How to drop this in to your bog-standard fantasy game
1. Create a point of interest: "25 ft tall Black Stone Cube"
2. Hide a broom-sized invisible obsidian key on the ceiling of a room the party visits often. Seed in three clues that it is there.
3. Seed two other hooks in the world (I recommend a crazy old sage who speaks of the "power of the child that rests within the cube" and also the journal of an old imperial bureaucrat detailing the interrogation table (see room 5 Interrogation) being moved to the Clinic)
4. Tweak Khais (see room 6) to be the Ur-(insert common baddie in your setting). So like I had a bunch of werewolves so vanilla Khais is the Ur-Werewolf. Yours might be Ur-Orc (Moose Tracks), Ur-Demon (Cinnamon), or Ur-Vampire (also vanilla).
5. Replace the notes on Marko Ralchek with the hidden backstory of a character from your campaign. Or reveal that Marko Ralchek has been the town truffle farmer all along!!
6. Profit
TRIGGER WARNING: This one has a demon that appears as a four year old child (see 3 Almagoz). As written, the demon in child form could experience disease and pain. If you're not down with that, honestly super fair. Replace the child with:
Bright Pine Rehabilitation Clinic (Black Stone Cube, Keyhole)
Black Stone Cube: Twenty-Five feet cubed. Perfect right angles, perfectly smooth surfaces except the keyholes at the center of each face. Continues straight down under the ground for an additional 25 feet.
Keyhole: On each side except the top, a large keyhole at the center of the face made to fit THE KEY. The Key is hidden with illusory magic on the roof of Anja Helminnen’s suite in Helmars (or wherever you put it).
If the key is inserted into any of the keyholes, a section of stone slides out and up, revealing a door sized opening with a stairwell leading into the ground. Magical investigation reveals a spell facilitates the opening and closing of the sides; dispelling magic of sufficient strength would force one of the sides to open permanently. The stairwell leads to 1 Entryway.
Within this place, walls are smooth stone unaffected by age. No light sources. Doors are stone with locks that require a key from both sides.
1 Entrance (Lockers, Mushroom Skull, Sign)
Lockers: Ten lockers on the east wall, numbered from left to right. Most are empty or populated only by spider webs, but 2 has a bag of 16 gold coins, and 1, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10 each have bone circlets carved with arcane symbols, worth 50 CP to the right buyer. 2, 4 and 7 also have d4-1 Stingbats in each; if players are loud (ie. carving skulls out of the doorway), the stingbats all emerge at once.
Mushroom Skull Doorway: A slow drip of water down both sides of the north doorway. Inset in the doorframe, human skulls, six of them, covered in mushrooms, moss and fungus. Upon close inspection, some have small bit marks from the stingbats. Under the moss, skulls are all gilded. Spend 2 days removing the whole doorframe to get the skulls out intact; worth 150 gp each. Spend 4 hours to get them out in pieces worth 300 cp total.
Sign: Above North Door. “Welcome to Bright Pine Rehabilitation Clinic”
North Door / (2 Transit Room): Shut, unlocked.
To exit: a stairwell leading to a plain wall, with a keyhole and a handprint. Either inserting the key or pressing a living appendage (doesn’t even have to be a hand) to the print opens a patch of wall to the outside world of an appropriate size for the creature or group leaving. Closes in d4 turns.
2 Transit Room (Doors, Body, Mission, Vision, Values)
Carvings on the wall:
Mission: To Rehabilitate the Hopelessly Evil
Vision: To Increase Average Patient Yearly Rate of Progression along the Road to Goodness Year Over Year
Values: Compassion, Restorative Justice, No One is Too Far Gone
Body: rotted bones on the ground. Human. It's Cato Luxius (see 4 Psychomancer) In its midst, 15 gold, and a stone tablet. When held, the tablet records voice-to-text recordings of everything said by the person holding it. When the tablet screen is full, consigns excess text to memory, which can be called up at will. Last words recorded: “session 412 with Marko, beginning....oh sh*t he got out!! Run! Ru......”. On the back, written in blood, "Find the Anja statue. Write Help in blood. She will save us."
South Door / (1 Entrance): unlocked
West Door / (3 Almagoz): Unlocked, warnings in five languages “do not enter. This room does not contain the things you want. All that lies within is death. The creature contained within will kill you and then burn out the heart of the world. It cannot be cured or stopped. You may judge us for our method of containment, but we had no other option. We wish to protect you, as we wished to protect our own descendants. We implore you: do not open this door.” Opposite side does not have a door handle.
