#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 2

 The bars to this cell are long gone, and it is easy to see why.  Inside is a large armadillo-like creature. Once the PCs come close to the opening, it rushes out in a frenzy of hunger.

Inside is a Magiphagous Rust Monster. It is the last offspring of one of many failed magical experiments. Many generations of these creatures have lived over the years and this is the last one. The bars to it's cell are gone, but due to a special magic placed on the other bars to the other cells it has not tried to eat those.

  

Rust Monster, Magiphagous  (Old-School Essentials)
Magical, armadillo-like creatures with long tails and two long, antennae-like feelers. Feed on the remains of magical metals.
AC 2 [17], HD 7 (31hp), Att 1 × feeler (rusting), THAC0 13 [+6], MV 120’ (40’), SV D11 W12 P13 B14 S15 (5), ML 9, AL Neutral, XP 175, NA 1d4 (1d4), TT None

• Rusting: Magical metal that touches a rust monster (e.g. weapons that hit it, or armour struck by a feeler) crumbles instantly to rust.  Each time a magic item is affected, it loses one “plus”.  Each item gets a base saving throw of 13, plus any "pluses" the magical item has.
• Mundane damage immunity: Can only be harmed by magical attacks.
• Smell metal: Attracted by the scent of magical metals such as weapons, armors and artifacts.

Appearing as a paler and larger version of the rust monster, these creatures are otherwise exactly the same as rust monsters, save for one detail.   These creatures only eat magical metals.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 1

 The stairs from the back of Room 28 on level 2 lead a long way down.  They end at a large iron gate.  The gate is 20' wide and at least 15' tall. It opens in the middle, and it is locked.  The rusty nature of this lock imposes a -5% penalty on opening. The gate, though, is also weak enough that combined strength of 24 can pull it open.

There are claw marks visible on the stone after the gate, but none before it. There are alcoves to either side for guards on both sides of the gate (four total).  There is an ambient eldritch glow throughout the place. 

The hallway continues on.

--

Notes about this level. This is where the Citadel of Conjurers kept their magical experiments. It has long been rumored that this is the birthplace of the Owlbear and other magical monstrosities.  When the Vampire Queen took control here, she raised many of these dead creatures as various types of undead so she could keep them as "guard dogs."

My goal this month will be to populate this level with all sorts of new monsters.

Mail Call Tuesday: Basic Old School

I wasn't planning this one today, but I got some surprises in the mail.  

Both of these will get full reviews later on.

Blue Flame, Tine Stars, or it's full title, Blue Flame, Tiny Stars: A Memoir of Early Experiences Playing the Holmes Edition of the World’s Most Superlative Role-Playing Game, is from Stephen Wendell and it recounts his experiences at the dawn of the RPG scene and with Holmes Basic in particular. I have flipped through it and it looks like a delightful read. It is available as Print on Demand and PDF.

Chivalry & Sorcery Basic Rules is also available as Print on Demand and PDF. It is a stripped-down, basic, version of the 5th edition of the Chivalry & Sorcery RPG. A great place for newbies to the C&S game.

Chivalry & Sorcery is my third of three games I want to use as my D&D 5 replacement, so I will have some characters and ideas for this game later on.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 28

Down this short passageway from the torture chamber is another large room. The door is standard to unlock. 

This large room used to be the barracks for this dungeon level. It was also where all the weapons were kept.  There are plenty of weapons here and a few are still usable. Allow players to restock what they need.

As the characters search the room they will begin to uncover a nest of 3 Ghost Spiders.  These look like large undead spiders but they are really demonic necromantic projections.  They were summoned here from all the fear and death and have never left.

They will attack the party as soon as they are found.

In the back is hidden door that is easily discovered it leads to a flight of stairs going down.

Monstrous Monday: Tribute to Jonathan Thompson

Something a little different today and altogether too sad.

Normally I spend today doing monster write-ups, reviews of monster books, or even updating my slow progress on my Basic Bestiary. But today I want to talk about something else.

Last week Jonathan Thompson passed away.  He was well-known, and well-liked, by many in the RPG community. 

I met Jonathan through our mutual love of the Victorian period. We became fans of each other's RPGs as well.

I helped a very, very tiny bit with the newest version of Gaslight, with some of my material making into one other Battlefield Press book.  Mostly though he had come to me for advice and edits on the 3.x and 5e monsters he had been working on.

Among other thingshe was due to publish my "Darwin's Guide to Creatures, Mythical and Mundane." A monster manual for the Victorian era and for Gaslight in particular. 

It got pushed back a few times but he had approached me over the summer to get it updated. I was going through Covid at the time and could not get back to him. When I could he had developed health issues of his own.

I typically ran into him at Gen Con. Out of thousands of people there, we always would run into each other. We typically hit the food trucks and chatted about things.  We had, over the years, continued to talk about monsters, the Victorian era, and more. I find it sad that I am no longer going to get to that.  

There is a Go Fund Me set up to cover his expenses. I urge all my readers to send whatever they can. 

His family are in my thoughts and hopefully, I can send some donations their way.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 27

The hall turns to the right and opens up into a large area. 

This room was obviously a torture chamber. There are still racks, stocks, and other implements of torture still to be found here.

There are still two victims here who have been unable to leave, Two Wraiths.

These wraiths are not allied and will attack the party without regard for other.

There is some treasure here the wraiths have collected from previous victims. Both have Treasure Type E.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 26

Turning to your right the hallway continues on a bit.  On the corner to your right, there is, if the proper rolls are made, a secret door.  This is very similar to Room #7 and Room #Room 19.

This room is found behind a secret door in the corner of the hallway, not on the flat walls. 

This room appears to have been a guard room. There are chairs for three with a small table and weapons on the walls.  There are slots in the wall where guards can watch both hallways.

This room has been untouched by the waves of denizens here. There is a dagger +1, two-handed sword +1, and 2 +1 sling bullet stored here for the guard's use in addition to some normal items. There had been food, but it has since rotted away. Additionally, there is a bag of gold pieces, 14 GP.

Finding these treasures is worth 2,714xp.