Category Archives: Encounters

The Mine at Mt. Morris

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The hills making up the Archian border with Caledos are pocked with dozens of abandoned mines. These leave a lasting reminder of the rush for silver in the years prior to the rise of the Graun Empire.

Without drawing much attention from local officials, a nebulous consortium of investors has been purchasing old dig sights along the coastal region. The mine at Mt. Morris was one such purchase. About 12 months ago, a group of ten men re-opened the dig, in what locals were sure was folly.

After spending a couple weeks repairing the base camp, the team resumed the dig. None but the foreman had any previous mining experience. Most of the “miners” consisted of farm hands or former members of the stevedores’ guild. None were strangers to hard work, but they were a motley group to be certain. However, the strangers who came and offered them the job assured that they would be paid handsomely.

The past year had been difficult. The team had failed to find any substantial amount of ore and they often assumed that their work would soon come to an end. Despite this, the paymaster and his retinue of guards would appear every month and the dig continued.

Recent Events

Seven days ago, a strange thing happened, breaking the monotony for the miners. While digging in the eastern tunnel that morning, the team struck what appeared to be a rock wall. Further investigation confirmed that they had indeed stumbled upon a bit of masonry crafted by human (or demi-human) hands.

Foreman Fugue seemed particularly interested in this development and ordered that there always be three men digging until such a time as the wall was breached. Unfortunately, Fugue himself explained that he was feeling ill and retired to his office in the storehouse.

Later that evening, just before dusk, the wall gave way and opened into a chamber beyond. The crew initially thought to go fetch the foreman. However, they knew he was not feeling well. There was no telling what might lie beyond the wall, and they reasoned that they might find something of value. Gathering up torches, the trio decided to enter the chamber alone. None of the miners were heard from ever again.

Foreman Fugue

Bartholomew Fugue is a wiry little weasel of a fellow. Just shy of 50 years old he appears to be more of a bookworm than a miner. That said, in his younger days he did indeed work during the great silver rush.  

Two years ago, Fugue was approached by a group who held certain interests in the region. They were seeking the diary of Elthane Vanator, a necromancer and occultist of some renown. Apparently something about this diary made it incredibly valuable and they wanted it found.

The belief was that the book was hidden away in Vanator’s old lair, which lay buried under the Archian hills, somewhere nearby.

Thus is was that Fugue was assigned a crew of nine and set about digging in the old silver mine. He had been sworn to secrecy and warned that his life would be forfeit if his true purpose were ever discovered.

Fugue was no fool. Prior to being stationed at the mine, he did his research. He took with him a number of books on the occult, as well as what bits of information he could gather regarding Elthane Vanator. From these readings he gathered that the necromancer, having been hanged some 100 years earlier, was known to employ the living dead as guardians over his dwellings.

What Happened?

Foreman Fugue had almost forgotten his original job of finding the diary. His employers had been paying him well and he had been skimming off the meager bits of silver that his miners had been finding.

Ghouls made for the perfect undead guardian. Art by Bartek Blaszczec.

When word came out of the mine that the diggers had found a wall, his blood ran cold. Knowing that Vanator’s lair may hold undead guardians, the foreman feigned illness and excused himself from the proceedings. He briefly considered warning the others but thought better of it. He had been warned not to disclose the true purpose of the mine, and this was not the time to start taking chances. Stopping briefly at the stables, he left extra water for his horse and placed a padlock on the stall. Then he proceeded to his office and locked himself away.  

Sure enough, later that evening the sound of blood curdling screams could be heard throughout the camp. From he vantage point in the office, he spied a pack of cadaverous looking creatures burst forth from the mine entrance. With bestial swiftness the animated corpses fanned out and swarmed the camp. A terrible stench of carrion filled the air, as Fugue steadied the barricade in front of his door.

More screams were heard in the hours to follow. The foreman sat watching in terror, too scared to make so much as a sound. At one point there had been pawing and scratching at his door, but his defenses held. Not long after that he viewed the shapes of the undead retreating back into the cave.

