Hi everyone,
Welcome to the final installment of the Dungeon Creation. This is where you’ll get the map and the total thing. You’ll notice however that a few things have changed since – the calikang has been eliminated, as it didn’t fit into the final look of the place. The ofalth has been removed as well, as it would be unable to live near the purple worm.
First up are 3 maps though. The first is essentially a blank canvas for you to fill in as you wish. The other two are the dungeon, with and without a battle grid.
Room 1: Main Cell
A large fortified door separates this cell from the rest of the compound. In one corner lies the horned skeleton of the cell’s final occupant. The walls here are covered in lichen and moisture, and the despair that the prisoner must have felt is almost palpable.
This was where the minotaur warlord, the main prisoner of the compound was kept. The whole place was built to contain him and later expanded to support other dangerous prisoners, though this cell remained unique.
It is now occupied by the spirit of said minotaur, who is confined to his cell in death, just like he was in life. Now he has been transformed into something else. (PF2 / 5e)
Room 2A. Guardroom
The room stands undisturbed, with thick layers of dust covering both chair and table. On the table are stacks of parchment, the ink long faded from their pages, making them impossible to read.
This is where the guards would normally hold station during the night. During the day, they’d be patrolling the corridors, but when the prisoners had been settled for the night, most of them would withdraw to these rooms to sort the paperwork of the day. Normally only a single guard would occupy the rooms, with other guards patrolling near the cells. The main cell was always guarded by 2 guards, at any time, along with 1 in each of the nearby guardrooms. Each guardroom also holds a single healing potion in a glass bottle inside a small chest on the table.
Room 2B: Wrecked Guardroom
The door to this room has been smashed in, the chair thrown to the side, and the table broken in two. A skeleton lies across it, smashed through it, and still wearing the remains of the leather armor that once served it.
The skeleton is dead, and not undead, but in the pockets of the armor (that falls to pieces when disturbed), the heroes can find 5 gp.
Room 3: Communal Cells
Each of the cells in this area was once surrounded by strong steel bars, that have since rusted and rotted through. Some of the bars have been broken in a long-forgotten prison riot, while others have their doors open. Several skeletons line the area here, victims of some forgotten fate.
Room 4: Cesspit
Filled with the refuse and debris of decades, this place still stinks, more than a century after the prison was closed. Most of the smell doesn’t come from the actual latrines but from an enormous hole in the wall and floor, where something has burrowed through.
The hole is the leftover from a Purple Worm (PF2 / 5e). The purple worm will not attack unless someone ventures into the hole and spends more than 10 minutes going down it. The tunnel is several miles long, but the worm is lurking nearby.
Room 5: Kitchen
Long rusted utensils and knives hang from nails on the wall, while an open fireplace sits in one corner. A dirty and disgusting table sits in the middle, covered in what fungus, over what must have been a corpse at some point. One that has clearly had parts eaten from it.
The room is empty, with the 2 ghouls that had originally taken up space here (2 cannibalistic prisoners) having been eaten by the Purple Worm. They came to investigate a disturbance in the communal cells, and the worm had itself a light snack.
The fungus presents a danger itself here. It’s been allowed to fester for so long that it has gained some deadly properties of its own. You can treat that as Yellow Mold (PF2 / 5e)
Room 6: Recreation Room for Guards
A large table and four sturdy chairs are the only furnishings in this room. In the middle of the table sits an old chessboard, with a match left undisturbed for ages.
Nothing of immediate value remains in the room, though those curious can finish the chess match in about 4 moves. Whichever guards were playing, it’s clear that one was close to winning. The chessboard and pieces might fetch a few gold pieces from a collector, as the style is antique.
Room 7A+B: Storage
One is an empty storage room, the other still has a few crates and barrels in it. None of the contents has survived the passage of time.
Room 8: Armory
Old, rusted weapons hang from wooden racks lined across the one wall, as well as on shelves standing in the room. Mannequins hold the remains of a few pieces of useless armor.
There are a few items of value in here though:
A shield+1, for use by the head guard
A Mace of Terror (5e) or a Nightmare Cudgel (PF2) for subduing unruly prisoners more easily. A gem of brightness (5e) or Staff of Illumination (PF2 ), used for escorting visitors throughout the complex.
A shield+1, for use by the head guard
A Mace of Terror (5e) or a Nightmare Cudgel (PF2) for subduing unruly prisoners more easily. A gem of brightness (5e) or Staff of Illumination (PF2 ), used for escorting visitors throughout the complex.
Room 9: Warden’s Office
This room was once opulent with a comfortable chair and a large desk. Faded paintings line the wall, and moldy books occupy bookshelves around. Now, most of it bears chew marks from some large predator that must have been grinding its teeth.
An aurumvorax (PF2 / no official stats for 5e) has taken up residence here, coming through the hole of the purple worm at some point, and now unable to leave again. It was attracted by the smell of the metals and so on, and every so often it enters the cells to have a snack.
And with that, we end our mini-series on Dungeon Creation. I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂
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Kim Frandsen
40 years old, and a gamer since I was 13. These days I freelance as a writer for various companies (currently Fat Goblin Games, Flaming Crab Games, Outland Entertainment, Paizo, Raging Swan Games, Rusted Iron Games, and Zenith Games),
I've dipped my hands into all sorts of games, but my current "go-to" games are Pathfinder 2, Dungeon Crawl Classics and SLA Industries. Unfortunately, while wargaming used to be a big hobby, with wife, dog and daughter came less time.
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