Dungeon23 - Week 1

On the isle of Kamunn-Targ, the easternmost point of the kingdom, sit the ruins of an old fort. By legend, this is the location of the coronation of the first king of the current dynasty. Her Holiness the Queen has decided to sponsor an expedition to the island to learn more about the noble history of her dynasty. 

Quickly, progress stopped on the dig. A mixture of bandits, the bird-like corvolds, and diseased goblins made the site of the dig too dangerous for the archaeologists. Back on the mainland, the call went out for hired adventurers to come to the island and help make safe the area around the site. The promise of payment and the presence of danger was enough to draw some foolhardy adventurers in.

Here's my first week's worth of progress from my dungeon:

Level 1: The Expedition to the Old Fort

The first level of the dungeon is the above-ground ruins of the ancient fort. That makes it spatially very different from the typical dungeon level and I've been trying to make that difference show in my designs - including looking at the reports and drawings from excavations of bronze age cities. By default, the buildings here are made of thick (~5') stone walls, 4-6' high with no ceilings in tact. Most decorations or furniture wouldn't survive this long exposed to the elements and any treasure will be pottery, metal, or left by a more recent occupant.

1-1 Old Watchtower - A circular building about 150' south of the main gate. Has a single doorway and four narrow windows spaced around the tower. A small section of the second floor remains, but there is no way up. A single cobra has nested in its shadows. A strange piece of shiny, unknown metal is poking out of the dirt just outside of the tower.

 

1-2 The Four Chambered Gate - A 5' deep trench runs through the middle. The floor of the gate is hard packed dirt The trench has mud in the bottom of it and a few silver coins (2d4) can be found in the mud. Behind the gate are two small rooms, the doors long rotted away. A rope runs along the far wall of the gate close to the floor - it is attached to bunches of human skulls and is an alarm system for the corvolds in 1-6

1-3 Pit House - A wide stairway goes 5' down on the western side of the house. The room contains numerous bones of animals - all fairly recent. There are signs of some recent excavations.

1-4 Great Column - An L-shaped building with the remains of a large, ornate column in the middle. 2d6 wolves live here. During the day, 50% of them are out hunting. A recent body (~2 weeks old) is in the northwest corner of the building. A chest with 600cp is underneath the body.

1-5 Storeroom/Long House - No doorway into the building. Two sealed jars are in the northern room. Each contains a hallucinogenic gas. The remains of many pots and jars are in the south room, 1d6 are somewhat intact.

1-6 Broken Wall Section - A tree has grown in the remains of the double wall. 2d4 corvolds have set up camp here and are typically roosting in the tree.

1-7 The Garden House - The floor of the building is covered in dead leaves. A pit trap (10' deep, muddy walls) is in the front of the room. In front of the house are the remains of a low (1-2') wall.

1-8 The Thoroughly Destroyed Building - This building is more ruined than most, with lots of rock and rubble and only a couple sections of intact walls. The base of a statue is here - two large, back paws of a rat. The rest of the statue is missing. Under the statue is a small shaft leading down to level 2.