Too craven to risk leaving his sanctuary, he has been holed up in the storehouse for the past week. The days have been quiet, though at night he has heard sniffing and panting outside his walls. The paymaster is due today, along with his armed guards. Once they arrive he plans to let the guards deal with the guardians and then hopes to take some credit for finding the diary that surely must be within the discovered vault.

The Mine at Mt. Morris

How you get your party to the camp is entirely up to you. One easy method would be to have a relative or friend from a nearby town hire them to deliver something to one of the miners. I happened to know that my group was filled with inquisitive types, so I allowed them to stumble onto the camp randomly, as they were traveling across the countryside.

1 Bunkhouse

This L-shaped building is the bunkhouse that served as the living quarters for the miners. Characters will recognize the stench of rotting flesh as they get near. The back doors are slightly ajar, and the front doors are unlocked.

The remains of two of the miners may be found here. It is a grisly sight and will be clear that something has been eating the corpses and that they have been dead for the better part of a week.

There is nothing of great value in the room, though the party might turn up a decent bag of copper and silver coins if the absolutely turn the place upside down and go through all of the miners’ belongings.

The most curious thing in the whole room is to be found in a footlocker under the northernmost bed (Foreman Fugue’s). Tucked away under some handkerchiefs and small clothes will be found a book and some hastily scribbled notes. The book is titled A Treatise on Reanimated Beings and seems to be a bit of a bestiary imparting knowledge on minor undead creatures. Reading through the notes will indicate that someone was expecting to encounter undead guardians.

2 Mess Hall

This is where the miners prepared their meals and relaxed when they were not working. As with the other structures, this was built back when the mine was first created and it’s clear that it has been serving considerably fewer people.

As with the bunkhouse there are two sets of remains here as well. Both seem to have met the same fate as their fellows.

There is not much of value to be found here, though the party could stock up on the equivalent of iron rations, wine, and ale as they wish.

3 Stables

The stables area makes for another unsettling scene. The remains of one miner can be found in the stable yard. Two horses appear to have met a similar fate in their stalls.

Oddly, one living horse remains. Scratches and claw marks mar the door to the stall. A locked padlock seems to have saved the poor creature, but it is quite dehydrated and appears to be starving. Close inspection will show that someone left extra water in the stall for the beast, but the containers are bone dry.

To the west of this building is a great deal of debris, earth, and rocks that have been removed from the mine.

4 Storehouse

The front and rear doors to this building are closed and locked. There are windows on each facing of the building, though all appear to be barricaded with an assortment of boxes and crates.

On a roll of a 1 or 2 on a d6, characters will hear movement from within the building as they approach.

Entering via any of the doors may be obtained through a regular open doors check. Entering via any of the windows will simply be a matter of breaking the glass and pushing the haphazard barricade aside.

Characters will be able to tell that this building is used to store all of the equipment for the mine. All manner of digging equipment and supplies may be found here.

Foreman Bartholomew Fugue. Artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer, used with permission. All rights reserved.

The smaller room in the northeastern corner of the building is where Foreman Fugue has locked himself away, cowering in fear. He will not call out to the party if he hears them enter the building. Upon entering the office area, characters will find Fugue in the fetal position and he will immediately “surrender” to the party and beg them not to hurt him.

While he is terrified, this is partly an act. The foreman does not want to reveal what is going on and has no explanation for why he has stayed locked up in the office for days. If questioned, he will lie and claim that some creatures came out of the woods two days ago and he barely managed to escape with his life. If asked about the horse in the stables or the book and notes in the footlocker, he will lie poorly and show signs of great discomfort.

If threatened with physical harm, Fugue will break down crying and attempt to save himself. Bit by bit he will start to reveal what actually happened. However, he will only reveal what he judges to be enough to save his wretched hide. If the party does press him to the point of revealing anything about his employer, he will strive to make it seem that he was an unwilling participant, at the risk of death. He will not mention that the paymaster is due to arrive today unless his life is absolutely on the line.

5 Mine Entrance

The corpse of one of the unfortunate miners lays here.

6 Cave Intersection

Here the tunnel branches off in 4 directions. The northern path only goes a short distance and yet another dead miner can be found here.

