First Baptist

The streets around Seattle First Baptist are horribly choked with abandoned cars after the apocalypse, for some reason. Not really sure why, but it's not a bad area to scrounge for gas if you're patient and keep a sharp lookout for stalkers.

Clockwork City of Forbidden Gods

Gombaz, the Clockwork City of Forbidden Gods wanders the world of Lemmeth from North to South, but always heading West. It always keeps the wandering moon of Gelumiel directly overhead, such that when the petty lords of the plains see it rise above the horizon, the gather their goods to their cellars and sharpen their spears. The only blessing is that this accursed city never stays in one place for long.

Temple 46

It's not Temple number 46, it's the temple to 46. In Eagleport, they've got a temple to practically everything. The priests of the Temple 46, however, are particularly esoteric, eschewing gods with wings, with claws, or with mighty armies, to worship the pure untrammeled abstraction of a single number. With no particular attributes, they have nothing to tie them to the physical details that all other gods deal with. They are a uniquely, cold, dangerous lot; by turns more cruel that Astyborxovy, god of cruelty; more heartless than IGON the IRON; shiftier than Hylerat the Thief God.

Vulture Temple

Little creepy, 'innit?

The Bone Hall

I always loved the Magic Card "Throne of Bone". Opportunities for juvenile humor aside, it conjured up images of twisted horrors entombed in deep dungeons for heroes to excavate and destroy.

The Bone Hall and environs are home to a terrifying aberration of wraith, the Marrow Spirit. Marrow Spirits inhabit the bones of their former bodies and ambush travellers seeking to exact revenge for their own lonely, desolate death. Normally the wraiths are tied to their remains, inhabiting the bones themselves, dormant until a victim approaches. In the Bone Hall, however, they become truly fearsome, able to pass through the bones walls at will, and quickly move to any part of the dungeon, ambushing adventurers from behind. They also work with the other denizens of the dungeon, coordinating their attacks in return for the promise that the killing blow will be theirs.

The Red Academy

There's a saying in the City of Forgotten Gods: "If you've got corns, pray to Dispaniel, but if you want someone dead, go to the Red Academy."

The Rising Dragon

Every time that the PCs go back to town without clearing out The Risen Dragon, add one to the countdown:

1: Dwarven prospectors are seen in town. They have a mysterious map, and they're very closed about where they're going, fearful others will tap into the treasure they're after. If someone can win their trust, get a look at their maps, or just listen in on their conversation, they can find out the Dwarves have a map purported to lead to a buried trove of loot.

2: The Dwarves have broken the seal on the Risen Dragon. A few days later, rumors start going around as the Dwarves have missed a regular supply pickup in town. A good tracker could probably find out where the Dwarves were camping and digging, though.

3: A minor earthquake shakes the region. A day later, a half-starved and fully insane member of the Dwarven expedition appears in town. He's barely coherent, but magic or persistence might get the story of the terrible things the Dwarves found when they broke in The Risen Dragon.

4: The Harbinger, a powerful sorcerer from foreign lands arrives in town, drawn by the Dragon's call. He's scary, mysterious, and smart. He heads out to the dungeon and sets up shop, intent on bringing the Fallen Dragon to life. Perhaps a smart party can figure out what he's up to, stop him, or even raise the Dragon themselves.

5: Another earthquake, this one heralding the rise of the Fallen Dragon. Whether the Harbinger maintains control of the beast once raised, is up to you.

The Cyanites

The Cyanites have a way of turning up every time I create an urban adventure environment. They're the guys in robes who process through the neighborhood at night with little brass bowls of cold blue fire, chanting quietly to themselves in a lost tongue. The PCs have never heard of these guys before. What they're up to has nothing to do with whatever business the PCs are currently engaged in. But if the PCs are curious enough to follow or dig deeper, they'll discover a secret that's at once strange and compelling. I haven't figured out exactly what that secret is because I've never had to. For one reason and another, my PCs have never run into the Cyanites. They remain that bit of prep that I've never needed to use. Some day.

Stovington Church

The curious religious politics of the Duchy is illustrated by the small community of Stovington Church. Despite the Duke's official censure of the Old observances in favor of the new, every equinox, the people of Stovington gather before the Church and process to the ancient stone circle in the woods, then return for evening worship at the Church. The clergy politely arrange to be absent during the procession, pretending with all solemnity that it does not exist. In this way, the spirits of both traditions are satisfied.

The Purple Worm Graveyard

What happens when you read those weird, squiggly inscriptions written along the bottom of that wall? What if you kneel in front of the altar of light and let what comes, come? And when you try to cast that really hard spell and it goes horribly wrong?

You open your mind to the worm god. The worm god is an ancient chaotic entity whose domains include destruction, decay, hunger, compost, and gardening.

Roll 2D6 plus your CON hit point bonus.

• On a 10+, your mind is in contact with the Worm god and it shows you what you want then offers you a bargain or a gift.


• On a 7-9, you receive a true impression or vision of what you're interested in, but then suffer a temporary insanity.


• On a 6 or less, the DM decides what happens.

Temporary Insanities:

1. Fall on your hands and knees and start eating dirt voraciously for 1-4 rounds


2. Projectile vomiting for several minutes


3. You realize that somewhere, somehow, there's a worm in your body. You can feel it, but you can't tell where it is.


4. The Worm god has a command for you, and he's watching to make sure you carry it out!

This is a little tidbit from the con scenario that I ran and Sage ran at Go Play NW. Opening your mind to the Worm god is fun!

