Level 2A
Orphanage
Several rusted, broken chains and manacles line the walls. At least a dozen bodies' worth of bones scattered about the floor and are piled in the corners.
In the centre of the room: 2d6 emaciated Undead Orphans, skin pulled taut. One clutches spyglass (inlaid with black pearl inlay, worth 200sp), another a dagger-length jasper stake (worth 100sp), another a bag of marbles, a fourth has a pale yellow fungus growing on its fists and feet.
Corpses will grip objects when pulled, refusing to let go. If replaced with another (useless) object, will return to undead slumber. If one wakes, all wake.
Pool room
Door smashed in. On the other side, thick grey roots pierce the ceiling and travel along the walls, descending into a steaming pool which occupies the entire floor of the room, sunk one foot below the threshold. The air in the room is pungent, like paint thinner. It makes your eyes water slightly. Acid in the pool is deadly corrosive.
Above the centre of the pool, a steel cable hangs from a hole in the ceiling. At the far end, a platform supports an ornate rosewood chest.
Inside the chest: Scroll of Charming Light -- Incredible hues fill the room, causing all who see but the caster to be completely baffled and wowed for 1d4 rounds. Pristine (cursed) leather sandals. Scroll with several songs in an ancient tongue.
Swan Statue
Incredibly humid room, smelling of marshes and lagoons, reeds and riverine mud. Ceiling, walls and floor covered in lichens and mosses, spreading out into the three hallways surrounding. Seems somehow more silent here, almost sacred.
Centred against the north wall, an enormous iron statue of a swan, wings outspread. Lower jaw is affixed to the head by way of a small hinge and is hanging open. Rest of statue seems to be of a piece.
Inside the mouth, the frozen and bearded face of a human man, skin pink and flush but paused in an excruciating, wild-eyed grimace. Perfectly preserved.
If room is desecrated in any way, including removing the mosses or lichens, PC will have a heavy weight on their soul immediately, and then become irrationally afraid of water in 1d6 x 10 minutes. Will die from thirst in three days unless sedated & force-fed water by allies.
Cudgel Room (Sealed Door)
Closed door engraved with half of magic seal, other half on wall. Opening door breaks the seal and releases a Cone of Negation, emitting black light from the centre of the seal which washes over everyone within range (10ft). Character flavour (appearance, physical detail, personality, mannerism) becomes the reverse of what it was previously. All stats (ATK, STR, DEX, WIL) become negative. Lasts for 1d6 x 10 minutes (roll separately for each character). If already afflicted with Negation, PC is immediately returned to original state.
Behind the door, the room is illuminated in beautiful blue. In the centre of the room, a pedestal cut from raw amber, upon which a rectangular glass case houses a glowing-blue Cudgel (one-handed). Faint chorus of angels can be heard in the distance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mry0wZldKEk
If a PC smashes the glass, the angel-chorus stops. PC immediately feels apprehensive about electrical storms (the next time they are in one, they will be struck by lightning).
The Cudgel of Mercy. Always hits, always does 1 damage. Will not reduce a creature to 0 HP (hits at 1 HP do 0 damage).
Vampire's Crypt
Bookshelves full of mouldy, rotting tomes. A horribly moth-eaten reading chair in the corner. A marble fountain, with a slow trickle of brackish water. Five of the eight pillars holding up the ceiling have cracked and fallen — if another pillar is compromised, the ceiling will collapse.
Drinking from the fountain has the following effects (d6):
age 30 years — all stats @ -1
hair and teeth fall out — STR 0
skin boils — lose 1d6 HP
nothing happens — could be worse
rejuvenated — heal completely
emboldened — gain a level
Closed coffin houses Seymour, the Vampiric Layabout. If disturbed, will emerge — Seymour appreciates good conversation and witty repartee, having been deprived of such for centuries. If the PCs do not provide this, he'll settle for blood.
There are two ways to reveal the hidden stairwell to the 3rd floor: the two brass discs embedded in the wall may be activated by the Walrakeet's gaze; or, a wall-mounted bone statuette of a three-antlered elk may be pulled.
Free-Fall Room (Sealed Door)
Closed door engraved with half of magic seal, other half on wall. Breaking the seal releases another Cone of Negation (see above). If already afflicted with Negation, PC is immediately returned to original state.