7 Western Tunnel

3 nights ago, a green slime made its way into the mine complex and has taken up residence along the roof of this tunnel. If party members are not paying attention and come to the end of this tunnel it will drop on them.

8 Altar Room

Diary of Elthane Vanator. Used with permission Tales of Collaborative Storytelling.

This is the room where the mine intersected with the previous underground complex. As the party moves in this direction the will be assailed by the smell of carrion.  Four pillars support the ceiling. A pool of 2’ deep murky water dominates the center of the room. On the northern wall is a stone altar bearing various ritualistic items as well as a book written in spidery script (close inspection will show this to be the diary of Elthane Vanator). A similar altar on the southern wall is adorned by a bronze statue of a great horned beast.

If the players enter this room, give them a description and then within 1 round, they will hear a blood curdling shriek, followed by the flapping of leathery feet as they are attacked by 3 ghouls and a ghast from the hallway to the east.

Following their initial foray killing the miners, this pack of undead returned to the tunnels out of familiarity. While they have been venturing out at night, something gets dragging them back to the tunnels by the light of day. Hearing the party, they come forward to feed.

9 Ceremonial Room

This room is empty, save for a 5-pointed star painted on the floor and an extinguished candle placed in each corner.

10 Crypt

There are 8 sarcophagi in this room. Four of these are open and empty. The remaining four are closed and hold inanimate skeletons.

There is a small stone altar along the western wall. Besides it rests an open chest filled with gold and any treasures that would be appropriate for your game.

11 Cave-In

The northern wall of the passage has collapsed here. It appears that the passageway originally continued, however, clearing the cave-in would take multiple days.

Remaining Questions

If the party have explored the mine and located the diary, there are still a number of questions that will remain.

  • What is the purpose of the shadowy consortium that has been trying to find the diary?
  • What dark knowledge does the diary contain to make it worth going to all of this effort?
  • What will happen once the paymaster arrives? He always comes with guards, and they will surely want the diary if the party is still around. They also won’t want any witnesses!
  • Finally, what lies beyond the collapse at area #11? Is there a whole complex to explore with amazing treasures to be found?

Final Notes

That is all for now. I hope you have enjoyed yourself and thank you for reading this far. If you have any thoughts as to something to add or where we might take things from here, please leave a comment below. If you’d like to browse through all of my other maps with plot hooks, you can find them all collected here. Have a great week.

The Emerald Eye of Aramjapur

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My basic D&D group has been continuing their adventures in my re-imagining of The Isle of Dread. Having spent their initial couple of sessions striking out from the village of Taranoa, the party opted to leave the relative safety of the peninsula and explore the island.

Following a successful hunt with the tribe’s Hawk Clan, party members heard legends of a great treasure hidden in one of the volcanic mountains to the west. The story claimed that an ancient race had lived on the mountain and worshipped a one-eyed god in a cavern temple. Aramjapur, as the deity was called, was said to be all-knowing. His followers prayed to a giant statue of the cyclops featuring an eye cut from an emerald that was the size of a human head.

Traveling cautiously, it took the party 4 days to make their way to the twin volcanos to the west. While they managed to avoid combat, the trip was not without incident.

Just before dusk on the first day, the party spied an allosaurus in the swampland to the north. This caused them to veer to the west and hug the coast.

In the afternoon of the 2nd day, the party stumbled across their first “pylon”. In my previous post I mentioned that I planned to borrow liberally from the old Land of the Lost television series for this adventure. Both this metallic obelisk-shaped booth and the strange tracks (Sleestak) that were found in the area were directly inspired by the show.

On the 3rd day, the party entered the broken lands surrounding the volcanos. A small river meandered between the twin mountains and the party took advantage to replenish their water supply. It took the better part of a day but the party found signs along the northern slope that matched descriptions provided to the by members of the Taranoa Hawk Clan.

Crossing the shallow waterway, the party confirmed that they were on the right track when they identified the crude handholds carved into the rock, leading up the side of the mountain. While hair-raising at times, this allowed even the party’s magic-user to ascend with relative ease.

