Moving through the cave away from the tunnel, you begin to spy smaller tunnels on either side.
As the party goes by several (1d4+2) giant white worms, Caecilia come from the tunnels and attack.
Each worm has Treasure Type B stored in its worm tunnel.
Your descent is a long one, as this tunnel winds down to deeper and deeper depths. There is a slight glow to the walls and as you approach the end of this tunnel, the glow gets brighter.
This cavern is vast. The upper reaches go beyond sight and there seems to be no end. The cave is filled with mushrooms. The party can try to eat some if they like.
2d6 Results
2 Poisoned! This mushroom is poisonous, save vs Poison or be sickened for a day.
3-4 Bad. This mushroom is just bad, save vs. poison or be sickened for 1 hour.
5-6 Bad tasting. There is nothing wrong with this mushroom, it just tastes bad.
7 Good! These mushrooms are good and taste good. They will substitute as a meal for a couple of days.
8-9 Good. These mushrooms are good, but do not provide much in nutrients. Can only live on them for one day.
10-11 Really Good. These mushrooms are great and provide enough food for a week,
12 Hallucingentic. These mushrooms are good, but make the eater hallucinate for 1d4+1 hours. Treat hallucinations as illusions only the eater can see.
--
We are entering the ancient domain of the Shadow Elves.
The cave opens up, and a tunnel, likely from a lava flow, descends into darkness.
This tunnel is how the party will access level 6.
There are no creatures here.
With the Mummy/Captain dead, the dias rises up into a large opening in the ceiling of this vast metal structure. The party can now see how long it is and how much of it must be buried under more stone and earth.
The structure they are on is made of smooth metal and it has a curve to it. So a successful DEX check is needed or the players will slide off and hit the rocks below for 4d6 hp of damage.
A rope (50') is needed to descend to the cave floor.
The cave is completely filled by the metal structure. Ahead is an open cave mouth.
There are the bones of several animals here. It the party stays longer than 1 hour they will feel the effects of the necromantic magics that are concentrated here. They will begin to loose 1 hp every hour they remain. These hp only can be regained by magical healing. The healing "wands" will not be effective.
--
The ship is not an impediment when the Vampire Queen was active. There are a series of small tubes and tunnels she could use in gaseous form or as a bat to ascend to the surface.
This is the command center of the whole level (ship) this is obvious to anyone. There are "windows" on the walls and they show scenes of rooms that the players have already been too and they should easily recognize them.
Sitting in a throne-like chair is a dedicated mummy of an Ophidian.
The mummy gets up and approached the party. It tells the party, in a language they know, that it has been watching them and now needs them to leave its prison. Though, it adds, it really only needs one of them.
At this point, a ray fires out from a spot on the ceiling at the party. Everyone must save vs Death Ray. Any that fail will be held fast. They will lose 1 point of WIS per round. When they hit zero the Mummy will possess them.
The beam emitter is AC 0 (19) and can be hit with a missile weapon or spell-like magic-missile. The emitter has 20 hp.
Attacking the mummy will keep it from possessing the characters, as will killing it. The mummy has no minions since pretty much everyone else is dead. The mummy is so old it has 7 HD but no disease attack.
What If No One Saves?
This is possible. But I have another six months of the dungeon to write and do. So allow at least one character to save.
--
This mummy is the former captain, but that was so long ago that they don't remember much of their time before the accident.
This room opens up to a large chamber. There are
There are lots of chairs here arranged at long metal "desks" with some blinking lights. There are occasional blips of light, some sounds, but nothing living is seen. Part of this room is embedded in the rock of the cavern. It does not look like it crashed here but rather "phased" into it. Metal and even skeletons of the snake people are stuck in it. Some of the skeletons are even stuck in the metal floor.
Above the center of the room is a floating dias if the characters approach it then find themselves floating up.
Treasure: These skeletons wear a uniform of some sort. There are badges and what looks like medals on some of the tattered remains. These are worth about 50 gp each. The party can find 1d8+8 of these.
--
This is the commander center. The floating dias is the bridge.
Just outside this corridor to the left there is a deformed area where the metal and rock merge. Outside of the metal area, there is a spiral staircase going up.
These stairs look like they are the manufacture of the Necromancers (or more to the point, their slaves) that had lived here.
