I have written a few articles in my Marching From series. I want to use this series to pull out elements of published adventures and use them for a west marches campaign on whatever setting word you choose. In a way, I am prepping the Megadungeon for transplant. The opening chapter of the Abomination Vaults introduces the players to a lighthouse complex in the swamps outside of Otari. I have chosen to run my Abomination Vaults campaign in my own homebrew setting in that I moved the vault off an Island in the inner sea into landlocked hinterlands. My players have completed the first level of the Undercitadel and have survived their first encounter with the bloody visage of Bellecora, renamed Dretha Scythevex in our campaign. They have accepted the Mitlfit’s mission to remove the Mushroom-Eyed people from the layer below and are on relatively good terms with the Gremlin Tribe.
---Spoilers for the Abomination Vaults---
Since the player band’s encounter with the Vampiric mist, the Mitflits have abandoned their campaign against the nearby village and have reorganized the gremlins as a settlement at the surface level of the MegaDungeon. As the players progress through the campaign, this settlement will grow as more despised fey creatures gather at this haven. The text of the adventure path has the dungeon collapse on itself at the conclusion of the arc. I haven’t determined how I am going to handle that yet, but I’m leaning towards having the settlement adapt to this disaster by having the denizens adapt their structures to populate the outer walls of this pit.
Kab Jepoe Village 1
A community of Mitflits have been forced from the levels below and have settled in the abandoned watchtower.
Village 1; Consumption 1
Max Structure Bonus 1 Influence 0 Hexes Government Tribal Boss (Feudalism)
Languages Undercommon
Religions Fey Animism
Threats Dretha’s Blood, Fanged Queen Raiders, Slurks
Settlement Bonus
+1 Decay from the squalid conditions of the Stable house.
+1 Food Storage from the Larder
Prominent Citizens
Boss Grawsk Boss of the Mudhunters and Lord of the Mud Tower, Auhe sponsors particularly gifted students of the college
Structures
1-5 Jepoe stablehouse - Tenement- After clearing the Slurk corpse out of the stables, Grwask had the Mudhunters cove the top of this room in a slurkskin awning making this room a suitable dwelling for the misfits.
1-6 Jepoe Larder - Granary- Adjacent to the living space, Grawsk moved in some crates that once stored Hartack and salted pork to hold swamp yams collected by Mitflit foragers. A pair of smoked Giant Maggot carcasses are suspended from the ceiling; the mudhunters have been carving off bits to feed themselves for weeks.
1-7 Swampscale Burial Ground- Cemetery- A rubbled dining room that was haunted by its previous inhabitants until Jiim Dawnbringer consecrated their bones and buried them in the mound. Since meeting a band of adventurers, the Mudhunters have also taken to burying their fallen in the mound.
1-16 Jeb’s Kiosk - General Store - A particularly enterprising mitflit cleared the remains of the boathouse and move a few crates of salvaged gear into the space. Wayward travelers can purchase common items from Jeb here, although it is often Fire-singed or blood-stained.
1/4/4 Lots
Demographics
100% Mitflit Gremlins
Design
The sound of frogs and mosquitos mixes with water sloshing against muddy shores, all muffled by the ever-present mists that linger in the Cursed Fens. As the mists clear, a shadow looms from the cloying swamp vapors—a sprawling ruin of stone and wood squats atop an island in the soggy marsh. The upper floors have largely collapsed, leaving only the stone walls of the ground floor intact. Above these ruins towers an out-of-place monument—a colossal watchtower with a blue beam of light scouring the fens from its parapets. Its painted walls and iron-cased crown have resisted the corrosive effects of the surrounding swamp
Along the southern side, the waters surrounding the ruins are relatively shallow, but on other sides, the depth ranges from 10 to 15 feet, requiring a boat or swimming to navigate. With the exception of the tower's cupola, the upper levels of The Fen Watchtower collapsed long ago, even falling to the ground floor in places. Areas denoted as rubble on the map are open to the sky above and considered difficult terrain. Where the roof hasn’t caved in, ceilings are 10 feet high unless otherwise noted. The only illumination comes from whatever sunlight filters in through the constant fog. The doors on this level are all cracked and rotten except where indicated; handling them with any amount of force causes them to split or simply fall off their hinges with a wet splintering sound.
The structure is magically protected from damage. This protection has bled into the surrounding ruins somewhat, slowing the usual rate of decay over the past 500 years. Nevertheless, time is inexorable, and the rest of the ruins have suffered in the passage of centuries.
