The Dim Expanse part VIII

The next two copied and pasted rooms have hosted a group run by my 14 year old Son, but not the current group. As such their location remains a mystery to the current party. The first is more for flavor and foreshadowing than anything else, and allows the Referee a certain measure of descriptive narrative.

2: The Viewing Gallery. Large chamber, to the south is a balcony overlooking room 3. There are nine carved stone contraptions here. Basically a pedestal with a roughly cubical carved shape, with two ‘eyeholes’ for viewing. Carved into each is a coin slot for activating the contraption. Each is a magic Viewatron. If a GP is deposited into the slot, the Viewatron is activated, and a faint glow can be seen coming from the eyeholes. Each GP allows 3 rounds of viewing. The view is dimly glowing, illuminating even the darkest areas, but only for the viewer. The GP drops down into a repository on level 2A, but cannot be recovered from here.

The Scenes:
1 - Ghoul Pit. Tons of Ghouls.
2 - Gargoyle Lord. Perched over a pile of coins.
3 - Large eating, sleeping or prowling Albino Ape.
4 - The Pit Goblin Hound Master, with Hell Hounds.
5 - Wrecked room with a stagnant pool and Owlbears.
6 - Cave with a pile of coins. Sometimes a Minotaur with a glowing Axe appears.
7 - A carved stone throne, a Troll wearing a crown is counting gems.
8 - Wrecked area, rubble. 1 in 6 chance that a Vampire passes scene carrying a victim.
9 - A haunting scene! The being viewed is aware when being watched. A large, fat grotesque man will motion to his vast treasure trove of coins, gems and chests, then beckon the viewer while laughing.

The next room provided some fun chase scenes for the group. It's my first posted example of a room type I have included throughout Ulin-Uthor thus far: Recurring Encounters. I have many examples of this, not limited to Skeletons, but including Goblin Spawning, Undead Stirring, Insect Nests, Rat Infestations, etc.

15: Strange Temple. This gigantic room has a 25’ high ceiling and consists of a large pool of foul liquid, covered with a thick layer of disgusting greenish brown growth. The north half of the Temple has a balcony like area, which overlooks the pool, supported by a dozen stone pillars, reachable by a pair of iron ladders mounted on the north wall. Old faded stucco, falling off or broken off for the most part, covers the walls and ceiling. It is faded beyond recognition. The floor is dusty and musty large granite slabs, now quite uneven and loose. The railing on the balcony overlooking the pool has a small swinging gate at it’s center. The liquid in the pool is 15’ deep, and is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of Goblin skeletons (if some enterprising group desired to empty this pool, figure there are 350 here). Every round in the Temple, there is a 1 in 6 chance of a Skeleton emerging from the pool, and this chance increases by 1 for each accumulative round spent here, so if 6 rounds are spent here, a Skeleton will emerge each round. Skeletons are all Goblin sized (each has 4 HP), and unarmed (dealing only 1d4 damage), and will happily pursue throughout the dungeon, but they will stop emerging if the Temple is empty. The chance for a Skeleton emerging is ‘reset’ once the Temple is empty. Skeletons turned by a Cleric leap back into the pool (unless destroyed).

Temple Skeleton (unlimited) (AC 7, HD 1-1, Damage 1d3, HP always 3, sharp weapons cause only 1 damage).

The west and east walls of the Temple Balcony are lined with old stone benches, beneath which are storage areas (20 in all) that can be searched. The north door, located under the balcony level, is locked tight, and stuck with age.

As always, questions or comments welcome, and these rooms can certainly be easily lifted and dropped into your own dungeons.

~Sham, Quixotic Referee