These stairs ascend to Room 15 on Level 4.
If the players did not defeat the ghouls in that room they will try to meet the characters half-way. The Ghouls however will not enter level 5, bot even to avoid being killed by the party. They react in fear to anything on level 5.
If the characters use one of the "heat wands" the ghouls will try to run away as fast as they can as if "Turned" by a Cleric.
--
The strange necrotic energies here are enough to scare away other undead.
The hallway/corridor opens to a larger corridor. A large room can be seen at that very end.
The necromantic forces feel stronger here, like they did on previous levels.
As the characters move down the hall, they are attacked by Zombie Ophidians.
There are 1d8+4 zombies of the snake men. They have no weapons and attack with claws and bites. Their poison bite is all used up so they only do 1d4 hp damage per bite.
Moving down the corridor, there is one last room on the left. Lawful (Good) Clerics (and Paladins if they are being used) can feel a growing aura of evil. Magic-users and witches can sense a growing aura of necromantic magics.
This room is different than the previous ones. There is no furniture, only metal panels with many flickering lights. Moving between these lights, going from panel to panel, is the ghost of an Ophidian.
This creature is a Greater Spectre. It has 8HD and attacks as soon as the characters enter.
It can be turned as a Vampire.
--
This room is the computer core. The spectre is a high-ranking officer that died in this room.
Continuing on, there is another room on the left. This room appears to be another set of crew quarters.
Inside are two Spectres, former officers.
They cannot move more than 100 feet away from their bodies embedded in the bulkhead on the other side of the room's wall.
The specters will not speak to the PCs and will attack as soon as they enter the room. There is a closet with the bones of former victims.
Due to their age and inability to leave this room, they have double the regular treasure (E x4 for two specters).
Edited to add: Post did not auto-post this morning.
The next door to the right appears to be some sort of small room. Prying the doors open is no easy feat and requires a combined strength of 30 to open. (A Knock spell will also work).
Looking inside there is floor some 5 feet down. The top of this shaft/room extends many feet above. The tunnel appears to be partially embedded into the rock of the cave system here.
Going down is not difficult, there is a very thin ladder on the side that appears to run up and down the sides of the shaft. There is a trap door on the floor. Inside is a very small circular room, about 12' diameter. The floor is made of stone and there is a skeleton stuck in it about waist deep. Given how low the top of this room is from the stone "floor" the skeleton must have been standing on the true floor when the stone came into this room.
If the party climbs up, they will find that the metal material of this level is fused with the rock of the cave system. There are even partially fused bodies (skeletons) in the rock. Some look like they were frozen where they stood.
In this area the party will encounter a Xorn (a type of Earth Elemental). It is intelligent and does not attack. It gestures to a pile of "Heat Wands" it has collected and points one of it's three arms to them and then to the party. It then backs off. All the while saying "take" in Dwarvish.
The xorn is not interested in the party and only wants to continue gorging itself on the rare minerals of the this ship.
If the party chooses to talk to the Xorn to find out more please offer them 1,000 XP for the idea and another 2,000 afterwards.
The Xorn knows the following.
The next room on the left also appears to be some sort of quarters.
In this room is its former and current inhabitant. An Ancient Ophidian Mummy.
This mummy is ancient, really ancient. The necromantic forces that are natural to this area affected this ophidian officer. He is powerful but quite insane. In this room, he is powerful (8 HD) but once he leaves he drops to 5 HD, if he leaves the ship he drops to 3 HD. So for the last few centuries he has been sulking here.
As an Ophidian Mummy, he does not have the Mummy disease as do standard mummies, but he does have a poisonous bite. It causes 1d4 hp damage, but victims have to save vs. Death or take 4d8 hp damage (save for half).
Going back to the corridor, taking the last remaining hallway, this one is wider and longer.
There are doors on the left-hand side and a door at the end of the hall.
The first door on the left is room 21. These appear to be more sleeping quarters, but only one bed per and they seem to have more amenities.
Within this room is another "heat wand" with 1d6+1 charges. If one of the lighted "tables" (panels) is touched a voice speaking in ophidian will come over speakers. The recording is just an officer's log, but it sounds sinister to the character's ears; like some sort of spell or incantation. They will not be able to translate it, magic won't work on this.
