Sunday, January 1, 2023

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

Her Dark Mistress, Darlessa, Vampire Queen
Her Dark Mistress, Darlessa, Vampire Queen
Ok. Let's do this.

For 2023 I have a lot going on. So what is one more thing?  I am going to be participating in the #Dungeon23 challenge.  

It is my homage to the dungeons of old and to some of my favorite monsters.

Tomb of the Vampire Queen

I will be providing more details as this goes on.  But here are the important parts for today.

This megadungeon was designed as the stronghold for Darlessa the Vampire Queen and her hordes.  After her death, her acolytes placed her body in the lowest part of her stronghold to protect her.

The tomb has the following features.

  1. It was built under the ruins of a great citadel of wizards. Magical energies still flow through it.
  2. Darlessa's clan of enslaved dwarves dug deep into already occurring natural caverns and dungeons to expand her base.
  3. The site sits on the confluence of many ley lines and "witch ways."  So monsters wander in from different dimensions, worlds and planes, but can not as easily get out.
I will do this for B/X era (circa 1981-82) D&D. So OSE and Labyrinth Lord will also work. I will fill in more details and even try to put my meager map-making skills to the test.

Level 1, Room 1

The ground floor of the ancient Citadel of Wizards.  This golden archway still stands though the walls around it are long since gone. The runes are unreadable due to fire and age. Passing through the archway gives the characters a sense of unease.  The Morale of hirelings and henchmen is reduced by 2 points.

Before you are remains of the ancient keep of the Citadel. It's basalt walls still stand. Visible in the open doorway (10' wide, 20' tall) is a staircase leading down.

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Let's see where this takes us!

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