North Door / (4 Psychomancer): unlocked.
East Door / (5 Interrogation): locked, opened with gold key.
3 Almagoz: (padded cell, the Child, the Crown)
Padded Cell: pillows, blankets, stuffed animals.
The Child: appears 4 years old. Sniveling, sad, pitiful. Simply begging for help; wants to be as far from The Crown as possible. Tattoos in demonic cover the child’s body. The farther the child gets from the crown, the sicker he gets. His illness begins as vomiting and a common cold, progresses to a severe flu / pneumonia, to leprosy / melanoma, and then to violent, painful seizures. Takes d4 hours to go from one stage to the next; the only cure is keeping the child in a room with The Crown. Does not need to eat, does not age, cannot be killed, even by distance from The Crown.
The Crown: fools gold inset with fake diamonds. Would be priceless if it was real. Covered in demonic script. When touching it, gives a contextual vision of impending doom (ie. The monolith surrounded by 100 cultists of the red, waiting to ambush the party when they come out) as well as a vision of the party’s death as a result of that doom, followed by a vision of the crown placed on the child’s head, and then The Child using magic to defeat the threat and save the party. Each time a vision of this kind is given, roll d10. On a 1, the threat seen in the vision becomes reality.
The Child cannot place the Crown on his own head. If the Crown is placed on the child's head, the Child transforms into Almagoz, prince of ruin. He will conquer this region in d4 days, the continent in d4 weeks, and the world in d4 months. He gives the players the choice of becoming his chosen demon knights, fighting him to the death, or leaving with a boon of protection directing his followers to leave the party alone, as reward for setting him free.
Exit to 2 Transit Room: No handle on this side of the door.
4 The Psychomancer’s Room (Ghost, bed, paintings)
Ghost: Cato Luxicius. Pacing, humming. Formerly a psychomancer tasked with using the table in 5 Interrogation to rehabilitate the prisoners kept in 6. Doesn't know he’s dead; “oh it's just a potion of gaseous form! I wonder why it hasn't worn off?” Does not adjust well to change. Hasn't left this room in a thousand years because he can't grasp the door handle, and obviously he can’t just walk through the doors. If he sees his own body or is shown other incontrovertible evidence that he is dead, accuses the messenger of deceiving him. If they persist, turns hostile.
Wants:
To get back to work. “Wait! Khais (see 6 Containment) hates me, but maybe she would respond better to you!!”
To force anyone who tells him lies (ie. he’s actually a ghost) into the interrogation table with him. He will possess them, run them to the room, lock their hands in the table, and then leave their body to sit on the opposite side in his ghost form. It works even though he's a ghost.
Offers:
The gold key from under his bed to open the door to 5 Interrogation for help opening doors and interrogating prisoners
For free, overview of the facility, its prisoners and purpose, unless he’s been told he’s dead.
Bed: Under the mattress, the gold key which fits all the doors in the facility. On the bedside table, a bag of 30 gold coins, two lamps made of glass and fine porcelain, worth 150 copper each.
Paintings: twelve 18x24 landscapes in the Luminist style, divided into two groups of six flanking a massive 14ft by 8ft landscape of the ocean, seen above. The smaller landscapes are worth 1500cp, while the larger one would fetch 8000 or more cp at auction. The floor in front of the largest painting has scrape marks as if it can open. In the lower right corner of the massive painting, four black spots making a square w/ 4 inches between them; top left has scuff marks, with scuff marks making a square between the four spots. Trace a square going clockwise from the top left spot to open the mirror. Opens into 6 Containment.
South Door / (2 Transit Room): unlocked.
East Door / (6 Containment): see Window.
5 Interrogation Room (Table, filing cabinet, “Mission, Vision, Values”)
Interrogation Table: Rectangular, cast iron, bolted to the ground, two chairs on opposite sides. A d-ring on the table with open manacles strung through it.
Any two people (whether they are ghosts or not) who sit at the table merge minds. Make a contested intelligence check. Each reveals (d4), but winner rolls with advantage.
1 their greatest secret
2 a truthful and detailed answer to a question asked by the other person at the table.