Natural shelves in the rock were present along the way up, allowing for convenient resting areas during the climb. On the first of these the party discovered the desiccated corpse of what appeared to be a previous adventurer. This was of no great surprise, as the Taranoa had mentioned meeting other outsiders before. However, this did worry the party that perhaps the Eye of Aramjapur had already been claimed by others.

Outfitted in old chainmail, the corpse consisted of not much more than a skeleton. Nothing of value was found on the poor soul, though the party did uncover a sealed scroll case and a discarded short sword. Within the scroll case was a piece of parchment bearing instructions to “beware the children of Aramjapur.”

After encountering 3 resting shelves and covering about a 1000’ climb, the party arrived at a much larger shelf with some vegetation and a fairly obvious cave entrance (map location #1).

Map Locations

#1 Shelf

Occurring roughly three quarters of the way up the side of the mountain, this is a fairly large outcropping. A few trees seem to thrive up here and a pair of billitri bushes grow alongside a cave opening. Large cobwebs adorn the trees.

#2 Cave Entrance

Characters entering the caves here will notice that the air is quite warm from volcanic activity. One passage leads to the northwest, while another leads more due north. To the east, another passage leads back outdoors to a smaller mountain shelf, also covered with large cobwebs.

Giant Spider © Jeremy Mohler 2023. Standard Stock Art: Issue by Outland Entertainment.

#3 Spider Lair

A good deal of debris is piled up in this room. It also serves as the lair for 3 giant spiders who have taken up residence along the side of the mountain. The spiders will attack as soon as the party enters the cave. Digging through the debris will yield a silver dagger and an old coin purse containing 50 gp.

#4 Temple

The large cavern is the old temple to Aramjapur. The room is dimly lit from the lava pool, as well as a bit of sunlight coming in from both of the entrances to the east. Along the northern wall a 30’ tall bust of Aramjapur is ringed by the lava pool. True to the legend, the statue of the cyclops is adorned with a giant emerald eye. In the center of the room, a crude altar sits upon a raised pedestal. The room is otherwise empty, aside from rocks of various sizes and a number of patches of fungus growing about the room.

The lava pool radiates 5’ – 10’ out from the statue, depending on the location. Unless the party has the ability to fly, it appears that they will need to devise some way to safely cross the lava, if they wish to gain the emerald as a prize.

The party could gather sufficient debris from location #3 to build a makeshift ramp across the lava. However, this option would only be sturdy enough to support a character weighting 100 lbs. or less. The only other readily available option would be to cut down a tree outside of area #1 or #5. Assuming the party has a proper axe and goes this route, it will take them approximately 10 minutes to cut down a sufficient tree.

Whichever course of action the party chooses, it will be important to keep track of time. Any party members with applicable skills (or even any who specifically mention that they are looking) will notice numbers of dusty footprints coming and going from this central cavern. Roughly 15 minutes after the party first enters the cave (or earlier if they make a great deal of noise) the “Children of Aramjapur” will start coming to investigate (see location #6).

Children of Aramjapur. Artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer, used with permission. All rights reserved.

If a party member is able to access the statue, the Eye of Aramjapur may be pried loose in one round.

#5 Shelf

This tunnel leads out to another mountain shelf similar to the one to the south that the party entered from. The only thing of note out here are 3 stikricki bushes along the side of the cliff.

#6 Exit

3 of the “Children of Aramjapur” lounge in the shade outside of these 3 cavern entrances. These protohumans descended from those who lived on the twin volcanoes for centuries. Standing at roughly 7′ tall, these brutes have a heavy brow and somewhat resemble a cross between a man and an ape. Lacking any verbal language, they will defend their home and the cave system to their death. For my game, I used a reskinned troglodyte stat block (minus the special abilities) but you do what works for you.

Once they detect the party, they will attack immediately and make a great deal of noise. Their grunts and shrieks will soon draw others, so the party will have to act quickly. The “children” will focus their attacks on any party member visibly attempting to acquire the Eye of Aramjapur or approach the statue.

Wrap-Up

How things play out from here is largely up to you. This encounter takes the place of the “Caves of the Rock Baboons” from the original adventure, which seemed rather bland. I created the Emerald Eye of Aramjapur to give things a bit more depth.

