for possession.
A raised alcove at the far end of the pool houses an orrery, composed of precious stones and covered in thick dust. The planets depicted include a Sun of gold, a Mercury of diamond, a Venus of emerald, an Earth of sapphire, and a Mars of ruby.
8. Crypt & Pit trap
Notably, the floor here is wooden, soft in places, and completely rotted through in others. A brass compass lies beneath the floorboards.
A 10x10 pit trap has opened in front of the crypt. The pit is too deep for torchlight to penetrate, though light reflects off of the slickly-greased sides. Two long-dead skeletons are impaled on murderous iron spikes at the pit's base.
The sarcophagus lid has been pulled back, and all valuables from the crypt have been taken. Depicted on the lid: images of a terrible beast with one goat's head and one swan's head, brandishing two claymores. Each head is inlaid with small red gems in the place of fangs.
9. Erasmus' Cell
Erasmus Graveworm, the snow-white Giant Moth, has been left and forgotten in this cell for five years. Thirty years ago, he became enraptured (and turned into a Giant Moth) by the Walrakeet's mystifying gaze. Still completely head-over-heels for the Walrakeet and misses them dearly.
Being a Giant Moth, Erasmus is drawn to torchlight and will rush the party as soon as the door is opened. The door is not locked — his moth non-hands are just unable to open it.
Generous, cordial, willing to cooperate with the PCs. He wants release into the lighted world and a reunion with the Walrakeet. His weakness is flattery. "Do I look OK? White has never been my colour." Owns a huge library back home in Dorfus City. Loves gossip and knowledge. "How's life in the outside world? What's your story? Is the Baroness still as raunchy as ever?"
If asked directly, will respond with info about:
Fanged Badgers: i used to sing to them at night and they did love that dearly
Stinger-Mole: radiation sickness
the Interrogator: there is a man who wanders these halls asking questions … don't answer him!
magpies: they know the dungeon better than anyone. know all the exits.
lever room: once i knew about these but it's just been so long since i had arms to pull…. you must pull them all, and in a particular order… but i can't remember what it is!
10. Badger Warren
Tunnels of tight, close crumbling granite and feldspar. Deep within, the pitter-patter of faint footsteps is audible. On the walls and ceiling, occasional smears of a slippery unguent. If an appropriate receptacle is found, one can spend 10 mins gathering the stuff (yields enough grease for one use).
A large mandrake root pierces the ceiling on the northwest tunnel, visible if searching or if vines in room 2 were examined closely.
Tight squeeze to enter these tunnels: must enter sideways (in profile). Only the forward-facing hand is useful.
Once inside, d6 Fanged Badgers come into view from the front. They are skittish but will attack if provoked. An old, decaying badgers' nest is in the central chamber, where the four branches meet. Main badger home is one floor below, in the Crystal Caverns.
11. Descent to Crystal Caverns
Unusual smell, somewhere between wool and fermented plums. Faraway, resonant sound of dripping water. Rough-hewn stairs lead down, and a faint purple glow from the stairs.
On the way down: a hungry Stinger-Mole on the prowl, suction-cupped to the wall, ready to pounce. The mole is jovial but deadly, overcome with the excitement of the kill.
12. Bramble Entrance (I)
High domed ceiling and a shaft of light pouring north from the western edge. Immense gnarled grey bramble trunk is embedded in cave floor west, pushing south and up toward the light and breaking out into the overworld. Back of the trunk is worn smooth; the underside and spreading branches thickly covered in thorns.
Cave entrance in southwest passage, 15ft in the air. Bramble trunk is navigable to the opening but incredibly smooth, smelly, and slippery with Badger musk-oil, worn deeply into the woodgrain.
Southeast cranny is thick with highly-sticky and fire-resistant spiderwebs. Deep within, a long-desiccated badger corpse. Deeper still, a satiated Ichor Spider (slow, cautious) with another half-eaten badger corpse nearby. Ichor spider has three pulsating glands on her neck: Paralysis, Base metals to gold, Organs to ooze.
13. Insect Graveyard
Desiccated exoskeletons of giant insects. Weird and elaborate graffiti on the walls, etched by claws, scrawled in blood and ichor.
Graffiti depicts long processions of stick-figure people, animals, and insects, all presenting offerings of meat, earthenware, jewels, and precious oils to the Walrakeet. The Walrakeet appears many times, in many forms and sizes, from the size of a mosquito to that of a mountain, but is always identifiable as the Walrakeet. Perhaps most strangely: the graffiti was created by many hands with many materials, each providing only a handful of lines which other lines helped bring to shape. It is nearly complete, though there are still some lines missing.
Hidden among the exoskeletons: a whetstone; a bronze bracelet with lapis lazuli inlay; an alchemist's journal containing four recipes. Spell name and ingredients listed, but not results: Fungus Torch (lizard skin, pyre embers), Reflecting Portal (cultist entrails, king's tooth), Enlightening Sentinel (lightning bolt, blind eye), Bone Chariot (tomb flower, boiled cat).
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