3 an embarrassing story
4 nothing
And if losing by more than 5, loser (d4)
1 Takes d100 damage each time they disobey a one sentence command given by their partner.
2 Their outlook on a person, organization or topic of their partner’s choice gets d4 1 way worse 2 a bit worse 3 a bit better 4 a lot better. They persist in these beliefs even if shown evidence to the contrary. This effect can only be broken with a Remove Curse spell or similar magic.
3 Permanently lose d4 1 a class feature 2 d8 max hit points 3 d4 of a random ability score 4 d4 inches of height. If they succeeded by more than 10, the other person at the table gains whatever was lost.
4 d20 psychic damage, unconscious that many minutes.
Filing Cabinet: on top, a scroll describing the uses and possible effects of the interrogation table. Additionally, a cabinet of therapy notes, on...
Marko Ralchek: Missing many pages, and a lot of context, but whoever Marko is, you know the following.
Constant headaches from his many traumatic brain injuries.
Life is a game, and he absolutely will not tolerate losing.
However, he also has no real values besides success; if it benefits him, he will work with absolutely anyone.
Once had a dog, named Pickles, who he loved very much. It died. He decided he would never love anything again to prevent himself being hurt.
Is asexual. Doesn’t know that term, just has a sense he’s not quite like other people.
Believes all people are fundamentally selfish; will distrust any attempts to help him.
Khais Nia, The Ur-Wulf:
Was violently kidnapped and assaulted by roving raiders as a teenager.
Prayed to be rescued; a deity she refers to as the Moon Queen bestowed upon her immortality and the ability to turn into a truly giant wolf at will.
Views men as evil; seeks to kill them. Initially did not realize her bites brought people back as werewolves for a normal lifespan, hence why most of the earliest werewolves were male.
Hates male werewolves, but possesses the ability to mentally dominate them.
Deep down, is just afraid of being caged; very resistant to reconditioning. Always looking for a way out.
Archon Teija Tammanane, Telepath:
Had a great childhood with nurturing parents.
His powers manifested in a dream as a teen, during which he accidentally killed his brother with a wave of psychic energy.
Very very food-motivated; loves cured meats, fine cheeses and wine.
Also very receptive to positive reinforcement; seeks out surrogate parent figures and to be a parent figure to others.
In the last days of the Iron Empire, Teija mind-controlled their way to leading a massive cult that nearly took over an imperial city.
6 Cold Storage: (Sarcophogi, Lid, Treasure Chests, spots)
Sarcophogi: One red, one black (see Lid) and one white. Simple clasp locks; can only be opened from the outside. Those inside do not age, need to eat or drink or suffer the passing of time, but are conscious for the duration of their time inside. Sound cannot travel from inside to the outside world or vice versa.
Red: Archon Teija Tammanane, Telepath: Powerful telepath. Whip-thin, protruding ribs, wasting away due to stress. Containment: Headband that blocks his telepathy. Could easily be removed, but Teija hasn’t figured this out. Has not handled containment well; suffers from delusions of (d4, reroll each day) 1 Grandeur 2 Paranoia 3 Having an Imaginary Twin in the Room with Him 4 Being King of this Facility; everyone else is his servants. Wants: Always, fine meats and cheeses. Offers: Will do pretty much anything if he is offered fine meats and cheeses or something fitting his delusions of the day.
White: Khais Nia, The Ur-Wulf: The first werewolf. Immortal teenage girl; skinny, can’t sit still or up straight. Containment: mouthguard with spikes on the inside to prevent biting or transformation (shown above with and without the mouthguard). Sassy, resistant; “Another buff guy with good intentions. Color me soooo impressed.” Wants: Vengeance. Out of here. Offers: Partnership if the party has females present. Nothing if they don't.
Lid: The black sarcophagi looks as though it was blown open from the inside, and the lid is currently embedded in the ceiling. No one is inside the black sarcophagi.
South Door / (5 Interrogation Room): unlocked
West Door / (4 Psychomancer’s Quarters): secret; plain wall with four black dots in a square with four inches to a side. Trace a square clockwise starting with the top left dot to open the secret door; seams appear in the stone and it will push open.
That's it. If you're interested in more, this is a part of my upcoming pointcrawl Under Umber Skies. You can see more here, here, and here.
Progress:
- Got a decent pointcrawl map I'm tweaking
- All pointcrawl locations written
- Decent dungeon map
- 10 dungeon rooms need keying
- polish will be needed.
I'll follow up when I have more!!
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