There were 15 rock baboons listed in the original adventure and they have similar stats to the troglodytes that I modeled my children of Aramjapur after. Therefore, I surmised that there could be a settlement of roughly 15 of them inhabiting this part of the mountain.

For my game I turned it into a bit of a moral conundrum for my players. The Children of Aramjapur are not evil beings but they will keep coming and defending their home. 4 rounds after the initial 3 attacked and were dispatched, I sent in another 3. The waves of attackers made it increasingly difficult for the party to cross the lava and secure the emerald. At that point one of my players started to question whether this was a noble cause, while another worried that a whole village of the brutes might appear in the next wave. Ultimately my party ended up beating a hasty retreat back down the side of the mountain, leaving the Eye of Aramjapur safely behind.

That is all for now. Thank you for stopping by. If you’d like to browse through all of my other maps with plot hooks, you can find them all collected here. Please take a minute to say hello in the comments below. Have a great week!

The Isle of Dread is owned by Wizards of the Coast. All of my work on this post is strictly non-commercial, on a voluntary basis as unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

The Hall of Tentacles

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This week I am focusing on an individual encounter. Our basic D&D group was nearing the end of their second arc of adventures, and I put The Hall of Tentacles together to give them a challenging boss fight.

My villain was initially a lone spellcaster. This presented me with a challenge in terms of how to set up the fight and make it entertaining for my players. I wanted to avoid an anti-climactic fight, where the 5 party members simply rushed the antagonist and beat her into submission. On the other hand, if I built her strong enough to take a beating, my fear was that she would be too deadly.

I settled on using a bit of DM fiat and making up some special mechanics & creatures specifically for this fight. While my players are fairly new to the hobby, I wanted to keep them on their toes. Rather than pulling directly from the Rules Cyclopedia or Creature Catalog, I created some things of my own. If you are a stickler for RAW, this type of thing might not be for you. That said, my group was really engaged for the duration of the fight and at times you could cut the tension with a knife.

As always, I will keep this system agnostic and refrain from any specific stats. Instead, I’ll simply lay out what worked from me. Hopefully it will be useful to spark some ideas for your own games. From there it should be an easy matter of dialing things up or down to suit your needs.

The Setup

A Kosantian witch named D’Sara Shahari has been the driving force behind a number of the party’s early adventures. Hoping to impress her patron, she has been on a streak of dastardly deeds. D’Sara has recently taken up residence in Rohrbach Castle, on the outskirts of the small village of Brindle.

Baron August Rohrbach has always dabbled in the dark arts. Never able to obtain any real power, he leapt at the chance to offer shelter to the witch and hopefully learn her ways. Unfortunately for the nobleman, he learned too late that D’Sara had no desire to take on a pupil but rather was interested in something sinister below the castle.

Over the past few weeks, the witch has effectively taken control of Rohrbach Castle. Most of the staff have run off and the baron has been reduced to being her mindless thrall. Gaining access to the laboratory in the catacombs under the keep, she summoned a tentacled horror from the murky waters below. Having kidnapped two young children from the nearby village, she plans to sacrifice the youths in a gesture to honor her patron.

The party tracked D’Sara to Brindle, where they learned of the missing children and gathered enough intel to believe that the witch was residing within the castle walls. After surveilling the structure, the party discovered a cave entrance along the riverbank.

Wading through ankle-deep water and catching occasional glances of something slithering on the periphery, the party made their way through the caverns below the castle. Finally coming to higher ground, they saw light coming from the passageway to the north. This ultimately lead them to location #13, the entrance to the laboratory cavern.

The wicked D’Sara Shahari. Artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer, used with permission. All rights reserved.

The Laboratory Cavern

This large room is well lit with torches around its circumference. Tables with various jars, bottles, and equipment will make it immediately clear to the party that this is some type of laboratory.

Already aware of the party’s presence, D’Sara will be waiting for them at the top of the stairs (location #14). Baron Rohrbach stands nearby (location #15) awaiting the bidding of his master.