This series of rooms follow after the previous 8. They are modified, but still appear to be barracks or sleeping quarters of some sort.
There are 8 (a to h) rooms here. These rooms each have 4 beds.
20a-d: Empty. Various nicknacks of silver to amount to 6 gp value in each room.
20e: Dead (skeleton) Ophidian
20f: Dead (mummified) Ophidian
20g: Empty, no tresure
20h: Empty, but there is a curious device here. It looks like a metal wand about 10" long. One end is open and a red crystal can be seen inside. There is a small depression near the middle. If press a ray of heat will shoot out causing 1d6+1 damage (Death Ray save for half) to a distance of 50'.
The wand has 1d6+4 charges remaining.
--
The wand is a heat ray, but a weak one. Damage to an Ophidian would only be 1d4+1.
Going back to the central corridor and now taking the middle passageway on the right it leads to a series of rooms.
There are 8 (a to h) rooms here. These rooms each have 4 beds.
Room 19a: Four dead bodies. These bodies are more mummified and can be seen for what they are, snake people.
Room 19b, 19c: Empty
Room 19d: This room is home to an Ophidian Spectre. The Spectre attacks anyone who comes in.
Room 19e, 19f: Empty
Room 19g: Two mummified bodies
Room 19h: Two mummified bodies and 1 Ophidian Zombie. The Zombie attacks.
--
There are no treasures in these rooms. All the items are made of plastic or other synthetic materials.
One of the "bed rooms" (Room #17) has a larger open corridor that leads to another similar room. This room however only has one bed in the very center.
Pressing any buttons will cause different colored lights to shine with an accompanying tone. If the characters are within the 10' area (with the central bed in the center) then the following happens:
White - Sanitizing, everything becomes clean, dirt falls to the ground.
Green - Healing, minor wounds are healed for 1d6+1 hp of damage
Red - Warming, gets uncomfortably hot.
Orange/Yellow - very bright, blinds as per the Light spell.
There are no creatures or treasures here.
--
This a surgery center. The lights are great if you are an Ophidian, not so much for humans.
Going back and this time taking the far left hallway leads to another corridor and collection of connected rooms.
These four rooms are larger than the ones on the far right. There are plenty of flickering lights with writing that doesn't not translate. There are plenty of beds in these rooms. One has a skeleton of the snake people on it.
There are no creatures, but there are more (1d10+10) more of those "healing wands" here but only 1d6+3 still work.
--
This is the ship's sick bay. It is designed for Ophidian life, so even if anything was working it would not be good for humans.
Taking the far hallway on the right leads to another corridor with four doors. Each door opens to similar rooms.
Each room is dark with a large vat full of green liquid as the centerpiece. In two of these, the vats are empty of liquid and there are skeletons at the bottom. The glass is broken.
In room 16a there is a vat with a Saurian floating inside. If the glass is broken and the liquid drained the saurian will revive in 1d4+1 turns. The saurian (a Warrior) will be enraged and quite insane. It will attack the party right away.
In room 16c the vat has a human male. If this vat is drained the human will revive in 1d6+1 turns, scream incoherently at the party and then promptly die.
--
These are abductees of the Ophidians. They have been here for centuries kept alive and awake for all this time. The Necromancers kept these two to come back to later but never did. The controls for the life support are damaged, so there is no way to put the victims back.
Going back to Room #10 and going straight. This hallway opens into a large open chamber with hallways leading away from the corridor. There are also several doors (8) in this room.
There are skeletons of same snake-like creatures here.
The rooms are all nearly identical. These rooms appear to be living quarters of some sort. Each one is about 20' by 20. In each one is a bed, a closest and table. Some still have their inhabitants, though long since dead. Scouring the rooms will reveal about 1d8 x 10 gp worth of various bits of good metal.
--
These are the crew quarters for the junior officers. Not all of them made it out.
Going back to Room #10, going left takes them down a long, poorly lit hallway (lights are flickering) it turns to the left and continues into a long room.
This room looks like Room #13, but it is not damaged. The far wall glows and gives off a slight hum.
Touching anything in this room will give off a strange trilling sound. A light will come on, and then go right out.
There is no treasure here.
--
This the Port (left) side engine and it is intact. The engine itself is in standby mode and will not reactivate. Thankfully. Reactivating the engine will likely blow up the entire island.