Meteoric Shrine of Kintok-Glau

An artifact descends to Earth having been touched by gods, and we know when they get involved, it's never good news

A madman or prophet mumbling half remembered phrases

A ravenous predator sharpening its claws in its cave lair

A chamber of natural wonders, both beguiling and deadly

A rumbling chant, deep within the rock, growing both stronger and more urgent

Guild Hall of the Illusionist Cult

As featured in Fight On! Issue # 8!

Monsters trained to use powerful illusionist magic have started turning up in local dungeon and wilderness locations. An obscure cult of illusion, mystery, and dream has set up a lair nearby, trading magic for treasure and influence. If someone doesn’t deal with this sect soon, it’s going to become a very serious problem.

A hodge-podge group of adventurers are drafted to hunt down an obscure cult.

A devout cleric begins to suspect his mission is not all it seems.

Guardian monsters seem well-informed on the party's capabilities. Is there a mole in the group?

Seriously, check out Fight On! They've managed to put together eight issues of high-quality old-school adventure goodness with no end in sight!

Flamesprite Tomb

A brazen but charismatic con-man, wielding a misleading map

A seductive curse, offering great power, but at a terrible price

A devouring flame seeking ever more to slake its growing appetite

Exploding ghouls. Do you really need to say anythring more than "exploding ghouls"?

Dungeon Dressing: Shrine

According to Emmerline’s Taxonomy, a shrine is a space dedicated to the veneration of a specific god, which, unlike a temple, has no permanent attendants. A shrine may be any size, but a small chamber, niche, or cairn is most common, though. Given the chaotic nature of many dungeon environments, it's a significant feat for a shrine to avoid vandalization for any period of time.

A popular shrine may have the protection and patronage of the surrounding denizens, even where these denizens are enemies to one another. This may be particularly true where the shrine offers some benefit, magical or otherwise. In some cases a shrine is considered neutral ground, though in others, it may be fought over as a valuable possession. Lit candles or recent offerings are a clear sign of regular patronage.

An unmolested shrine in a heavily trafficked dungeon area may also be a sign that the local population share the same religion or, more likely, that the shrine has a powerful protector nearby, possibly on a deeper level of the dungeon. A few shrines protect themselves from desecration via trap, curse, illusion, or teleportation. Some beneficial good shrines are able to disguise themselves, being visible only to good-inclined individuals.

Some races have characteristic shrines. Grey Mountain Gnolls, for example, leave noisome memorials wherever they travel as a means of marking their dominance.

Final Resting Place

Saint Sabogan's final resting place is half a legend and half a joke. Folks turn up from time to time who claim they know where it is, but they usually turn out to be charlatans or madmen or both. The truth is, nobody knows where Sabogan's tomb is and the relics of this oldest and most revered saint are irretrievably lost.

At least, that's what you think... until one day you turn up irrefutable evidence pointing to its location. In fact, it's right here in the city, in a branch of the old catacombs under a smallish but venerable temple. It's a maze down there. In ancient times, they tunneled all over the place, trying to bury their dead as close to the saint as possible. It's a gloomy maze of dangerous tunnels, but it's where you'll find what you're looking for.

What the Miners Found

The Elves say that the cloudfall hills came into existince after a battle of the gods when the greater portion of the flying Kingdom of Eb fell to earth in a great heap.

True or not, miners in those hills do occasionally bring up the strangest things: old plates and weapons, pillars and polished stones, strange monsters with petrified bodies.

But today the shift went down and nobody came back up. The shift foreman who went after them came back, but he's kind of messed up and he can't talk any more.

If the mines don't operate, the town will die, and it won't do any good for the kingdom either. Someone has to go down there and find out what happened.

Shrine of the Doomed Celestial

The Sage began: "Gods we know how to deal with. Powerful, yes, but predictable. Follow the assigned rituals, observe the observances, and you won't go far wrong. Demons are worse. But with demons, it's not hard to figure out what they want. And though they cheat, they're quite straight up about their methods if you bother to ask. But angels... angels are another thing altogether..."

The scriveners have a perfectly articulated theology regarding the doomed celestial; why it's doomed, who doomed it, and so on. But frankly, nobody but them understands it. What's clear is that the doomed angel lives in a shrine, and nobody goes there unless they really need to. The angel is ostensibly on our side, it's true, but it has a penchant for meting out unpredictable and dangerous announcements, prophecies, punishments, and visions.

But today we need something from the shrine, really need it. How you get it is up to you. Just don't come back without it.

Lair of the Possessed Otyugh

Luke used this dungeon to run an impromptu one-on-one RPG session over IM, and posted his APon the Story Games forum. His descriptions are perfect, far better than anything I planned to write for this dungeon, for example:

You are in the Lair of the Possessed Otyugh. You are standing in the rubble of a partially collapsed tunnel. Ahead of you is a door. You pry open the jammed door and... Enter the Preparation Room. The room is lit by guttering tallow lanterns. Tables covered in jars line the room. A slab for embalming bodies rests in the center of the room. A corridor leaves ahead of you and another entrance on your left leads to a small room.

And the climactic encounter later:

A mountain of refuse and offal cascades from the back wall down over the altar into a viscous pit in the center of the chamber. There are four vestibules, two on the left wall, two on the right. They lead to the murder holes. At the top of the refuse pile is an opening. Water runs from the opening down into the pit. A ghoul cultist stands atop the pile, shovelling garbage down into the pit. The pit contains a writhing mass of flesh and tentacles, “FEEEEDMMME.” it bellows. “YOUR GOD HUNGERS.”