Interspersed about the room are 12 pools, open to the water below. Each is circled with a bronze band featuring strange runes. The reflection of the torchlight on the water gives the cavern’s ceiling a queer look, as if it is undulating.

Suspended 10’ over the pool at location #3 is an iron cage holding Ulli & Greta Stoll (the children from the village). The cage is held by a rope that goes up to the ceiling and then over to the far wall (location #16) where it is tied off.

The Fight

When the party enters the room, allow them a moment to take in their surroundings. Unless immediately rushed, D’Sara will deliver a villainous soliloquy and the children will call out for help. As soon as any of the party members start to close the distance to either the children or D’Sara, roll for initiative and the encounter will begin in earnest.

The crone has no intention of going toe to toe with a party of adventurers. She will hold her position and hurl spells at the do-gooders when they come within range. If things start to go poorly for her she will not be averse to the concept of turning and attempting to flee.

Baron August Rohrbach. Art by Bartek Blaszczec.

Baron August Rohrbach has been under the witch’s spell for weeks and is barely clinging to his humanity. Gaunt from lack of food, he could easily be mistaken for some type of undead. At this point he is really no more than an automaton mindlessly following orders. Dressed in his family’s ceremonial plate armor and carrying a longsword, the baron moves at 50% of the speed of a normal human.

His ensorcelled state will leave him immune to charm or fear effects. He should have fairly high HP but only dish out moderate damage. He will ignore ranged attacks but will immediately turn and engage anyone who enters into melee with him

With a word from his mistress at the start of the fight, Baron Rohrbach will shamble to location #16 and start hacking at the rope that holds the children’s cage over the pool. Unless interrupted by the party, he will succeed in cutting the rope in 3 rounds and the cage will splash into the pool below.

If the rope is cut and the cage hits the water, it will be fully submerged within 2 rounds. The combination of cage and children weigh a total of 190 lbs. The water under the cavern is shallow enough that the cage may be reached even if fully under water. The children will perish if they are underwater for more than 3 rounds.

If the evil witch, her mesmerized lackey, and the trapped children were not enough, the party will face one final peril. D’Sara chose this location because she wanted to make a sacrifice honoring her patron. She knew of an unspeakable horror residing in the river that runs alongside the castle. This tentacled monstrosity is lurking and waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Grid/No labels

I never had any intention of having my group face some giant beastie here. However this served to build the tension while also making the encounter more interesting. At the top of every round, roll a d12. A hideous pink tentacle will then burst out or the corresponding pool. The tentacles have a reach of 5’ from their point of origin and will attack the closest party member that they can reach.

Play with the tentacle mechanics as you see fit, based on the level and capabilities of your party. For my group, I kept things easy and avoided bogging things down. I had a hit indicate that a tentacle had grabbed the party member. A grabbed party member would suffer 1d4 points of damage from being constricted each round that they were grabbed. They could not move and made attacks with a -1 penalty. Grabbed party members are freed either through destroying the tenacle (I made this relatively easy, giving each tentacle only 4 HP) or after making a successful “Open Doors” check.

The tentacled creature itself will never make a full appearance. Once D’Sara has been dealt with or fled, the tenacles will retreat into the murky depths.

Recap

This yielded a fun encounter for our group. I realize it is a bit unorthodox, but it gives you a number of variables to tune as needed in order to challenge your party. The abilities for D’Sara & Baron Rohrbach are obviously wide open for you to play with. The tentacles themselves could easily be tweaked by adding greater frequency, longer reach, or more damage.

No grid/No labels

I purposely strayed from known creatures and tried to focus on mechanics that would make for an exciting evening around the table. Thinking back to Robert E. Howard or HP Lovecraft stories, I always enjoyed how the abilities and origins of magic users or eldritch horrors were left very vague. While it may be blasphemy to some, I think it avoids a lot of meta gaming on the player side to keep them on their toes a bit and show them something that they have not seen before.

Thank you for stopping by. Please take a minute to say hello and if you’d like to read some more, here are some convenient links

All of my posts detailing the locations in Cross Tree are located here.

For a list of all of my adventure hooks with maps, click here.

My random tables are collected here.

Finally, I’ve stuck everything else here.

Good Gaming!