The main faction active in the ruins is what’s left of a small gang of Mitflit Gremlins who call themselves the Mudhunters. Led by a large, bearded gremlin named Boss Grawsk, the Mudhunters believe they once dwelt in “glory” underground. However, the arrival of the much larger and meaner Fanged Queen Morlocks forced them out of their homes, and they’ve struggled to regain their footing ever since. Boss Grawsk has thus far formed an alliance with a band of adventurers who have agreed to remove the Fanged Queen Morlocks from the level below, giving the Mudhunters more room to grow.
Walls Weathered Stone (DC 15 to climb)
Floor Weathered Stone
Special Conditions Completely Underwater
Temperature Warm
Illumination Most of the ceilings have collapsed, and illumination inside reflects the time of day
Entries
1-1 Watchtower Gatehouse
A cleared path runs from Vrur road to the primary entrance to the Fen Watchtower
1-5 Jepoe Stablehouse
The Western wall of the stablehouse has collapsed, leaving that space exposed to the boathouse
1-8 Sinkhole
Almost the entire ceiling of this room has collapsed, while below, the floor has crumbled into a 10-foot-deep sinkhole filled with rubble, mud, and glistening patches of fungus. Optimistic in the prowess of their new allies, the Mudhunters have uncovered a spiral stair that opens the way down to the Servant's Chambers below.
1-12 Office Stairwell
A flight of stairs leads down to an Abandoned Guard post.
Denizens
Mudhunters - Mitflit Gremlins that emerged from under the Cursed Fens; They have recently settled in the watchtower complex
Rooms
What follows below are the rooms of the Watchtower complex that have yet to be refurbished as settlement structures for the Mitflit settlement.
1-4 Maggot Training Hall Much of the timber and rubble has been cleared from this hall.
1-9 Walkway A 15-foot stone walkway spans a narrow stretch of swamp water, connecting the ruined keep to a large stone outbuilding. Standing before the southeast door is a seven-foot-tall skeleton dressed in armor made of gnarled roots, bones, and rusted metal. The skeleton clenches a morningstar in one weathered hand with the weapon’s heavy, spiked tip resting on the walkway at the skeleton’s feet. The skeletal “guard” is nothing more than a statue built by the Mudhunters. It looks frightening but poses no danger.
1-10 Mudhunter Throne Room The Mitflits chose these old barracks for their commander, Boss Grawsk, to use as a throne hall. Boss Grawk’s fragile throne requires constant upkeep, a task two mitflits perform when they aren’t sleeping in the filthy nests here.
1-11 Watchtower Base The smooth walls of this circular room have been painted a light gray with no indication of seams between blocks of stone. A set of iron stairs winds upward along the curved walls before terminating at a trap door in the ceiling nearly a hundred feet above. The red bloodstain returns to the floor after a period of darkness. During daylight hours, the fresh blood has periodic ripples; its slick, red surface appears like the top of a deep pool, but it’s harmless. At night, the bloodstain awakens as the hostile visage of Dretha.
1-12 Dretha's Office The rubble of the collapsed ceiling remains in the office however the furniture and books have been collected for wood and kindling.
1-13 Dretha's Sanctum the furniture and books have been collected for wood and kindling.
1-14 Scorpion Kennel Much of the timber and rubble has been cleared from this hall.
The remaining double door to the north has a stone face carved with skulls caked with tangles of moss.
1-15 the Shrine to Empty Death The mitflits have avoided the shrine. The air in this large chapel feels colder and damper than elsewhere in the ruins. Condensed beads on the walls run in rivulets across the countless skulls carved into the stone. Three short flights of steps lead upward to a wider chamber to the north, where a semicircular dais supports an altar of white stone. Beyond the altar loom four stained-glass windows, each twenty feet tall and depicting four haunting scenes of ghosts rising from overgrown graveyards toward a four-pointed orange star above.
1-25 Cupola due to the recurrent presence of the Vampirc Mist the residents do not clamber up to the cupola of the watchtower.
Points of Interest
1-3 Slurk Pond
Tangles of reeds grow in thick clusters around the edge of this muddy pond. The water appears murky with algae, and the half-decayed body of three-foot-tall scaly humanoid lies on the pool’s northern bank, half-buried in mud and leaves.
The water of this pond is only 4 feet deep, but an extra few feet of mud below make it greater difficult terrain to wade through. Vines and creepers festoon the ruins, but any hero Investigating The gear on the kobold’s body is mostly ruined, with the exception of 4 gp in one rotten belt pouch, and a Spike Snare bundled securely in a little backpack.
No comments:
Post a Comment