Just inside the door, and on a portion of the south wall, chalk scribbles of strange runes and arcane equations. A bizarre magical effect takes up the entirety of the room beyond the threshold: there is no floor or ceiling, and they appear to loop one into the other. A number of heavy, square flagstones are falling into the floor, disappearing, and then reappearing through the ceiling. It seems they have been doing so for quite some time, and have now reached terminal velocity.
(Concept for this trap by Scrap Princess – https://monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.com/2018/08/snares-ambuscade-and-inveiglements.html)
Prophet's Cell
(Hallway on the way to this door is covered in arcane scribbles, similar to the Free-Fall room.)
It smells like shit. A small cell with an overturned wooden crate in the corner, upon which is perched a rail-thin man with bloodshot eyes, hair down to the small of his back and a scraggly beard almost as long, clothed in stained linen pants and sweating freely. In the corner opposite from the man, a mound of human faeces. Every inch of the room, floor to ceiling, is covered in chalk scribbles and equations.
Spoonman (the mad prophet) has consumed only the fungus and the potions from the neighbouring room. Entered this area from the Free-Fall room ages ago but doesn't recall how. Or what life was like before. "Time is funny here." Has spent years watching the flagstones loop. Has determined a complicated explanation for it. Is not aware of a world beyond these three rooms. Regarding the potion room: drank most of what was there long ago. "Didn't like" the ones he left behind. They "made him feel funny."
Spoonman is completely paranoid; will need much coaxing and cooing from PCs to get him to cooperate.
Potion Cache
(Hallway on the way to this door is covered in arcane scribbles, similar to the Free-Fall room.)
Mostly-empty shelves along each wall, small pink mushrooms growing from cracks in the floor, empty bottles everywhere. Chalk scribbles cover the walls.
Cache of potions with abnormally high alcohol content. Will work as normal, but also get you very drunk:
Becoming-bear. 12 HP, +2 attack bonus, all other stats remain.
Becoming-kingfisher. 1HP, +0 STR, +3 DEX, +2 WIL. Can fly.
Becoming-platypus. 6HP, +0 all stats, slow on land but fast in water.
Shared effects.
Temporary form: When reduced to 0HP as animal, will revert to human with previous HP.
Duration: 1d6 x 10 min.
Drunk: -1 to all checks for the next 1d6 hours.
Level 2B. The Crystal Caverns.
Crystal Threshold
Descending stairs connect to a narrow ledge along the east and north sides of the cave. Deep pit drops to an unseen bottom. Warm breeze comes from the west passage, and the walls are streaked with fresh slime trails.
1d6 Vision Leeches fall from the ceiling, DEX save to dodge. If landed upon, PC will hallucinate a gentle countryside environment within 1d6 minutes. Hallucination continues for 1d6 x 10 minutes. Will not be able to navigate the cave unassisted.
Past the pit crawl, northwest and southwest exits are both tight letterbox squeezes: 1' by 2' at the largest. Must be approached one at a time, pulling along by your forearms. Exhausting work (STR checks, decrement STR if failed).
Speleothem Hop.
Coming out of the letterbox squeeze: cavern opens to an incredible glimmering wide expanse. Crystals of indigo, azure, rose quartz, malachite and topaz reflect light at every angle. This is the largest underground space you've seen by far, by an order of magnitude. A subtle high-pitched hum, like tinnitus fills the air.
To the cavern floor, a 40-50 ft drop, although several stalagmites rise high from the bottom, some close enough to leap onto. Three stalagmites to traverse to get to the far side, where a narrow path leads to 12.
Small biting insects will harry PCs once they land on the speleothems. No damage, just annoying.
1d6 Fanged Badgers skittering on the cave floor.
The Million-Toothed Monster
The entire texture of the room changes: suddenly, it's the familiar pink crystal ceiling but a gloopy glistening surface makes up the walls and floor, done in brownish-green, a swampy organic hue.
Then you realise the gloopy cave floor is breathing ever so slowly, and there are a dozen closed eyes toward the north wall, and a wide, million-toothed smile breathing hotly beneath.
The Million-Toothed Monster. "Hello friends, come stay a while. Or go; it's nothing to me." Special attack – Revealing stasis: Touch attack, WIL save. Subject is flooded with memories of their past, some terrible but many good, though the sheer volume of reminiscence overwhelms with a deep sense of the futility of further action.
Smoggy Descent.
Shallower descent into the lower regions of the pit, partially shrouded in thick hazel-coloured smog. Thin ridged walkway curls around south and east sides.
1d6 Fanged Badgers skittering on the cave floor.
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