Bee Saber & SkelevatorLevel: 1
Various light sources,
see below
Lower Purpose +1
(Assuming entry from the West)
After passing through the previous archway, you are greeted by a 5 hex by 5 hex square vestibule of sorts. Most of the walls are covered in some manner of luminescent fungus which provides ample yellowish-green light by which to see. Ahead (to the west), the vestibule extends into two different directions and chambers: one which slopes slightly upward and one which slopes downward. The Northwestern half slopes up, and the Southwestern half slopes down, with the middle being split by a wall of solid stone. In the vestibule, the ceiling is roughly 4 hexes high.
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.............SW
Northwest - Bee Saber Chamber
Decreasing vision in corridor; -5 from muffled glow in right half of chamber; darkness in left half of chamber.
Following the 2-hex wide NW slope is dark and becomes an increasing more vertically-narrow corridor of stony earth, eventually ending at a ceiling height of 5 feet (slightly less than 2 hexes) and opening into a tiny cavern chamber. The fungus from the vestibule provides decreasingly less light as you move further away from it. The chamber is the shape of a jagged kidney bean, forming something of a 'T' as its length runs perpendicular to the corridor; being roughly 2 hexes in depth/length and 6 hexes at its widest point. Inside the chamber, it is mostly dark except for a faint muffled glow coming from something on the floor to the right.
If the delvers investigate the muffled glow, they discover a pile of ragged cloth and disheveled furs covering a glowing object. With minimal work, the object can be pulled from the cloth and furs. The glowing object is revealed to be a sword, but the (rather dull and blunt) blade is crafted from some manner of milky-white opaque glass. Those with magical aptitude (especially druids) can sense mild Animal, Healing, and Meta-Spell magic. The glass sword radiates light and eliminates darkness penalties in a 3-yard radius.
If the delvers investigate the rest of the chamber, the body of a dead goblin can be found to the left of the entrance. Looking more closely, shards of glass are embedded in what remains of the goblin's face, and its arms are covered in some sort of red marks similar to hives, insect bites, or maybe a rash. Near the body is also a small leather satchel containing
2d pairs of socks, 1d silver coins, 1 elven ration, 1 dwarven ration, a salt shaker (w/ salt), and a snorkel.
Glass Sword/Bee Saber (Axe/Mace; Shortsword, or DX-5)
sw cr +1 cut dmg; Reach 1; Parry 0; wgt 3; ST 8
OR thr+1 cr; Reach 1; Parry 0; ST 8
The glass sword is part weapon and part practical joke. Every time the swinging attack connects (hitting a target or being parried by another weapon) or the glass sword is used to parry an attack, there is a 4 in 6 chance that the sword shatters and releases a swarm of bees which are immediately hostile to everyone in the encounter. Additionally, when the sword shatters, everyone in a 1-hex radius must either successfully dodge or block or take a 1d piercing damage from shards of glass. If the target of the attack which caused the sword to shatter was hit by the attack, that target gets no defense and automatically takes the extra 1d piercing.
Southwest - Skelevator Chamber
Decreasing vision in corridor; darkness; then arcane glow -3
The downward slope curves smoothly counter-clockwise for some distance, until the glow from the fungus eventually fades from sight. It's then darkness for a moment of movement which you might guess had spiraled you through three -maybe four- slowly descending circles. Up ahead, faint traces of a pale yellowish light start to bleed into the darkness -perhaps more fungus.
No... as the dark corridor brightens, you come to an archway which opens into a circular cavern-like chamber, and the source of newfound light is immediately obvious.
On the smooth stone floor of this circular cavern-like chamber is painted a huge arcane glyph, covering the the floor and casting a pale arcane light upward -casting shadows strangely upward toward a domed jagged rock ceiling which is between 20-30 feet (roughly 7-10 hexes) above you. In the distance, you see a group of 10 skeletal figures, standing silently at the far edge of the floor. The floor ends in presumably some sort of cliff, as it appears the ceiling does not connect to the floor on that side of the cave, and some manner of pulley, crank, and lever winch system connects thick chains to a large black caldron dangling behind the skeletal figures (description and stats below) and beyond the edge of the floor.
