Creating the dungeon, part 2

We’ve split the areas of the adventure amongst ourselves. Colin, my partner in crime, is writing the man-spider’s mansion and surrounding village while I have been tasked with detailing the hag lair and the bullywug camp. Here is the first draft of those two areas. Not sure how this will ever fit on a single page.

Location 1: Petrified Kraken Hag Lair

Overview

A kraken died here. Wilthulia rediscovered this fossilized titan and dug it out. In its chest she found a gemstone infused with elemental power.

Skull

The entrance looks like a hill with a rocky cave which is the skull of the kraken. It is wet and muddy. Water drips from the eye socket in the ceiling. A wooden door is set in the back. A lit torch on a bamboo stick is wedged into the ground.

 

Torch. Holding the torch grants the effects of a comprehend languages spell. Removing it from its socket frees swarms of insects (wasps) at a rate of one swarm per round.

 

Arcane Writing. Arcane sigils decorate the skull. Three verses are written in Primordial. A character reading one must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be affected by a temporary form of madness (see DMG). The verses describe:

• Leviathans battling under a starless sky, burning oceans and drowning deserts.
• Tentacles ripping through streets and palaces as a city is pulled into a river.
• Dead-eyed sea spawn scurry across a gargantuan tyrant to throw themselves into its maw.

The fourth verse is written in Sylvan:

• Peasants flee a rampaging horde. A dryad offers them shelter in her tree if they sacrifice their eyes to her.

 

Door. The door has carvings featuring faeries and fauns. It is enchanted with arcane lock (DC25). Only a blinded character (or one with their eyes closed) can open the door. It leads into a stairway that ends in a curtain of thick webbing.

Cavern

The petrified ribs of the kraken flow like beams overhead, sprouting from a spinal cord that’s embedded into the northern wall. The area slopes downwards towards a pool of foul water. A dense, wet, fog covers the floor.

 

Heart of the Swamp. A dark red gemstone hangs suspended from silken strands in the center of the cavern.

 

Occupants. An ettercap tends to the heart, padding it with webbing. Two giant spiders are hidden in the fog. They attack anyone who touches the heart.

 

Wilthulia. The green/night hag sits by the pool. Her mud mephit hidden nearby. She takes the form of a dryad to trick the characters into starting a fight with the ettercap. If her ruse fails, she uses invisibility and jumps into the pool, ready to drown any who follow.

 

Pool. The water is muddy and obscures vision. It is 10 foot deep and goes deeper into the kraken. After 15 feet a character can swim back up and enter Wilthulia’s den.

Wilthulia’s Den

Bones of giant spiders litter this room. The hag’s belongings include a jar of 2d6 eyeballs (eat one for advantage on the next Wisdom check), a potion of healing, a potion of poison (the drinker is unconscious while the poison lasts), a book of disturbing children’s stories (25gp), a necklace with three sardonyx gemstones in the shape of beetles (150gp) and a brass cauldron used for summoning familiars (35gp). All of these items are cursed (DM decides how).

Development

Bullywug spies follow the PCs to Wilthulia’s lair. The group consists of two bullywug muckers riding giant toads commanding eight bullywugs

 

If Wilthulia has not been dealt with she summons four mud mephits to get her gemstone back.

Location 2: Bullywug Camp

Note: a bullywug mucker is a thug while a bullywug mud lord is a cult fanatic, both with the appropriate bullywug racial traits.

 

The camp is spread across a 1000 feet area. Characters are likely to run into:

• A hunting party: 1d6+6 bullywugs with fishing spears.
• A raiding party: 1 bullywug mucker, 1 giant toad, and 2d6 bullywugs.
• A tent made from hide and leaves stretched between trees: either empty (2-in-6 chance) or inhabited by 1d4+2 bullywugs and 2d10 bullywug noncombatants.

 

Bullywugs can croak a loud alarm call. This causes all bullywugs to flee to the palace, for a total of 50 bullywugs (30 noncombatants), 4 bullywug muckers (with 4 giant toads) and 1 bullywug mud lord.

Palace of the High Mudlord Gorak Accaroak

Three cedar trees of exceptional girth whose crowns have grown to be intertwined make this palace. The bullywugs have stretched hides and thatch between them, forming a pyramid-like structure. The palace is 40 feet to a side. Inside, the floor is made of tangled roots. A knobbly growth on one of the trees forms a raised platform, upon which the chieftain sits. High outcroppings, reachable by the bullywugs’ standing leap, contain guards.

 

Gorak is a bullywug mud lord. He is accompanied by his mate Iccirick (bullywug), 1d4 of his bullywug mucker sycophants and 1d6+6 bullywuck followers.

 

Treasure. Without care for the millennia old tree, the bullywugs have hollowed it out. To gain king Gorak’s favor, his subjects donate trinkets and baubles which are added to a pile inside. Sifting through worthless glass beads, scavenged weapons, and cheap figurines, recovers 427gp, 581sp and 2600cp, an assortment of 17 gemstones (azurate, quarts, moss agate, onyx, each worth 10 gp), and one amethyst inlaid mirror (120 gp).