The floor of this chamber is a half-circle of worn, yet smooth stone -featuring a huge glowing arcane sigil. The downward spiral brings the delvers into the South of the chamber. The distance from the North to where the skeletons are standing is 8 hexes, and the diameter of the half circle is 16 hexes from east wall to west wall. Upon stepping into the room and looking around, to the left (east) is a sturdy iron door placed into a smooth section of the chamber wall, barred with a thick wooden plank across it from this side. There is no floor 9 hexes North, beyond the middle point of the circle; it's a long fall down to whatever is below.
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The
Skeletal Dwarven Servitors (see below) are not initially hostile. They will neither move nor attempt to defend themselves unless one of the following conditions are met: one of them is destroyed, they are attacked 3 times, or something attempts to sabotage the skelevator. They serve as manual labor for working the system which causes the cauldron to raise or lower.
As initially envisioned, they are not armed. However, to meet varying degrees of difficulty, they may optionally each have an axe strapped to them which takes a Ready to equip OR there is a nearby cache of weapons to which some portion moves to arm themselves.
Speaking the command word followed by "Up" or "Down" in Dwarven activates the skeletons.
The mechanism for raising and lowering the cauldron consists of 2 parts:
- a horizontal "wheel of woe" around which 5 of the skeletons walk to shorten or lengthen the chains
- a hand crank mechanism which 5 of the skeletons crank to lengthen or shorten the chains
Both parts have a locking mechanism to stop unwanted movement when the skeletons are not working. To function properly, all of the skeletons are needed. If any are destroyed, they must be replaced in some way for proper function. The mechanism needs a total of 120 ST to function properly. While functioning properly, it takes 30 seconds to completely lower or raise the cauldron. Between 90-120 ST, it takes 1 minute to raise or lower the cauldron. At less than 90 ST, the mechanism does not function. A change in ST during operation may lead to the cauldron (and all those inside) plummeting to the bottom.
Note: I am not an engineer, so if there is a better way to have the "skelevator" work or some better way to quantify its function via the rules, please offer suggestions, and I'll make edits.
Skeletal Dwarven Servitors
During some time long passed, the dwarves to whom these bones belonged were slain and pressed into an undead life of servitude. The squat build and thick bones make recognizing what they were in life relatively easy; any doubt about what they once were is erased by their armor. Each of the servitors has their torso partially covered by light segmented scale breast plates (DR3F, chest only) featuring a faded painting of a mountain and a few words written in Dwarven script. Upon further investigation, the script is an older dialect of Dwarven which can, with some minor effort, be understand to roughly translate into a heraldic motto of the GM's choosing. In this same dialect, the words "up" and "down" are etched into the skulls.
While Unliving and tough (DR 2), they suffer 2x injury from crushing blows and are Unnatural (dispelled at ‑1xHP).
ST: 12
HP: 11
Speed: 8.00
DX: 13
Will: 8
Move: 6
IQ: 8
Per: 8
HT: 12
FP: N/A
SM: 0
Dodge: 11
Parry/Block: 10
DR: 5 chest, 2 everywhere else
Bony Claw (14): 1d-1 crushing. Reach C.
Weapon (14): Axe (1d+4 cutting), Reach 1.
Traits: Appearance (Monstrous); Automaton; Brittle; Cannot
Float; Cannot Learn; Dependency (Loses 1 HP per minute
in no-mana areas); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink;
Doesn’t Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Disease;
Immunity to Mind Control; Immunity to Poison; Indomitable;
Lifting ST 2; Mute; No Blood; No Brain; No Eyes; No Sense of
Smell/Taste; No Vitals; Reprogrammable; Single-Minded;
Skinny; Temperature Tolerance 5 (Cold); Temperature
Tolerance 5 (Heat); Unfazeable; Unhealing (Total); Unliving;
Unnatural; Vulnerability (Crushing x2).
Skills: Axe/Mace-14; Brawling-14; Climbing-13; Shield-14;
Class: Undead.
Notes: Skull DR is still only 2. The front of their torso has an extra 3DR from armor. Unaffected by Death Vision or Sense Life, but susceptible to Pentagram, Sense Spirit, and Turn Zombie.
Connections -
- Cauldron Down to (TBD)
- East to Quiet Hallway
- Lower Level East to (TBD)